"This is so foolish!" Blade exclaimed. "We have no reason to risk ourselves on this creature's whimsical magic senses!"
"Blade, I trust Hesian," said Flury, a little annoyed. "His skills of sensing are among the best."
"Yes, but can we really do anything about it?" Cazak asked gloomily. His spirits were rather down
They were sitting round a charred pile of wood, deep in discussion once again. Blade was not supportive of the idea of stealing a simple golden object. He called it absurd, but a whole night of arguing had not gotten them anywhere. Each of them was ready to collapse from exhaustion.
Of all wizards that had had to come with Blade, Corkoran was one of them. The others were Finn, a middle-aged woman called Idrea, and the Wizard Myrna, who had recently given birth to her child. She was not very happy to have left her precious child, and was making it known with her imperious and sulky presence.
Flury, yet again, felt something very suddenly. Something was watching him, but even his magical senses couldn't pick anything up; it was intuition alone. His crest rose, and he stood up.
"Flury, what's wrong?" asked Blade, noticing Flury's sudden movement.
"Something's watching us," Flury said, quietly.
"What?" said Hesian, "I'm not picking anything up."
"I feel it as well," said Derk.
"What an imposing presence," said Querida, not in the least impressed.
You fools! You do not know what danger lies ahead, behind, above you! Flee while you have the chance! Go to the desert; you will find something to help you there. The attention left them, and Bolero scooped the humans haphazardly into her claws. This did not make any of them very happy.
"Let's go!" she snarled, "I know what pursues us! Translocate together!" She laid her tail on the ground. "Anyone who cannot translocate, hold on to me! We need great power! I will direct us!" Hesian leapt onto Flury's shoulder blades, digging his claws in to get a better purchase. In a massive group effort from the wizards, who were all jumbled in Bolero's massive grip, they left the spot with a bizarre splurrrch! Bolero had guided them well; the group landed in a desert cave.
"That was close," Bolero said. Her dull, pearly scales shone eerily in the half-light of the cave. "We should rest now. Our course has been decided." No one was tempted to disagree; they were all in favor of resting.
"Is this desert in the west?" asked Blade to Flury.
"The southwest, actually," Flury replied. "To be honest with you, this is the very edge of the desert. This is the only place there are mountains." Blade nodded and, being one of the few wizards that had had the wits to grab his or her things, carried his things to a distant corner and laid his head upon his clothing pack.
"Oh dear," sighed Elda. "Oh dear," she repeated. Flury could not stop looking at her in the gloom. "I feel ever so filthy. What I'd give for a bath," she said, mostly in Flury's direction. He was probably the only one who would listen, but he felt rather touched nonetheless.
"It's not so bad," he said, trying to look happy in his griffin fashion. He managed more of a pained grimace, his dull feathers raining bits of dried mud every time he moved. She moved her head in a way that suggested the cocking of one eyebrow, had she had any eyebrows. Flury didn't understand this gesture, but he assumed that it was one of those behaviors picked up from living with humans for too long.
"You can't possibly be in better shape than I am," she said indignantly.
"You're right," he admitted. He suddenly felt indignant himself. "I'm completely exhausted. I've been translocating you and Hesian and everyone else all around the country for at least a week now." He was getting a little irritable, but it felt good to vent some of his feelings. "Bolero is the only one who can understand how I feel right now. Perhaps Derk can."
"Well," she said, glaring, "I'm so very sorry." She turned her hindquarters toward Flury and moved to further reaches of the cave.
"That was smooth," said a muffled voice from Flury's bag. He reached a talon in the bag and drew out an extremely ruffled looking Hesian.
"How did you get in there?" asked Flury.
"Sneaking," shrugged Hesian, jumping to the floor and shaking himself. "You'd better apologize to her."
"Why should I?" Flury hissed. He was angry now. Why did everyone continually second guess him and keep him constantly working? "She's a silly little girl, and I can't be bothered with it." Naturally, this was the exact opposite of what poor Flury felt. It was a crushing mental blow to realize Elda was against him now, for whatever petty reason it may have been. He lay in a unprepossessing hump of filthy griffin, breathing raggedly. Hesian sat and stared at him for several minutes before padding silently to Elda.
