The blond man leaned out to watch the reaction of the women while his leader approached them. ‘He wants you to join him,’ his griffon informed him.
‘Right,’ he thought back and swung his leg over the saddle then slipped down Tomiar’s forearm to the ground. The others moved forward with him to stand behind their leader, quietly observing the bloody and disheveled young women.
The sudden stop from our frantic fight for survival felt mind spinning. Trying to get my brain back to a civilized state proved as successful as straightening my clothes had been. I varied between wanting to scream and wanting to sob; it all just too much at the moment. While we stood there still on guard, others slid down from the griffons. I didn’t want to take my eyes off those enormous creatures so made quick glances to see who approached. Men—all men. My back stiffened. What would any sane person be doing out on a night like this? It must be nearly three or four in the morning. The rational voice in my head warned me to stay on guard. We heard a whine and turned. Audi crept toward us through the gap between two griffons. The griffon which the first man had slid down from turned its head sharply, leaned over and sniffed at her. Audi froze and flattened against the ground, her eyes petrified. A whimper escaped my throat and the others seemed to lean toward her with me. The man laughed. 'Loushka won’t harm your dog,' he assured us. 'She likes dogs.' Loushka gave Audi a gentle nudge with her beak. The dog yelped in surprise then bolted for us, scooting in between Sian and I. Everyone froze at the sudden and unexpected movement. Loushka cocked her head at us, peering after Audi then made a chirruping noise. The man smiled and stepped closer, barely an arms width away, then bowed.
'My name is Alek; I am the head of the Griffon Guard which protects these lands.' He turned and indicated to the men and griffons. 'This is Daron and his griffon Nesha. Rumal and Kerak, Gredel and Phroma, and Sabyn with Tomiar.' The men inclined their heads at their names, the griffons also.
Daron fought the urge to roll his shoulders; the tension in the air felt strong and uncomfortable.
'Why are they so silent?’ wondered Nesha while he studied the women who stared wide-eyed at them.
‘I’m not sure,’ Daron thought, ‘I think they’re a little battle stunned.’
Nesha frowned, ‘Surely this wasn’t their first battle? They’re efficient fighters.’ He flashed an image to Daron of the women fighting when they’d first spotted them.
‘Maybe they haven’t faced such a large group of gragnolls before,’ suggested Daron. ‘Or ever, Elena did say they might know little of this realm.’
After an uncomfortable silence I realized it was our turn. My heart thudded like crazy and I swallowed hard, then swallowed again. The man, Alek, stared at me. Lowering my sword felt ridiculously hard, the sudden sense of exposure before these strangers nearly making me shake. With a steadying breath I forced something akin to a smile and inclined my head. 'Hi. Your timing is impeccable. It’s most appreciated. My name is Catherine; this is Laura, Kassandra and Sian.' The girls managed tight smiles. 'And this.' I stepped to the side. 'Is my dog Audrey.' Audi wagged her tail at her name. 'And that.' I pointed upward watching their eyes follow the gesture. 'Is Kassandra’s cat, Lucky.' Lucky meowed plaintively from the branches above. The silence happened again while they stared at us and the animals for a moment.
'Do you usually take your cat with you?' queried one of the men, Gredel I think; a tall heavy-set man with an open face and light hair.
Kassie shook her head. 'No sir, but then we never expected to be in this situation.' The silence grew while the men studied us, exchanging tiny glances in a manner that suggested they spoke though no one said a word. More than a little creepy; I exchanged a concerned look with Kassie, what happens next?
Rumal watched the small woman or girl who’d just spoken. He’d thought them older when they first spotted them, their fighting showed years of practice, but the one that spoke to Gredel—Kassandra—seemed younger now he could see her. ‘What’s happening now?’ Kerak demanded, excited to be involved in all this.
‘Ask Loushka if we should set up camp.’ Rumal requested.
‘Loushka says Alek agrees.’
‘Thanks, Kerak.’
Loi shifted her weight to the other foot. The rain had let up a little and now that they’d stopped moving, stopped fighting, Loi could feel the cold creeping into her limbs. She shivered, unable to help it and clenched her fists tight to try and stop the tears that threatened. The air still felt tense though it seemed their rescuers meant them no harm and though her body cried out for her to sit and rest, Loi stood strong. 'Why are you here? In a storm like this? It’s the middle of the night!'
