by Candy Crum
“It’s a Chimera,” Joe said. Fear flowed through him and held him still. “It’s a Greek mythological beast. A bad one. I take it back. I believe it. I believe it all.”
“Me, too,” Alee said, her body in a defensive stance and ready to run if necessary.
Κεφάλαιο XI
WEDNESDAY MORNING
Southern Indiana
“Do we run?” Joe asked, knowing that his sister was a natural hunter. She would know best what to do.
“If we run, that thing could catch us before our feet even left the ground. Before we even turned.”
“Then what do we do?” Joe asked.
“Back away slowly,” Alee said.
Something heavy landed behind them. They turned their heads to see yet another creature standing in their way. Large and beautiful. It was also something straight out of mythology. It had the head, wings, and front feet of an eagle, the strong body and back legs of a massive lion. It stood tall and proud, its chest thick and its head held high. It stared at them both, unfurling its impressive wings, stretching, before tucking them back in.
“What is happening?” Alee asked, fear in her voice. “What’s that one?”
“It’s a gryphon,” Joe said. “I’m not sure if it’s good, or bad.”
“The two of you need to move. Now,” a female voice said. “That chimera will kill you.”
Alee and Joe turned to see a girl about their age standing off to the side, behind a tree. She had a bow and arrow in hand, a sword and backpack strapped to her shoulders.
A loud growl came from ahead, the chimera lowering its head, sharp fangs showing as its lips pulled back once again. It gave a loud roar, getting into a striking stance. Looking behind them, the gryphon seemed to be in the same position, but it wasn’t staring the three teens down any longer. It was watching the chimera.
Alee and Joe turned to see a large fireball forming in the chimera’s mouth. Their eyes opened wide, fear holding them in place. An arrow whistled through the air, catching the chimera directly in the eye. It roared viciously, the sound echoing through the trees and terrifying the birds away. The girl jumped out into the open, running to Joe and Alee’s side.
“We need to get out of here. Now,” she said.
“Oh God!” Alee cried out, looking ahead.
The chimera, with the arrow still in its eye, opened its mouth. Another fireball quickly formed, and it wasn’t holding back. Fire sprayed forward as a large gust of wind hit the trio from behind, knocking them all onto the ground. Joe managed to roll onto his back and looked up in time to see the gryphon pouncing forward to stand over them. Her large wings were unfurled as she flapped them again, blowing the fire back toward the chimera.
“It’s trying to save us!” Joe called out.
The gryphon screeched loudly, one of her large clawed feet striking outward as she kicked all three of them several feet out of the way. Joe landed hard against a tree, the wind knocked out of him as his ribs gave to the pressure. The girls landed roughly in the brush next to him.
“Are you okay?” Alee asked, scrambling over to her brother.
“I think I may have broken a rib,” he said, forcing out his words. “But I’m alright otherwise.”
“What are those things?” Alee asked. “Why are they here?”
“The lion is a killer. The gryphon was once thought to be bad, but they are actually guardians,” the girl said.
“Who are you?” Joe asked. “How do you know so much?”
“I’m Brittany,” she said. “And that is a conversation for later when we aren’t caught in the middle of a battle between two huge mythological creatures. We need to get out of here. That chimera won’t go down easily. If legend is correct, that thing is heavily armored. It’s almost impenetrable by mortal weapons. That’s why I went for the eye. That gryphon is the only chance we stand. If she dies, so do we.”
Brittany stood, helping Alee and Joe stand. They looked on, watching the gryphon and the chimera battle it out. The chimera pounced, grabbing hold of the gryphon by the neck and taking her down to the ground. The gryphon used the sharp claws on its back feet to kick wildly at the chimera, tearing a large gash in its stomach.
Brittany, Joe, and Alee all ran as fast as they could, trying to put as much distance as possible between the battling monsters. The area lit up around them. Alee turned to see a large spray of fire heading straight for them. The gryphon then spread her wings, catching the full force of the barrage as her pained scream pierced their human ears.
“We can’t!” Alee said. “She’s going to die trying to save us! There has to be something we can do.”
The group paused, watching the two creatures circle one another, the gryphon’s wing terribly wounded by fire.
“I have an idea,” Brittany said. “But it’s going to take a lot of distraction.”
Brittany briefly hashed out a battle plan, hoping for the best. She, too, felt responsible for the gryphon, having spent all that time searching for her. Brittany had been tracking her for days, hoping the gryphon would lead her to others like herself. She noticed that the gryphon displayed hunting behaviors, but Brittany couldn’t figure out what she could be hunting. There was nothing in wooded areas like those that would be any kind of opponent for a gryphon. It could kill a deer in seconds. It was faster and more than three times the size of a fully grown buck. As soon as she saw the chimera, Brittany knew. That was what she had been hunting.
Brittany took off through the woods, leaving Alee and Joe just off the path. Joe and Alee split up, one heading north, the other south. The idea was to flank the beasts to cause a distraction. Joe and Alee weren’t entirely certain what Brittany’s part in the plan entailed, but they trusted her. They had no specific reason why they should, having just met her, but she knew far more than they did, which led them to believe that she should be given a chance.
