The Battle for Liferné

by Caleb Monroe

  Enjoy these last few days you two will share together.

  My heart breaks as I watch the Alpha open a portal back to his world. I must steel myself before going through the portal. Shadow must see that I am strong. I have to show him I can take care of myself if I ever want to keep my promise. I refuse to hold him back any longer.

  Before I go through the portal, I run my hand along the ground, scooping up a small rock that I place in my pocket.

  When we get back through the portal, I am amazed at the silence that still fills the air. Even with almost a thousand griffins, all you can hear is the wind moving through the amphitheater. Shadow runs up to my side as I get through, and even though I try to fight it, I wrap my arms around his neck and say, “I took care of it. Okay?”

  Shadow pulls his head away and stares down the Alpha. I hear him growl, but I step in between them telling him, “I trust you with my life. Now I need you to trust me.” Shadow can see the pain in my eyes, so I quickly close them. “This is all going to work out. You know I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  The Alpha releases a roar, and when he is done, twenty griffins leave their seats and join us in the center ring.

  “The most important thing we can do right now is go back to save Liferné and Cecilia. I know you want to save her as much as I do.” Shadow chirps at me, but he will not stop looking at the Alpha. “Focus.” I snap my fingers, causing him to shift his eyes in my direction. “Cecilia needs us more than ever, and the Alpha is going to allow us to take some of his children to help fight Pontis. With these griffins, we should be able to handle the attack and get the tunnel done in time. Do you trust that I know what is best for you?” Shadow starts to look around the amphitheater, so I ask again, “Do you trust me?”

  Shadow lowers his head, placing his beak on my shoulder. I pet his head telling him, “Let’s go save her, and then we can face this problem together. Remember, we can handle anything together, no matter how impossible it may appear.”

  Shadow lifts his head up and stares down the Alpha one final time. He shoves his wings out and jumps up to hover in the air. He begins spinning so that he can see everyone in the amphitheater, and more importantly, so that they can see him. He releases a colossal roar that demands a response, and what he gets in return is a chorus of roars so thunderous that it shakes the mountain this amphitheater was carved into.

  “You are a true leader, my friend,” I whisper to myself.

  Shadow comes close enough to the ground so that I can use his back leg as a step stool to get to his back. Once I get comfortable I ask, “Can you get us near to the castle? I need to see what they are doing.”

  He cries, opening a portal that will take us to Liferné, and with our newly enlisted help, we prepare for our last adventure together. We both know what is coming, but we will face it together just like we always do.

  Chapter 13

  The sweet air that tickles my tongue is a constant reminder that we are back. “Get a little closer, buddy.” Shadow has opened a portal that put us high above the castle and out of range of any weapons Pontis may have positioned on the castle walls. “You guys wait here. We will be right back.” We leave the other griffins circling above us while we make our way down to investigate what Pontis has been up to these last two days.

  Once we get close enough, I say, “This will do, Shadow. Just take us slowly around the perimeter so I can see what Pontis is doing.” Shadow flies closer to the castle and from this height, I can make out what is happening below.

  Pontis has his entire army both in the courtyard and moving around in formations throughout the royals’ ring. “He must have at least five thousand soldiers at this point, and I’m sure most of them are from the lower rings. Get us a little closer to the castle walls.” Shadow does as I ask, and I can see that Pontis has taken some of his catapults and giant crossbows and readied them for attack. “With some of the crossbows off the wall, that should help us out when we attack with the griffins. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know we have an army of griffins on our side. Pontis has no idea what’s coming for him.”

  Shadow chirps at me, so I say, “Show me.” Shadow leaves the outskirts of the castle and heads for the wall that separates the royal ring from the craftsman ring. “They are fortifying the ring with even more metal. They have made it twice as thick as it used to be.”

  I watch as some of the craftsmen of the third ring are being supervised, or more likely forced, to use blue elemental weapons to freeze large amounts of the copper-colored metal that the builders use for constructing most of the metal structures in the kingdom. They are freezing them and then using their hands to make the wall even thicker and taller as the metal becomes malleable enough to shape with their hands.

  Shadow circles back around and then starts to head back up where the griffins the Alpha sent with us are flying. “It does seem that Pontis is taking my warning at least a little seriously. He seems to be preparing for a battle; now whether that battle is against me or the crystal army, I am not sure, but either way it will help. We need to get back to the base and see if Tayus has any new information for us.”

  Shadow pushes us high into the sky until we finally meet up with the griffins again. “Follow us.” The griffins stay right behind us as we begin our journey back to the mountain base. We decided to take the northern route this time just in case anyone saw us while we were scouting out the castle. We cannot afford to have anyone find our base before we are ready to proceed. Pontis cannot find out about the griffins we have or the tunnel.

  Not when we are this close.

  The route we take will put us at the base in about three hours, which should be close to dinner time. That will mean everyone, even the diggers, will be eating in the field. I hear a ruckus coming from behind us, so I turn to check it out. I watch as the twenty griffins that came with us start to turn in a different direction than we are heading.

  “What are they doing, Shadow?”

