A Pride of Gryphons

by Kristen S. Walker

  As Sungold completed another pass and doubled back, Korinna’s joy at flying began to wear off. At first, she thought it was boredom from the monotony of their patrol. But then she realized there was a growing sense of unease, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It felt as if there was something watching her—something dangerous.

  She scanned the horizon carefully. The land leading up to the city was all open farmland, giving no cover for an enemy to sneak up on her. The flash of wings out of the corner of her eye made her head whip around, but it was only another seagull catching an updraft. There were only birds in the air and a trickle of refugees on the road. The fighting was too far off for her to see, and there was no way a gryphon could have slipped past Varranor’s forces to come here.

  Yet still, that feeling of something wrong would not be shaken. Sungold stiffened underneath her, sensing it too, and she stopped in midair to look around and smell the wind. Her ears swiveled back and forth to track the threat. Then abruptly, at no signal from Korinna, she angled her wings and circled around sharply to face the bay.

  The blanket of fog had rolled in to cover all the water, and most of the anchored ships were hidden, with only a few masts poking up. The first tendrils had just touched the docks. Sungold stared into the fog, nostrils flaring as if she had caught a scent.

  Korinna peered into the fog. Sungold had seen fog many times, living by the ocean, so she shouldn’t be reacting this way. What was different this time? Could there be something lurking in that thick cloud of mist?

  Then a faint cry pierced the air. Someone was screaming on the docks. As Korinna looked for him, a dark shape swooped out of the fog and picked up the hapless man with sharp talons. A gryphon—eagle wings and a feathered head rising from a lion’s body. The gryphon spiraled up into the air, carrying the struggling dockworker, and then releasing him from fifty or sixty feet up. The man crashed down onto the wooden docks, his body lying twisted like a broken doll.

  Other people began to scatter from the docks, but they couldn’t run faster than a gryphon could fly. More gryphons sailed out of the mist. The city was under attack.

  Eight gryphons were wreaking havoc on the docks while people ran in terror. Korinna froze on Sungold’s back. What should she do? Her hand reached behind her automatically for her bow, but only grasped empty air. Why was she unarmed? Then she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to fight. This was a patrol. Her job was to warn the others about the attack.

  Sungold reluctantly turned away from the ongoing attack and followed Korinna’s lead back to the military compound. Korinna made her fly lower, close the walls, so she could signal clearly to the guards posted.

  The first few guards looked surprised and were slow to react when she signaled, but she kept insisting that there was an attack, and pointed to the docks. Of course, the guards couldn’t see all the way across the city from so close to the ground, and the buildings blocked their line of sight. But she did eventually see a runner leave and knew that her message would be passed on to the commander of the city guard.

  Korinna clung on to Sungold’s neck and sent her to fly as fast as she dared. Within minutes, they touched down in the paddock. The other marewings were already nervous, stamping their feet and blowing hard, somehow sensing an enemy nearby. But their riders looked up at Korinna in shock when she dismounted and marched over to them.

  “Get to the docks!” she cried, signaling wildly. “Eight gryphons just flew in over the bay! We have to stop them!”

  Orivan gaped at her, frozen for a moment. “How—? To arms!” He jumped down from the fence and dashed for the rack of bows and quivers waiting nearby.

  Korinna watched all three riders arm themselves and run for their mounts. Three to eight was terrible odds against gryphons. For a moment, her fingers itched to take up a weapon and follow them. But would drawing a bow be too much of a strain in her condition? Besides, she’d promised not to put herself directly in combat.

  Still, it would be foolhardy to be in the city while it was under attack without some kind of weapon. Korinna slung a crossbow over her shoulders and stuck two long daggers in her belt. Then she went back to Sungold, a little slower than the others, and hauled herself back up.

  There was only one other marewing rider nearby who could help defend the city. Korinna and Sungold headed for City Hall.

