“Ahnon!” Jedek yelled.
“Well, you did! You spotted little Kenna from way down there, and she’s the smallest one,” Ahnon pointed out as Kenna ran back over to Jedek, grabbing his arm and holding it. Jedek started grinning and blushing.
“You said it was only half a mile,” Jedek mumbled, rubbing Kenna’s hair.
“Michi, when we came up on the wall, were we not three miles away?” Ahnon asked.
“I thought it was four,” Michi said, grinning.
“See?” Ahnon said, smiling at the two. His head suddenly snapped up. “Griffons are here,” he said.
The others turned and looked up, following his gaze, and spotted seven large figures flying toward them over the city. As the figures got closer, the details started becoming clearer. The seven griffons gracefully beat their wings, flying toward the castle. Jedek caught his breath watching them fly just a few feet over their heads. In the books Ahnon made him read, it described a lion’s body, but the body was covered in feathers, not hair. The front feet were definitely eagle claws, and the back feet were claws like a cat. That was about as far as Jedek could see resemblances to a lion’s body. Even the tail was covered in feathers with the very last part wide like a rudder. Their wings seemed to extend forever. Jedek was guessing thirty feet long but half as wide.
Flying over the wall, the griffons flew in a circle, heading to the courtyard. Ahnon noted many people running in every direction away from the center of the courtyard. “I never knew the Emperor of Nazar owned griffons,” Kenna mumbled.
Ahnon looked down at her with a stern face. “Kenna, don’t ever say that when griffons are close. Nobody owns a griffon, and they will kill to prove it.”
“They can’t understand us,” Jedek said, causing Ahnon to look at him.
“Every animal can understand us, and if you listen, you can understand them.”
“Oh, so even cows talk?” Jedek popped off.
“Yeah, but all they ever say is, ‘Fooood, fooood,’” Ahnon said. “Even when they see danger, they go, ‘Woooolf, fooood. Woooolf, foooood.’ They say ‘stupid like a cow’ for a reason.”
Kenna ran over to him. “Ahnon, can you please, pretty please, take us down to the griffons? It would be super fairy hair.” She bounced on her toes.
Ahnon looked at Michi, who said, “Hey don’t look at me; they do not like me, and that’s fine with me.”
Ahnon said, “Kenna, if we go down there, you have to do what I say without question and nothing I don’t tell you to do. I’m not in the mood today to fight seven griffons. I would lose.”
Karme jumped in front of Kenna. “No way! If it can beat you, we aren’t going!” she told everyone.
“Karme, please? Look how pretty they are. Don’t be mean,” Kenna whined, clasping her hands in front of her, begging.
Jedek stepped beside Kenna. “Karme, if Ahnon says it’s okay, then there isn’t a problem. Kenna really wants to see them.” Ahnon was fixing to tell everyone he never said it was okay.
“Kenna, you better do what Ahnon tells you. I’m not even playing,” Karme warned her and looked at Michi. “If something happens, get her and run. I’ll hold them as long as I can.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Karme. These are griffons. They will tear this castle apart if they think we degraded them,” Michi said, and Karme started to change her mind as Ahnon chimed in.
“The Emperor of Nazar is in the castle; they won’t tear it down.”
“Ahnon, I watched one griffon kill two mountain dragons, and both were full grown. It did it because they landed near its kill. A lousy deer,” Michi said. “It used up three times the energy it got from the deer killing the dragons.”
“It could’ve eaten the dragons?” Karme pointed out.
“Oh, it got a few bites but not enough to make it worthwhile,” Michi said, checking his equipment.
“Jedek, explain the rules of how we train to Kenna. No questions, just do,” Ahnon said, leading them down as Jedek talked to Kenna. Ahnon started shaking his hands, warming them up as he prayed the griffons had eaten recently. They were so much more agreeable on a full stomach.
Walking over to the courtyard, Ahnon looked over his shoulder. “Michi, Karme, hang back, and don’t look intimidating; it won’t work. Nobody is to look up until I say, so keep your head down. Kenna, you will hold my hand and Jedek’s hand and do what I say. Understand?” he instructed, looking at her.
Her face was glowing with her smile. “I promise so much. I promise everything.”
