Cody continued to fall for several long moments, the ground reaching hungrily towards him. He felt hot, sticky blood flow out of his sides where the claws continued to hold him tight. His unseen foe shrieked again in victory as his swift death approached. But one thought pressed on his mind; I won’t go down this easily.
He thrust his arms and legs upwards simultaneously, gritting his teeth in pain as the sudden movements made the talons dig deeper. But then he felt his fists make brutal contact with the feathery breast of the attacker. It shrieked again, thrusting its wings out abruptly to slow their descent in its surprise. Then it dropped the rider, leaving him to fall the rest of the ways alone. But it was just enough. Mere moments before he could smash into the rocky ground, A black shape zoomed directly below.
Cody yelped in surprise at his accomplishment as he slammed a bit more gently into the saddle on his dragon. Inferno let out a roaring bellow of happiness at the realization that such a risky move had saved his rider. But it wasn’t over yet.
“Bank left!” Cody yowled suddenly.
Inferno’s reaction was just fast enough. The bird-like creature just missed Cody’s chest by inches, but instead struck at Inferno’s right wing. The muscle was brutally torn in an instant, but Inferno battled through the pain and climbed the sky as fast as his injured wing would allow. He flew as fast as he possibly could towards the human village, seemingly a hundred leagues away. He turned abruptly to the right, both just managing to pass under the terrifying claws unscathed.
“Inferno, we need to take the offensive. There is no way we can keep this up long enough to make it back to safety!” Cody thought to his dragon, thoroughly terrified.
The dragon grunted his agreement before saying, “Keep a lookout for that creature. Tell me where it is at all times.”
Cody gave him the briefest of thoughts before twisting in the saddle to get a view of the attacker. There was a blur of white, and Cody sent the image to his dragon in warning. Inferno responded immediately, flipping onto his back to land a successful blow on the surprised animal’s stomach. Cody clung to the saddle’s handle with all of his might as he realized that his legs had slipped off and were flailing uselessly in the rough wind. Another second and he would surely fall, for the second time.
Luckily, Inferno flipped over again and the rider fell back into the saddle. He looked below to see the white thing climbing the sky towards them. Inferno saw it as well, and wasted no time in latching all four sets of talons into its feathery body, its blood pumping out onto the surface of them. The two beasts tumbled through the sky until they crashed into the ground, Inferno on top of the evil animal, his claws still clutching its flank.
Cody couldn’t resist the urge to slide out of the saddle, and Inferno miraculously didn’t protest. The thing was unconscious. The dragon slowly unlatched his claws from its body and backed away to reveal it to his rider’s curious eyes. Cody desperately wanted to see the thing that had tried to kill him and his dragon.
It had a long body, its shoulder probably standing a whole head above Cody’s head if it stood. It had a sharp, deadly grey beak and massive pointed ears. Its body was long and lean, ending in a feathery tail. Though its underbelly was as white as the clouds, its back was spotted with black, almost striped at its tail, and the tops of its wings were riddled with black on the edges. On either side of its furry chest sprouted two long but sturdy silver eagle-like paws, insanely long talons protruding from the fingertips. It also possessed two beautiful, but massive, white cat-like paws. The claws on its hind paws were clearly retractable, and the paws many times larger than any hind paws Cody had ever seen on cougars.
“A gryphon,” Cody heard Omen breathe out in shock behind him.
That it was. A creature that was thought to only live in fairytales, a cross between an eagle and a lion. Dragons were thought to be extinct, and he had in fact doubted the possibility of them even existing before he saw Inferno. And yet, after all his travels, he didn’t think he had been more surprised than when he saw the gryphon, laying unconscious at his very feet.
It stirred.
The gryphon’s eyelids slowly rose to reveal eyes remarkably similar to Inferno’s own, as icy as the mountaintops above them. Its eyes settled on Inferno, and it quickly averted its gaze, instead watching the beautiful lake. The gryphon knew it was defeated, and raised its legs in surrender, exposing its white underbelly.
A voice brushed through all of their heads, “Please, Dragon, make it quick.”
Inferno was happy to oblige after it had tried to kill his rider. He raised his massive black paw above the creature’s body and his eyes gleamed with revenge, before Cody abruptly shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone looked at him in shock, especially the exposed gryphon. Four pairs of eyes settled on the rider as time seemed to stand still, Inferno leaving his paw to dangle dangerously close to the creature’s blood-stained chest. Cody looked into the gryphon’s eyes and realized that it really had no will to live anymore. He cautiously approached it and settled beside it, carefully running his hand along its flank soothingly. After a few shocked moments, the gryphon suddenly produced a deep purr, surprising them all further.
Cody felt everyone watch him and the gryphon in shock, but he ignored them as he felt the gryphon. Its feathers were as soft as silk, slowly vanishing to be replaced by even smoother fur as his gentle hand made its way carefully down its side. His fingers flowed around lean muscles and tendons, tenderly tracing each and every part of its smooth back.
“What’s wrong?” He cooed to the immense animal, blocking his thoughts from the others, including Inferno.
The gryphon let out a deep, calm breath before answering, “You wouldn’t understand.”
Cody figured that he would understand, but decided not to press further. “What is your name?”
“Mournful,” The gryphon answered as the purr continued to rumble in its throat, a feminine touch to its thoughts. “What about you, and your dragon?”
“I am Cody, and my dragon is Inferno.”
She relaxed slightly upon knowing the names of the two she had attacked. Her muscles almost seemed to melt like butter under his gentle stroking, the purr intensifying in pleasure. Then it died down as Cody asked the inevitable question.
“Why did you attack us?”
She lifted her feathery head slowly and faced the ground in shame before slowly answering, “I was scared…I’m…sorry.”