Alek hesitated at the blunt demand. He’d expected it but had hoped it wouldn’t be until the sun rose and they’d had a few hours rest. The Sorceress Elena had ordered the Griffon Guard to leap to this place only a couple of hours ago and their griffons were exhausted, though exhilarated, from the feat. They’d never leapt so far before, but Elena had insisted that they leap, before anything bad happened to the women she’d seen in her vision. He stared at the one who’d spoken—the tallest of the women though she looked younger, with long dark hair to her waist. 'We were told that some people were in need of help in this direction. Why don’t we discuss it more when the sun is up? I’m sure you could use a few hours sleep.'
Loi looked astonished at his answer. I nodded. 'Fine.' If he wanted to offer sleep I wasn’t about to refuse. I suddenly remembered the shelter. Turning my back on the men and griffons I walked to where we’d stashed our bags. The others joined me and we began to dig. I heard footsteps and whirled around to find blue eyes rather close to mine, staring curiously.
'Urk!' I jerked back and fell on my backside, startling Alek. What? Hasn’t he heard of personal space?
'I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you,' Alek offered a hand to the red haired girl, mind scrambling to recall her name—Catherine, that’s right. Catherine stared at his hand a moment before taking it. He nearly jerked back at the snap of electricity that passed between them but kept his grip and pulled her to her feet. She came to shoulder height on him—she’d seemed taller from a distance. He held her hand a moment longer. 'Are you okay?'
She blinked in surprise then followed his gaze to the blood congealing on her clothes. 'Oh! Ahh…' she frowned while staring at the blood then looked up, her brows relaxing and an expression of startled relief made her seem almost childlike. 'It’s not mine! Well, not much anyway.'
Alek laughed, unable to resist; she’d sounded so delighted. 'Well I’m glad to hear it.'
I laughed with him feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I hadn’t meant to sound quite so gleeful. Alek shook his head and flashed a wide smile at me. Part of my brain suddenly registered that this man was rather attractive; black windswept hair, a tall broad figure with muscular limbs, that striking smile and deep, sapphire blue eyes. Ooooh.
'Why are you digging?' Alek stared at me, those eyes roaming my face as I gaped at him for some weird reason unable to get a grip on any words. I could hear the rational voice in my head bellowing at me; oh for goodness sake, Cat! He’s going to think you’re a total moron!
Sabyn snorted in amusement at the sight of the redheaded girl gazing at Alek. ‘Looks like Alek’s charmed another,’ he thought to Tomiar.
‘Leave the poor girl alone,’ Tomiar admonished him. ‘She’s just exhausted that’s all.’
‘That’s not exhaustion,’ Sabyn replied. ‘She looks like the twins when they spotted Daron and Gredel that time.’
‘Oh that’s just hormones,’ Tomiar scolded. ‘This girl’s been fighting for her life, she’s allowed to be stunned.’
Yes, Sabyn cynically thought to himself, stunned by my cousin’s pretty blue eyes.
Sian turned back to see Cat gaze at Alek in a somewhat awed manner. Ooh no, she thought and marched over, giving Cat a shake to snap her out of her reverie and shot Alek a hard look. 'You’ll have to forgive her, she’s useless with l
ack of sleep. We’re digging our packs out of the shelter we’d been sleeping in when those things attacked.' She indicated to Loi who’d just retrieved a bag and tossed it over.
Packs. Attacked. Right. Nodding, I got a grip on myself and turned back to help. Alek walked back to the men and they spoke rapidly to one another in a foreign tongue. Our packs now retrieved I rummaged through mine until I located the loaf of bread and tore it into chunks. I wasn’t about to use the daggers to cut food until I’d boiled them. I grimaced in disgust at the muck that coated the once silvery blades. I passed the bread along to the others and we slumped to the ground, leaning on each other. Exhausted, we chewed while watching the men set up a shelter. A shadowy movement across from us made me flinch and sit up, until I realized it was Lucky. The cat crept down the tree where she’d escaped to then flew across the site to Kassie, startling one of the men. Audi got up from beside me to examine her friend, gently rolling her over and snuffling her nose through the cat’s fur. Lucky started to purr while Audi settled down to clean her, both Kass and I smiling at them. So pleased we got through that okay, I thought while watching our critters. The thought brought unexpected tears to my eyes and I stared up, blinking rapidly. Kassie hooked an arm around my knee, hugging it and I looked down to her understanding eyes.
