by Caleb Monroe
These new griffins do not offer up any challenge, and as they quickly fall back into line, I decide to give Shadow a hand since he has been working so hard the last month.
“Morning, guys and girls. How are we doing today?” The griffins chirp at me, and I walk by, patting a few of them on the sides and petting their manes. “If this is going to work, I need all of your help. We have to learn to work together and do our jobs or my plan will never work.” I make my way back to Shadow’s side, saying, “Shadow is the best there is, and he will show you everything you need to know. Just follow our lead and everything will work out.” I get a chorus of roars, then tell Shadow, “Good luck. I will come back after I check on Captain and his team.”
I make my way to the forest on the east side of the mountain to check on our second in command, Captain. Captain was the griffin who was in charge before Shadow and I showed up. He was the first griffin who challenged Shadow the day we arrived, but he quickly became our most trusted ally. Captain is the one I leave in charge whenever Shadow and I go on recruitment trips or make raids in the kingdom.
While walking to find Captain, I see a few griffins covered in mud and dirt coming out from the forest. “Morning, guys. Is it time for a shift change?” They both stop to let me pet them and they chirp at me. “Go get some rest, eat something, and clean up some. Is Captain around?” The dull red griffin to my right tilts his head in the direction of where they were working. “Thanks.”
It takes a few minutes for me to get to the tunnel, but when I do, I put my head in and shout, “Captain? I need a word!” It takes about five minutes, but through the dark I see him emerging. “That you, Captain?” I hear a small roar, and say, “Great. Come meet me outside, please.”
When we get outside, I see that Captain’s grey-blue fur and dark grey feathers are covered in mud. “I know you haven’t taken a break all night, and I need you to get some food and sleep. At least take some time to get a nice, soothing bath.” Captain gives me a few frustrated chirps and then shakes off some of the mud coating his fur. “I know you can do this for days without rest, but I need you to be able to take charge when I leave. Shadow and I need to run some errands today, so you will be in charge for the rest of the day. I want you to get some rest this morning, and you can jump back in the tunnel to help your team out when we get back tonight.”
Captain lowers his head for me to pet his mane. He then makes his way to the small lake in the forest to get cleaned up before he rests. “One last thing. I need the tunnel to be done in a week. Can we do that?” Captain turns his head roaring at me. “Perfect.”
I walk away hoping that Captain is not lying to me and that our plan will be ready in time, because I am not sure we can afford to wait much longer. We must set things right in this kingdom and put Cecilia on the throne.
I get back to the front of the mountain and see that Shadow has his new students lined up in front of him. “Ready for me to do my part?” Shadow slams his right talon down against the ground, and all the griffins sit in unison. “Here we go, guys. I want all of you take flight, spin to your right, dive down, go straight up, and then fire your cry on my command.”
I watch as a few of their tails twitch and one of them starts to drive his talons in the grass below him. I raise my right hand into the air and snap once. The new griffins let out their wings and take flight and in unison spin to their right, dive toward the ground only pulling up at the last second, and when they are all flying straight upwards, I yell, “Cry!” The seven launch their air missiles high into the sky before returning to the ground when hearing my whistle.
“Great job, everyone. Shadow and I are going to leave for the day, but I want all of you to keep working. Captain will come by later and see how much progress you have made.” The griffins chirp at us as we walk away and Shadow lets out a small roar to make sure they do as they are told.
Shadow and I grab a quick lunch, and when we are done, I ask the two griffins next to us if they want to come on our next trip. They get excited and finish their food so they can be ready to go when we are.
Before we leave, I find Captain to make sure that he is awake and making his rounds. “The place is yours, Captain. Remember, no getting back in the tunnel until tonight’s shift change.” Captain growls at me, but I gently pat him on the side saying, “Yea, yea.”
I jump onto Shadow’s back and together with the two griffins, we head back to the kingdom we barely escaped last night. We take the southern approach this time since last night we left to the east. I try to make sure we always approach and leave from a different direction to keep Pontis guessing where we are hiding.
We are having our meeting in the forest near the western part of the lowest ring of the kingdom, and as we get closer, Shadow lowers to an elevation that will allow us to see where our guest is waiting for us.
Two months ago, flying this exposed would be dangerous, but now we have complete trust of the first and second ring. We can freely fly out in the open with no fear of being shot out of the sky.
The sheer volume of the lower ring still amazes me. It is nearly twice the area as any of the other rings around the castle. It would take at least four weeks to walk around the whole thing.
We hear the griffin on the right start chirping and Shadow adjusts our flight path. “Did he find him?” Shadow chirps and we all head for the forest to our right. “There he is. Take us down.” Shadow and our escorts circle around and come to a soft landing on the forest floor. I jump from Shadow’s back and head straight for our informant. “A little warning would be nice next time you plan on trying to trap me and cut my head off.”
