Then wingbeats filled the air. The guards ringing the edge of the grove raised their weapons, but Xeros waved them back. He stood unflinching as dark shadows circled overhead—wingspans twice the size of a man.
The first of the monsters touched down just before him on four velvet paws. A lion’s body and tail with an eagle’s head and wings—a gryphon. The sharp beak opened in a piercing cry, challenging him. The rest of the gryphons continued to glide overhead, threatening from the air.
Xeros spread his arms wide and lowered his head before the leader of the gryphons. Humility—he would not command, but entreat. The gryphon would not understand his words, so he spoke with thoughts and feelings instead. He projected the image of a lush land to the north, human villages and towns full of food. Easy for the powerful gryphons to take what they wanted, he promised. They could snatch flocks of sheep right out of their fields and destroy the humans’ homes.
The gryphon lifted his head, intrigued by the suggestion. He turned to one side, examining the priest with one beady black eye, then cocked his head the other way to look with the other eye. His returning thoughts were probing with questions. Humans wouldn’t fight back? Their sharp weapons wouldn’t strike down his family if he went for their sheep?
Xeros sent reassurance back. The gryphons were far more powerful than the humans, especially in large numbers. Surely this strong gryphon leader had a family big enough to take out one or two puny human villages.
The gryphon flared out his wings in answer and reared up in his back paws, showing the wicked claws on his front feet. He opened his sharp beak and let out another cry. Above him, the other gryphons cried out in answer, calling out their readiness for the hunt.
Xeros bowed his head deeper, showing his respect for the gryphons’ strength. Then he pointed his staff to Kyratia in the north. Those lands were there for the gryphons’ taking, he promised. The humans would cower in fear against their onslaught.
The gryphon leader let out a final shriek and launched himself into the air. He beat his powerful wings, sweeping the whole grove with the breeze of his flight, and turned north. The other gryphons angled into formation and followed him.
Xeros let out a sigh of relief when they were finally out of sight. He was exhausted from the effort, but a feeling of triumph washed through him, too. He turned and bowed to Duke Kleon. “The first attack is on its way to your enemies.”
Kleon’s mouth hung open at what he’d just seen. He shook himself, glancing back as if to reassure himself that his guards were still there, and then clapped his hands together with glee. “Marvelous performance! I was worried there for a moment. You told the gryphons what to do?”
Xeros permitted himself a small smile, but he kept his head bowed respectfully. “Yes, Your Grace. These monsters were created by wyld magic, so they can be influenced by it. Our Lord Varula commands all the wild things of nature. As His followers, we’ve learned how to harness this power. Man should not fear the wyld, but conquer it.”
Kleon turned to Pelagia and grinned. “Ah, yes, they are as good as you promised.” He looked back at Xeros with wide eyes. “But, tell me, that was only one pride of gryphons, yes? Maybe fifteen total? How much damage do you think they can do before the mercenaries kill them?”
“An excellent question, Your Grace,” Xeros said. He gestured to the other priests. “That leads to the next step of our plan. We shall summon more gryphons, enough to darken the skies over Kyratia. But it would be easier if we could get back across the border and call them there directly. Is there a way you could gain us safe passage into the state?”
Kleon bobbed his head eagerly. “That makes much more sense.” He beckoned to one of his guards, who came forward. “I’ll contact my spymaster immediately to arrange it. He can disguise you as traders or something, and you can easily get back into Kyratia.” He clapped his hands together again. “Oh, I like this plan. And the best part is, no one will know that I was behind these attacks. Those gryphons could have come from anywhere.”
Xeros braced himself against his staff again, swaying slightly with exhaustion. It would take all of the priests’ abilities to keep calling more monsters to the attack, and he wasn’t sure how much control they would have once the attacks started. They would have to be very careful. But he was happy that the first part was successful, and he couldn’t wait to get back into Kyratia. The so-called Duke Galenos would come to regret banishing them, and everyone would see the power of wyld magic when wielded properly, instead of the chaos caused by Varula Soma.
Lord Varula would surely bless them with victory.
***
Drained by the summoning, Xeros was forced to slow his steps on the way back to the city. That meant Pelagia was able to catch up with him. He’d managed to avoid her ever since they’d been exiled to Sympaia, and he was about to leave for an extended time, so he resigned himself to one conversation.
He turned to her with a forced smile. “What can I do for you, citizen?”
Her wrinkled face lit up. “I wanted to congratulate you on that magnificent summoning, and wish you luck on your journey. I was afraid you would leave without giving me a chance to say farewell.”
He bowed his head politely. “There is no luck. All I do is with the blessing of Our Lord, Varula. You may pray to Him for the success of this mission.”
“Do not underestimate your own abilities,” she said pointedly, rearranging the folds of her kattar like a ruffled chicken. “I know how hard you have worked to reach this point. Whether you want it or not, I am proud of you.”
Varula, give me patience to deal with her foolishness, he prayed silently. He smiled at her again but said nothing.
