What hagsmire awaits owlkind?
OWLS
and others
from
GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
The Shattering
The Band
SOREN: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, from the Forest Kingdom of Tyto; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; training to be a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
GYLFIE: Elf Owl, Micranthene whitneyi, from the Desert of Kuneer; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; Soren’s best friend; training to be a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
TWILIGHT: Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa, free flier, orphaned within hours of hatching; training to be a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
DIGGER: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, from the Desert of Kuneer; lost in the desert after attack in which his family was killed by owls from St. Aegolius; training to be a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
The Leaders of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
BORON: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the King of Hoole
BARRAN: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the Queen of Hoole
EZYLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis, the wise weather-interpretation and colliering ryb (teacher) at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; Soren’s mentor (also known as Lyze of Kiel)
STRIX STRUMA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the dignified navigation ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; killed during siege of the great tree
DEWLAP: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, the Ga’Hoolology ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; betrayed the great tree during the siege by the Pure Ones
SYLVANA: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, a young ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; head of the tracking chaw
Others at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
OTULISSA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, a student of prestigious lineage at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
RUBY: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
EGLANTINE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren’s younger sister
PRIMROSE: Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium californicum, Eglantine’s best friend
MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the elegant singer of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
BUBO: Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, the blacksmith of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
MRS. PLITHIVER: blind snake, formerly the nest-maid for Soren’s family; now a member of the harp guild at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb
GINGER: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, formerly of the Pure Ones; now reformed and sharing Eglantine’s sleeping hollow at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
The Pure Ones
KLUDD: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren and Eglantine’s older brother; leader of the Pure Ones (also known as Metal Beak and High Tyto)
NYRA: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Kludd’s mate
STRYKER: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure Guard lieutenant
UGLAMORE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure Guard sublieutenant under Nyra
Leaders of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls
SKENCH: Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, the Ablah General of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls
SPOORN: Western Screech Owl, Otus kennicottii, first lieutenant to Skench
Other Characters
SIMON: Brown Fish Owl, Ketupa (Bubo) zeylonensis, a pilgrim owl of the Glauxian Brothers of the Northern Kingdoms
THE ROGUE SMITH OF SILVERVEIL: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, a blacksmith not attached to any kingdom in the owl world, and sister of Madame Plonk
A peek at
THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
Book Six: The Burning
How will we ever find the retreat?” Otulissa asked. “Beats me,” Gylfie replied.
“Well, you’re the navigator.”
“Flight navigator. The sky. The stars. Not land navigation.” Gylfie swiveled her head, looking for any sign that might indicate where the Glauxian Brothers might dwell. They flew on, lacing their way through the magical forest web. After nearly an hour, they came to a place where the trees thinned out and Gylfie spotted something ahead that intrigued her. “Let’s land in that next tree,” she whispered to Otulissa.
The two young owls perched on a slender branch. “Look over there,” Gylfie whispered. Otulissa blinked. Through the fir trees were the whitest birch trees either one of them had ever seen. The trees grew in a circle, a perfect circle. And then, if one peered really hard, as Gylfie was now doing, there was something else.
“That’s an owl,” Gylfie whispered to Otulissa.
“Where? I don’t see an owl.”
“Over there, a few inches in front of that trunk.” Gylfie pointed with one talon to indicate the tree she was looking at.
“I don’t see—” Otulissa started to say, but then interrupted herself. “Walt. Great Glaux, it’s a Snowy Owl.”
And there was not just one Snowy but a half dozen standing sentry, their white plumage with the occasional dark spots blending in perfectly with the white-barked trees behind them. Gylfie and Otulissa had arrived at the retreat of the Glauxian Brothers.
About the Author
Kathryn Lasky has had a long fascination with owls. Several years ago, she began doing extensive research about these birds and their behaviors. She thought that she would someday write a nonfiction book about owls illustrated with photographs by her husband, Christopher Knight. She realized, though, that this would indeed be difficult since owls are shy, nocturnal creatures. So she decided to write a fantasy about a world of owls. Even though it is an imaginary world in which owls can speak, think, and dream, she wanted to include as much of their natural history as she could.
Kathryn Lasky has written many books, both fiction and nonfiction, including Sugaring Time, for which she won a Newbery Honor. Among her fiction books are The Night Journey, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and Beyond the Burning Time, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, as well as the Daughters of the Sea and Wolves of the Beyond series. She has also received the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Washington Post Children’s Book Guild Award for her contribution to nonfiction.
Lasky and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Book One: The Capture
Book Two: The Journey
Book Three: The Rescue
Book Four: The Siege
Book Five: The Shattering
Book Six: The Burning
Book Seven: The Hatchling
Book Eight: The Outcast
Book Nine: The First Collier
Book Ten: The Coming of Hoole
Book Eleven: To Be a King
Book Twelve: The Golden Tree
Book Thirteen: The River of Wind
Book Fourteen: Exile
Book Fifteen: The War of the Ember
A Guide Book to the Great Tree
Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Text copyright © 2004 by Kathryn Lasky.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First Printing, August 2004
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage an
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eISBN 978-0-545-28336-6
Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
Cover design by Steve Scott
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Maps
Illustration
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE A Friend in Need?
CHAPTER TWO Spronk No More
CHAPTER THREE A Grim Tweener
CHAPTER FOUR A Missing Piece
CHAPTER FIVE A Fragment from the Sea
CHAPTER SIX So Close!
CHAPTER SEVEN The Sign of the Centipede
CHAPTER EIGHT Mum Waits for Me
CHAPTER NINE The Most Beautiful Mum in the World
CHAPTER TEN Eglantine Researches
CHAPTER ELEVEN Primrose’s Last Thought
CHAPTER TWELVE A Gizzard Begins to Stir
CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Lucky Charm
CHAPTER FOURTEEN As a Gizzard Twitches
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Piece by Piece
CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Sacred Orb
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Hostage Egg
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN “It Cannot Fail!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN The Peg-out
CHAPTER TWENTY A Crown of Fire
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE The Gollymopes
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The Living Dead
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Passing of the Claws
OWLS and other from GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE The Shattering
A peek at THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE Book Six: The Burning
About the Author
The Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Copyright
Kathryn Lasky, The Shattering
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