Close Encounters of the Magical Kind

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  Steve nodded, “You’re right. I forgot. Pryllan won’t be any help until her egg hatches. It’s for the best, really. Even if she wasn’t tending her egg there’s no way Kahvel would let her even try to come up here. Alright, dear. You’ve heard our suggestions. What’s yours?”

  “Well,” Sarah slowly began, “we are on an island populated by griffins. I say we ask them to fly up there to check out the top of the waterfall. Let’s see if they can spot anything resembling hands up there.”

  “That won’t work,” Thinian instantly responded.

  “Why not?” Steve asked.

  “Because griffins don’t fly here,” the Fae answered.

  “Because they can’t or because they won’t?” Sarah wanted to know.

  “Either. Or both. Does it really matter? In all the days I’ve spent here not once have I seen a griffin in the air.”

  “I wonder why that is?” Steve wondered aloud.

  “I would imagine it has something to do with the simple fact that this island is moving,” Thinian slowly explained, adopting a tone of voice which suggested he thought Steve’s IQ had suddenly dropped a few notches.

  Sarah shrugged, “It makes sense. Why risk it? Whether it is an unspoken rule or whether it’s just basic, common sense, the griffins don’t fly. Where does that leave us?”

  Steve glanced up at the sun. He swallowed nervously. The sun was inching ever closer to the western horizon. They were running out of time.

  “Let’s go ask them for help,” Steve suggested.

  “Let’s ask who for help?” Sarah wanted to know.

  “The griffins. This is their island. Maybe they’ll have a suggestion or two that might help us out.”

  “I doubt it,” Sarah muttered, more to herself. She raised her voice. “You heard Thinian. They can’t fly. What do you think they’re going to be able to do? Climb?”

  Steve shrugged, “Why not? They might be able to make it to the top. You never know until you try.”

  “You’re right,” Sarah conceded. “It’s worth a shot. Has anyone seen any griffins lately?”

  “There’s gotta be some around here somewhere,” Steve said, looking around. “I don’t see any the moment, however.”

  Sarah felt a tug on her right ear. She saw that Thinian was pointing back the way they came.

  “Go that way. You’ll find a large gathering by the lake. New arrivals have a tendency to loiter there until they can get their bearings.”

  Husband and wife emerged back into the same clearing they had first arrived at earlier. Steve, Sarah noted, was wheezing like an out-of-shape chain smoker and was clutching his side. While somewhat out of breath she was nowhere near as incapacitated as her husband. She felt Thinian tap her ear to get her attention.

  “Is he well?”

  “Just give him a moment,” Sarah whispered to the Fae. “He’ll be okay.”

  “Are you sure? He sounds as though he’s suffocating.”

  “It’s what happens when you work at a job that doesn’t require you to move around too much,” Sarah quietly explained. “I keep telling him he should exercise more.”

  The wheezing stopped.

  “I heard that,” Steve grumbled. “I’m fine. And I get plenty of exercise, thank you very much.”

  “Really? You don’t sound fine. Even Thinian was concerned.”

  “Let’s just focus on the problem at hand, shall we?” Steve indicated the serene lakeside environment. “We’re here. There are griffins everywhere. Now what?”

  “Do you see Tesur anywhere?” Sarah asked, peering anxiously around the glade.

  Her husband shook his head, “No. I don’t see his mate, either.”

  “Any of them will do,” came Thinian’s exasperated comment from within her inside jacket pocket.

  Sarah cleared her throat and nervously eyed the numerous griffins lounging about. She took her husband’s hand and pulled him close. She could see at least two dozen griffins in the area. They were reclining in trees, stretched out in the soft grass, and even sitting complacently by the water’s edge. All, however, were staring directly at them. She couldn’t help but feel a bit like a deer who had wandered into a sleeping pride of lions

  “Hello again. It’s us. We, um, need to ask you for some help. Do you know that big mountain at the edge of the island’s forest zone? There’s something near the top that we need to get. We’re just not too sure how to do it. Can someone give us some help?”

