Struggling to keep pace with Leslyn’s all-out sprint, Erin felt her legs begin to give out. She screamed her throat raw and threw the rock she’d snatched up during the run. It didn’t even make it halfway to its target—as if such a measly little projectile would even register to the giant blue griffin. The attempt drained the last of her strength and the girl stumbled and fell, striking and scraping her knee.
The cry that escaped her lips wasn’t of pain, but of pure panic. She reached toward the only person she had in the world, fleeing for his very life.
Wake up! Wake UP!
That was when Koben rushed past her, an uncoiled rope in hand. Ahead of them, the griffin suddenly landed, and the man scaled her leg and back like a ladder, grasping her mane just as she reared and took off again.
Erin tried to leap up and run to Leslyn where he sat, but the best she could do was a fast limp. He took her outstretched hands without hesitation, and she pulled him up. It was then his turn to support her, pulling her arm around his shoulders to help take the weight off her injured leg. They hurried back into the tree line and fell on their faces in the weeds to gasp for breath.
Even though he was still a bit sick, Leslyn was fitter and recovered much more quickly than the girl. While Erin rolled onto her back and stayed prone as she watched, he rose to a crouch and looked up at the sky where Wrath was making violent turns, trying to dislodge her unwelcome passenger.
Koben had managed to get one end of the rope tied around the griffin’s neck and was currently using it as a stirrup to climb higher still. He kept the loose end in one hand as he made his way toward her head. He stopped moving when he was close enough to touch her tufted ears, and tied a large loop in the rope, leaving a long length left at the end. He held the loop at the ready, awaiting the exact moment when Wrath tucked her wings and turned sharply, bringing her face almost parallel to her own body in her attempt to throw him off.
With skillful precision, Koben slipped the loop around her beak and tightened it, but left enough slack that she would have barely felt any pressure when she straightened out and fully opened her wings again.
Erin was so engrossed that she nearly jumped out of her skin as the gray griffin landed nearby. Its rider spotted the two young folks and waved urgently to Leslyn.
“Leslie, the chain!” He pointed at the coils of rope and chain that Koben must have left behind.
The girl had barely gotten to her feet by the time Leslyn had already grabbed the chain and was holding it up to the soldier. The soldier refused it, but bent to speak to the boy instead. Leslyn nodded, and the man urged his griffin into the air. Erin took a breath of relief… until the gray made a slow swoop over Leslyn and snatched him into its claw, still carrying the chain.
“NO!” she shouted, but she was too late. Now feeling the pain in her leg that had before been drowned out by adrenaline, she staggered toward the open ledge where Leslyn stood moments before. Stupid Desmond! She stared up, tears forming in her eyes. Why did I have to follow him? Erin, you stupid idiot! WAKE UP!
Wrath saw the gray and shrieked indignantly. The smaller griffin answered back with a loud trumpet, pinning its ears. It seemed to Erin that the gray was flying toward its doom, but it trusted its rider.
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Dropping one wing, the massive blue executed a tight aerial whirl that nearly sent Koben on a solo flight of his own. Facing her challenger, she rolled her shoulders back and opened her talons in bloodthirsty welcome. The gray instinctively matched her stance, releasing its hold on Leslyn in the process. The boy clung to its foot, hugging it with both arms and legs. Erin could see the gray’s rider trying to turn the beast aside, but his griffin was either too eager to fight, or too afraid to leave itself vulnerable, to obey.
Erin clutched her head with both hands as she helplessly watched the two griffins close in on each other. Suddenly, Wrath’s head jerked down, and she dropped for a few precious seconds, letting the gray safely off the hook. Koben dangled from her ear, the result of a foolish, desperate move to save Leslyn from being crushed between the two beasts’ feet.
Shaking her head with a gurgling growl, the blue finally threw Koben into the air. The snap of her beak missed him by inches, but she reached out a leg and clamped him in her talons as a close second choice. While she was thus distracted, the gray griffin flew over and deposited Leslyn and his chain on the crest of her roped neck.
Wrath gave chase after the offending gray, following it past Erin and over the trees, her feet just grazing the surface of the canopy. She heard Koben’s snarls as he was dragged through the uppermost layer of the forest, and prayed that he wouldn’t get dropped, impaled, or smashed against any particularly solid branches.
They were gone from sight for several terrifyingly long minutes, during which Erin remained frozen except for her gaze, which continuously scanned back and forth for any sign of them. Between the thundering beats of her heart, the screams of the griffins rang out, as did shouts from the men who’d become entangled in their battle.
When they at last came into view again, Koben was halfway up Wrath’s leg, Leslyn was doing something with the chain on her back, and both griffins were bloodied. The gray was in a fast glide into the open air over the ocean, giving Wrath no chance to engage. It kept the enraged blue gliding smoothly herself, allowing Koben to clamber up onto her back with minimal difficulty. He joined Leslyn, taking over with the chain. He snaked one end around the base of Wrath’s wing, did something with it between her shoulders, then let out the most piercing whistle Erin had ever heard a man make.
Both Koben and Leslyn pressed into her mane for purchase as the massive griffin suddenly pulled up short, almost hovering in the air for a moment before altering her glide away from pursuit of the gray. She knew something was up, and seemed to be preparing to flee.
For once, the gray’s smaller size was an advantage. It circled around, then tucked its wings and dove unerringly toward Wrath, too fast for her to avoid. Grasping the rope he’d tied about her neck, Koben flung the end of the chain straight up into the air, then he and Leslyn both curled into tight balls and held on for dear life. The gray leveled out, caught the chain, and swooped past Wrath.
The chain snapped tight around her wings, wrenching her out of the sky. The sudden dead weight sent both griffins plummeting, Wrath completely helpless and the gray fighting to control the descent.
Mute with terror, Erin limped to the edge of the ledge just in time to see a huge splash far below. When the spray subsided, the gray was still in the air with the chain, while Wrath let out unholy shrieks of mortal fear and thrashed on her belly in the water. Koben threw the free end of the rope up to the gray’s rider, who tied it to his saddle. Koben and Leslyn climbed up the rope to safety, then Koben adjusted the rope where it had been tied, pulling it tighter. The loop around Wrath’s beak closed fully and lifted her head safely out of the water.
The soldier took some packages with ropes out of his saddlebags and tied the ends to his saddle. He manipulated some part of the packages, then threw them down into the water, where they began to inflate into what looked like large, square-shaped balloons.
As Koben started back down the rope, Leslyn looked up and waved.
They were okay.
Erin hurried back toward camp, shouting for help long before anyone would be able to hear.