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Authors: K. J. Taylor

The Griffin's War (Fallen Moon Trilogy) (12 page)

BOOK: The Griffin's War (Fallen Moon Trilogy)

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“Yeah . . .” Bran said slowly. “Yer right, Kraeya. It’s gotta be a lie—a stupid one.” He straightened up. “Well, I ain’t lettin’ my best mate be murdered just so the Bastard an’ his bird can get a fat reward. I’m gonna put a stop to it.”

“We shall
both
put a stop to it,” said Kraeya. She stood up.

“You and I shall find your friend and do what we can to help him, and I shall enjoy seeing Senneck’s plot fail. If there is any griffin who needs to be humbled, it is her.”

“Yeah,” Bran growled. “An’ if there’s any human who needs t’be brought down a peg, it’s the Bastard.
Chosen One
,” he added contemptuously.

Night Travels

T
he journey back to the mountains began slowly. All of them were exhausted and underfed; even Arenadd felt weaker than he would admit. He gave nothing away, determined to keep up a facade of invulnerability. Now that he had confessed to being the Night God’s avatar, he had burdened himself with a role to play. Saeddryn believed he was infallible and unstoppable, and he couldn’t let her know that he could still get tired and hungry, and feel pain. The others couldn’t know it, either. Everything hinged on his new persona and their belief in it. He hoped he could go on believing it himself.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just tiredness that made the travelling slow. Food was scarce, and made scarcer by the fact that they had to find it in complete secrecy. They could allow nobody to see them; the risk was too great. The moment anyone knew where they were, half the country would come running. Arenadd and Skade had to draw on everything they had learnt during the time they had come this way before. The trouble was that back then, there had been only two of them and Skandar, and they had been able to fly most of the way. Hiding seven people and one enormous griffin was next to impossible.

Arenadd and Skandar took to flying ahead to scout out the path and gather food, Skandar by stealing livestock and Arenadd by using his newfound power to sneak into homes and help himself to whatever he could find. For some odd reason, the first things he stole were a hairbrush, a razor and a bottle of hair lotion. Nobody had the spine to make any remarks about this, but Cai tittered when he went off by himself one evening and came back so well groomed he might have been on his way to a dance.

Arenadd studiously ignored the woman’s giggle. “I’ve found some water. Skade, could you come with me and help carry some back?”

She stood up at once and silently walked with him back the way he had come. He led her to a small stream, where a scatter of black stubble had been left on the banks. Arenadd glanced at his reflection in the water. “
Much
better. I tell you, Skade, I’ll take another hanging before I let myself get so grubby again.”

She rolled her eyes—a new trick she had learnt from watching humans. “I see that nothing you have suffered in all this time has managed to change you, Arenadd Taranisäii.”

He gave her a mischievous sideways look. “And you’re very glad, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she said softly. Tentatively, she reached out to touch him. “I had given up any hope of seeing you again. When you went into those mountains and did not return, I thought you had broken your promise. I thought . . .”

Arenadd’s expression darkened. “I knew what you must be thinking, but believe me, it wasn’t my fault. I honestly thought I’d be back in a day or so, but I should have suspected . . . The way Saeddryn was acting, it was obvious she wasn’t telling me something.”

“Then what was there?”

“Her mother,” said Arenadd. “Arddryn. And her partner, Hyrenna. They’re both supposed to be dead, although not in the same way as me. Saeddryn took us to them, and after that they wouldn’t let us leave. Skandar went off with Hyrenna, and I had to stay with Arddryn.”

“A prisoner?” said Skade.

“Not really. More like an apprentice.” Arenadd gave a short laugh. “Finally, an apprenticeship I got to finish.”

“I do not understand,” she said, in the stiff voice she used in moments of uncertainty.

Arenadd shrugged. “She wanted me to be her successor, and she trained me for it—whether I wanted her to or not. When we were finished, she gave me the tattoos of manhood. See?” He rolled up his sleeve to show her. “I’m a proper Northerner now.”

