I screamed in rage. Not at Virtue. Instead at the contract. I closed every side path, every opening, and every part not favorable to us humans. I stood there for hours rearranging that document when I was finally happy with it, I sealed the corrections into place. The meat of the accords still stood solid.
“That was impressive Gryff. I do not contain the same level of contract magic and I have been a mage for a very long time. Rakmar retired. He was replaced by Temi himself. Temi is a cyclops like any other, you would never know his hidden aura if you did not know who he was. He will not take kindly to you altering the peace accords. I expect him to show up outside of Fernlan soon. Which leads me to my next point. I want to study you, and ensure my protection. I saw what the griffins can do. Temi and the six others will die. I have theorized the griffins can even kill the advancing seven. You certainly can. Therefore I have rationalized I will forever be a target and the safest place for me in hiding behind you.”
I sat on the ground across from his cell. The bars I leaned against were the pikes repurposed. The dvaren engravings etched into the bars. I scoffed at the irony. War was coming. War against the other demigods. War for Vin. I did not have long to rest when Nate called out. “Your grace… An enemy army has approached from the west. They have three dragons, a few thousand ogres, and millions of orcs. A cyclops is demanding your attention.”
I let Nate finish while I thought. I sent a contract for employment with a no harm clause to Virtue. I added a bonus to it. He immediately accepted and his robes shifted from black with white to blue and yellow with my griffin emblem on the back. Over his heart, a second emblem rested.
“Your advice?” I queried.
“This is on you to decide. I am a mere long lived mortal after all. I would talk with your griffins first though. You led and I follow,” Virtue said.
I did not have the keys to free him so I used my strength to burst the door open. Virtue gave me a look and pointed to the keys handing not three feet away. Oops.
“Nate ready the troops. Meet me in the western fields everything we got. I am going to talk to Lord Nova and King Aves. Hey Nate… direct me out of here first. This is a cluster of a maze. I need to get outside sometime this year.” I chuckled nervously at my own joke.
Lately, I had not felt like I could die. Sure I broke a hand trying to grab a cyclops heart, but my power was only growing. If Temi was a demigod could he burn like me, or did his bones shatter still as mine did? Would vole fire consist of removing his head and heart? I recalled talking to Warg, it seemed demigods died often. We trooped down the brown hallways devoid of decorations until we reached the exit ramp to Fernlan.
King Aves and Lord Nova awaited with Empress Amber. My lovely wife looked pale and she was in a wheeled chair with two healers behind her. The griffins nodded for her to go first.
“I bore you a lovely daughter. Lila. The princess is doing wonderfully. Me… not so much. I would have died many times without healers. It got so bad that poor Velia who was fourth to deliver had to be healed by griffins to stay alive. Pipi is due to have her water break at any moment. Alas, we can address our family once our home is secured. The cyclops banging on the barrier is irate. Claims he is Temi and sent by the gods. Is demanding a renegotiation of the peace accords. Rakmar gifting you cities is in violation and cause for accord collapse.”
I checked and that was, in fact, true before I fixed the contract. Glad I did that before he arrived. I was apprehensive about how to proceed. I turned to my griffin friends and allies.
“I fixed the peace accords. We are safe behind our barriers. We lost three cities. All in King Devon’s lands.” I noticed three men hovering not far off. These must be my new kings. I waved them into the conversation where they knelt. “Introductions please.”
“I am King Vercies, son of former King Vlad. I do hereby swear my fealty to you Emperor Gryff of the Fernlan Empire.”
“I am King Warva, son of former King Horus. I do hereby swear my fealty to you Emperor Gryff of the Fernlan Empire.”
“I am King Olon, son of former King Omarr. I do hereby swear my fealty to you Emperor Gryff of the Fernlan Empire.”
“Arise my kings. I am glad you are here for this. Later we will partition out the lands that were held by former King Devon. I will interpret for our griffin allies. The question is do we bide more time or push the enemy back here and try to close the portal next?”
