Athera leaned back in her chair, glancing out the small window their room was afforded. It was the only source of light outside of the oil lamps as she couldn’t have fire near her work.

The door creaked open and Athera glanced back to see Tarquin outlined in the entryway. “Still going at it?” he asked as he set a paper bag down on the table in the center of the room.

“Trying to.” She carefully brushed the powders she had been examining back into their respective bottles. “I don’t remember enough for it to be useful.”

“What about your fire mixture?” Tarquin glanced down at the stack of notes and the couple of books Athera had purchased a couple of days prior.

“It’s just basic alchemy,” she said, giving her powders a disdainful glance. “If I’m going to pass as a proper alchemist, I’m going to need more than that.”

“I just hope we’re going about this right,” Tarquin muttered.

Privately, Athera agreed, but she hadn’t spent weeks of her life studying various flash points and trying to decipher cryptic texts about catalysts just for him to know that. “We haven’t been able to get anything from the city’s underworld--we have to break into an alchemist guild.”

“And you’ve got a better shot at passing as one than I do,” Tarquin sighed. “I still don’t like it.”

“We could both try,” Athera suggested slowly. “Having two of us would double our chances of at least one of us getting in.”

“Or half them,” Tarquin said, shaking his head. “I can’t blend in with the city folk here. I’d stick out like a sore thumb even before we got to any of the fancy alchemy stuff.” He paused, glancing at the empty melting apparatus.

“It’s for melting and combining components,” Athera explained as he shot her a puzzled glance. “It’s really useful for most natural alchemy.”

Tarquin nodded slowly. “Do you think this would have been your life if you had stayed in Apolia?”

Athera hesitated, glancing at her components and the stacks of notes. Maybe in another life she could have known each of them by heart. How they interacted with each other, how to combine them to achieve remarkable results. A life exchanging the quiet village and her griffins for the chaotic energy of the city.

“I don’t know,” she said finally. “I don’t know if I would have held still long enough for my mother to actually teach me anything.” She leaned back, barely seeing the room through half closed eyes. Instead she imagined their apartment with its big window high above the living area and how the lights would swirl when the sun hit it just right.

“Your mum was the alchemist then?”

“They both were. They were high up in the alchemist guild in Apolia.”

“They’d be proud,” Tarquin said quietly.

Athera snorted, reluctantly drawing herself back into reality. “Not if they could see this mess,” she said, gesturing at her scattered notes.

Tarquin shifted one of the loose papers from the pile--an illustration of an invested alchemical setup--this one using the catalyst to replace a bit of solid metal with dirt. He stared at it for a minute, his eyes lingering on the impatient scrawl without actually reading it.

“You know,” he said slowly. “It’s nearly noon and you haven’t seen Cedar yet…” he let the words hang in the air, but he hardly needed to, Athera was already on her feet.

She heard the menagerie far before she saw it and smelled it just a bit before that. On the lowest level of the city, it was soot stained past the point of being able to tell what it was made of, save a bit of petrified looking wood trim, but it was a welcome sight.

A pair of silvery pegasi trotted in the tiny front yard, tossing their manes and pulling at the few brave bits of grass that had managed to grow through the soot. Tarquin stared at them before Athera pulled him into the stable area.

“Come on,” she said, her tone light and teasing. “You don’t want to spend time with those prissy ponies.”

“They might like me more than that hippogriff,” Tarquin shot back. “They’re prettier too.”

“Careful, you don’t want to hurt his feelings.” Athera stepped up to Cedar’s stall, running her fingers through the griffin’s mottled red and white feathers.

“Oh please, nothing--” Tarquin broke off suddenly and Athera found herself glancing over to see him standing in front of an empty stall.

For a moment, pure adrenaline flooded her as her mind raced to what could have happened, what they would tell Catherine, and if Cedar was even safe here. Then a rather haggard looking stable hand stumbled in, leading a usually regal hippogriff. The creature’s ears flicked back and it kept scratching at the ground with its dark talons. Not the picture of regality that Athera was accustomed to.

