The Gryphon's Lair

by Kelley Armstrong

  I scramble up. “What?”

  “Well, according to your Doctor Tyesha, it’ll be another week. But I’ve been telling her all day that she’s wrong—my healer training tells me the baby is coming much sooner. She’s been treating me like a silly child. Guess who’s right?”

  “The baby is coming now?”

  She nods. “I’ve been sneaking in and checking every hour. Doctor Tyesha is there, but she shooed me off and tried to say it’ll still be days, even when I could tell the gryphon had started her labor. It’ll be tonight. So I came to get you.”

  “We already talked about this. I knew better than to ask Mom.”

  Alianor grins. “Exactly. You never asked…so you aren’t disobeying. Realizing the gryphon was about to give birth, I ran to get your help. You’re the royal monster hunter, and this is a monster birth. Naturally, you should be there. Woken from sleep, you can’t be expected to stop and consider whether this breaks your punishment. It is an emergency, after all.”

  “This is why you didn’t want me asking earlier, isn’t it? You planned this.”

  “You get to see the birth of a gryphon. Are you actually arguing?”

  I hesitate.

  “Doctor Tyesha can’t handle it,” Alianor says. “She’s proven that. So I really do need your help. If the gryphon has trouble birthing, I’m not sure the doctor will know what to do.”

  I push to my feet. “All right, let’s go.”

  * * *

  We tiptoe through the silent hall, stone floors icy under our bare feet. Malric pads along after us. Alianor grumbles about that. “How are we supposed to sneak around with a two-hundred-pound wolf following us?” Honestly, though, Malric makes less noise than we do. Leaving him behind wasn’t an option. During the day, I can wander the castle alone. At night, he follows.

  As for the jackalope perched on my shoulders…well, he’s quieter up there than he’d be if I locked him in my room.

  The gryphon is being held in the hay barn, which is almost empty in the summer, when the horses can graze. She has a small pasture, too, and we keep those doors open so she can walk outside. She can’t fly, though. A huge steel leg band chains her to a massive stone. This is a gryphon who has already killed my aunt and tried to kill the rest of us. Given the chance, she’d finish the job.

  Dr. Tyesha is temporarily living in the head groom’s quarters, and I ask Malric to stay outside while I make my way to her room. He agrees with a grunt that warns me not to leave his line of sight. I set Jacko on the ground and ask him to stay, too. He’s still considering the request when Malric lifts a restraining paw, and Jacko lies down with a sigh.

  Alianor and I approach the darkened rooms attached to the main stables. Alianor whispers that there’d been a candle burning earlier as the doctor read or worked late into the night. I’m about to peek through the window when jackalope paws thump the ground, and I look to see Jacko hopping my way. I lift my gaze to glare at Malric, but he’s on all fours, watching. He let Jacko run to me, which means…

  “Someone’s coming,” I whisper to Alianor. Before I can pick up Jacko, he runs back toward where Malric waits in the shadows. That’s when I see what I’d missed before—light seeping around the heavy hay-barn door.

  “That was dark when I left to fetch you,” Alianor whispers.

  I hurry to the hay barn. There aren’t any windows—no need for them in a storage building—but I know a secret way in. The castle is my home, and I know all its secrets, especially those that take me places I’m not supposed to go.

  When the barn is full, Rhydd and I like to play in the hay, building slides and obstacle courses. I’m old enough now to realize the grooms can’t help noticing their bales are suddenly in the form of a giant ship, but they’ve never complained to Mom. We don’t damage the bales. We just…rearrange them.

  Rhydd and I aren’t supposed to do that, of course. So when we come to play, we need to sneak in. There’s a roofline hatch for air circulation, and somehow, there are always stray bales below it outside, which suggests the grooms don’t mind our antics. It’s been six months since we’ve snuck in, but the bales are still there. Alianor and I pile them to help us reach the roof hatch. Then I ask Malric and Jacko to stay below as Alianor and I climb our bale-ladder.