The silence hung in the air. King Aves and Lord Nova spoke to each other rapidly. They nodded in a consensus.
“While more time is beneficial at first thought, it is not here. You have attracted too much attention. We must shut the portal down. I want to see more cubs grown and more cities grow in peace. The reality is this will help our endless foes more than us. We vote war. We break the accords and push for the barrier.” Lord Nova said and I relayed.
“War,” Amber voted. The three kings voted “War.”
Everyone looked at me. “I am not set up to fight this scale of a battle King Aves. Can you defeat that army? I have not marched a unit to war, nor do I have an army ready. At most I have my twelve knights, some mercenaries, and my honor guard. The fighting will mostly be up to you.”
The two griffins cackled in laughter. “The moment that the army arrived outside Fernlan the griffins have been loading up on golem and vole blood. We are leaving minimal vole blood for later. The elvath have been a godsend on getting things done. We are even getting a quarter heart of yeti each for just in case. Fire will carry the day though. All we need is for you to stall… Ten minutes please.”
I walked to where Amber sat. I gently lifted her chin and planted a firm kiss on her lips. She was so weak right now. “Healers secure my wife. Honor guard, you are to stay with my family. Kings with me. DONNIE!” I yelled out as I walked for the western fields. The young man came running covered in blood. So soaked in the remains of goblins that he dripped blood. “Gross.”
“Exactly. They stand there and let you behead them. The bodies always squirt so much blood though. We finished recently, what can I do for you, my Emperor?”
“Assemble the dozen and fall in on me. We are marching to greet our guests,” I said as we left the upper step of the village that was now a city. The ramp down to the western field brought back so many fond memories. How had things spiraled so quickly? Focus… I needed to focus on the situation. A demigod awaited me. The Knights of Fernlan joined us as we trekked along the path through the tall ryegrass.
There was no singing or side chatter only determination. When an angry cyclops spotted us approaching he stopped banging on the barrier. The cyclops was ten feet tall. His iris the standard teal while the sclera was black with sparkling yellow suns. He was immense in bulk with a mouth full of sharp teeth. His claws were twice as long as any other cyclops I saw. He wore a thin armor set of tan and crimson red. He played with a chained reaper attached to a bracelet. The weapon looked impressive and he handled with dexterous expertise. The distance closed and he addressed me.
“I am Temi, new leader of Vin. I seek the foul creature known as Gryff to bring him to justice for his high crimes.” Temi demanded.
“Most certainly, if he is guilty as you say. Step right in.” I replied.
“I cannot you twit.”
“Let me see, high crimes… It allows you entry for securing said criminals... Clause five paragraph B.” I retorted. My goal here was to stall time. I immediately felt my blood boil and demand I kill this cyclops when he insulted me. Instead, a smoothed my anger and decided to enrage him.
“They are accusations, not proven yet. We need his testimony. Fetch him for me lowly human.” Temi said.
“Of course wise leader of Vin. It will take but ten minutes,” I said and led our group away from the barrier wall.
“Make it twenty,” Lord Nova clarified.
“Now what?” Donnie asked.
“We are stalling. We wait here until King Aves and Lord Nova are ready. See
ing as how they are doing the fighting and the foe cannot get in we simply give them the time for the preparations they need. Now since you got questions go mopingly walk back to Fernlan. Go see your wife. If those elvath had their way you’re a dad now. It will give me an excuse to stall more. Poe you too. Pretend to argue on the way back.” I ordered and the two left.
They let the fake drama flare which caused Temi to stop his pacing and watch. The good ole we are infighting tactic for stalling.
“Uhh… don’t send me off on a side task but are we planning on fighting because I am not in my combat set?” King Vercies said while gazing around. He was in robes with a dueling sword. “I can cast fire but still robes are shit for fighting.”