“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that,” Ahnon said, moving to the courtyard. “Look down, and stop when I do,” he said, looking down. Feeling his pulse quicken, Ahnon hoped this wasn’t a mistake. When they were thirty paces away, he heard the taloned feet of one stomp the ground.
“What do you want?” Ahnon heard. The others heard a bird thrilling.
“Noble griffons, one of the little ones wants to look on your majestic selves,” Ahnon said in the griffons’ tongue, scaring the others.
“You are noble for a human and have our permission for the young one to look,” Ahnon heard.
“Noble griffon, they are young and do not yet speak your noble language. May I tell them?” Ahnon groveled in common.
“Of course you may. We are honored that you would teach them our language,” the griffon thrilled.
“We have been given permission to look,” Ahnon said, raising his head. He had seen griffons many times before, but they still took his breath away. Their bodies were as tall as draft horses, and they carried themselves with regal pride. He heard a small intake of breath from Kenna and glanced down at her.
“They’re so beautiful,” she said, smiling at them and drinking in the vision. “This is the best day ever.”
One cocked its head, looking at Kenna with the other six behind it. Ahnon knew this was the leader, and in griffon society, that was saying something. The leader suddenly moved over in a noble gait, and thankfully, nobody moved. “Is this better, little one?” the leader asked.
“He asked is that better, Kenna?” Ahnon translated.
“Yes, thank you for letting me look at you. You are so fairy hair,” she said in a dreamy voice and watery eyes.
Ahnon cringed on the inside as the leader looked at him. “It’s an expression our young use to mean ‘the best and greatest ever,’ like the majestic young of the griffon say, ‘The shell was hard today,’ meaning it was a bad day,” Ahnon explained.
“Human, you impress me with your knowledge of our kind. May I ask how you know so much?” the leader asked.
“I’m of Nazar royal’s house, my lord.”
“Ah, that explains much.”
“I understood that,” Jedek suddenly said, looking at Ahnon.
Ahnon turned his head, looking at him with stern eyes. “Yes, and he understands you spoke when not spoken to.”
Shock hit Jedek’s face as he lowered his head and kneeled down on one knee. “Forgive me for speaking out of turn, my lord, but I really wanted to know your great speech,” Jedek said, looking down.
The leader looked at Ahnon. “Your hatchlings show great intelligence and manners. I commend you on your brood,” he said, inclining his to head Ahnon, who was taken aback with the compliment and the show of respect. Kenna was silently bouncing on her feet, looking at the leader. Ahnon thought she wanted to go to the bathroom. “Your hatchling with the long, twisting feathers, I think, wants to ask a question,” the leader said.
“Kenna, are you wanting to ask something?” Ahnon asked her.
Kenna looked at the leader and started bouncing on her toes. “Please say something to me pretty please? You’re so pretty pleeassse say something to me,” she begged the leader. Ahnon was not even going to try to interpret that if the griffon didn’t understand.
The leader lowered his head. “Yes, little one with long feathers, what would you like me to say?” he asked in a deep drumming in his chest.
Suddenly, Kenna froze, “Long feathe
rs,” Kenna said in a dreamy voice, making Ahnon look at her. “You called me ‘long feathers,’ majestic griffon,” she said, smiling as her eyes watered.
“Your two hatchlings do me much honor learning my language,” he said, inclining his head to the kids, almost making Ahnon fall down in shock.
Kenna let go of Ahnon’s and Jedek’s hand, giving Michi a heart attack. Grabbing her dress, Kenna gave the griffon a deep curtsy. “Majestic griffon, thank for letting me see you. You’re the most beautiful thing ever,” she said, holding her curtsy.
The leader rotated his head to his wing then turned back to Kenna with a three-foot-long griffon feather. Laying the feather in front of her, he lifted his head up even with hers. “Long feathers, take this to remember us by. I give it freely for showing us kindness and respect,” the griffon said, looking in her eyes.
Tears ran down her little face. “I will remember this day forever. You are the best thing that’s ever happened,” she told him then leaned forward, kissing his beak and hugging his head. “I love you, majestic griffon. I will carry today with me forever. I promise.”