The gryphon wasn’t doing well due to her right wing being so severely injured. Her neck was also wounded. The chimera reared up on its hind legs, delivering a crushing blow across the gryphon’s face. The gryphon screeched, lashing out with her powerful beak and piercing the chimera’s thigh. The gryphon violently pulled her head backwards, ripping the chimera’s shoulder from its socket before the falling to the ground herself. The chimera’s roar was loud, almost deafening as it tried to recover. The gryphon’s wounds were becoming too much and she was growing weak, unable to move from her place on the ground.
The raging chimera, limping from its recent injury, prepared for another fire burst, but Alee caught its attention before the fireball could be completed.
“Hey!” Alee shouted.
She jumped around in the bushes, screaming at it as she waved her hands around.
On the opposite side, Joe was in position.
“No!” he shouted. “Over here!”
The chimera was caught completely off-guard by the two challenging him. Brittany used the animal’s confusion against him and silently approached from behind. The gryphon spotted her, its body weak and unable to move from the ground. Brittany looked into the gryphon’s eyes, silently pleading for her not to blow her cover. Brittany pointed at the chimera, then pointed to her stomach as she lifted her sword. If legends were true, the chimera’s skin was impenetrable by humans, or their weapons, but the gryphon had already torn its gut open. All she had to do was expose its weakness.
Joe and Alee screamed back and forth, challenging the chimera. The animal stared each down, trying to decide which to go for. To everyone’s surprise, including the chimera, the gryphon summoned all the strength that she had left to stand. The chimera chose to finish off the gryphon, rushing forward. The gryphon dodged the attack, moving in time to grab the chimera by the throat. The gryphon rose up on her hind legs, lifting the chimera.
Brittany rushed forward, hoping that the gryphon could hold the chimera long enough for her to deliver the final blow. Brittany ran full speed at the dueling pair, dropping down and sliding on her hi
p between the chimera’s legs just as she would slide to home base in a baseball game. She rolled over at the last second, rising up and thrusting her sword up through the open wound in the chimera’s stomach. She heard a strangled roar as she pulled the sword free and ran the chimera through again, spraying blood all over the ground around her. Its body started to go limp and she realized that the creature may fall on her. As she was about to roll out of the way, the gryphon tossed the chimera aside.
“I think it’s still alive,” Joe said as he ran to meet her.
The gryphon fell to the ground, both beasts still alive, but no longer able to fight.
“We need to finish the chimera off,” Brittany said. “I was aiming for its heart, but I couldn’t get the sword in far enough.”
Alee sighed. Even though it tried to kill her, she still didn’t want to see the creature suffer. She made her way up to Brittany, holding her hand out. “Let me,” she said.
Brittany was reluctant at first, unsure of what Alee could do that she couldn’t, but she acquiesced. Alee slowly made her way over, watching every ragged breath the chimera took. The gryphon let out a low cry, using the talons on her front feet to drag her a few feet closer. It seemed as though she pleaded with Alee not to approach.
Alee knew from hunting that it was possible for an animal to get a final burst of adrenaline and fight for its life. That thought made her want to stop, but she forced herself forward. She needed to kill it before it killed anyone, and having had no idea if it healed fast, or if it was truly dying, Alee felt it was best to do it right then.
Brittany ran forward, jumping on its hind legs, wrapping her own limbs around them as tight as she could. Joe quickly followed suit with the chimera’s front legs. The animal bucked. It was weak, but it tried to put up a fight. Alee saw them risking their lives to help, and wasted no more time. She rushed forward, doing something that she felt was wrong, cruel, but also something she felt that she had no other choice but to do. The heart couldn’t be reached, because the hole in the stomach wasn’t high enough, nor was the sword long enough to reach, and the chest could not be penetrated by mortal weapons: a sword.
Instead, Alee did the next best thing that she could think of with what was exposed and vulnerable before her. She aimed for the lungs, something that Brittany hadn’t thought of. Damage to the lungs would cause it to die faster instead of suffering any longer. Even though it tried to kill her, she still felt some sympathy in not having been able to deliver a more effective killing blow. Once it was done, the three stepped back and watched as the chimera died. As Alee had predicted, it did not take long. Its eyes closed and its chest fell for the last time as it passed.
Once they were certain they were safe, they made their way over to the gryphon. She looked terrible. Her right wing was extended out. After the terrible damage she had taken, she hadn’t been able to tuck it back in. It simply dragged around as she moved. The skin was charred and swollen. Most of her feathers were gone, only a few singed feathers remained. The entire left side of her head was torn open from the hit that she took from the chimera’s front hoof, and her throat had also been ripped into. She was not in good shape, and it crossed the mind of everyone there that she would not make it.
“Thank you,” Joe said. “Thank you for saving us.”
“She’s going to die if we don’t do something,” Alee said. “I’m not exactly sure how to save a gryphon, though.”
