Exile by Kathryn Lasky

Author:Kathryn Lasky [LASKY, KATHRYN]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780439888080
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Published: 2010-11-20T06:00:00+00:00

It had been two nights since the Band had left Ambala. They had long forgotten the weather experiments, the original reason for their trip to the mainland. They were much more interested in trying to determine how widespread the influence of the Striga and his Blue Brigade were. To do this they had to operate with some stealth. Keep a low wing, flying on the edges of the night. There was always the chance of being mobbed by crows, but in recent times, ever since Doc Finebeak, a great friend of crows, had begun to reside at the tree, the Guardians had been mostly left alone by the raucous creatures. Therefore, more and more the Band found their flights extending into the morning and even afternoon hours of the day. Unfortunately, they came across ample evidence of the Blue Brigade’s devastation. They spotted numerous smoldering fires each morning, littered with the charred remnants of ornaments obviously bought from Trader Mags: countless books, scorched jewels, singed scraps of paintings.

One evening shortly after leaving Ambala, a piece of paper flapping against a slender birch tree attracted their attention. They flew down to take a closer look.

“What the…” Gylfie reached it first and was hovering as she read it aloud.

“‘The four members of the Guardians of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, known collectively throughout the owl kingdoms as the Band, were seen consorting with scrooms and dabbling in faithless acts of hagscraft. They were doing this under the cover of a so-called scientific expedition. Further information suggests that they have renounced their Guardian oath and switched their allegiance to the Northern Kingdoms. For this reason, the parliament of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree forbids anyone to welcome them into their hollows, speak to them, or transact any manner of business with them. Warning: These owls are considered dangerous.’”

Luckily, the ground was only a foot or so beneath them because Gylfie, Digger, and Soren looked at each other, wilfed, and went yeep, falling gently to the ground.

“This is outrageous!” Soren shouted.

“We’re as good as exiled,” Digger said.

“Twilight, get over here!” Soren yelled. “You gotta look at this notice written by some scribe. Absolutely outrageous!”

Gylfie turned her head to look at Twilight, who had been investigating a still smoldering fire. The Great Gray looked like a pillar of solid ashes. He was frozen, stiff, like one of the statues in the Palace of Mists.

What could have silenced Twilight? They all rushed over to where the Great Gray stood and looked down.

There was the charred skeleton of an owl, still lashed to the stump of a burnt stake.

“This is hagscraft!” Soren said in a hoarse whisper.

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