Child of the Gryphon

by David Lugsden

  ‘If she’s not here in ten minutes we’ll go and look for her,’ Seth said. ‘So have you thought any about your plans for the Harvest Festival?’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘The Harvest Festival! You must have heard of it!’

  ‘Nope. What is it?’

  Seth spluttered and stammered clearly lost for words. ‘It’s only the biggest holiday of the year – apart from Christmas, of course – but still, it’s huge! What did you think all the decorations going up were in aid of, Wednesday?’

  ‘Well, to be honest I’d not really paid any attention to them. Bad memories, you know?’

  ‘Oh... yeah... Sorry, mate, I didn’t think.’

  Despite a tight, clenching feeling deep in his stomach, Gabriel shrugged it off. He had noticed the bunting and streamers being hung around Artisan Plaza and decorative fruits and vegetables being stacked on windowsills and by doorways throughout the Suburban Caverns over the past couple of weeks. However, he had been so preoccupied with the current events that he had not given any real thought to the significance of the decorations or their meaning.

  ‘I’m OK, don’t worry about it. So what’s the big fuss about this Harvest Festival then?’

  ‘It’s huge! Everyone in Sanctuary gets involved! The week leading up to it there’s all these different events and activities organised by the different shops and stalls in Artisan Plaza.’

  ‘What kind of events and activities?’

  ‘Oh, everything you can imagine: treasure hunts, raffles, all manner of contests, from fancy-dress to flower arranging and then there’s the food! New stalls are set up as well as the existing ones, selling the most delicious, cakes and pies and pastries and sweets and buns and... you name it! And then at the end of the week the Elders always arrange for a Grand Ball in the Theatre of Life.’

  ‘A Grand Ball?’ Gabriel asked sceptically. He imagined a rather pretentious evening of people standing around in fancy clothes, sipping expensive wine, nibbling delicately on ostentatious hors d’oeuvres and calling each other “darling.” The idea did not appeal to him one bit.

  ‘It’s brilliant!’ Seth continued. ‘There’s live music and dancing - although I’m not such a big fan of that - and a huge banquet,’ – Gabriel sensed that the food was Seth’s favourite part of the festival – ‘and everyone’s in the party spirit!’

  ‘Sounds cool. That’s not what I imagined at all! When is it?’

  ‘It’s always the last weekend of October, so in just a fortnight’s time. So er...’ Seth paused, scratching the back of his neck, ‘any plans for it?’

  Gabriel looked at his friend with a confused expression tattooed onto his face, ‘Plans?’

  Seth smirked, ‘Well it’s not uncommon for people to turn up with a date... and you’ve been getting pretty friendly with a certain aquatic young lady.’

  Gabriel’s cheeks flushed. ‘M-M-M-Marina?’ he stuttered, ‘But we’re just friends.’

  Seth snorted, ‘Rubbish! And you know it! We’ve all seen how you look at each other.’

  Gabriel’s crimson cheeks reignited and he bashfully grinned. After a short while, he changed the subject, ‘What’s it all in aid of?’

  ‘I don’t know... it’s something about being thankful for a plentiful harvest or something...’

  ‘But with all the faux-natural light, isn’t stuff grown and harvested all year round?’

  ‘Yeah but it’s tradition or something... I mean, obviously it’s a celebration of the Autumn Harvest, but it dates back centuries, possibly even thousands of years. I think it all started when the Colony were first forced into hiding or something. You’re best asking Tamera for the exact details, she’s bound to know. Speaking of which, where is she?’

  Gabriel glanced at his watch; it was almost a quarter past nine. ‘This is weird. Shall we go and look for her?’

  ‘I can’t imagine what could have happened to her?’ Seth said as the two of them picked themselves up, the worry evident in the shaky tone of his voice.

  Before Gabriel could respond, both he and Seth were startled by the sudden high pitched, scolding voice of Mr Nibbler.

  ‘What are you two delinquents doing loitering here?’ he squeaked. ‘Don’t you know there’s rules about this kind of thing? I’ll not tolerate your deviant loafing bringing this library into disrepute!’

  ‘Fine! We were just leaving anyway,’ Seth shot back, adding under his breath, ‘you grumpy, little rodent.’

