“Couldn’t do it yourself, so you had to call your goons over to haul me away? What a big man you are!” She laughed hysterically and wrestled against the ropes that bound her to the chair. She stopped laughing and looked at him, increasingly becoming frustrated by his silence. “You know, tying me up is considered kidnapping by law! You better take me out of these bindings now or I’ll press charges!”
Matthew hung his robe on a coat rack next to his immense oak desk and slowly turned around, glaring at Sandra. She grinned at his anger and spat on the wooden floor before him. The adrenaline had clearly turned this nervous lady into a wrecking ball.
“Who are you really?” Matthew asked in a low voice, now standing before her.
She chuckled a bit and looked up at him. “I told you before. I’m Sandra. You can say I’m something like a reporter.”
She sat back in her chair, realizing that struggling was only making the bindings tighter. Matthew clearly was not entertained by her answer and sat down in the couch across from her. One of the men walked over and poured Matthew a glass of water from a pitcher.
“A reporter? For who? I know all the local reporters very well, and I haven’t heard of you before.” He took a sip of water while he waited for her response.
Sandra grinned a bit bigger and shook her head. “No, I don’t work for anyone in this town. Those people you have in your pocket are despicable. I work with people that believe the general public deserves the right news.”
Matthew chuckled at this and put down his glass. “Well, whoever is paying you to do this, I can easily double their price. You just have to give me a name.”
“I’m not in this for the money.” Sandra replied, staring back at him with contempt.
Matthew raised an eyebrow again. “Don’t be stupid. Everyone has a price. Name yours and we can all leave this mess happy.”
Sandra struggled at her bindings once more and clenched her fists. “Screw you and your dirty money!” she shouted. Both of the ushers standing next to her had to put their hands on her shoulders to keep the legs of the chair on the ground.
Matthew sighed loudly and sat back in the couch, rubbing his eyes in frustration. “Look, I’ve had a long week and I’m still trying to clean up the mess. I’ve met your kind before. You must be working with a group, or a faction.”
“You got that right, bigot! I’m with The Gryphon Civil Rights Group and we aren’t going to stop until you’re brought down. We’ve got information and dirt on you. More than you know, and if you don’t let me go now, kidnapping will be added to the charges!”
This got Matthew’s attention. He had heard of this group. Online journalists and troublemakers. He sat up in the couch once again and stared dead into her eyes, gauging her bluff. “I doubt that. Besides last week’s events, which got out of hand, I’ve been meticulous and careful in every step. I’ve hidden every track, and not left anything in the open. I doubt a couple of puny spineless nerds on the Internet could get anything on me.”
Sandra shrugged her shoulders and leaned forward, meeting his gaze head on. “Believe what you want, old man, but we do have dirt. A lot of it. Do you think I would walk in here and try to stir up your followers without some kind of proof?”
Matthew rubbed his chin, considering what she was saying. He was detecting was a disconcerting amount of knowledge behind her words. She would have to be a fool to attempt such a demonstration without proof behind it. Either that or she was a fool and had a perfect poker face.
“I think it doesn’t matter what you have and it won’t matter if you suddenly went missing. I think your bluffing.” Matthews’s statement was met with a nervous laugh from Sandra.
“You think I wouldn’t consider that you would have me killed? I had some of my colleagues take pictures of me walking in here this morning! That and the eyewitnesses of hundreds of people in your congregation that saw me dragged away would be evidence that this is the last place I was seen!”
Matthew only grinned at her words, which turned Sandra’s confident expression into one of worry. “And…?” Matthew simply responded.
Sandra sat, dumbfounded by the one word answer. Did he not care what would happen if they made her disappear? Had she and her group drastically underestimated this man?
He chuckled. “So, you think that if your group starts putting out the information that one of you went missing, everything’s suddenly going to change?”
“They will go to the police and…”
“I own the police around here! They won’t do a damn thing,” Matthew slowly stood up and walked over to her, sitting down on the coffee table in front of her. “As for the witnesses today, I’ll just make something up like you had to be sent away for mental illness overseas and to have them pray for you.”
