Gryff the Griffin Rider 2

by Marcus Sloss

  “Enough!” I said not wanting pity. “We need to walk and talk. I also need a bubble around us. Addilyn you’re a great runner go get Tammy. The rest of you, we are going for the track. I have private stuff we need to discuss. While we wait for protection fill me in on what I missed.”

  Amber nodded and the girls looked to her to go first. “You died Gryff. Sort of. Addilyn swears your heart stopped and your breathing ceased. They went to bury you when Lord Nova scooped you up. He drew you with a smiling face in the sand and then raced you here. You started breathing again a week later, and when we placed our ears to your heart we could heart it beat. It was after that, we said other leaders could visit you and see you were alive. Most thought we were covering your death for that first week. Honestly, we were. As time passed your muscle faded but your breathing grew better as did you pulse. We were hoping you would wake a week ago when the healers declared you fine. There were no more traces of poison in your blood. We found out you were bitten by a jungle limper. It is called the limper because it bites, you go limp and die. No one has ever survived a bit and it got you twice. Donnie checked on you every morning before training until they deployed. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same since you have been out.

  “South of Havenu the griffins have established a home they control. A team of fishermen have been hired and they fed the catch directly there with no export. Uhara is a mess. I am sure Master Mage Lamont will give you a detailed brief but they own the city and fish are coming in. Hundreds of goblin hearts were recovered inside and outside Uhara. The mess is the city. The previous inhabitants destroyed it. Then you fought over it, and it is a ruin compared to Livina. Livina is fantastic. I can not stress how happy it is to have a retreat of refinement. I admit I grew up spoiled and have become humble in my life after my imprisonment. I still really love our waterfront estate. It is the best. I only went for a few days because we needed to deliver our end of the bargain to the Mer. Who by the way excel at catching fish with javelins. Not just fish but clams, shells, and pearls. They love the rats… The Monox Isle, yes so renamed after the nine sandworms were eradicated. Well, the island is great. The griffins can hear a snake's heartbeat. So they hunted them for weeks to find every last one. The griffins draw a snake and an x indicating the isle is cleared of the vipers. The island has a small hut with a griffin overhang. We procured enough tree worm blood to be able to sell enough Empire wide.

  “Before I get into finances let me cover home. Fernlan is fantastic. We spent a lot of money and have drastically increased our livestock. The new expansion to the barrier size of Fernlan allowed us to fully utilize the ground under the northern fields. Shallow caverns now exist for all for the animals to be housed underground. The above ground is growing rye. Which is taking off exceptionally well in all three locations. Everywhere we can, we are growing mushrooms. The concept is not new, but as humanity digs from lack of space, it is becoming very common. Even your rat farming is picking up as we are trading rats for fish now. I was able to meet Count Conway, who has had nice things to say about you. Now that the Empire has more fish than ever before, the need to slaughter livestock has been greatly reduced. It is also not only fish, but the new seafood is really helping with diversity. Of course, as more fish are shipped whole due to mage freezing, that means more can be processed. To cities that means more guts, skin, and leftovers for other critters as well as fields. Streb is doing well with the yakins, and we think a few are pregnant. The young bison inserted with them are ignored and I am happy to say there was more than enough feed. We were able to sell a lot of it. Some we sold at discount to those trying to keep alive vital warhorse stock. Hmm… What else… Xiq has been a prime example of the utilization of space. Every king has visited it and some have new inputs that were added to the to try list.

  “Next is the political spectrum of the Empire. King Aves did a number on Deltan. Well more like the palace and anyone who interrupted their work. Emperor Salvoni and his son King Devon have been removed. Trade once again flows into the capital that has no palace anymore. It is now the Empire’s official trade hub. There has been no announcement on the new capital but many are calling Fernlan it until you announce where you want to reign from. Not to be biased but the castle never started here and I love Livina.”

