The forest wraps me in its soft, dark embrace. I take a deep breath. The air smells somehow sweeter than it did before. I feel a shiver run eagerly through my fur. I might actually have fun saving the prince.
But frst things frst, I have to fnd the trail of the dragon. I had told the king that it would be easy to track a dragon, but that wasn’t exactly true. The only thing I had to go on was the direction the beast few off in. It had fown south, right into the depths of the forest. Walking slowly, I inhale a deep breath, searching for any scent that doesn’t belong. I don’t fnd any trace.
I growl quietly. This is going to be much harder than I had originally thought. I set down my pack, bow and quiver. I need to make a plan. And while I’m at it, I need to figure out what to do with my tail. It’s feeling pretty hot and stuffy the way it’s shoved in my pants right now.
I pull off my pants and study the seams. I should be able to make a hole if I’m careful. Taking my knife from my pack, I carefully split the threads just enough to make a hole the right size for my tail to ft through.
Pulling the pants back on, my tail fts perfectly in the hole. The fur on it is pretty messy from being in my pants, so I take a few moments and stroke it while I think.
Grrrr. Sometimes I wish I had been bitten by a weregriffn or something like that. Then at least I could fy. Too bad weregriffns don’t exist.
Wait! That gives me an idea. I hadn’t been lying when I had said that I could track griffns. If I can track a griffn and somehow tame it, I should be able to fnd out where the dragon went!
Feeling better now that I have a plan, I pick up my stuff and start moving. Griffns are naturally nocturnal animals. They move about the most at night. I just need to look for the signs of them.
Griffns generally leave large tracks, and you can tell where they’ve landed by broken branches. They don’t leave anything of their prey behind except for bones. Most griffns aren’t quiet fyers and I can hear them coming a long way off. But there are a few griffns that can fy so quietly I don’t hear them until they’re upon me.
I walk for quite a while without fnding any traces of griffns. But after a while, I come across a large pile of bones. They look bleached white in the moonlight. Crouching down I pick up one of the bones and sniff along its length. Hmm. The scent of blood is faint, but it’s not stale. I’d say this was a griffn’s catch from last night. It might even still be in the area.
I follow the griffn’s tracks for quite a while, but then they disappear as though it had taken off into the air again. I sigh. It’s almost morning. I can’t track griffns during the day. There generally isn’t enough traces of them to follow.
Well, I may as well make camp. I set my equipment in a hollow beneath a tree and start gathering fre wood. It doesn’t take me long to have a nice fre crackling. I go hunting. I want to try and catch something to eat before I turn human again.
I manage to snag a hare just before the sun rises and I’m human again. I skin the hare with my knife and hang the pelt to dry above the fre. Mmmm. The smell of fresh meat is making my mouth water. I tear some meat off the hare and eat it raw. Delicious.
It used to freak me out, how much I liked the taste of raw meat. But now I’ve learned to embrace it. I’d rather eat my meat raw than cooked any day. But the only time I get to eat raw meat is right after I’ve caught it. If we keep the meat raw, it goes bad. We have to cook it to make it last.
I eat my fll of raw meat before I cook the rest for later. The sun’s risen well above the horizon by now. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Sometimes I really wish I could be a half wolf all the time. I feel out of place as a human some days. Especially in this forest. This forest is wild and free, and it just doesn’t feel right to be in it as a human.
When the hare is done cooking and the pelt is dried, I wrap the meat in the pelt and put it in my pack. I stomp out the fre before I gather up my things and keep moving.
I travel for a whole day without seeing any signs of griffns. The sun has nearly set when I fnally decide to stop. I sigh. Tonight is the full moon. I’ll have to make a camp for the night.
I choose a shallow cave under an outcropping of rock and begin building my camp. Once again I light a fre, but this time it is simply to keep unwanted animals from wandering in. The fickering orange warmth is just beginning to burn strongly when the sun sets.
