Erin scrambled to her feet and moved off to one side, catching a glimpse of the wereling Teryn lifting Katheresa up from the ground and ushering her away, his golden tail streaming out behind him. Older riders who’d been flying nearby were already dropping down to evacuate them and others from the field where Zabor rampaged. That was good for them, but the girl only had thoughts for Phoebe in that moment—was she safe? She spotted the royal blue some distance away across the field and ran for her, dodging other recruits and their griffins while calling to Fee to stay still until she got there.

Confused by the commotion, Fee stood upright and fidgeted in place, her hind paws dancing from side to side until Erin reached her. The blue instinctively flared her wings at the cry of one of her siblings, bashing the girl in the face by accident. Erin barely noticed, even when blood began to stream out of one of her nostrils. She was too focused on getting her griffin out of there, having seen exactly what had happened to make that other griffin cry out.

Zabor had made straight for the heckler Effran’s tan griffin Disa, springing at her with a kick of his hind legs. His talons raked across the female’s face and she screamed, rearing back in pain and terror. Erin had seen enough battle by now to know that the damage was bad.

After maiming his sister, Zabor immediately shifted his attention to another sibling, a smaller brown, flinging clods of dirt and grass as he chased after that one on all fours, talons on each limb extended to the fullest. Intently focused on his target, he began to close in on the brown, passing its panicking rider and catching up with ease. His beak came even with the tufted tip of the other’s tail and was about to snap upon it when two adult griffins suddenly landed ahead of them, just far enough apart that the fleeing brown would fit between them before they closed in on Zabor.

The black wrenched himself aside, running off towards another group of juveniles, but experienced riders continued to drop all around him, cutting him off again and again. Erin thought they’d caught him for sure when five of them landed in a semi circle around the black, lowering their heads and mantling their wings as soon as they touched down. Several more were descending from behind, fixing to surround him completely.

Zabor never even faltered in his charge. He ran straight at those in front of him, leaping into the air at the last moment. Their beaks snapped on empty air as he sailed over them, beating his wings with a desperate rage.

Cutting a choppy line the air, the black struggled to stay aloft. Those in the air with him kept their distance, watching closely, but Erin knew their hands were tied now. An accident up there could result in death for any griffin involved, even the most skilled fighter. She glanced toward the Aerie, relieved to see a couple of griffins exiting with full battle gear, including nets. They would be able to take care of the situation swiftly.

Zabor banked unsteadily, coming back around toward the occupied area of the vast field. All eyes were on him as he neared, man and beast alike ready to move in the safest direction available to them if necessary. Erin quickly looked and found Leslyn, Valiant, Arlis and Larx, all clustered together nearby. They, too, were safe so far. There was a funny feeling in her stomach when she suddenly remembered Kaleit and scanned the grassy plain for some sign of him.

He was standing tall and looking into the sky when she found him, an indecipherable look upon his face. She knew he would have been insufferably over the moon that Zabor was the first of the clutch to actually fly… but what triumph could there be in it now?

Arlis suddenly let out a yelp and ran forward, waving and shouting at Kaleit. A moment later, Leslyn and others across the field did the same. Erin’s eyes shot upward, her blood going cold as she saw Zabor leaning back into a dive, extending spear-sharp talons toward his own master.

Kaleit didn’t move. He just stared, his eyes locked on the traitorous griffin. Why wasn’t he moving?!

Shrieking like one possessed, Zabor struck down.

Erin clutched her head in horror, but couldn’t look away. She screamed something incoherent, then realized belatedly that Kaleit had rolled out of the way just in time, briefly hidden from sight as the griffin’s flailing wings shoved him down into the tall grass.

Luckily, Zabor had been going way too fast to land properly and had hit the ground chest-first, crumpling into a heap. Kaleit was up again a moment later, throwing himself across the black’s back while Zabor was busy recovering from the awkward splay. His height was about the same as the animal's length, except for the black's long, lashing tail. The griffin’s chin and chest slammed back down under the boy’s weight, his back end lifting up and claws scrambling underneath him for purchase in the loosening dirt. All the while, Zabor beat Kaleit with the backs of his wings, clapping them violently about the youth’s straining body.

Kaleit straddled Zabor’s back and got an arm around his neck and one knee clamping one of the griffin’s wings to his side. He curled in upon himself, using his core strength to pull the shrieking juvenile’s head back toward the wing. Now unbalanced, Zabor fell sideways in the direction of his bound wing, rolling halfway onto his back with that wing and Kaleit’s leg pinned beneath them both. The griffin continued to kick at the air and reached blindly with the finger-like claws of his other wing, slashing Kaleit’s arm and back. The sound that came out of the youth then was awful, but he held on.

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Eyes bright with mortal focus, Kaleit stared at the clawed digits, then reached out with his free hand and grasped them as if they were a hand themselves, yanking the wing inward and wrenching it so hard that the black screeched in pain.

One by one, older riders landed and dismounted, approaching the fight with cautious steps.

The pair continued to struggle, showering the surrounding area with dirt as Zabor kicked and flailed and Kaleit worked endlessly to collect and pin the griffin’s loose wing tighter and tighter.