“Oh good!” the boy said excitedly. “It’s you!” his voice cracked, but he either didn’t notice, or was too relieved to care at that moment.

Tarquin hesitantly took Leather’s reins from the stablehand. “What’s wrong with him?”

The boy shrugged. “Dunno. He was antsy this morning and just won’t settle no matter how much we take him out.”

Tarquin shot Athera a worried look and reached up to stroke the hippogriff’s neck. Leather shook his head before snorting and allowing it. “What’s wrong, bud?” Tarquin murmured. Leather just swished his tail.

“Do you mind if we take them both out for a bit?” Athera asked, already opening Cedar’s stable door. The griffin trotted out as the stablehand shrugged and trotted off towards the entrance.

“Is he alright?” Athera asked, starting to saddle Cedar. Luckily, the griffin was in a cooperative mood.

“I think so,” Tarquin frowned, moving to the hippogriff’s spotted back side. “Could it be a bite or a hotspot or something?”

Athera hesitated. Leather’s ears had returned to an upright position, but the hippogriff was still unnaturally stiff. He wasn’t scratching at any spots she could see.

“I don’t think so,” She said at last. “The stable hands have been doing a really good job of grooming them.”

Tarquin muttered something Athera couldn’t quite make out under his breath, staring at the large hippogriff.

“Why don’t we take them out?” Athera suggested. “It could just be the city getting to him. The menagerie isn’t exactly the village.”

Tarquin gave a half hearted smile. “That, we can agree on.” He took hold of Leather’s reins and led the hippogriff out back, Cedar and Athera close behind him.

They had done this at least once a day for the past couple of weeks they had been in Skystead, but Athera had never seen either of the mounts act the way they did then. Leather would toss his head at the slightest sound and kept making an odd clicking sound with his beak. Even Cedar had started up a nervous growl and Athera found herself desperately hoping that it was in response to Leather and not something that both of the animals could sense that she could not. They had left the confines of the city walls, why were they still acting like this?

“Maybe we should swap?” Athera suggested after Leather reared up and caused Tarquin to freeze.

He turned back to look at her, a little bit paler than normal. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, masking any uncertainty she felt. “I’m the more experienced rider and Cedar already knows you.”

Tarquin nodded. “Ok.” he said. “Ok.”

Athera took the reins from him, leaving him to step back and take hold of Cedar’s.

“What’s the matter boy?” Athera murmured. The hippogriff glanced down at her, his dark eyes wide and unblinking. So hard to read compared to her griffins. Carefully, she pulled herself into the saddle and clipped herself to the horn. No reaction from the hippogriff.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“He’s not throwing you,” Tarquin said, startling Athera. He guided Cedar to her side, having already mounted the griffin.

Leather clicked his beak and reared. Resisting the urge to pull back on the reins, Athera leaned forward, relief flooding her as the hippogriff calmed. “Let’s fly them, see if we can get the nervous energy out.”

“Are you sure it’s safe in the air? Maybe we should just exercise them on the ground.”

Athera hesitated. She wanted to fly. She was sure that both Leather and Cedar did too, but Tarquin was right. If Leather threw her in the air, she could find herself in a very different situation than if she were thrown on the ground.

“Ok,” she said, unclipping her riding harness from the saddle. “You and Cedar better take the lead, he’ll be faster on land.”

Tarquin nodded and guided Cedar forward, something that elicited the tiniest huff from Leather. Athera patted him on the neck and his feather smoothed somewhat. “There you go,” she murmured.

And then they were off, wind washing across her face as they ran into the nearby woods. Cedar ran happily, holding his tail aloft and making a strange churring sound that Athera could hear even from her position behind him.

Leather however. She hadn’t ridden him enough to know what it should feel like, but it felt wrong. His steps were too halting, his ears still pricked alert. Was it just the hippogriff? What was spooking him?

