Leslie Moore - Griffin's Destiny

The third book in the Griffin's Daughter Trilogy series, 2009

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

“ Help me, Brother!”

Across a fire-blackened landscape, the cry echoes. He scans the charred surroundings, trying to locate the source, but the sound comes from everywhere at once.

“ Help me, Brother! They are killing me!”

“ Where are you?” he cries. “I can’t see! It’s too dark!”

Flames crackle to life before him, drenching the scene in lurid, crimson light. A ring of shadows twists around the figure of a man whose blood-spattered face he knows as well as his own.

“ Little Brother…”

He stands frozen, hands by his sides. The shadows howl in triumph. They engulf their victim, pulling him down.

“ Why do you not help me?” his brother screams as he falls. “Why are you letting them kill me?”

The shadows twist and heave, devouring their prey.

He steps backward and tumbles over the edge of a cliff…

Sadaiyo Sakehera jerked awake then sat upright, drenched in sweat.

“Goddess’ tits,” he whispered. Curled beside him in their bed, his wife Misune stirred but did not wake.

I remember!

Shaking with reaction from the flood of images in his head, he slipped out of bed and crouched on the floor beside the hearth. The fire had burnt down to a pile of glowing coals. Pushing a stray lock of hair from his face, he took a deep breath to slow his galloping heart.

He stared into the red light, but his eyes focused inward.

I remember all of it, just as the old man said I would! Goddess…What have I done?

What will I do now?

Sadaiyo crawled back into bed and pressed himself against his sleeping wife. He thought of his parents and how they would recoil in horror if they learned the truth.

They must never know. No one can ever know!

Will you haunt my dreams from now on, Little Brother?

Damn you!

Magnes awoke with a start and nearly toppled from his seat on the wagon bench to the hard earth below. Knuckling the sleep from his eyes, he yawned and looked down on the stocky brown rump of the cart horse, still in harness and dozing. With the rapidly fading shreds of an unsettling dream drifting across his mind’s eye, he swung his legs over the side then dropped to the roadbed.

Damn it…I didn’t mean to fall asleep!

He spent a few moments stretching and kneading the kinks from his neck, then tramped off the road to relieve himself in the weeds.

When he returned, he found Gran standing beside the wagon, facing back toward Darguinia. Something about the way she held her body warned Magnes not to disturb her.

After several heartbeats, she shook herself then turned around.

“Oh, Magnes. Didn’t realize you were there.”

“Sorry, Gran if I startled you,” he replied.

The old elven woman shook her head. “No, no, you didn’t. I was just performing a farscan. I don’t sense any fast moving groups heading this way from the city, praise the One.”

Like a slave-catching posse , Magnes thought.

“It seems that Aruk-cho has come through for us,” he said, stroking the drowsy gelding’s nose. The beast shook its head and whickered.

Poor wretch , Magnes thought. You hauled us and this wagon most of the night with no complaint, and there’s still no real rest for you yet.

Gran nodded. “So far, it seems that way, yes. But it’s still early. The slave-catchers may yet come after us. Mistress de Guera won’t want to let go of Ashi so easily, I fear. Let’s pray she listens to Aruk-cho and allows him to persuade her.”

Magnes thought about the events leading up to last night’s harrowing escape from the de Guera yard.

I’m sorry Corvin and his men got caught up in all this. Despite everything, I hope it doesn’t go too badly for them. They were only doing their jobs. Armina de Guera is a fair woman, and Aruk-cho will speak up for them, surely!

He shivered, remembering Fadili’s terrified cries as Corvin’s men threatened the young apprentice healer with their swords. Despair had nearly overwhelmed him, but then Gran materialized from the darkness. With arms raised and blue flames crackling from her fingertips she came, and their attackers fell senseless at her feet. He knew Gran possessed Talent, like all elves, and he also knew she had been a member of a powerful mage’s guild. But until last night, he had no real idea of the magnitude of her strength.

He shaded his eyes against the glare of the rising sun and peered ahead past the horse’s limp ears. “What of the group ahead of us?” he asked.

“They’re still there, but they should be moving out shortly and then we can go.”

Gran climbed into the wagon and Magnes could hear her rousing the others. A few moments later, Ashinji emerged followed by Fadili and a yawning, sleepy-eyed Seijon. Ashinji looked pale but steady as he dropped from the wagon.

“How are you feeling?” Magnes asked, searching his friend’s face.

“Tired, but otherwise, not too bad,” Ashinji replied. He nodded toward the verge of the road and Magnes’ mouth quirked in understanding.

After they took care of their bodily needs, they shared a quick meal of bread and cheese. Fadili then saw to the horse and they piled into the wagon to resume their flight. Gran sat up front beside Magnes in order to scan the road ahead and behind with her magical senses.

The morning sky was clear and bright, the air fresh and full of the scents of damp, growing things. The road stretched ahead into the distance, rising and dipping with the land, passing through fields verdant with spring wheat, and orchards in full, glorious bloom. The wagon rolled past cottages and small manor houses, muddy farmyards guarded by belligerent geese, and pastures tenanted by complacent cows.

For a good part of the morning, they had the road to themselves, but eventually, faster carts and wagons began to overtake them, as well as individuals mounted on horses and mules. Other than a few curious looks from passersby, they attracted no particular attention. Magnes set a deliberately slow pace, so as to stay well behind the large group of people traveling ahead of them. It chafed him to have to do so, especially with the risk of pursuit from the city still so great, but the possibility the group up ahead might be an armed company also concerned him.

As the morning wore on, the sun climbed higher along with the temperature, leaving them all damp with sweat. Squadrons of dragonflies glided by on iridescent wings while legions of unseen insects shrilled in unison from the bushes and trees, their harsh chorus waxing and waning in the hot, still air.