Priscilla and Tarrant set out early the next morning for the seven hills. That was where King Wendell said the guardian was. They soared through the air at a great speed and soon came upon the hills. They landed on the first one they reached.
The mountain range was large and snow capped. Wendell had given Tarrant a winter Jacket and shoes while Aeryck changed Priscilla's outfit to be more suitable to the winter weather.
"Where do we go from here?" Asked Tarrant.
"Wendell said the Gryphon made its nest on the highest mountain of the seven so I'm guessing it's that one." Priscilla pointed to the center mountain and it was in fact the tallest of the seven. It towered over all of the others and the wind blew at a gale force. "We won't be able to fly up. It's too windy to maintain a decent flight pattern."
"Then I guess we're climbing." Tarrant said as he shouldered their pack of supplies that Wendell had given them. Priscilla shouldered a smaller pack and followed Tarrant up the mountain.
The climb was long and treacherous. Many times they narrowly escaped a trip that would have lead to a long fall and a sudden stop. It took most of the day to finally reach the summit of the largest mountain.
They climbed over the ridge and found themselves standing in a nest the size of a large hot tub. Feathers and snow littered the ground plus some unidentifiable skeletal remains.
"Well if this is the nest where's the Gryphon?" Tarrant asked. A loud angry screech pierced through the sound of the raging wind like an arrow. They both snapped their heads up and spotted the gray, silver and white Gryphon circling them and around his neck hung the purple crystal. It circled twice more before landing on the edge of the nest its lavender eyes narrowed in suspicious surprise.
"You know it's not often that I have food come to me." Said the Gryphon. Priscilla went pale and to her surprise Tarrant went paler then his already natural pale parlor. The Gryphon started to laugh. "Do not worry, I don't eat humans, but I must confess I am curious as to what you are doing in my nest."
"We need the purple crystal." Tarrant said.
"Why?" Asked the Gryphon. Priscilla took over and explained why they needed it. "Well in order to get my crystal I propose a little competition. The winner will get the crystal."
"A competition?" Exclaimed Priscilla. She was hoping that after their plea he would just give them the crystal. "There are lives at stake here. This is not a game."
"Well it's either that or I could just push you both off the cliff." Said the Gryphon lightly as he examined his claws. Priscilla chewed her lip as she thought. She could fly and more than likely make it to the ground alright, but Aeryck would have trouble since he would have to catch Tarrant and the added weight would not help matters in this weather.
"Fine, what's the competition?" Priscilla asked.
"A race around the Seven Mountains. I watched you as you climbed the mountain and saw you use your wings till the wind got too much for your bird so this is what I propose. We will race around the mountains starting from here and ending here, the first one back wins." The Gryphon stated as he stretched his wings in anticipation of the flight. Then he held out his taloned hand to Priscilla. "Do we have a deal?"
Priscilla glanced at Tarrant who just shrugged his shoulders as if to say what other choice did they have. Priscilla took in a deep breath and shook the Gryphon's hand.
"Deal." Priscilla said as the Gryphon released her hand. Tarrant was to give the go and then the race would begin.
"Ready…Set..." Before Tarrant could say go the Gryphon shot off into the air with a screech of laughter.
"Hey, that's cheating." Priscilla yelled as she raced after him.
"I don't remember setting down any ground rules." Replied the gryphon as he flew faster.
Priscilla got angry as she watched him get further and further ahead of her.
"If he wants to play dirty then let's play dirty." Priscilla made a downward swoop with her hand causing the wind to force the Gryphon into a snow bank. She laughed as she flew by him.
Gryphon erupted from the snow and gave chase. He would not let himself be out done by a mere mortal. Using his own control of wind they began an all out no hold bar wind fight. They forced each other into mountainsides, caused snow to fall blocking their opponent or trapping them, and causing tornadoes to for around one another in an attempt to mess up their sense of direction all the while the finishing line was drawing closer. Priscilla was just about to win when all of the sudden the Gryphon grabbed her leg and threw her down hard.
Priscilla dragged herself out of the snow just in time to see the Gryphon win and land next to Tarrant. She flew over to the finish line and glared at the Gryphon the whole way.
"I win." He said.
"Only because you cheated." Priscilla snapped. "Now give me the crystal."
"First of all, as I previously stated, there were no rules and since you lost I will not give you the crystal so you can go now." He said with a smirk.
"Don't you care if people will continue to suffer until we get all of these crystals together?" Priscilla said angrily.
"Nope." He said childishly and then started to laugh.
"Oh forget this." Priscilla said as she lifted her hand causing the snow around the Gryphon and freezing him solid except for his head.
"Hey this isn't fair." The gryphon complained.
"In comparison to what? The way you acted?" Priscilla said as she reached up and broke the crystal free and attached it to her bracelet next to the blue sapphire. With an angry squawk the gryphon disappeared then she looked over and saw Tarrant staring at her open mouthed. "He's the one who said there were no rules."
