A/N: I just noticed a few grammar errors in my first few chapters, so please try and disregard them as I attempt to fix them :D.
There was Elda, crystal clear and golden in the center of a huge, rocky valley. Flury was crouched upon an outcropping of the depressing, brownish stone and thinking of how on earth he could possibly get to her. His thoughts kept jumping back to Bolero, sitting stagnant and feeling useless.
Elda had spent some time yelling at the top of her lungs, insulting her surrounding captors with some extremely colorful vocabulary, then she had tried to break the magical bindings, and then finally she had lapsed into a dangerous sort of silence. The griffins surrounding her were all filthy creatures, with hostile, hungry looks to them. The dragons were even scarier, with hooked and serrated claws that connected to huge paws almost as big as Flury. These dragons were big, and it was hard for Flury to believe that they had been hidden for a very long time.
Flury decided that he would have to translocate, and simply grab Elda and translocate again. That was the crude way, because Flury knew he could create a complete time stop; the magical skill that made him famous. A time stop was advanced magic that could go wrong too easily, and only years of intensive study and practice could possibly prepare a wizard for the difficulties involved. Flury would have to create an anti-magic barrier around himself and Elda separately, then immediately stop time completely, allowing for free movement of both griffins while the rest of the world stayed frozen in time.
However, there were cruel side effects to that magic, for it took almost all of the energy from the user, and if it wasn't used in moderation, it could drain years from the user's life. Flury knew he didn't have the resources or the energy needed to create a full time stop, so he settled upon translocation. He decided to wait until night fell, but as a result, hours of endless boredom followed; until the sun finally set.
When the cloak of dark was completely covering the area, Flury crept quietly up as close as he could get without disturbing anything, carefully treading among the loose, stony landscape. When he was sure that he was positioned as close as possible, he mustered his courage, and then simply went.
BANG! He grabbed Elda as quick as his reflexes would allow him, and Elda screamed, her guards screamed, and the dragons roared mightily. He translocated in a mad dash to get away, and suddenly found that he had found Bolero's cave. Elda had realized by then that she needed to shut up, and Bolero had been tensed and ready to translocate. She had guessed Flury's decision to wait for the dark of night, and had heard the roaring and screeching from the nearby valley.
She immediately reacted, stretching her great claws and scooping the two griffins up. She then exerted an amount of magical energy that was more than Flury had ever felt before, and they were suddenly back at the University with a bang.
"H-how did you translocate so fast and so far?" Flury stammered. He felt completely drained of energy.
"My magic is greater than yours, and I'm also quite a bit older." Bolero replied shortly. Flury could see her breathing heavily, but she showed no other signs of exhaustion.
"You have my thanks, both of you." Elda said, looking at them both admiringly.
"No need to thank us, little cat-bird. We were just doing our job." Bolero replied, turning to look at the little golden griffin. Flury felt his feathers fluffing up with pride. He had done it! He had shown Querida, and he had saved Elda!
"Your job?" Elda asked.
"Sort of. Flurian was set with the task of your rescue, and I became his partner." Bolero answered cheerfully. She had already recovered from her huge magical accomplishment.
"Your translocation was amazing, even for a dragon!" Elda exclaimed, noticing their surroundings, "I don't think even Deucalion could do that!"
"I'm skilled at it, like your brother Blade is."
"You know Blade?" Flury asked in surprise.
"Vaguely, I'll admit. I also have to admit that I was also taught by Deucalion, when I was a young dragon."
"You were!" the griffins said in unison.
"Naturally," the dragon said absentmindedly. Flury could see that she wasn't going to answer anything more, and Elda was getting much the same impression.
"Flurian, I think we still have more work to do." Bolero quickly changed the subject. "This revolution worries me." Flury could see the change that their short journey had wrought over Bolero. She had nearly abandoned her carefree attitude, in exchange for a serious, thinking sort of personality. It disturbed the brown griffin.
"I think we have some sort of duty, Flurian, and we must see what we can do." Bolero was looking at Flury, her eyes burning with restrained passion.
"Is it really our duty, Bolero?" Flury asked cautiously.