  At the top, I peek through the propped-open hatch. The smell of gryphon almost makes me gag. It’s not a bad smell—their breath is honey-sweet, and otherwise, their musky scent is part-bird, part-beast. But with a monster of that size confined, even in a very large barn, the smell is overpowering.

  The hatch opens into a shallow loft. I can hear the gryphon below, shifting and grunting softly. I’ve never heard the grunting. Shrieks, hisses, beak clicks, yes—but the grunts are new.

  Alianor taps my foot. I heave myself through the hatch as silently as I can. Old chaff swirls around me, and I cover my mouth to stifle a sneeze. Alianor isn’t quick enough, but her sneeze is a kitten-like achoo that I barely hear.

  I crawl and peer through a knothole in the floor. Below, the gryphon lies on its side, its flank heaving. All four legs are bound, and a huge leather band clamps its head to the floor. When Alianor squeaks behind me, I turn to see her staring through a hole of her own, her eyes round with outrage.

  We never leave the gryphon bound like this. That would be cruel. It’s only tied down for medical procedures, and while we’d discussed doing it during labor, we’d decided it was better not to interfere with a natural process. Instead, the doctor—and Alianor—would be on-hand to assist, and a mild sedative would be administered instead of bindings.

  Dr. Tyesha isn’t following the plan. That’s why she shooed Alianor away earlier, and probably why she claimed the gryphon wasn’t close to giving birth.

  Someone had to have helped Dr. Tyesha sedate and bind the gryphon. We’ve been using a sedative dart design that Dain and Wilmot devised, but Dr. Tyesha couldn’t do it herself. Nor could she bind a partly sedated gryphon.

  All I see, though, is Dr. Tyesha alone with the beast, touching its belly. Beneath her fingers, the bulge moves, and a thrill whips through me. A baby gryphon is about to be born, and I’m going to be here to witness it.

  Alianor motions that she wants to confront Dr. Tyesha about the bindings. I shake my head. The gryphon is already in labor, and I don’t dare interfere.

  Alianor crawls over and whispers, “This isn’t right.”

  “I know. My mother will deal with it later. For now, I want to help, not argue.”

  Alianor grumbles but agrees. We start toward the ladder. Whenever we pass a crack or knothole, I look down. The doctor is off to the side now, preparing another syringe. There’s no reason for a second dose. She must just be getting it ready in case of an emergency. The gryphon is already as sedated as you’d want it to be during birth.

  Dr. Tyesha walks to the beast and puts the needle to the gryphon’s neck.

  “No!” I shout.

  I clatter down the wooden ladder. The doctor goes still, needle in hand.

  “Princess?” she says.

  Her gaze swivels above me, and her eyes narrow.

  “I thought I told you to stay in your quarters, Alianor.”

  “No, you told me there was no need to come because the gryphon wasn’t about to give birth. Since she is, then I should be here. I brought the princess to help.”

  “I don’t require your assistance, Alianor. This is not a puppet-show performance for the entertainment of children.”

  “We aren’t children,” I say as I stride over. “I am the royal monster hunter. Alianor is a healer in training. You were well aware of our reasons for attending the birth, along with the fact that my mother expected us to witness it.” I look at the gryphon. “You were also aware that we had decided against restraints and sedatives.”

  “Unless necessary, your highness. That was my call to make. The beast wa
s in distress, and I took the proper steps.”

  I glance around. “Where are the guards who helped restrain her?”

  “I sent them away. A birth is a very private matter, fit only for the eyes of women.”

  I snort. “My father attended my birth.”

  “As did mine,” Alianor says. “He passed out, apparently, but he attended.”

  “In my village, childbirth is for women only,” Dr. Tyesha says.

  “That wouldn’t exclude myself or Alianor,” I say. “Nor any of the castle’s female guards.”

  I wave off her excuses as I approach the gryphon. I may no longer be in line for the throne, but I still remember how to act like a queen.

  I ignore Dr. Tyesha’s protests as my gaze sweeps the beast. We’ve had it for a month, yet I can never repress this first moment of awe. It’s not simply the beast’s size. It is…majestic. There is no other word.

