Chapter 1
Sky glided easily through the swaying of branches of her home tree; a mouse gripped tightly in her talons. She was hungry and hadn't eaten anything so plump in days. The young Eagle Owl alighted down onto the branch which sat just outside of her hollow and flung her mouse into it, smacking her beak in hunger. Yellow eyes glistening, Sky hopped in, ruffled her feathers that consisted of many shades of brown and devoured the mouse in moments; fur, bones and all. Flopping down with a sigh of contentment, Sky closed her eyes; her wings strewed out comfortably.
Outside, the sun was just beginning to rise. Pink clouds and pale blue blessed the Yonder above as it chased the night away. Trees became darkened and mere silhouettes against the sky and, outside, Sky could hear the soft awakening of animals.
Oh, if only life could be like this all the time. Sky thought to herself. She didn't like working. Sky, though fit and in her prime, was very lazy when it came to working on something she didn't like. If there was any way someone could get out of working, Sky would be the one to find it. Shifting into a different sleeping position, Sky smacked her beak once again to get the last of the mouse taste down, and began drifting to sleep.
But a soft stirring of wind within her hollow made Sky opened her eyes once again. "Who's there?"
Standing at the very entrance of her hollow was Griselda, an old Great Gray owl and one of Sky's closest friends.
"Griselda, it's almost dawn! What are you doing here?" Sky, waking up a bit more, felt a twitch in her gizzard as she caught the panicked look on Griselda's face.
Griselda stumbled over and, with all of the breath she had left, proclaimed, "The Pure Ones are here!"
Sky felt her gizzard give a great shake and anger crept into her piercing, yellow eyes, making her feathers fluff out. Everyone had heard of the Pure Ones and their evil leader Nyra. Sky used to live in the same region as those dreadful owls and they were the exact reason she had retreaded here, along with Griselda and her mate, Smoke. She wanted to be as far away from those vile birds as possible and swore to never lay eyes on them as long as she lived.
"We have to leave. We have to leave right now. Come on, we'll go get Smoke and leave as soon as possible." Sky rapidly made her way toward the hollow entrance, flapping her wings and preparing to fly away, far away, as far as her wings would let her.
"Sky, we cannot leave!" Griselda had obviously caught her breath again and her stern, exuberant voice rang through the hollow.
Sky sighed. As a single, leaderless owl, Sky had very little to worry about or follow, and was a daring wanderer, always loving to fly off to unknown places, always ready to face unknown danger and always had a great sense of adventure. Griselda, on the other hand, was very clingy to her homes and the only reason she had left with Sky so many years ago was because she greatly hated the Pure Ones as well.
Sky remembered a long time ago, when she, Griselda and Smoke lived in the old forest and Griselda had cordially invited her to watch her only four chicks finally leave home and fly off. Sky, being such good friends with the owl, could never turn down such an offer and was quickly over at their home tree. The four chicks were all set to take flight together-for they had sworn to never leave home without each other- but, just as they took flight, Griselda began bawling her eyes out and launched herself into the air as if ready to force one of her chicks to stay. If it has not been for Smoke standing so close, she would've succeeded too. Smoke had snatched Griselda by the talon and forced her back into the hollow, telling his chicks to go. It took several hours of both Sky and Smoke holding Griselda down in the hollow before she finally calmed down and regained composure. After she did, she was fine and almost glad her chicks were able to care for themselves.
"And why not Griselda? We left last time, why is now so different?" Sky turned to face the Great Gray challengingly; her ear turfs making her look much larger, angrier than what she really was. But Sky could see the determination burning within this owl's yellow eyes and she knew that the chances of winning this argument were very thin, if not impossible.
"Because Sky, last time the Guardians of Ga'Hoole knew exactly where the Pure Ones were. Now they don't have the slightest idea, but we do. They're on our territory Sky! They're in forest! And it is our right and duty to protect it. Not only the forest, but maybe all of owl kind." Griselda stood tall and proud, staring Sky straight in the eye.
This elderly owl had always been good at giving convincing speeches and so, Sky hopped back into the hollow, settled down on the moss nest in the back she rarely used, and inquired, "Alright, what's your plan?"
A sly, devious smile slinked across Griselda's beak and, with great detail, she unleashed her plot.