THE REST OF the flight was peaceful. Nesha and Kerak ran a few races and then Phroma insisted on racing the winner which Audrey thoroughly enjoyed. She yelped at Kerak the whole time Phroma raced him. Tomiar obliged Kerak with a race too and the men felt pleased to see the griffons felt up to strength again. The effects from their leap appeared to have faded fast.
'Alek,' Loushka's voice shook him out of his meditative state. 'We're going to locate a suitable campsite shortly. You'd best wake Catherine now.'
Alek shook her gently. 'Catherine, wake up we're nearly there.'
She mumbled against his chest and sleepily looked around. Then she registered where she sat and her head snapped up. Wide emerald eyes stared up at him in shock.
WHOA! WHEN DID I get to the front of the saddle!? I gripped the sides of it and stared around for a moment, it was a hell of a scary view if you weren't a fan of heights. I looked back up at Alek and attempted an "I'm cool with this" smile while the silly voice in my head did the insane giggling for me.
Better in than out I guess.
CATHERINE GAVE HIM a tentative smile, her lips pressed together. It made her cheekbones jut out and a tiny dimple in each cheek show. The expression enchanted Alek and he gently pressed his lips to her forehead, unable to resist.
I SAT VERY still while my insides did somersaults.
He just kissed me on the forehead! And that look... That smile...
Well that was the most efficient way to distract you, my rational voice sounded amused. Just imagine what you'd have done if he'd kissed you on the mouth.
The silly voice loved that idea.
I swallowed hard—surely it wasn't possible to fall for someone this quickly? And really, he was practically taking advantage of me considering the situation. I worked on the indignant feeling while my rational voice laughed at me; why not just go with it?
I considered that. Oh what the heck, let's just enjoy it—after all it might amount to nothing.
Alek's voice interrupted my thoughts. 'Catherine.'
I looked up. He did that slow, wide smile again, making my toes curl.
'We're about to land, so hold on,' Alek continued.
Hold on? To what?
He wrapped one strong arm around my waist and gripped the saddle with his other hand. Then we dropped from the sky.
Still clutching Alek tight while making choked gasping noises, it stunned me when he said. 'That was nice and smooth, well done, Loushka.'
The griffon made an appreciative noise at him.
Nice? Smooth?
I guess he isn't wrong, my rational voice pointed out. I mean, it's not like you noticed an almighty bump when we hit the ground and you barely even jolted in your seat.
Yes well, when my stomach returns from squishing my brain I might consider that point of view, my silly voice snapped.
Alek let go of me and I clutched the saddle with both hands while he did his clever trick of sliding down Loushka's forearm.
On the ground he called up to me and beckoned. 'Slide down, Catherine.' I stared down at him. I had a very vivid image in my head of me doing a giant belly flop onto the ground in front of him. Not a good look. As I considered my options he stepped closer to Loushka.
'SLIDE DOWN, I promise I'll catch you,' he coaxed. He could see Catherine wasn't thrilled with the idea.
'Maybe you should let me bend down for her,' Loushka suggested.
'No.' Alek thought in a firm tone. 'We'll be doing this often. She needs to learn.'
Loushka silently approved.
'Okay,' Catherine called nervously. 'Just make sure you do catch me.'
Alek smirked and she glared.
'I'm not joking!'
He gave a soft laugh. 'Neither am I, now slide down.'
I TOOK A big breath, lined myself up and then forced my fingers to let go of the saddle. I shot down Loushka's leg and Alek caught me just before I touched the ground. I heard him chuckle.
'Catherine,' he said a little reproachfully. 'Open your eyes. You really need to learn to do this with your eyes open.'
I peeked at him from one eye, making him laugh then before I chickened out gave him a tight hug, made a tad awkward by the breastplate and stretched up to kiss his cheek. He froze and stared. I dropped back to my heels. His astonished look pleased me immensely. Giving an evil little chuckle, I darted off to go see the others.
LOI ARCHED AN eyebrow as Cat came over. Almost skipping, she noted.
'Enjoy the flight?'
Cat looked guilty for a moment. 'Errr, yes,' she gave a sheepish cough. 'It was pleasant.'
They looked knowingly at her.
THE FOUR OF us, with Audrey, had to collect the firewood and I could see the rebellious looks on Sian and Loi's faces. They didn't like being delegated the easy work, just because we were women. I was happy to do it. It meant we could talk without being overheard by the guys. The instant we were out of sight the questioning began. Sian seemed certain that Daron could be someone special, and Kassie felt the same about Rumal. Loi appeared to like Sabyn a lot, but didn't want to commit herself just in case. I knew how she felt.
'Although I don't really understand why we're being so skeptical,' I said when I stopped to sit on a fallen log. Audrey sat between my knees and I fussed over her, it'd been strange to spend the entire day without her, though Gredel said she'd enjoyed the flight. 'I mean, we cast the spell to meet our soul mates and it whisks us away to a far away land, and NOW we question whether this is real?' I shrugged. 'Really, we should be delighted it worked out so well.'
They still looked dubious. 'I don't know.' Kassie said hesitantly, 'it just seems too easy.'
