Read Guardians of Ga'Hoole 03 - The Rescue for Free Online Page B

been referring to a thing—something that struck dread in him, like flecks. Yes, he had suspected flecks because it was Bubo himself who had first explained to him that the flecks they had been forced to pick at St. Aggie’s were a kind of special metal with what he had called “magnetic properties.” He had said that when all the tiny unseeable parts, the flecks in these metals were lined up, it created a force that was called magnetic. Now Soren didn’t know what to think. He was relieved that Metal Beak had nothing to do with flecks. But why was Bubo so agitated? The big, flaming Horned Owl was almost hopping out of his feathers.
    “You stay clear of him. You ain’t to go tangling with that owl, Soren.”
    “Metal Beak is an owl?”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    “What kind?”
    “No one is for sure what kind he be. A bad kind, that’s all I can tell you.”
    Soren was confused. “How can you not be sure about what kind he is?”
    “Because he wears a metal beak and a metal mask over most his face.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Wouldn’t really know,” Bubo said as if he didn’t really want to discuss it. “Some say he flies noisy like a Pygmy Owl, but he ain’t no pygmy size, I’ll tell you that. Well, maybe Barn Owl but bigger, much bigger, but not as big as a Great Gray. Some swear he’s got ear tufts like a Great Horned, yours truly here. Others say no. But there’s one thing they all agree on.”
    “What’s that?”
    Bubo’s voice dropped. “He’s the most brutal owl in all the kingdoms of owls. He’s the most vicious owl on earth.”
    Soren swore that he felt his gizzard drop to his talons. When Soren and his band had been on their journey to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, they had come across a dying Barred Owl. To Soren and his mates it looked like a murder by St. Aggie’s top lieutenants.
    “Was it St. Aggie’s?” Glyfie had asked. And the dying Barred Owl had responded with his last breath. “I wish it had been St. Aggie’s. It was something far worse. Believe me—St. Aggie’s—Oh! You only wish!”
    Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger could not imagine anything worse, anything more brutal than St. Aggie’s. But the Barred Owl had told them differently. There was something far worse. It was nameless and now possibly faceless, but so frightened were the four owls that theyhad begun to refer to this monster or possibly monsters as the “you only wish.” The few times they had begun to ask about this evil thing, the owls of the Ga’Hoole Tree, the rybs, had deftly turned the conversation to something else. But now Bubo was telling him of this brutal owl known as Metal Beak.
    Bubo would never turn away from a young owl’s question. That simply wasn’t his style. So Soren did not feel reluctant to press him. “You know, Bubo, how Gylfie, Digger, Twilight, and I found that dying Barred Owl in The Beaks?”
    “Yes, I heard tell of that and the bobcat that you four young’uns managed to kill right stylishly, I’d say. Dropped a coal in his eye, direct hit from how far up was it?”
    “Oh, I’m not sure, Bubo. But tell me this—do you think that the Barred Owl might have been done in by this Metal Beak?”
    “Very possible! Possible, indeed. Maybe even probable, which, as you know if you study your arithmetic, can happen more often than possible. In other words, probable is more possible than possible.”
    “Yes, yes, of course.” Bubo could go off in this way, and it could be very difficult to get him back on track. “I see what you mean. But why would it be very possible, or maybe even probable, that this Metal Beak killed the Barred Owl?”
    “Well, the Barred Owl were a rogue smith, warn’t he.” But it really wasn’t a question. Soren wasn’t quite sure if he understood Bubo’s meaning. It was as if Bubo was saying that if an owl was a rogue smith, this sometimes could happen.
    “Yes,” said Soren hesitantly. “But…”
    “But what?”
    “Well, Bubo, I am not sure exactly