  A gryphon looks like a cross between an eagle and a cat. It has a raptor’s head and forequarters, with its front legs ending in talons. Its back half is feline, with clawed hind legs and a tasseled tail. It also has an eagle’s wings and a cat’s ears. For a creature that nearly fills the barn, it is both beautiful and terrifying.

  “You won’t need to administer that second sedative,” I say as I touch the gryphon’s chest, feeling her shallow breaths. “You’ve given her quite enough already.”

  “Rowan…” Alianor says.

  I lift a finger. I move to the beast’s head. Its huge amber eyes are closed now. They’d been open earlier, and I nudge her, frowning.

  “Rowan…?” Alianor repeats.

  I look over to see her pointing at the second syringe, still in the doctor’s hand. It’s empty.

  I quickly touch the gryphon’s chest. When it moves, I exhale in relief. Then I realize that what I’m feeling is the baby moving. The gryphon’s actual breathing is very shallow, its lungs barely fluttering.

  “You’ve given her too much sedative,” I say sharply. “She needs to be awake for this.”

  Dr. Tyesha shakes her head. “That is what I was going to explain, your highness. The baby is in the wrong position. The gryphon is being sedated for surgery. I need to extract the baby, and that is not something you need to see. Either of you.”

  “I’m a hunter,” I snap. “I’m hardly going to faint at the sight of blood.”

  “As a healer, I’ve attended many births,” Alianor says. “I’ve also assisted in the surgical removal of two babies.”

  I channel my queenly lessons. “We appreciate your concern, doctor, but we are ready and able to assist with the surgery.”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  I open my mouth but behind Dr. Tyesha, Alianor waves me to silence. She’s pointing at the table, though I can’t see why that’s important.

  Alianor clears her throat. “Perhaps Doctor Tyesha is right, Rowan. This is more than the birth of a human infant. We should leave her to it.”

  Alianor’s obviously up to something. I go along with it. Not too fast—that’d seem suspicious. I grumble, and Alianor argues until I grudgingly agree to go.

  “Call us when the baby’s born?” I ask at the door.

  “I will, your highness.”

  We slip outside. Malric and Jacko appear as Alianor leads me away.

  “There are no surgical instruments,” she whispers.

  “What?”

  “She only has syringes and sedative. You can’t extract a baby with those.”

  “You should have said something,” I say as I wheel back toward the barn.

  She grips my arm. “She’d have made up another excuse. She’s not going to admit what she’s doing.”

  My gut chills. “And what is she doing?”

  “Slowing down the birth, maybe? I don’t think she’s ready to handle it, so she’s over-sedating the gryphon while she figures out…Rowan?”

  I’m already striding back to the barn. I yank open the door to see Dr. Tyesha poised with another needle…this one over the gryphon’s belly.

  “Don’t you dare,” I say.

  She ignores me and starts lowering the needle. Malric charges past me, snarling. He stops three feet from the doctor, but she still stumbles backward like he’s lunging to rip out her throat.

  “You’re right, Alianor,” I call over my shoulder. “Our doctor is a lousy monster healer. You can’t treat something you’re afraid of.” I stride to Malric’s side and point at the needle. “You were going to sedate the baby?”

  She straightens. “Just a little. For its own good. The birth process can be traumatic and—”

  “You don’t ever sedate babies in the womb,” Alianor says.

  “It’s a very mild sedative.”

  “Put it down,” I say.

  She looks from me to Malric and then straightens a little more. “No, your highness. I have a job to do, one given by your mother, my queen.”

  “My mother told you to sedate the gryphon?”

  “She charged me with this task, to do as I see fit.”

  “In other words, no,” Alianor mutters. “Your mom said nothing about sedating the beast.”

  Dr. Tyesha sidesteps toward the gryphon, syringe ready. “I am the animal healer, your highness, and you are interfering—”

  “Yes. Yes, I am. If you want to administer that sedative, you have two choices. Deal with Malric or deal with my mother. You can try injecting the beast and see how Malric feels about that. Or you can go inside, have my mother woken and ask her.”

