The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1)

by Nicole MacDonald

  Oh what the heck, let’s just enjoy it— after all it might amount to nothing.

  Alek’s voice interrupted my thoughts, 'Catherine.'

  I looked up. He did that slow, wide smile again, making my toes curl.

  'We’re about to land, so hold on,' Alek continued.

  Hold on? To what?

  He wrapped one strong arm around my waist and gripped the saddle with his other hand. Then we dropped from the sky.

  Still clutching Alek tight while making choked gasping noises, I was stunned when he announced, 'Well that was nice and smooth, well done, Loushka.'

  The griffon made an appreciative noise at him.

  Nice? Smooth?

  I guess he isn’t wrong, my rational voice pointed out. I mean it’s not as though you noticed an almighty bump as we hit the ground and you barely even jolted in your seat.

  Yes well, when my stomach returns from squishing my brain I might consider that point of view, my silly voice snapped.

  Alek let go of me and I clutched the saddle with both hands as he did his clever trick of sliding down Loushka’s forearm. On the ground he called up to me and beckoned.

  'Slide down, Catherine.'

  I stared down at him. I had a very vivid image in my head of me doing a giant belly flop onto the ground in front of him.

  Not a good look.

  As I considered my options he stepped closer to Loushka.

  'Slide down, I promise I’ll catch you,' he coaxed.

  He could see Catherine wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

  ‘Maybe you should let me bend down for her,’ Loushka suggested.

  ‘No.’ Alek was firm. ‘We are going to be doing this often and she needs to learn.’

  Loushka silently approved.

  'Okay,' Catherine called nervously. 'Just make sure you do catch me.'

  Alek smirked and she glared.

  'I’m not joking!'

  He gave a soft laugh.

  'Neither am I, now slide down.'

  I took a big breath, lined myself up and then let go of the saddle. I shot down Loushka’s leg and Alek caught me just before I touched the ground. I heard him chuckle.

  'Catherine,' he said a little reproachfully. 'Open your eyes. You really need to learn to do this with your eyes open.'

  I peeked at him from one eye, making him laugh, and before I chickened out, gave him a tight hug, made a tad awkward by the chest plate, and stretched up to kiss his cheek. He froze and stared.

  I dropped back to my heels. His astonished look pleased me immensely. Giving an evil little chuckle, I darted off to go see the others.

  Loi had an eyebrow arched when Cat came over. Almost skipping, she noted.

  'Enjoy the flight?'

  Cat looked guilty for a moment.

  'Errr, yes,' she gave a sheepish cough. 'It was quite pleasant.'

  They looked knowingly at her.

  The four of us, with Audrey, had to collect the firewood and I could see the rebellious looks on Sian and Loi’s faces. They didn’t like being delegated the easy work, just because we were women. I was happy to do it. It meant we could talk without being overheard by the guys.

  As soon as we were out of sight the questioning began. Sian was definitely certain that Daron was someone special as was Kassie about Rumal. Loi appeared to like Sabyn a lot, but didn’t want to commit herself just in case. I knew how she felt.

  'Although I don’t really understand why we’re being so skeptical,' I said as I stopped and sat on a fallen log.

  Audrey sat between my knees and I fussed over her, it’d been strange to spend the entire day without her, though Gredel said she’d enjoyed the flight.

  'I mean, we cast the spell to meet our soul mates and it whisks us away to a far away land, and NOW we question whether this is real?' I shrugged. 'Really, we should be delighted it worked out so well.'

  They still looked dubious.

  'I don’t know.' Kassie said hesitantly, 'it just seems too easy.'

  Too easy? I didn’t think what we’d been through so far had been easy. I resisted the urge to smack her.

  'Sian what do you think? You’re the expert in this field,' Loi turned to Sian.

  Sian looked a bit overwhelmed.

  'Well,' she hedged. 'I really don’t know. IF it was the spell that brought us here then it would make sense that these are the guys, but then, no spell I’ve ever cast before has done this. So what if this Elena person brought us here, what then?'

  'Any suggestions as to how we handle this?' Loi attempted nonchalance, but her voice sounded tight even to her. While she didn’t really want to admit it to the girls, she’d fallen for Sabyn rather hard.