"This encompasses your race as much as mine. You do work for your government, and as you said, your government probably won't do much about it. I think you are responsible, too, and that since you are the only one knowing, you must help provide the solution. Is my judgment wrong, do you think?" Bolero asked him, and he felt as if she were scanning his very being with her soulful green eyes.
"No. I will help you." Flury said, and Bolero turned her gaze upon Elda.
"I'll help too. You two helped me, so it's the least I can do." Elda looked stubborn and confident.
"You are sure?" Bolero asked. Elda replied with a nod.
"We need to tell Querida, and I assume Deucalion already knows?" Flury asked, tallying the situation inside his head. "Derk should know, and we need to travel to the other continent to warn the griffins. Can you think of anyone else?"
"No, and I think Querida would tell all of the diplomats and suchlike." Elda commented. Flury was bursting with joy at the thought of making all of those journeys with Elda, and being with her for such a long time. He was hard pressed not to give a big, griffin grin in Elda's direction. But again, he was thinking, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."
"So, we need to tell Querida right away," said Elda.
"Right-o!" Bolero was back to being cheerful. At least now that she was getting her way, Flury noticed ruefully. He had just volunteered himself (again) for something he really didn't want to do. What he wanted to do was tell Elda he loved her, and to go back to teaching in the delicate peace of the University. Of course that wasn't going to happen for a while. Bolero had such a split personality, he found himself thinking, and he had a lot to deal with in the near future. Even her vernacular had changed when she was serious, and he found that he didn't like that change.
He trotted away to the Spellman Building while Elda and Bolero had a nice chat. He looked back suspiciously, with a meaningful glance at Bolero. He didn't want her telling Elda about his feelings. Bolero gave a cheerful wave and returned to her talk with Elda, completely disregarding him. He trusted the dragon, though, so he continued to walk into the building. It was much too small for a griffin of his size to walk around comfortably, so he immediately shrank to become a little smaller than Elda.
"Corkoran?" he shouted as he saw the neck-tied wizard walk past, looking weary.
"What?" Corkoran looked at Flury with a slight glare.
"Er, I just wanted to know why you were here." Flury said. He hoped he didn't sound patronizing. "I thought you were on extended vacation."
Corkoran sighed. "I was, until Querida made some sort of wizards council meeting. She called every important wizard that lives on this continent to tell us about some rogue griffins and this dragon revolution."
"She already knows?" Flury felt a bit crestfallen. He had to admit that he had wanted to be the first one to know. The griffin nearly bowled Corkoran over as he charged past, into the council chamber. The High Chancellor Querida sat there, looking positively vicious, as she sorted out a stack of papers. The torches illuminating her face gave it long, disturbing shadows.
"You do have Elda with you, don't you?" was the first thing she hissed at Flury.
"I do. I'm actually hear to inform you a bit more of this revolution," he said, hoping she wouldn't laugh.
"Then do tell. We heard of it from Deucalion, and I called a wizards' council meeting immediately after I heard the news,"
"It's about a day west of the capitol of the Empire, in a rocky region. There are at least," he thought a bit, "fifteen dragons, and two hundred griffins residing there right now. The dragon who kidnapped Elda, Senera, was one of them." That was about all he knew.
"At least it's news." Querida sighed. "Fifteen dragons is a lot, and I'm getting older. I can't decide who to appoint in charge of the operation to stop this."
"I suggest Blade and Kit." Flury said with surety. "Or maybe Derk," he added as an afterthought.
"Leave me for a while. I need to think everything over."
Flury skulked out, and then trotted back to his two new partners. They were sitting, surrounded by a number of students. The sun had risen quite a bit ago. Elda's friends were hugging her and telling her how thankful they were that she was back. As Flury walked towards them, he got quite a shock. Corkoran walked up to Elda, and told her something.
"Elda," he said with a bit of weariness.
"Yes?" she replied cheerfully. She was giving him her full attention, but the other students were asking Bolero questions, and Bolero was happily answering.
"I just want to apologize for being afraid of you before. I'd also like to apologize for the time when you flew me all the way up to the astronomy tower, and I didn't even thank you." He was apparently finished, so he walked away, and out of the courtyard. Elda looked extremely shocked.
"You know, I used to be in love with him!" she chuckled to Flury.