by K J Taylor
“She said she didn’t like the nest you gave her,” said Arenadd. “The straw was mouldy.”
“She didn’t have t’go an’ bite me!” said Laela.
“She said you pulled her wing.”
“Yes, because she was sleepin’ in my bed!” Laela tried to keep herself under control. “I ain’t livin’ with that thing,” she said. “It’s vicious.”
“Laela. Calm down. Listen to me.”
Laela folded her arms. “I’m listenin’.”
Arenadd sat down on the white marble plinth that rose out of the middle of the chamber and gestured at her to do the same.
Laela sat beside him. A moment later, Oeka got up beside her and settled down on her haunches. She nudged Laela with her head, like a cat. For a moment, Laela wondered if the griffin was asking to be petted as a cat would, but when she looked, Oeka had turned her head away and was staring aloofly at the ceiling.
Arenadd watched them with the hint of a smile. “Oeka is a griffin, Laela, and griffins demand our respect.”
“I’m a human, an’ I ain’t seen much respect from her,” said Laela.
“You have to earn a griffin’s respect, Laela. And then you have to keep on earning it. You impressed her, but unless you keep on pleasing her, she’ll take what she wants. A griffin doesn’t have to have a human, you know. If she wants to, she can leave you and look for a human she likes better.”
“Good,” Laela said viciously. “Let her go, then.”
“What, and lose everything you gained when she chose you?” said Arenadd. “Stop being a griffiner?”
“Yeah, whatever. I don’t care.”
Arenadd sat back. “Oh dear,” he said mildly. “And there I was, planning to give you an official position. Oh, well. I suppose I’ll have to find someone who isn’t so easily discouraged.”
Laela choked. “Official position? Me?”
“Yes. I can’t give titles or responsibilities to a commoner, now can I?”
There was a pause.
“All right,” Laela said eventually. “I see what yer tryin’ t’do. Don’t know why yeh care so much, though.”
Arenadd’s black eyes glittered. “So are you ready to start learning how to be a griffiner?”
Laela looked at Oeka. Once again, she was struck by how beautiful the griffin was. “But she bit me,” she said again, rather lamely.
Arenadd sighed and rolled up his sleeves. “Yes. Griffins do that.”
Laela saw his exposed forearms, and breathed in sharply when she saw the maze of scars on them. “Skandar did that to yeh?”
Arenadd pulled his sleeves down again. “Look on the bright side. At least Oeka was born and raised in the Hatchery. Skandar was born wild. When he looked for a human to choose, he ate the ones he didn’t like.”
Laela shuddered. “Oh, gods.”
“Yes. So, are you willing to give it another try?”
Laela paused. “What’s this official position yeh gonna give me?”
“Master of Wisdom,” said Arenadd.
“What’s that?”
Arenadd smoothed down his hair. “That’s just the official title. The Master of Wisdom is the foremost advisor to the Eyrie Master. In this case, me.”
Her eyes widened. “Advisor? Me? But . . . what would I be doin’?”
“More or less what you’re doing now,” said Arenadd. “Letting me confide in you. Giving me advice. Only I’d be paying you to do it. But you have to be a griffiner,” he added. “I can only give official positions to nobles.”
Laela grinned. “How much money are we talkin’ about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. About five hundred oblong a week, I think, is the official amount. I can ask the Master of Gold, if you like.”
“No, I think that’s enough,” Laela said slowly.
“So you’ll do it?”
Laela reached up and tentatively touched Oeka under the beak. The griffin lowered her head, and Laela rubbed her fingers back and forth as she’d seen Arenadd and other griffiners do. Oeka closed her eyes and cooed in response.
“Yeah,” said Laela. “I’ll do it.”
“Excellent!” Arenadd stood up. “Now, I’m afraid our first lesson is going to have to wait because I need your help with something else.”
Laela stood, too. “What is it?”
“Come with me. I’ve got something very special to show you.”
Laela followed him through the door and into his own room. The moment she stepped through the door, she winced. “Holy gods, it’s like an oven in here!”
Arenadd rolled up the sleeves of his robe again. “Yes, I’m sorry about that, but it was necessary.”
There was a roaring fire in the fireplace, and dozens of braziers had been lit around the room to add to the heat. Laela, already sweating, looked at Arenadd. “Why?”
“Because of that,” said Arenadd, pointing.
Laela followed his finger. “What in Gryphus’ name is that?”
The creature perched on a table by the fire looked like a bird at first glance, but Laela instantly decided that if it was a bird it was very, very wrong.
It was about the size of a chicken, and more or less shaped like one, with a small, lean body perched on two legs, with long talons shaped for gripping branches, and a pair of wings placed just below the base of the neck. But the neck ended in a big, muzzled head topped by a pair of stubby horns, and the tail was long and serpentine and had a diamond-shaped membrane on the end.
And where a bird had feathers, this thing had pale green scales.
Arenadd took a step toward it, but the creature backed off, opening its mouth to reveal dozens of sharp, silver fangs. The King moved away from it, shaking his head. “It won’t let me go near it, but it should let you—it’s probably well trained.”
