'NO, WE LEFT THE CASTLE at dusk on the evening we found you,' Alek could see the surprise on their faces. 'Elena told us she had seen your arrival and that you either were, or soon would be, in grave danger and she needed us to protect you.'Sian spoke up, 'But that's only a matter of hours? How did you do that?'Alek explained, 'It only takes moments for us to travel that far, but it took a bit longer to pinpoint where you were.' He took a seat and the other men settled themselves comfortably, they knew the story well.I WATCHED WHEN HE CLOSED his eyes for a moment, a slight frown on his forehead. A lock of his dark hair fell over one eyebrow and my fingers tingled with the urge to brush it away. I decided to sit on my hands for the moment, it seemed the safest course. Kassie caught the slight movement and smirked. I gave her my best innocent look. Alek cleared his throat and we turned our attention back to him.'Were you aware there are dragons in this realm?' Alek stared quest
SIAN SAT UP IN THE saddle when Daron smoothly leaped up from Nesha's bended knee. For such a muscular man he's really agile, she thought, impressed. I'll have to learn how to do that, I want to look like I know what I'm doing. Daron settled into the front seat easily and turned back to Sian.'You'll want to hold onto me until you're used to it. Once you're confident enough you can use these hand holds.' He pointed at the sides of the saddle. 'At least at first if you're holding me, I'll know you haven't fallen off.'When he turned back to Nesha she scooted forward and slipped her arms around his waist, her face pressed against his back.'READY?' DARON CALLED BACK TO Sian. He felt her nod against his back.'Okay, Nesha, let's go.'Nesha growled in excitement, making Daron smile. No matter how aloof Nesha liked to hold himself, he was always like a pup when flying.SIAN HUNG TIGHT TO DARON when Nesha crouched low, his muscles bunched underneath them, then sprung up at least twe
BACK AT THE CAMPSITE RUMAL and Kassie sat deep in a conversation about which creatures that she knew of that existed in this realm. Kassie felt vaguely comforted to discover lions, tigers and bearsoh my!existed here. Cats, dogs and chickens did too. Ridiculous as it might seem, but right at the moment Kassie needed those familiar things, little as they were. The sky still showed blue and the people seemed normal-ish. The enormous griffons lazing around them, enjoying the sun, thrilled one part of her mind and terrified the other. What else could be here? What if we can't get home? What's happening at home?'Pigs?' Rumal suggested breaking her panic for an instant. Kassie blinked then nodded with a half-smile, relief and fear making her more anxious. Making an effort to relax, she let a breath out.'Yes. We have them too.'RUMAL SMILED AT KASSANDRA, AMUSED at how relieved the girl looked to recognize some of the species he'd rattled off. Is where they come from so very different, h
TOMIAR SEEMED TO REGARD HER in amusement which made Loi feel a tad uncomfortable. Then Sabyn came back out the tent, carrying something. He gave her a broad smile.'Why don't you place your findings over here,' he indicated and he dug a hole in the ground with the heel of his boot. 'Then I'll walk with you to the river so you can wash your hands,' he waved the soap he'd fetched at her.She gave him a long look, then gingerly dropped her findings in the hole and resisted the urge to wipe her hands on her pants. 'Okay what are they?' She demanded when he covered the hole over.'Ifanip droppings; rather noxious. Next time you spot funny coloured stones, I suggest you leave them where they are and ask one of us to identify them for you first.'Her look of disgust made those watching laugh. Sabyn bowed to her and said. 'I would offer you my arm but-'Rolling her eyes at his bad joke, she grabbed the offered soap. 'C'mon then, walk me to the river. You can mock me on the way.'THE OT
THE NEXT MORNING GREDEL WOKE us before dawn. The burly man had gotten over his nerves around us and we'd discovered he had a pretty good sense of humour. We simply weren't in the mood to appreciate it first thing in the morningsure, we may have had eight hours sleep, but a dozen more would have been nice.Waking to the sudden clashing of two tin plates wasn't the best start to the day. Gredel retreated from the room at a decent pace when all our heads jerked up at the racket. Loi growled some not-so-polite words after him and a pillow flew from Sian's direction but fell short, bouncing off the edge of my cot. I dropped my head back with a groan and grinned when I heard Kassie do the same. It took another five minutes of grumbles and groans before we reluctantly climbed out of bed and shuffled around our small tent space, getting dressed and packing up.Keeping busy almost allowed me to ignore the annoying voice in my head that mumbled about flying and heights (and lack of safety belt
ALEK SETTLED INTO THE FRONT seat and reached back to pat Catherine's knee. 'Okay?'Two arms encircled his waist and he felt her press her forehead against his armour, mid back. She sighed. 'I'll do. Are we ready to go?''Almost, Gredel is finishing strapping Audrey in.''Where's Lucky?'Loushka informed Alek that Kassandra had her in her bag. Just when he told Catherine this, they saw Lucky poke her head out the top of the pack and give a pitiful meow. Gredel then looked to Alek and nodded. Alek called out, 'All ready then? Let's go.'I FELT LOUSHKA'S MUSCLES BUNCH and kept a tight hold on Alek's waist while I watched the griffon tuck her wings in. Then whoosh, Loushka sprang off the ground and clear into the sky, snapping her wings open the moment we cleared the canopy.Holy COW! Breathe, breathe!My stomach felt like it shot to my feet. I pressed my head firmly against Alek's backplate and held on tight. I heard the other griffons burst through like Loushka had and for a cou
ALEK FELL SILENT, lost in his thoughts and Loushka let him be. She knew where he'd like to set up camp for the night so continued on while chatting with the other griffons. The conversation stayed firmly on their four guests, each griffon voicing different theories as to why Elena wanted them, and where they came from. Phroma felt grateful that Gredel had his lovely wife to go home to and a little concerned at the intensity already being expressed between some of the couples.'After all,' she reasoned to Nesha 'We only met them the other day. We still don't know what their powers are. For Elena to be so interested they must be either very valuable, or very dangerous.'Nesha politely acknowledged Phroma's concerns, though personally felt the women weren't dangerous to them.Kerak butted in, furious that Phroma would insult Kassandra. 'I think the women are really niceI like Kassandra.''Settle down, Kerak,' admonished Tomiar gently. 'Phroma's not saying Kassandra or the others are
LOI ARCHED AN EYEBROW as Cat came over. Almost skipping, she noted.'Enjoy the flight?'Cat looked guilty for a moment. 'Errr, yes,' she gave a sheepish cough. 'It was pleasant.'They looked knowingly at her.THE FOUR OF US, WITH Audrey, had to collect the firewood and I could see the rebellious looks on Sian and Loi's faces. They didn't like being delegated the easy work, just because we were women. I was happy to do it. It meant we could talk without being overheard by the guys. The instant we were out of sight the questioning began. Sian seemed certain that Daron could be someone special, and Kassie felt the same about Rumal. Loi appeared to like Sabyn a lot but didn't want to commit herself just in case. I knew how she felt.'Although I really don't understand why we're being so skeptical,' I said when I stopped to sit on a fallen log. Audrey sat between my knees and I fussed over her, it'd been strange to spend the entire day without her, though Gredel said she'd enjoyed th