  Not one griffin moved a feather. Every single one of them continued to stare disconcertingly at them. Several dozen pairs of avian eyes silently regarded them.

  “Anyone? Anyone at all?”

  More silence ensued.

  “This isn’t working too well,” Steve mumbled.

  “Ask them for a favor,” Thinian’s voice quietly suggested from inside Sarah’s jacket.

  Her brow furrowed. It had almost sounded like the Fae had been suppressing a laugh when he had made his suggestion. What could that mean?”

  “Go on,” Thinian urged. “Ask them for a favor. Watch what happens.”

  “What will happen?” Sarah urgently whispered back. “What do you know that you’re not telling us?”

  The Fae fell silent. Cursing silently to herself Sarah turned to face the closest griffin. Suddenly finding her mouth dry, Sarah gave a slight cough.

  “Would one of you be willing to do us a favor?”

  It was like someone had taken a baseball bat and smacked a hornet’s nest. Suddenly the griffins couldn’t react fast enough. They were jumping out of trees, leaping off the ground where they had been lounging, and even surging towards them from the other side of the lake where they had been clearly heard. One griffin brushed up too close to another and then a fight ensued. Within seconds the entire scene had switched to a griffin free-for-all as every griffin began fighting with its neighbor.

  Alarmed, Sarah clutched her husband’s arm and together the two of them slowly backed away.

  “What the hell just happened?” Steve quietly asked. “Why are they all fighting?”

  “All I did was to ask them for a favor,” Sarah breathed. Her shocked eyes were glued to the quarreling griffins. Tufts of tawny fur and broken feathers began to dot the landscape.

  Steve nudged her shoulder and pointed north.

  “Look! More are on the way. I don’t get it. What’s going on?”

  Sarah angrily smacked her jacket.

  “Thinian! Get out here this instant. What have you done?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Thinian chortled as he climbed back up to Sarah’s shoulder. “You’re the one who asked, remember?”

  “Was it Tinkerbell’s idea to ask for a favor?” Steve wanted to know.

  “Yes,” Sarah nodded. “And don’t call him Tinkerbell. I thought something was up when he suggested it because it sounded like he was trying not to laugh.”

  “If you want to see what it’s like to be a toasted marshmallow then keep it up,” Steve warned as he dangerously eyed the Fae. “Out with it. What’s going on over there?”

  Properly cowed, the Fae swallowed nervously.

  “The griffins are all fighting to see who will be the one to win the favor.”

  “What’s the big deal about asking for a favor?” Sarah asked, perplexed.

  “Think about it,” Thinian said. “If you’re a griffin, and you’re here on Ranal, that means there’s no leaving here. What if you have unfinished business? What if there was a message you wanted to send? How would you go about doing it?”

  “You couldn’t,” Steve decided.

  “That’s right,” the Fae agreed. “Once you’re here then all contact has been cut off. But… what if the impossible happens? A newcomer arrives, and it isn’t a griffin? What’s more, what if they have the ability to leave? What then?” Thinian pressed. “I’m willing to wager everyone fighting over there has unfinished business that they would love to have resolved.”

  “Fighting griffins aside,” Ste
ve began, “how exactly are they supposed to help us? If they don’t – or won’t – fly then what good are they to us?”

  “They know this island better than anyone,” Thinian answered. “If there’s a way to reach the top of that waterfall then they should be able to tell us what it is.”

  “Do you think they could climb it?” Sarah asked.

  “Perhaps,” Thinian said. “The mountain may be solid stone but it wasn’t smooth. They might be able to scale it.”

  “But both of us need to make it to the top,” Steve pointed out. “If that’s where this flower is then we need to be together the moment it’s harvested ‘cause I’m pretty sure the island is gonna evict us the moment we do.”

  “Let’s just see what they suggest,” Sarah said. She pointed at the ruckus. “Looks like its breaking up. Hey, how is it possible that after all that fighting it looks like no one got hurt?”

  “Seriously?” Thinian asked, turning to look up at Sarah. “What do you think could happen to them? They’re already dead.”