The full moon change is much different than my every night ones. For one thing, the pain is much worse. It’s so intense that I feel myself being fung violently to the foor of the cave. I open my mouth and a howl escapes me. Curling into myself, I try to fend off the burning pain that has engulfed me. My bones creak and groan as they shift about in my body. My entire body erupts with fur and my hands and feet become paws. My face elongates into a snout.
Finally the pain subsides and leaves me with intense shivers. I can’t hold back the whimper that has risen in my throat.
When I feel strong enough to stand, I get to my paws and stretch. When I feel more limber, I take in a deep breath and howl. I don’t know why, but every night of the full moon I feel the pressing urge to howl at the sky. Once I tried to ignore it, but the pain was so great I nearly passed out. I ended up howling in the end.
Another thing about my full wolf form is that I can’t speak in human languages. I can understand animals and speak to them whether I am in my half or full wolf form, but this is the only time when I can’t speak human as well.
Personally, even though this is the time when I don’t look anything like a human, it is also the time I feel most beautiful. I can’t resist from holding my head high and proud. I am a queen of shadows and the night. The sad, lonely moon might lament for my curse, but this is the time when I like it the most.
Padding quietly out of the cave, I stop beside a moonlit puddle. The moon makes my features shine beautifully. I look like a wolf, but I have some extra long fur on my forehead and near my ears. My markings are the same as my half wolf form, but my eyes are even more striking. They almost glow with their own sinister light. For a while after my bite, I used to miss my old brown eyes, but now I love my yellow ones.
Turning away from the puddle, I swish my tail and raise my head. I don’t plan on going far tonight because I must return for my gear in the morning. I managed to get out of my clothes before the change happened. I’m a fair bit bigger in this form; I learned that the hard way. The frst time I changed, my clothes were completely destroyed. The only things left were a few wisps that clung tightly to my fur. I was unable to remove them until I changed back the next morning.
Wait... what’s that new scent? My sense of smell is stronger than it was in my half wolf form and I pick up some faint traces of something I had missed before. I can scent a wild, earthy smell weaving through the trees, and I recognize it as the scent of griffn. It smells as though one had brushed past the branches as it soared silently through the night.
I cautiously begin to follow the new scent. Griffns are not picky eaters. They will try and make prey out of anything they think they can catch. If one managed to fy quietly enough to go undetected by my sharp ears, it could sneak up behind me and land a fatal blow to my neck. Those talons are razor sharp and their beaks are like daggers. A griffn could easily kill me if it got the chance.
My ears are pricked so intently that they tremble slightly while I walk. Every few steps I pause, sniff the air, look around and listen before I continue on my way.
The heavy scent of griffn is growing steadily stronger. In fact, it’s becoming so overwhelming that I’m sure there is more than one griffn in the trees ahead. I slow my pawsteps. As far as I’m aware, rouge griffns are solitary creatures. The only time I’ve ever heard of griffns living together was when they were tamed to live in a fock. The king has a fock of griffns, but even though they are kept in the same paddock, they rarely have to work together. I had even once stumbled upon two griffns in a ferce fght one night. If one hadn’t fed, it would have been killed for sure.
I’m wary of approaching multiple griffns. There could possibly be a mass scuffe over territory going on right now. But if that’s the case, I’m sure I would have heard it already.
Suddenly, the bushes behind me tremble. I freeze and my head snaps around. Two huge griffns prowl out of the bushes, their beaks clacking aggressively. Their dark brown eyes are fxed on me and one of them lashes its tail.
I tense, ready to start running, but there’s a screech and a third griffn lands in front of me, cutting off my only means of escape. I fatten my ears in fear and anger, a soft, threatening growl rising in my throat.
“What do you think?” one of the two griffns behind me asks. “Prey?”
The griffn in front of me, the largest of all griffns I had ever seen in my life, stalks back and forth, it’s cobalt blue eyes fxed on mine. “I sense something different in this one.... A strength and courage that can only come from a distinct purpose. It would be wrong to kill something as unique as that.”
