Sworn To Transfer: Courtlight #2

by Edun, Terah

  On the other side of the fence, Meres stood facing an angry griffin imprisoned in a fence, its hackles raised and feathers fluffed. Standing firm so as to not give the appearance of fleeing, he began to speak using soothing words and a quiet voice. The pregnant griffin wasn’t really in the mood for the lullaby. She screeched and moved forward, raising her forearm in an intimidating manner and clawing the air in front of him.

  “Let me go!” she screamed in his mind, enraged.

  Time to change tactics.

  “We’re trying to help you,” he pleaded.

  “No, no.”

  He crouched in pain, not from the mental shouting, which did hurt, but from the images she was sending through the link. She and her mate in flight. They’d been hunting and had dived down on unsuspecting prey—a juicy deer that they had torn to shreds with relish. Without warning, shadows had come from nowhere, a human walking behind them. He had ordered his creatures to attack them. She had barely gotten away.

  She bore resentment for what she saw as one of his village warriors’ attacks.

  “It wasn’t us, Queen of the Air,” he protested.

  “Human, I saw—it was human!”

  “There are many humans,” he said, “Many different ones.”

  A gleam came into her eye. Meres continued to talk to her. To placate her, all the while using his mind magic to calm her down imperceptibly, to push the anger back and allow reason to flow through.

  Finally she trembled and lowered herself to the ground. With all four legs beneath her and her wings smoothed along her back, she was beautiful, a radiant golden goddess of the air.

  “Raina,” she said. “My name is Raina.”

  “Raina, then,” he replied. “Your kits have been fueled by your rage. Are they well? Can you feel them moving inside you?”

  She tilted her head quizzically at him, as if trying to understand his query, and then quickly stuffed her head under her wing and looked at her stomach.

  Looking back at him, she said, “They move. They are whole.

  “May I help?”

  “Help? Help how?”

  “By giving them energy and life.”

  “Take me from this prison first.”

  He raised an eyebrow. Griffins were intelligent and she knew how to bargain.

  “I can only do that if you keep calm,” he said, “If my companions can speak with you and see that you are back to being of sound mind, they will free you so that you can birth your kits in freedom.”

  She nodded.

  Meres left the enclosure and retreated back to his physical form. Sighing, he stretched his neck to let out a crick in the side. Looking over at Vana, he said, “She wants out.”

  “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

  “She’s better now. Sane.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Excuse me,” said Alexandra, venturing forth. “She told you this? Is she truly well?”

  They all heard an angry shriek inside the enclosure when Meres removed his hand from the barrier.

  Vana shot him a look and said, “Sane, huh?”

  “She just doesn’t want to be left alone in silence in that stupid cage,” he retorted.

  “Can you prove it?” Alexandra asked with an unwavering stare.

  Meres nodded and said, “Take a look for yourself.”

  She stepped forward to touch the barrier and he guided her down to speak with the imprisoned griffin. Julius followed after that, and then Vana took a brief look inside. Finally, when they had all emerged once more, Meres said, “So can we release her?”

  “It is possible,” said Julius reluctantly.

  “More than possible,” said Alexandra firmly. “No creature of the Ameles Forest shall be imprisoned against their will when it’s clear their mind is whole and well.”

  “I suppose the deaths are just going to be forgiven?” said Julius sardonically.

  “She was driven by rage at the death of her magic.”

  “By that logic, if someone killed you and I decided to kill five sylphs in retaliation, I would be freed?”

  Alexandra sighed and rubbed her forehead.

  “Is there a council here?” Ciardis ventured. “One that your grandfather is part of? Now that she is well, they can decide.”

  As all four adults looked at her, she added, “Can’t they?”

  “It’s true,” Alexandra said slowly. “They can do it.”

  “Until then she stays inside the cage,” said Julius firmly.

  “A twenty-foot cube is no place for a pregnant griffin or any creature of the skies,” said Meres tightly. “In fact, I’m surprised she has survived this long.”

