Chapter 23 Save Me
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SAVE ME
ADELINE
I’m flying high up in the air, my heart in my throat, black dots swimming in my eyes. The giant claws around my body won’t let me breathe. My chest spasms.
Down. I have to get back down to the ground. But how?
Stories, Naida had told me. That’s my power. I know so many stories, but what’s the use if I pass out?
Panic grips me. Before I start screaming until my throat is raw, I close my eyes and focus on what I know. What’s the story of griffins? What is their weakness? I know they like gold, but I don’t have any to offer in exchange for my life.
Think, Aline.
Gryphons or Gryps, that’s their original name. Kings of the avian kingdom, lovers of gold, related to the Simurgh and the Lamassu, half eagle and half lion, bringers of storms. Their feathers have great healing properties. They collect precious metals and knowledge.
All of them imaginary. Found only in the pages of old books. Only I’m held in the hard claws of one and rising higher in the air with every beat of those majestic wings.
“Glad you’re not considering throwing me at the griffin’s head as you did with the goblins,” Olm says in my head.
“Don’t give me ideas,” I wheeze.
“Please, don’t throw me, kind mistress, please—”
Holy shit. “Shush, I’m thinking.”
“Well, think faster! We’re high up in the sky and if we fall—”
“The griffin is taking us to a perch,” I say, still struggling to breathe. “Its nest, by my guess.”
“And then what?”
“Then we figure out a way down.”
“Wouldn’t it be smarter to force it down now?” Olm asks.
“Got any brilliant ideas? Do share.”
“No need to be nasty,” he huffs.
But I don’t have wings or magic that can keep me airborne if the griffin drops me, so I focus on the hard horn of its talon around me and force air back into my chest. Passing out now would be the mother of all bad ideas.
The griffin now swerves to the right and makes straight for the hole-riddled wall.
My eyes fly wide open, and a small scream makes it past my lips.
It looks as if we’re going to crash into the solid rock, but the creature dives into one of the openings with amazing precision, dragging me along the smooth floor.
The claws release me and I roll, stopping a hair’s breadth from the edge. Stunned, I lie there on my stomach, the book digging into my breasts, and gaze at the endless drop below, the drop I’d done my best to avoid noticing until now.
Oh Gods… I’m going to die.
A beam of light springs from the meadows below. Blinded, I turn around and come face to face with the griffin.
Petrified, I stare at the wicked, curved beak. The creature seems to be watching me, wings gathered against its heavy body, my gaze snagging around the middle where it transitions from eagle to lion, downy feathers giving way to golden fur.
The griffin takes a step, claws and paws crunching on top of hay, feathers and bits of fur.
I was right. It’s a nest, much like Roane’s nest, and I want to laugh at the similarities but I can’t even move, terror turning my blood to solid ice. I’m caught between the monster and a sheer drop to my death.
The griffin clacks its long beak, then mercifully turns away from me, pecking at something inside the nest.
Eggs. I now see the eggs inside, each as big as my head, covered in a scaly pattern.
That means the griffin is a female. Probably. Sometimes male birds or dragons keep the nest warm while their female hunts. This one is a parent, at any rate.
“This changes… everything,” I whisper. “The story of the golden eggs.”
Olm whines. “Come again?”
“The heroine is sent to steal one of the mythical bird’s eggs and once she does, she asks for a favor in return.”
“Why would it grant you any favor? It has no need of you. Have you seen the size of this creature?”
“Have you ever had a mother?” I counter. “Mothers will do anything to save their children, even if they’re still inside an egg.” I swallow hard. “If I managed to steal one, I could cut a deal. Make the creature my steed. Fly back down.”
“That’s an ambitious plan,” Olm says. “A terrible plan.”
I watch the griffin roll the eggs, accommodating them better inside the nest. “Think I don’t know that?”
“How do you propose to steal an egg from underneath the creature’s nose? Or beak, in this case?”
“In the story,” I say, “the heroine crawls under the bird and curls inside the nest.”
“Are you completely insane?”
