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wonderful new word. He taught it to me: flabbergasted. I just love that word. Say it, Uncle Grank…flabber…just say it. I know it sounds long—flabber…”
“Flabbergasted!” roared Grank. “For Glaux’s sake, slow down, Hoole.” Grank blinked and shook his head. In so many ways, this little prince was so much like his father, King H’rath. The unbound enthusiasms, the pure joy and delight in owlkind, in life!
“Well, can we keep him?”
“Keep him!” Grank, Theo, and Phineas all hooted in unison.
“Hoole,” Grank said sharply. “He is a living thing, an owl. We do not keep living things. We welcome him. Welcome, young Phineas.”
“Thank you, sir,” Phineas said solemnly, and spun his head toward Hoole. “I am not an object for your passing fancies, I am not an amusement.” Hoole wilfed a bit asowls do when they are suddenly intimidated. There was certainly nothing amusing about the little owl right now.
“Yes, yes. Sorry. I understand,” Hoole said. “But will you stay for a while? I’ll share my vole with you. It was too big to eat all at once. So I just tore off the head for a snack.” Hoole hopped up to a notch hole where they stored food and dragged out the headless vole. “It’s all yours!”
My Glaux, thought Grank. If the kingdom is restored and there is ever a court again in the N’yrthghar, how shall I ever prepare this lad for courtly behavior?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Snow Rose Meets Elka
Y gryk and Pleek had landed on the smallest of a cluster of three islands called the Tridents. It was here that Ygryk would perform an ancient charm that would temporarily disguise her for one night and one day as an owl—a Great Horned, the same species as her mate. The run from the Tridents to the Bitter Sea was short, especially with this sudden change of wind, which now came from the south, boosting their speed considerably. Pleek had seen his mate do this transformation just twice before and it always amazed him. The gleaming black feathers grew dull and gradually specks of white began to appear. The dense ruff feathers that grew just under the beak turned white and those on her chest turned gray and became mottled with white patches in a ripplelike pattern. Lastly, the two huge tufts that swept out from every hagsfiend’s brow began to shrink and poke up in the manner of a Great Horned’s tufts, directly above the eyes, which now had semicircles of white feathers.
While all this was transpiring, Ygryk began to diminish in size; hagsfiends were twice as big as the largest of owls. It took but a short time for this transformation to be completed. And when it was finished, she began talking rapidly to the minute half-hags in the peculiar language of hagsfiends and their parasitic companions. Ygryk was giving them the revised flight plan instructions. With her new body, a new flight formation was necessary for the half-hags. Again Pleek’s eyes gleamed with pride. What a creature she was! And if it worked, if indeed they could capture the young son of King H’rath and Queen Siv and change him into a true hagsfiend—not merely an owl with a haggish appearance as he himself had become—if it worked, there would be no limit to their power. Although Lord Arrin had granted them the possibility of keeping this chick for their own, neither Lord Arrin nor any of his top lieutenants knew of the charm that dear Ygryk possessed to transform the owl prince into a hagsfiend. Had they known they would have never permitted the adoption. For Lord Arrin would countenance nothing that might threaten his own power. Secretly, Pleek believed that the reason he had not been permitted into Arrin’s inner circle until now was because the lord feared him. He surrounded himself with noddy owls: owls who nodded in constant agreement with him. But nowLord Arrin needed them because he wanted Siv as his consort as much as Ygryk and Pleek yearned for a chick of their own.
“Ready?” Pleek asked Ygryk.
“Yes.”
“Flabbergasted!” roared Grank. “For Glaux’s sake, slow down, Hoole.” Grank blinked and shook his head. In so many ways, this little prince was so much like his father, King H’rath. The unbound enthusiasms, the pure joy and delight in owlkind, in life!
“Well, can we keep him?”
“Keep him!” Grank, Theo, and Phineas all hooted in unison.
“Hoole,” Grank said sharply. “He is a living thing, an owl. We do not keep living things. We welcome him. Welcome, young Phineas.”
“Thank you, sir,” Phineas said solemnly, and spun his head toward Hoole. “I am not an object for your passing fancies, I am not an amusement.” Hoole wilfed a bit asowls do when they are suddenly intimidated. There was certainly nothing amusing about the little owl right now.
“Yes, yes. Sorry. I understand,” Hoole said. “But will you stay for a while? I’ll share my vole with you. It was too big to eat all at once. So I just tore off the head for a snack.” Hoole hopped up to a notch hole where they stored food and dragged out the headless vole. “It’s all yours!”
My Glaux, thought Grank. If the kingdom is restored and there is ever a court again in the N’yrthghar, how shall I ever prepare this lad for courtly behavior?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Snow Rose Meets Elka
Y gryk and Pleek had landed on the smallest of a cluster of three islands called the Tridents. It was here that Ygryk would perform an ancient charm that would temporarily disguise her for one night and one day as an owl—a Great Horned, the same species as her mate. The run from the Tridents to the Bitter Sea was short, especially with this sudden change of wind, which now came from the south, boosting their speed considerably. Pleek had seen his mate do this transformation just twice before and it always amazed him. The gleaming black feathers grew dull and gradually specks of white began to appear. The dense ruff feathers that grew just under the beak turned white and those on her chest turned gray and became mottled with white patches in a ripplelike pattern. Lastly, the two huge tufts that swept out from every hagsfiend’s brow began to shrink and poke up in the manner of a Great Horned’s tufts, directly above the eyes, which now had semicircles of white feathers.
While all this was transpiring, Ygryk began to diminish in size; hagsfiends were twice as big as the largest of owls. It took but a short time for this transformation to be completed. And when it was finished, she began talking rapidly to the minute half-hags in the peculiar language of hagsfiends and their parasitic companions. Ygryk was giving them the revised flight plan instructions. With her new body, a new flight formation was necessary for the half-hags. Again Pleek’s eyes gleamed with pride. What a creature she was! And if it worked, if indeed they could capture the young son of King H’rath and Queen Siv and change him into a true hagsfiend—not merely an owl with a haggish appearance as he himself had become—if it worked, there would be no limit to their power. Although Lord Arrin had granted them the possibility of keeping this chick for their own, neither Lord Arrin nor any of his top lieutenants knew of the charm that dear Ygryk possessed to transform the owl prince into a hagsfiend. Had they known they would have never permitted the adoption. For Lord Arrin would countenance nothing that might threaten his own power. Secretly, Pleek believed that the reason he had not been permitted into Arrin’s inner circle until now was because the lord feared him. He surrounded himself with noddy owls: owls who nodded in constant agreement with him. But nowLord Arrin needed them because he wanted Siv as his consort as much as Ygryk and Pleek yearned for a chick of their own.
“Ready?” Pleek asked Ygryk.
“Yes.”
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