Skade clicked her teeth. “You told me you did not want to be a Northerner. You were ashamed of it.”

“Yes. I was. But now I know why.” Arenadd’s eyes narrowed. “It was because of
them
. The Southerners. I gave myself to them when I was only ten; I let them raise me. They tried to turn me into one of them; they taught me to hate what I was. I turned on my own people—my own parents. But now I know the truth. Caedmon helped to teach me that, and Arddryn and the Night God finished it.”

“But there is no such thing—” Skade began.

Arenadd wasn’t listening. “I didn’t know who I was,” he muttered. “Now I do, and I’ve made peace with it at last.” He smiled very slightly. “A darkman, and a griffiner. A Dark Lord.”

Silence, and stillness, just for a moment.

Then Skade smiled. “And do Dark Lords have time for poor ugly creatures like me?”

Arenadd hesitated. “You’re not ugly.”

She moved closer, resting her head against his. “You have found your pride at last, and I am glad. I do not care that it kept you away for so long, not now that I see what it has done to make you stronger. I am proud of you, and . . . I love you, Arenadd.”

“Still?”

“Yes. I had already forgiven you for leaving me alone. When you gave yourself up to save me, I knew that you still cared. It was enough, many times enough. I only asked to be certain.”

Arenadd took her hands, clumsily with his bandaged fingers. “You remember the last thing I said to you, when they caught me.”

“Yes . . . I did not understand it. You have no heart.”

“But I do. I do, Skade. I have a heart. Yours.” Arenadd gripped her hands more tightly. “I realised it just in that moment. You’re all I have left; you’re the only thing that keeps the last human part of me alive. Without you, there’d be nothing left inside me but darkness.”

She managed a smile. “A great responsibility for one human to carry.”

Arenadd let go. “You know you only have to take it if you want to.”

“Do not speak nonsense,” Skade rasped. “You know this is a question that found an answer long ago. You need me, and I need you; and if we both know it, then there is no more to say.”

Arenadd smiled—a sweet young smile, the kind of smile he would never give to anyone else but her. “You’re right, Skade, as always.”

“I have seen how your cousin looks at you,” she said abruptly.

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it, Skade. I’m not interested in her. She expected to marry me the way her mother wanted, but I won’t. She’s a good woman, but she’ll never be anything more than my second-in-command. Try to be nice to her; she doesn’t deserve your jealousy.”

Skade kissed him. “I will leave her be. You are the only human that matters to me.”

They kissed again, harder this time. Arenadd began to pull closer to her, his excitement mounting as their breath mingled and her warmth soaked into his cool skin. He’d been away from her far too long, and what did it matter if—

“Human!”

The voice lashed out like a whip. Arenadd and Skade pulled apart instantly, shock on both their faces.

Skandar stood over them, his tail swinging from side to side. “Am thirsty. Humans move now.” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped over the pair of them and thrust his beak into the water.

Arenadd cringed and got out from under the griffin’s belly. “Good gods, Skandar, you’re welcome to a drink, but you didn’t have to go and shove your balls in my face.”

Skade hissed. “You have no respect at all, dark griffin.”

Skandar finished his drink. “Not need respect; am very big,” he said arrogantly. He turned to face Arenadd. “Come to find you. Want talk.”

Arenadd got up, dusting himself down. “Of course. What is it?”

Skandar lifted a forepaw, displaying knife-sized black talons. “Moving too slow. Need to reach mountain faster.”

“We all want to get there quickly,” said Arenadd. “I’m afraid it just can’t be helped.”

Skandar put his head on one side. “ ‘Be help’? What mean?”

“I mean we can’t really do anything about it. If we want to all get there—”

“Can do!” said Skandar. “
I
help.”

“How? Do you have an idea?”

“Know what to do,” said Skandar. He spread his wings. “I carry human there, like before.”