  As she landed in the paddock behind the Hall, Korinna heard the first of the alarm bells ring out through the square. Her approach must have been spotted from inside the building, because several guards rushed out to meet her.

  Galenos ran out looking wild only moments later, following a clerk. He came right up to Sungold’s side and reached up to help her dismount, but she refused to budge. Then his gaze went to the crossbow on her back and his eyes widened. “What’s going on? Are you going to join the fight?”

  “It’s just for defense,” Korinna snapped, harsher than she meant to, but there was no time to apologize. “They used our own strategy and snuck around to attack us from the rear. Eight of them, at the docks right now, but there’s nothing to stop them. Only three riders to fight. You have to get Nightshade and go help them.”

  Galenos’s mouth hung open, and for a moment, she was afraid that he wasn’t going to believe her. But the alarm bells were growing and beyond City Hall, she could hear people scrambling for cover and emergency crews rushing off to aid the wounded. He gripped her leg. “How could they get here so fast?” He shook his head. “No time to worry about that now. If it’s not safe here, we need to get you out of the city.”

  She shook her head. “If it’s not safe here, then it’s not safe anywhere! You have to go and fight. Where’s Nightshade?”

  He looked over his shoulder at the hall. “I have a spare saddle and weapons in my office,” he admitted. “But Nightshade is over a mile away in her paddock, too far to hear my whistle. It will take me a while to carry all of my gear over to her.”

  She smiled when he mentioned keeping spare gear in his office. He acted like a politician, but he was still a warrior at heart, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “I’ll take you on Sungold,” she started to say, but then she shook her head. “No, too awkward with your gear. Let me try something.”

  She closed her eyes and concentrated on reaching out to Nightshade. His marewing was skittish and shy, never allowing any other rider to approach her, but Korinna had known her for some time and had earned her grudging respect if not her affection. It was nothing close to the connection she had with Sungold, but just maybe this would work. She focused everything she had on calling her to come to them.

  She thought she felt a response, faintly, of another marewing’s fear and anxiousness because of the attacks. Come find your rider, Korinna thought. He’s here waiting to fly with you.

  There was no sign that Nightshade acknowledged the call, but a minute later, Korinna heard leathery wingbeats overhead. She opened her eyes and smiled to see the marewing flying toward them, her black coat gleaming in the sunlight.

  Galenos gripped Korinna’s leg tighter. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” he muttered. Then he hurried over to greet Nightshade as she landed at a wary distance from Sungold and the guards. “Go fetch my gear,” he called back to the clerk.

  The clerk shot a fearful glance at the sky, as if expecting more monsters to appear out of nowhere, and took off at a run.

  Nightshade pressed her nose into Galenos’s hand, breathing hard. Her ears swiveled back and forth, on high alert. She knew there was fighting to be done and she was ready to go.

  “Easy, girl,” Galenos whispered with tender affection. “We’ll be on our way soon.”

  He gave the marewing a final pat and turned back to Korinna. “You need to get inside,” he said sternly. He came over and held his hands up again to pull her down. “We can fortify this hall as well as any other building. There are already guards here to protect you. Wait until I come back.”

  She looked over her shoulder in the dir
ection of the fighting. “There has to be something I can do to help,” she pleaded. “I could fly and tell the other Storm Petrels to come—”

  “No.” His voice cut across hers as sharp as a knife. “You’d only be flying from one battlefield to another. The best thing that you can do is stay here to protect yourself and our heir, in case anything happens to me.”

  She stared down at him in shock. Of course something could happen to him. Four riders against eight gryphons—he was more experienced than the others, but he’d still be outnumbered two to one. It was insane to think of. Numbly, she let him ease her down from Sungold’s back, then clung to him. “You can’t go, either,” she whispered. “I—I can’t do all of this without you. I need you safe, with me.”

  Galenos put his arms around her, but the look on his face as he bent down to her was stern. “I have to go. You said it yourself, our people need me to be a hero, and there’s no one else to protect them now.” He kissed the top of her head. “I will do everything I can to come back to you.”