  The victor of the melee squawked victoriously and strutted his way over. Once the griffin arrived it extended a foreleg and gave them a small bow. Thinian darted back inside Sarah’s pocket. Just to be safe.

  “I have won the right to grant the favor,” the griffin exclaimed, surprising them both with its voice. It was a female. And, contrary to what they’ve seen thus far on virtually all the griffins on Ranal, this one didn’t have any white feathers or any silver streaking its tawny hide.

  This griffin, Sarah realized with a start, was young.

  “What’s your name?” Sarah asked the griffin.

  “Loryss.”

  “Loryss, I’m Sarah and this is my husband, Steve.”

  “Nice to meetcha,” Steve added.

  The griffiness didn’t respond but instead silently regarded them as she fidgeted from leg to leg.

  “What do you require?” Loryss finally asked.

  “We need to scale a mountain,” Sarah told her. “There’s something we need near the top. Do you know of a way to get up there?”

  Loryss shook her head, “Aside from flying? No.”

  “Do you think you could climb it?” Sarah hopefully asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, that’s what we require,” Steve told the griffin. “The two of us have to make it up to the top of that mountain.”

  “I could climb it,” another voice suddenly chimed in. A second female griffin appeared next to the first. “I can get you up there.”

  Loryss turned to face the newcomer and squawked angrily. “You didn’t win the right to ask for a favor, Nyx. I did.”

  “If you can’t perform the task they require then you must forfeit your claim,” Nyx stated as she ruffled the feathers on her wings.

  “I will do no such thing,” Loryss snapped. She pawed at the ground with one of her avian front legs. “I just said that I couldn’t climb it. There must be another way to accomplish their task.”

  “There is no flying allowed,” Nyx reminded her. “There is literally no other option to explore. Either you climb or you will allow someone else to earn the favor.”

  “Like you?” Loryss angrily squawked.

  “Aye. Like me. I can scale it.”

  “You’ve never even seen that mountain,” Loryss pointed out. “You’ve only been on the island for a few days. You have no idea how to scale it any better than I.”

  “I have the motivation to try,” Nyx softly answered.

  “You are no match for Usol,” Loryss retorted, lifting her beak and staring down at the smaller griffiness. “Besides, it’s irrelevant. I won the favor, not you.”

  “Usol?” Sarah repeated, puzzled. “What is that? The name of the mountain?”

  “Usol is the name of Ranal’s creator,” Loryss explained, lowering her voice to a whisper. “He is a powerful being who was rumored to be so old that he witnessed the birth of time itself. It is said he favored the griffins and he proved that by creating this island as a sanctuary.”

  “How?” Steve wanted to know, not bothering to hide the disbelief in his voice.

  “Usol selected islands from all over the world,” Loryss quietly explained. “He lifted them from their watery beds and pushed them together until a land with a wide variety of environments had been created. As you can see, he succeeded. Every clime a griffin has ever lived in is represented here. We can freely choose which is the most comfortable.”

  “Except for the mountain,” Nyx added.

  “What do you know about that mountain?” Loryss fired back. “You’re too new. You’ve never even seen it.”

  “I know what I’m told,” Nyx answered. “From the moment I awoke here I was told that the mountain is off limits.”

  Loryss clucked approvingly.

  “Well, you’d be right. It has long been known that Usol reserved the right to use that mountain for his own purposes.”

  “Does that mean you can’t even step foot on it?” Sarah worriedly asked. If so then she and her husband were going to have to come up with some other way to ascend that mountain.

  Loryss shrugged, “Unknown. There has never been a need to try.”

  “Well, back to ye olde drawing board,” Steve mumbled. “We’ll have to find another way to get up the side of that thing.”

  “I said I never stepped foot on the mountain,” Loryss corrected. “I never said that I wouldn’t.”

  “I don’t want to make you do something you shouldn’t be doing,” Sarah told the griffin. “We’ll find another way.”

  “You don’t understand,” Loryss said, dropping her voice even lower than it had been. “Some things are worth the risk. I need that favor.”

  Nyx stepped forward.

  “As do I. If Loryss is unable to earn the favor then consider me. I’ll get you to the top of that mountain.”