Gradually, both Leather and Athera relaxed. They were a few miles from Skystead and deep in the winding woods when Tarquin pulled Cedar to a stop. The Griffin was making his excited huffing noises, already pulling at his bridle to start running again.

“Sun’s going down,” Tarquin said, staring at the lengthening shadows around them. “Probably want to start heading back.”

A bit of Athera resented the remark, but getting back into the city during the dead of night would be a nightmare.

“How’s Leather doing?” Tarquin asked as they turned back for Skystead.

“I don’t know,” Athera admitted. “He’s different from the griffins, but I think he’s calmed down.”

Tarquin reached out to pat Leather’s neck, something the hippogriff didn’t react to. “He seems better,” Tarquin said, briefly stroking the hippogriff. Leather just clicked his beak.

The copper pillars of Skystead shone brightly in the setting sun as they approached the city gates. Leather had tensed up again, but nowhere near as bad as he had been. Whatever had seemed to be panicking the hippogriff had passed.

They put both the animals back in the menagerie. The unicorns were still in the front yard, huddled together with their heads bowed in the start of sleep. The stable hands had left for the evening it seemed. All the animals had been left with their feed bags topped off and many were dozing off in stalls.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Athera told Cedar, reaching up to pat his beak. He churred softly in response. Even after two weeks, it hurt to leave him in a strange place, but it never seemed to bother him as much as it did her.

She briefly considered what it meant to be more nervous around people than her personal monster and then dismissed it. That was not a hole she wanted to fall into.

“Wait,” Tarquin said suddenly, holding his hand out to stop her. His gaze was fixed on the thinning crowd of people ahead of them that seemed to be fading as quickly as the daylight.

Athera frowned. “What’s--” she cut herself off as she spotted him. One of the pirates was talking to a produce vendor. Not her brother, but the one that had stolen Tallis. Grim satisfaction and anger surged through her. Finally. They finally knew that the pirates had made it to Skystead, but at the same time, how could one of them look so at ease in the city? “We need to--”

“Oi! You!” Tarquin shouted in the same moment. He took off in a dead sprint towards the pirate.

The pirate froze in front of the vendor he had been speaking to and turned just in time to see Tarquin’s fist headed for his face. He stumbled back, crashing into the vendor’s booth and dumping a container of parsnips. The vendor screamed and backed off, clearly torn between not wanting to get caught up in the fight and trying to defend her booth.

“Tarquin,” Athera hissed under her breath. So much for any element of surprise. She reached at her waist for her rod, but her hand closed around open air. Right. She had left it with her alchemy materials. She started creeping closer, she wouldn’t be much use in an unarmed fight, but she couldn’t leave Tarquin on his own.

“What’s the matter with you?” the pirate spluttered from his position sprawled across the vendor’s broken stall. Tarquin swung at him again, but the pirate managed to roll away just in time.

“You filthy thief!” Tarquin spat through clenched teeth.

The pirate’s feigned expression of innocence dropped and a glint came into his eyes. “Thief huh?” he dodged Tarquin as he tried to smash a basket over him. “Well big guy, I’d hate to leave you disappointed.” He darted behind Tarquin and grabbed something from the blacksmith.

Tarquin whirled around with deceptive speed, but it was already too late, the pirate was fleeing from him, and fleeing directly toward Athera.

She stuck out her foot and the pirate went sprawling across the cobblestone.

“Where is she?” Athera demanded as the pirate clamored up to his feet. “Where’s your gang?”

“Who?” the pirate paused, looking her up and down. It was hopeless, he would’ve seen her for a couple of minutes at the most, there was no way he remembered her unless…

Athera removed her mask, revealing the blotchy scarring across her face. “Where’s the griffin?”

She saw a flicker of recognition in his gaze, then he spun on his heel and sprinted through the crowd, pushing several people to the ground.

She cursed and took off after him, having to leap over one of the people he had just pushed over.

He glanced back as he fled and she watched with satisfaction when his eyes widened in surprise. Putting on a burst of speed, the pirate leapt and grappled the edge of a roof, pulling himself up in one fluid motion.

