by Caleb Monroe
I see Cecilia’s mother wipe a tear away. “We raised her well, her father and me. I never doubted that she was capable of running the kingdom. That is why I knew I could leave. She is a born leader.”
“You’re not wrong about that. She is a benevolent ruler. This crazy universe-hopping adventure I am on is an integral part of my plan to get her back in charge. Liferné needs her to be the queen again because Pontis is going to destroy the kingdom if something isn’t done to take him off the throne.”
Cecilia’s mother looks off into the distance saying, “Queen Cecilia. It even sounds better than Queen Leda. There was never any doubt that she was the right choice when her father died, and I didn’t.”
“Queen Leda. It’s nice to finally know your name.”
“I’m not a queen anymore. Not since my husband died.” I can hear the sadness in her voice as she turns to pet Dia’s head.
With a little hesitance, I ask her, “What happened to him? If you don’t mind my asking.”
With a sweet smile, she tells me, “My husband, the king, was named Rhine. He was a great and powerful king who would do anything for his people. That is where Cecilia gets her benevolent nature; it certainly wasn’t from me. I am more of the punch-first-ask-questions-after kind of woman. We met one day when I was assigned to be his guard. Every king had a rider to guard him, and, since I was the best, the job was assigned to me.
“I never wanted that type of responsibility. All I ever wanted was to soar in the sky with my griffin and fight glorious battles against the Mortem Mangoners. I wanted my name to be synonymous with hero. To me, guard duty was a waste of my talents, and seeing how I was not of royal birth, I wanted nothing to do with a rich, spoiled king. The thought of the two of us falling in love was not something I ever entertained.”
I see Leda pause for a moment, and I can tell she is reliving something in her mind. The way she lets out a slow breath and the look of peace on her face tell me it is a memory that she greatly treasures.
When she looks me in the eyes again, her demeanor has changed. That pleasant thought she had is now clearly gone. “You have met Pontis and you know what kind of person he is.”
I kick at the dirt under my feet saying, “An elitist jerk.”
She laughs before saying, “I guess he did turn out just like his father. I can remember listening to Rhine and his brother fighting all the time about how the kingdom was destined to be destroyed by the Mortem Mangoners, and that something had to be done to preserve the culture of the kingdom. His brother would preach that royals had to be put first or else everything would be lost when the battle was over. If they weren’t arguing about that, then Rhine was defending his marriage to me to practically everyone in the castle. The Royals and his family hated the two of us being together. They were so petty.”
“What makes the royalty of your world think they are so much better than everyone else?”
“I don’t know. I grew up a commoner, only becoming royalty by marriage to the king. That was the one part about the kingdom I never could figure out. It’s why I left. I knew none of the royals would take me or my ideas seriously, but Cecilia, with royal blood running in her veins, people would listen to her. She had been fighting social injustices since she was a little girl. I watched her grow up into a strong, beautiful woman who was ready to lead when her father unexpectedly died.
“You have to understand that leaving her alone in that prejudiced environment was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life, and I watched as my husband died from a sickness that crippled and turned him into a shell of a man that he used to be. I left her because I knew it was the only way to save the kingdom from Pontis. The next leader of Liferné needed to be someone who would be able to fight for the rights of the people, and that simply was not me. I only ever wanted to be a rider. My whole life that is all I wanted to do, and when I married Rhine, I lost that. I never resented him for taking that from me, but I was never meant to be a queen.”
I reach out to softly grab Leda’s trembling hand. “You don’t have to try to and convince yourself that what you did was the right thing anymore. Cecilia is the right ruler for Liferné. You were right to believe that. She is the one who is willing to do anything for her people, no matter the cost to herself. You and Rhine raised her in a way that created the best possible ruler for Liferné. She is wise, wonderful, beautiful, and a fighter just like you. You can stop beating yourself up for the decision you made. Cecilia forgave you a long time ago.”
Leda looks up at me with tear-filled eyes. “She told you that? She really said that?”
“Yes. She told me that she was angry for a while, but she understood why you did it. She just wants you to be happy, and if flying around on Dia is what makes you happy, then that is what she wants for you.”
Leda jumps up and gives me a hug, and I can feel her tears hitting my shoulder. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me this.”
“You know, Cecilia would love it if you came back to see her. I can take you and Dia back with us. You could…”
“No.” Leda pulls back from our hug still misty-eyed.
“Why not?”
“If I go back now, it would mean that I would have to resume the role of Queen of Liferné. As the widow of Rhine, I am rightfully next in line for the throne. I had to leave to ensure that Cecilia would get the throne and not Rhine’s brother. It was the only way to do it.”
I get up and start to walk around in circles. Shadow quickly gets to his feet, positioning himself between me and Dia like a sentry. “But if you came back, maybe it would force Pontis to give up this fight for the throne.”
Leda stands up telling me, “No. If he has my daughter, then he would just use her to get me to give over the throne, and I would do it. He knows I would.”
“There has to be something we can do.” I kick a tree next to me hard enough to bring a few leaves and loose branches crashing down, and Shadow chirps at me. “I know. I know you are right. We’re going to save her.”
