Back at camp, Fern raced into Griffin's arms.
"You're alive!" She pulled back, relief glowing in her honey-gold eyes. "Thank you for saving me."
"Of course." Griffin glanced around at his members, taking in their tired eyes and worried glances toward Glayren. Night Shade looked away from his glance, though he thought he saw a tear rolling down her cheek.
She'll be fine.
Griffin returned his gaze to Fern and he frowned, surveying her freshly bandaged leg and arm.
"I'm fine," Fern murmured, following his gaze. "I can still travel."
"Should we travel?" Gilda gestured at Cyanus and Jubilee who were both curled up next to each other in the grass, sound asleep. "It's the middle of the night and we've been travelling all day."
Griffin hesitated, an image of Void's faceless golem rising unbidden to his brain. "Blood Band may still come after us if we stay. We're the first to have survived coming out of Glayren, it seems, and I don't think they'll take too kindly to that. Also, their leader is a Top Wielder. I, I don't even think I could defeat him right now."
"Yeah. You're weak," Jolt agreed nonchalantly.
Griffin glared at the phoenix. I'm starting to regret helping him get out of that solitary confinement room.
"Will Fern be able to walk, though?" Solar questioned worriedly.
"I told you. I'm fine," Fern insisted.
"Wait--where's Taru?" Cyanus suddenly spoke up. The little wisp glanced around, as if hoping the dog would come bounding through the trees.
"We had to leave him," Ash answered quietly.
Pounce's eyes widened and she glanced over at Night Shade. "What?"
"It was a hard decision but there was no other choice. Now let's leave--we won't travel very far," Griffin decided quickly before Taru could be discussed any further. "We'll put just enough distance between us and Blood Band so that Void can't find us if he sends his followers to scout out the area nearby Glayren."
Silent nods followed this, and the Elder began to pack up what little had been set up for camp. As Gilda gently woke Jubilee, Griffin created a simple black staff and handed it to Fern.
"Here. Use this and don't hesitate to ask for a quick rest when you need one."
Fern nodded quietly, accepting the gift. Griffin gazed at her for a second, noticing that she had tied her hair back in a single braid.
"Oh! Your ribbon!" Griffin fumbled around in his pockets, finally withdrawing a hand to hold up the silky pink fabric. "Here. I found this in the town when we were looking for you."
Fern pushed his hand away. "You keep it. As a thanks for saving my life."
"Fern! Do you vant dees plants?" Celadon called out from where he knelt next to a tree stump serving as a table for an array of herbs.
"Keep it," Fern repeated. She smiled, honey-gold eyes gazing into his, then turned and limped over to Celadon, using her new staff to keep her weight off of her injured leg.
Griffin watched her go, then closed his hand around the ribbon and slipped it back into his pocket.
***
YOU ARE READING
The Land of Green and Gold Part II: Silence
Fantasy*On hiatus until the rewrite for book 1 "Flight" is finished. Also note that chapters 1-19 are being rewritten and will actually form the final part of book 1* Long ago there were humans and a magical people called Elder. The humans despised the El...
