The Rise of Skandranon
A FanFiction by Emily Hutchins
Prelude;
The Trilogy "The Black Gryphon" by Mercedes Lackey depicts the life of the Gryphon Skandranon during the ancient Mage War between the equally powerful rulers Urtho and Marr. Those stories took place after Skandranon's bravery and arrogance had won him many battles, as well as the position of the most respected, talked-about and feared Gryphon in the whole of Urtho's army. This short story is about Skandranon's first experience of real battle and bloodshed, as well as his first tastes of heroism and loss. Although this fiction is based on the character Skandranon, and the atmosphere created by Mercedes Lackey in these books during the 'Mage War', all additional characters, locations and plotlines were created by me. Thusly, I use the term, "FanFiction" to describe it.
This story involves various forms of magic and telepathy, but I have tried my best to define them within the story, and I have put my confidence in the reader to understand them. But, this story is mainly about Gryphons. The main characters are Gryphons. I realize that not all people are familiar with this fanciful beast, so I see it necessary to show you just what it is. Basically, a Gryphon is a cross between a feline and a bird, generally a lion and an eagle. Generally it is spliced in a way that it has the head and neck of an eagle, with cat-like ear tufts, and the head appears proportional on top of a feline-like body. It then may have the front legs of an eagle with the back of a feline, and of coarse it has large eagle wings with which it flies. In this story, they are also then enlarged to the size of a large horse.