Child of the Gryphon

by David Lugsden

  The two boys stared at her, their jaws agape.

  Finally Gabriel broke the silence, ‘How did you get that so well ordered in such a short space of time?’

  ‘It was nothing really. I found all I needed after about twenty minutes. I’ve spent the rest of the time ordering the notes I made. I even had a little time to check back over the work we’ve already done and added another half page to my Anthropology paper.’

  ‘You’re amazing,’ Seth blurted out.

  Tamera blushed but quickly composed herself, ‘So how did you two get on?’

  Seth and Gabriel glanced at each other and then down at the few disorganised and scruffy pages of notes they had gathered. ‘Umm...’ Gabriel began.

  Tamera took their notes and looked at them with a raised eyebrow. She sighed, ‘Well we had best make a start. How about we compare one point at a time? I’ll read out a genuine fact, you two can then find something related in the... notes you’ve made, we’ll jot it down on another sheet then write it up afterwards.’

  It took them almost forty-five minutes to match fact to myth (most of that time was taken up by Seth and Gabriel trying to reread their own messy handwriting). Almost two hours after that they had all finished their essays. Seth and Gabriel had just barely managed to scrape four and half pages together, whereas Tamera had somehow written more than seven. And to make matters worse her handwriting was tiny; the boys had been writing larger than usual in order to take up more space on each of the pages.

  ‘Next,’ Tamera said setting her pen down, she flashed a smile, ‘Seth’s favourite – Habitat Geology.’

  Seth let out a groan.

  Once again pulling out her timetable for the day, Tamera continued, ‘By my reckoning, this will be quite a complex assignment so I’ve taken the liberty of breaking it down into a number of different parts. It’s a biographical history on the founding fathers of Wingtail Academy, so I believe we should approach it from a number of different avenues. Firstly we look at them from a historical context, secondly look at their creation of Wingtail from a technological standpoint and finally consider architectural aspects. For that final part we can also take a look at the existing plans and blueprints in the basement and compare how the present-day school has been altered since its conception. Now any preference for who researches what?’

  ‘I’d like to cover the architectural side if that’s alright,’ said Gabriel, ‘My dad- I mean, my human dad was an architect.’

  Tamera gave him a look of sympathy. ‘Of course that’s alright. Seth?’

  ‘Oh, I dunno... I’ll take technology.’

  ‘All sorted then. So shall we see how we’re all doing again in another hour?’

  They parted once more and each headed for their separate sections. Gabriel felt much more comfortable in the Art and Architecture chamber. Although there was once again a mind-boggling number of books and again only one doorway into the section, the hanging lanterns were burning brighter, bathing the long room in a warm, yellow glow. Gabriel was also quite astonished to recognise some of the names inscribed on some of the books: Da Vinci, Gaudi, Michelangelo, Wren. He quickly found the bookcase housing all the books he would need and set to work making notes. As he read about the different features of the school, he imagined himself there looking at it in person. It turned out to be much more interesting than he had originally thought. The caverns and caves that predominantly made up the school remained virtually unchanged from the state they were originally found in, with the exception of furnishings. The waterways, in most cases, had been a later addition but even some of these used the original geographical features of the cave system.

  An hour later the trio once again met up to compare notes. Tamera revealed that the two founding fathers of the school, Cyan of Corvidae and Roman of Melinae, had discovered the future site of their school quite by accident barely a year after the Colony had first settled in Sanctuary. Initially, youngsters were only educated by their parents in basic survival skills, but Corvidae and Melinae vehemently petitioned for a more organised education system which was eventually established in the present day library. After more and more refugees arrived in Sanctuary, it became clear that the library was no longer a suitable location. The pair, who had by then trained others to teach the necessary skills, ventured back to their initial discovery and spent the next five years living there. During that time they single-handedly set up the first classrooms, the dining hall, the Grandmaster’s office and areas for students to hone their natural abilities. Dedicated and focussed on accomplishing their goal, the pair had limited contact with the rest of the settlers until the school was finally completed. They both presided over the school as joint Grandmasters for the next few years, but it was clear that their single-minded determination had taken a great toll on them physically and they passed away in short succession of one another. The school was officially named the Wingtail Academy as a tribute to its founding fathers, Cyan of the Jays and Roman of the Badgers, and also to signify that all students - no matter their lineage - were welcome within its doors.

  Seth’s research was not quite as thorough. The pressurised waterway system now used in various areas of Sanctuary was first pioneered within the confines of the school and realised a dream put forth by Roman of Melinae at the school’s grand opening: to unite and educate students from all family lineages. The boat and jetty had been added after the school’s first year after several students had fallen into the lake and perished whilst hiking round it.

  ‘That’s it?’ Tamera asked, quite dissatisfied.

  ‘It was hard!’ whined Seth, ‘There really wasn’t a great deal at all on the technology of the school. What else is there anyway?’

  ‘What do you mean “What else is there?” What about the integrated pulley system for the lifts? The moveable gangways? The water filtration system? The-’

  ‘If you already knew so much about it, why didn’t you write it?’