  This got eye rolls from all the girls. It was a lot to take in. I was happy with the changes. It was as if I had married smart, professional, independent women. The big tits and great sex were the bonus. All the other girls wanted to talk but Amber hushed them down. The pause was only momentary. We were on the running track now and my legs were loving the burn. When they tired, I poured tiny amounts of aura into them. I let my wives out of my arms to swing my limbs around me as we progressed forward.

  “Covered our holdings… Oh, finances. So we burned a lot of coin expanding and have been trying to trading more and more. The Knights of Fernlan are on a mission they left six days ago to the north. To some old battlefield to collect metal. I wish they were here to fill you in on all their updates but alas you will have to wait. I am sure the griffins will have information on their progress. We are moving a lot of hearts right now. Between the ones from Bavie, and the battle of Uhara we are saturating the market a bit. We did hold some back though. Sales of lava stones and balls are increasing with no drop in demand. The weather is telling the Empire to brace for cold. Baron Strin sent word that you need to kill some more golems if you want production to continue all winter. There are teams doing traps every day, but they are selling the shells to us.” Amber said and withdrew a sheet from her bust. “Caravans are moving again. They are hiring griffin and mercenary escorts. Word has spread we are cleansing the routes between cities. Even though we have been spending, we are still sitting on over fifteen thousand gold. Mainly from Addilyn. The levy tax for the griffins is being paid by all four kingdoms now, but it is in fish. We agreed to it… for now anyway. We are about to have too much fish. Luckily we are the leading runtlet farmer which is in high demand with so much fish easily available. I had more, but here comes Addilyn with Tammy and Derfran.”

  Woah, Derfran had lost weight. I remember seeing him in Lakeland last and he was huge. Probably shed ten plus pounds. I wondered why he was here, then remembered I asked for him to come. The runes on the pikes. They were a mystery I wanted to solve, well me and Dennis.

  “It is great to see you up and walking Emperor Gryff, erecting a silence shield now. You will need to stand still though or else I might break it when we cross items.” Tammy said and white magic enveloped us.

  “Emperor Gryff there is so much to tell you. It is so amazing. Your wives have kept me at bay but this cannot wait. You must know now.” Derfran said after he caught his breath with his hands on his knees. “Please hear me out.”

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “The dwarves, well it translated into a different version of the word. We have stories here of their kind, have you ever heard of them?” Derfran asked.

  “Short, stout, and ornery. They are master crafters who live in the mountains. Longbeards and ale drinkers. At least that was the stereotypical generalization applied to them.”

  Derfran lit up when I said this is with pure excitement. “Exactly! We are not alone. There are other species out there conquered by the Horde. This confirms my major hypothesis. It places the pieces together for the true purpose of the Horde. To conquer and assimilate. For what or I do not know, but in the runes, they leave hints. Here let me…” Derfran said as he pulled out a sheet of paper with the runes organized on it. “They write top to bottom, easy enough to fix. The words were fairly simple to decipher. At the start of every spear is an alphabet. Easy enough to find if you look for it. Each spear had a central message then a unique one. The central message was this. “We the dvaren are a defeated species reduced to slavery for the Horde and their gods. We toil in meek survival. Our warriors are bred away from our crafters. Our quotas are brutal and relentless every season. Our world sends ten thousand war
riors every year. Only a few have ever returned. Those who do, say they fight rebellious Horde worlds. They are promised a breeding life without toil if they survive. There is not much choice available to us. We write this in hopes one day someone on our side finds this message. They then will know us dvaren stand ready, we will work to stay alive for the vengeance we may gain one day.”

  “Dvaren yes, one of many. What is the unique message?” I asked.

  Derfran grew agitated at this but kept reading. “The last champion to return to us spoke not of battling the Horde. He went through a portal and was loaded onto a spacecraft. Us dvaren have not seen that technology for hundreds of thousands of years. He said partway through the flight the entire legion fell into a blackout. When they woke up they were on the same ship but it felt different. Days passed before they enter a colosseum so large he could not probably grasp what it was at first. The ten thousand strong fighting force faced off against arachnids. His descriptions were horrific of the foe they faced. Chitin armor with limbs that doubled as weapons as well as movement. The legion fought bravely and the formations were able to last with discipline. As the number of dvaren dwindled down to an amount you could count on a single hand, individual combats were had. Our champion won three and was sent home to increase the strength of our race. The cyclops overlords demand he be given a hundred mates, and it was so. This is one of many tales on these poles Emperor Gryff. I have more if you want me to read them. This was the most compelling though.” Derfran said as he gazed up from his parchment. The man was a twist of emotions.