  “What would you have us do?” snapped Julius. “Kill her?”

  “Even if this imprisonment were a punishment for crimes committed rather than an attempt to keep her from harming herself or others, it could not last forever.”

  “We can feed her, make sure she has nutrients and is as comfortable as possible.”

  “It will kill a person’s mind,” Vana interjected with shadowed eyes. “It would take longer in a creature with the magic and mind of a griffin but it would happen.”

  They all looked at her, flabbergasted. “What?” asked Alexandra.

  Vana sighed and said, “I’ll tell you this much and no more. During the Initiate Wars, prisons were created to keep enemy combatants in. For the strongest mages, it broke them down over time. It wasn’t really designed for kith, hence the size. What the Princess Heir was doing with it, I don’t know.”

  “How she got it is what I want to know,” demanded Meres.

  “And why in the seven hells is it in our forest?” demanded Julius.

  Vana shrugged.

  “After the wars, a lot of the artifacts were left out on the battlefields. It wasn’t until the school of mages made a concerted effort, ongoing even now, to clean up the sites that we truly saw all of the atrocities of the war,” said Ciardis.

  At a surprised look from Vana and Meres, she gave a sheepish grin. “I read a lot.”

  “Right, well—”

  “No,” interjected Alexandra. “It’s time. It’s time to get her out. Now.”

  Alexandra looked over at her brother firmly. This time he didn’t object. Even he couldn’t condone an individual being stripped of their mind and magic slowly; it was torture.

  Vana, Serena, and Meres backed away as the siblings strode forward to take their place. Alexandra lifted a necklace out from under her robes. At the end of a long silver chain was a beautiful key made of polished metals with intricate detail work.

  She and her brother put their right hands on the wall, careful to keep the rest of their bodies at a distance. The fence began to pulse with a white light. Alexandra took the key and inserted it directly into the glowing wall. As she turned it, they all heard the click of a lock springing open, and then a portion of the fence began to dissolve. The siblings backed up in haste, preparing to face a potentially angry griffin.

  When Rania stepped out in the sunlight, she blinked at the natural light shining in her eyes and dipped her head at Meres in thanks.

  “Now,” he said slowly after bowing to the silent griffin, “I’d like to check on your kits.”

  After all was pronounced well, Rania spoke, “I leave for my nest.”

  As she turned, she spread her long wings to fly.

  They watched silently as she flew away.

  Chapter 24

  As they walked back toward the village, Meres said, “I’ll check on Raina as much as possible.”

  Turning to Julius, he said, “I assume you know where the nest is?”

  “About twenty miles north, in the cliffs above the waterfall,” Julius said.

  When they arrived back Alexandra called the council of elders to a meeting. Since the meeting hall was on the forest floor and fairly large, Ciardis saw no reason why she couldn’t attend. Vana left, whether to avoid being asked more questions about the prison in the middle of the fo
rest or to take a small rest, Ciardis couldn’t tell.

  A few minutes into the conversation, Ciardis was beginning to wish she’d taken the chance to leave, too. No one could agree on anything, but they all thought Julius and Alexandra had made an impulsive and potentially reckless decision to allow the griffin to be set free.

  A woman with long feathers in her golden hair and the wisdom of ages in her eyes stood and said, “This is a grave decision that has repercussions for us all. What if she returns in a fury as she did before?”

  “Then we will aid her, heal her,” Alexandra’s grandfather countered before Julius or Alexandra could speak.

  “But—” protested another gentleman.

  He was interrupted by a loud bang as the outer door of the meeting hall burst open in a gust of wind. When Ciardis looked over at the door, she reassessed her previous impression—it was more like a gust of angry woman.

  In the doorway stood a stocky human woman, very unlike the svelte Panen people around her. She put her hands on her hips and angrily demanded, “What have you lot done to that poor griffin?”