  She held onto him as tight as she could, but he tore away from her grasp and turned to accept the saddle being delivered by the clerk. She leaned against Sungold for support as she watched him get ready and mount up.

  He looked at her one last time from Nightshade’s back and raised his hand in farewell. “Be strong, my love,” he said. Then the marewing raced away from her and took her husband up into the sky.

  Korinna stared after Nightshade until she had disappeared from sight. Then she looked around for the guards. “Do you know where they’re taking the wounded?”

  Galenos VI

  Galenos and Nightshade rose into the sky and surveyed the city. Just as Korinna had said, there were eight gryphons attacking the harbor. Three marewings, white and brown and gray, swarmed over the area defensively, but they were too disorganized and too few to be effective. The gryphons simply flew around them and continued harassing civilians on the ground.

  He flew to join them and signaled for them to fall into a wedge formation around him. “We can’t just strike at them haphazardly,” he shouted when they were close enough. “We have to drive them down low enough for the guards to attack from the ground.”

  He pointed them to a likely target, a tawny female gryphon who was swooping down to pick up another victim. All four marewings dove down in a surrounding circle, forcing her to abandon her attack and scramble to get away. On his command, they fired arrows at her head and wings. Most of the shots missed, but one arrow struck her wing, causing her to dip even lower.

  Most of the guards had been just herding the panicked workers off the docks, but at Galenos’s shout, a few saw the vulnerable gryphon. They rushed forward with pikes and struck at her underbelly. The gryphon collapsed to the ground with a cry of pain, quickly silenced when a guard pierced her throat.

  Tatiana pumped her fist into the air. “That’s how we do it!”

  Galenos set his mouth grimly. “One down, seven to go! Stay alert!” He pointed as two more gryphons converged on them to retaliate for the death of their pride mate.

  The marewings scattered from the attackers, whirling back up into the open sky away from those vicious claws. The riders fired at one to drive her off, then concentrated on surrounding the second one and pushing her down within reach of the guards’ pikes.

  Once the others caught on to the right tactic, the numbers didn’t seem quite so overwhelming. The four marewings maneuvered together to push the gryphons down, and more guards were prepared to strike when they came within range. Sometimes a gryphon managed to slip away before they could deal the death blow, but they kept at it, working together like a single unit.

  Galenos lost track of time. There was only the simple calculation of angles and openings for attack, his hands working automatically to fire and signal to the others while he looked around for the remaining gryphons. He feared that the gryphons would group to overwhelm them, and he had to keep moving quickly in order to isolate single targets. It was almost like a dance—weaving in and out between buildings and ship masts, sometimes soaring high for a good view and sometimes diving low so Nightshade could strike at a gryphon’s back with her sharp hooves.

  The light grew dim in the thick fog and his eyes strained to find their attackers. The sun must be setting, but the gryphons showed no sign of slowing or leaving for the night. There were only two left, but they seemed to be growing desperate, fleeing into the city beyond the harbor where they could do even more damage. He followed the cries of injured civilians to find them.

  Then Nightshade veered away from the pursuit, crying out a warning. The other marewings scattered, too, despite shouts of protests from the other riders.

  Galenos tried to make her go forward, but Nightshade refused. She pumped her wings furiously, zooming up higher in the sky.

  He squinted and saw lamps flickering into light across the city. Then he saw a dark shadow pass over one—and another, and another.

  His blood ran cold. More gryphons were pouring into Kyratia from the north—at least a dozen that he could see despite the limited visibility. Enough to overwhelm the four marewings, who were now trying to flee the attackers.

  “To me!” he cried, his voice cracking with the strain. “Riders, to me!”

  But he heard a marewing scream in pain. He sent Nightshade flying in the direction of that cry for help, but all he could see was a winged shape falling in the darkness.

