Read Online Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky - Free Book Online Page B

Nyroc had refused to harm Dustytuft, Nyra flew into a rage and savagely slashed her own son’s face. The sight of his blood made Uglamore’s gizzard lurch. He tracked through the night, northward. He almost didn’t notice that he had arrived in a forest. The sun had risen, but tall pine and spruce trees cast long, dark shadows. From the floor of the deep forest, Uglamore could barely tell that it was morning.
    It had been a lifetime since he had been there, but there was no mistake, this was where he came from. Ah, the Shadow Forest! Uglamore was home.
    Uglamore followed Nyroc’s trail as far as the pond, then the trail disappeared. Snow had begun to fall and covered up any clues Nyroc might have left as to his whereabouts. Uglamore looked into the pond, the edges of which had started to freeze. He remembered looking at his own reflection in that very pond as a hatchling. How he had admired his own heart-shaped face and black eyes. “Tyto alba through and through,” his mum had said of him. Uglamore glanced into the water again. He could hardly recognize himself. The years he spent with the Pure Ones had not been kind to him. His face had grown thin. The once-smooth outline of his face, where the white feathers of his facial disc met the brownish ones, had become broken and ragged. He couldn’t help but think he looked like a mean old owl, the kind of owl that hatchlings stayed away from but made fun of when they were out of earshot.
    He looked up at the trees around the pond. Would he recognize the one that he once called home? No, he decided. None of the trees looked remotely familiar. He had only vague memories of this place, and besides, the landscape must have changed since his hatchling days. In fact, just on the other side of the pond, a tree had toppled in a recent storm. He wondered if that could have been where his hollow was. He flew toward the fallen tree out of curiosity. The tree had many hollows and smaller holes. I suppose this could have been my home , Uglamore thought. He approached a hollow about halfway up the trunk, and poked his head in. Uglamore jumped back instinctively. An owl! Owls did not go poking into the hollows of strange owls. He didn’t think any owls would occupy the hollow in an uprooted tree. But those feathers… He knew those feathers. Nyroc!
    The poor hatchling must have been exhausted from his journey. Who wouldn’t be, having flown all this way on tattered wings? Nyroc did not stir as Uglamore poked his head into the hollow once more. He had found him after all. He had followed Nyroc to make sure he was okay. Now that he saw that he was, Uglamore didn’t know what to do next. Would he join Nyroc on the run from Nyra? He decided he couldn’t. He might be of help to Nyroc now, but once the young owl grew stronger, Uglamore would only slow him down by staying with him. Should he just turn around and go back to the Pure Ones? Was that the only way for this old owl? No, he could not. There seemed to be no place in this world for the old warrior.
    Nyroc slept peacefully on a bed of moss, his chest rising and falling with each breath. As Uglamore watched the young one, the light reflecting off of the fallen snow played a trick on his old eyes. From where he was standing, it looked as if there was a crown of light atop the sleeping hatchling’s head. He had heard of just such a crown in the forbidden legends of Ga’Hoole—the crown that marked the true king! The sight sent a shiver through Uglamore’s feathers. He blinked twice to clear his eyes. When he looked again, the crown of light was still there, and it was even brighter. He extended his wing as if to touch it, but pulled back. His gizzard told him there was something magical about this sight.
    Uglamore was so lost in his thoughts that he had not heard the disturbance in the air. What’s this? Company. Two owls approached the fallen tree on which Uglamore perched: first, a Masked Owl, and then, a Barn Owl who was all too