“Do you see any other options?” I hiss. “Nobody is coming to save us, so buckle up.”
At least, I’m moving away from the edge and that nauseating drop, even if I’m crawling toward the monster.
The lion part is covered in short, golden fur, and the tufted tail swishes back and forth as I edge around the griffin.
I can’t slip under it, unlike the girl in the story, because the creature has now sat.
Sparkling objects are strewn about the nest, pieces of gold and jewelry.
The stories got that right.
You do what you can with the means at hand, I think. Careful now… I grimace as I scoot around a massive lion hindleg, my hands and knees scraping on the twigs. Quiet…
The griffin’s eagle head swings around, dipping down, and stops in front of me.
Shit.
I stay very still; the only sound in my ears is the thrumming of my racing heart. The creature’s gaze reminds me of Roane’s glare, flat and annoyed.
This is a dead end. There is nowhere for me to go. Suddenly, I wish for the drop at my back. It would be a cleaner death than getting gobbled down the gullet of an enraged griffin mother.
But a loud flutter and a squawk break the standstill. The griffin whips around, almost knocking me out of the nest with its hind legs—careful what you wish for—and lets out a prolonged screech that hurts my ears.
“Good day to all and sundry,” a familiar voice says. “I was invited for a cup of bone broth but I think I’m in the wrong nest.”
“Talton!” I scramble toward him, embarrassingly close to crying. “You came.”
“Hang on, girl,” he says. “We’ll free you.”
“How?”
The griffin snaps at him and Talton flies off, then comes back and perches on the edge of the cave. “Come to think of it, this is the right nest. And that was rude. Hello, there.”
The angry griffin snaps at him again, and as she swings back and forth, she kicks one of the eggs, sending it rolling.
Seeing my chance, I dive for it and grab it before it falls off the edge. “Got you.”
The griffin screeches again.
“Hold on for a moment longer!” Talton flutters off, hovering on the edge. “He’s coming.”
“Who?” I blink, the words making no sense, but I have the presence of mind to glance over the edge, and then I see it: another winged creature flying up, toward us.
Another griffin?
No, this creature has wings of flame, and astride sits Roane. It’s him, his long black hair unmistakable, blown around him by the wind.
Roane and Simu, the phoenix. Ardruna said he tamed it. She didn’t say he also rode it.
The griffin is still snapping at Talton, distracted, and I’m clutching the egg to my chest, half-hanging over the edge. Heat scalds me as the phoenix approaches, and I wonder what Roane’s plan is, when something hits my back, hard.
So hard it shoves me right over the edge, and I don’t even have breath left to scream as I fall.
“Aline!” Roane’s roar seems to shake the world, and it sounds desperate, only that can’t be right, and I’m falling, my thoughts snuffed out, my scream echoing—
I’m snatched out of the air, the wind booming around me. An iron grip crushes my arm, almost wrenching my shoulder out of its socket, swinging me back up… into two strong arms that encircle me and haul me against a warm body.
Fiery wings spread on either side of me. In front of me, I see a long neck laced with a red crest, and the wind whipping around me brings the scent of wood, leather and pepper.
The picture comes together in fits and starts. This is Simu. I’m on the phoenix’s back. And I’m held by Roane. He somehow grabbed me as I was falling and pulled me onto his steed’s back.
Miraculously, I realize, the griffin egg is still whole, clutched in my arms. Its shell must be thick, hard as stone. My thoughts swirl through my brain like honeyed syrup.
A phoenix. Roane. A griffin egg.
Dazed, dizzy as the fiery bird flies downward in circles, I see the ground approaching. We land right outside the city, ploughing into a meadow.
The phoenix lands with barely three running steps to end its momentum and then lowers itself to the ground, gathering its wings in. I flinch as they fold, one of them touching my leg, scorching it.
Roane’s arms slowly release me, dropping away. My middle feels cold without their solid heat. “Time to dismount. Swing your leg over, Ellin. Come on, you can do it.”
“It burns,” I whisper.