  ‘I heard that! You ought to show more respect to your elders, you impertinent, young criminal! What are you doing out here anyway?’

  ‘We were waiting for someone,’ Gabriel said, ‘but she hasn’t shown up.’

  Still scowling furiously, Mr Nibbler said, ‘You mean that know-it-all girlfriend of yours?’

  ‘She’s not my girlfriend!’ Gabriel and Seth quickly said in unison.

  Mr Nibbler looked at them quizzically. ‘Well whatever she is to you, she’s been here since we opened at seven o’clock this morning.’

  ‘She has?’ the two boys said again in perfect unison.

  ‘Are you two twins or do you spend time practicing talking simultaneously?’ Mr Nibbler asked rhetorically. ‘Yes, she was waiting outside for my wife and I to open up, and then came in demanding to know where we kept all the literature on prophecies. Prophecies I tell you! I thought Wingtail Academy was a reputable establishment! Why in Gaia’s name they would be requiring you to research into such archaic and trivial nonsense utterly perplexes me!’

  ‘So where is she now?’ Seth asked.

  ‘Still in the same place as she has been all morning.’

  ‘And where’s that?’ Seth asked again, the irritation in his voice starting to rise.

  ‘The same place as all other such ludicrous works of fiction: the Myth, Legend and Occult section.’

  Excited, the two boys took off running. They tore past a very disgruntled looking Mr Nibbler, nearly bowling him over, and burst through the library doors.

  ‘DON’T RUN!’ Mrs Nibbler ordered sharply as Gabriel and Seth shot past the librarian’s desk. ‘This is a library not a racetrack, you hooligans!’

  The boys made their way down to the first floor level of the library. Unsurprisingly the library was virtually deserted, apart from a few keen patrons scattered throughout the General Interest section engrossed in various papers, novels and manuscripts. Several of them showed a certain amount of annoyance at the disturbance caused as Gabriel and Seth hurried by, with some bringing voice to their irritation with a brisk ‘Sssh!’ or a condemning tut. There were even fewer of the patrons in the specialist sections of the library, with just one familiar patron studiously immersed in precariously stacked piles of books of all sizes. As Gabriel and Seth approached, Tamera looked up to greet them.

  ‘Oh!’ she said with some surprise, ‘You’re both here. I was wondering when you’d arrive.’

  ‘What happened to meeting outside at nine o’clock?’ said Seth. ‘I was- We were worried about you.’

  ‘That’s sweet,’ Tamera smiled. ‘And yes, I do remember our meeting time, but I thought I came across something last night when I was reading and wanted to check it out further as soon as I could. I’m sorry I didn’t meet you outside.’

  ‘Last night?’ Seth asked.

  ‘Yes, I was doing some reading at home.’

  ‘I really have to question your family’s taste in reading material...’

  ‘What did you find out?’ Gabriel said, sensing another argument brewing between the both of them again.

  ‘Well, I was reading up on the early history of Colony society last night – in our school textbooks – and came across something intriguing about the ancient prophets. I’ve found out a great deal since I arrived this morning, unfortunately it’s nothing very specific I’m afraid. There’s much open for interpretation.’

  Tamera explained that many millennia ago, there lived a mysterious and secretive race known as the Lore who dwelled in the cataco
mbs which would one day become Sanctuary. At that time, the Colony lived on the surface in forests and huts and some even amongst the humans. Both human and Colony society knew of the existence of the Lore, however few who had come into contact with them had lived to tell the tale. The Lore had a reputation far and wide to be an unforgiving and foul tempered people, as likely to slaughter anyone not of their race as look at them. Their viciousness, however, was only exceeded by their intelligence.

  Although the origins of the Lore were largely unknown, it was widely acknowledged that they were the most intelligent beings on the planet. Rumours abounded at how advanced and extensive their intelligence was. Some believed they possessed extra-sensory abilities such as telepathy. Others even believed that the Lore possessed magical powers! However these beliefs were all largely unproven.

