SNOW IS BACK! XD yes. You may celebrate.
Sorry I haven't written anything in a while. I've been drawing more recently :P
Chapter 4: High Tyto
Darkness fell over the already dark forest and the owls began to wake.
Eglantine yawned and her eye drooped as the sun disappeared over the horizon. She remembered how a while back, this was the same time in which she had last seen Soren. Soren! In her lack of restful sleep, she almost mistook Noran for her brother. Noran had his eyes closed and was taking deep breathes but she knew that he wasn't completely asleep. He and Eglantine had been taking turns resting. As soon as one seemed to be entering the pain state, as they called it, the other would wake him or her up. Even though this meant that they were only getting half the rest, it was better than none at all.
Now that it was first black, Eglantine started rousing Noran from his sleep. 'Hey,' she said. 'Wake up!'
'Five more minutes,' Noran murmured unconsciously.
Eglantine groaned. She supposed he could have a bit more time; he had been up for half the night. Anyway, as far as she knew, hey weren't meant to do anything in this new place anyway.
The other owlets in the hollow were stirring and began to wake up. As one of them blinked their eyes open, Eglantine gasped. Their eyes seemed extremely dull, lifeless, and most of all; sad. It almost seemed as though they were possessed and their memories and thoughts were trapped inside. Eglantine squeezed in behind Noran at the furthest side from the other owlets. Noran stirred at her movement and yawned as he woke up.
'What's wrong?' he asked sleepily when he noticed Eglantine shivering beside him. Eglantine only stared at the other zombie like owlets. Noran followed her gaze and realized what she was worried about.
'They're still owls so I don't think they'll hurt us. If this is what those owls that brought us here are doing, what would be the point of having them injure each other?' he said reassuringly. 'I think.'
A gust of wind blew through the hollow's entrance and a large owl landed on the branch outside. Eglantine waited nervously as the owl poked its head through and looked around at the owlets inside. Eglantine and Noran missed is glare as they were crammed in the shadows next to the entrance in fright.
'Okay, follow me,' the owl said in an authorized voice. He jumped off the branch and onto the ground which was about a metre and a half away.
One by one, the owlets jumped out not judging the distance at all, in fact, it looked as though they were just walking on normal flat ground. It amazed Eglantine that none of them fell over when they landed on the hard dusty ground below.
Eglantine was quite scared when it was her turn but was determined not to make a fool of herself even if it was just in front of zombie owls. Anyway, it would be bad if they found out that she wasn't hypnotized. She managed to jump down just like the others though she stumbled a bit when she forgot about her injured leg.
They all followed the sooty walking among the dead leaves and dirt until the thick trees cleared and they saw man owls, too many to count, flying around in a flurry of wings. It was almost too much for Eglantine to take in. She had never seen so many owls in her life, all of them were different, though they had the same features. Theremustbemoretypesofowlsthanthis,Eglantine thought looking around. In her father's stories, she had heard tales about owls that were a lot smaller, bigger, had different face shapes and even ones who preferred to walk rather than fly. Even so, she was awed at the amount of different owls, and how they flew so effortlessly, dodging the lethal spines of the trees.
'You will work here,' the owl said, snapping her attention back. He was gesturing to the cave entrance…
A few weeks later, Eglantine was rolling a rock about the size of an owlet's head. It had a few shiny pieces inside it, reflecting the moonlight. It'spretty,Eglantine thought. For her, it was the only positive side of working at the strange place, her feet were aching from rolling the rocks around and there seemed to be no end to the work load. She knew for a fact that owls her age didn't have to do such hard work. She sighed as she reached a pile of rocks where she deposited her rock.
'Okay! Break time!' shouted a large owl who was watching from the top of the cave entrance. He was Wortmore, a lieutenant. Eglantine didn't really care what the difference was between ranks. All she knew was that anyone with a position was just as bossy and conceited as the others.
An owlet sighed and sat down promptly beside her. She looked up to see Noran. He was just as tired as she was.
'Have you found out anything else about this place?' Noran asked.
'Yes, though I don't really know if it's useful,' Eglantine answered. 'Wortmore was talking to Uglamore about Kludd and Nyra being really nice to each other.'
'I heard that too, though I can't imagine either of them being nice at all,' Noran stopped cautious of Eglantine.
'It's alright,' Eglantine reassured him with a weak smile, 'I agree.'
'Why do you suppose they think less of those who aren't Tyto Alba?' she asked changing the subject.
'I don't really know, but we can't change that can we?' Noran answered looking at a grown Sooty being jeered at by others.
Eglantine glanced around. The other owlets that worked with them acted just like normal owls now, they didn't have zombie eyes or anything. They talked, acted and moved like regular owlets, it's hard to believe that they were ever any different. The thing that tried to lock them up inside themselves didn't come any more. Eglantine and Noran always had peaceful sleep. The place they were at wasn't that bad now, they could eat, sleep, and even though they had to work, it wasn't too bad.
'Hey there!' a voice called. Eglantine looked up to see Ayala. She was a pretty owlet, and had become friends with Eglantine since she had snapped out of her 'zombieness'
'Hello, Ayala,' Eglantine greeted her happily.
'Guys, I heard the High Tyto is coming around today!' Ayala squealed. 'I heard he's the bravest, coolest, strongest bird ever!' she continued squealing and yapping on about how awesome the Hight Tyto was that Eglantine didn't bother listening anymore.
Suddenly, she stopped. A figure glided down from the trees on the side of the clearing and stopped in front of Wortmore with his back towards them so she couldn't see her face. They were talking quietly and every now and then looking over to the pile of shiny metal they had made.
Eglantine looked over to Ayala; she hadn't been making a sound since the owl had arrived. Her eyes were glazed and she was staring straight at the owl, just like everyone else around them.
Then they started chanting. 'All praise High Tyto.'
So how did you like this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it :D
~ SnowyJay