“You really care about her, don’t you?”
“More than you know.” I stop myself after realizing what I just said. “I mean, of course, I care about her. She helped to save me from a prison I had put myself in so long ago.”
“I think we both know it is more than that, Jacob.” I see that she is smiling, and I feel a little relieved now that I see her reaction. “If you want to save her so badly, then why are you running around the multiverse and not staying on Liferné where she is being imprisoned?”
I can hear a little anger in her faded accent, and I feel like I have to defend myself, so I say to her, “I am out here away from Liferné because this is exactly what Cecilia would want me to do. Pontis has this crazy plan of finding the home world of the griffins and using them as weapons to travel around the multiverse. He wants to become some sort of superpower throughout every universe, and he wants to use his new powers to finally stop the Mortem Mangoners and threaten anyone else who might pose a threat to his kingdom.
“And if that wasn’t a big enough problem, he is also refusing to listen to me, even though I told him the entire Mortem Mangoner army is preparing to attack Liferné. And instead of preparing to defend his world, he is sending soldiers out to find the griffin’s home world, forcing me to leave Cecilia to try and stop them from doing any harm to the griffins. I hate that we are away from her, but if Pontis finds the griffins’ home world before I do, then there is no way I can ever stop him!”
Shadow can feel the anger rising inside of me, and he places his beak against my side. I bend down, running my hands through his mane. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I turn to see Leda standing next to me. “I’m sorry I questioned you, Jacob. I had no idea Pontis had gone this far, but I think I can help you.”
“Help me with what? You already said you won’t come back.”
“I know where the griffins’ home world is,” she says softly as she turns to walk away from me.
I jump to my feet
and grab both of Leda’s shoulders, causing Dia to get defensive. Shadow rises to meet her head on, but I whistle, causing both to stop. “You two need to calm down. Both of you, sit over there.” I point to the root we were sitting on earlier, and Shadow reluctantly makes his way to sit down near the root. Leda motions with her head for Dia to do as I said, and her griffin slowly makes her way to Shadow’s side. They look like a brother and sister who just got punished for fighting. They will not even look at each other.
“This will help you.” Leda reaches into her pocket and takes out a small, shiny black rock. “When I found their home world, it was only by accident. I was running from The Beast Riders when it happened. Dia opened a portal to get us safely away, and when we went through, something happened to her. She stopped listening to anything I would tell her. It was as if I was not even there. Dia flew me around, and I could tell that she was searching for something. A few minutes later we found what she was looking for.”
“How did you know that world was theirs?”
“Trust me, when you get there you will understand.” She takes my hand and places the small black rock in it saying, “Be careful. The griffins are nice, but the rules are very different there. Let’s go, Dia.” Leda and Dia start to walk off into the jungle surroundings.
“You’re just going to leave? Just like that?”
“I told you I can’t come back with you to Liferné. It would only throw the already fractured political landscape into more chaos. The best thing I can do is just keep running.”
“Can you at least come with us to the griffins’ home world? I could use a guide.” Shadow gets up and comes to my side.
“I wish I could go back, but he won’t let me.”
“Who won’t let you?”
“You’ll see.” Leda uses a root next to her to get on Dia’s back. “I need you to promise me something, Jacob.”
“What?”
“You have to tell Cecilia that I still love her more than anything. Even more than flying, and you have to promise me that you are going to save her and our kingdom.”
“I will.”
“Good.” With a small pat on Dia’s side, they begin to walk away from us. “And you better tell her you love her before she finds someone else.”
“Love? I never said I loved her.” We hear Dia’s cry, and I know that they have gone through another portal. Shadow nudges me in the side and chirps. “I never said loved.” He hits me in the leg with his tail, and I cannot help but laugh. I open my hand and stare at the black rock that Leda left me. “You ready to go home, friend?”
Chapter 12
“This place is beautiful, Shadow.”
The portal closes, leaving Shadow and me in what Leda told us would be his home. As I look around, I see that this world is full of land masses that are just floating in midair. I look below me hoping to find solid, fixed ground, but all I see is a dense fog that reveals no clues as to what lies below us.
“I’ve never seen a world like this. What do you think of your home?”
Shadow tucks his wings in and flies us to the nearest floating land. As we get closer, I see a small waterfall that is cascading off the side of the floating mass toward whatever is behind the veil of fog. Each of the floating islands is very similar in topography, but they come in various sizes.
Shadow is heading for one that is the size of a football field, but to my right, I see an island that must be at least five hundred yards long, four hundred yards wide, and at least three hundred yards tall.
Shadow lands on the grass and I hop off asking, “So is this your home? Can you tell? Leda said you would know.”
Shadow begins to search all around, and his ears twitch with every new sound he hears. I follow him as he walks around this small floating landmass, smelling everything he goes by. This island, like the others, is covered in green grass and has trees growing all around it. The small lake in the middle of this island has a few yellow fish swimming in it.
I make my way to the edge of the island and stare out into the sea of other land masses that inexplicably are just floating in the sky. “Each of the islands looks like a small forest, but the larger ones have mountains rising on them. Check out how big that one is.” I point to a giant island with a mountain range that is floating off in the distance.