“No I may duel Temi, but I probably shouldn’t. I want to… badly, I should not though. There are dragons and a million plus Horde out there. The reality is we will probably be on defense duty. I am breaking the accords today. Does that make you nervous?” I asked and everyone nodded. “Me too. So no we will not directly fight. We will retreat to guard Dais and Fernlan from the western ramps. Sometimes the smart thing means no heroics. We will get to watch the griffins kick ass though.”
“Kick ass?” Janice asked.
“This is why I don’t curse often. And if I do, I use the local swears. Defeat easily with flair. Roughly translated.” I informed them.
“We are ready to kick ass as you say Gryff.” King Aves said.
I was going to ask if he was certain he was ready but I learned that lesson. I suddenly had a plan of my own. “When the barrier drops do not engage. Wait for me to yell “burn”. Got that?” I asked and the griffins replied they understood. “My friends, knights, and kings. Today we become free. Today we no longer fill quotas or adhere to the demands of the vile Horde. Today… we return to war and the enemy will fear our wrath. I need you to form a shield wall on the western fields by Dais and the ramp. Go now. This last part I must do myself.”
Temi was banging on the barrier again. I twirled my short sword in my hand as I approached alone. I whistled off tune and there was no actual song behind it. Music was a bane for me and it was working in frustrating Temi.
“Stop that incessant noise human. Where is this Gryff, I am growing impatient.” Temi said while glaring at me from just outside the barrier.
“Funny thing… Last I heard he was getting a blowjob from your mom.” I taunted Temi.
I stepped up to the barrier and tingled my fingers through. Temi reacted with a speed I expected. He was incredibly agile and fast. The rapier he carried clanged off the barrier trying to get my fingers. I stuck my hand out lower and he swung lighting quick again. Off balance, his eyes recognized what I was doing too late.
I swung from inside the barrier while pouring aura into my swing to increase its speed and power. I was bringing down the protections with an action he never fathomed. My sword sliced through his neck and removed his head in a fraction of a second. I lost my hand, but it was well worth it. I propped his headless body over my shoulder and then ran with all my power for Fernlan. I left his head and his stunned allies there on the field.
With a raging intensity, I tore apart the accords. When they shattered a woosh encompassed every city. Portals crumbled, barriers dropped, and once again… Humanity was at war.
“BURN!” I shouted as I ran for a friendly formation.
As one three thousand griffins launched from the eastern end of Fernlan. They soared over me as I returned with Temi’s body. The enemy was stunned and shocked. Their demigod beheaded and an armada of griffins barreled there way. I reached my allies and the shield wall parted.
Fwar immediately healed my amputated hand. He staggered and fell, yet refused to pass out. I dropped the body of the demigod that twitched. Now that I felt safe behind my friendly formation. I did not hesitate. I plunged my sword deep into the chest and cut until I found the heart. When I pried it out of the body a tormented scream erupted from the soul. The body turned to ash in disintegration. As that was how Temi the demigod died.
I turned to look at the enemy lines that were frozen with indecision. An exit portal was generated but it was small, then five more leaped into existence. The enemy dragons were the first to escape the portals. They knew what Temi was and his loss signaled their retreat. They did not know what the griffins were capable of. It was nice to watch them find out.
The griffins passed the front lines without a single attack. It was as if they were joining the foe. When they hit the middle point of the formation the front half stopped and the back half turned. The Horde looked up in confusion.
An ear splitting roar was belched out from the griffins as they dove to only dozens of feet above the ground. You could see shields slow the first griffins to hit the invisible barriers. Their sheer weight and volume burst all the magical defense the enemy shamans had. A few fireballs raced for the incoming griffins. It was turned aside with shields or healed. Finally, fire erupted from the thousands of griffins.
They stopped in a hover and burnt everything around them. When the destruction was complete in one area they moved forward. The Horde was caught unprepared. They were trained to smash cities and break against shield lines. The trolls who were the biggest threat to the griffins were the first to die. I saw Lord Nova hover over a clump of trolls shielding their projectiles. I had never seen them use air magic defensively. I knew they could but seeing it in combat, this was a first.