“Phoenixes always burn. You need to jump off.”
Nodding, I try to swing my leg over the phoenix’s back but the skirt of my ruined dress is tangled around my legs, making it difficult. I breathe out, struggling to shift, but I can’t lean back, and there isn’t enough space…
“I’ll go first.” As if sensing my distress, he somehow twists around and dismounts, sliding down the creature’s side. He stumbles sideways, a wince crossing his handsome face, then steadies himself and opens his arms. “Come. I’ll catch you.”
This time, I manage to lean back enough to free my leg and swing it over. I turn on the phoenix’s back, then I’m sliding down its side and right into Roane’s embrace, the egg held against my side.
He catches me easily but holds me off the moment I collide with his chest, settling me on my feet. “There. Easy.”
The feeling of loss makes no sense. He only caught me so I wouldn’t fall on my face, so what is this about?
The phoenix produces a mournful sound and rises on its four legs, then with a flap of its flaming wings, it takes a few running steps and flies away.
“You came for me,” I whisper, my focus back on Roane. “Saved me. I thought…”
“You thought… what? That I’d let you become griffin fodder? Or climb down from the roof of the world on your own?”
“Well, you didn’t seem to care either way before.”
His face is grave as he regards me, his lashes casting shadows on his sculpted cheekbones.
Black strands are stuck to his long neck and temples, and the scar in his cheek seems more livid than ever.
Darker. Painful. “I seem to have given… the wrong impression. I’m not interested in seeing you dead, Aline. ”
“But you think I’m a liability.”
“I…” He rubs the back of his neck, grimacing. “I won’t lie. I do.”
I nod, pressing my lips together.
Then his gaze narrows. “What’s that? Don’t tell me you stole a griffin egg?”
I hug the egg to my middle and brace for the argument I feel coming. “Yes.”
He shakes his head and a smile tugs on his lips. “That’s reckless. Such a stupid thing to do.”
“So why are you smiling?”
“I’m not.” But his mouth curves wider. “Why did you steal an egg?”
“To negotiate. I didn’t expect you to show up.”
His smile falls. “Aline—”
“So I made a plan to convince the griffin to fly me back down.”
“If it didn’t eat you instead,” he now snarls. “And now what are you going to do? Sit on it?”
I blink. “Sit on it?”
“To keep it warm until it hatches. That is, of course, unless the griffin notices an egg has gone missing and comes looking for it.”
I look down at the heavy egg in my arms. “Oh no…”
“Not sure they can count, they aren’t clever like phoenixes and dragons, but you never know.”
“Griffins are clever. And you’re not helping.”
He folds muscular arms over his chest, his mouth twitching. “Not sure how I could help with this particular problem.”
“Fair enough. Well, I’m holding onto the egg until I make up my mind.”
“Oh, sure,” he breathes. “Take your time. No need to worry about anything.”
“You have the phoenix.” I lift my chin and meet his strangely still-amused gaze. “You could return it for me.”
“For that,” he says, “you’d have to beg on your knees.”
“Would I?” I frown even as the image sends a pang of heat through me. “This isn’t funny.”
“I’m serious. I’ll have to think of some service you can offer me before I even consider doing anything crazy like that. You do realize the griffin can bite my head off. I’d be risking my life.”
“True, I…” Suddenly, I’m dizzy. I see the griffin turning its eagle head toward me, crowding me inside the nest, shoving me over the edge—
“Whoa, steady.” Roane’s hands land on my shoulders, tugging me back to his body. This time, I’m firmly wrapped in his arms, my cheek resting on his solid chest, the egg in real danger of falling and smashing to the ground. “Why are you still unwell? Are you sick?”
“I almost died, you…” I choke on hysterical laughter. “I was carried away by that monster and it almost ate me and then I almost fell and—”
“You’re safe now.”
I lean back a little and glance up. His handsome face is set in earnest lines, that frown making his gray eyes so intense they shine like stars. “Roane—”
“I’d never let any harm befall you, Ellin. So rest easy.”