Panic hit him like a tidal wave as Ahnon’s heart was tried to beat out of his chest as Kenna hugged and kissed the griffon. If he had turned around, he would’ve seen Karme on her back, fainting. Ahnon didn’t know what to do: run, hide, lie down and play dead, or grab the kids and pray he could fly faster than the griffons. Then he struck all the ideas down and started coming up with more plans as sweat poured off his body raining down on the stone courtyard.
The leader looked at Ahnon, and Ahnon was expecting his head to get bitten off. You really can’t judge a griffon’s mood by its face. It’s an eagles head; it always looked pissed off. Then Ahnon noticed the griffon’s eyes had a soft look to them, something he’d never seen. “Your hatchlings show us much honor today, human,” the leader said with Kenna still hugging him.
Ahnon fought the urge to yell at her since the big chicken with big claws had taken a liking to her. Clearing his throat softly, he said in a low tone, “Kenna, you didn’t ask to touch him.”
Kenna let the leader go and threw herself on the ground, extending her arms out in a supine bow. “Oh, I’m sorry. Please don’t fly away. I won’t do it again, and I might never get to see a beautiful griffon again. I’m soooo sorry. Please don’t leave; let me just look at you, super pretty please,” she continued, her begging changing into groveling.
The leader lifted his head, moving his beak within a foot of Ahnon’s face. The soft look wasn’t in his eyes anymore. Ahnon expected the bite to come any second, and he felt his sphincter in the back of his throat. “You made long feathers upset. You don’t upset your hatchling like that just for touching,” the leader snapped at Ahnon.
Ahnon was really considering prostrating himself by Kenna and groveling with her as the leader leaned his head down, preening Kenna’s hair. “Long feathers, I wouldn’t leave over a hatchling touching me. That would be bad manners on my part. So please get up. You are bending your feathers and getting dirt on the blue ones,” the leader told her.
Kenna got up to her feet, smiling. “Thank you for staying. I’m sorry I touched you,” she apologized.
“It is okay. Your brooder shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I understand he wants to show you manners, so don’t upset him.” Panting now, Ahnon was trying to remember when he yelled at Kenna.
Kenna gave the griffon the big eye look. “He was just worried I was going to cry when you left because you’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Kenna said, shifting her body from side to side with her hair bouncing.
“We will be here for a while, long feathers, so don’t cry,” the leader said. Kenna gave him a huge smile then picked up the feather, hugging it. Mesmerized at Kenna, Ahnon wanted to tell Jedek to run and not from the griffon. He was speechless watching Kenna wrap the griffon around her finger.
“I saw you fly in, majestic griffon, and your wings were so beautiful gliding in the air, and the other griffons stayed in perfect form. How can all of you be perfect like this?” Kenna asked, moving over to him. Ahnon was stunned that the griffon kept answering Kenna, who spoke to him in common and never once spoke to the griffon in his own language.
“It takes work, long feathers,” the leader said. He lowered his head and preened her hair as she played with the feather he gave her. Seeing that large beak next to so little of a head, Ahnon’s heart wasn’t going to take much more as he started getting lightheaded.
“You know, if I was as beautiful as you were, I would just fly around all day, letting everyone see me,” she told him, putting her back against his chest. The leader just kept preening her hair.
“We do most of the time, but we gave our word to the Nazar house to fly here with some messages. They were worried about something attacking them,” the leader said as the other six came over, joining the preening. Ahnon’s heart started to slow to a normal rate, not able to handle the stress anymore.
Seeing the little princess surrounded by seven griffons the size of draft horses and beaks that could bite his head off unnerved Ahnon to say the least. To Ahnon’s shock, Jedek was just grinning, watching the griffons preen and talk to Kenna. Feeling lightheaded and numb, Ahnon turned back and for an hour watched a little ten-year-old girl who barely came to his waist wrap seven mature griffons around her little finger.
Kenna would hang on them and crawl under them, looking at their feet. When one of the griffons picked her up with a talon claw, Ahnon heard a crash behind him. Glancing back, he saw Michi had fainted beside Karme. One of the griffons came over and pushed Jedek over to the group. It wasn’t like Ahnon could say no.
The noon bells started ringing when Kenna led the leader over to Ahnon. The leader looked at Ahnon, and he swore the griffon was smiling. “Human, we have preened the hatchlings’ feathers, but they won’t stay stiff, so we will take them flying.”