All at once, Zabor gave a mighty heave, flipping fully onto his back with Kaleit underneath. The boy let out another ugly sound as the breath was crushed out of his lungs, but the restraining arm he had around Zabor's neck never loosened its grip—nor did it ever tighten enough to choke the griffin.

After they’d struggled a fearfully long time, Erin thought for sure it was over for Kaleit, but then Zabor suddenly collapsed, his entire body going slack with a loud groan. Kaleit pushed him aside, then sat up and began to extricate his legs from beneath the animal, taking a painfully long time to do so due to his right arm, which hung uselessly at his side.

By now, a large group of those older riders were standing around them, hands raised at the ready for action, but none of them ever intervened. Erin couldn’t understand it. They could have put a stop to it before Kaleit was wounded. He was unsteady on his feet and heaving for breath as he got up, covered in bruises from the repeated beating of Zabor's wings. His shirt was slit and hanging open, and the flesh of his back underneath—she tried not to look at it. His clothes were stained with blood. So much blood that Erin felt like she was going to be sick, but she still couldn’t avert her eyes from the scene.

In the stunned silence that filled the open air of the field, Kaleit walked around to stand in front of Zabor. A collective gasp rose up from several of the recruits who watched in frozen horror as the griffin lurched, but once he had his clawed hind feet beneath himself, he remained laying upon his breast, head resting among the sparse remnants of grass that hadn’t been uprooted during the fight.

“Get up, Zabor,” Kaleit said quietly.

The griffin’s body slowly rose up, but he remained bent, chin still touching the ground and wings draping limply on either side. Feathers tightly slicked to his body, Zabor kept his eyes downcast. When Kaleit remained silent, a sad little whimper escaped the griffin and he cowered pathetically, dragging his head from side to side with beak just shy of touching his master’s feet.

Kaleit crouched and held his left palm in front of Zabor’s beak, waiting until the animal made eye contact before slowly standing up again. Zabor obediently followed his hand until they were face to face, gazing into each other’s eyes. Kaleit held him there for several long seconds, then embraced the griffin’s head in his good arm and pulled him close.

Loud victory whoops rang out all over the Aerie exercise field, but Erin didn’t even hear them. She was transfixed by the smile that was spreading across Kaleit’s face.

A brilliant, beautiful smile.

A genuine smile. She’d never seen him look at anyone like that before.

She was shaken back to reality as Arlis threw his arms around her shoulders and hugged her from behind, jumping up and down as he did so. “He did it!” the boy cheered. “He’s in charge, and Zabor knows it. He’ll obey now. They’re going to be unstoppable when they go up against those dracats!”

“He’ll have a great time finishing out basic training with that dislocated shoulder, though,” Leslyn noted. His raised brows and surprised tone indicated that he was probably pretty impressed, despite the sarcastic remark. “Zabor has some strong wings on him, that’s for sure.”

“Training, you say?” came Aeriemaster Gunu’s infamously dull voice as he walked up beside them, flicking a curly tendril of hair out of his eyes. “Indeed. You four ‘renegades’ will all be enjoying another round of basic when the next clutch comes up.”

Slack-jawed, Erin looked at the man and gestured at the aftermath of the terrible duel that Kaleit and Zabor had just ended. “After all of that, you’re holding them back?”

“Yes.”

“But Kaleit finally won Zabor over, and they’ve aced everything else that can possibly be aced! Why would you make them do everything again?”

The Aeriemaster crossed his arms. “That boy and his griffin could both do with some further attitude adjustment, and repetition of the basics has proven time and time again to be a fine way to give just that.”

“Can’t say I’m all that surprised that you’re keeping us all at the same level,” said Leslyn, sounding almost as dull as the Aeriemaster. “Can we please dispense with that name, though? I’m tired of being named a renegade when that’s the furthest thing from my mind.”

“Yes, we’re dispensing with it.” That was General Xavara, busting out her most on-duty no-questions-asked voice. “I’ll not have my son associated with such a ridiculous title.”

“Nor will I suffer mine to be,” Captain Tannoran scoffed, eyes locked across the field on Kaleit and Zabor. “As much as he might deserve it.”

Prince Koben also came up with the other leaders, pausing beside Leslyn to give him a sound clap between the shoulders. Erin snickered at the boy’s dour face once the surprise of the unexpected slap wore off. “I must say,” the prince began, “Zabor’s timing is spot-on. If the others follow suit, they’ll be quite skilled in time for the Queen’s voyage.”

“Which is still in the planning stages,” Xavara snipped. “I’ll advise you not to get too attached to any particular ideas as to just whom you intend to put on your crew, my dear nephew. There is at least one recruit who will be staying here in Nilvar, in any event.”

“I wonder who that could be,” Arlis said flatly.

“Understood, my dearest aunt,” Koben replied, taking on a distinctly sing-song cadence. “There is at least one who will be going, in any event. Isn’t that right, Erin?”

Once again, Erin didn’t hear a thing. Her gaze had drifted back across the field to that smile, and her thoughts toward the future.

Another round of training wouldn’t be so bad at all, especially now that she was sure they would all be doing it together…