The other griffn that hadn’t spoken lets out a whine. “Awww, come on! I’m so hungry I don’t think I can make it back to the glade without fainting!”
“Silence!” hisses the largest one. “We shall take her to Rinara. I can’t make decisions as big as these.”
I’m guessing that Rinara is the leader of these griffns. I can’t help but feel a shiver run through my fur. If this humungous brute isn’t their leader, I don’t want to imagine the size of Rinara.
A sharp beak nips at my haunches, and I whip my head around to snarl. “Go, go!” one of the griffns says. “Before my buddy here decides to eat you right here and now!”
I narrow my eyes into a deathly yellow stare and turn their full power onto the largest griffn. He narrows his in return, squaring his shoulders and stretching out his talons. “Follow me. Or die. The choice is yours.”
I swish my tail. “I will follow you, but only because I was looking for some griffns in the frst place.”
The griffn doesn’t show any surprise, but I think that’s just because he’s trying to hide his emotions. With a single, commanding lash of his tail, he turns and leads the way into the soft shadows of the forest.
All the while I’m padding along, I hear the impatient clacking of a beak behind me. Finally, I hear one of the griffns mutter, “We should have just eaten her. I don’t know why fsh breath up there wants to take her to Rinara.”
“Lieo is a wiser griffn than the both of us! He’s trained under Rinara!” the other griffn snaps back. “If you ever paid attention in the lessons, then maybe your head wouldn’t be so flled with fuff, feather brain!”
There’s an indignant squawk and I hear the two of them break into a small scuffe. I could have easily taken the chance to escape, but I want to reach where these griffns are taking me. Lieo gives one sharp and angry roar and the scuffing immediately stops.
The rest of the journey is silent, and fnally Lieo stops. Using a talon to part the bushes, he slips into an almost invisible tunnel in the ground. I pause before I follow, looking up at the moon. Despite the fact that I can see very well in the dark, I hate being anywhere that I can’t see the sky. It makes me feel trapped and caged....
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The griffn that wanted to eat me lunges forward to snap at my tail. I turn like lighting and smash his face into the ground with one of my paws. The impact is so great, his head makes a small crater in the dirt. Staring at me with wide eyes, the other griffn takes a step back. I simply glare at them both defantly before I disappear into the darkness of the tunnel.
The scent of griffn is overwhelming here, and I’m sure they use this tunnel often. My paws tingle with surprise. I didn’t think griffns ever went anywhere they couldn’t stretch their wings, let alone a dark tunnel in the ground. But then again, I hadn’t ever thought they would live in groups either.
The tunnel seems to go on forever. My pelt starts itching, and my paws tingle. I’ve noticed that when I spend prolonged amounts of time away from the moon, I get incredibly restless. The restlessness has never lasted too long; I’ve always made my way back to the moonlight before anything serious could happen. Hoping that we get out of here soon, I dread to think what might happen to me if we don’t.
Finally, just when I’m sure my fur is going to burst into spontaneous combustion from anxiety, I see a ray of white light in the tunnel ahead and the fresh scent of night air greets my nostrils. I can’t keep my tail from wagging.
After the darkness of the tunnel, the moonlight stuns me temporarily, and it’s a few moments until I can see clearly. When my eyes fnally adjust to the light, I’m frozen in place in shock. This hollow is amazing! Over there is a rushing waterfall, glistening magically in the light of the moon. Towering walls surround the entire place, and it takes me a few moments to realize we are in a partial cave. A large hole in the roof is what allows the moonlight in. The grass beneath my paws is thick and soft. As I look around, I notice nests snuggled in tussocks of grass, some of which have eggs in them while others have young hatchling griffns bouncing around. Each nest is guarded by a watchful mother. Some of them look up warily as I enter, and a few even gather up their children and hide the complaining creatures beneath protecting wings.
