Page 30 (1/2)

I sucked down a breath and raced after the blindly into a cave wasn’t the sryphons’ mercy - or lack thereof

So I ran forward and found myself in an enormous cavern The walls were ave the interior a soft, golden glow, al in the stone The ceiling rose a hundred feet above rasses lined the floor inside, stretching from one side to the other like the flowers in the courtyard ruins It was also surprisingly warm in the cavern - hed in relief as the higher temperature chased away the chill that had sunk intofor me

There must have been a dozen of the creatures in the cavern, and before I realized what they were doing, they all crowded aroundme off from the exit My steps slowed, then stopped, and I looked fro theirl who’d been stupid enough to run right into the middle of their nest

"Uht?"

"You just better hope they don’t like to eat shiny things too," I ryphon skipped over and put his head against the back of ain, but all I could do was go where he wantedat ryphon who had grabbed Logan was there, standing next to a series of shallow pools The surface of the water glea to the airy, enchanted feel of the cavern

The gryphon had laid Logan down next to one of the pools of water A bit of steam rose from the surface, and I cautiously stepped forward, pulled off love, leaned down, and dipped my hand into it To my surprise, the water arm, and I realized that the cavern s - and thatus after all

"You didn’t bring us here to hurt us, did you?" I asked the adult gryphon as I straightened back up "You brought us here to keep us war to death in the stor with my words I hesitated, then slid Vic back into his scabbard, pulled off love, and slid them both into a pocket on ryphon and stretched out my bare hand The creature watched me approach with sole to do I drew in a breath, reached out, and gingerly touched his wing

Iryphon’s strength, his pride, his love of sailing through the clouds The gryphon had been flying high when he had heard his baby wail The creature had swooped down into the trees to see ratitude washed overturned into a Reaper slave

There were other i ainst the Reapers So it was they I’d sensed peering athatred of the Reapers and his sadness at how the Reapers forced the Black rocs to do their bidding And finally, I saw the gryphon watching h the forest and his adh he kneouldn’tsome sort of shelter

I opened my eyes, dropped my hand, and looked at hi us You didn’t have to do that"

The gryphon stared at me, and I felt a wave of pride wash off hi us here That he’d felt honor-bound to help us just as we’d helped his baby

I carefully ran s The creature let out a little snort, but I could tell he liked it The baby nudged his head against ain, and I dropped down to an, who hadn’t stirred the whole tiathered around and watched while I unwrapped Ran’s net froan and carefully placed it to the side He didn’t come to, not even when I unzipped his snowsuit and pulled his clothes up so that I could check his wound Blood had seeped through the crude bandage I’d wrapped around it, and I slowly untied the cloth and peeled it away Thankfully, the wound had finally clotted, and Logan wasn’t bleeding anymore I didn’t kno much more blood he could afford to lose

I used Vic to slice up the last of my extra clothes, then went over and dipped the cloth into the hot springs I’d expected the water to have a sour, sulfur stench, but instead it sht and floral, with a fresh, clean, almost vanilla scent I used the cloth to wipe the dried blood off Logan’s wound The roc had left a nasty gash in his side, and he probably needed stitches, but that wasn’t so I could do It didn’t look like the wound was infected, though Maybe Logan would be a little stronger in the h to walk the rest of the way down the e his wound again, then covered him back up with his other clothes and rasses I also pulledout of h the whole thing I stroked his black hair back from his forehead, then leaned down and kissed hihed, but he didn’t wake up

I unbuckled the scabbard froainst one of the rock walls so he could see out into the cavern and keep watch Just because I was surrounded by gryphons didn’t rona couldn’t shoith more Reapers and rocs

"Get so how exhausted I was "I’ll stand guard tonight, just in case one of these oversized fuzzballs decides to ryphon leader snorted at that, but one by one, the creatures all settled down aroundto the stea else to do but wait for the stor to coryphons cocooning me

Chapter 32

I fell into a dark, dreaht I ake - until I realized I was standing in thenext to Logan’s I blinked and blinked, but the ie reryphons were sleeping, as well, and I was the only one who seemed to be awake - or whatever this was It didn’t feel like another nighth It feltreal

"Crikey," I lanced around the cavern, but everything was the saed in a circle aroundwith those strange golden rocks Finally, I looked toward the mouth of the cavern For a moment, all I saas a solid sheet of white as the snow continued to pour down outside But then the flakes parted, as though the hipping theure appeared outside the cavern

Her long, white dress was the sah the curled ringlets of her hair glis arched up over her back They too were the same white as the snow, but the soft feathers didn’t ruffle, despite the fierce wind She stood there, her hands clasped together, like she was patiently waiting for ain, I was struck by what an unusual, vivid color they were - all the different hues of purple and gray ht shade