Matthew looked up to the ceiling and raised his hands, impersonating himself in a sermon. “The poor girl was desperately ill! God sent her to us for healing, and we are blessed that she came! God works in mysterious ways, and now she is getting the help she deserves!”
“Does that sound good?” Matthew’s impish smiled appeared again as he could see he was gaining the upper hand once more. Sandra’s mouth was open, eyes tearing up with fear as she came to realize just how much they underestimated him. “No? Well I’ll work on it a little more.”
He reached out and wiped the tears off her cheek with a rough thumb, looking over her face. “There’s no need for these, my dear. Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. We just want some answers and maybe, just maybe, we can convince you to join our side.” Matthew looked her over again, waiting to see if she would respond, but Sandra simply stared at the floor, sniffling. Matthew stood back up and looked to the two burly ushers standing next to her. “Take her to purgatory. Make sure that she’s taken care of and do get some answers out of her.”
They both nodded and untied the bindings to let her free. Sandra suddenly got a second wind and started to fight back. She shouted and cried out, kicking her feet and squirming, desperately trying to get away from the two huge men. They dragged her out of the office and closed the door behind them, leaving Matthew and another usher to themselves.
The moment they were gone, Matthew grabbed the glass on the table and threw it across the room, shattering it on one of the many bookcases. The usher remained calm while Matthew snarled with anger and walked to his desk. He slapped one of the wooden crosses off his desk and sent it crashing to the floor before slamming his hand against the large bay window. Matthew stood there, staring outside in the afternoon sun, and recollected himself. “Usher, send for Daniel. Now.”
The usher perked up and went to the door, exiting it in a hurry. Matthew stood at the window, thoughts racing about what just progressed, and what he was going to have to do about Sandra. Despite the confidence he had shown her, having a kidnapped journalist to worry about was something he found incredibly disturbing.
Mumbling under his breath, he walked over to his leather desk chair and slumped down in it. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples before reaching for one of the drawers. He pulled out a bottle of gin and a crystal glass, setting them down on the desk, then threw the top off to the side and poured a large amount into the glass. His hands were shaking so badly that some of it missed and spilled on the table.
The phone on his desk rang. He stared at it for a moment, and gulped down the gin before pushing the button labeled speakerphone. “Daniel, we need to escalate our plans. Come down here immediately!”
“Yes, Bishop Darnwall,” was all that Daniel said before hanging up the phone.
Chapter 4 Feeling The Burn
Thyra collapsed on the side of the field with a heavy sigh. Rachel and Antonio followed closely behind and grabbed their water bottles from off the bench.
“You did very well for your first skirmish, Thyra.” Antonio pointed out, noting that Thyra’s cream-colored feathery chest heaved with heavy breaths. He offered her a water bottle.
She took it from him gratefully and pour
ed the cold liquid into her beak. Thyra had taken some hard tackles and made several catches. Her wings burned from flying air position in the second half of the skirmish, and she had struggled to keep them tucked in properly while on the ground. “Thanks, Antonio. I didn’t know how I was going to do my first time.”
Rachel, seemingly tireless, sat on top of the bench so that she was eye level with the other two gryphons. As usual, she talked nonstop. “Well, we all have a learning curve, but I think it comes naturally! Like I used to play with a couple locals in a small league in Chattanooga a couple years back. It was for fun mostly but the first couple times were a bit nerve-racking.”
The corvid twins were talking amongst themselves as they approached the dugout, commenting on each other’s performances and offering tips to one another. Rachel looked over Thyra’s wing shoulder to glare at Nathanial as he approached, heading straight towards the small group.
“You got lucky today, Red-tail.” Nathanial began, causing Thyra to turn to face him. She looked into his dark eyes and straightened herself up, hackle feathers beginning to rouse up in defense. He shrugged. “But, you weren’t bad…”
Everyone blinked in astonishment, confused by the sudden compliment. Nathanial looked calm and collected compared to the way he had acted on the field just minutes before. The usual hothead had actually said something to her without yelling or screeching. He noticed their surprise.