  As the human population swelled, persecution of the Colony increased and left with no other alternative they were forced to seek solace underground. Warily entering the Lore’s labyrinthine home, the first Colony scouts were shocked with what they found. Treading carefully and expecting to be set upon by the ferocious brood with each passing step, the Scouts instead found no trace remaining of the Lore. More scouts were sent further into the cave system. Day and night the entrance was surveyed but after several weeks it became apparent that wherever the Lore had gone to, they did not plan to return. Over time more and more of the Colony migrated into the burgeoning Sanctuary and even though many feared the Lore’s return for years after, the colony flourished. But questions still remained unanswered: where had the Lore gone to? And why? Not only had they left their home but so too had they left behind all of their possessions including a wealth of literature recorded over countless centuries. This very same literature now resided mainly within the Library of the Ancients, with some requisitioned into the Elders’ Library and Wingtail Academy Library. Sat on the floor of the Myth, Legend and the Occult section, Tamera now referred to numerous titles of these books as she spoke to her friends.

  ‘The Lore were an incredibly perceptive people,’ Tamera continued, ‘And many of them claimed to have regularly had visions of the future.’

  ‘The prophecies,’ Gabriel said.

  ‘Exactly,’ she continued, ‘and there are even documented accounts of some of these prophecies coming true.’

  ‘Which might explain why Bysonn would be taking them so seriously even though they’re ages old,’ Gabriel theorised.

  Seth raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘You’re trying to tell me that people who lived a gazillion years ago, said a bunch of stuff about the future that actually came true?’

  ‘Absolutely!’ Tamera said excitedly. ‘In fact one notable scribe warned of the rise of the humans, denouncing them as a plague that threatened to consume the planet and every living creature on it.’

  ‘So that’s why the Lore went into hiding?’ Gabriel asked.

  ‘Possibly. Although that’s not what I’ve been focussing my research on. Everything I’ve found out about the Lore so far is really down to my own curiosity about them; I can’t believe an entire civilisation once existed and I was never even aware of it!’

  ‘Yeah, that really is quite alarming, Whiskers. Maybe you’re losing your touch.’ Seth gave her a playful grin.

  Tamera clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes as she addressed Seth, ‘I’ll not dignify that remark with a response.’

  Gabriel glanced back and forth between his friends, feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the sudden silence that had descended upon them. ‘So,’ he ventured cautiously, ‘what exactly is open to interpretation?’

  Tamera resumed her recount, shrugging off her momentary lapse in attention. ‘Well there are countless prophecies listed here; Gaia only knows how many went unrecorded! But I’ve tried to isolate the most likely prophecies that Bysonn might have been referring to. I’ve written them down here,’ she showed them her list.

  The two boys read through what she had written.

  ‘I don’t understand: Dark follows light, as light follows dark,’ said Seth. ‘How enlightening. Well I’m convinced – they could observe day and night, they must have been smart.’

  ‘It’s a metaphor! It’s not literally referring to light and dark: the sun sets and rises again continuously – everyone knows that! But that prophecy implies that the same is true of good times and bad times, each will precede the other.’

  Gabriel grunted in acknowledgment. ‘Nature requires balance,’ he read, ‘These all seem pretty vague and generic. What relevance do any of these actually have?’

  With some impatience in her voice, Tamera said, ‘Well what exactly did you expect? A minute-by-minute account of events as they would occur? I said they were open to interpretation! You have to look for meaning in these prophecies!’

  ‘But anyone can just make up vague predictions! I predict: It might be nice,’ Seth said.

  ‘What might be nice?’

  ‘It’s open to interpretation.’

  ‘Oh grow up,’ Tamera chided.

  ‘Well OK then, Miss Know-It-All. What meaning do you interpret from the Lore’s supposed insightful predictions?’ Seth replied with growing irritation.

  ‘I’m glad you asked,’ said Tamera, shedding her impatience for smugness. ‘Let’s look at the facts here: Bysonn and Hookbeak were plotting actions, seemingly, to prevent a prophecy from coming into fruition. Therefore said prophecy must envisage some terrible event.’

  ‘OK,’ the boys both agreed.

