Kaden was almost relieved that Cloud slept most of the night and woke voraciously hungry. He led the hatchling into the common room, locked the bedroom door so Trella could sleep, and fed him.
Outside, deep snow had fallen overnight. With a little hesitation, Kaden took Cloud down through Trella’s lab and across the RunePortal to the beach, where any alchemical reagent production wouldn’t cost him another mattress or rug.
Cloud stopped at the RunePortal, refusing to step forward until Kaden picked him up and carried him to the sand. No sign of Oceanus, so Kaden let the griffin play and bask in the sun until morning business concluded and collected. Griffins apparently didn’t encounter sand, and what resulted was a complete war on sand with the sand winning by exhaustion.
When Kaden returned to the farmhouse, Eve was up cooking breakfast. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I won’t miss him. Trinity is already too large for this place, but given how she defended us, I won’t complain. She’s always welcome.”
Trinity! At her name, she roused from beside the dormant heatstone, bumped it with her head so it warmed up again, and laid back down. She was covered in gashes and spines stuck out of her back, spines he was fairly sure didn’t originate with Trinity. Kaden woke up Trella. “Can you watch the baby? He made you a present, it’s down on your workbench.”
“Come here, Cloud.” Trella lured the griffin in and let it curl up under the covers, while Eclipse lay on her feet. “You know, there’s something I need to tell you about our baby. I don’t think he’s yours.”
“Don’t say that about my son!” Kaden left them there and focused on Trinity, pulling quills coated in slime from her. “What did you tangle with?”
Her groan wasn’t an actual answer.
Kaden pulled a fang the length of his hand from her shoulder, and that’s when he stopped thinking she’d picked an appropriate fight. [Reap Materials] triggered as he looked at it.
1x Greater Night Venom Fang (Weapons Crafting Material).
“Eve, I think Trinity may be poisoned.”
Eve rushed over and applied [Life Burn]. “What on earth did she go hunting for?”
“I have no idea, but she gained a level, a skill called Predator’s Challenge, and a talent called Fearsome.” Kaden didn’t even hesitate to borrow Predator’s Challenge instead of Razor Scales or Flaming Drool. Talent-wise, Resilient Constitution was still the hands down winner.
[Fearsome]
To look upon you is to know fear. Any hostile creature is constantly exposed to a fear effect. This effect may be resisted by higher level or strong-willed entities.
[Predator’s Challenge]
Your battlecry increases the damage you do for moderate mana cost. As levels increase, the cost will increase and the damage will scale. Those who hear your cry would be wise to run.
Eve healed Trinity until her wounds closed. “Magical healing is powerful but rest is also powerful. Let her sleep.”
Kaden was ready to leave, when Trinity raised her armored head and pushed something across the floor. A glittering orb of solid black that gave off vapors like necro energy. “It’s a mana core. You killed something with a mana core and brought it back.”
Trinity exuded sheer pride. Money meant nothing. Shelter meant nothing. Even meat she prefered to rip from her meal before cooking it. But blood and battle and triumph were every bit as soothing to her as any healing.
Kaden took it with care. “Thank you, girl. Don’t take risks like that for me.”
Deep inside, he already knew, Trinity took risks for her.
When the others came out for breakfast, Kaden set the mana core and fang in the middle of the table and dressed properly. “Any questions?”
Sara pointed to the core. “Trinity brought that? And gained another level?”
He nodded. “She’s got more health than I did at level twenty four. I don’t know if Beasts have tiers, but right now, she’s probably equivalent to three level twenty adventurers.”
“I think you’re underestimating her,” Sara said. “A battle buff all three heads can use will make her like the [Harmpanzee] troop. A constant fear effect? She was already frightening.”
Kaden picked up the mana core and studied it.
The metal embedded in his chest had an indentation. A mana core socket, and Kaden had always wondered what exactly it did. He gently pressed the core into the socket.
You do not meet the requirements to equip this. (Level: 50)
“Damn.” Kaden put it away. “I have no idea what the mana socket does but I’m hoping for unlocking spells. I guess I’ll find out in twenty one levels.”
“Only you would test by just attaching it.” Eve continued to feed Vip from her own plate of meat. “I have to be honest, my last trip to the Grove was empowering, but not fantastic. Demon attacks, almost losing Vip—I mean, Kaden almost getting killed. So many terrible memories.”
“This time, you have me. It’ll be fine.” Trella said.
He could only hope.
###
The Grove did not remain magically green in winter. Embracing the natural cycle was a core tenant of Druidic philosophy, so most of the grove stood bare-leafed. This made the [Shield Trees] at the heart stand out, because not only had they not shed their leaves, they’d turned brilliant pink.
Kaden held Cloud tightly. He’d swear the griffin was heavier than yesterday, and it squirmed in his grasp as he stepped off the FarPortal platform with Trella at one side and Sara at the other. Eve and Ashi followed behind.