Laela hadn’t moved. “What is it?”
“It’s a dragon,” said Arenadd. “From Amoran. They use them to carry messages.”
Laela’s mind reeled. A dragon!
Everyone knew about dragons, of course—there were dozens of stories about them. But as far as she’d ever known, they were myths, or maybe something that had existed once but not now. Seeing one here was unbelievable.
“I thought it’d be bigger,” she said at last.
“As far as I know, that’s about as big as they get,” said Arenadd. “Now, can you do me a favour? See if you can get close enough to take the message from it.”
Laela started. “What?”
“Look there,” said Arenadd. “On its back.”
Laela ventured a step closer and finally noticed the small brown cylinder strapped to the dragon’s back. “It’s got a message from Amoran?”
“Yes. It arrived early this morning. It should let you take it.”
“It won’t bite me, will it?”
“No; it’s perfectly tame. Dragons aren’t very aggressive anyway.”
Very carefully, Laela reached out toward it. The dragon came closer to her and sniffed her fingers. Wary of its teeth, she tried to touch its head. It let her do it, and even thrust its snout at her, asking to be petted. Laela noticed the bristly ears and scratched them. The dragon hooted and put its head on one side, asking for more.
Laela smiled despite herself and scratched more vigorously. The dragon hooted again. Then it leapt. Laela jerked away, but she was too slow. Before she knew what was happening, the dragon had jumped onto her arm and was perched there, talons gripping.
Specifically, gripping the half-congealed wound.
Laela let loose with a stream of curse-words, and groaned in relief when the dragon decided to shuffle further along toward her elbow. The wound still smarted, but the pain faded quickly enough.
“Go on, take the message,” Arenadd urged.
Laela pulled herself together. Once the dragon had settled down on its new perch and begun to nibble at its wing, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and reached tentatively for the cylinder on the creature’s back. The dragon glanced at her, and then went back to its grooming.
Laela fiddled with the cylinder for a few moments before she figured out how to take the cap off the end. It came free easily enough—there was a wax plug underneath it. She put it aside and reached inside the cylinder and pulled out a thin scroll of paper. It was covered in tiny, neat runes, and, unable to stop herself, she had a go at reading them. She could decipher a few words here and there, and smiled proudly as she handed it to Arenadd. “Here yeh go.”
He took it. “Thanks. Now, let’s see . . .”
Laela, the dragon now perched on her shoulder, watched with interest. “What’s it say?”
Arenadd scanned it briefly. “Excellent. Just as I thought—it’s from the Amorani ambassador.”
Laela glanced at Oeka. The griffin had been grooming herself, apparently uninterested in what was going on, but now she looked up as if she were as interested as her human.
“What’s it say?” Laela persisted.
Arenadd looked up. “You know, this is a confidential message from the head diplomat of the Emperor of Amoran.”
“Yeah, so yeh shouldn’t share it with anyone except yer most trusted advisor,” said Laela.
The King smiled again, with his eyes. “Indeed.” He rolled up the message. “This was sent from Maijan—that’s an island away to the east that the Amorani Empire controls. Apparently the ambassador is there right now—or was when he sent this message, anyway. He’s on his way here now, and he says he should be here in a matter of days.”
Laela grinned and petted the dragon. “What’s his name?”
Arenadd checked the message again. “Uh . . . Lord Vander. His griffin is called Ymazu. From what I’m told, he’s a reasonable man, and an extremely good negotiator.” He frowned. “This isn’t going to make me any more popular, you know—this treaty with Amoran.”
“But it’s for the best,” said Laela.
“Yes. It would be a lot easier if the Amoranis weren’t so different from us. And if they weren’t sun worshippers.”
Laela started. “They’re sun worshippers?”
“Yes. In fact, some people believe that Gryphus was born in Amoran. That’s probably partly because it’s eastward and the sun rises in the east, but also because the Amorani were worshipping a sun god before Cymria was even inhabited by humans.”
“They worship Gryphus?” said Laela.
“Actually, their god is called Xanathus,” said Arenadd. “But they also believe that the sun is his eye, and that he’s the father of all life. Most Northerners hate the Amoranis for that. But the truth is, we in Cymria have been copying them for some time.” His expression hardened. “The slave collars that my people used to wear—those were invented in Amoran. Still, you’re right—a treaty with Amoran is exactly what we need.”
“Are we still goin’ there?”
“Probably. If my negotiations with Lord Vander go well. In fact, if everything goes to plan, we’ll probably go back to Amoran with him.” He paused. “Are you excited?”
“Yeah,” Laela confessed. “How long’re we gonna be there?”
“Well, first we’d have to travel to the coast . . . then a few months of sailing to get to Maijan . . . We’d have to follow the entire island chain, and then cross the Amourfish Sea to get to Amoran itself, and then when we get there, the negotiations with the Emperor would take some time, and we’d have to stay a bit longer to be polite . . .” Arenadd trailed off.
“How long?” Laela pressed.
“Probably more than a year.”
She stared at him. “A year . . . ?”
“That isn’t going to be a problem, is it?” said Arenadd. “I’m sure I can teach you a lot while we’re on our way.”