  “No need. Since you are a historian you can stay for this next part. You may record what I say, but while I live you do only that. Record. If I decide to make my knowledge public then I will do so.” I turned to each wife that snuggled on me and planted a kiss on their foreheads. “Same goes for you ladies. I don’t want to contract this information because if you slip you die. Trust me, revealing this may be worse than a quick death. Nod if you are ready to hear where I went.”

  They all nodded and I knew they needed to know. “I am a demigod I think. I could be a full god but I am doubtful of that. I was born a babe so it makes the most sense for me to be a demigod. Each god may birth one demigod. If my mother… more than likely mother was the god aspect and my farther the mortal. When she birthed, she knew she cannot have another child until I die. Unless she wants to kill me. So what does this mean? Well, I died from that snake. I also think I am not a clone. Instead, I am the Gryff from planet Earth with his memory erased. I need to talk to Sara at some point to verify my theory. My adoptive mother and father instilled a sense of lists into me for years before they disappeared. I think that was a god watching over my childhood. Again I cannot verify. The big takeaway is there are eleven gods in this universe. Four are originals, and seven are from an invasion. The seven are the seven hells. They are the driving force behind the Horde. They have conquered much of this universe and the four rarely fight back. I think I am part of that rebellion to halt their advance or maybe do worse. The problem is we signed a contract. I met the god of war or as known by the Horde, the Warg god. I had Unforina in my grasps ready to kill. He felt I got lucky and was harmless, so he bartered for her life. That contract prohibits us from scrying each other or attacking directly. I am sure agents will find me, which is part of why I am disclosing this. I really haven’t had much time to reflect on this revelation. I know I have over two weeks left to finish my contract with Rakmar. I plan to do that and barter with him. So my next two stops are the griffins, then flying south to Lakeland with Zack.”

  I paused and looked at my beautiful wives. They all had a radiant glow and thick full hair. That reminded me of a foster mom I had… when she was… pregnant.

  “So ladies, I get Bella, maybe Velia. I know it is possible Addilyn and Amber are pregnant. Why is Pipi glowing?” I asked.

  The wives looked to each other and eventually, Pipi stepped forward and shyly spoke. “Well, you were constantly attended to. As all of us were desperate to see you return we would bathe you, read to you, and ensure you drank your protein drinks. Well, when your heart returned to a decent beat after the first week you would get… morning erections. By the third morning, you would drip out sperm when you softened. We decided to not let it go to waste. Addilyn and Amber were confident they were pregnant leaving only me left. So it was my job to service your release every morning. Even this morning. I missed my flow three days ago. I am fairly certain there will be five little babies screaming within a month of each other. If you are a demigod that would explain our success rate of pregnancy. I sure hope.”

  I had not thought of this and did not know. Again talking to Sara was my best bet for an option unless Derfran had an answer. I watched the man scrunch his face.

  “A demigod, they are written in texts. This means our kind on Vin was so wrong about the deities from above. I know it is written no god can be in two places at the same time. It is also written only one champion per god. I did not know that means a demigod was the champion. I think your children will be fully mortal. Maybe have a little longer life, but you would need to ask a divine to verify… Oh hello there.”

  Lily walked from behind a wall toward us. I was thrilled to see my little daughter in her yellow dress and raced to scoop her up when she stuck a hand out. A smile crossed her face for the briefest of moments. Lily looked over at Tammy.

