The River of Wind by Kathryn Lasky Page B

seen the low-flying owl heading.
    The plan was not spoken aloud. To be very safe, Eglantine reverted to a series of signs—wing signing, it was called. By making various subtle tilts and shifts of their wings, the Guardians could communicate when they did not want their voices heard. It had been developed by the Band and Otulissa after they had become members of parliament. For years as youngsters, the Band and Otulissa had eavesdropped on the parliament by “going to the roots,” as they called it. Once they became members of the parliament they feared that others might go to the roots and eavesdrop on them in turn, so the Band developed this silent way of communicating, which they taught to the other members as they joined the parliament. They only used it when they had to discuss the most sensitive issues and then adapted it to be used inother situations as well. Fortunately for Eglantine, these rocks possessed a powerful resonance, and with her acute hearing, the sound from beneath was transmitted with reasonable clarity.
    “He can’t hold out much longer…he’ll talk. Tarn, do you have that serum from the healer?”
    Primrose and Eglantine stood just under a ledge of the rock on the opposite side from where they had seen the owl enter. The words came through with increasing clarity. Other sounds came through as well, agonizing ones of an owl gasping in pain, and then the soft mewlings of dear little Bell. Glaux knew what they were doing to her!
    “I repeat, where are you from, blue owl? We want to know. Did you come from where we think the Chaw of Chaws went? My scouts followed them to the edge of the Beyond to the sea. Do you know Soren?” There was a loud wail as Bell heard her father’s name. And Eglantine herself almost yelped. She and Primrose were no longer the only ones who knew where the Chaw of Chaws had gone. Nyra knew. Maybe this blue owl was from this new kingdom? What else could explain his peculiar plumage of blue and sapphire hues? Such feather colors were unknown in the Five Kingdoms.
    Then two terrible words slithered up through the rock. “Slink melf.” Eglantine and Primrose felt their gizzards turn to stone. Slink melf was the Pure Ones’ expression for assassination squad. Eglantine signaled Primrose. In wing talk she indicated that now, while Nyra and her cohorts were in the burrows, they should make a brief reconnaissance of the nearby region. “To determine how far this encampment goes and pick up on other voices,” Eglantine signaled. They would have to find out what kind of force Nyra had in readiness and somehow get word to Soren and the others.
    They again flew low and close to the ground. Primrose, like so many tiny owls, was an expert low-altitude flier. Her skimming flight could take her mere inches above the ground. Eglantine flew a few feet higher. The combination was formidable. Between Primrose’s skimming flight and Eglantine’s superb hearing, they gathered a wealth of information not only pertaining to the extent of the Pure Ones’ encampment but also to the intentions of their leader. Nyra had lusted for the Ember of Hoole since Coryn retrieved it from the Beyond. To have the Chaw of Chaws separated from the tree in a far and distant land was perfect. It was obvious that she had somehow raised a substantial army and hidden them here. Kuneerwas riddled with bunkers. As Eglantine and Primrose listened carefully, they picked up the hum of throngs of owls chattering beneath these desert sands in this, the most isolated region of Kuneer. It had to be the Pure Ones.
    If Nyra follows Coryn, Soren, and the others to this faraway place of blue owls, and attacks them …Eglantine cut off the thought. She signaled Primrose. “We have to warn them.”
    “But how? We have no idea how to get there.”
    “The Palace of Mists!” Eglantine signed. “Soren said if anything happened, we should go and seek Bess at the Palace of Mists.”
    “We have to get out of here now! We have