Guardians Of Ga'Hoole
Purity
Chapter 11 ~ Plans and Preparations
Once we got to the edge of the canyons, I landed in line with the other owls, we bowed our heads and waited for Nyra to speak
"This is St Aegolius" she said "now we are on the edge, down there is a forest that spreads into the heart of St Aegolius, tonight I will show you how to hunt and, in two days time, your job will to be to set fire to the forest, to entice the Guardians and lead them into our trap, My husband will explain further to you tomorrow night, now here is normally mice, voles and squirrels, you will have time until the moon had risen to the top of the tallest tree to catch as much as you can, and if you can't catch any, I will show you how" she announce, I looked at Jace, then at Kludd, he smirked and so did I "begin"
I charged off of the ledge, I swooped and flew deep into the forest, I landed on a tree limb and listened for the tiniest of movements, then I heard something, I turned my head to the source, I saw a mouse scratching against a tree limb, I jumped off of the tree branch and flew as silently as I could, I stretched out my talons and caught the mouse swiftly in my claws, I think that the impact had killed it, because it wasn't moving within my talons, I landed on another tree branch and held it in my talon, I bit down into its neck to make sure it was really dead, then I returned to Mother, I landed on the ledge and put down the mouse, I bowed at Nyra then flew back into the forest, I listened out for any other movement, then I heard scratching at the tree to the left of me, I saw something like a mouse but with a bushier tail Squirrel! I launched myself at it and caught its head in my talons, I snapped its neck then grabbed it by the tail, and I flew back to Nyra then repeated the cycle.
By the time the moon had risen to the top of the tallest tree had finished I had caught 11 pieces of prey, 6 mice, 2 squirrels, a vole, and 2 rabbits, Mother looked pleased, I turned to Jace, he smiled at his prey, he had caught a total of 7 pieces of prey, mainly mice but he had also caught a rabbit, and I could tell he couldn't wait to eat it, I turned my head again to look at Mother, she stood straight and looked pleased
"Well done, now that you have caught your meals, you can pick three that you can carry back to your hollow and eat, Metalbeak is holding a meeting later tonight, but you need your armour fittings, so eat up, and I'll fetch you when the time has come" she turned and flew off, I selected three pieces of prey, a rabbit, a squirrel and a mouse, I took the rabbit in my talons, the squirrel's tail in my beak and the mouse caught under one of my talons, I took off with a bit of difficulty due to the weight, but I was still airborne, I flew back to my hollow, awaiting Mother to return, I dropped the rabbit on the floor and opened my mouth to release the squirrel, I then plucked the mouse off of my talon with my beak, then started to tuck into the fine prey.
I felt full after the squirrel and mouse, I shuffled the rabbit into a corner for me to eat later, I started preening my feathers, making them a rich, black colour, once I had finished I waited for Mother to return, during the time I stared at the moon, it was beautiful, it also started to make me think What is Metalbeak's plan? And what have we got to do with it? Should I see Grimble tonight? I saw Mother landed infront of me, knocking me out of my thoughts
"Hello Mother" I greeted her, bowing my head
"Hello Zara, you don't need to bow your head at me all of the time, just when the High Tyto is around" she walked to me took me under her wing "You are going to be fitted for your battle attire now so I suggest we hurry" we walked to the hollow entrance and took off
I followed Nyra to the mining forge, deep within the Pure Ones forces, it was quite an intense heat, I felt my feathers bake under the temperature, Mother and I landed in a tall pillar inside of the cavern
"This is the forge" Nyra said to me, I looked up at her "Your classmates will be fitted later, but I wanted you to be first" she said to me
"Thank you Mother" I thanked her enthusiastically I'm back in Mother's good books! She walked forward to another owl, he was standing on top of a metal square, his feathers were covered in soot, he was wearing a metal mask that covered his eyes, but they had slits in so he could see, he had a hammer, he was big and a reddish brown colour, I walked up to Mother, she was standing next to this owl
"Ah, Magnus, how is her attire coming along?" Mother asked the red owl, he turned and lifted his mask from his face
"I've done the pattern My Queen, but I just need the measurements" He looked down at me "Mind if I?" he said to me
"Sure" I stepped forward and I let him touch parts of my face with his talons, he was measuring in talons, then he checked my talons, and once he had finished, he turned back to his work place "It should only take a short while, it'll be done soon" he flapped his wing for us to leave, Mother nodded and walked to the side of the wall, I followed and on the wall I saw hundreds of battle attire, Claws and Helmets, some were a silvery black, others red, some even a light grey, Mother stood next to me
"The different designs on these Battle Claws show different rankings of our soldiers" she explained, I was there for about half an hour, Nyra was amused at how I was so interested in the armour, I walked up and down the line, looking up to see how far the armour went on, it looked like every owl in St Aegolius had a set of Claws and Helmet, soldier and servant, I looked at a specific white one, with red marked across the edges and on the front, Nyra stepped over to my side "This is my head set, but I don't use it much anymore" she walked off back to Magnus, I turned my head back at the Battle Claws, the colours matched Nyra's feathers perfectly I wish I could've seen Mother wear these in battle!