Three Talons was a Great Horned Owl, or Bubo virginianus, of unspecified gender. They were a member of the Ice Talons League, first as a soldier, then as a slipgizzle. They were so named for the two talons that Ulfa, during a battle between the Ice Talons and Kielian League, snapped off by Ulfa, leaving only three of five talons on one of their claws.
History[]
The Rise of a Legend[]
Three Talons (whose real name is unknown) was first mentioned by Raskin and Ulfa when two recounted a short skirmish against Bylyric's followers to Gundesfyrr and Lyze. During a short skirmish above the first of the Ice Talons promontory, they and one of their Horned kinsmen came up against Lyze's parents, them against Ulfa, the other against Raskin. In the conflict, Ulfa's foe removed one of the Whiskered Screech's eyes with an "inferior" ice splinter, yet only seconds later, Ulfa, in an instinctive movement, snapped off two of the Horned owl's talons. Despite this injury, Three Talons was able to escape with their life, yet was scarred forevermore.
Sometime later, thanks to the treachery of the falcon messenger Glynnis, Three Talons and the very same owl they had fought alongside against Rask and Ulfa, who had since taken, like them, a name in reference to their battle scars, in his case, the name 'Half Beak', to a secret training camp on the Nacht Sted, where the Kielian League was recruiting owls and snow leopards to the war effort. The two Great Horneds used their scars to their advantage and approached the leader of the group, Moss, claiming to be hireclaws wounded in the war, unable to go into battle, but still very experienced and happy to assist his training plans, which Moss accepted, not having the luxury of time to look into the 'hireclaws' history more carefully. Half Beak and Three Talons then began assisting in the training as a greater force of Bylyric's soldiers were mustered, but in a strike of fortune, Loki, Blix and Lyze, the son of Three Talons old foe, Ulfa, stumbled upon the training grounds and Lyze recognized the injuries two of the recruits sustained to match the injuries delivered to a pair of Great Horned Ice Talons by his parents and identified them as slipgizzles. Half Beak and Three Talons were the only owls (the Snow Leopards were also not aware) not familiar with Kielian spoken code and thus were unaware of the warning Moss and his other owls were given to the presence of traitors in their midst.
Three Talons revealed themselves as a turnfeather only hours later, however, when Half Beak led a force of Ice Talon raiders on the camp. The forewarning Moss and his troops had received, combined with the aid of an Others' weapon, however, led the Kielian League to triumph and all of the attackers, Three Talons the three-taloned Great Horned among them, were all killed.