Disclaimer: I don't own Guardians of Ga'Hoole, but I do own the characters that were created for this story. Please don't steal my characters.
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: Willogren's Story
#1 Song of Destiny
Chapter One
Promises
Willogren taught himself how to fly using the basics Huntley had told him. Once he knew he was fully capable of flying, he left the tree and traveled for the next few months. He never stayed anywhere for very long, but every owl he met, he would ask them the meaning of the word "son." Already, he had been told that a "son" was a boy birthed to a male and a female, but Willogren knew in his gizzard that there was more to the word. There had been so much more to it when Huntley had called him "son."
Over the months, Willogren learned things he never would have learned if he had stayed in the tree he had been born in. He flew to Ambala and learned of the legend of Hortense, who had done a noble deed in some horrid place called St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. He learned the legends of Ga'Hoole, and about a group of knightly owls from a kingdom called The Great Ga'Hoole Tree that rose each night into the blackness and performed noble deeds. These owls spoke no words but true ones, and their only purpose was to right all wrongs, to make strong the weak, mend the broken, vanquish the proud, and make powerless those who abuse the frail. And he heard whispers, rumors, of an evil owl called Metal Beak, who had been killed by his brother's friend.
One day, during his third visit to the Desert of Kuneer, Willogren came across a dying Burrowing Owl. The owl reminded him so much of Huntley, Willogren forced himself to fly down and land beside the owl. Above, he hadn't noticed the gash across the owl's neck that was oozing blood. A puddle was forming beneath the owl's head.
"Who...what...did this to you?" Willogren whispered, frightened deeply. It looked like an owl's talon-work. He recognized it from his own talon marks in his prey.
The owl burbled. A red bubble formed from his beak and popped.
"Pure Ones...did this..." he gasped. His eyes fluttered open and shut.
"What is your name?" Willogren leaned over the owl. "I am Willogren."
"I am...Lankard." The owl sighed. His eyes fluttered again. "Promise...me...Willo...gren..."
"Anything, dear Lankard." Willogren bowed his head.
"Go...go...to Ga'Hoole Tree...become...a Guardian...you must." Lankard coughed. Blood oozed from the side of his beak. "Fight...the...Pure Ones!"
"Yes, Lankard. I did not know you, but I promise that I will fight the Pure Ones." Willogren preened the feathers of the Burrowing Owls head. "Find peace in glaumora, Lankard."
"Thank...you." Lankard sighed his last breath. His fluttering eyes closed and were still.
Willogren pulled Lankard into the burrow close by. Using his legs, he filled in the hole. With a final good-bye, Willogren rose into the dark night and headed toward Ambala, where he would find the River Hoole, which led into the Sea of Hoolemere, and eventually led to...the Island of Hoole, and the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.
Willogren set down on the branch of a Ga'Hoole tree beside the shimmering river below. There was an empty patch of sky where the moon normally hung. He had been flying for three nights, only stopping during the day to sleep and hunt. His wings were very tired, which had never happened to him before. He wanted to get to the Sea of Hoolemere as quickly as possible. If that meant his wings were tired, then so be it. He'd rest a few days in The Barrens, along the coast of the sea, and then he would begin his flight across Hoolemere.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" a voice said.
Willogren twisted his head to look down. He saw a dark brown owl seated on a branch a few branches below him. It was a Spotted Owl, which he recognized from meeting so many of them in Ambala. The majority of those owls had been named Hortense, after the heroic Hortense who saved eggs from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls.
"You're a Spotted Owl, aren't you?" Willogren ruffled his feathers. Whenever he met another owl, he made sure he knew exactly what sort of owl they were, so that he could determine the species of owls he met later in his travels.
"Why, yes, I am." She churred, an owl's version of laughing.
"Is your name Hortense?" Willogren wondered.
"Great Glaux, no!" She churred again. "My adopted parents didn't want to name me after the owl who saved me, when so many other owls were!"
"Adopted parents? Owl who saved you?" Willogren blinked.
"Yes. My name is Annah, and I was hatched from one of the many eggs Hortense saved from St. Aggie's." She bowed her head in a gesture of gratitude. "Hortense is a great hero."
"So I've heard," Willogren said.
"You sound ungrateful." Annah tilted her head. "What is your name?"
"Willogren."
"That is a very nice name." Annah twisted her head to look at an empty spot in the sky. "There is a new moon tonight."
