Читать книгу The Siege - Кэтрин Ласки, Kathryn Lasky - Страница 7

PROLOGUE

Sparks flew off his beak as the owl, mad with rage, careened through the night sky.

“I must find water! I must find water! This mask will melt my eyes. Glaux blood on my brother’s gizzard!” the Barn Owl screeched as his glowing beak sliced the blackness of the night. The curse, the worst that an owl could say, seemed to relieve Kludd of the terrible feelings that stormed within him. But hate still fed him, fed his flight, fed his desperate search for a cool pond in which to plunge his mask of molten metal, his singed feathers set aflame by his brother Soren in a battle that had gone wrong. All wrong!

Below, he spotted the glint of the moon off a smooth liquid surface. Water! The huge Barn Owl banked and began to spiral downwards. Soon, cool water. He had lost his beak in one battle. He had lost all of his face feathers in another. His ear slits had been scarred this time but he still had one eye and, most important, he still had his hatred. Kludd fed and coddled his hatred as a mother owl fed and coddled her baby chicks.

Thank Glaux he still could hate!