The Griffin's War (Fallen Moon Trilogy) (45 page)

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Authors: K. J. Taylor

BOOK: The Griffin's War (Fallen Moon Trilogy)
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S
kandar saw it before Arenadd. He looked westward for a long moment and then said, “See something.”
“What?” said Arenadd.
“Cloud,” the dark griffin said simply. “See?”
Arenadd followed his gaze. “I don’t see . . .” He trailed off.
There was a dark smudge on the horizon. It was difficult to tell how far away it was, but it looked big.
Arenadd squinted. “What
is
that? Is that a storm?”
Skandar clicked his beak. “Too fast,” he opined.
“If it’s not a cloud, then what is it?” said Arenadd, but a horrible possibility had already occurred to him. “Oh gods,” he groaned. “It can’t be. Not this soon!”
But as the cloud came closer, moving with great speed, the suspicion grew with it. Perhaps he should have acted at once—sounded the alarm or run to warn the others. But something kept him where he was, still unwilling to trust his own senses as he kept his eyes on the cloud, watching details emerge.
Now it was much closer, and it looked less dense. He could see it seething like a nest of ants.
When it was nearly over the city, it exploded. Dark shapes shot outward from it, dozens and dozens of them, pinwheeling in all directions. And that was when Arenadd’s suspicion became awful certainty.
Beside him, Skandar reared up, screeching in rage.
“Griffins!” Arenadd shouted. “Skandar, sound the alarm!
Call!
”
Skandar wasn’t listening. He ran to the edge of the tower, closest to the oncoming horde, and screeched again and again, calling his name in a demented challenge.
“Skandar! Skandar! Darkheart! Skandar! Darkheart!”
A mad babble of swearwords streamed out of Arenadd’s mouth as he ran for the trapdoor.
Griffins! Not now, not now, not now! It’s too soon!
He wrenched the trapdoor open and was about to jump through it, but he stopped and ran back to Skandar, shouting, “Skandar! Skandar, come here!
Skandar!
”
Skandar paid no attention. He continued to call his name, all his promises forgotten in the midst of what consumed him now: a male griffin’s utter and most powerful need to protect his territory against all comers, no matter how large or numerous.
“Skandar, they’ll tear you to pieces!” Arenadd yelled, and ignoring the danger, he reached out to grab his partner’s flank.
Skandar turned on him instantly, snarling.
Arenadd backed off hastily. “Skandar!” he said. “Skandar, it’s me!”
Skandar advanced on him, radiating aggression. But Arenadd was horribly aware of the griffins above, spreading out to circle over the city and the tower, and he stood his ground. Below, people had already seen them, and he could hear faint screams drifting up toward them.
“Skandar, we’ve got to go below,” he said. “We can’t fight them all on our own; there’s too many of them.”
“No!” Skandar rasped. “
My
territory! Mine!
Mine!
”
“You won’t protect it by getting yourself killed!” said Arenadd. “We have to go below, we have to plan—”
“No!
You
plan, I fight! You go, I stay!”
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Arenadd. “My place is with you, Skandar.”
The griffins were no longer approaching. They were
there
, just above them, flying over the tower in slow circles. Arenadd could see them—even hear the sound of their wings. They would attack at any moment.
“Then stay,” said Skandar. “Fight.” He was already tensing, preparing to fly to the attack.
“But Skandar—
look out!
”
A griffin had suddenly folded its wings and dropped toward the tower. Arenadd dived behind Skandar, who opened his wings and reared up to intercept the attacker.
The griffin, however, rolled out of the way. It landed neatly on the tower-top, close to the flagpole.
Arenadd picked himself up and wrenched his sickle out of his belt. Ahead of him, Skandar was already charging, feathers flying, ready to strike . . .
The griffin turned to face him. But it did not attack. It backed away a few steps and lowered its head, bending its forelegs and bowing low in a gesture of submission.
Skandar halted his charge at the very last moment and stood over the other griffin, hissing and confused.
The other griffin did not raise its head. It made several quick trills and clicks, sounds Arenadd vaguely recognised.
He moved forward, to Skandar’s side, sickle in hand. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The other griffin raised its head partway. It was a good-sized male, thickset with powerful limbs and tawny brown feathers. “I do not wish to fight,” he said. “Only to talk.”
“Talk,” Skandar snapped.
The griffin lifted his head all the way, though he still kept his forelegs bent. “Are you Skandar, the dark griffin?” he asked.
“Am Skandar,” he said.
The brown griffin’s eyes glinted as he looked at Arenadd. “And is this human your partner,
Kraeai kran ae
, the Shadow that Walks?”
“I am,” said Arenadd.
“And you have conquered this city?” said the griffin.
“Our territory,” said Skandar. “We fight, win, keep. Go now, or we kill.”
“Does he speak the truth,
Kraeai kran ae
?” said the griffin.
“He does,” said Arenadd. “Who are you? I warn you: if you are here to fight, then Skandar and I will fight back. And we don’t lose easily.”
The griffin drew himself up. “I am Kaanee, hatched at Malvern. Tell me,
Kraeai kran ae
, is it true that it is you who were behind the kidnapping of the Mighty Kraal’s human?”
“Skandar and I,” said Arenadd.
“We take human,” said Skandar.
“And you killed the humans belonging to the councillors at Malvern?”
“Yes,” said Arenadd.
“And it was you who killed the griffiner at Warwick?”
“We kill,” said Skandar.
“What do you intend to do?” said Kaanee. “Is it your intention to attack Malvern and take this land from the Mighty Kraal?”
Arenadd’s grip tightened on the sickle. “Yes. And we will kill anyone who tries to stop us.”
Kaanee regarded him; his eyes were yellow, and they glittered with intelligence. “We have seen the Mighty Kraal,” he said. “At Malvern. He is . . . angry, desperate. Without his human, he does not know what to do. For all his strength, he cannot lead alone. We griffins know this. A griffin is a fighter, not a thinker. Humans do this for us . . . for partnered griffins, at least. Without his human, the Mighty Kraal is no longer mighty. He failed to defend her; he failed to rescue her. He is diminished.”
Arenadd felt a hint of cruel pleasure. “I know,” he said. “That was my intention.”
Kaanee bowed his head to him, and to Skandar. “We have seen this,” he said. “We have seen your triumph and his defeat, and we have decided—”
“What decide?” Skandar interrupted. “My territory! You go, or fight!”
Kaanee clicked his beak. “We cannot follow a griffin who has been defeated,” he said in a businesslike way. “Yet we must have a leader. And now we have found another.” He turned to look at Skandar. “A griffin with great strength. A griffin of great renown. A griffin with a cunning and powerful human. A griffin who has defeated the Mighty Kraal, when no others ever have. We have decided what we must do.” He lowered his head again and bowed low. “We have come to offer you our strength,” he said. “Mighty Skandar.”
Arenadd was dumbfounded. “You mean you’ve come to
join us
?”
Kaanee looked up. “We follow the most powerful griffin in the land,” he said. “And the most powerful human. Once Kraal was that griffin and Elkin that human. But now you have proven yourself more powerful than they. Therefore, you are our masters now. Command us, and we will do your bidding. We will give this land to you.”
Arenadd couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He looked at Kaanee, then up at the cloud of griffins over Fruitsheart. “All of you?” he said.
“I am the strongest of the griffins that came here,” said Kaanee. “I have been asked to speak for them. They are your followers now, Mighty Skandar.”
Arenadd stared at him and the circling griffins a moment longer. Then he began to smile.
27
 
