For the second time that day, Erin closed Phoebe into her cage, this time scared sick as she did so now that she knew exactly what they were about to face.
With one last run of her fingers through the keet’s soft fuzz, she turned away and went to join the others, who were gathering at the door of the apartment. The room felt hot and stuffy, even more so when they were all standing in a cluster, attentive to their unofficial leader. Once again, she envied Leslyn and his shirtless escapade, still cradling his keet in said shirt on the other side of the apartment.
She couldn’t believe he was over there, and not beside her. He’d remained alone with Valiant, having refused to join in on the plan.
As much as she understood his reasons, Erin still struggled to agree with his choice. Wasn’t be being too selfish? Wasn’t this more important than one person being scared of Wrath?
“We’ll have to do this in an orderly fashion,” Kaleit was saying, “or else we risk someone getting trampled. Each of us should be in charge of one section of the Aerie, and time it so everything happens at once so no one in the canteen will have the chance to try and stop us, or accidentally get in the griffins’ way.” He paused, nodding toward Koben’s doe-eyed cousin. “We’ll let Arlis release Wrath, but she’ll be let out last. We can trust the other griffins to wait patiently, but she’s liable to tear apart anything that gets in the way of where she wants to go. On that note, I will handle the section closest to the exit and bear the risk of opening the door for her.”
Erin had begun to lose focus, staring distantly past the young man to imagine the chaos that was sure to happen, but that last got her attention back in full. Glory-obsessed idiot, she thought, but even as she thought it, she secretly kind of liked his plan. She didn’t want to be the one facing down a stampede of griffins led by Wrath herself, after all.
And, if his willingness to offer himself to protect everyone from that danger was genuine… her estimation of him might go up a bit. Just a little. Very little. A tiny smidgen. May as well be nothing, really.
After they had worked out section assignments, everyone split up. Erin was at one of the sections further out, almost the other end of the building entirely. Walking down the corridor at a non-suspicious, normal pace, Erin started the countdown in her head: fifteen minutes to go.
She moved through the quiet hallways, a few of the other recruits going in the same direction to start, but they soon went off down other corridors toward their own assigned sections. The Aerie was deserted but for the “orphaned” griffins that Gunu and the other staff cared for, until she got near the canteen. Numerous voices drifted from the open door of the room, sharp and hurried with tension. Ten minutes left on the clock.
Holding her breath, she went by the door, praying no one would notice her.
There, she’d made it past.
She let out a small sigh and renewed her pace… until someone grabbed her arm from behind.
“What are you doing out here?” She knew immediately by the voice that it was the woman who’d given her the bag of crossbow bolts at the beginning of the battle. Before Erin could answer, she was forcefully spun around, revealing the woman to be middle-aged with a generous peppering of gray hair. “We’re meant to shelter in the canteen during emergencies. Only fortified room we have. Rest of the place is liable to fall in. Get in there, girl.”
“No, I—” Erin pulled against her elder, but the woman was definitely stronger than she was. Like it or not, she was ushered into the communal eating room, where dozens of volunteers and staff looked over from their seats around the tables. Trays of filled mugs and cups were being passed around; a small comfort in the midst of the insanity of that day.
Eight minutes left.
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The graying woman plunked Erin down at one of the tables, taking the seat right beside her. It was as if she’d sensed the girl was somehow up to no good and was doing her level best to prevent any escapes.
Perhaps the absence of the three griffins she’d been assigned to release wouldn’t make much of a difference how the coming battle would go, but what if it did? And what if the whole place did fall in? In a flash, Erin was terrified for Fee, still caged with the other keets.
She had to do something… running for it was not an option, what with so many people there to follow after her.
“So, what do you do here?” she ventured, hoping a conversation might spark some ideas.
The woman reached across the table and grabbed a cup of water off of the nearest tray as it was being passed. “Volunteer as an emergency forewoman during Flood. Keep riders and physicians supplied.”