The waterfall cascades into a deep, azure blue pool. A few young griffns are splashing about in the shallows, pouncing after silver streaks that I guess are fsh. One or two older griffns are diving and swimming in the depths. I see no stream leaving the pool so I assume it leaves through an underground waterway. In the center of the hollow is a huge rock, tall enough that you’d almost have to have wings to reach the top, and wide enough that multiple griffns could easily stand on it at the same time. There’s only two ways in or out of the hollow; the hole in the roof and the tunnel from which I had come.
The two griffns that had followed me in stand guard on either side of the tunnel as if to keep me from escaping, but I notice the one I had smashed into the ground is eyeing me with barely contained terror in his eyes. It’s clear that he’d rather be anywhere than between me and the exit.
Lieo spreads his wings and soars lightly to the top of the rock. Tilting back his head, he lets out a shrieking cry: “Rinara!”
I look around the glade, expecting to see an even larger griffn come forward, but when movement catches my eye, it comes from a cave high up in the wall. A black streak shoots down to land in front of Lieo so fast it is nothing more than a blur. I gaze at the new arrival. It’s less than half Lieo’s size and its feathers and fur are jet black. Its eyes are a bright and striking green.
This can’t be Rinara. How can the leader of the griffns be so small and frail looking? Sure it’s fast and silent in the air, but that doesn’t mean it would be strong enough to lead a herd of griffns this big.
Lieo murmurs a few things to it, and those green eyes turn to pierce my soul. I don’t let the gaze unnerve me. I square my shoulders and stare back. The griffn narrows its eyes.
“Gather around the mountain!” it shrieks, and with shock, I realize that it’s a female. “Bring the prisoner forward!”
The two griffns guarding the entrance press up behind me, urging me forward. That rock that the black griffn is standing on must be the “mountain”.
I come to a stop at the foot of the rock and look up. The black griffn peers over the edge. “What shall I do with you?” she inquires lightly.
Raucous calling breaks out around me. “Kill her, Rinara!”
“Eat her!”
“Does wolf taste good?” a young hatchling asks. Rinara looks around the gathering. Her eyes are
bright when she calls, “Would you really have me destroy her so swiftly?”
A deep murmuring consumes the air. While the other griffns are busy thinking things over, Rinara leans over the edge of the rock to peer deeply into my eyes. “There is something special I sense in you,” she whispers. “That being said, I can’t let my fock think of me as weak. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.” Her eyes only have a small twinge of regret in them. For the most part, they’re flled with eagerness and adventure.
Raising her head again, Rinara calls, “Do you want a show?”
The gathering goes into an uproar.
“Then you shall have one!” She lashes her tail once. “You!” she calls down to me. “What is your name?”
“Saria,” I growl, baring my teeth in a snarl.
“Well then Saria, if you can make it up here, I shall give you a chance to prove yourself worthy,” she scoffs. “But I don’t think you’ll be making it up here anytime soon unless you grow wings.”
The griffns nearest to me back up to give me room. They’re calling me names, mocking me. I fatten my ears. I’ll show these cocky beasts exactly what a werewolf can do!
Bunching my muscles up in my haunches, I take a fying leap and land lightly on top of the rock. The glade suddenly goes quiet. All eyes are fxed on me. I hold my head up high. A few old and wise-looking griffns nod in approval. But for the most part, they’re all too stunned to speak.
Rinara looks slightly taken aback too. But her tail is twitching and her eyes are gleaming with excitement. “Well now! Have we ever got something special!” She paces in a circle around me, looking me up and down. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a specimen as fne as you!”
I simply stare at her. She pauses and speaks louder so that all can hear her words. “Saria! I’ll give you a chance. If you can kill me, you can leave! Does that sound like a fair deal?”
I stare into her eyes. “And if I can’t kill you?” I ask, more for the beneft of the crowd than myself. Although I will admit, my heart is racing. Griffns are formidable opponents. They can kill me. I have to make sure not to give her the chance to do so.