'So silly,' I whispered the words past a lump in my throat and shrugged, trying to let go of the desire to sob.
'Not,' Kassie countered, hugging my knee again. 'But let it go till we have some privacy.'
‘That cat nearly gave me a heart attack,’ Gredel thought to Phroma after the tiny animal had whooshed between them across to where the four women sat.
The griffon chuckled. ‘Yes, cats are vicious scary creatures, you should be grateful you still have your feet.’
Gredel gave her a narrow look and removed the tent poles from her harness while Rumal, Sabyn and Daron set out the large tent. The rain had reduced to a gentle drizzle but the hard rain from before meant they needed to step carefully, the tent site muddy. ‘The tent’s going to need a good clean come morning,’ Gredel thought to Phroma. ‘I can’t tell what’s mud and what’s blood.’
The griffon made her version of a shrug. ‘It all washes off. Those women need to get under cover before they catch chills. Elena wouldn’t be impressed at all.’ True, Gredel thought to himself. He tossed another bundle of wooden pegs to Rumal, who knocked them into the ground with the back of his heel, the soaked land accepting them with ease.
Rumal had to reassure Kerak when another flash of lightning lit the area. The young griffon varied between bravado and pride at being a member of the Guard then nervousness about the storm. The griffon’s tail bore a permanent white mark from a lightning strike years ago. Rumal distracted him with suggestions of how impressed the women were by him, which had him fluffing his newly grown (and truth be told still a little sparse) mane.
Gredel picked up flickers of the conversation in his head and chuckled at it, exchanging an amused look with Phroma. ‘Am glad you’re not inclined to vanity,’ he thought.
‘Oh give me time,’ she smirked at him. ‘I’m sure I can work on it.’
Alek left the other men to set up the tent and ducked out of sight behind some trees. Leaning back against one, he unfastened the wrist of his chainmail, exposing the wide metal cuff. Twisting his wrist to reveal the crystal laced into the cuff, pressing against his skin, he rubbed his thumb firmly over the polished stone and relaxed his mind then threw out a thought to her. ‘Elena, can you hear me?’ A few seconds passed then her voice came to his mind.
‘Loud and clear, Alek, are they okay? I saw some serious fighting in my vision and we need them safe and whole.’
He peeked around the tree, showing Elena the image of the four women and two animals slumped against one another in exhaustion. ‘They’re fine, Elena, just exhausted.’
‘Good. Get them to bed; there are clean robes in one of the bags that will fit. Keep them healthy, Alek. If they’re the ones I hope they are, then they’ll need all their strength for the months ahead.’
‘Certainly. We’ll begin the journey home tomorrow; I expect it’ll take us a week. The griffons found the leap hard work.’
‘Of course, Alek, keep everyone healthy. Tell the women as much as is necessary. I’ll clarify the rest with them when you arrive.’ Alek bowed his head in farewell and felt Elena’s presence vanish from his mind. When he stood to move back to the camp Loushka’s thought came to him.
‘What did she say, Alek? Are they the ones?’
‘She hopes so, Loushka, we must make sure they get their strength back. You and the others too, I know leaping like that is hard work but you did well. Elena is pleased.’
Alek could feel Loushka beam with pride and in a moment he picked up the same emotions from the other griffons. When he walked back into the campsite he noticed Catherine and the one called Kassandra had nodded off, slumped against each other. Daron approached him to let him know that the tent was set up and the cot beds ready. Alek turned to Sabyn and asked him to look for the robes Elena had mentioned.
In a murky dreamland I tried to beat off horrible little creatures that wanted to chew on my legs, but my arms felt too heavy. I tensed, ready to whack one, when a firm hand on my arm startled me out of sleep and I jumped.