In the familiar accent that all royals use, he says, “I honestly had no idea what Jaia was planning until last night. But I promise next time I will get you word through the smoke. Why don’t we do blue for danger and red for safety?” Our inside man responds, looking at me squarely in the eyes.
I reach out and shake Tayus’ hand, “Works for me.” I hear the other griffins we brought with us start to get antsy, so I tell them, “Why don’t you two go hunt for a bit. I’ll call you when we are ready to leave.” They look to Shadow for confirmation, and he nods in approval. “So, what news do you have for me?”
Tayus reaches behind his back and hands me an envelope saying, “I hope you have not made any arrangements for tomorrow night.”
I take the letter from him. “Well, aside from being full up with dodging your family’s attempts to murder me, my schedule is pretty empty. Speaking of your family… YOUR FATHER IS PONTIS!” Shadow jumps to my side and raises one of his claws up into the air readying to strike.
Tayus is startled and takes a step back. “Wait! I promise you can trust me. I know I should have revealed who I was from the beginning, but I was hoping that we could have avoided this revelation altogether.”
I tighten my grip around the handle of my blade. “Avoided this!? I think that the fact that you are the son of the false king who wants to mount my head on his wall is something I needed to know. Especially when I am working behind his back, with his own son! How do I know I can trust you?” Even though Tayus and I have been working as partners for only a few months, I cannot help but feel a sense of betrayal after learning the truth about him.
Tayus steps closer with his arms outstretched, signaling his truce, saying, “If I wanted you dead then I would have never told you those things the first time we met. I would have never started to feed you information on guilds and people who would be willing to listen to you. I am putting my life at risk every time I help you!”
“But how can Pontis be your father? You two could not be more different.”
Tayus turns his back to me, and I can see his shoulders slump down. “I know,” he says with sadness in his voice. “You should see the way people look at me when I walk through the lower rings. They try to hide it, but I can see the fear in their eyes. Everyone knows who I am, and they all fear what I will do to them. I am just another monster who wants to su
bjugate all those beneath him. They see my father when they see me.”
“That’s why you never told me. You were afraid I wouldn’t trust you anymore?”
“Can you blame me? My father will always be known as the man who broke our kingdom. I will always be tied to him as his son!” Tayus takes his sword out and stabs it deep into a tree next to him causing leaves to fall all around us. I watch as Tayus breathes heavily while staring at his sword. The only noise that can be heard around us is the clanging of metal as his armor rises and falls while he stares at the tree he struck.
As the leaves slowly fall around us, I realize I have never questioned Tayus’ motives before. Why should I? Up until now he was only a soldier who wanted to see things change, but now I know the truth, and it honestly scares me a little. “What made you decide to turn against him? Why are you so different from your father?” I walk up next to him, and I can feel the anger emanating off him.
Tayus takes a moment to slow his breathing, and after regaining his composure, he says in his proper royal accent, losing his typical bravado, “Because I learned what type of monster my father truly was when I was a boy. You might find it hard to believe, but it was not easy making friends when I was little. My father’s family had a reputation, and it drove away most who knew us.”
Tayus rips his sword from deep in the tree and places it back into his holder. He then begins to walk further into the woods saying, “I only had one real friend when I was growing up. There was a plethora of other children to play with, but they only spent time with me out of obligation and fear of my father. None of them truly desired to be my companion, none except Jiriah, that is.”
“Who is Jiriah? I don’t think I have ever met him.”
“And you never will,” he says coldly. Tayus stops walking and says, “Jiriah was the son of my family’s servants who came to work at our home every two days from what is now the first ring. He was supposed to help his parents with the more trivial tasks, but most days he would end up playing with me instead. Those were the best days. I would long for those hours when I would see his family walking up to our house because I knew my friend was coming. We would run around the yard pretending to fight off hordes of Mortem Mangoners.” I hear Tayus laugh as he says that.
“But all that changed when my father learned who I was choosing to spend my recreational time with. I will never forget when he sat me down and chastised me for who I chose to be my friend. He told me that Jiriah was full of disease and my association with him would cause people to look down on our family. He forbade me from playing with him. But like most children, I ignored my father and continued to spend time with my best friend, my only friend.”
“Any time my father would discover us playing together, he would scream and shout about how I was bringing shame upon our family. He also had no problem using more than just his words to show me how disappointed he was with my behavior.” Tayus pulls up a sleeve, revealing a multitude of scars that run up his arm.
“How could your father do that to his own son?” I instinctively begin to rub the scars on my wrist that will always remind me of the choice I almost made.
“That is who he is.” Tayus cannot hide his deep disappointment.
I am almost too afraid to ask him, but I do anyway. “What happened to Jiriah?”
“My father has never been a patient man, and after my defiance went on for another week, Jiriah simply disappeared. I questioned his parents as to where he was each day they would come to work, but they would simply ignore my inquiries. I noticed that Jiriah’s mother would cringe every time I asked about him, and there was a bit of rage that would flare up in his father’s eyes. It was not long until I came to understand what had truly transpired with their son. He was killed. He was killed because of my insubordination.”