  “I would never wake—”

  “Then I will. Alianor will stay with you and the gryphon.”

  I glance over my shoulder to see Alianor beside the beast, one hand on its chest. She looks at me, her eyes saucer-wide.

  “Rowan…?” she says.

  I see her face, and I hear her voice, and I don’t need to ask what’s wrong. I scramble to the gryphon, nearly tripping on Jacko as he zooms out of my way. I press both hands to the gryphon’s chest. Its heart is still.

  “No,” I whisper. “No, please, no.”

  I race to the gryphon’s head and touch its neck. No pulse. I put my hand in front of its nostril, the opening as big as my fist. No breath.

  Jacko leaps onto the gryphon, and I’m about to snap at him, but he gently makes his way to the beast’s head and pokes a careful paw at its closed eyelid. It doesn’t even flicker. Jacko chitters and tries again. Then he throws back his head in a mournful yowl.

  I wheel on Dr. Tyesha. “Her heart stopped. You need to do something.”

  She doesn’t move.

  I run to the open medical bag, Jacko tearing after me. As I riffle through it, he’s up on the table, his nose right in there. I pull out the bottle within.

  “This is the sedative,” I say. “Where’s the reversal agent?”

  Dr. Tyesha says nothing.

  I snatch up the bag, march over and thrust it under her nose. “You aren’t supposed to sedate without having something to reverse it.”

  “It’s too late, your highness,” she says. “Once the heart stops in a beast this large, we cannot restart it. That’s why I didn’t bring a reversal agent. It would be unnecessary.”

  “No,” Alianor says. “You didn’t bring it because this isn’t an accident. It’s what you planned. Kill the gryphon. Kill the baby. Tell everyone the labor went horribly wrong. That’s why you didn’t want me here to witness it.”

  I stare at the doctor. I want her to say Alianor’s wrong. I want to hear a plausible explanation. Yet even as I gape at Dr. Tyesha, I know Alianor’s right. It makes horrible, awful, inconceivable sense.

  And it’s my fault.

  My fault because the doctor couldn’t have attempted this if she hadn’t known I was grounded. She might have been able to explain why she didn’t summon Aliano
r to the birth. But she could not have explained why she didn’t summon the royal princess.

  “Rowan?” Alianor says.

  Whatever I did, I can’t undo it. I can only deal with it now.

  I wheel on Dr. Tyesha. “The baby is alive. You can remove it.”

  “What? No. That’s not possible.”

  “It is,” Alianor says. “But we don’t have much time.” She touches the gryphon’s belly. The baby kicks back, and Alianor nods in satisfaction. “Keep the doctor here, Rowan. Don’t let her inject that needle. I’ll be right back.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  As Alianor leaves, Dr. Tyesha makes a move toward the gryphon, but it’s halfhearted, testing to see if I’m distracted enough for her to inject that sedative. I’m not…and neither is Malric, who feints at her, growling. I walk over, pluck the syringe from her hand and hit the plunger, emptying it onto the floor.

  “Do you really think that will save the baby?” Dr. Tyesha says. “If you are a true monster hunter, Rowan, you’ll let me put it to sleep, for its own good. Its mother is dead. It’s suffocating in there, even now. The best thing—”

  “No.”

  I didn’t miss her switch from “your highness” to “Rowan.” I’m no longer a princess to Dr. Tyesha.

  “Who told you to do this?” I ask.

  “No one. I made the decision myself, for the good of my country. You are a spoiled little girl, Rowan. A fatherless child whose mother indulges her. That’s bad enough for a normal parent, but it is unforgivable for a monarch. You are willful and selfish, and your mother cannot see that. She let you keep a gryphon that murdered your aunt. Lamed your brother. Tried to kill you.”

  “This gryphon didn’t murder anyone.” I step forward and look her square in the eye. “It defended itself against my brother and my aunt after it snatched me for dinner. I don’t bear it any ill will, because that’s what it means to be a true monster hunter. I understand beasts have a right to feed and defend themselves, like we do.”