“We can’t just leave the others behind,” said Arenadd.

“Carry
all
human,” Skandar snapped. “Carry you, mate, mother, daughter of Hyrenna’s human, other humans who follow you. I carry all to mountain.”

“You can’t carry seven humans at once,” Arenadd said. “I know you’re strong, but no griffin can do something like that.”

“Can!” said Skandar. “And will.”

“How?” said Skade.

Skandar huffed at her. “Use magic. Like before.”

Arenadd stared. “You mean—with the—through the shadows? Like you did before, with us?”

“Yes,” said Skandar. “Am strong now, but even stronger in shadow. Come. I show you.”

A
short time later, the dark griffin stood in the remains of the campsite and shuffled about irritably while Rhodri tried to find a seat on his back. Arenadd, Skade and Annir were already sitting squashed up on his shoulders; Saeddryn was perched precariously between his wings along with Cai; and Davyn was just managing to balance on his rump. Unfortunately this left no room for Rhodri, and Skandar was getting impatient.

“This is mad anyway,” Rhodin growled, sliding off onto the ground for the third time. “No way he’s carryin’ us anywhere. What are we even doin’?”

Skandar’s feathery tail smacked him in the face. “If not fit, then hold tail,” he hissed. “Or stay!”

“Hold on to his tail,” Arenadd translated. “He says to.”

Rhodri grabbed it obligingly. “This is even stupi
deeeeeer
—”

The last word stretched out into a yell as Skandar leapt forward and into utter blackness.

Arenadd could hear the others screaming, but he couldn’t see them. He couldn’t see Skandar, either, but he felt him—felt the dark griffin’s massive body go hurtling through the void, incredibly fast. It was just like their last strange journey together, but this time it went on much longer. Skandar showed no sign of slowing down, but it was impossible to judge how far they had travelled. Arenadd turned his head, trying to see, but still found nothing. He could feel Skade clinging to him, her claws digging into his skin.

“Hold on!” he yelled to the others. “Don’t panic! Hold on! Whatever you do,
hold on
!”

The wind snatched the sound away the instant it was out of his mouth, and he could only hope that they had heard it. If anyone fell off or let go . . . then there was no telling what would happen to them. Even Arenadd felt uncertain of his own safety.

Arenadd began to panic. Something this extreme must be taking a lot of magic. Maybe too much.

He knew what could happen to a griffin who used too much magic in one go. It was rare, but griffiners everywhere told stories about it. Some would be weak for a few days. Those were the lucky ones. But if their magic was allowed to drain out of them much longer than that, unconsciousness and death would follow.

Arenadd pulled on Skandar’s neck feathers. “Skandar! Skandar, stop, now! You’ll hurt yourself! Stop, before—”

Skandar ignored him. In fact, he sped up. The darkness rushed by, and at last Arenadd heard the others. They were shouting, panicking, scared out of their minds.

And then, at last, Skandar slowed. Arenadd felt the griffin’s muscles bunch, and he leapt—up and out of the shadows, back into the bright light of the living world.

Skandar landed with a thump on solid earth, and Arenadd was the only one who kept his seat. Skade tumbled off sideways, nearly dragging him with her, and he let go and slid after her rather than risk pulling out any of Skandar’s feathers. The others had landed much less gracefully. He turned quickly, and relaxed when he saw they were all there, groaning and picking themselves up out of the dirt.

Once he was free of his burden, Skandar lay down on his belly and groaned softly. “Here now,” he muttered. “Safe.”

Arenadd went to him. “Skandar, are you all right?”

The dark griffin yawned and blinked. “Tired. Not hurt. Journey over now; can all rest.”

The others grouped around Arenadd, staring at their new surroundings with bewilderment and, for all of them except Skade, fear.

“What happened?” Davyn exclaimed. “How’d we get here? What
was
that?”

BOOK: The Griffin's War (Fallen Moon Trilogy)

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