  They were silent for a few moments then Kassie spoke up.

  'I think we should just take it slow. And remember we don’t know the etiquette around here, so until we understand it all, let’s not get ourselves betrothed or something without realizing it.'

  The others stared at her for a moment.

  'I hadn’t even thought of that.' Cat looked a little wild-eyed.

  'Yes, good point,' Sian agreed. 'Gonna take it nice and slow now.'

  The next fifteen minutes were quiet as we collected the firewood. We pushed through the bush back to the camp site where the tent was now set up and the men looked over their griffons. They glanced up as they heard us and Alek’s blue stare had me chanting ‘nice and slow’ in my head over and over as we piled the wood beside the fireplace.

  Gredel, Rumal and Sabyn cooked a fantastic evening meal and the griffons disappeared for a couple of hours while they hunted their own dinner. After another game of cards, where upon I again lost appallingly, we girls decided to call it a night and headed for the tent.

  We’d managed to keep the evening just friendly and fun which was good, and had lifted the mood well. I settled into bed that night and felt oddly content. Audi was safe and sound under my bed, my friends were with me and while no one knew what tomorrow would bring, at least it wasn’t the mundane everyday life we had on Earth. No office administration job for me here.

  The next day we awoke to brilliant sunshine. Birds sung their hearts out and as I got dressed, I was surprised to realize I looked forward to today’s flight. I hummed as I folded up my cot bed.

  Loi smiled as she heard Cat hum "Just A Yellow Lemon Tree". The inside of the tent was light and getting warm as the sun rose, so it was lovely to step outside into the still crisp air of the early morning.

  She’d always loved camping as a kid and this made her feel rather nostalgic. Walking over to the fireplace, she found Alek and Gredel deep in conversation about the day’s plan. They looked up when they heard her approach and smiled.

  'Good morning.' Gredel said. 'Are you looking forward to another day of flying?'

  Loi beamed at him, 'I am. I really enjoyed yesterday, will we be stopping at any villages on the way?'

  'Yes. We’ll stop at a village in Bresdon for tonight. The Inn there has accommodation for griffons and it’s owned by my wife’s brother.'

  'What is the village called?'

  'Lilliton.' said Alek, 'and it’ll be nice to catch up with Brece and his family.'

  Gredel looked past them both so they turned around. Sabyn walked toward them with a string of fresh fish looped over his shoulder.

  'I thought we’d have some fresh fish for breakfast.'

  'Did you catch all of those this morning?' Loi was impressed.

  'Yes, do you like fish?'

  The question was directed straight at her and she nodded enthusiastically while thinking, as long as it’s battered and from the fish and chip shop.

  The men set to stripping and gutting the fish, then seasoned them and threw them on the hot pans. It did smell good and the scent brought the other girls in quick.

  Sian, Kassie and Cat had clean, damp faces and Audi was wet after a dip in the creek. Sabyn moved slowly while he served the fish as he had an ecstatic Lucky purring her way around his ankles begging for some fish.


  Loi laughed and scooped the cat up, holding her tight until he’d finished. There was enough left over for both animals to have some.

  The campsite was cleaned up and most the gear packed onto Phroma’s back, then it was time to go. Sabyn bent down to give Loi a leg up onto Tomiar but she hesitated.

  'Can you show me how you do it? I’d like to learn.'

  He looked surprised.

  'Certainly but it takes a lot of practice.'

  She stepped back to watch as he and Tomiar performed their long perfected move.

  Tomiar kept her foreleg bent and Sabyn made a short run up, then leaped and pushed himself off Tomiar’s knee, grabbing a good handful of mane and swung himself up. The entire move took about four seconds.

  'W-O-W.'

  Sabyn looked down at her.

  'Give it a shot,' he urged. 'I’ll grab your other hand.'

  'I won’t hurt Tomiar?'

  She was a little concerned, she liked Tomiar after all.

  He laughed and Tomiar snorted.

  'She says if she can handle me, you’ll be fine.'

  He winked, making her feel a little foolish.