  “Close your beak,” Loryss angrily snapped. “If you can climb that mountain then so can I.”

  “What favors could the two of you possibly need that each of you would consider breaking the island’s rules?” Steve asked with a bewildered air. “If this Usol person is the one responsible for protecting this island and keeping undesirables out, aren’t you worried about what will happen to you?”

  Loryss briefly shared a look with Nyx.

  “I do not know what her circumstances are, but my own are dire. I will gladly resign myself to oblivion if I can right the wrong that befell me.”

  Nyx nodded, “My needs are just as strong. I will gladly suffer the same fate as Loryss.”

  “I won the favor,” Loryss sadly reminded Nyx. “I will be the one who will benefit from the humans’ help, not you. I’m sorry.”

  Nyx’s head fell. Sarah gave a quiet cough and waited for the smaller griffin to look up.

  “Both of us need to make it up the side of that mountain. Since logic suggests that the only way we’ll reach the top is by climbing it, and since there’s no way my husband and I could be carried up there by just one griffin, we’re going to need two. As much as I don’t want either of you to get into trouble, our plight is just as desperate as yours. We have to get up there. From the sounds of it, I think we could all help each other out.”

  Loryss nodded her head towards the north.

  “Let us go. We will discuss it. Nyx, this is indeed your lucky day. Come. We have much to talk about.”

  Husband and wife followed the two griffins away from the lake and the clearing. Once she was sure they were out of earshot of the rest of the griffins Sarah increased her pace until she was walking alongside Loryss. Steve hurried to catch up.

  “So, let’s start with you, Loryss,” Sarah began. “What sort of favor do you need from us? What do we have to do in order to earn your cooperation?”

  “As you may have guessed,” Loryss slowly began, “there aren’t many young griffins here. What would that suggest to you?”

  Steve scratched his head, “I’d say that means all the other griffins lived out t
heir normal lives back on the ground and then chose to come here when the time was right.”

  “And you’ve noticed I don’t have a single white feather anywhere on my wings haven’t you?” Loryss asked as she turned to look at Steve.

  “It means you’re young,” Steve decided. “Your life was cut short, is that it? Was it an accident?”

  “No,” Loryss spat. “I was denied the honor of my final Journey. I didn’t get to feel the Pull. How would you feel if you were a griffin in the prime of your life and one morning you woke up here instead of next to your mate? It’s embarrassing. Everyone here knows I used the Fool’s Pool.”

  “The Fool’s Pool?” Sarah repeated, confused. “What that?”

  Loryss gave Sarah a neutral look.

  “I. Was. Brought. By. Pool.”

  “I take it griffins don’t like to swim?” Steve casually asked.

  “Only an invalid would resort to using a Pool to get here,” Loryss bitterly said.

  “Or the infirm,” Nyx softly added.

  Loryss nodded, “Aye. An invalid or an infirm. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  “I am the same,” Nyx gently reminded the larger griffin. “I was denied my final Journey, too.”

  “What does a pool have to do with anything?” Sarah asked as she shared a look with her husband. “What are we missing?”

  “You’ve no doubt noticed the number of pools on this island,” Loryss began, looking over at Sarah. “Would you care to speculate why there are so many?”

  Sarah shrugged, “I don’t know. This place gets a lot of rainfall?”

  “A plausible explanation,” Loryss decided, but then almost immediately shook her head no. “However, I personally have yet to see moisture fall from the sky.”

  Steve held up a hand.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. How does the island stay so green without rain? Who waters the plants? Who makes sure the trees don’t dry out?”

  “Usol,” Loryss said, in a matter-of-fact tone. “That’s not the point. Have you ever stopped to consider the pools may be here for a different reason?”

  “Like what?” Sarah curiously asked.

  Loryss shrugged. “I have only been here a few months. I realize that I haven’t seen that much, but in that time I’ve witnessed peculiar behavior from anyone who immerses themselves in the Pools. Some are transported between zones. Others have become older while others have become younger. Some of the smaller pools have even been known to change your appearance.”