Rinara lets out a small laugh of joy. “Then you will die. Gotta feed my fock somehow, right?” She pads over to the opposite side of the rock from me, her razor sharp talons clicking against the stone. Turning to face me, her eyes narrow and the corners of her beak turn up in a smile.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” she whispers, and I don’t think I was meant to hear that. It is obvious she intends to win.
I tense my muscles as silence quickly thickens the air around me. There’s a few seconds where neither of us does anything. The only sound is the faint breeze coming from the hole far above. Quivering with barely repressed tension, I attempt not to let my fear show.
Then suddenly, with a fearsome screech, Rinara fies at me with talons extended dangerously. I sidestep as fast as I can, but it’s not quite fast enough. Her claws catch in my shoulder and rip long, bloody slashes down my side. I howl in agony. If I don’t do something quickly, there’s no way I’ll win this!
Rinara circles in the air above me like a vulture hovering over a kill. She screeches again, but this time it is a mixture of ferocity and joy. Eyes glinting with pleasure, she drops into a deadly dive.
I leap up quickly to meet her in midair. There’s a surprised squawk as I nip violently at her chest. But she takes advantage of my new weakness. Before I have the chance to fall safely out of range, she digs in claws and beak to grip every bit of me that she can. Wings pumping furiously, she fies higher and higher.
I cry out in pain and panic, but the excited calling from below drowns me out. Trying in vain to bite her, I struggle and squirm. But she laughs once before letting me drop ffty feet through the empty air, the rock below me approaching terrifyingly fast. There’s nothing I can do but close my eyes and brace for impact.
I hit the rock with a sickening thud and howl in agony as I hear a pop in my shoulder. That can’t possibly be good.... Panting heavily and trying to see through watering eyes, I force myself to my paws, attempting not to let anyone see how badly I’m hurt. The pain is intense. It rips down my leg to my paw like lightning when I try to put pressure on it. Gritting my teeth, I pull my lips back in a snarl as Rinara lands across the rock from me.
“My, my!” she squawks in delight. “You are a tough one! I’ve never seen any creature get up after a fall like that.” Her tail is held high and waves in pleasure.
I’m in too much pain and far too angry at her to speak, so I simply let out a ferocious snarl. I begin pacing in a circle around the dark griffn, not letting my eyes wander from hers. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about surviving a fght, it’s being able to read every move in your opponents’ eyes. This is one thing I’ve trained myself to do with immaculate precision.
Rinara’s eyes ficker with intentions as she begins to pace in a similar fashion. They ficker and dash about, taking in every detail and deciding where to jump. My eyes are steady and unchanging, never missing a moment. With a small growl, she leaps at me, beak parted and aiming for my throat.
But I’m ready. I duck and roll, sending her fying over top of me. When she lands, she’s confused for a moment, but that’s just the moment I need. I take the opportunity to pounce on her and try to pin her down, jaws snapping for her neck.
But Rinara is still strong. She fashes out a wing, knocking my injured shoulder, forcing my leg to give out. With a sharp yelp of pain and shock, she pushes me aside and springs to her feet.
“Tricky one, you are,” she spits at me, her voice taking on an edge of venom. “But that fall has weakened you. You’re a foolish pup if you think you can overpower me with your dwindling strength.” Her eyes narrow. “And here I thought you would be smarter in a fght. But now I see it was all just dumb luck.” She spits the last two words out as if they’re poison on her tongue.
“Dumb luck?” I retort, forcing myself to speak despite the intense pain that’s nearly crippling me. “I didn’t survive the life that I did through dumb luck. You haven’t seen anything yet Rinara. Don’t judge me. It will only disappoint you more as you die.” I smirk and narrow my eyes mockingly. “You don’t still think you can win, do you?”
For a moment, she is silent, clearly confused at how such a wounded enemy could be so sure of a victory. I take the chance to push her even more.