“It better have been more than luck, though. I don’t want you dragging us down.” He snorted through his nares and brought up a forefoot to look at his talons casually. “I’m here to win, and this year, I’m going to bring the team to the first league. You better help out.”
“You just wait, fish breath!” Rachel yelled out from behind Thyra. “She’ll be kicking your scrawny butt in no time!”
Instantly, Nathanial’s calm expression turned to anger as his bushy blond tail flicked with agitation. Rachel’s voice was like a spark that ignited the fiery temper inside him.
“Who are you calling fish breath?! I should come over there and tie your beak shut, little runt!” Nathanial battered back at her.
Antonio rubbed his eye ridges with his fore talons and groaned. Everything had been going well for once. He had known it would not last for long, but there had been peace between them for just a second! Thyra stepped out of the way as Rachel jumped down off the bench and stomped over to Nathanial, still spouting insults back at him.
“This is going to be a long season…” Antonio said under his breath as Thyra sat next to him, watching the two angry feather dusters squawk at one another.
Coach Victor walked up behind Antonio and Thyra, sitting down with them momentarily to watch the other two go at it. “They both have a lot of spunk. I’ll give them that.” It was hard to hear his low voice over the screeching of the two gryphons even though his head sat right above Thyra’s and Antonio’s. “I’ll let them hash it out for now. Just make sure they don’t get violent. I don’t want to deal with medical.”
“Yes sir,” Antonio responded and Victor turned around and headed off the field.
Thyra watched the great gryphon stop to say something to Jason, the golden eagle. They talked for a moment in private and she could see Victor point at her and the others with one of his gigantic gray fore claws. Jason seemed to laugh and nod his golden brown head before turning to approach the group.
“Hey, love birds!” Jason shouted at the arguing gryphons. Both Rachel and Nathanial stopped to glare over at the approaching golden eagle gryphon as he spoke. “Lunch time.” Jason sat before the two gryphons, his chest puffed up to show authority. “Be in the training room in an hour.”
Nathanial ground his beak. “Whatever! This ain’t over, pipsqueak!” he said to Rachel, trying to get the last word in. His tail feathers flicked as he stomped away, leaving Rachel to steam and curse under her breath.
“You two make a great couple, you know,” Jason told the tiny kestrel with a cheeky beak grin.
Rachel’s nares turned a bright shade of red. “Whatever! As if I would ever date that dirty caracara!” She glanced over at Thyra and Antonio, who could not help but be amused at Jason’s comment.
“Sorry, but you two do behave like pre-adults,” Antonio said, which only added to Rachel’s embarrassment.
Her gray feathers flattened against her body, making her seem even smaller than before. “Shut up. Let’s go get something to eat.”
Antonio nodded and turned to walk off the field with Rachel, still chuckling to himself.
“You all go ahead. I have to go find Addy. She brought me lunch today,” Thyra said.
Antonio stopped and turned his head to look back over his burnt orange wing shoulders. “Addy is in the weight room, most likely. Do you know where that is?”
“I’ll show her. You all go ahead,” Jason said.
He stepped up next to Thyra and looked down at her with a smile on his sharp beak. He stood a full head taller than her, and had a more muscular build. He gestured for her to follow, then turned and headed the opposite direction. She suddenly felt awkward leaving with a gryphon she had barely even talked to, but walked with him anyway.
“So, Thyra! I understand this is your first gryphball team. How are you liking it so far?” Jason began, trying to break the ice. He spoke like a narrator, pronouncing each word in a deep and excited tone without any sort of accent. It took a moment for her to find her voice.
“It’s good so far.” She had to trot to keep up with him as his strides were far larger than her own. “Seems like everyone is nice.”