There, wrapped in a black woollen tunic stood Olidar the Druid, hands on his hips. “A true hatchling. Magnificent. Welcome back to the Grove. And welcome, Miss.” He bowed to Trella. “I hope our hospitality involves far fewer demon attacks, mutilations and trips to Hell. Winlock asked to see you but it can wait until after our visit.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Kaden tried to shake Olidar’s hand.
Cloud tried to bite Olidar’s hand, flaring the feathers on his neck and hissing.
“Easy, I’m a friend,” Olidar said. “Also, Winlock said you’d be running out of these.”
He dropped a Crystal Lake Bass on the frozen ground.
Kaden was forced to set Cloud down. “There’s no way he’s hungry. Ok, there’s no way he’s not going to puke. How are we getting to this colony? I thought they were only in mountains.”
“You’ll like this part.” Olidar chatted with Trella as they strolled through the snow-covered Grove about Demon Daddy Darmondo and how, exactly, Naski had escaped into the Grove. “Well, I expected anyone Kaden’s level to run. That’s what I expected. I don’t expect that anymore. He’s got too much [Ranger] in him.”
Trella offered Kaden a glare, showing yellow cat eyes. “His conscience is no longer dead. Kaden is now fully reformed and considers how his actions affect his Party. Isn’t that right?”
“Sounds right to me,” Kaden said. “Eve, are you ready to learn more Moon Magic spells?”
“Ready but not at the right level. I’ll be back at level thirty,” she said.
Olidar took them through a TreeSpace—and out onto a hard, icy field. “Should be any minute. Here you go.”
One by one, he handed out wool coats. “These are enchanted with [Fire Soul], and it’s a good thing. I could survive but I wouldn’t want you to risk it, and the hatchling will need protection.”
Kaden wasn’t listening to the rest. He clutched Cloud with one arm and the coat with the other, but his attention was on the rapidly growing specks of black high in the sky.
Brown.
“Are those griffins?”
The Beasts swooped down, tracing the tips of the Grove trees and then spun about, landing light on their feet like any cat.
Kaden had only known Queen Brownbeak.
The Griffin had towered ten feet over him, absolute majesty that hid the way Life Mages had extended her life far beyond her rightful years. These were larger. Wider. Wilder. One was pure black, and the others let it stride forward first. Behind it came a griffin with buff-colored feathers, and to either side, a pair of white-feathered ones with tortise shell patterns in their fur.
“Gale-Heart.” Olidar bowed before the black griffin. “Thank you, friend. You see why I called?”
Gale-Heart’s head whipped around to fix on Kaden, and the ground shook as it crunched closer, claws piercing the ice as it leaned down to look at Kaden—and Cloud. The little Griffin once more flared its feathers and let out a scream, then leaped from Kaden’s arms to land before him.
If he hadn’t been barely taller than Vip, it would have been precious seeing Cloud set his hind legs and rake the ice with his front claws , rearing up with wings spread to beat the air as he screamed a warning.
Gale-Heart answered, rearing high above them to scream at the clouds so loud Kaden’s ears rang. The wind from his wings threw Kaden back, while Sara’s horror gripped the frozen turf. The ground shook again as Gale-Heart landed, and Kaden fell over when Cloud leaped into his chest, hiding his head under wing and shivering as he let out loud peeps.
But Kaden didn’t sense anger—or agression. He stood, holding Cloud close, as the buff griffin approached and let out an answering peep. The effect was intantaenous. Cloud’s head popped up, even though he shrank back.
Again, the buff called. [Beast Soul] said it wasn’t speech as much as emotion. Longing.
This time, Cloud crept forward. Cloud didn’t come up to the ‘wrist’ of the adult griffin. It was like watching Vip nuzzle a Bearzerker. Cloud chirped, less fear and more curiosity now.
*Why. Steal?* The thought came from Gale-Heart.
Kaden shook his head, remembering Queen Brownbeak with her missing feathers and limp. He pushed the memory with [Beast Soul] and added the egg with its crack. The deformed hatchling. “I want Cloud to live. But I’m not a Griffin. He’s bound to my Dungeon as a Wandering Champion. That doesn’t mean he’s trapped. He’s free.”
The other griffins began to scream and caw in ways that [Beast Soul] struggled with.
*Looks like a hatchling to me.*
*Smells like a hatchling.*
*You think that guy sat on him?*
*Maybe. There’s always freaks like him.*
Kaden ignored the conversation, focusing on the feelings pouring off Cloud. The Griffin hadn’t been sad as long as Kaden was around, but this was what it wanted. “So? Can he live with your colony? Olidar said you were on hard times. I can pay for his bass.”
*Spring. Hunters. Death. Cold safe.* Gale-Heart replied.