“Pontis killed Jiriah?”
“He never admitted to it, even when I confronted him, but the beating he gave me for even questioning him was enough evidence to tell me I was right. It was that very day that I learned what type of monster my father was. I never looked at him the same way again.” Tayus shakes his shoulders as if throwing off the hurt persona he just bared to me.
“No one ever did anything about Jiriah disappearing? The other royals just allowed this to happen? How could that be?” I am searching for an answer to how this horrible act could have gone overlooked.
“What was anyone supposed to do, Jacob? My father was the second most powerful man in the kingdom at that time.” Tayus’ anger flares up again.
“You could have told someone, anyone!”
“You have no idea what it is like to be raised by a father like mine. How could you possibly understand when your father was k…”
A very uneasy silence settles between us. I can only stare at Tayus as his head falls to face the ground. He may not have finished that statement, but the intention was felt regardless.
“I beg for you to forgive me, Jacob. I never meant…”
I put one hand on Tayus’ shoulder and I can feel him shaking underneath it from shame of what he was going to say to me. “I know what it is like to lose yourself to a moment of anger and fear. Let’s just forget about it.”
Tayus takes a deep breath and begins to shake his head back and forth. “Well, now you know why I chose to help you when I found you chained in the cell.” He again speaks as the confident and proud Tayus I first came to know.
I want to try and console him for what happened to him as a child, but looking at his posture I can tell that moment has passed. He is back to the only Tayus I know. I tell him, “I guess you have to be telling the truth about being on my side. If we had fought as enemies last night, I have a feeling it would have gone a little differently than it did.”
With a little laugh, Tayus adds, “You have become a proficient fighter since I started training you, but you’re still not good enough to defeat me.” Tayus takes a step forward, but Shadow swiftly moves to intercept him. “Can you please tell him my allegiance is to you? I don’t want to get eaten today.”
Shadow growls, and I tell him, “Relax, bud. We’re safe.” I walk back toward Tayus while opening the envelope he gave me a moment ago, reading in my best impersonation of the royal accent, “You are cordially invited to the royal dance.” I glance back up at Tayus, raising one eyebrow. “Are you asking me on a date?”
“Certainly not,” Tayus says with a laugh.
“Good, because I am terrible dancer.”
“Pontis…”
“Your dad.” I say to make sure he knows I am still annoyed about this bit of information coming to light by anyone but him.
“Yes, my father is throwing a ball tomorrow night where he intends to have Cecilia publicly denounce her rights to the throne, officially making him King of Liferné.”
I rip the letter in half shouting, “NO! I need more time…we’re so close…”
“Your secret plan is still not ready? You have been working on whatever this is for over two months now.”
“I know, but I need one more week.”
“We don’t have another week. This is going to happen tomorrow,” Tayus tells me.
“Shadow,” I say turning around. “If we use all the griffins, do you think we can get it done by tomorrow?” Shadow growls at me, and I know he is right. “We need more time, or maybe more griffins will work.”
“More griffins?”
“Yeah, we have been hopping around through different universes trying to recruit more griffins. Actually, that’s where we got these two.” The griffins we brought with us have returned and are starting to play fight with each other. I snap my fingers and they jump to attention. “It takes about a week, but Shadow and I are able to train them so that they will follow orders.” One of the griffins hits the other with his tail and they begin to fight again. Shadow lets out a sigh before slamming his foot into the ground, causing both to stop. “They listen to him better than to me.”
“That’s wonderful, but we still have the
more pressing matter of the dance to deal with first.”
I kick a branch sitting on the ground next to me. “I can’t believe she is going to go through with it. I know it has been three months, but I always thought she would hold out forever.”
“Father is probably threatening to hurt the people of the kingdom. I heard him at a recent meeting say that he was done playing nice with her and that it was time for him to hurt her in the worst way.”
“Your father is a monster, Tayus.”
“Why do you think I am siding with you?”
“I have to get into the dance and talk Cecilia out of it. I need her to hold on a little longer. I’m assuming you showed me this letter because you knew you could get me in, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good,” I tell him.
“Can you meet me at the guild master’s house in the craftsman ring?”
Tayus thinks for a moment. “Yes, I can arrange for that to happen. Be there after lunch tomorrow, and I will come find you when it is time to go.”
I shake Tayus’ hand telling him, “Perfect. I will be there. I promise.” I know Tayus is going back to the castle before anyone notices he is gone. I feel more confident knowing we have someone on the inside on our side, but I still worry that we are running out of time and that I am going to let Cecilia down. I am terrified that I am going to fail this entire world.
“As if we didn’t need any more pressure to get all of this done faster.” Shadow lowers his head to let me climb onto his back. “After we get back from this recruitment mission, we should double our efforts to make sure the tunnel is finished in time.” Shadow takes flight, and I snap my fingers to let the other two griffins know they can join us. “What do you say we let one of them open the portal this time?”