Jason laughed in response and shrugged his shoulders. “It depends on what your definition of nice is, but they grow on you.”
He led Thyra through one of the exits of the field and into a long brightly lit hallway. Jason’s wing shoulders almost touched each wall as he turned down one of the corridors.
“It’s a new experience for me. I haven’t been around gryphons very much. There aren’t many in my hometown,” Thyra responded, which piqued Jason’s curiosity.
“Well, this must be a huge culture shock to you. Where do you come from?” he asked, turning a corner to head up a set of stairs.
“Macon, Georgia. It’s a little town an hour outside of Atlanta.” Thyra stopped at the top of the stairs as Jason opened up one of the wide double doors into the weight room.
He motioned for her to step in first. “Can’t say I’ve heard of it before.”
The room was as big as a gymnasium. There was plenty of space to hold all the exercise equipment and large bay windows to let in the natural light. Modified treadmills, widened for gryphon use, lined the glass windows on the left side of the room overlooking the stadium field. Two gryphons were busy running on the treadmills. The loud thundering of their foreclaws and hindpaws trampling in a rhythmic motion echoed in the vast room.
Thyra took in the various machines and weight areas before spotting Aadhya on the far side of the room.
“Have you not been in a gym before?” Jason asked, noticing Thyra’s lost look.
“No. Not once. I mean, Johnathen was on a health kick once and went to a local gym for a couple months, but I never went with him. He took some pictures of it to show me, but it was half the size of this!”
She watched as another gryphon leapt into the air from a platform and flew vertically towards the ceiling to ring a bell. It seemed he was wearing a harness of sorts with large weights tied to his chest.
Jason took a step past her and led her between all the weight machines. “I’ll show you the ropes after lunch. Today is going to be cardio and wing day.”
Aadhya spotted the two of them coming from the entrance. She had her massive wings outstretched and was pulling down straps attached to her outermost wing tips. She grunted and counted off another rep, pulling pulleys with weights attached to them up into the air. Thyra and Jason arrived as Aadhya held the weights in the air, straining to keep them up, then dropped them with a loud clang.
�
�Time for lunch, I presume?” Aadhya’s white feathers seemed disheveled and she spoke with heavy labored breaths. She flicked her wings a bit to let the straps fall off and folded them in.
“Yeah. Victor said we have an hour.” Thyra said and watched as Aadhya grabbed a water bottle before emptying it into her beak.
“Speaking of which, I better get going.” Jason cut in and nodded to them both. “See you back here in an hour, and eat light, Thyra! Don’t want you emptying your gizzard on your first day of weight training.” The golden eagle turned and made his exit through the double doors.
Aadhya took another swig of water and put the bottle down with a loud sigh, finally catching her breath once more.
“So, what did you bring us to eat?” Thyra asked curiously.
Aadhya stood and began to walk towards the exit with Thyra following closely behind. “I have prepared a light meal, as I suspected today would be full of rigorous activity.” The bearded vulture opened the door and proceeded down the stairs and turned to head down the corridor at the bottom. “To be exact, Salmon, sweet potatoes, and some fruit.”
Thyra’s stomach began to rumble at the thought of fresh fish. “You really went all out, didn’t you?” she exclaimed.
The hallway was not wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side, and Aadhya had to turn her head to speak. “Apologies, what do you mean by ‘all out’?”
Thyra had to think for a moment for the response. “It’s, well, it sort of means that you didn’t take the easy way. Like you put a lot of effort into it.”
A big grin appeared on Aadhya’s long black beak. She opened the door to the empty locker room and walked over to a refrigerator sitting in the corner. “I like this. ‘All out’. When it comes to health, there is no other option than going all out.”
Aadhya grabbed opened up the refrigerator and grabbed a cooler bag by the handles to pull it out. “Where would you like to eat? I typically enjoy the west end of the stadiums roof. Allows for a good sunning after a meal,” the great bearded vulture said and shut the door behind her.
The Gryphon Generation Book 2: A New Era Page 4