That was something Kaden could deal with. “When spring comes, and the hunters come? Reach out. Olidar will send word. I’ll come hunt your ‘hunters.’”
*Done.* Gale-Heart answered.
“If I can, I’d like to see him. I won’t always be adventuring. And I’m sure Trella will want more of his shit for potions.” Kaden winced as [Beast Soul] translated the last. “She’s an Alchemist. She makes—she’s going to make attribute boosting potions.”
*With skrah?* Gale-Heart’s question held exactly the reaction Kaden had most of the time when someone said something was an alchemical reagent.
Kaden put his arm around Trella. “Yes. I’m surprised they don’t come begging already.”
*Steal shells. Steal future.* There was more going here. [Beast Knowledge] was ticking the inside of his skull. *It was a ritual we came to love. Gryphon mothers eat the shells not long after the hatchlings are born. Without the old shell, it takes a mother a decade longer to make a new one. Jang had three in his backpack. We gave them back still in the backpack. With Jang still in the backpack. Easy decision.*
Kaden understood now why the shell had been so thin. Queen Brownbeak hadn’t had any old shells to devour. That or the zoo staff stole them. “They have to have the old shells to make it possible to raise the new ones.”
Trella carefully produced the fragments of Cloud’s shell, setting them in a heap and then stepping away. “It’s probably Artificers coming for the shells. I promise I won’t take any. These are all from Cloud’s egg.”
The buff griffin didn’t hesitate, crunching the shells in her beak and swallowing. Then she shrieked at Kaden. [Beast Soul] translated it three different ways but Kaden got the gist. “They’re both grateful for the egg fragments, but brewing attribute potions from their…waste…just sounds weird to them.”
“I’m an alchemist. Extracting the essence of ingredients and using them to become more powerful is what I do. And the first time you take a Strength potion and split a monster in half, you’ll say ‘Smell that? Smells like experience.” Trella’s pride shone through.
Kaden tried to translate. *She likes shit. I like her being happy.*
Gale-Heart’s squeek made Kaden laugh. “He say happy nest, life is best. Sort of.”
Cloud dashed out from under the Buff Griffin and climbed up Kaden’s back to perch on his shoulder like an overgrown parrot. And it hit Kaden. He’d have to leave. “I want to come see him.”
For creatures ten times his size, they moved with surprising grace, as the buff griffin lowered her head to look at them both and cooed. Cloud hopped down and slunk over, rubbing his head under her eye ridge and mixing the purr of a cat with the chirp of a chick. *Flock. Yes.*
That was it. Kaden looked to Olidar. “Yes, I can visit?”
Olidar was staring. “Yeah, that’s the key point. Sand-Wing, we entrust him to your care. Teach him the sky and the trees and all that is his prey.”
Sand-Wing must have been the buff colored Griffin, because she shrieked in response, pure emotion, pride. Cloud used his claws to climb up between the eagle wings and nestled down so the feathers covered him. Then his head popped up through the feathers and cried.
“He’s excited.” Kaden’s tears turned to ice on his cheeks. “Go home, little guy. I’ll visit.”
The pair of white griffins took to the air first circling as they scanned the woods, then Sand-Wing heaved herself into the air, flying slow and low. Gale-Heart stood, head back like he was going to howl, head to the sky for a long minute—then sprinted accross the clearing straight at Kaden, leaping into the sky so close his tail whipped between them.
“Coat. You should put it on.” Olidar nodded to the coat Kaden still gripped.
Snow had built up on his shoulders, and Kaden broke off the ice as he slipped it on. It was the right thing to do, but it felt wrong.
“I have a Tree-Form ceremony I need to attend,” Olidar said. “Since you’re not Druids, you’re not welcome there, but you are welcome in the Grove. Kaden, I promised I’d send you to talk to his protege. Wisp? I need a wisp”
A orange light bobbed into existence.
“You’re not ugly,” Olidar said. “Take him to Feris.”
The orange light winked out.
“71?” Kaden called to the wisp, certain it would answer. “You are the brightest, most beautiful wisp I’ve seen today. I need to find Feris. Can you take me?”
Olidar said something under his breath that was probably not ‘stupid wisps.’ No, Kaden chose to interpret it as ‘Kaden Birch is a genius.’
71 bobbed forward, and Eve followed, then looked back. “Oh, come on you can’t all be wowed by the giant bird-lions. You do understand they’d probably eat you if Kaden weren’t present, right?”
Sara couldn’t stop smiling. “I think they’re magnificent.”
“I do not understand how such a Beast has no mana skills, but I agree with Sara.” Ashi pulled her coat down closer and followed Eve.
Trella was busy. Gale-Heart had left her a present, and with the bitter wind whipping toward him, Kaden had to agree. It smelled like experience.