"I noticed." This owl is frinking me off! Frink was the the second worst swear word an owl could say. Huntley would not approve of Willogren using such words, but Willogren rarely said them aloud. The swear words he knew were just other things he'd learned from traveling.
"Where are you from?" Annah asked.
"Here, there. Everywhere. I don't have a home." Willogren turned his head away.
"That's awful!" Annah gasped. "What happened to your parents?"
"I don't know. Never knew them," Willogren answered.
"I never knew my real parents, either. I was egg-napped by St. Aggie's. My adopted parents are the only family I know." Annah seemed to grow smaller. She was wilting, something owls did when they were afraid, or, in Annah's case, very sad.
"At least you have a family."
"You have no family?" Annah whispered.
"I have no home. How can I have a family if I have no home?" Willogren said roughly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry. I've never met anyone who didn't have a home. It's...," Annah paused.
"Strange?" Willogren's feathers fluffed up in anger.
"No. I wasn't going to say strange. I was going to say different." Annah opened her wings and fluttered to a branch level with Willogren's. "You not having a home is different."
Willogren's feathers flattened.
"You haven't met many owls, have you?" Annah asked.
"Is it that easy to tell?" Willogren looked at his talons.
"A little. Your manners are horrible." Annah churred again. "So, if you have no home, what do you do?"
"I travel. I've been to Tyto, Kuneer, Ambala, The Barrens, and The Beaks. I was thinking of heading to Silverveil when..." Willogren stopped. He'd been about to share his promise to Lankard!
"When what?" Annah urged. "Please, tell me, Willogren. I won't tell anyone else, if you don't want me to."
"I came across a dying Burrowing Owl in Kuneer." Willogren couldn't believe he was telling this owl he barely knew what had happened!
"Oh. Was he a very old Burrowing Owl?" Annah asked innocently.
"No. His throat had been slashed by the talons of another owl. He was in a battle." Willogren didn't know how he knew this, but the word "battle" just felt...right, somehow.
Annah wilted again. "Who would do such a terrible thing?"
"I'm not sure, but Lankard, the Burrowing Owl, told me it was the Pure Ones."
Annah gasped. "No! Not the Pure Ones!"
"You know of them?"
"Yes! Oh, I should have known it was them who did that to that poor, innocent owl!" Annah shook her head.
"Who are they?" Willogren demanded.
"They are Tytos, all of them. They think that all owls who are not Tytos are impure and that the world should be rid of them. They've been killing off owls in every kingdom. The stories I've heard! Oh, they're awful, horrible, terrible owls, Willogren!"
"Why is no one fighting them?" Willogren growled.
"Have you heard of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and the order of knightly owls?" Annah looked into his dark eyes with her own black eyes.
"Yes, I have."
"They are fighting the Pure Ones. They are fighting them, and St. Aggie's, all at the same time! But I am not sure how well the fighting is coming along." Annah seemed to grow an air of confidence suddenly. "But I intend to go to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, the grand Ga'Hoole tree in the middle of the Sea of Hoolemere. And when I get there, I will learn how to become a Guardian of Ga'Hoole. I will fight alongside the other Guardians, and I will help them stop the Pure Ones and St. Aggie's!"
"You're in luck, Annah. I am going to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree for the same reason. Lankard, the dying Burrowing Owl, asked me to fight the Pure Ones. And the best way to do that is to go to the Great Tree and become a Guardian," Willogren told her.
"Really? You're really going to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree?" Annah hopped up and down on her branch. "Will you come with me?"
"I don't see why not. I've been alone nearly my entire life. It's time I found some company." Willogren looked down at the River Hoole. "My original plan was to get to the coast of Hoolemere as quickly as possible, and then rest until I was strong enough for the flight to the Tree."
"That sounds perfect to me," Annah said. "You've traveled more than me, I'm sure. You'll know best!"
Willogren watched Annah spin her head around and rest her beak between her wings. She had clearly just given her full confidence in him. No other owl had ever done such a thing. It was an interesting new experience, and Willogren couldn't quite make up his mind whether it was good or bad. Willogren had never been along the River Hoole. He was just as much a foreigner to these parts as Annah. But she didn't need to know that. Did she?
The next night, after catching a meal of squirrels, the two owls swept up into the sky and began to fly over the dark river beneath them. They traveled in complete silence, which allowed Willogren to keep the sound of trickling water close enough for him to hear through the wind in the trees and the chattering of night animals. Annah was doing acrobatics in the air. First she'd dive downward, then veer left and right, left and right, and then she would catch a draft of air and ride it back up to fly beside him. It began to get annoying, but when Willogren was about to say something, Annah began talking.