Right. That’s not going to work, Athera thought to herself as she ran for the adjacent stairs. She pushed past one couple that were busy admiring the sunset. There’d be time to apologize later.

The pirate was still in view, running along the rooftops ahead of her. She stumbled as she bumped into another person and had to fight to keep her balance. Above her, the pirate clamored off his rooftop and out of her view.

“No!” She ran over to where he had vanished. A narrow alleyway that opened into a market square. Around that were several streets, a couple of more alleyways and some low hanging roofs. He could have gone anywhere.

Her heart sank as she realized it. Their first lead in nearly a month and it had just vanished. She slumped back against the wall, her breath coming in panting gasps. If she had just been a little bit faster, maybe she could have--

“Athera?” Tarquin appeared in the mouth of the alley. He caught one look at her expression and his own fell.

“I lost him,” Athera mumbled. “And now they’re onto us.”

Tarquin glanced away. “It’s my fault,” he said softly. “I…I got excited. I shouldn’t have confronted him like that.”

For a second a hot burst of anger flashed through her, but she shoved it back. “He might have spotted us anyway.”

Tarquin gave her a sharp look. “You don’t believe that.”

She sighed. “No…I don’t. What are we going to do now?”

“Tallis may have had her litter by now,” Tarquin said slowly. “Our best bet is probably to keep an eye out for someone selling griffin kits.”

Her stomach churned at the thought of tiny griffins being sold to absolute strangers. Would anyone in this city even know how to care for one? What about the weaning process? Were the pirates even giving Tallis the right diet to recover?

She reached out for a loose pebble and threw it against the wall. It rebounded with more force than she thought it would and she had to lean to the side to avoid being hit with it. “This is hopeless.”

Tarquin started to say something and then lowered his head too. “We’ll figure it out,” he said half heartedly.

“Say we find Tallis and the kits? Then what? We still have an alchemical catalyst on the loose, not to mention my brother!” She grabbed another pebble and threw it harder at the wall. It too rebounded, going to the side of her instead of directly at her.

Tarquin went still. “What if he doesn’t want to be found?”

Athera stopped. “What are you trying to say?”

“He’s…he’s a pirate, Athera. A full fledged, village raiding pirate. Not exactly a star citizen.” Tarquin’s voice grew sharper at the end.

“He’s 16,” Athera shot back. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing, he was practically a baby when the explosion happened.”

“Right. A little kid who has grown into a pirate! He’s not the little boy you knew, Athera.”

Athera stared at Tarquin. “So what? You’re saying that I should just let him go? Abandon my only living family?”

Tarquin faltered, his shoulders slumping forward and his gaze pained. “I saw him fight back in the village. Before he got his mask knocked off. He was…well, he was a pirate. I just don’t see how that person can be related to you.”

“Don’t you see why I have to find him? If he’s…changed that much, it’s my fault! I should have taken care of him, I’m his big sister, that was my job!” Her throat suddenly felt too thick to speak out of and she lowered her head while blinking back tears.

An awkward hand found its way to her shoulder and it took everything in her not to shrug it off.

“Athera…”

She looked up to see Tarquin watching her intently, looking just as lost as she felt. He opened his mouth and then seemed to think better of it. Or maybe he just couldn’t think of what to say.

She sure couldn’t.

A savage cry left her throat and she grabbed another rock to fling it at the wall. It crumbled before it ever left her hand.

All of her anger, all of her shame, seemed to drain away as she stared at the powdery residue on her hand. A dull white with a sharp scent. “What…” she trailed off as she stared around them. The cobblestone seemed duller than it should have been, surely not…

She scratched at it and it gave under her fingers like chalk.

“What…” Tarquin trailed off, staring at the strange sight.

“Transmutation,” Athera said slowly. “From an alchemical catalyst.” Her heart raced as she remembered how uneasy the animals had been. Someone was using alchemy on the city itself.