She walked beside him for several minutes without speaking, but finally, she sighed and reached for his arm. “And I want to tell you to be careful. Sneaking back into Kyratia is dangerous. If you get caught again—”
“I will not squander this opportunity by acting recklessly,” he interrupted her, shrinking back from her touch. Even divine intervention couldn’t help him stay silent during another one of her lectures. “No doubt the duke’s spymaster will instruct us thoroughly on how to proceed with caution. I intend to memorize every lesson.”
She pulled away from him and sighed again. “Yes, well.” She folded her arms. “I still worry about you.”
He clenched his staff tighter. “I am a grown man and a trained priest. I no longer require your care or concern.”
“This isn’t the life that I wanted for you,” she went on as if he had said nothing. “If you didn’t want to be a merchant, I could have had you apprenticed to any other guild, or arranged a marriage into a noble family, or almost anything else. I had such dreams for you as a child. No matter how high I rose, I always thought I could use it to help you rise even higher.”
This was an old argument of theirs, but he wasn’t going to get drawn into it again. He’d laid out his reasons for joining the Temple of Varula a hundred times. If she still refused to accept them, it wouldn’t do him any good to say them all again. He hunched his shoulders and kept quiet.
“Now look at you,” she continued. She gestured to him. “Leaning on your staff and hobbling along like an old woman. I’ve never seen a mage so worn out after one spell. Maybe this wyld magic is as dangerous as they say if this is what it does to you.”
How infuriating! Couldn’t she make up her mind? One moment, she was proud of him, but in the next she questioned his entire life. He couldn’t take it anymore.
He drew himself up, ignoring his exhausted and aching muscles, and turned to face her. “I have no choice now,” he snapped at her. “I was marked by Varula from the moment you brought me into His temple. I cannot ignore His gift even if I wanted to.”
She stepped back, her hands flying to her face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she whispered. “I begged for help everywhere I could, but they all said the sea serpent’s venom would kill you. Only the Servants of Varula offered any kind of cure.�
�� She turned away from him. “I didn’t know how great the cost would be. Would it be better if I’d let you die?”
He thought about going to comfort her, putting his arms around her shoulders and telling her that he didn’t see his gift as a cost or burden, but her desperate ploy for sympathy would only drag him back into her web of manipulation. He clenched his fists and kept his distance. “I do not regret any moment of my life. If you feel otherwise, you may ask the gods for Their forgiveness, but do not come to me.”
He turned away before she could say anything else and called one of the other priests with a question about their plan. So long as he wasn’t alone, she wouldn’t bother him again. He filled the rest of the walk back to the city with esoteric discussions about gryphons and summoning monsters, just to be sure.
Xeros glanced back over his shoulder once as they entered the city gates. Pelagia held her head up high, her face once again a mask to hide her emotions, and she didn’t look in his direction at all. He sighed with relief. He didn’t relish hurting his mother, but she would only get in the way. He needed to concentrate on the mission ahead of him.
Tatiana IV
Tatiana tightened the girth on the saddle and patted Lilywhite’s shoulder. “Ready to stretch your wings, girl?” she said, clicking her tongue at the marewing.
Lilywhite swiveled one ear back toward Tatiana when she spoke, but she didn’t turn her head. Her nostrils flared, scenting something on the breeze, and stamped her feet. She seemed eager to get moving.
Tatiana lifted one boot up to the stirrup, braced herself on the front of the saddle, and swung herself up onto the white marewing’s back. With a nudge from her heel and a tug on the reins, Lilywhite set off down the field, gathering speed up to a canter. Before they reached the fence at the end, she gathered her haunches beneath her and sprung up into the air, spreading her wings to catch an updraft.
The cold morning air cut through even her wool-lined leather flight jacket, making her shiver. But the day would warm up soon enough, despite the fact that it was supposed to be winter. Looking down, she could see the effects of the lack of rain on the land below them. Instead of the green of new growth, there was nothing but brown, except for the evergreen trees in the forest.
Tatiana turned Lilywhite east, heading toward the Maenna River. Here, there were farms struggling to irrigate their fields in place of the winter storms. She’d never seen grain growing before, but she didn’t think it was supposed to be so short and straggly three months after planting.
She scanned the ground below carefully for any signs of trouble. When she and Lilywhite had graduated from training, they’d been assigned to a marewing flight under Captain Apisaon, but it wasn’t much of a change. They spent most of their time on patrol duty, but if she spotted any monsters, she was supposed to head immediately back to the fort to report so they could send more experienced fighters to take care of it. Otherwise, it was just flying back and forth while keeping a watchful eye, then back to the fort to sharpen weapons or whatever other chores needed to be done.
So, maybe it wasn’t as exciting as she’d first thought the mercenary life would be. But she was a rider, and Lilywhite was the most beautiful, friendly marewing she could have ever imagined. Privately, she was relieved that she didn’t have to face another fight just yet and feel the rage rising, the part of her that wanted to kill. Someday, she would have to face that part of her again, but for now she was content just to fly and feel the wind on her face.
When they reached the eastern side of the river, she turned Lilywhite north to fly upstream. She looked to the west, just in time to see Philagros on Northstar, heading back from his patrol. He raised an open hand: part greeting, part signal of the all-clear. They’d seen nothing out of the ordinary on their circuit.