"It so beautiful here, with the river talking, and the trees waving, and all the little animals saying hello. I wish I had been hatched above a river."
Willogren had never heard an owl speak like Annah was. How could a river talk? How could trees wave? And he'd never had any of his prey ever say hello to him!
"Annah, rivers don't talk," Willogren said.
"Oh, yes, they very much do! Everything has a voice, Willogren. The rivers, the trees, the clouds! You just have to know what to listen for." Annah veered off to the right, then back to the left. She was flying on his starboard side, which was his right. Huntley had taught him about starboard and port sides, but he'd certainly never mentioned trees, rivers, and clouds speaking! But the more Willogren thought about it, the more he began to understand what Annah meant.
"They all have their own voices? Like the river and it's trickling sound; that sound I listen for to know we're still following it?" Willogren looked down.
"Yes, yes! That's what I mean. The trees whisper. The grass does too, but in a different way. The rivers burble, and trickle, and laugh. I loved to sit in my hollow while my parents were away hunting and just listen to the sounds around me. I could tell you the difference between a squirrel's footsteps, and a mouse's, just by the sound!"
"I could tell the difference between a squirrel and a mouse," Willogren said.
"No, no! Not that way. It's different when you're listening and when you're hunting. Let me put it in different terms." Annah paused. "I can tell you the difference between long and short grass, just by listening to the sound of wind blowing through it."
"You can?" Willogren was impressed. He'd never really thought about wind through the grass before. Just being with Annah, he was learning so many things he'd never thought about before. "Could you teach me?"
"Yes. It's not that hard. You just sit, very quietly. You can shut your eyes or you can leave them open. But all you've really got to do is listen." Annah emphasized the word.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Willogren looked down at the trees going by underneath them and watched their boughs waving in the wind. Waving? They were waving!
"Annah! The trees! They're waving!" Willogren gasped.
"Yes, Willogren. The trees wave. It's their way of saying hello. Watch this!" Annah banked and lowered herself in the air. Willogren watched her as she flew, and then she did something extraordinary. She waggled a wing!
"Come on! Wave to the trees, Willogren!" Annah waggled her other wing. "Wave to them!"
Awkwardly, Willogren descended until he was level with Annah. It was almost effortless to waggle his own wing in a wave to the trees.
"Look, look!" Annah laughed. "They're waving again!"
The two of them waggled their wings and began hooting out hellos to the trees.
"Hellooo!" Annah hooted, waggling her wing.
"Hellooooo!" Willogren churred, waggling his own wing.
"Hellooooooo!" they both churred, crying out to the deaf trees.
"Oh, Willogren! What fun this is!" Annah went left, right, left, right in the air. "I've never had so much fun before!"
"Fun? What's fun?" Willogren blinked, watching her doing the strange movement. "What are you doing? It looks so...silly!"
"Silly? I'm dancing! It's not that hard, Willogren! Try it! You'll like it!" She started moving right, left, right, right, left. Right, left, right, right, left! "This is fun! Fun makes you happy! It's called playing!"
"Fun." Willogren tried out the word again. "I've never had...fun before."
"Then right now is better than never!" Annah crowed a song into the night.
"Right, right! Left, left!
Dance along to my song!
Right, right! Left, left!
You'll dance along
all night long!"
"What was that, Annah?" Willogren had never heard a rhyme before, and he rather liked it. It had such a flowing sound to it.
"That was a song to dance to!" Annah replied. "Here, watch me while I sing it!"
Willogren watched her. When she said right, right, she veered to the right, but when she said left, left, she went to the left. At the part of "Dance along to my song," she swooped downwards and flared her tailfeathers so that she slowed down. Then she went right again, and then left, and when she came to the part of "You'll dance along all night long," she swooped upwards instead of down, and flared her tailfeathers again.
"That's a dance, Willogren. You try now! It'll make time go faster, I'm sure of it!" Annah urged him. "We'll start slow, and then once you've got it, we'll go faster and faster!"
Willogren didn't know what else to say, so he agreed. Annah had taught him the entire dance she called "Right and Left" by the time the sun rose on the horizon. Fully tired from a night's worth of dancing and traveling, the two owls landed in a fir tree beside the river and slept away the day.
End of Chapter One