  “You are casting it wrong. If another of my kind were within this cluster of stars they could hear. You must do it like this. Instruct your fellows after.” Lily swirled her arms in small circles and edited the white magic of silence that Tammy had cast. “Much better now. We can no longer be on the same planet, my son. I am so sorry I had to leave you when you were a child. The invading seven were nearing the region of space Swan was in. I left and for a while, Perception watched over you. I am the most valued of the four retreating gods and it was decided I needed to hide further. You did indeed die on Earth, and your memory was reverted in order to give you a fresh start. It was decided while your body recovered we move you here. We needed you on Vin. This is my not merely my creation planet, it is a combined effort by my fellow gods. It took us millions of years to form. I see your expression. Let me clarify and remove any doubt. I am the goddess of all the types of magic, and you are my champion.”

  Derfran kneeled and kissed the ground in reverence. I swatted her arm aside and wrapped Lily into a hug. My wives joined in and I held her until she forced me to let go. She wiped a tear from her eyes and addressed the six of us who were kneeling.

  “You must get stronger. I am not allowed to open your other magics, but events and certain others can. You will one day be able to use every magic there is. It is even possible to learn magic unknown to me. I refuse to study the advancing seven’s magic. I do see you have yellow magic unlocked. That is exactly why we chose a human, and feel our efforts are best served with you my son. There are what you know as elves here in this universe. The elvath were my original creation on my first planet over two billion years ago. They were not successful in my try to unlock all magics. Instead, they have a blank aura and fertility magic. They fought for ages and eventually lost to the Horde. I told my elvath champion to fight to the end and it did not work. The elvath refused to barter, make concessions, or deal with the invading seven. Eventually, there were no warriors left. All that remained of my first designed species were the meek that surrendered into slavery.

  “This time I want you inside the system of the seven. Use their rules to your advantage. Derfran quit kissing the dirt and start writing.” Lily ordered and Derfran sped to obey the goddess. “You are a good man Gryff, you make me very proud. I do not want you to die to the likes of Warg or his champion before you are ready. Your wives carry your children. They will be stronger and live longer, but not anything close to a demigod. The women who birth your children will struggle mightly during the delivery. Most would die without green magic. Ensure from this day forward they do not travel without a hea
ler. I would isolate them with a full team of healers. To survive the torture of birthing a demigod’s child they are granted a form of immortality. They can die much easier than you by murder. Unless they experience a violent death they will live with you for eternity.

  “Which leads me into why I am here with you. I love you son. You are my fourth child and are still a newborn. I need you to continue to grow Vin. This is my most treasured planet with many hidden mysteries and magics. All four of us gods left boons upon it. Icandria left her best creatures in the south. Bred them and trade them to free slaves. Gravin placed the mightiest beast and most fruitful plants as well as trees on this surface. You have barely seen any of Vin’s inhabitable lands. Perception ensured everything was given the required needs to prosper. There is so much more of Vin to discover. So, so much more. I want that portal closed and yet, do not close it until you are ready. You need to deal with the Horde and the invading seven. Use them to free others and grow your power here. This planet is everything to us. If you can build it up and improve it enough, it will be a beacon of freedom for our allies.”

  Lily burst the silence shield. She smiled at me then snapped her finger. King Aves materialized beside us and instantly became aggressive from his shifted existence. He then looked upon friends and grew confused. Lily erected a new silence shield.

  “King Aves, it is good to see you,” Lily said and King Aves bowed. He never did that for me. “The griffins. These were and are our greatest combined achievement. While the invading seven raced to pilfer our universe to send creatures, fighter, and supplies to theirs – we were working on the griffins. It took four billion years to create the first five thousand. Funny enough, they were created with electricity. If the enemy ever got close we would have lost them after all that work from neutralizing magic. That simple spell to steal electrons is their most powerful spell. The griffins need to grow in numbers and Gryff needs your protection. You need to work in tandem to dominate this planet and game the system. I will probably vanish forever after this. I am far too close to the seven now. They would never expect me to be on a planet they dominate, but we four are retreating again. We have set our plans into motion. Now it is time for those countless years of planning to unravel. I hope we prepared properly this time. There are fewer choices out further if you are to fail. Know I do intend for you to live a long life Gryff. Be strong and make us proud.