Plots
 
A
renadd’s prediction had been right.
Two days after Kaanee’s arrival, two days after Arenadd and Skandar had accepted the griffins’ allegiance and begun to organise the defence of the city with their help, the first of the griffiners arrived from Malvern.
There were only ten, a small force sent to search the city and, with the governor’s help, find the rebels hiding there. They were seen within moments by the new griffin sentinels, which attacked them at once.
Arenadd and Skandar never had to even leave their new quarters. Kaanee and the one hundred unpartnered griffins he led attacked their erstwhile friends in the air and tore them to pieces. By the time the short fight was over, there was very little left of them to identify. Down in the city, people gathered in the streets to watch, and some were even bold enough to climb onto rooftops for a better view. They yelled encouragement and jeered the dying griffiners and scrambled to pick up the feathers that drifted down.
Arenadd knew that wouldn’t be the end of it—not by a long way. The instant Malvern realised that ten griffiners had vanished at Fruitsheart, they would know what was happening and the true assault would begin.
He called a meeting of the council very quickly after the attack and waited impatiently while the councillors gathered.
Saeddryn was the first to arrive. “Arenadd, I want a word with ye.”
Arenadd groaned and rubbed his forehead; he was hung over and in no mood for another argument with his second-in-command. “Do tell,” he mumbled.
Saeddryn sat down on his left-hand side, since Skandar had taken the right. “Sir, have ye really decided t’put that griffin on the council—Kannie, or whatever his name is?”
Arenadd yawned. “Saeddryn, let me put it like this: Kaanee and his friends killed four griffiners and came to look for us so they could offer their support. Skandar doesn’t want to have to talk to these griffins, so Kaanee does it for him. He has to be here so he’ll have something to tell them, don’t you think?”
“Obviously, sir, but that wasn’t what I meant,” Saeddryn said stiffly. “Sir, I don’t trust him. He turned on Kraal. Who’s t’say he won’t turn on us, too?”
Arenadd laughed softly. “You don’t know griffins very well, do you?”
“I know—” Saeddryn began.
“Griffins don’t care about patriotism,” said Arenadd. “They don’t plot or scheme, at least not without the help of a human. They’re not
thinkers
. All they care about is strength. They follow the strongest, and Skandar is the strongest. As long as they never see him lose to another griffin, they’ll stay on our side. We’re fighting a very dangerous war against a very dangerous enemy. Frankly, we need all the help we can get.”
“Yes, sir,” said Saeddryn. “Ye make a good point. All I’m sayin’ is we should keep watch on ’em. Just t’be on the safe side. Trust no-one, sir.”
“I don’t,” said Arenadd.
I trust Skade and Skandar, and no-one else. Not even you, cousin
.
“That’s wise, sir,” said Saeddryn.
Arenadd watched her curiously. She was certainly being more agreeable today. Maybe she was just in a good mood over the deaths of the griffiners.
The rest of the council arrived shortly afterward. Kaanee came last, panting and a little bedraggled.
Arenadd stood and inclined his head to the griffin. “Kaanee, welcome. Take any place you want; Skandar and I are in your debt.”
The tawny griffin looked pleased. He padded around the edge of the room and settled down by Skandar, taking the honoured seat to the right of his new master.
Arenadd smiled to himself.
I have Saeddryn, and Skandar has Kaanee. I’m not sure which of us got the better deal
.
He pulled himself back to the present. “Welcome, my friends,” he said. “Relax and have something to drink; you’ve earnt it. Now . . .”
The humans around the table leant forward intently.
“We won a victory today,” said Arenadd. “And an important one. Our new allies have shown us what they can do, and they won my trust. Kaanee, I want to thank you on behalf of all of us, but especially on my own. With your help, we can defeat the griffiners and take Malvern.”
Kaanee dipped his head, obviously flattered. “We did only as we were asked,” he said. “I am proud to have served such a powerful griffin and such a worthy human.”

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