  'Ok,' she mumbled as she took a couple of steps back. 'Here goes nothing.'

  Remembering at the last second which foot to push off with, Loi kicked off Tomiar, mentally apologizing, and stretched up, snatching a handful of mane. At the same time Sabyn grabbed her other arm with both hands and pulled her up to the front seat.

  Loi blinked at the sudden change of view then laughed in surprise.

  'I did it.'

  The others had watched and all applauded, Cat and Sian whistled loudly to the surprise of Alek and Daron.

  'Well done,' Sabyn spoke into her ear. 'And I’ll bet in no time you’ll be able to do it by yourself.'

  Sabyn and Loi talked the whole flight, leaning backward or forward to speak in the others ear. He told her all about his family, she learned he had two younger sisters who commandeered much of their parents time. The twins, Lenia and Franti, were sixteen and at the boy crazy stage.

  'It made the last visit we had at my family’s home embarrassing,' Sabyn shook his head at the memory.

  Loi laughed at the thought of the teenagers trying out their charms on the boys.

  'I’ll bet that doesn’t go down well with Gredel,' she spoke in Sabyn’s ear.

  He roared with laughter.

  ‘What? What’d she say?’ demanded Tomiar.

  He relayed Laura’s words to her. Tomiar chuckled and sent him an image of the last time Gredel had been there—it showed the large man pasty white as the two girls closed in on him, their eyelashes fluttering and hands clasped demurely in front. Gredel had told Sabyn afterward, in no uncertain terms, that he would never again visit without Citaan.

  Audrey seemed to love the view. She’d managed to twist herself up so she could stand and stretch to see past Phroma’s wings. Gredel grunted in pain.

  'Audrey, you’re standing on my bladder again.' He shifted her slightly. She twisted back to give him a big sloppy kiss, then shifted back to her original position.

  ‘Ganooks.’ Gredel exclaimed to Phroma. ‘This dog is driving me nuts, she won’t stop squirming and standing on me.’

  ‘At least she’s enjoying herself,’ replied Phroma. ‘Just think of how bad it’d be if she didn’t and she probably needs to go for a good run.’

  ‘True, I think I’ll suggest it to Catherine.’

  ‘Cat,’ corrected Phroma.

  ‘Eh?’ Gredel was confused, ‘No, Catherine, the woman.’

  Phroma snorted in amusement, ‘No silly, Catherine’s name is Cat for short, Kassandra is Kassie and Laura is Loi. It’s what they call each other all the time.’

  Gredel huffed, ‘Well I didn’t know.’

  ‘Now you do. Yes it’d be a good idea for Audi to go for a run, the energy she’s throwing off is distracting.’

  ‘Can I do anything to help?’

  ‘Maybe try stroking her and talking to her, it might calm her down a bit,’ suggested Phroma.

  Feeling a bit self-conscious, even if Phroma was the only one there, Gredel began to pet the dog and chat to her.

  Over on Tomiar, Sabyn was showing Loi how to stand on the saddle. She was rather pleased with herself, as she’d managed to gloss over most of her home life details. Instead, she'd told him all about jujitsu. He had been fascinated and only promised to show her a saddle trick if she promised to show him a couple of throws.

  Now she was crouched on the saddle, clutching the front pommel tight with both hands and was seriously wondering if she’d overreached herself.

  'Loi,' Sabyn shouted into the wind. 'Strap this around your waist.'

  He held a heavy leather circlet. She slipped back into the saddle and he reached forward to help strap her in.

  'This has a length on either side which ties to the saddle, so with that and me behind you, you’ll be safe.'

  Once the circlet was fastened, Loi pulled both legs up again so she was crouched low. Two large hands gripped her hips and Sabyn leaned forward.

  'Ready?' He yelled.

  'Yeah!'

  'Okay stand.'

  Bracing both legs, she slowly let go of the pommel and pushed her head into the wind then straightened her back. Sabyn kept a firm grip on her hips as Loi caught her balance then spread her feet a little wider and seized the front strap from the saddle.

  It was such a rush.