“Have you seen many battles?”
“Plenty. Used to ride, until Flamewing fell. Prettiest boy I ever knew. Feathers flashed orange like fire in the sun. Still have some of ‘em tucked away to remember him by.” As she reminisced, the woman turned one of her hands over and began to trace a finger along a scar that ran from her palm up to her elbow. A scar made by a dracat talon, maybe.
“I’m sorry,” Erin said, not knowing what else to say. Having only known her own Phoebe for such a short time, she couldn’t imagine what that loss must have felt like. She gave a few moments of respectful silence before continuing with, “Did you ever see wyverns like these before?”
“Few times. Never seen two at once, but I trust our riders. They’ll do their jobs, and we’ll rebuild after taking our losses.”
That sounded so grim. Erin sensed the cold spike about prick her stomach, but asked another question anyway. “Do you expect more casualties than usual, then?”
She didn’t answer at first, taking a long drink from her cup. “Many more.”
Erin jumped up from her seat so fast that she nearly fell backward as the wyverns suddenly blew overhead for the first time since she’d entered the canteen. She was not alone, for many more had also jerked to their feet at the sound of vast wings and deep, rumbling war bellows.
That settled it. Erin had to get those three griffins out, somehow. Someone’s Flamewing might be spared, who might otherwise have been lost.
In her searching for something that might be of use, the girl’s eyes passed over the door she’d come in through. A pale face peered back, accompanied by a soft splotch of yellow. Shielded behind that ball of mostly-wrapped fluff, an equally pale body was still awkwardly shirtless.
Leslyn hurriedly waved at her to come out. Eyes widening meaningfully, Erin pointed at the woman beside her and shrugged.
Of course, the somewhat exaggerated motion didn’t go unnoticed. Several volunteers, as well as the forewoman herself, looked over. “Another one?” she sighed. “These kids.” She got to her feet and started toward Leslyn. Erin scurried after her, suddenly coming up with a vague plan for escape.
“I tried to tell her about our special assignment,” Erin told the boy, before the woman could speak. “She wouldn’t believe me.”
To his credit, Leslyn didn’t react unusually, though it belatedly occurred to Erin that her announcement had come out all wrong. She could be accidentally implying that the former rider knew all about their plan to release the griffins.
“What assignment?” the forewoman demanded, fixing Leslyn with a stern look.
“We were sent in to get something for the prince,” Erin quickly said.
That look was abruptly turned on her. “Why didn’t you say so before?"
“Well, you—”
“I don’t believe it. No non-rider should be outside right now.” The woman glanced from Erin back to Leslyn. “That came from the General herself.”
Leslyn straightened up, his expression resolute. “I am Prince Koben’s squire. I do as he says.”
The forewoman’s lips tightened, and Erin was certain she was about to do something harsh, like box the boy’s ears or something else so totally medieval. The elder’s eyes trailed down to focus on Valiant for the first time, and wavered slightly. “The wind-egger,” she noted. “Right. See to your master’s order, then.”
Erin closed her eyes for a moment, holding in the automatic sigh that went with it. She started to walk off with Leslyn, but the woman’s hand descended upon her shoulder again.
“I told the boy he could go,” she said. “If he’s carting that keet around, our prince couldn’t have asked him to fetch something that needs two to carry. You stay.”
The girl sagged internally, but managed to keep on a brave face. “Don’t forget,” she said to Leslyn, “he said it was probably in one of the last three by the old linen storage.” She prayed that he would take the hint.
“Get the keet a blanket while you’re there, so you can use that shirt for its proper purpose,” the forewoman sighed. “You’ll catch your death going around like that.”
Leslyn nodded, then left the canteen. Erin was pleased to see that he went in the right direction, but couldn’t be certain he’d fully understood her meaning.
As she returned to the tables to sit with the forewoman, Erin suddenly realized that, sometime during the unexpected encounter, she’d completely dropped her countdown. She hoped there was enough time left.