Prologue

On a warm summer evening in the Forest Kingdom of Tyto, all seemed calm. The crickets chirped in their usual way, and the moon sliced through the tall evergreens, giving all of them – particularly the blue green spruce trees – an ethereal, silvery glow. But in a fir tree near a branch of the River Hoole, the atmosphere was anything but calm.

"But why, Da?" A young nestling shreed, his voice quivering with upset. "The St. Aggies raids will only grow stronger, and they won't care about the blessings of peace. And the rouge smith here is one of the best in the Southern Kingdoms. Why, just last night, Leroy was telling me that he and his da – "

"Kludd Alba," the owlet's father said in a voice as cold as iron, "I do not give a steaming pile of racdrops what Leroy and his family do. I am not getting battle claws, and I refuse to allow discussion of such things in this hollow. If you are a wise young owl, I firmly hope that you will drop the matter, because such discussions will produce no results here!" And with that, the father flew off in a huff, with the mother, who had been covering the ear slits of Kludd's younger brother for most of the discussion, not too far behind. With that, the nest maid, a blind snake with scales the colour of dawn, continued to clean the nest, as she had been during the argument.

Kludd sighed, trying desperately to calm himself down. He then whispered tentatively to his younger brother, who was still covered in down, "Soren, don't you think that maybe Da might be – " But when he turned his head in Soren's direction, his younger brother was scratching a picture of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree – a place that was a favourite subject of the stories their Da told – into the wall behind him.

Probably just as well. Kludd thought to himself. He wouldn't give a steaming pile of racdrops either. By all means, Soren was a decent enough brother to Kludd – polite, loving, and respectful. However, in Kludd's mind, he lacked both the courage to stand up to his older brother and the imagination to consider more than the blessings of peace their father spoke of so often. Kludd was often quite rough towards his younger brother, and while his father's lectures annoyed him frequently, he did feel a teensy bit bad most of the time and wished Soren could simply stand up to him. Hopefully, he would grow more courage in the future, but until then, Kludd supposed it was his duty to teach his brother to stand up for himself.

And he'll need these lessons more then ever now. Kludd thought to himself. I've heard horrible tales about these St. Aggie's owls. What if one of them snatches us while Mum and Da are out hunting? What if they snatch Soren while I'm gone? Someone will have to defend the hollow, and while Mrs. Plithiver would probably be able to warn us, that is the only way she could help us. At least I'll be able to stay in the hollow for a little while after First Flight. Perhaps after that, I can convince Da to let me have battle claws, and when those brutes from St. Aggie's come, I'll be ready.

As night turned to day and Kludd settled into his nest, his last thoughts were, I'll defend this hollow. If it's the last thing I do, I'll defend our family.