Alek’s blue eyes once again stared into mine. I blinked rapidly and tried to collect my thoughts. The gentle, almost affectionate smile he gave me didn’t improve my scrambled brain and I just stared as he lifted me to my feet with ease. 'The tent and beds are ready. C’mon, let’s get you and the others into bed.' Nodding dumbly I staggered alongside Alek who kept a firm grip on my arm while he led us into the tent. The sight of four cots set up with blankets almost made me cry in relief. I made a beeline for the closest cot and about to fall into it, halted, when Alek’s voice interrupted me. 'Sabyn is bringing in a bucket of hot water for you all to wash and there’s a robe for each of you. We’ll talk properly after breakfast tomorrow.' He smiled at us, 'Sleep well.'
Sabyn came into the tent with a large bucket of hot water and pointed out the soap and drying sheets on the small table beside my cot. Loi thanked him and he wished us a good night's sleep when he left. Somehow I managed to undress, clean myself and put on my robe without falling over, or asleep, in the process and finally surrendered my body to the cot bed. It even had a pillow, bliss.
Chapter Eight
I woke to an unpleasant ache in my ear and jaw. Groggily I went to push up to sitting then froze when everything wobbled, abruptly remembering the cot bed beneath me. Slowly I lay back down and shuffled about, managing to lie full on my back without tipping the bed over and stared at the green canvas ceiling. Sunlight shone hard on the tent, glinting through pinprick-sized holes in the fabric, warming our room to the point of stuffiness. The others still slept and I couldn’t hear the men in their part of the tent. Audi crept out from under the cot and stood next to it, laying her head beside mine and gave me little kisses on the nose. I giggled, reaching a hand up to rub her ears when she started to whine at me. 'Shhhh, we don’t want to wake the others,' I scolded in a quiet voice. Carefully this time, I sat up. A gasp of pain slipped out. I winced, feeling bruises practically everywhere and resisted yelping as I turned, placing my feet on the ground. The cot bed wobbled again. I steadied myself, spreading my feet wider then groped for my boots, slipping each one on and lacing the backs. 'It’s much easier to do when you’re sitting,' I whispered to Audi. Her tail thumped on the ground. Wriggling my jaw, I realized the ache I’d woken to was due to sleeping so heavily in one position. I don’t think I moved even once since my head hit the pillow. Gingerly, I drew a sleeve up, staring at the dark blotches all over my arm. 'Oh goody,' I muttered at the sight of those bruises, knowing all too well that the rest of me probably looked like that too. Letting the sleeve slip down, I pushed up to standing, staying still until the nasty pounding in my head abated. Not so much a headache, just my body demanding more rest. My stomach, howeve
r, growled loudly making Audi cock her head. Spotting my filthy clothes and weapons, I scooped them all up before hunting down the bar of soap Sabyn had left us. Pushing our way out of the tent, Audi and I stopped when the sun hit us. What a truly stunning day, I thought, squinting, such a contrast to last night. The ground felt soft underfoot but the worst of the mud had dried out already. A voice called and I turned.
Smiling while he strode toward me, one of the men spoke softly so not to wake the others. 'Good morning, we thought you might all sleep the day away.'
'I wish,' I said with a rueful smile, my brain clicking through the names until it registered; Daron. 'But I’m feeling a bit hungry. And if I want to wear these ever again I better wash them.' I held the washing pile away, wrinkling my nose at it. Lifting a hand to shade my eyes I watched Daron laugh, unable to resist grinning at the jovial sound. The horrors of last night felt hard to comprehend at the moment in the sunshine and feeling of civilization that the campsite provided.
'Gragnoll gunk isn’t nice, but it washes off and as for food, Gredel and Sabyn cooked a giant breakfast and left some aside for you all,' Daron said, then looked down at Audrey. 'Even some for you,' he cooed at her.
Audrey ducked her head at his voice and gave him her best coy look then rolled over demanding a belly rub. 'Honestly, Audrey,' I scolded teasingly. 'You’re such a flirt.'
Daron looked up from where he crouched beside the dog and grinned, making his brown eyes crease over strong cheekbones. 'She knows a sucker when she sees one.'
The Arrival: An Epic Fantasy Romance Page 9