  ‘Because we were supposed to be sharing the workload, Seth.’

  ‘And I’ve done the best I can, Tamera.’

  ‘Well your best isn-’

  ‘OK, OK,’ interrupted Gabriel, ‘I think we’ve got plenty to work with here anyway. It is an essay on the founding fathers after all, the school is just an add-on.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Seth said indignantly, sticking his tongue out.

  Tamera snapped through clenched teeth, ‘Why you rotten, little-’

  ‘How about we go and look at the plans you mentioned earlier? They’re in the basement right?’ Gabriel cut in again.

  Tamera continued to glare at Seth, before taking a deep breath, once again composing herself. ‘Yes.’

  The trio headed for the basement. Unlike the other chambers which spiralled around the outside of the main lobby and because of the underwater addition, the basement annex was not positioned directly underneath the main study hall. Instead it was set back slightly and accessed by a long descending staircase as opposed to ladders like the other floors. The shape of the room was also different. Unlike the perfectly round main lobby and chambers, the basement was ovular in shape, with long, rectangular pigeonholes carved into to the rock wall. Contained within the many holes, were the numerous plans, schematics and blueprints of the different Colony habitats. Sanctuary schematics and plans alone covered over two-thirds of the storage space. Every one of the individual pigeonholes was labelled. Unless special permission was given, the documents could not leave the room. Even Mr and Mrs Nibbler could not take them off the premises without Council permission.

  The room was lit by a single lantern which hung centrally in the room, directly over the rectangular desk on which the documents could be laid out. Although the desk was well lit, the lantern was not powerful enough for its light to adequately reach the edges of the room, which sometimes made reading the labels rather difficult. Nevertheless they set forth in searching for the plans of the school.

  Tamera was the first to find the original plan of the school. She
carefully removed the framed blueprint from its shelf and set it on the table under the light. She had attended the school for almost ten years, as had Seth, and felt she knew it quite well, despite its size. She found it remarkable therefore to see so little of it present on the ancient plan she now had before her.

  ‘It’s incredible how small it was at first isn’t it?’ she said to Gabriel as he walked over to take a look. She called to Seth, ‘Have you found the present-day plan yet?’

  ‘No. It’s not here.’

  ‘Of course it’s there. You’re just not looking in the right place.’

  ‘No, it’s really not here. Someone’s taken it out. Look.’

  ‘That’s impossible no one can-’

  He was right. The slot designated for the most up-to-date plan was empty. Assuming that someone had accidentally misplaced the plan in one of the nearby slots, the three of them checked those too but to no avail. In fact, each of the other labelled slots contained only the corresponding plans.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Tamera exclaimed. ‘Who would remove the plan of the school? And why? The purpose of these documents here in the library is for everyone and anyone to see. But no one can remove these documents without explicit permission from the Elders themselves, so how...?’

  ‘If someone has borrowed it, won’t the librarians have a record of it?’ said Gabriel. ‘Why don’t we check with them?’

  They made their way back to the library entrance lobby. Mr and Mrs Nibbler were still stood on their stools chatting with one another. When Gabriel, Seth and Tamera approached, the librarians ceased their conversation and spun to face them.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Gabriel began. ‘We have a question.’

  Mr Nibbler rubbed his forehead, ‘Look, I thought we clarified this before: like it or not you have to go down as Gryphus!’

  ‘No, no. Not that. This is a question about a specific document.’

  ‘Ah, well that’s different then.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tamera, ‘There’s a blueprint in the basement that-’

  Mrs Nibbler let out a long sigh. ‘Young lady you know the rules. Those documents cannot be taken away without the proper authorisation.’

  ‘Yes I realise that. But our point is one of them is missing.’

  ‘WHAT!’ The two Nibblers nearly fell off their stools.

  ‘Absolutely impossible!’ spluttered Mr Nibbler.

  ‘Young lady, we have a full and complete knowledge, not to mention detailed records for that matter, of every single item in this library. Everything is fully accounted for. The very idea that something could escape the two of us is utterly preposterous!’ Mrs Nibbler said, sounding flustered and rather insulted.

  ‘In that case maybe you can aid us with our queries,’ Tamera continued calmly. ‘We are working on a school project and were intending to look at the up-to-date plans of our school to see how it has altered since its early beginnings. Except the most recent plan of the school is not in its appropriate slot. Could you possibly tell us who has borrowed it?’

  ‘I’m afraid not! That is entirely confidential.’

  ‘Oh,’ Tamera looked wounded, ‘I guess we’ll just have to tell our teacher we were unable to complete our assignment because the document we needed was missing from the library.’

  ‘WHAT!’ the two Nibblers roared again.

  ‘You will do no such thing! How dare you threaten to besmirch our name!’ said Mr Nibbler.

  ‘Well it would be different if we were able to provide our teacher with a genuine reason, or a name... but I guess we just don’t have that luxury.’ She turned to Gabriel and Seth. ‘Come on guys we’d better go...’