  Alexandra stepped forward. “She was imprisoned, but she’s gone now.”

  “Gone?” huffed the woman. “I should hope not, since I just got her bandaged and fed in my healing center.”

  The entire room stared at her in confusion.

  “You have a griffin?” said Julius slowly.

  “Here, Helen? Now?” said Alexandra.

  “Ain’t that what I just said?”

  “What color is it?” This came from Meres.

  “I’m not here to answer ten question from you lot. You want to know about the griffin? Come see for yourself.”

  As they all rushed down the aisle, she held up a warning finger, staring up at the Panen who all towered at least two feet above her. “But I’m warning you lot. Disturb her rest and I’ll have your heads.”

  To a person they hastily nodded, and she turned and slowly walked out of the meeting hall, the group behind her following like recalcitrant children.

  When they arrived at the healing center, it was as she said. Raina was looking a little bedraggled in a nest that took up half the room. “What happened to her?” demanded Meres.

  “Something attacked her and that’s all I know,” replied Helen. When the group tried to question her, the healer further hustled them out with admonishments about the griffin needing rest.

  *****

  The next morning, Terris awoke alone in her room confused. She spoke to the healers after they came in and asked after her friends. Ciardis rushed in minutes later to see Terris sitting up and looking around. Terris gave her grin.

  “How are you feeling?” Ciardis asked.

  Terris shrugged. “Whole.” She was hesitant to add that her magic felt weird. She felt like she could hear other minds as well – animals perhaps but she wasn’t sure what they were. And while she’d been asleep, she’d felt awash with flames, as if she’d been burning alive and nothing could quench the white fire in her veins. It was probably the poison from the wendigo, Terris decided. They must have some kind of severe hallucinogenic properties like the giant land lizards on the Western Isles. One bite from the land lizards on her home island would give a person a high fever within hours along with delusions and muscle spasms. The creatures used the forced movement in their victims and the high fever to track them in the dense forest, and then devoured their prey once the poison had done its work to fully immobilize them.

  Terris sighed and rubbed the back of her head, looking around the room she was in. It was clean and spacious, with new linens on the bed and what looked like vines woven into the ceiling. Sunshine came through the wood-carved windows and a breeze wafted through. Wistfully, she thought, Reminds me of home.

  “Where are we?” asked Terris.

  “The city of Ameles,” Ciardis said.

  “Feel up for a walk?” said Terris.

  “You’re asking me? You’re the one who just nearly died.”

  Terris shrugged, “Pretty sure there’s nothing wrong with my legs.” Testing herself she swung her feet over the edge of the bed with Ciardis hovering over her anxiously.

  Standing up tentatively she jumped up and down a little, “See? Feels fine!”

  Ciardis blinked and said, “Alright. If you insist. But the minute you feel tired we’re coming back here.”

  As they walked outside, she looked at Ciardis with raised eyebrows. “City?”

  “That’s the literal translation of the Panen word for the place,” Ciardis said as she looked around ruefully. Compared to human cities, it really didn’t look like much of one. While humans carved their territories out of the surrounding nature, it looked as if the inhabitants of the Ameles Forest had done everything in their power to incorporate their ‘city’ into the forest. Huge, spiraling trees with large trunks that testified to centuries of existence served as the platform for an interconnected network of vine-crafted bridges and natural paths high up in the trees. On broad branches the size of normal city streets, the inhabitants had built or carved homes out of the trees upon which they stood. Natural light filtered in and out of the branches, with carefully placed mirrors reflecting light into darker corners of the thoroughfares.

  As Ciardis and Terris walked along one of the footpaths, they took the time to look over the edge as they carefully held on to the vine barriers that prevented accidental falls. They were more than twenty feet off the ground, and they were currently on one of the lowest levels. As they wandered Ciardis told Terris of yesterday’s adventures and the victims they’d seen on the forest floor.

