Journey of the Horn

Chapter 10

All my brothers started to run deeper into the forest, while I looked for a cliff to climb. All of my brothers can climb, typically not as well as me but they still can. But they would never think to look up. Me being the oldest I had a bigger target on my back, I had more training under my belt than any of them due to it. The only ones that have had as much or more training than me are my three older sisters and my triplet mates who were also sisters. For about six years I was the only boy and we started training as soon as we could walk. Therefore they see me as their biggest threat. I located a cliff off to my right, which gave me a plan. All I had to do is get a little help from one of my brothers. I whipped around to face them, some had already started fighting each other. I ran up to one of them with my sword drawn trying to get them to fight me. But then I heard a scream, a scream I new well. The scream that used to crawl in my bed at night because he thought a chupacabra was living under his bed. I looked over to find Alpine backing away from one of our brothers that was about to cut him in half. Alpine had lost his sword once again. I had hoped that our brothers would spare him due to him having the least training out of us, but I guess it was wrong to do so. The blade only got a few inches away from his chest before I ran in and blocked it. This brothers name was Nathair. He was never the kindest of my brothers. I should have expected this especially from him. I pushed him away from Alpine still blade to blade.

"Why do you defend him Nubian? He is nothing but a weak link in the chain." "Far from it, besides I never said I was defending him." As I push him backward, almost hard enough to make him stumble. I advance once more, he would work for my plan. If they thought I was dead they wouldn't be searching for me. We fought until we reached the cliff then when he impacted once more I fell down the cliff. I could hear them laugh as I caught myself on the side. The rocks were sharp and dusty, they cut my hands like stone knives or the tip of a spear. I kinda winced but didn't make a sound. Nathair thought he had killed the most trained out of all of us, I was far down enough that we couldn't see each other especially through the mist cloud in the gorge. But I could tell what he thought by the fact he was yelling and cheering in victory, he was always one of the boastful kind. I had landed right below a small cave like structure in the cliff. I will rest here to catch my breath. I lifted myself over the edge of the cliff.

The cave was just big enough to contain maybe about three to four campers comfortably and had a small hole in the top that let in a single beam of light. I looked at the light, considering I couldn't see anything else, but then I wish I hadn't. For at the bottom of the light stream...was a nest, a nest with a single egg. The egg was small for the type of creature it belonged to...a griffin. It was a dark steel like color with blue swirls that glowed softly in the darkness. I crept as quietly as I could across the stone floor, trying my best to stay in the shadows. I was trying so hard I was right up against the wall almost the whole time.

My reasoning for this was simple, if there is an egg. Surely there is a mother. Griffins also tend to live in pairs with their mate whom they mate for life with. I knew if they caught me near their egg they would tear me to pieces, and they could be back at any moment. I stayed as quiet as I could. But then I heard a sudden crack. I looked over, afraid of what I might find. Sure enough When I looked over...there was a crack in the egg. I tried to hide behind a rock. If the baby griffin saw me it would surely imprint on me as its mother. I stayed there hoping and praying it didn't find me. But then I felt a small peck at my left heel. I looked down and there was the baby griffin. "Hey little one, I'm not your mommy." It just cocked its head at me and continued to peck at my ankles hard enough to make even me jump. "Ow, ow, what, how are you this strong already?!" They managed to back me all the way out of the cave, and right before I fell off the edge I hear a loud screech from behind me. When I looked. "Mamas home."

She flew towards me at the speed of a Peregrine Falcon, with her talons stretched out to pluck me out of life with one swipe. I ran back into the cave with her talon just barely missing the nape of my hoof. I ran as fast as I could and looked everywhere for a escape. The baby griffin followed me like a duckling does its mother. "No, no go to mommy. Go on." I said out of desperation, but they wouldn't listen. Griffins are some of the most intelligent, majestic creatures in Endalashia. But this one seemed no smarter than a adolescent human, but I guess even they have to learn. I looked frantically around the cave for a way out. Then my eyes fell on the hole in the roof of the cave. I started to try and scramble up the wall. While the mama griffin was struggling to get in, due to her size and the fact that she is in a panic. I managed to climb all the way up and through the hole.

Not even a second after I pull myself over the edge of the hole I hear another menacing shriek from the mama griffin as she broke free of the cave opening and flew to the top of the cliff. I found a little divot in another cliff covered with a curtain of bushes that had been blown here by the frigid wind. I flattened myself against the wall of the divot, breathing harder than a chariot horse after a race. I heard a twig snap outside. This is it, this is how I die. Not by being killed by my brothers, by being eaten alive by a mad mama griffin. I held my breath hoping and praying they didn't find me, but then through the bushes came....the baby griffin. I looked at it wide eyed. How did it escape the cave? Where did the mama griffin go? Did she just leave it? And if she didn't why wasn't she attacking right behind it? I peeked my head out of the divot, the mama was nowhere to be found. I slowly stepped out into the open, hoping she wasn't just trying to lure me out of my hiding. The baby made a sort of gurgling sound, the kind you would expect to hear from a newborn hatchling. I looked back at it, and it cocked its head at me with big beautiful eyes. They had brown feathers and a tan colored rear just like a lion. Its eyes were one of the prettiest shades of golden brown that I have seen, and its beak and front feet as yellow as a sunflower's petals with tiny, short black talons. "So, I guess it's you and me now." The griffin sat on the ground curling its tail around its front feet, still giving me a look of wonder and joy. They seemed so calm after what just happened, I think they were just happy to see me.