Wind Under Wings

Chapter One, Part One

Taliak's sharp eyes pierced the forest gloom, ranging slowly from left to right, determined to find his quarry. He froze as his gaze locked onto his target at last, a creature lazing idly on a boulder in a cluster of young trees not four wingspans from him. It was an ugly thing, long-snouted and brown with clutching talons. the krall doubted it would taste any good but it would suffice. With hunger gnawing at his belly he had little room to be picky.

He clamped his massive wings tight against his flanks, quelling the urge to sigh as he did so. Had this been open ground he'd be hunting on the wing, snatching prey from the air like an eagle would a fish. To a griffin there was no greater act than flying in the wind, and this closed forest skulking was woefully beneath him. But as a trained warrior and skilled hunter in the Order's khazleer, he would not shame himself or his Order by returning from a hunt with claws empty.

Instead the krall dropped his head and rolled into a predatory stalk, ears twisting back, feathered mane lying sleek against his neck, and his tufted tail held low and straight behind him. He was quick and strong and felt the thrill of the hunt rise up from his huge paws. Smooth as a river, quiet as a whisper, the griffin prowled toward his prey.

"Taliak?"

The brown-bodied creature startled. Quick as lightning it dashed off the boulder and out of sight, and with a deafening roar Taliak sprang into the shadows after it. Growls and snarls echoed through the trees, the brush thrashing as the two enemies battled to the death.

"By the Two Lights, Taliak, what are you doing making so much noise?"

The harsh call gave Taliak pause. All at once his play-vision faded, and he found himself in the deep throes of a thicket wall, ensnared by spindly brambles and thorns.

"Taliak? Come here."

The nestling knew better than to keep his mother waiting. With some difficulty he turned about and dragged himself from the brush. His soft, downy coat got snagged and torn in the process, but when he at last emerged there was a victorious twinkle in his eye; in his beak was a little brown animal.

His mother was waiting for him just inside the den. Daylight was waning and the shadows growing bolder. Taliak's night-sight was too weak to see very well inside the den, but he could make out his mother's strong profile in the thickening dark: the sharp curve of her beak, her pointed ears, the coarse feathered ruff, a pair of tattered lumps on her bulky shoulders, a long tufted tail and huge paws. Then came the flash of her black eyes as she fixated them on her son. She was every bit the ferocious predator Taliak and been pretending to be moments before.

Taliak swaggered over to her and threw his catch down in front of her clawed feet. "Look what I caught," he said proudly.

"Ah, you were hunting?" The hess leaned out from the mouth of the den. The last rays of light dappled her dark coat, a mottled mess of black and foggy grays. Her voice was naturally rough but Taliak could tell she was pleased. "Your first blood kill, Taliak! What is it?"

"A drakken," Taliak proclaimed. "And when I eat it I will become strong and immune to its venom and other poisonous creatures."

His mother tilted her beak and nudged the little animal with a long claw. "I have hunted many of the drakaina's spawn whenever they emerged from her lair during the last summer days. They are never as small as this, Taliak, and you've forgotten they are serpent-like and do not have feet. Not the younger ones, at least."

Taliak felt his wings slouch in disappointment. It would have been a fine prize to kill a drakken.

"Try again," his mother prompted, flicking Taliak's shoulder with the end of her tail.

Taliak sighed and considered a moment, canting his spotted head one way and then the other. "A chimera?" he tried. "A chimera that I killed before it could shape itself into something dangerous."

A deep thrumming sounded from within her chest, she couldn't resist being amused. "A chimera would not be found on the same mountain an Order of griffins calls home to, much less Impirleon griffins like ourselves. This is only a lizard, Taliak."

Taliak had been afraid of that. Still, a kill was a kill, and Taliak snatched the lizard off the ground and devoured it in a few quick bites without complaint. While he was eating his mother lifted to her paws, almost filling the entirety of the den with her thickset bulk. Taliak never stopped marveling at her impressive size; it was his greatest wish to grow up to be as big as her someday.

"What are you doing?" he asked, after swallowing the last morsel. His mother was slinking out from the den now, emerging into the soft barren earth of the hollow she had dug so she could sprawl comfortably with her son on those warm, late-spring days. The dense walls of the thicket rose on all sides around them, entwining over their heads in a leafy canopy.

"It's nearly dark out. Time for me to hunt."

Taliak's ears shot up in excitement. He bounded around her legs, flapping his little downy wings. "I'll come with you," he piped cheerfully. He swatted at her tail, showing off his energy. "I'll come with you and catch a drakken. A real one this time!"

"No, Taliak. You can't come with me."

Taliak's tail drooped. "But I'm old enough to hunt," he grumbled, swatting her tail again.

The hess swished her tail back at him. A small movement to her, but it was enough to send her young son tumbling sideways. "Old enough to hunt lizards perhaps, but not the food I bring you," she told him with a click of her beak.

Taliak rolled back onto his paws and jumped as high as he could at his mother's flank. His claws caught on the thicker swath of mottled fur lining her spine and with some difficulty he managed to haul himself on top of her. He scrambled the length of her back until he reached the stumps on her shoulders, then used these to brace his hind legs against while he attacked her neck, snapping and growling fiercely into her ruff. He would show her what he was capable of!

"My son, get off of me," said his mother with patience.

"I am Taliak!" he declared strongly, though his face was buried so deep in her feathers his voice came out little more than a muffle. "And I'm not just Taliak, but Taliak Quicksnap, no, Taliak Strongbeak! Or Taliak Thunderwing-"

"May the creator have mercy on whichever ancestor you swear by when you're old enough," the hess grunted under her breath.

"-I am a grown warrior, a khaz in the khazleer, serving the Order of Tekma under the reign of Fithgrol. I am hunter of drakkens and chimeras and I say I will go with you."

The hess jerked her head down then, whereupon Taliak was pitched head-over-wings-over-tail to the earth with a soft thump. There she pinned him with one of her giant forepaws and leaned in close, a dark growl erupting from her throat. Taliak became very still under her black gaze, fearful for just a moment that he had gone too far and made her angry. But the next second she was licking him all over with her bristly tongue.

"You are Taliak," she told him between strokes. "And not just Taliak, but Taliak-the-nestling, son of Kardina, hunter of crickets and lizards. And I say will you remain in the den."

Taliak squawked under her paw, fighting in vain against her assault of licks. Only when he at last gave up and slumped in defeat did she release him.

"I will return before sunrise," Kardina promised. She turned herself about and made for the small hole in the thicket wall where she always slipped through to the outside world. She was nearly to it when she abruptly froze, ears swiveling.

(NOTE: Splitting these into smaller chapters)