The Golden Griffin (Book 3) (17 page)

The problem with the present situation was that starvation stalked the land on both sides of the Spine. Bandits had already decimated many once-fertile grazing lands, had carried away or butchered entire herds. If the shepherds and farmers resisted, they would be carried away or butchered in turn. Meanwhile, there was plenty of game in the mountains.

A few days earlier, when flying to the keep where she met Darik, Daria had been shocked by the destruction in the surrounding lands. This area was little better. But shortly they passed several freeholds where the stone walls remained in good condition, smoke curled from the chimneys of tidy mud-and-timber houses, and farmers were in the fields, harvesting wheat and barley.

They found a boy with half a dozen sheep, some of them young enough to be called lambs. It was such a pitiful flock that Daria ignored her mother’s signals to swoop down and snatch a couple. Instead, they scoured the countryside until they found a larger flock grazing in the meadows outside a walled village. They came in fast and loud, the griffins screaming to send the flock into a panic. Arrows from the village chased away the griffins. But the sheep had scattered, and moments later Joffa and Yuli were beating their wings with their prizes in hand.

Daria brought them down in a wooded vale a few miles east of the successful raid. The griffins complained loudly when the women secured the lambs to their backs instead of letting them feed.

Daria pushed Joffa’s head away as he turned and tried to nip at the carcass on Yuli’s back. “Don’t you try it. No, I’m serious. You’re eating venison for supper again.”

That night, Daria bedded under Joffa’s wing in the sturdy branches of a large maple tree, the sheep carcasses tied above the ground to keep them safe from bears and wolves, but far enough from the griffins that they wouldn’t be tempted into a late-night snack.

She pictured herself on Talon’s back. It was that last roll that had done it. He’d jerked her legs free, then flipped her off with that clever maneuver. Next time, she would be ready.

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They woke to the smell of burning trees. When they crossed the mountains again, they entered a smoky maelstrom. Daria had slept poorly, waking throughout the night from dreams of taming the golden griffin, and her first, muddy thoughts were that they’d gotten lost the previous night and crossed further south.

The two women drove their griffins higher until they were above the worst of the smoke, into the frigid air a thousand feet above the highest peak in this part of the range. If the cold hadn’t already snatched away Daria’s breath, the horrific destruction below her surely would have.

The fires had spread, jumped a river valley, and seized another mountain. It wasn’t particularly dry, and she couldn’t see how it was growing so aggressively, unless—

A dark form swept through the smoke below. It left a curling, twisting vortex in its wake. It was a dragon, with several wasps and their riders flying several hundred yards off its flanks.

The dragon was several miles north and at least two miles below, so it was hard to tell the beast’s true size until the wasps curved in to fly closer to its sides. Then Daria gaped.

It had to be a hundred feet long, far bigger than the larger of the two dragons she’d watched battling a few days earlier. Its scales shimmered such a deep, gleaming black when they touched the light that they appeared almost iridescent, like a flake of obsidian. A single, curved horn rose from its head.

It was the victor. The smaller dragon from the battle. After destroying its enemy, it had then devoured it—scales, bones, wings, and all—and somehow taken on its bulk.

The dragon reached the edge of the burning fire and was soon flying over unburned trees. Their branches shook from the firestorm blowing to the south. Red and gold leaves lifted skyward on columns of hot air.

The dragon opened its mouth, and a cone of flame roared out. It swung its head from side to side. Beneath, the forest caught fire and burned.

Daria let out her breath in a long hiss. This was how it spread. Not a side effect of two dragons battling, but wanton destruction. This monster had emerged in all its power and strength and was now flying up and down the mountain range, unleashing hellfire.

A flock of crows burst from the burning woods, followed by sparrows, robins, jays, hawks, and other birds scorched from their homes. Below, Daria imagined, thousands of woodland creatures, anything without wings, were roasting alive in the roaring inferno.

Helpless to intervene, the women and their mounts paced the dragon and its retinue for several miles. They flew as high as they could, risking at any moment the chance that the dragon kin would glance skyward. Then the chase would be on.