“Huh,” Ahnon said with his head bobbing around. He was drunk from shock.
“Flying. Your hatchlings’ feathers aren’t ready, so we will take them,” the leader said.
“Really flying? That’s high up,” Ahnon said.
The leader leaned closer to him. “Have you been flying fast?” the leader shouted.
With his mind in shock, random words popped in Ahnon’s mind. “Sometimes, and I use honey.”
The griffon looked down at Kenna. “When I dive real fast, my ears ring for days.”
“Aw, you poor thing,” Kenna cried out, hugging him.
The leader looked back at Ahnon. “We really like long feathers and her hatchling mate!” the griffon yelled at Ahnon. “We are going to take them flying!”
That shook two brain cells awake in Ahnon’s head. “Great griffon, they are young rulers of humans, and their parents would, like, die. There have been reports of dragons around here,” Ahnon said, having experienced so many emotions in half a day he just wanted to lie down and let death take him. He was sure his family would understand.
“Dragons? Bah, we can take dragons!” one of the griffons yelled out behind the leader, making him proud.
“They have seen twenty flying around here. We are their protectors, not that they would need any on griffons, but their parents sometimes worry too much,” Ahnon said, trying to get the rest of his brain working.
“Twenty dragons is no worry for seven griffons,” the leader said proudly, and Ahnon heard another crash behind him. Not even caring, he looked behind him and saw it was Karme because Michi was standing up again.
“He’s long feather’s protector,” Ahnon said, pointing at Michi, and Michi looked behind him and didn’t see anyone.
The leader lifted his head. “Long feather’s protector, come here…please,” he commanded. Michi walked up and, like Ahnon, was drunk from shock.
Bowing his head as he wobbled on his feet, Michi said, “Yes, great griffon?”
“You will fly with me and long feathers.”
“Fly in the air?”
Michi asked with glassy eyes.
Ahnon could actually say he saw astonishment on a griffon’s face. “Yes. How else do you fly?” the leader asked.
“Okay,” Michi said. “If we see dragons, I’ll jump off to fight, and you save long feathers,” Michi said, stumbling on his feet.
The leader bowed his head to Michi, and the others followed. “Your devotion for the hatchling long feathers honors us,” the leader told him, raising his head. Ahnon collapsed to his butt. He’d never read or even heard of a griffon bowing to or for anything.
“I’m honored, noble griffon,” Michi said, bowing and almost falling, but Kenna ran over to support him.
“Good catch, long feathers. I bet you can scoop a fish out of the water with no trouble,” the leader said, and the other six came over, congratulating her.
Ahnon looked up at a griffon and saw Jedek sitting on its back. “Jedek, why are you on a griffon? You’re not long feathers?” he asked.
“They said they wanted me to come, and they are too noble and majestic to refuse. You told me I would be in trouble for showing disrespect.”
“You have shown your hatchling the right way, human,” the leader said, bowing, and the other griffons followed suit.
“All right, but be careful,” Ahnon said.
“I smell short feathers on you, so you must be his protector. To ease the parent’s fear, you will ride with him,” the leader said and picked Ahnon up by the back of his shirt. If Ahnon would have been in his right mind, he would’ve passed out, but all he did was give a wild-eyed look.
“Hey, I’m flying already,” Ahnon said as the leader put him behind Jedek on one of the griffons. The griffons formed up and took off running, extended their wings, and started slowly flapping. Suddenly, they shot up in the sky. With the leader at the center of the V and Kenna pointing where to go, they flew around the isle of Gratu for two hours.
The group buzzed down streets, scaring the citizens of Velham, then they flew over the boats in the harbor and around the castle. Luckily, everyone on Thanos knew not to aggravate a griffon.
When they landed, Michi helped Kenna down. Ahnon just slid off, crashing to the ground, so Jedek had to get down by himself. The “ambassador” to the griffons was waiting in the courtyard with a table full of cut, raw meat. Kenna ran over to him, talking. Suddenly, she started screaming at him, stomping her feet and telling him to leave. One of the griffons leaped at the man, snapping his beak. Never before or ever again had Ahnon seen such a fat man move so fast in his life.
Dawn of Man (Thanos Book 1) Page 14
