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“Your target has been secured, madam.” Theron said.
“I ask again, Sire, what is my target?”
Theron grinned. “Why, your own dear mother.”
My hands began to shake, and I willed my breathing to stay steady. Just stay steady. I had to stay focused. But then there was another scream, and it was my mother screaming, and I felt panic rising again. Oh Gods, what were they doing to her?
“Either you reach her, or the griffin does,” Theron said. “The stakes are quite simple, my dear. Now, I would hurry if I was you.” He clapped twice, and the crowd erupted.
I spun and sprinted through the jungle in the direction of the screaming. My mother. She was screaming. She was here. I had to reach her. As I ran, the canopy above me opened, following my path, affording the screaming, wild crowds of Veles the best view as the Peyrusian princess tried to rescue the Queen.
The ground underfoot was like a swamp, giving way easily, and I broke into a heavy sweat within seconds in the hot, humid air. My mother screamed again, and I willed myself to move faster, to get there quicker.
Something slammed into me, sending me flying, my torso connecting with a thick tree trunk. I sucked in a breath, trying to refill my lungs as something thundered towards me. The griffin shrieked as it approached. I hadn’t been careful, I’d just run, run with no eyes around me. I knew better than that. But my mother screamed again and my brain wouldn’t stop repeating the single thought to just get to her,GET TO HER NOW.
The griffin slowed its pace as it approached me, and then shrieked again. I got to my feet quickly, wielding my blade in front of me. The griffin pawed at the ground, then rushed at me with a roar. I leaped over its bowed neck, my sword striking it in the back of the head.
Rook was right, their bones were like steel, and Arankos bounced off the griffin’s skull with an audible clang. But it was enough to disorient the creature long enough for me to begin running again, towards my mother.
She’d fallen silent, and my heart hammered in my chest. Had they hurt her? Had they killed her? I almost wished she’d scream again so I’d know she was still alive, still breathing. The squelch of the wet ground under me was almost inaudible over the noise of the crowd around me.
I pelted into a clearing, and didn’t even have time to gasp as the floor gave way beneath me. I tumbled into a deep pit, landing heavily on my side, my sword flying out of my hand. The crowd let out a collectiveOoh.
Pain shot through my side as I struggled to my feet. I hoped I hadn’t broken a rib. I snatched up my sword from the ground, and looked up the steep walls surrounding me. They were lined with a black, sticky substance, which gleamed blue in the sunlight. It looked like tar, but smelled like rotten flesh.
I heard the griffin shrieking nearby. I had to get out, now. I sheathed Arankos on my back, and dug my hands into the slimy walls of the pit, trying to get a foothold to get myself up. I was moving too slowly, it was taking an age, and I wished I could fucking fly. I gritted my teeth as I willed the ground under my hands and feet not to give way, to just stay long enough for me to make it up. The slime stuck to my armor, to my face, and it smelled so awful. I retched, trying to breathe through my mouth, my eyes watering.
My mother screamed again, and my heart leapt in my chest. I had almost reached the top when I heard the griffin’s thundering hooves.Move, move, fucking MOVE. With a growl I launched myself up over the edge of the pit, landing on the ground, shoulders heaving and ribs aching. Dirt stuck to the foul-smelling slime that now covered me.What the fuck is this?
And then I saw the dead griffin baby at the far edge of the pit. It’s blue black blood running out of the gash in its throat. I looked down at myself.Fuck. I was covered in the baby’s blood.Fuck fuck FUCK.The thundering hooves came closer and I pushed myself off the ground, breaking into a sprint. I had to get away.
The griffin came from my left, screeching wildly, roaring as it got closer and smelled its baby’s blood all over me. I turned and arced my sword, missing, because I was swinging wildly and in no way targeted. I had to focus.
The griffin pulled its head back and then launched itself at me, snapping its beak inches from my face. I rolled underneath it, seeing the rippling breastplate. It turned, looking for me, snapping at my feet. I rose to my knees under its left foreleg, and sank my sword into the soft membrane, which gave way with a loud sucking noise.
The griffin roared, flailing its neck about, more blue black blood pouring over my arm. The griffin lifted its leg and kicked me hard in the side of the head, and my vision went cloudy as I stumbled away. The wound under the foreleg made another terrible sucking noise as my sword was pulled from it, and in the distance my mother began screaming again.
I ran, as fast as I could through the white spots in my vision. The trees began to give way, and the ground underfoot became firmer. I had to be close, I could hear my mother weeping now.
“Mama!” I called out as I ran.
“Elara?” The voice was halting at first, then suddenly became urgent. “Elara! Elara, I’m here!” I pushed through the low underbrush, sharp-edged leaves slicing my face. I reached a clearing, and there she was. Chained to a wooden podium at the end of the Pit, stood my mother. Her eyes widened when she saw me running towards her. “Elara!” Tears were running down her cheeks, and her face was red from crying. “Elara, oh Gods, Elara!”
I had almost reached her. I had almost done it. Suddenly her face distorted with terror. “LOOK OUT!” She screamed.
Too late.
The griffin landed on me, right on my back, knocking me to the ground. My sword clattered away from me, and I turned over as the creature raised itself, in time to see that enormous beak come flying right for my face. I dodged one strike, then another, the beak thundering into the ground either side of my head with such force the earth shook.
When it raised its head again, I scrambled along the ground on my back for my sword, but I wasn’t fast enough, and the beak came down on my thigh. I cried out, sure I felt bones give way. My hand shot out, nothing but pure instinct driving me, and my fingers landed in the gelatinous mass of the griffin’s eyes. It squawked and shook its head, clambering away from me.
I shuffled towards my sword, feeling the warm hilt in my grasp just as the griffin turned its good eye towards me and shrieked again. It charged me, and I raised my sword as it landed on me, praying I wasn’t about to hit sheer steel.
But I heard a sickening, wet slap, and blood cascaded over me. I pushed the sword in, harder still, and only stopped when my hand was almost submerged in the wound. The griffin gurgled, and flailed for only a moment, before it went still, collapsing on my legs.
I clawed my way out from underneath it, struggling back to my feet. Searing pain shot through my thigh, and I gritted my teeth as I limped towards my mother. The crowd began to cheer, which caught me so violently off guard, I stopped and looked up into the stands around me. I gave myself a shake and kept moving, dragging my leg as I approached her.
Sobs shook her shoulders as I reached her. Her hair, darker than mine, hung down her back in a messy braid, and her violet eyes were filled with tears.