  As they neared a rounded hut, Terris began to feel unwell. Eventually her head began to hurt so much that she clutched it in pain. “What it is?” asked Ciardis in alarm.

  “I don’t know,” Terris said, wincing over the pain.

  “Perhaps we should go to the healer,”

  “I think perhaps you’re right, but—”

  And then the pain intensified. Terris fell to her knees and folded her head down. Nothing was helping. Closing her eyes, she wished fervently for this to end. Deciding that she needed help, she clutched Ciardis’s hand and tried to mind-call for Vana’s aid. But something interfered. As soon as she open her mind to the mental connection, another voice entered.

  “Who? Who?” questioned the voice in a weird manner.

  “Who are you?” responded Terris.

  Ciardis could hear the exchange, as well, as Terris had opened her mind and magic to her friend with her touch.

  “I am Flightfeather. Flightfeather needs help. Come, come,” the voice commanded. It pressed an image into their heads. An image of the home in front of them. The voice was urging them to walk inside.

  Ciardis looked at Terris, and Terris at Ciardis.

  “My headache is gone,” whispered Terris.

  Ciardis raised an eyebrow at her. “Then let’s see what it wants.”

  “It?”

  “Did it sound human to you?”

  Terris grimaced and stood. “We’re going in and out quickly. No lingering.”

  To the door she called out, “And no funny stuff! We’ve got knives.”

  “We do?” whispered Ciardis.

  “The healers took mine,” admitted Terris.

  When they walked into the home, they saw it was a single large room. Next to the far wall stood a perch with a large gray owl resting on it. Next to its perch was a large bed with thin curtains. The owl flapped its huge wings in warning when they entered and tilted its head.

  They heard the same voice in their head when they looked at it. “Who? Who?”

  Deciding it couldn’t hurt to humor the thing, Ciardis pointed to herself and said her name, then pointed to Terris and did the same.

  And then the light in the room shifted and curtains moved with the wind. There was a young man in the bed. As they moved closer, Ciardis could see slashes on the man’s neck. The same ones seen on the stricken that she spoken to the day before. But
this was man was comatose, not dead.

  “Help him, help him,” demanded the owl.

  “Help him?” queried Terris.

  “How?” asked Ciardis.

  “Listen for his heart in the shadows, his heart in the shadows, his pulse through their darkness, his pulse through their darkness,” said the owl.

  For a long moment Terris stared directly at the owl. Ciardis got the feeling that she was speaking to it on a different level. Then she reached down to grab the young man’s hand.

  A loud crash sounded behind them and they turned to see glass shattered on the floor. A woman with a long braid down her back and age lines on her face stood in the open doorway with glass scattered at her feet.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked.

  The owl screamed and flew at the door. Unfortunately Ciardis and Terris were in front of the door, and they rushed out, nearly knocking the woman over as they hurried to get out of the angry owl’s way. Once they were all outside, it circled in the air once and swooped right back into the home.

  “I’ll ask you again,” the woman said, her face pale, “What were you doing in that home?”

  Ciardis and Terris rushed to explain to her that the owl had invited them in. She listened to their tale and didn’t interrupt.

  Finally, she said, “That owl has not let anyone else besides me near my son for the past five months. It hasn’t spoken to anyone, either. And yet you were there.”

  Suddenly they heard a commotion from inside. Rushing in, they saw that the boy’s body on the bed had begun to shake. It began with tremors in his hands and spread throughout his body. He curled in upon himself, his head buried in his hands and screams erupting from his mouth. Ciardis and Terris backed up with their hands over their mouths and eyes wide in fear.

  The woman didn’t hesitate. She rushed over to the bed and grabbed her son from behind. Soothing him, she pulled his head back as he relaxed. Mopping his brow with a cloth from the bedside and patting his head, she said through sobs, “Barren, my Barren. It’s all right. You’re safe. Come back to us.”

  Soon he was limp again, as if he’d never moved. His mother rearranged him back in his bed and pulled the covers over his chest.