  Shadow turns us in the same eastern direction they are traveling and now we are playing follow the leader, but the problem is Shadow is no longer the leader. “Hey! We need to go that way.” I point in the opposite direction, but the griffins do not seem to care about what I said. “It’s like they are being drawn to something. Do you know what they are after?” Shadow starts chirping frantically. “We don’t have time for this, buddy. We need to get back to the base.”

  Shadow growls at me, and as I look out in front of us, and see something that makes me almost fall off Shadow’s back.

  They are here – I am out of time.

  The Mortem Mangoners have set up camp.

  “I hoped we would have had more time. You know what this means, Shadow. We have to get back to the base, now.” Shadow gets us closer to the other griffins, and I shout, “You have to turn around and follow us! We can’t afford to attract the Mortem Mangoners’ attention. We don’t have enough help with us to take them on right now!” I know the griffins heard me, but even though they look in my direction, they keep heading straight for the enemy camp.

  “We are getting too close. They are going to see us soon if we don’t turn back.” Shadow knows we are about to be in trouble, so he pushes us in front of the other griffins using his powerful wings. He gets to a lead position where he spins around thrusting his wings out while releasing a roar.

  The entire pack of griffins all stop midair and begin to fly in place. Shadow stares all them down and then growls once. Without as much of a chirp of discord, these new griffins reverse their flight path and start heading for the base.

  “See? You were born to lead the griffins.” Shadow growls at me as he makes his way back to the front of the pack. “You can’t deny it, buddy. This is what you were always meant to be.” Shadow roars in anger, and I know it is directed at me. “We will table this discussion for later, but only because the bigger problem is that the Mortem Mangoner army is only a day’s march from the castle. This changes everything.”

 
Shadow picks up his pace, getting us back to the mountain faster than I expected. As we make our approach, a mixture of cheers, chirps, and roars rises up to welcome us home.

  The moment we land, Tayus and Captain come to meet us. “I see you at least found more recruits on your journey. Is there any more good news for us?”

  “We found it.” I say with a small smile.

  “Are you serious? You actually found it?” Tayus gives Captain a slap on the side saying, “I told you they could do it.” Captain uses one of his wings to return the favor.

  I turn around pointing to the griffins we brought saying, “I brought these griffins from their home world, but we can talk about that later. We have a more pressing matter to worry about right now.”

  I pull Tayus away from the mass of people and now only he, Shadow, Captain, and I are talking.

  “What’s wrong?” Tayus asks me.

  “We flew by the castle before coming here. Pontis is readying for an attack.”

  “Yes, one of my soldiers on the inside informed me that my father has decided to pull all of his forces back from searching for the griffin home world and now he is doing everything he can to preserve the royal ring.”

  I check around me just to make sure no one is close. “So, he believed me about the Mortem Mangoners?”

  “No. He is only preparing for an attack from us.”

  I begin pacing and grabbing at my hair in frustration. “He is going to get everyone killed.”

  “What do you know that I don’t?”

  “On the way back, we didn’t just see that the castle was being fortified. We also saw that the crystal army, the entire army, is on Liferné. They are only a day’s march from the castle.”

  “What?!”

  “Keep it down.” I see that Tayus’ outburst has brought some attention to us. “We can’t let everyone know until we have made a plan. Now I have something up my sleeve, but it looks like we will have to use it for Mortem Mangoners.” I turn and look at Captain asking, “Can you have it done by tomorrow afternoon?” Captain looks at me, but he doesn’t answer. “If we don’t get that finished, then there is no way we can survive an attack by the Mangoners.” Captain looks at me and chirps. “Good. Take forty to the tunnels and we will use the other thirty to fight with.”

  Captain takes off running for the forest, releasing a roar that causes half of the griffins around us to head toward the cave.

  “Do you care to inform me of what that was about?”

  “It’s our trump card.” I start to walk back toward the crowd of people. “I need you to get word to the guild masters that we are coming, tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  “It has to be tonight. We need to attack in the morning. The only way this kingdom and its people will survive is if Cecilia can unite them before the Mortem Mangoners attack; and with the invading army only hours away, I would guess they are not going to wait much longer before they start their march on the castle.”

  “I will send word immediately.” Tayus runs off, searching for his carrier bird so that he can get word to the guild masters in a matter of hours.

  Shadow chirps at me, and I tell him, “Yes, the easy part is over. Now I have to do my part.” I make my way to the side of the mountain and climb to the first level of caves. “I need everyone’s attention! Everyone, please listen up!” It takes a few tries, but the crowd of people and griffins quiet down. “Thank you. I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but I need everyone’s help, tonight.” Shadow flies up and lands by my side.

  “Your kingdom… your very lives are in danger, but not just from Pontis.” I see the masses starting to whisper among themselves. “Pontis is the immediate problem, but he is not the most dangerous one. On our way back here, Shadow and I saw an army of at least ten thousand Mortem Mangoners who are sitting in a camp that is at most one day’s march away from the castle.”

