Journey of the Horn

Chapter 11

"So what to call you? Well I guess I need to know what you are before I can give you a name." I tried to remember what color the egg was glowing. Usually when the egg glows a red or pink the fledgling will be a girl, and if it glows blue or green then it will be a boy. I sifted through my memories, being the prospector only instead of gold I was looking for an answer. Then it hit me, it was glowing blue. "You're a boy, so how about....Conall?" He jumped around all excited doing a bit of a play bow like a dog. I couldn't help but smile as he did "Conall it is then." I cut the top of my sheath off and used my magic to make it bigger. Then I slipped it over Conall's head. "There now I will be able to tell you apart from the others if needed." He lets out a little squeak of a call as he wags his tail and rump. "Alright, well we better get a move on then." We started walking north to the biggest mountain in the chain. If the ring was any where it was there. The mountain scaled high above the clouds. At the top you felt like the ground you stood on was floating above the rest. The ring had to be there. "All I ask of you little one, is that you stay quiet. If my brothers find us, they'll try to kill both of us. I'll try my best to protect you but, I can't guarantee anything any more." Conall squawked at me in response, wiggling around like he was a puppy. "Alright, well then let's go."

We started walking. It was snowing now, snow like it always did. I have yet to see a day on this mountain that it didn't snow. But this snow was different. It wasn't the snow I would watch out the window while sitting in front of a fireplace telling stories to my younger siblings. It wasn't the snow that we would have snowball fights in and make snowmen. No this snow was different, it was cold and wet beyond belief, and when I went back to the place we started to fight...it was red. I saw the bodies of my brothers frozen and bleeding in the snow, some with scavenging animals such as foxes and coyotes. I tried to hold back the tears, I tried as hard as I could. But I felt them slowly roll down my face, and the more I looked, the more I would remember. Remember the times that they crawled in my bed when they had nightmares, when they would try to sword fight me or race me up a cliff trying to impress me, when they would beg me to play with them, but most of all...I remembered when my mother would take all of us, young and old and would tell us stories of great warriors. Warriors that only killed to help others. I couldn't hold it in any longer, I fell to my knees and hid my face in my hands and cried, I cried to the point my whole body shook from my sobs. For I would never see these brothers alive again.

Conall came over and gave me a curious look. He had yet to learn the meaning of sadness and death. To him the bodies of my brothers are no more than a part of the landscape. He nudged my arm as if trying to make me feel better. I took my hands away from my face to look at him. My nose ran due to both the crying and the cold, and my eyes were so red I could feel it as streams of tears still rolled down my cheeks. He nuzzled me again as if to say things were gonna be alright but still had no idea why I was upset. "The bodies you see Conall, they are the bodies of my little brothers. They were people just like me, they, they are never waking up again." He looked at me as I talked and once I finished he looked back at the bodies of my brothers, and his ears drooped. Conall may be a baby griffin, but he is more intelligent than I gave him credit for. He came back over and curled up on my lap with his ears drooped and sad eyes. I started to pet him, he was warm like a fluffy Norwegian Elkhound but with feathers and short fur. "I'll be okay Conall...I just need some time, just some time."

I stayed there for about ten minutes before getting to my feet again. If I didn't move on, if someone didn't find me first, I would surely freeze. The light snow had now turned into a blizzard, each snow flake stung against my skin like getting grazed by little tiny daggers. When I stood I had snow clinging to my legs like it does to the belly of a long haired dog. The flakes stuck to my hair and eyebrows. Along with Connell's feathers. He curled them over his head trying to keep them out of his eyes. The snow went up to just beyond the bottom of his chest, so the snow came up to just beyond my true ankle. I stumbled through the snow, it was so cold that even I was shivering. We had to find shelter, or else we would freeze to death. I saw a small cave just big enough for Connell and I. It was ten to twenty feet off the ground. I knew Connell couldn't fly yet. His wings were just slightly too small to be able to lift his heavy bulk....but I could. "Alright little guy hang on tight." I told him with chattering teeth as I maneuvered him onto my back. He hung there like a child. He lost a little bit of his grip when I jumped for a good hold on the rock but he didn't fall. My hands were starting to get black marks on them from frost bite. But I climbed all the way up to the cave and squeezed through the opening with Connell right behind me. The small entrance opened into a bigger sized room. I could see pieces of wood from the light coming through the entrance, and I managed to make a fire.

Connal chirped at me from the other side of the fire, he kind of shied away from it like it was gonna jump out and hurt him. "It's alright Connal, the fire won't jump out and get you. As long as you don't touch it, it won't hurt you..." He slowly crept towards the fire still cautious. "See, it's not jumping out now is it." He just sits and chirps again as if to give me sass. He comes over and curls up against me. To think when I was younger I was so petrified by these creatures, when really all they wanted was respect maybe even love. I started to pet him and he just nuzzled my hand. At least I had one friend here, but even still I felt lonely. All my brothers now thought I was dead, but I still felt a weight dragging my shoulders to the earth. In my conscience I knew none of my brothers could rule, but then again what made me think I could. Was it my pride, the fact that I was older, or just the way they all acted at least around me. It didn't matter now, I couldn't let them carry the weight of the kingdom on their shoulders, I had to find the ring.