She raised her hand back and grinned, even though he couldn’t see it from this distance. Philagros was in another flight, since all of the new riders were spread out to different captains, but he was posted at Fort Ropytos so at least she got to see him around. Her flight mates were kind and gave her advice, but she was a little intimidated by the older riders, so Philagros was the only real friend she had to talk to. She’d lost touch with Delia when she’d joined the rider candidate training, and now she was afraid that their stations were too different.
Their patrol continued north up the river for several miles and then turned east toward the forest. She had to shield her eyes as they faced the rising sun. There was an old road there, one of the engineering marvels of the Kaldonian Empire that was still standing a thousand years later, and it cut straight through to the border. Trading caravans used it regularly, but they were vulnerable to monster attacks from the trees, so she was ordered to fly over it as far as the next outpost.
Still, there was nothing except trees and open sky. She saw one caravan ambling down the road, leading their train of donkeys, but no sign of any monsters. When she circled the outpost, a guard on the tower lifted his hand to her, signaling the all-clear. There was nothing to do but fly back. Thankfully, the sun would be behind them now, so she no longer had to squint at the brightness.
When she saw the caravan again, they had stopped by the side of the road. She flew lower, looking carefully to see if there was any trouble, but it seemed like they were only resting.
Lilywhite snorted restlessly. Tatiana laughed and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to get any closer to those smelly donkeys,” she called over the wind. Lilywhite twitched one ear back at her and pumped her wings to rise higher.
They reached the river again. Halfway back now, and the sun was almost in the middle of the sky, bearing down on the top of her head. When they got back from patrol, it would be time for the noonday meal, and her empty stomach rumbled in anticipation. Another routine flight down.
Lilywhite snorted again and jerked her head north. She hesitated, hovering for a few wingbeats, and then her ears went back flat against her skull. She beat her wings fiercely, speeding up the river.
Tatiana dug in with her heels and tugged on the reins, trying to get the marewing’s attention. “Whoa, girl! You’re going the wrong way!”
Lilywhite continued to ignore any orders. She headed straight for a village on the eastern bank, then past it, toward the trees on the far side of the fields. She whinnied, a battle cry challenging an unseen enemy.
Then, to Tatiana’s horror, an enemy called back, a piercing cry like an eagle’s. A feathered head burst out of the trees, followed by a furry body and a wingspan almost as large as a marewing’s. Sharp claws extended from the gryphon’s paws, coming right for them.
Lilywhite darted to one side, dodging the gryphon’s attack, and her head whipped around to strike. Her sharp teeth caught the monster’s flank, tearing open a bloody gash in its side.
Tatiana fumbled to notch an arrow on her bow and fired at the gryphon’s wing, but it glanced off, only knocking loose a few feathers. The gryphon cried out and dove away, back to the safety of the trees.
But another gryphon burst out of the cover, followed by two more, and soon the air around them was filled with fierce cries. Tatiana remembered that she wasn’t supposed to fight on her own—and there were too many to face. Gryphons hunted in prides, so there could be even more lurking under the trees.
She tugged on the reins again, pleading desperately with Lilywhite to turn. The marewing’s ears quivered, but she finally listened to her rider’s instructions. She beat a hasty retreat downriver at last.
Tatiana looked back over her shoulder as they flew, afraid that they would be pursued. But instead she saw the gryphons turn to an easier prey: the village. She was still close enough to hear the first anxious cries of the villagers as they saw the monsters coming out of the forest to attack them.
Guilt clenched her stomach like a fist, but what else could she do? She had to get back to the fort and warn the others. If she tried to save the villagers alone, it would be certain death for her and Lilywhite. All she could hope
was that the other soldiers could come back fast enough to save some of them.
But that didn’t make it easier to leave them behind, knowing what they faced. She turned back and closed her eyes. Her lips moved in a whispered prayer for their souls.
Korinna IV
A stir of movement in her belly distracted Korinna. She closed her eyes for a moment and rested her hand over the spot with a smile. She’d only just started to feel the first flutters, and every motion of her baby fascinated her. There was a tiny person growing inside her. What was the little one thinking?
Galenos broke off in the middle of his diatribe on their financial problems and brushed her arm, calling her back to their private morning meeting in their office. When her eyes opened, he looked concerned. “If you’re too tired, we can stop for the day,” he offered.
She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just a little kick.” Her brown hand grabbed his black hand and placed it on her rounded belly. “Do you feel it?”
He fell silent, staring at her midsection. Inside, the baby kicked again, as if they sensed their father’s presence. But Galenos didn’t react, and after a long pause, he frowned and pulled his hand away again.
“I still don’t feel anything.” He looked her over. “Are you sure that I can’t get you anything? Perhaps another pillow for your back?”
Korinna suppressed a sigh. She knew that he only wanted to take care of her, but she felt like a fragile doll, constantly surrounded with soft pillows and cups of tea. “I’m fine.” She leaned forward again to see the latest report they’d been reading, because she didn’t want to waste this time they set aside to agree on the major issues before going to the emergency budget review with the Council. “How much more money do they want to repair the streets in the Market District? The work has been going on for far too long.”
A Pride of Gryphons Page 15