“She looks bad. I’m not sure there’s anything that we can do, aside from bandages, but I doubt the three of us combined have enough to wrap a wing that big. Still, I doubt it would do much. It would have to be something special. From what my mom has told me, the Greek god Apollo could do it,” Brittany said. “This is a Greek mythological beast. It would make sense that he could. Unfortunately, I think we’re short a Greek god with a healing ability.”
“Wait… Apollo?” Alee asked.
“Yes,” Brittany replied. “Why?”
“Joe has been having visions, and he said that Apollo has spoken to him,” Alee said.
Brittany looked over to Joe, studying him. “Is that a joke? Or do you honestly believe that?”
Joe sighed. “I didn’t want to believe it. Not at all. But after seeing all that just happened, I’m going to have to say yes. I do think that Apollo has been speaking to me. I’ve had some episodes lately where I’ve seen some pretty intimidating things. I didn’t want to think any of it was real, but now I guess I don’t really have a choice.”
Brittany smiled. “You are both exactly who I’m looking for. That’s why the chimera attacked you. I tried not to say too much because I thought you just happened upon it, but I hoped otherwise. That’s also why the gryphon is here. She was protecting the both of you.”
“You’ve been looking for us?” Joe asked.
Brittany nodded. “Yes. And if Apollo has been speaking to you, then you are a descendant of his. You have his abilities. You have visions and the power to heal.”
“The visions, yes,” Joe said. “I’ve seen that one enough to believe you. But the healing… I’ve never seen any evidence of that one.”
“Maybe now it’s time to try,” Alee said.
“He’s already been doing it; he just didn’t know it,” Brittany said.
Joe looked at her, confusion on his face. He hadn’t saved anyone, or anything. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“Does your rib hurt?” Brittany asked. “You said earlier that you thought you’d broken it.”
Joe reached down, touching his side, searching for any painful areas. He found nothing.
“And your head, Joe,” Alee said, her eyes widening as she realized he’d healed from that as well. “Earlier you wanged your head on the way down to the floor when you had that vision. It bled quite a bit in the house. It’s not bleeding at all now. In fact, I don’t even see any evidence of it having been there at all.”
Joe once again reached up, feeling for the area he’d hit, but he felt nothing. His wounds were already healed. He looked over to the gryphon, pain in her wise eyes. He’d never seen anything so beautiful, and at that moment, it was dying. Dying because it fought to save him.
“I don’t know how,” he said, talking to the gryphon.
“Just a warning,” Brittany said. “If my mother is right, magic will only fully return once Cronus is freed from the volcano. I don’t know how much you know, or don’t know, but this might fail as a result of that.”
“We don’t know anything. Everything you said meant nothing to me other than the word Cronus, and I only know that one because of Apollo. So basically, I might screw this up because magic might not be completely restored?” Joe asked.
Brittany nodded. “I’d say that given how big these guys are, and how clear your visions are, that it’s been on its way for a while. I just can’t guarantee you can pull this off. You have no control over anything, yet. Just do your best.”
Joe nodded. “I can’t do any less than that. She saved all of us.”
Joe reached out, laying his hands on the gryphon. As his skin made contact with the fur along her wounded side, the gryphon closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. They waited for several minutes, but nothing happened.
“Try harder,” Alee said, worry flooding her that the noble gryphon may die.
“I am,” Joe said. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“She’s going to die,” Brittany said, voice flat and cold. “She’s going to die after protecting you. If you are who you say you are, then she protected you so that you could be strong. And you’re not. You’re weak. You can’t even use a gift that was passed down to you. If you aren’t who you think you are, then she just gave her life for nothing. She made a mistake and it killed her saving a no one.”
Joe’s eyes widened as he stared into Brittany’s. Her face was stony, and her posture rigid. It seemed to Joe that she had meant every word. He looked at the gryphon, his hands running over the soft fur on her front shoulder.
Part of him was angry that Brittany had spoken such cold words, knowing that he didn’t know anything about the world hidden behind the shadows. To him, it was not fair of her to expect him to be so well-trained, when it was all so new.
Still, he expected more of himself, just as she had. He didn’t want to save the gryphon, he needed to. She not only saved him then, but it was apparent that she had been tracking him and his sister for days, watching over them. She was their guardian, and he had the power to keep her alive, yet he couldn’t find it.
As Joe’s always optimistic outlook began to turn dark, depleted, he felt something stir inside himself. A light in the midst of all the darkness threatening to take him over. Instead of fighting it, he allowed it to flourish. He felt dizzy, his head spinning just as it always did just before a vision. His eyes closed as he blacked out, but his body held firm where he was sitting, hands still on the gryphon. Joe didn’t shake or convulse as he normally did when going unconscious.
The girls watched in awe as the gryphon’s skin began to change. The wound on the side of her head and neck began to close. The process was slow. The blood slowed, then quit flowing altogether as the opening mended. The charred skin on her wing began to flake away as healthy new skin replaced it. It wasn’t healed in full, not by a long shot, but the wounds were much less severe. She would be able to heal on her own from then. Somehow, Joe had managed to save her life.
The gryphon opened her eyes, Joe following suit. He was weak, tipping over a bit and catching his weight with his left hand to the ground.
