Chapter 2: Windows to the Soul
Pain. That was all she knew. Not physical pain, but emotional pain of the very worst kind, as if a portion of her soul had been torn away. The young woman stumbled through a dense evergreen forest. Her white robes were dirty and stained with dried blood. Her grey eyes were distant and weary. Her black hair was dirty and matted. Visions kept appearing in her mind.
She was on the back of a black dragon flying over an ocean, a distant coastline on the horizon. The dragon's throat was covered in bite and claw marks and he was bleeding heavily. He struggled to remain in the air as he desperately flew toward the coastline in the distance.
T he black dragon lay on the beach where he had collapsed from his wounds. Half his body lay in the surf, his blood mingling with the water as the waves washed up around him. He looked into her eyes and she saw sadness and fear. Then he laid his head down and closed his eyes, never wake again.
Tears flowed from her eyes as she trudged onward, occasionally stumbling over rocks and fallen logs. She didn't know where she would go or why she even bothered walking. All she wanted to do was lay down and die with her companion.
Something caught her eye. Something was emerging from the trees in front of her. And then she saw it. The creature was roughly as tall she was. He had the head, wings, and talons of a mighty eagle. His hind quarters and back legs were like those of a large feline. His feathers and fur were a rich shade of reddish-brown. A majestic gryphon. She had heard of these creatures but had never seen one before. They weren't native to Alagaesia, after all. No, this was a different land entirely that she found herself in, home to strange and exotic creatures.
The gryphon looked at the woman with golden-orange eyes, his pointed, feathered ears angled back. She reached for her black Rider's sword, but then lowered her hand. After all, she had wondered into this creature's territory. It would be wrong to harm him simply for defending what was his. Her beloved dragon would never have approved, after all. Instead, she just knelt before the creature, her eyes watching his razor sharp talons. No attack ever came though. The gryphon took a few steps toward her and she looked up. Their eyes met. The creature's eyes were intense and beautiful, like those of her deceased dragon. It has been said that the eyes are windows to the soul. As the woman gazed into the gryphon's golden orange eyes, she saw intelligence and wisdom, and also curiosity. He was studying her. She felt like the gryphon was staring right into her soul, like he could read her thoughts. Perhaps he could… She saw his expression soften. His eyes reflected a look of sympathy and pity. He understood. She saw pain in his eyes. Pain and fear, though it wasn't as great as her own.
What happened next surprised her. The gryphon turned and began to walk away, but he turned his head and beckoned for her to follow. Slowly she got to her feet and started after the majestic creature as he walked briskly through the woods. They arrived at a shallow cave. The gryphon entered and again beckoned for her to follow. As the woman entered the cave, she was greeted by the sight of a second gryphon, this one a female, curled up on what appeared to be a nest. The female had tan feathers and tawny fur with amber eyes. Beside her, tucked under her wing, were two small nestlings.
As the woman looked on, the female gryphon gave her a stern glance. She saw the same look of fear and concern in the female gryphon's eyes as she did in the male's. The male gryphon nuzzled his mate, which seemed to calm her nerves. The woman wasn't sure why the gryphon had brought her to his nest. However, it was about to become clear.
The male gryphon picked one of the nestlings up in his beak and carried it over to her. The nestling was a tiny mass of soft down feathers and tan fur with cub spots. The father gryphon laid the nestling down at the woman's feet and gave her a pleading look. The baby gryphon made a strange rasping sound as if it struggled to breath. There was fluid in his lungs. He lied listlessly on the ground as if he had no energy. He struggled to hold his eyes open. The woman could tell he was near death.
The woman gently scooped the nestling up in her arms and his body felt warm. Too warm… He was clearly very ill. The woman glanced over at the female gryphon. Like her mate, she gave her a pleading look. The gryphon had brought her here to heal his sick nestling. The woman summoned what little energy she could and held her palm over the tiny nestling's body. The Gedwëy ignasia on her palm glowed as she cast a series of spells. The baby gryphon's raspy breathing became normal and his fever began to cool down. The woman gently laid him back down in his nest next to his mother. The mother gryphon quickly covered him with her wing again and looked at the woman with a look of gratitude.
The male gryphon stood beside her and she could see an inviting look in his eyes as if to say she was now welcome among them. He draped a wing over her in a comforting manner and she smiled slightly, feeling a bit of warmth and life in her broken heart.
She had lost one life, but she had saved another, and in doing so she had forever earned the loyalty and friendship of the gryphons.
Author's note: I decided to try an experiment by writing a chapter that has no dialogue between characters. The gryphons and our wayward former Dragon Rider will be appearing in future stories.