“I should have fought. I should have stayed and fought to the very end,” he says, his words choked and his face hot in my hands as I hold him.
“No,” I murmur, stroking his back. “This isn’t the end. We will fight. When we’re ready, we’ll fight. And then we’ll rebuild. We’ll build it back even better than before.” I pull back and look him in his tear-rimmed eyes. “I promise you, Ronan.”
“We have to go,” says Larus. “We’re too exposed out here. If a scout or patrol spots us—”
“Let’s go,” says Ronan, kissing my hair and releasing me, angrily brushing away his tears. “Quinn and Octavia are waiting.”
Our march into the hills along the same route that we took during the hunt is somber but thankfully undisturbed. Few have fled Faros using the dangerous northern route towards Pyka, and it seems like no one at all has come in the direction of the Red Cliffs. There’s little up here but the remains of the scouting camp—a couple of sheets of canvas and some wooden posts that we take to make our own camp later.
The weather is chilly, damp, and brutally windy out here on the exposed rock near the coast. I find myself shivering, even holding onto the torch and with Ronan’s arm wrapped around me.
“Here,” says Taran, reaching into his pack. He retrieves a pile of rolled-up woolen blankets and hands them out. I wrap one gratefully around my shoulders.
“Should we think about making camp?” says Seth as he airs out and then neatly refolds his blanket, smoothing the wrinkles.
It’s well past midday now, and we’ve been walking for hours with very few stops since last night. I’m exhausted, but I know why Ronan is pushing onwards: he wants to reunite with Quinn before we call it a night.
“Just a little further,” says Ronan. “We’re nearly to the canyon.”
The desolate landscape of the cliffs is featureless in my eyes, but Ronan must have seen something I didn’t because we make it to the canyon where we found Kira in under an hour.
This is where we’re meant to meet Quinn and Octavia, but though we can see for miles in each direction, there’s no sign of them or Kira.
Larus begins to lead the way into the canyon, using his earth-born sense to find good footings, when Ronan tells him to stop.
“I’m getting something. They’re near, but they’re separated, moving fast—”
Then two large shadows sweep over our heads.
“Woooooooo!” shouts Quinn, her voice echoing loudly over the wind.
“Ahhhhhhh!” screams Octavia from close behind.
They’re on two separate griffins. Octavia is riding Kira, Kira’s golden-brown wings spreading wide as she soars triumphantly, swooping down towards us. Quinn’s griffin is tawny and considerably larger than Kira. It moves erratically, and I’malarmed to see that Quinn is riding it with just a single strap to hold her to its neck.
“Hold on,” I shout, trying to grip onto her with my shadows but barely keeping up with them, even with the incredible speed of my magic.
“Stop! He doesn’t like it!” shouts Quinn. The griffin claws at my shadow with its lion paws, and I’m grateful that although I can feel with them somewhat, I can’t feel any pain.
“See? I’m fine.”
Oh, no. Quinn has formed a delusional attachment to a monster, just like Ronan.
The griffins land dangerously close to the canyon’s edge, coming to a screeching, flapping halt as they size each other up.
“Come on, Bitey, we talked about this,” says Quinn as her griffin—Bitey—scratches at the ground. “She’s a friend.”
“Keep that thing over there,” Octavia says, heat in her voice. She unstraps herself and lowers herself down from Kira’s back as Kira’s golden eyes narrow on the other griffin.
“Now, now. Behave,” says Quinn. She undoes the strap, but she can’t lower herself off her griffin’s back without help. “He’s good. You can come and get me now.”
Octavia mutters loudly to herself, cursing Quinn as she approaches the lighter, larger griffin.
As she gets close, I suddenly understand Bitey’s name.
“Ow! You son of a bitch!” says Octavia as he leans forward lightning fast and bites her hand. “I’m just helping her down.God.”
“Hi, Ronan. Sylvie. Everyone.” Quinn waves to us as Octavia helps her down. “I made a friend.”
