Read Chapters

1.PrologueRead it Now
2.Extra hand. Read it Now
3.Cue to leave.Read it Now
4.Sarok Sea.Read it Now
5.Helplessness.Read it Now
6.Land ahoy. Read it Now
7.Cannot leave. Read it Now
8.Valo. Read it Now
9.Belong to Sarok.Read it Now
10.Hounds.Read it Now
11.Arkeel. Read it Now
12.Gryphon's Tale. See below
13.Rescue. Read it Now
14.Horizon. Read it Now
15.Death. Read it Now
16.Home.Read it Now

Gryphon's Tale.
 
The ground was still, silent, and warm. Seren found she could think, she was not so dizzy any more. Remembering the gryphon, Seren blinked. It was as she had suspected, right beside her.
“What is going on?” Seren demanded angrily, jumping up. “All that has happened so far has happened too quickly! And all you creatures keep coming and going! I don’t understand!”
The gryphon turned its head. “Would you calm down? I rather think I preferred you unconscious. Stop squeaking like that, and ask the right question so that I may offer you the right answer.”
She stopped, and sighed. “Where are we now?”
“Eastsoutheast of the crags, away from all of that commotion.”
Seren visualised this in her head to get her bearings, thankful for the gryphon’s preciseness. “Okay. Where did you come from? Why did you save me?”
“I was outcasted from the others of my kind, bound to help others using my talents to my advantage until my time comes.”
Seren recalled the all-seeing yellow eyes, the powerful legs and wings, the sharp, thick talons and beak.
Arkeel continued. “I was heading Northwest to find the wolf, Ty’Ohni. Things in Sarok have changed since he decided to depart, and it became my duty to seek him and plead that he might return to his pack. However when it seemed I may have been close to my goal, my other duty was ready to remind me of my fate. You were being torn apart by those dark hounds. I had to save you.”
Frowning, and ignoring the horrible aching throbbing pain in her thigh, Seren thought of another question. “It seems that everything here knows about Ty’Ohni. And also about this problem Sarok seems to have… what is going on? Who, exactly, is Ty’Ohni?”
“You have not been told? Why, child, Ty’Ohni is the single most powerful wolf on this island. There are creatures that would seek to use the origin of their blood to their advantage. I trust you know of the Elder blood, at least?”
Seren nodded hastily, keen to find out more. Finally, things were beginning to make sense. She liked Arkeel.
“Good. Well, these vile creatures want to get their blood as raw and powerful as the dragons’. But the only creature with a trace of the true raw blood is Ty’Ohni. And he disagrees with them. Since they found this out, wolf packs have divided, turn against each other. Nowhere is safe anymore in the South. I have aided countless innocent wolves, myself.” Arkeel preened his feathers.
The girl began to understand. But she realised something else.
“They have Ty’Ohni!” She squealed, then fell to the floor as her thigh gave way under her. The pain slowly, and only very slowly, ebbed away.
“That is true,” Arkeel said sadly, “I must go to save him. But first, would you benefit from a ride to your home? The island across the ocean, perhaps? I realise that you are not from here.”
Passage across the Sarok Sea, to Hort. Seren could leave this madness behind, settle down somewhere among humans. But Seren hated humans, and for once she wanted to stand up to a problem instead of run away from it. The creatures of Sarok intrigued her. She stood by what she had told Sebastian. “I cannot leave here. This place is so full of strangely beautiful creatures,” she mused, “And I wish to save Ty’Ohni.”
Arkeel cocked his head curiously. “So be it. But the wolves are fierce, this shall not be easy, child. And you have an injured leg.”
Seren smiled, an idea occurred to her. “What do you know of Faen leaves? We should find some of those. Lots of those,” She added feeling the stabbing pain shoot through her body. “Then we shall go to Ty’Ohni.”
The gryphon nodded, then beckoned for her to sit astride him. She did so with great difficulty - and whilst admiring the creature’s plumage. A thousand different browns, so soft and shiny.
“You are magnificent!” She told him, hiding no admiration from her tone.
“I know,” He answered casually, “Prepare to take to the skies, little human girl of Sarok.”
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