As they entered the Wylde, some of the creatures fought back. Giant owls dove at the wasps, and several ravens at one of the dragon kin to peck at its eyes. A giant emerged on a rocky ledge and hurled a boulder down at the dragon. The stone was the size of a small cottage, and if it had struck a full blow might have brought the monster down, but the dragon veered to one side and it whistled by. Two more giants emerged, chucking rocks the size of a griffin’s head. One of them smacked into the dragon’s chest as it reared back. The blow made a sound like a splitting tree. The dragon roared in pain.

It circled and the giants dove into their cave. When the dragon drew close to the mouth of the cave, it pulled up with massive, beating wings and let loose a spear-thrust of fire. Inside the cave, the giants howled in pain. The poor things were still bellowing and carrying on when the dragon kin came in to jab the dragon away with their spears. Keep it moving.

The dragon swung its head and caught one of the wasps and its rider in its jaws. The dragon kin screamed and beat frantically at its head. The dragon tilted its head back, took another chomp and ate both the wasp and the rider in two gulps. Nevertheless, the spears had prodded it away from the giants’ cave. It was shortly flying over the forest again, spewing fire.

Why? What was it up to?

The dragon wasn’t burning the forests to get at giants, and it certainly didn’t care about ravens, owls, and robins. This was an attack on griffins. The fires would either cook the griffins and their riders in their towers or flush them out to be destroyed in the air.

Palina pulled up to Daria and gave urgent gestures for her to look forward.

They had almost reached the canyon with the golden griffin aeries. Several of the animals swooped in from the north. The fire, the smoke, and the roaring dragon had brought them from their hidden redoubt. They came screaming in, ready to give battle. Then they appeared to spot the dragon and hesitated. Tearing apart dragon wasps was one thing. Facing this black monster was another. By some unheard command, they peeled away and fled north. The dragon wasps gave immediate chase, and moments later, the dragon itself accelerated. Its beating wings slowly but steadily gained speed. The golden griffins were no fools; they broke away from their nesting grounds and scattered.

One of the golden griffins was in trouble. It had fallen behind the others, and three dragon wasps were closing in.

Daria acted on pure instinct. She cried out for her mother and urged Joffa after the lagging wild griffin. As she did, her fingers worked at the tether that held the dead lamb in place. She sent it tumbling end-over-end to the forest below. Then she drew her blades. Yuli came in beside Joffa. Palina had her sword in hand. She’d also shed her sheep carcass.

The golden griffin favored its right wing, which was why it couldn’t keep up with the rest of its flock. It wheeled away from the first spear thrust, and Daria had a shock of recognition. Her own golden griffin. Talon.

One of the dragon kin spotted the two women. He gestured with his spear and shouted. Daria dove for him. Joffa slammed into the wasp, which turned its head, snapping. Daria swept her right sword across the man’s throat as she passed. She caught the left sword on the wasp’s leathery wing. It rolled away with a hiss. The rider fell off. He flailed at the air as he fell.

Two more wasps had closed with Talon. The griffin yanked off the first dragon kin with his talons, while his back paws tore at the wasp’s belly. But the second dragon kin rose in his saddle and pulled back to throw his spear. Daria came in hard and hacked at the outstretched arm. She sliced clean through his wrist. He screamed and grabbed at the bloody stump. Without direction, his wasp fled the battlefield with its rider slumped over.

Her mother stayed above with Yuli, where she fended off two more wasps, but three more came in from the south, followed by the dragon itself. Smoke and fire bled from its nostrils.

Talon was ahead of her, still tearing at the wasp in his talons. He turned his head and screamed at her, then returned to his battle. He didn’t see the dragon. He needed to toss aside the dying wasp and flee.

Daria urged Joffa to approach. He gave a single, questioning squawk, but did as he was told. She sheathed her weapons and untied Joffa’s tethers, which she wrapped around her shoulder. When she drew alongside the golden griffin, she dropped onto his back.

Talon didn’t buck. The wasp was still struggling feebly in his grasp, and its mouth snapped ineffectually at the iron-like talons. Daria secured the tether around his neck, looped it around her legs, and dug her fingers into the feathers at his neck. She jerked hard. He tossed his head with a screech. The dragon wasp fell twitching from his claws.

