Page 83 of The Beauty and the Griffin

Changing my appearance was humiliating enough without an audience! “Who are you?” I asked the new arrival.

“I am Dodger,” he said, sounding friendlier than Chicky despite my crankiness. “My eggshell was silver.”

“Good to know.” I hadn’t heard of any rhyme or maxim about a silver griffin, but he was quite handsome.

“Why you here, Dodger?” Chicky asked gruffly. “Where is Win? You not be evil now?”

Dodger’s neck feathers fluffed out. “I never be evil! Win know she chose the bad side now. I take her to Faraway Castle friends in mountains, then spy on the enemy to hear plans. I tell Chicky that big attack comes at dawn. The skinny mage with shiny head ride a turul and carry the Mirror.”

The bald mage had to be Einarsson. No major surprise there; he’d always been all about personal power.

“The Mirror of Alvissss,” I said, since the names of evil fay artifacts simply mustbe hissed. “Wait. Einarsson will ride aturul?That egotistical twig of a man plans to ride an eagle the size of a house?” I had to laugh. “I suppose he is the one person stupid enough to try it.”

“The Mirror enspell the turul,” Dodger said.

“Really? This, I must see. How did you keep from being enspelled by the Mirror too?”

“I do not look at it,” Dodger said.

“Griffin stubbornness put to good use,” I observed.

Our battle plan was equally simple, as one might expect from a recently hatched griffin: Chicky declared she would fly directly at the turul and steal the Mirror out of Einarsson’s hand. Sure, just about anything could go wrong with that scenario, but I would be riding the Golden Griffin of, well, perhaps not legend, but of nursery rhymes, which held their own spark of wisdom. So, everything just might turn out exactly right.

“What’s your plan, Dodger?” I asked.

“I will help you.”

“You not go back for Win?” his sister asked.

“Win say she is ugly and useless, and no one wants her.”

Chicky ruffled her neck feathers, looking irked. “I not know much, but some humans think they know much when they know very little.”

“Wisdom from the proverbial Golden Griffin.” I nodded.

Dodger shook himself with a great rustle of feathers. “I return for her after battle. She safe with dwarf and princess and fterotá.”

I felt a flash of sympathy for the girl abandoned by her griffin, but what could I do except trust Dodger’s judgment? He seemed to be fond of her.

The sky was unnaturally dark, and I had a feeling dawn might not arrive as expected. My decades-younger body had little trouble climbing onto Chicky’s back, but I suspected keeping my seat while in full flight might still be a challenge. Chicky didn’t complain when I clutched handfuls of her feathers, and she waited until I was ready before she took off.

Sure, I said the word “ready,” but I don’t think anyone could really have beenreadyfor what followed. Stealth being key to our success, I possibly shrieked like a banshee before my courage revived.

According to Dodger, the main invasion army of earthbound magical creatures would attack at dawn from the west through a valley that led to the shore of Faraway Lake, which was still frozen over. Only a fool would attack facinginto a sunrise, so the enemy either planned to conjure up a storm or expected this unnatural darkness to last indefinitely. At the same time, Einarsson, the head council mage, riding the turul and carrying the Mirror, would attempt a sneak attack from the north, swooping across Faraway Lake to attack our army’s flank.

Therefore, Chicky intended to attack out of the sunrise, with Dodger protecting her flank. I might have asked about a backup plan in case there was no sunrise, but just keeping myself from passing out from the cold occupied both my magic and my focus.

It felt to me as if we circled in darkness for hours, both griffins having temporarily quenched their inner glow. Hearing the soft rustle of Chicky’s feathers and feeling the powerful thrust of her wings, I felt unexpectedly safe.

“I hear them,” Dodger spoke into the void. “Be ready.”

Feeling the tension and excitement in Chicky’s body, I shook off my lethargy and braced for action. A great clamor rose out of the darkness, the shrieks and roars and howls of evil unseen creatures sending chills down my spine.

But even as my hope flagged, brilliant sunlight suddenly illuminated Faraway Lake and the mountains surrounding it. An angry roar rose from the dark throng that was now visible, approaching Faraway Castle along the lakeshore. I easily identified the dissonant yet distinct battle cries of trolls, dwarves, humans, and centaurs that were under the Mirror’s control as well as the roars, screeches, and howls of yeti, giant wolves with flaming eyes, bogeymen, and a variety of chimeras. At the unexpected glare of sunlight, many of the dark-dwelling creatures cringed and hid their faces but kept coming. Others turned and ran, desperate to escape.

While we circled and watched from the shadows of a great peak, I glimpsed our army of armed mages and creatures rushing along the frozen lakeshore from Faraway Castle toward the invaders, but soon the top of Palau Kalah, the island, blocked my view.

Then, to our right, a cloud of flying creatures—griffins, some winged horses, harpies and alan, and other creatures I didn’t recognize appeared between looming cliffs. I had no trouble identifying the turul as it swooped down toward the lake ice’s smooth surface. The bird had the wingspan of a business jet and the sharp eyes, beak, and talons of an eagle. The man seated in some kind of saddle strapped to the bird wore a flight helmet and wielded the Mirror of Alviss like a shield.

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