Belford's Heart

Chapter 2: The Flying Goliath

Evelyn's eyes opened to Belford bursting into his home with two sticks lined with roasted lamb wrapped in a red petal. Her head was still heavy as her remaining slumber ran itself through her brain. Belford looked up to her tired eyes and held one of the sticks of meat over to her.

"I hope you're hungry. Horford outdid himself this morning."

Evelyn studied the crack in the door of Belford's home as she accepted the stick of lamb. Moonlight shone through to her and her face grew a deep scowl. "Is it still night?"

Belford laughed. "Always good to have an early start. Grifford is waiting for his breakfast too."

"Grifford?" She took a bite of the juicy meat paired with the glassblossom petal. It was an unbelievable swirling storm of flavor that came with the first bite. Her eyes widened and the slumber emptied from her head as the food made her fully awake. She then took another bite, and another until there was nothing left but a wooden stick dampened at the middle. "Whoever he is, he's eating very well under your watch."

"Come, wouldn't you like to meet him yourself?" Belford said as she raised her bare feet into the air from beneath her covers and raised an eyebrow. Belford laughed and walked to his desk. Before he had left for food, he had made Evelyn a pair of fox pelt boots. They weren't very pretty, but if it meant her feet wouldn't freeze off in the mountain snow, they were just fine. "I made these for you so you could walk in the snow. I couldn't find anything else for you to wear that wouldn't be too big for you."

Belford carried the fox pelt boots over to her and she smiled. "They don't look too bad, Belford. Ever thought of being a cobbler?"

"What's a cobbler?" Belford questioned.

"You know, a man who makes shoes?" Evelyn waited for a response to leave his curious face, but it remained frozen in confusion. "Never mind. So, what did you say about a griffon?"

Belford smiled as Evelyn began to fasten her new boots to her feet. "He's going to love you. Come, he'll pout if I make him wait too long for his breakfast."

The mountain air welcomed Belford and Evelyn into the morning as they drudged through the worried stares of the Aukan people. Evelyn didn't care much for them, but the brisk air creeping its way into her dress was much worse. She tried desperately to keep Belford's pace in the snow, but his legs carried him further than three of her steps. By the time they stood in the clearing beneath Grifford's nest, snow had gathered and froze on her ankles above her new boots. At the very least, her feet were nice and warm within them.

"Grifford!" Belford's voice became powerful and echoed into the peaks surrounding them. Evelyn jumped at the sound having only heard his low and calm voice since she arrived in his forest.

The caw of a hundred eagles answered him, and Evelyn watched as two large wings emerged from behind one of the peaks. Grifford came into view, and she lost herself in a stare of his glittering white hide. He flew in a wide circle above them before barreling down toward Belford as if he were about to dig his talons into his shoulders and carry him away. Evelyn's body shook in fear as Grifford's claws crashed into the snow-covered ground. Belford's smile made a thought flash through her mind as if she were to be the beast's breakfast this morning. Grifford approached her slowly, beaming his eyes keenly into hers. It wouldn't be until his beak embraced her like the snout of a small dog that her mind came to rest.

"Well aren't you a welcome one," she said as she ran her hands along the fur of his neck. "It's nice to meet you."

Grifford purred and spun in a quick circle. His tail passed over Evelyn's head before he sat tall before Belford to bargain for his breakfast. Belford reached for the two sticks of lamb he had prepared special for that morning. "And you only scared her half to death."