Whilst resuming their epic quest to save Morwenna, Crusader and Rags had once again arrived in a strange new territory, the fabled Empire of the Wind, home of the Saxon Gryphons…
"This place Is HYUUUUGE!!" Rags exclaimed.
The Empire of The Wind was indeed huge, it was a massive series of floating land in the clouds, with stone bridges connecting every landmass. Buildings on the landmasses made of marble and gold practically touched the skies. Gryphons flew and darted about—some were going into the massive palace in the center of the floating landmasses, some were shaping clouds to create beautiful statues, and gryphon hatchlings were darting about, playing tag with one another.
"Well, we've got to cross through here in order to continue on our quest…" Crusader spoke. "So come on, Rags!"
Crusader and Rags walked into the massive city where it seemed that they were being gawked at with every step they made. Gryphons everywhere briefly ceased whatever it was that they were doing to view the strange newcomers.
A tall, slender, white gryphon stood before Crusader and Rags, clad in some beautiful gauntlets with a golden crown at the top of her feathered head. Her eyes were angular with flowing lashes, there were black tips on her feathers, and her beak was small and black, giving her the appearance of a snowy owl or egret, especially with that neck she had.
"I, am Moonquill," the white gryphon spoke. "Ruler over the Empire of the Wind, and since you two have come trespassing…"
"Oh great, another "trespassing" situation…" Crusader grumbled as Moonquill picked up Rags and he.
"…I shall decide your fate…" the gryphon continued, licking her beak.
Before the massive, white gryphon could devour Crusader and Rags whole, she was interrupted.
"Your majesty!" A random gryphon squire called to the Gryphon Empress. "The delegates from Bloodtalon have arrived!"
"Oh, alright…" Empress Moonquill sighed, placing the tiger and rabbit down, disappointed she could not rip their skin off. "Let them in…"
The massive entrance doors to the palace opened again, and inside came a beautiful, slender gryphon with a vast wingspan that appeared to be half-scarlet macaw, half-jaguar, with a smaller macaw-jaguar gryphon hatchling flanked behind her. Both gryphon hybrids wore beautiful gold gauntlets and slim, golden crowns atop their heads.
"Announcing Queen Cihuatlatoque and Princess Nahuatl of the Bloodtalon Jungle!" The gryphon squire exclaimed.
"…whaaa?" Rags spoke, raising one eyebrow in confusion.
While both respective rulers bowed before each other in respect, Crusader turned to the squire and asked;
"Excuse me, what exactly is going on here?"
"Queen Cihuatlatoque of the Bloodtalon Jungle wishes to betroth her daughter Princess Nahuatl to Empress Moonquill's son, Prince Aether." The squire whispered. "This betrothal will last until they are both twenty moons old and can officially marry, thereby securing both kingdoms as allies until the end of time."
"FOR REAL?!" Aether exclaimed, having overheard the squire.
"GROSS!" Nahuatl retorted.
"My dear, in this situation you must learn to hold your tongue! You may be the princess, but I am the Queen and you'll do as I say." Cihualatoque spoke, pushing her daughter away from Aether.
"Likewise, my child..." Moonquill pushed Aether away from Nahuatl.
"Okay, okay, hold everything!" Rags exclaimed. "Why on earth do you two hate each other if you're gonna marry each other when you're grown up?"
"It's not our choice to get married, idiot…" Aether scoffed at the tiger.
"Aether's just the worst!" Nahuatl exclaimed. "He's always ruffled my feathers and I SO do not wanna marry him!"
"Yeah, right back atcha', NACHO!" Aether commented, brushing his tail in her face, making her even more agitated.
"It's pronounced "NAH-WAT-TLE"!" Nahuatl exclaimed.
Aether growled, Nahuatl growled right back, and soon the two gryphon hatchlings were in quite the standoff….
"Wait, wait, hold everything!" Crusader exclaimed, getting in the middle of the crossfire. "I have an idea!"
Over in the guest room, Crusader spoke with Nahuatl about her current situation. The parrot/jaguar gryphon paced about angrily while Crusader sat on a chair nearest her window.
"So you've established that you don't fancy him, why is that?" Crusader asked.
"And to be completely honest, I've always had eyes for Péng Yì from the Cloud Mountain territory…." Nahuatl pulled out a scroll sent to her with a beautiful ink-sketched image of a gryphon that appeared to be half-red crowned crane and half clouded leopard.
While Crusader continued to speak with Nahuatl, Ragland spoke with Aether in his room. The prince's room was extravagantly decorated to the point of looking almost gaudy, his bed being made of the finest cotton linens, his curtains bejeweled and made from red velvet.
"So, kiddo, you wanna marry this girl or not?" Rags asked, his response surprisingly more blunt than that of Crusader.
"Absolutely not." Aether crossed his arms. "The Bloodtalons are our most dangerous enemies and to become allies with them would basically equate to suicide!"
Rags didn't exactly know what to respond with, so he talked with Crusader about the situation. An hour passed, and Crusader and Rags approached the respective gryphon queens with how the situation should be handled.
"My lady, I believe you should call this arranged marriage off." Crusader spoke, respectfully bowing alongside Rags. "Your children are still children, and like most relationships, they take time to develop and grow. Surely, you must know the feeling…"
"I did not marry Emperor Strongbeak, son of Ironclaw out of LOVE!" Moonquill squawked, her feathers quite literally ruffled. "I did it because it was tradition! And my parents saw that the Eun Kingdom was falling due to the Roc invasion of the year 15. When I marry my son off to this jungle bird, we can secure our alliance and become a GREATER EMP—!"
"Lady, PUH-LEASE!" Rags exclaimed, interrupting the argument between the gryphon empress and Crusader. "Listen to the bunny, he knows what he's talking about. Also, if it doesn't work out, they can just get an arranged divorce…"
"WHY YOU INSOLENT LITTLE—" Moonclaw squawked much like a parrot, so did the Bloodtalon Queen.
"RUN FOR IT, RAAAAGS!!" Crusader exclaimed, darting away from the two gryphon rulers.
"Y'know what, buddy?" Rags asked once he and Crusader got to the other side of the Empire and resumed their gallant quest.
"What could you possibly have to say after all this nonsense?" Crusader replied. "We've prevented what would have been a beautiful betrothed relationship, and quite possibly an alliance between two foreign kingdoms!"
"Meh," Rags shrugged. "They'll get over it eventually."
To be continued...