  The wind roared past her ears so she couldn’t hear anything and she had to squint to see—but the view! Rolling hills stretched out below them with distant rivers glinting in the sun and dark stretches of forest. There was so much green and blue. Loi started to laugh. The sensation of the wind and only her feet touching the saddle made it feel like she, herself, was flying.

  Suddenly she understood why Sabyn had such a passion for this. It was magical.

  From this view point she could see the other griffons and was spell bound. Even in flight they had the grace of large cats and flew with such ease. The joy of the flight was apparent on their faces. Loi caught sight of Sian gaping at her and she couldn’t resist waving. She giggled as Sian watched with an expression of pure envy.

  Okay, so showing off isn’t nice, but on occasion it was fun and she and Sian always competed against each other. A little competition was healthy after all.

  Tomiar cocked her head to look back at Laura.

  ‘She’s having so much fun. And the first of the bunch to do it,’ she thought smugly.

  ‘Yes, though I think Sian will be close behind her,’ he sent an image of Sian watching Loi to Tomiar.

  She was pleased. ‘It’s good for them to learn. They’ll need to be confident with flying for some of the things coming.’

  Sabyn was silent, Tomiar often showed a gift for seeing events that had yet to pass. It wasn’t unusual for griffons, or dragons for that matter, and Elena had thought it might have something to do with their ability to leap. He waited for Tomiar to elaborate, but when she didn’t, he let it go. She would tell him if she knew for sure, but when she only caught glimpses she didn’t usually bother.

  ‘Gredel, look.’ Phroma thought excitedly.

  Gredel looked across and spotted Loi standing on Tomiar, a huge grin on her face.

  ‘You wait, she’ll be free falling in no time.’

  Audrey spotted Loi and turned to bark at her, but the wind whipped the sound away so Loi and the others didn’t even notice. The dog grumbled and slouched back against Gredel who smiled down at the put-out creature. He ruffled her fur and talked nonsense to her until her tail started to wag.

  ‘I can’t wait to tell Citaan about the baby talk,’ Phroma teased.

  ‘I’m just practicing,’ Gredel thought, refusing to rise to the bait. ‘And you never know. Citaan might have a surprise for us when we get home.’

  Phroma was thrilled by the suggestion. Citaan had lost a baby nearly a year ago and she often spoke to Phroma about her longing for another.
Phroma knew the lovely blue haired woman didn’t mention it to Gredel because she didn’t want to upset him. He’d taken the miscarriage rather hard. If Phroma was right, the four month mark would be at the end of this week and she was quite certain Citaan was carrying a healthy baby this time. Understandingly, she wouldn’t want to announce it until the four month mark passed to be certain. Phroma felt a glow of warmth at the thought of how happy Gredel would be.

  Young ones really did make a difference to your life, she thought, thinking of her own pup safe at the castle nursery. This was the longest she’d been away from him.

  ‘You must be missing little Ageip,’ thought Gredel. He loved the little pup who was the spitting image of his mother, right down to the black wings with violet undertones.

  ‘I am,’ Phroma sighed. ‘But it is nice to be out. We haven’t been for such a big trip in a long time.’

  Loi decided she’d had enough of standing and with Sabyn gripping her hips again she lowered herself to the saddle.

  'How are you?' Sabyn spoke into her ear.

  'Shaking,' Loi said in surprise. 'It’s a lot harder than I expected.'

  She trembled, her legs felt like she’d done hours of training.

  He laughed softly, 'You were up much longer than I was my first time, it shows how strong you are,' he wrapped both arms around her.

  Loi was flattered and relaxed back against him, 'Thanks.'

  I could just see the village in the space between Loushka’s wing and neck. It didn’t appear to be fenced like Lothost had been. I leaned back against Alek’s chest and he obligingly ducked his head so I could speak into his ear.

  'Why isn’t it fenced? Lothost was.'

  'Probably because they have a large number of dogs here,' Alek said. 'Audi will be very popular. They also regularly host griffons and their riders, which tends to scare off most of the carnivores.'

  That was intriguing and I asked, 'How many griffon riders are there? And what makes the five of you so special?'

  I felt his chuckle through the breastplate.