Cody nodded in understanding. While most animals would have hidden from such a dangerous creature as a dragon, a creature such as herself, with powerful muscles and immense aerial skill, probably would always choose fight over flight. The rider would probably begin doing the same whenever he was threatened, now that he knew that he and his dragon could take most anything known to exist.
“Where do you live?” Cody asked the gryphon.
She looked up into the sky longingly but shook her head, “I have no home, no family, and no friends.” Once again her eyes flashed with pain, destroying her will to live.
Cody looked pleadingly at Inferno and opened his connection, “Inferno, she needs a place to live or else she’ll probably wind up starving herself to death.”
Inferno was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden emotion coming from his rider, but loathed the idea nonetheless. “If Argos and Heyrone ever found out about her…”
“She can live secretly in our cave.”
“We’ll have to completely provide for her…”
“You aren’t saying no yet,” Cody pointed out. “She is basically harmless, and if she isn’t then we will both be prepared for any of her attacks. Deal?”
Inferno let out a growling thought, “Cody…”
“Deal?”
Inferno’s tail lashed angrily as he looked away and grumbled, “Fine, you’re the rider.”
Cody looked around excitedly as he thought about it. He looked at Omen and Ashheart, the two apparently having wandered off to the lakeshore without him knowing while he spoke to the gryphon. They sat watching the water in boredom, and Cody instantly knew that they would be able to keep a secret. Finally he looked down at Mournful, her blue eyes glaring at some imaginary foe.
“Would you like to come live with us?” Cody asked allowed. “It would be no problem, as long as you stayed in our cave where no one can see you.”
Mournful’s eyes widened in clear surprise and she looked at the two with shock plain on her eagle face. She looked at Inferno with an unreadable expression for a fraction of a moment before turning to Cody. Her sharp beak was open slightly, like a human jaw might have done under similar circumstances.
“I accept!” She howled finally, her eyes gleaming with hope. Then she turned a bit more serious. “If I have to stay hidden, perhaps I should avoid being a gryphon. No matter how fast we go, I’m sure someone from where you live will notice me if I fly near you, a tiny little white dragon with feathers? Not likely.”
“What do you mean?” Cody asked in confusion.
Mournful’s eyes lit up in excitement at realizing that they had no clue what she was talking about. If she was anything like Cody, he knew from that look that she was hiding something. The gryphon carefully stood on all fours and the hair and feathers quickly disappeared around her. Her beautiful wings, tail, and beak vanished from sight as her spine shifted slightly. The process lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed so much slower to Cody.
Finally Mournful stood on two slightly shaky legs, wearing a baggy woolen shirt and plain pants that were much too big for her. The clothing was altogether primitive and didn’t compliment her at all. Nevertheless, she carried an air of authority and had a somewhat regal appearance, confident despite the clothing. She had straight, waist-length snow-white hair with darker lowlights and her blue eyes gleamed somewhat unnaturally. She looked to be about Cody’s age, maybe a year younger.
She had a smug grin on her face when she noticed Inferno and Cody gazing at her, shock written all over their features. That was the second time in a single day that they had seen a creature change forms like that, only with Destiny it was a lot slower, and unlike Mournful she had produced a smoky substance when she ‘shifted’. Cody felt light-headed and confused, but forced a smile to his face.
“Alright, climb on, I guess,” Cody told her, his voice a bit higher in his astonishment.
In one easy movement that seemed to flow together, Mournful jumped onto Inferno’s back and landed lightly in the saddle, pulling a strand of white hair out of her face. Cody followed awkwardly when he realized that his movements weren’t half as graceful, even though she seemed at first as though she were walking on two legs for the very first time. He settled in front of her, his hands holding on to the reigns nervously.
“Hang on tight,” Cody warned moments before inferno leaped into the sky.
Noticing the commotion, Ashheart and Omen immediately followed, and Cody explained to them what happened before adding, “I guess the adventure is over for today, I’ll meet up with you as soon as I can and we can explore some more. Perhaps Mournful knows enough about this side of the lake to help us create new maps!”
“That would be awesome!” Omen answered before Ashheart steadied his stride a bit more and the dragon sped far ahead of them, bringing his passengers back home.
Inferno flapped steadily onwards, Mournful seeming far from interested as they flew over the plains. When they passed into the mapped territory, she suddenly seemed more interested. She frequently leaned precariously over the dragon’s side to watch the ground pass beneath. Cody kept a sharp eye out for Argos or Heyrone, but was lucky enough that they never appeared.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, Inferno gently set down on the ledge to their cave-den with a deep sigh of relief. Cody slid right off and Mournful followed immediately after, bending her practiced knees to absorb the shock of the impact. Cody took a good look at the cave for basically the first time, observing the little bundle of hay he usually slept on and the bare gray walls.
“You haven’t been here long,” Mournful commented. “But it will do. At least I have company now.”
Cody watched in surprise as she started the settle on the stone floor, and he quickly said, “No, you can have the bed, I can just as easily sleep next to Inferno. It might be more comfortable for all of us that way.”
Mournful shrugged and walked over to the pile and studied it carefully for several long moments. Finally she flopped clumsily onto the bed and snuggled in comfortably. Hiding his smile, Cody walked over to the end of the cave with his dragon and the two settled down, Inferno stretching his wing over his rider, but Cody just caught the threatening glare the dragon shot to their guest before he tucked his large head inside. Cody began to drift off almost immediately as the sun sunk behind the mountaintops and cast a pale purple glow over the valleys before the shadows absorbed the world.
A light, gentle humming filled Cody’s thoughts with peaceful and majestic images as he fell softly asleep.