“Daria!” her mother warned from above her.

Palina held off several circling dragon wasps and their riders. The dragon was at two hundred yards and closing fast.

Daria dug her knees into Talon’s ribs. “Ska!” It hesitated. “I said go, you idiot. Go!”

A dragon wasp shrieked past her head, and she only just got a sword out to parry a spear thrust. Talon moved.

He fled north with swift wing strokes. Palina came along Daria’s left flank, riding Yuli and leading Joffa, now riderless.

Daria gave a hand signal. Over the top.

They swung west to cross over the mountains again, but Talon still favored that wing, and the dragon wasps were closing behind them. There were only four left, and they hung back while the enormous beast at their rear gained ground. How long until the griffins were in range of that deadly fire? Seconds.

Suddenly, five huge golden griffins tore at them from the north. Daria braced herself for attack, but they blew past with a thunder of wings and ear-splitting screams. They blasted apart the formation of wasps before shooting past the dragon. It turned its head and roared flame, but not in time. The griffins came back around, and the dragon wheeled to meet them. This was Daria’s chance.

Talon tried to circle around to follow the other golden griffins, but Daria dug in, jerked the reins, and yanked hard on his neck feathers.

“Oh, no you don’t. This time, you’re coming with me.”

He fought and bucked as she forced him higher into the mountains. The two smaller griffins helped keep him in line. Behind, the roar of the dragon and the screams of griffins faded. She glanced back to see the golden griffins break loose and flee south, where they disappeared into the smoke that rose from the burning forest.

They came back for us.

Either to free Talon or to hold off the dragon long enough for the humans and their white-crowned griffins to escape.

Daria wanted to consider what that meant, but at the moment she had all she could handle keeping Talon from pitching her off. If that happened, she’d fall hundreds of feet to be dashed apart on the rocks below. He was still skittish when they reached the heights, but no longer actively trying to kill her.

The stink of burning trees still filled her nostrils as they crested the range and descended into the unburned forest on the other side. No enemies followed.

But Daria could only think of the raging fires, the birds and animals cooking alive. She and her mother had escaped the dragon, but what would keep it from burning a thousand miles of mountains and forest?

The dragon was huge, indestructible. A giant’s stone cracking off its scales had been no more than an irritant.

Yet somehow, Daria had to find a way to stop it.

Chapter Fourteen

Chantmer the Tall leaned against his staff and wheezed. Even three weeks after rising from the swamps of Estmor, a thousand pinpricks perforated his lungs. And there was a nasty little worm living inside him that kept him from healing. Mostly it was silent and still, but sometimes he woke in the night to feel it squirming in his lungs, gnawing on his flesh.

Ahead of him, Roghan turned with a frown. He whispered a word of power, which made his torch blaze. Dust motes danced in the light.

“Move quickly,” the mage told Chantmer. “I cannot hold it open much longer. We must reach the temple before the channel closes.”

Chantmer managed a nod. He staggered forward, following his companion along the safe path through the Desolation of Toth. It was marked by swirling dust and a dim green light. Beyond the light, voices whispered, beckoned him to step toward them. Wights. The dead of Aristonia.

They had been traveling the northern reaches of the Desolation since that morning, and Chantmer had been growing progressively weaker. Roghan wasn’t much help. It was all the mage could do to keep the channel open. He had nothing to spare for Chantmer.  

The ruined temple rose in front of them. Wide stone stairs led to a platform, on which only the columns remained, as if propping up the star-studded sky. An orange moon reflected against fire salamanders carved into its surface, making them twist and grimace. Roghan gained the first steps and gestured violently.

“I’m coming.”

“Hurry!”

There was such urgency in the other wizard’s voice that Chantmer turned to see what had alarmed him. Behind, Roghan’s magical channel was folding in on itself. A mass of glowing, writhing shapes clawed it aside. Men in armor with maces. War dogs with spiked collars. Even the ghost of a mammoth. Life’s warmth had entered their domain, and it drew them, hungry and insatiable.