“I guess so,” Laela mumbled.
“And you haven’t really been here long enough to have to worry about homesickness, so what’s the problem?”
“Yorath would . . .” She trailed off.
“Yorath?” Arenadd put his head on one side. “Oh yes, your tutor. What about him?”
Laela started. “Oh. Uh . . . it’s not important. Never mind.”
Arenadd gave her a knowing look. “You have been spending a lot of time with him after classes, haven’t you?”
“Well . . .” Laela felt inexplicably ashamed.
“Not to worry,” Arenadd said briskly. “I’m sure he can come along with us. After all, I won’t have time to teach you everything myself.”
Without even thinking, Laela stepped forward and hugged him around the neck. The dragon shrieked and leapt off her shoulder, but she didn’t pay any attention.
Arenadd jerked away from her, as if in fright. “Laela!”
She let go and backed off. “I’m sorry—”
He shook himself. “It’s all right. Sorry, I didn’t mean to . . . You took me by surprise.”
“Haven’t been hugged in a while, have yeh?” said Laela.
“No,” said Arenadd, his tone as matter-of-fact as hers. “Dark Lords aren’t very huggable. So,” he added, suddenly awkward, “are you ready to start your first lesson?”
Laela went to stand by Oeka. “Yeah, I am.”
17
The Amorani Ambassador
Laela spent the rest of that morning with Arenadd, learning her first lessons. To her surprise, Arenadd wasn’t her only teacher—Oeka taught her, too.
Arenadd began by lecturing her about the habits of griffins—what they liked to eat, the best materials to give them for nest-building, and even the times when they preferred to go to sleep and wake up. Oeka then helped him show her how to clean her partner’s talons, how to treat fleas, how to remove a bone lodged in the throat, and a dozen and one other things about griffish health and medicine.
Laela took it all in, paying close attention not just because of her renewed interest in becoming a griffiner but also because most of it was fascinating. Learning so much about griffins made her feel like she was being brought into a secret circle of knowledge, seeing things only a select few were allowed to see. That feeling of pride and excitement kept her so enthralled that she didn’t even realise how much time had passed until Arenadd announced that they should stop for lunch.
After lunch, Laela had to go to the library again for another lesson with a wary Yorath, but the next morning she was with Arenadd again. Now he began teaching her something she was particularly determined to learn—the language of griffins.
It was much harder than she’d thought. Griffins had a completely different language structure than humans, and the sounds they used were far away from anything humans used. Arenadd explained that griffish was a primitive language that had never really been meant to express complicated ideas, and that humans weren’t built to speak it. The best that Laela would be able to manage would be a crude approximation of griffish sounds, but the important part of knowing griffish was learning how to interpret what Oeka said. Griffins could indeed understand human languages even if their beaks stopped them from speaking them properly, but they preferred to be spoken to in griffish.
As far as Laela was concerned, knowing griffish was another and even more important part of being a member of the secret world of griffins and griffiners. One day, she would be able to talk to Oeka and know what she was thinking and what she wanted. And maybe then they could be friends.
On the second night after they had become partners, Laela returned to her room with Oeka, but without the sense of dread she’d had before. On the way she paused briefly to give a few orders to a servant, who hurried away to make arrangements. By the time she and Oeka had eaten, a hammock
had been hung near the fireplace.
“There,” said Laela. “If yeh like that bed better, then keep it. I don’t mind.”
Oeka watched her while she spoke, and Laela imagined that she could see satisfaction in the griffin’s face. There was definitely a new air of energy about her as she picked over the bones of her dinner and went next door for a drink before returning and climbing into her new nest.
Laela watched her rearrange the shredded blankets and snuggle down, and felt an affection toward the griffin that hadn’t been there before. She was dangerous; Laela wasn’t about to doubt that now, but she was appealing, too, with those bright green eyes and the fluffy feathers on her chest. Laela wouldn’t have gone so far as to call her cute, but she was nice to look at, and there was something endearing about her slightly awkward, leggy frame and the way her head bobbed up and down when she walked.
With that pleasant thought, Laela snuffed out the lamp and climbed into her new hammock. She’d never slept in one before, but she was so tired that she was convinced she could sleep anywhere.
She was wrong. The hammock was uncomfortable and swung back and forth alarmingly whenever she moved too much, and the shock always woke her up. She tried what felt like half a dozen different positions, hoping to find one that would let her sleep, but none of them changed the fact that the hammock didn’t support her back and kept on threatening to tip her out.
Finally, after spending what felt like half the night trying to sleep in the wretched thing, she got out of it and padded over to the bed, rubbing her back along the way. She could just see the outline of Oeka in the middle of her nest. She could hear her, too—cheeping softly in her sleep.
Laela didn’t even think about trying to make her move. But maybe there was another solution.
She took a deep breath and climbed into the nest. Oeka stirred and clicked her beak warily, but she didn’t attack.
“It’s only me,” Laela told her. “Mind if I join yeh?”
There was a rustling as Oeka moved away, leaving a warm hollow where she’d been lying. Laela grinned and took it. Instantly, the musty smell of feathers enveloped her.