  The crowd becomes restless, and I fear I am losing them to the spreading pandemonium. “I need you to listen to me. Please, just hear me out!” Shadow steps forward and roars, forcing the whole crowd to stop and look at us. “Thanks, buddy.” I step up to the very edge of the ledge declaring, “I know all of you are scared, but now is not the time to cower or worry. We must work together if we want to survive this. We must prove that Cecilia is right!

  “Now more than ever, your people must unite, or the crystal army will destroy everything and everyone you love. These walls that Pontis uses to divide all of you must be torn down or the Mortem Mangoners will burn them down along with everything you cherish. It is time to unify this great kingdom!

  “Tonight, we are going to sneak our army into the lower rings and gather more fighters as we make our way to the royal ring, which right now is more protected than any of the lower rings. We are going to have to face Pontis’ army and do everything we can to stop them, but we cannot allow ourselves to give into the rage that has rightfully been building inside all of us.

  “We are not doing this to get revenge on our oppressors. We need to keep as many soldiers alive as we can. The only way to defeat the crystal army is to work together and that means we will need Pontis’ soldiers alive.

  “I know I am asking you to take mercy on those who would see you dead, but it is the only way to ensure that this kingdom survives the impending attack. We must stop Pontis, but we need to do it while making sure his army stays unbroken.

  “Tomorrow at sunrise, we will take back the throne from Pontis. We will show him and his royal followers how wrong they are! We will prove to them that Cecilia’s unified kingdom is the right one—that the only way for this kingdom to thrive is for all its people to live and work together with the griffins in harmony. If we can’t do this, then all hope is lost!”

  I let those below dwell on what I have said for a moment before I ask, “Do I have your support?!”

  At first, I hear nothing, and I feel a small amount of fear creeping up inside my chest as the crowd stares at me in silence. I might have put them in a situation they are simply not ready to handle, but then I hear something from the back of the mass of people.

  It starts a roar, but as it grows in intensity, I hear the word being chanted: “Fight, fight, fight…”

  I turn to Shadow saying, “We have our army; now let’s go save Cecilia.”

  Chapter 14

  “The suns will be up any minute, Tayus. Are we going to have enough manpower to pull this off?”

  Tayus is proudly wearing his royal armor that covers his chest and left arm, and forms a skirt protecting his thighs. Tayus peaks out from around the side of the small wooden house we are hiding our squadron behind and says, “If the guild leaders told the truth about the numbers they had, then we should have almost six thousand supporters surrounding the fourth ring as we speak.” The overly confident tone and thick accent Tayus normally speaks with is nowhere to be found today. He is finished masquerading as a privileged royal.

  I consider the clouds above and I have never been this thankful for the chance of rain. “It took all night, but we are finally in position. When the first sun rises, I want you to give the call.”

  Tayus spins back around the side of the building saying, “Me? You want me to give the order to charge?”

  “Of course I do. You have the most experience here and your men will unquestionably follow you to the end. Besides, you came up with most of the attack strategy. You know this plan better than anyone.”

  “But you’re the one they followed here. You convinced these people to believe that Cecilia is a cause worth dying for. They are ready to storm the castle all because you made them believe she was the one who could finally unite this kingdom.”

  I look around at the multitude of men and women hiding behind various structures. “No, I didn’t make them believe in Cecilia. I only reminded them of who she is. She is the spark that this revolution needed—I was just lining up the powder so that when it blew it would lead to the annihilation of these stupid walls.”<
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  Tayus walks over to a young man and tells him to spread the word that when the first sun rises and they hear the call, charge the entrances to the royal ring. He makes his way back to me asking, “Our other fighters are ready, right?”

  I check the sky again saying, “They know what to do. Besides, they have the best general they could ask for.” I turn to see that the sky is beginning to turn from gray to blue. It is almost time for the first sun to rise.

  “Would you care to inform me of the secret plan you have yet to divulge to anyone? It might help put me at ease.”

  “It will have no effect on the outcome of this battle, so you will just have to wait and see,” I say, hoping that Captain and his men get their job done in time.

  I hear metal scraping against metal, and I turn to see Tayus unsheathing his broadsword. “The time has come.” He takes one last big breath, allowing it to slowly seep out of his nose before turning the corner, leaving himself unprotected and completely exposed. He stands out in the open for a minute staring at the encumbering metal doors. He steadies his hand and then slowly raises his sword high into the sky shouting, “Now, brothers and sisters! Fight for your kingdom! Show mercy to these people who would see you dead and prove that there is a better way! Show them your life is just as important as theirs!!!”

  From all around the wall, a thunderous battle cry rises to fill the quiet, still morning sky. I climb up the side of the house we were hiding behind and stand at the perch of the roof.

  I watch as the men and women of the lower rings charge the dense, metal wall, ready to fight for Cecilia and a kingdom that will be free of this horrid class system. Every person we brought is ready to risk his life for the chance of getting the ruler they deserve.

  I feel my hands begin to shake a little as I wait until the very last moment to execute my role in this plan. I have to wait for the moment when our fighters can nearly reach out and touch those nefarious metal doors with their hands.