I hear Shadow chirping, so I turn around asking, “What do you hear?” Shadow is looking directly up, which causes me to shift my attention away from the moving islands around us. “Griffins. There is a herd of griffins flying above us.”
I run over to Shadow and leap onto his back. He uses his mighty wings to propel us over the small lake in the middle of this island, and after we fly around a few smaller islands, we finally catch up with the herd of griffins that do not seem to notice us. Shadow stays a little behind them as we fly, and I ask, “What are you waiting for? There must be at least thirty griffins in that group. Those could be your brothers and sisters.”
Shadow cautiously follows them for a little while, staying a clear distance behind them the whole time. Before we can catch up, the whole herd of multicolor griffins descends in unison to an island that is full of rolling white hills.
“We must be pretty high up at this point. Look at the snow on those hills.” Shadow brings us down on the snow-covered hills, and when he lands, he slides to a stop about fifty feet away from the herd of griffins. Shadow takes one step toward them, but then pulls up. Shadow seems to be afraid to approach them.
“What are you scared of? You have met plenty of new griffins before.” I smack him on the hind end saying, “Go say hi.”
I stay back to let Shadow experience this moment alone. I watch as he slowly and cautiously makes his way up to the herd, and when he gets about twenty feet away, I see a red griffin lift its head to look in his direction. Both of them freeze, but neither will make the first move.
They have a staring contest for a few seconds, and, finally, Shadow chirps to say hello. The red griffin frantically begins chirping, and then it starts nudging other griffins near it to get their attention. Within seconds, every griffin in the herd is staring at Shadow, who begins to feel nervous and looks to me for help.
“You got this!” I mouth to him while giving a thumbs up.
The other griffins seem to ignore my presence. They almost seem shocked by Shadow’s unexpected appearance. A yellow griffin from the middle of the herd starts making his way to Shadow, and when he gets close enough, he smells Shadow’s side. I notice that this griffin, like the rest, is a good bit smaller than Shadow, forcing him to rise onto to his back legs to smell Shadow’s head.
The griffin turns around and chirps something back to his friends, causing every one of them to charge at Shadow. Shadow never waivers as the herd boxes him in on all sides; he stands his ground, knowing that I am watching. They are pushing and shoving each other as they make their way to smell Shadow.
I can tell all the attention is eating at Shadow by the way he is fidgeting from foot to foot. He finally panics when he becomes engulfed in a sea of multicolored griffins, and I see him hop up on his back legs trying to find me through the mass of wings and feathers around him.
“I’m coming, Shadow. Just stay calm, buddy.” I run over the snowy hills, almost losing my footing a few times, but when I reach the griffins, I find that they have no interest in letting me through. “Move. Let me get to Shadow. I’m coming, buddy, just don’t freak out.” I try to push a brown griffin out of the way, but he refuses to budge and ignores my pestering. “Shadow needs me. Now move!” I grab the griffin’s tail yanking on it in frustration.
The brown griffin swiftly flips around, taking a swipe at me with his extended talons. My only reaction is to fall backward, hoping he misses me because I know one hit from those talons could gut me.
It works, but the griffin then tries to peck at me with his beak, and I have to slide backward on the cold, snowy ground to avoid being torn apart by the razor-sharp beak that is leaving deep holes in the ground. I
keep pushing backward, but I am stopped when I feel my hand touch something soft. I look above me to find another griffin, not Shadow, staring down at me.
“Hi.” I slowly pull my right hand, which was grabbing the griffin’s front foot, towards my body. “Is there any way we could just talk about this misunderstanding? I see now that I might have overreacted when I pulled on your friend’s tail, and I would really like to apologize for that mistake.”
The griffin standing over me lifts his claw to attack, so I pull my hands in front of my face, even though I know they will do nothing to protect me. The next thing I know my chest is rattling from a ferocious roar that I know all too well.
“Shadow.” I fearfully move my hands away from my eyes and open them to see him standing over me. “Thanks.” I get to my feet and watch the two attacking griffins begin to back away. Shadow roars again and this time every griffin on this floating island starts to bow their heads. “What did you say to them?”
Shadow has his feathers sticking up high, and his fur is elevated all along his back. “I’m okay, buddy. You can relax.” Both of us look out and the sight of every griffin bowing is something to behold. “This is just like on Liferné when you roar.” The two griffins that attacked are the first to stand back up, and when they do, they come right back up to me. I get closer to Shadow, but he looks at me and chirps. “They’re friends now? Just like that?” Shadow chirps at me again, and I hold my hands out toward the two griffins. They both come up to put their heads under my hands. I pet both saying, “I guess we can overlook what just happened. Let’s agree we were all at fault.”
The rest of the griffins are beginning to get up and to make their way toward us. They all seem very interested in Shadow, and I am not entirely sure why. As they get closer, they all start chirping, causing Shadow to respond in kind.
I have no idea what they are saying, but they all seem very excited. I see that Shadow is going to be encircled again, so I step back not to cause any more incidents that might result in my untimely demise.