  Korinna VIII

  It was too dangerous to fly close to the fighting, so Korinna walked, leading Sungold, to the warehouse that the guard had directed her to. The streets were all-but deserted: ordinary citizens had already fled inside, barring their doors and windows against the attackers. Alarm bells rang out everywhere, echoing strangely off the crowded buildings. Occasionally a group of guards or relief workers rushed passed her on their emergency orders, but otherwise, she saw no one.

  The empty warehouse was far enough away from the docks that she couldn’t hear the fighting, but there was still a tension in the air, knowing that the enemy could still reach them at any time. She lashed the crossbow to Sungold’s saddle and set the marewing free to find her own shelter from the attacks, but told her to stay close enough to come back if needed. Then Korinna squared her shoulders and walked into the building.

  A priest met her at the door. “Do you need medical attention?” he said, glancing over her for signs of injury.

  Korinna shook her head. “I’m fine, I just came to volunteer my help. What can I do?”

  He stepped back to show her the rows of make-shift beds full of patients and only a few brave physicians bustling between them. “Take your pick,” he said with a shrug, then walked away.

  She looked around uncertainly. This was so much worse than she’d seen the day before. The only refugees had been those strong enough to limp into the city despite minor injuries, but these wounds were fresh, and ranged in severity from people waiting with just a few scratches to those requiring immediate attention like missing limbs and deep gashes. A few priests ran triage, sorting those brought in by priority.

  Her stomach lurched at the smell. She hadn’t seen this kind of carnage since the war, and horrible memories came rushing back to her. People she’d known, friends she’d cared about, killed in senseless violence. Her heart twisted to think of her husband facing this out there, and suddenly she wasn’t sure if she was prepared to face this after all.

  The first priest who’d greeted her circled back at the sign of her pale face. “Sit down before you faint,” he said, urging her toward a nearby chair. “It’s alright if you can’t stay. Not everyone can stand this sight.”

  Korinna grew annoyed at the thought, and her courage came rushing back. She lifted her chin. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” she said. She took a deep breath to get her strength back and dipped her hands into a bowl of water to wash them clean. “Where are the bandages?”

  The physicians and surgeons were all busy with the most traumatic
wounds, so Korinna picked up supplies and helped the waiting people who had only minor injuries. Once again, her hands seemed to work automatically, focusing on the problems immediately in front of her without her brain really processing the horrors of the scene. She bandaged claw marks, cleaned out scratches caused by flying debris, and sent them on to safety.

  She pushed her worries away from her and lost track of time as she worked. Faces passed before her in a blur. There was no time for comfort now, just working as fast as possible, because for every patient that she sent away, two more came in the doors.

  Dread struck her like a weight in between the shoulders. Korinna clutched at a nearby bed, swaying to regain her balance. Something had gone horribly wrong in the fighting. She reached out with her senses, trying to figure out what happened, but all she could tell was that a terrible blow had been struck. A marewing’s death cry echoed through her ears. Who was it?

  She came back to herself and looked around wildly. Everyone was still hurrying around normally, with no reaction to the sound. Was she the only one who heard it? Was it only a panicked imagining? She sent out tendrils of awareness to Sungold and Nightshade, but all she sensed was that they were angry at the enemies attacking their home.

  Then the emergency workers brought in a stretcher carrying a form clad in the familiar blue-and-black uniform of the Storm Petrels. “This one needs immediate attention,” one of them called to the priest. “Is there a surgeon?”

  Korinna saw the colors out of the corner of her eye and whirled around to look. Those were flight leathers. She rushed to follow the stretcher as they carried it to a surgeon’s operating table. “Is it my husband?” she called after them. “Is it the duke?”

  “Just a rider,” one of the workers said. They set the stretcher down and hurried out again.

  Korinna pushed forward past the others and caught a glimpse. Too small, too light-skinned to be Galenos—that was all her brain could register at first. Then she blinked and recognized the man who she’d met only that afternoon. “Philagros,” she said, the name coming back to her. “Let me be with him, please.”