  Tamera continued, ‘We also know that Gabriel supposedly marks a return of a long deceased line, the line of Gryphus. For a species to recover from the brink of extinction, although quite remarkable, is not unheard of. However, for a species to return after becoming extinct is nothing short of miraculous! Some would argue that such an act defies the very essence of what is known to be Natural Law.’

  ‘Nature requires balance...’ Gabriel said again.

  ‘Exactly,’ Tamera said.

  ‘Huh?’ Seth squawked with even more irritation in his voice.

  Tamera explained, ‘Gabriel represents what could be described as an imbalance in the Natural Order of things. Of course, it is highly unlikely that he is a descendent of the true Gryphons as the original line is long dead. Instead he most probably represents a new line of lion-eagle hybrids, merely possessing similar traits. Nature selects a species for extinction in order to make room for another, therefore in theory, for a species to return from extinction, another species would have to be eradicated. Hence: Nature requires balance.’

  ‘So this is the reason for Bysonn’s actions?’

  ‘Possibly, but it could equally as likely be as any of these other prophecies.’

  Gabriel looked over the list again. ‘Oh no...’ he said quietly. He felt a cold shudder weaken his knees.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The return of one precedes the rise of another.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound good...’ groaned Seth.

  ‘Oh yeah?’ Gabriel said. ‘You think that sounds bad, well how about this: The mixing of bloodlines invokes the ultimate terror.’

  Seth gulped back a heavy lump of anxiety that had suddenly formed in his throat.

  ‘What does this mean? Am I supposed to be some kind of danger to everyone? Am I the “Ultimate Terror?”’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Tamera said. ‘If the prophecy is in fact referring to you, then it seems to suggest that whatever the “Ultimate Terror” is, you are merely the catalyst for its ascendency.’

  ‘Well at least that’s something,’ Seth said trying to comfort him.

  ‘Yeah that’s much better. I’m a modern day Pandora.’

  ‘A what?’ Tamera asked quizzically.

  ‘Pandora,’ Gabriel explained, ‘she opened a box and a bunch of horrible things came out... you don’t know the story?’

  Tamera shook her head.

  ‘Why didn’t she just close the box?’ Seth asked.

  ‘She couldn’t because everything
had already escaped.’

  ‘Well that was a stupid move then. You think she’d have shook the box to hear what was inside first or taken a peek before she fully opened it. And why wouldn’t someone have labelled the box with “Do Not Open” to begin with if it was full of horrible things that they didn’t want to let out?’

  ‘Never mind,’ Gabriel sighed. ‘It was a mistake ever bringing me here. I need to leave.’

  Gabriel picked up his backpack and turned to leave. Immediately Seth and Tamera leapt in front of him to block his exit.

  ‘Whoa! Gabe, mate, hold on a second!’

  ‘Gabriel just think about what you’re suggesting. What about your grandfather? What about us?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I am thinking about! I’ve already lost one lot of friends and two sets of parents. I will not allow anyone else to lose their life because of me! As long as I remain here, all of Sanctuary is in danger!’

  ‘You don’t know that for sure – you’re basing your decision on what some miserable old hermits said in a time so long ago nobody even cares about it anymore!’ Seth said.

  ‘Well clearly there’s at least two people that care.’

  Tamera cut in, ‘Gabriel, you don’t even know that the prophecy is referring to you; there must be dozens of different hybrids living in Sanctuary alone!’

  ‘And we don’t know the prophecy isn’t referring to me either.’

  ‘True... but what if you leaving causes this “Ultimate Terror?” What if by staying here you can actually prevent it?’

  ‘And what if I can’t?’

  ‘Well, whatever happens, you won’t have to deal with it alone.’

  Gabriel’s shoulders relaxed and he dropped his bag. With a defeated smile, he looked to his two friends. ‘Thanks guys,’ he said, ‘but I don’t want you to put yourselves in danger.’

  ‘And what if you don’t have a choice?’ Seth said. ‘In case you didn’t realise, we’re capable of making our own decisions.’

  Gabriel had to admire his friends’ loyalty; despite facing whatever unknown threat that lay ahead, they would be stood firmly at his side.

  ‘Besides,’ Seth added, ‘with all the trouble Bysonn is going to to make your life miserable, do you really suppose he’ll just let you just walk out the front door?’