The battle deteriorated quickly. No griffins landed. No griffins needed to land. The Horde broke. They broke so completely it would take days to scour them all from our forests. That was how the Battle of Fernlan ended.
It started with a beheading of a demigod and ended when an army of demigod griffins that burned the Horde to a full rout.
∞∞∞
I was rummaging the battlefield looking for loot. Not sure why. Mainly because there was still sporadic fighting and being inside felt wrong. So I went beyond what was once our barrier. I was just getting used to it being so much larger too. Life would be drastically different. There were a lot of harvestable hearts in these fields that would change so much. I probably should be cutting ogre organs free instead of kicking around dead bodies looking for soul stones.
“I liked your plan Gryff,” King Aves said as he landed with an earth shaking thud beside me. “He never thought you would break the barrier to strike him. It was almost like cheating… We discussed it and decided it was allowed. That idiot demigod never saw it coming. ”
He was certainly in a good mood. I was sour though and he saw this.
“I know you valued your protections. Fear not Gryff. The path to victory is clear. You are growing your forces exactly like us. We will keep mating, we can hunt now and help on the tundra. There is so much this opens up. We can even land on other continents now. Assuming we do that large nagging item on your to do list.” King Aves said giving me a bump.
“Hold on let me get my pen and paper,” I said reaching into my bag. I was ready to copy. “Okay, what am I adding to the… to do list. Oh, wise and illustrious King Aves.”
A cackling laughter erupted from the mighty griffin. “Close the portal to Vin!”
I notated the obvious line and grinned in triumph. Things were drastically improving for me and mine. I had some babies to get to know, cities to grow, business ventures to expand, places to explore, and slave markets to exploit.
THE END OF BOOK 2
CHAPTER 1
“Gryff! It’s urgent, Pipi is dying! We need your help!” A griffin voice boomed into my head.
Only two days had passed since the barriers had dropped and Vin had changed from a shaky peace to open war. The pressing issue on everyone's mind was closing the portal. Virtue had the location of the Vin master portal in his mind and assured us we could travel there when our forces were ready. The griffins had gorged themselves on the burned remains of the Horde so thoroughly they were in a bender. The food stupor would take a few days to fini
sh and for the assembled griffins to be ready to go north. This was good because it took time to muster armies and assemble forces.
The Empire reeled in shock from the collapse of the barriers. Some cities rejoiced, while others initially panicked. When no Horde advanced on their cities, they eventually understood we were on the offensive now, not the defensive. There were no shamans opening portals since Temi was killed and his army massacred. We theorized with the help of Virtue, that the hierarchy of Vin was in a power vacuum. Eventually they would send someone or another demigod would find us. The best guess was it would take weeks for the next ranking cyclops surviving on Vin to report the losses. That kind of report rarely happened, especially including the disclosure of a missing demigod. We concluded we had time for the griffins to feast and recharge while I summoned my armies from the three kingdoms.
Every leader I talked to requested more time, which my wives agreed with since we were not on a war footing. Between scouring the remains of the battlefield for loot that seemed to have no end, dealing with the politics of summoning troops north, and doting on my new daughters, I had stayed busy with little time for much else. I was due to tour Entria and claim my five thousand female elvath from the slaving planet today. I had a contract to collect female elvath from when I traded a male elvath. The asshole male I won during arena combat on Kikra was an exchange I was excited to finish yet this distress call may put that timeline in jeopardy.
I was still finding preserved soul stones on charred shaman bodies when the desperate plea reached me. I raced from the remnants of the Massacre of Fernlan and tore across the western fields for the castle. My purple aura burned fiercely as I sped up. Before I could reach the western ramp to head into the castle, Lydia rerouted me.
“Go into Vertex! She is in the map room for humans and griffins; she is struggling on a table in the meeting pavilion. Only constant griffin healing is keeping her alive,” Lydia said as she flew over me.
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