Too easy?!? The last few days had felt anything but easy, I thought while giving Kassie an arched look. She flushed and gave a defensive shrug, swiping her curls out of her eyes.
'SIAN, WHAT DO you think? You're the expert in this field,' Loi turned to Sian.
Sian looked a bit overwhelmed. 'Well,' she hedged. 'I really don't know. IF it was the spell that brought us here then it would make sense that these are the guys. But then, no spell I've ever cast before has done this. So what if this Elena person brought us here, what then?'
'Any suggestions as to how we handle this?' Loi attempted nonchalance, but her voice sounded tight even to her. While she didn't really want to admit it to the girls, she'd fallen for Sabyn rather hard.
THEY SAT IN silence for a few moments then Kassie spoke up. 'I think we should just take it slow. And remember we don't know the etiquette around here, so until we understand it all, let's not get ourselves betrothed or something without realizing it.'
The others stared at her for a moment.
'I hadn't even thought of that.' Cat looked a little wild-eyed.
'Yes, good point,' Sian agreed. 'Gonna take it nice and slow now.'
FOR THE NEXT quarter hour or so we diligently collected firewood, not conversing. My mind felt like a mess while I made a vague attempt at thinking through what had happened, but had to give up, the thoughts only making me anxious.
We pushed through the bush back to the campsite to find the tent now set up and the men looking over their griffons. They glanced up when they heard us and Alek's blue stare had me chanting 'nice and slow' in my head over and over while we piled the wood beside the fireplace.
Gredel, Rumal and Sabyn cooked a fantastic evening meal and the griffons disappeared for a couple of hours while they hunted their own dinner. After another game of cards, where upon I lost appallingly again, we girls decided to call it a night and headed for the tent. We'd managed to keep the evening just friendly and fun, which relieved me. I settled into bed feeling oddly content. Audi slept safe and sound under my bed, my friends were with me and while no one knew what tomorrow would bring, at least it wasn't the mundane everyday life we had on Earth. No office administration job for me here!
The next day we awoke to brilliant sunshine. Birds sung their hearts out while I got dressed and it surprised me to realize I looked forward to today's flight. I hummed as I folded up my cot bed.
LOI SMILED WHEN she heard Cat hum "Just A Yellow Lemon Tree". It grew lighter and warmer inside the tent as the sun rose, making it lovely to step outside into the still crisp air of the early morning. She'd always loved camping as a kid and this made her feel rather nostalgic. Walking over to the fireplace, she found Alek and Gredel deep in conversation about the day's plan. They looked up when they heard her approach and smiled.
'Good morning,' Gredel said. 'Are you looking forward to another day of flying?'
Loi beamed at him. 'I am. I really enjoyed yesterday, will we stop at any villages on the way?'
'Yes. We'll stop at a village in Bresdon for tonight. The Inn there has accommodation for griffons and it's owned by my wife's brother.'
'What's the village called?'
'Lilliton,' said Alek. 'It'll be good to catch up with Brece and his family.'
Gredel looked past them both so they turned. Sabyn walked toward them with a string of fresh fish looped over his shoulder.
'I thought we'd have some fresh fish for breakfast.'
'Did you catch all of those this morning?' Loi asked, impressed.
'Yes. Do you like fish?'
The bright look of delight in his eyes had her nodding enthusiastically while thinking—as long as it's battered and from the fish and chip shop. The men set to scaling and gutting the fish, then seasoned them and threw them on the hot pans. It did smell good and the scent brought the other girls in quick. Sian, Kassie and Cat had clean damp faces after visiting the creek and Audi dripped with water. Sabyn moved slowly while he served the fish, because he had an ecstatic Lucky purring her way around his ankles begging for some. Loi laughed and scooped the cat up, holding her tight until he'd finished. The leftovers were divided between the cat and dog.
After clearing and cleaning the campsite, and packing the gear onto the griffons, it was time to go. Sabyn bent down to give Loi a leg up onto Tomiar but she hesitated. 'Can you show me how you do it? I'd like to learn.'
He looked surprised. 'Sure.'
She stepped back to watch while he and Tomiar performed their long perfected move.
Tomiar kept her foreleg bent and Sabyn made a short run up then leaped and pushed himself off Tomiar's knee, grabbing a good handful of mane and swung himself up. The entire move took about four seconds.
'W-O-W.'
Sabyn looked down at her. 'Give it a shot,' he urged. 'I'll grab your other hand.'
'I won't hurt Tomiar?' She asked in concern; she liked Tomiar after all.
He laughed and Tomiar snorted. 'She says if she can handle me, you'll be fine.' He winked, making her feel a little foolish.
'Ok,' she mumbled, taking a couple of steps back. 'Here goes nothing.' Remembering at the last second which foot to push off with, Loi kicked off Tomiar—mentally apologizing—and stretched up, snatching a handful of mane. At the same time Sabyn grabbed her other arm with both hands and pulled her up to the front seat. Loi blinked at the sudden change of view then laughed in surprise. 'I did it!'
The others had watched and all applauded, Cat and Sian whistled loudly to the surprise of Alek and Daron.
'Well done,' Sabyn spoke into her ear. 'And I'll bet in no time you'll be able to do it by yourself.'