“You are fast and surprisingly strong for your size,” I begin, watching the confusion deepen in her eyes. But she can’t betray her slight pride at the compliment. I snarl a smile and continue in a nasty voice, “But you are young and inexperienced. Your judgment skills are lacking depth, and you’ve spent too long in this enclosed environment. You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen. There are still many things you don’t know and much you need to learn. And that,” I linger over the word for a moment, “makes you weak.”
An angry veil seems to close over her eyes, and I know my plan has worked. She took the bait. “You insolent pup!” she screams, her voice ringing with uncontrolled rage. “You dare mock me? I am the great Rinara!” With reckless abandon, she jumps at me again.
I could almost laugh. Instead, I drop quickly onto my back, finging her away from me with my hind paws. She lands unbalanced and stumbles, falling onto her side ungracefully.
I get to my paws and bark in amusement. “The great Rinara?” I scoff. “How about the foolish Rinara? Or the uncoordinated Rinara? No, I know! The young and stupid Rinara that gets tricked far too easily.” Flattening my ears at her, I rumble, “Learn from your mistakes you stupid hatchling!”
Too furious for words, she pads towards me slowly, body low to the rock, legs stiff. Coming within reach, she lashes out a lightning fast talon, aiming for my eyes. I expected this and it’s easy for me to block her with my uninjured foreleg.
This plan I’ve devised and set into action is dangerous. Angering a griffn is not always wise. It makes them stronger, and their drive to kill you becomes greater. But they have a faw; when griffns get unbearably mad, they fght on blind instinct, their blows uncalculated. They strike out in a furious red haze with only one thought on their mind; your death. But for someone like me who can read movements in eyes no matter how mad they are, I know what she’s going to do before she even knows.
An older griffn might be wise enough to resist the temptation of anger. But no matter how skilled Rinara is, she is still only a young griffn.
It’s time to push her even more. “You fght like an untrained animal!” As I speak, I make sure to keep my weak shoulder pointed away from her so I can respond as quickly as possible. “You don’t expect the unexpected.” I shake my head in mock disappointment. “I expected more.”
She lashes out at me, blow after blow, her talons crashing down on me even more swiftly. I don’t try to block them all, only the ones that are a danger to me. When she’s so mad, she often misses my vitals, so I don’t have to waste time and energy blocking her every move. She has two paws she can use; I only have one.
When she’s struck me so much that I see a lapse in her strength, I start to put her on the defensive. I swipe and nip with precision, each one of my carefully aimed blows doing more damage than three of hers had done. Blood begins leaking through her black feathers and it’s all she can do to stay standing.
But her anger gives her an extra surge of energy, and it’s that surge that I was waiting for to end this. She leaps at me one last time, and instead of dodging her this time, I reach up to catch my paw right under her beak. With a mighty heave, I swing my body to throw her with all my strength. She’s too weakened to catch herself with her wings, and she smacks heavily against the wall before falling to the ground with a dull thud.
Even though I know she’s not going to be able to get up with any swiftness, I ignore the jarring pain I feel as I leap from the rock and streak over to her to place a paw against her throat.
Her eyes are big and scared as she looks up at me. “Make it swift,” she croaks.
Closing her eyes, she prepares to die.
But instead of killing her, I lift my paw off her throat and step back. She opens her eyes and stares at me in confusion. “I will spare your life on one condition,” I growl. Her face glows with new hope. “You must join me on my quest and help me track a dragon.”
She doesn’t hesitate for an instant, not even at the mention of tracking a dragon. “I’ll do it!” she exclaims, struggling to her feet. “Thank you!”
Feeling a shiver run through my fur, I look up at the sky through the hole in the roof. The sun is just beginning to crack the horizon. “There’s something you should know,” I tell her, my voice becoming slightly panicked. “I’m not a normal wolf—”
I don’t have time to say any more before the change begins.