  ‘Hold on! Alright, hold on!’ Mr Nibbler hopped down from his stool, grumbling under his breath. Gabriel was astonished to see that the man was so small he barely came up to his waist.

  Mr Nibbler waddled over to a nearby filing cabinet, opened the bottom drawer (the only one he could reach without a stool or ladder) and started sifting through the papers inside. All the while he was wittering something inaudible, although Gabriel felt sure he heard more than one swear word.

  ‘Ah-ha! See? Here it is – proof! “Wingtail Academy, Schematic Number: XXXVII, copy III, circa nineteen-seventy-four. Borrowed by one V. Bysonn, under the authority of Oreamnos - bless his poor, departed soul - October tenth-” Oh! Great migrations! Doris, he’s had it in his possession for nearly fifteen years!’

  ‘Well of course he has, Morris. If you remember dear, old Oreamnos gave his permission for Grandmaster Bysonn to retain that particular document indefinitely.’

  ‘Oh yes, so he did. If I remember correctly he passed on not long after, such a shame. Anyway, I hope that proves our point. Now is there anything else you wish to harass us with?’

  ‘No, thank you, that covers everything I think. Thank you very much for all your help,’ Tamera replied courteously.

  The three of them headed back to their table on the bottom floor.

  ‘Woo-hoo!’ Seth whooped, ‘You sure showed them, Whiskers! I didn’t know you had it in you to be so underhanded! I’m impressed – seriously.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said looking distracted.

  ‘Whis- I mean, Tamera, is something wrong?’ said Gabriel.

  ‘Maybe... I’m not sure.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s just that there’s no reason why Bysonn would need the library’s copy of the school’s schematic.’

  Seth said, ‘Maybe he just wanted to have a look at it or something and just forgot to return it. And will he sure get it in the neck! That’ll be something worth seeing – Bysonn and his overdue document versus the Nibblers and-’

  ‘But that’s just it,’ Tamera continued, ‘it’s not overdue. You heard what the Nibblers said, Bysonn was given permission to keep it indefinitely. And by Oreamnos, nonetheless.’

  ‘Yeah who is that? The name sounds familiar but I’m not sure why.’

  ‘Seth Brushtail of Vulpes! Do you never pay attention to anything! Elder Oreamnos was the former Head Elder of Sanctuary prior to Omari’s ascension. It was around the time we were born-’

  ‘Exactly! How on earth am I supposed to remember that?’

  ‘It was actually just before we were born but the repercussions of his death were felt for many years afterward. He was a much loved Elder and his death hit all of Sanctuary hard. Of course what made it more tragic was the fact that it happened not too long before your parents were also killed, Gabriel. But that’s not the issue here... the issue is why would Bysonn want that document in the first place?’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Gabriel.

  ‘There’s no reason for it. Mr Nibbler said that was the third copy. The Elders have a copy of all those plans in their chambers and the school has the other copy in Bysonn’s office.’

  ‘So why would he need an additional copy?’

  ‘Precisely my point!’

  ‘Maybe he lost the other one and he’s just trying to cover it up,’ Seth said.

  ‘No, Bysonn wouldn't lose anything. You know how meticulous he is, Seth,’ replied Tamera.

  Gabriel said, ‘What if... what if he’s not trying to cover up for a mistake he’s made?’

  Seth said, ‘You think Bysonn is covering something up that somebody else has done? That would involve him caring about somebody else and I don’t think he’s got that in him!’

  ‘No that’s not what I mean. What if he’s covering something up, or trying to hide something that could be done?’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Yeah...’ Tamera joined in, ‘with both sets of plans nobody other than himself and the Elders has access to the layout of the school. It’s a big place, there’re so many places in it that even we haven’t been to yet. He’s probably taken it so that he and only he has the most intimate and thorough knowledge of the school.’

  ‘Maybe... or maybe there’s more to it than that even.’

  ‘Like what?’ Seth asked.

  ‘I don’t kn
ow... it’s just all very strange...’ Gabriel said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE GREAT OUTDOORS

  The next few weeks seemed to fly past. Summer had passed its peak and autumn was not far away. Gabriel had fully settled into his new life and school. Evenings and weekends were spent either at the library poring through masses of books to complete his ever-increasing load of homework assignments or trailing through Artisan Plaza with his new friends. There he would continually sample the strange, yet delicious new snacks available (he had developed a particularly affinity for the delicious mugs of caramel cola, served up at Martha’s Tearoom).

  In his short time in Sanctuary, he had become fast friends with Seth, Sattan and Tamera. In and out of school they had become virtually inseparable.

  Gabriel had not yet met Seth’s family but had heard about them a great deal. Seth’s father Saxon Brushtail had emigrated from Western Canada over two decades before. He was a descendent of the Latrans, or Coyotes, the traits of which Seth’s older brother, Shyler had also taken. Sanctuary had been the first stop on Mr Brushtail’s travels across the world, (Seth had been told this story by his parents more times than he cared to remember) and it was during his second day in Sanctuary that he had met Seth’s mother, Sylvia. Just a few short days later he had decided to make his stay a permanent one.