"Wake up," he said silently in where he thought her ear lay.
"What?" she snapped, an orange eye glaring at Hesian.
"I need to speed Flury along," said Hesian urgently. "He won't tell you what he truly thinks of you."
"Oh, so now Flury hates me," she murmured. "I didn't mean to make him so angry."
"He's not angry at you in particular," said Hesian, "He's just tired. Can't you tell what he thinks of you?"
"I have no idea," she said. "He still seems a little scared of me, to tell you the truth."
"You can't possibly tell me you don't recognize his behavior," said Hesian with impatience. "It's classic courting behavior."
"Courting?" she whispered with curiosity. "What?"
"He loves you," Hesian said so quietly it was almost lost. "More than anything, I think."
"What?" she asked again. She looked genuinely shocked. "Did he tell you this?"
"Yes," said Hesian. "So remember that when you're speaking. If I were you, I'd decide what you thought of him." The red fox turned and returned to Flury's side, far on the other side of the cave.
"What?" she asked herself yet again. "I think I know what I think. Or do I?" She fell asleep and dreamt fitfully for the rest of her slumber. Flury's breath quickened. He had heard the entire exchange, pretending to sleep while Hesian spoke with Elda.
He could not go any longer without sleep; he really did fall into a deep, restoring sleep as he thought of Hesian's actions.
As he awoke the next morning, he noticed that Elda was standing in the entrance of the cave, watching the desert sun stream in. He could not possibly face her. He distracted himself by looking around the cave, which was at least the size of a large cathedral when lit by the sun.
"Good morning, Flurian," said Bolero, who had compacted herself to fit into the space and still leave extra room for the others. I heard what Hesian told young Elda. He did not think of how it might affect you. Please, forget it until Elda has made her decision.
"I will," Flury assured Bolero. He meant nothing of the sort; how could he face Elda now? What would he do?
"Do not lie," she said. "Try."
"I'll try."
"So, where is it we're going?" asked Querida into the gloom.
"I've no clue," said Blade sadly, standing and brushing his clothes off. Derk simply sat in his own niche, looking thoughtful and pained simultaneously.
"I'm not really in the mood for wandering aimlessly in the desert," said Kit grumpily. He looked vicious with bad temper.
"Neither am I," said Finn, who was attempting to calm Corkoran and Myrna down without much success.
"I'm not going anywhere!" shouted Myrna in no particular direction. "I have no reason to be here!" Finn shuddered at the resonation the screaming created. He rather sharply cast a spell of calm and tranquility upon Myrna, who fell back, a glazed look of content replacing the hysterical one. Corkoran was white with apprehension; his eyes were wide with malcontent and fear. His personality had never really returned after his disastrous trip to Mars, and he was really in no mental condition to be in their party. Finn. Elda, and Querida all knew this quite well, but leaving Corkoran alone was probably not a very safe thing to do. Querida had had no choice but to drag him along.
"What a silly girl," said Querida with slight disgust on her face. "Flury, do you have absolutely any idea as to where we might need to go?"
"Not really," Flury began apologetically, but shut his beak when Elda's clear orange gaze turned to him.
"Yes?" hissed Querida impatiently.
"I- That is to say- I…" He could not seem to get the words out.
"What Flury means is that we should go to Halgen, the only civilized griffin establishment in the desert," said Hesian, his tiny voice echoing in the cave.
"It's as good an idea as any," agreed Cazak. "Callette?" he asked, turning to the ragged brown griffin.
"Whatever you say," Callette said in an unusually resigned tone.
"Kit and I agree," said Blade.
"Then I suppose that's settled," said Derk, lifting his head up to gaze at Bolero. "But how do we know if that city will not be overtaken."
"I am quite sure it will be safe," said Flury. Halgen was too small for anyone to actually be concerned about it. He was very, very sure of this. He felt a sharp pang of irritation as Hesian climbed into the very torn bag that still hung round Flury's thick neck. His tail stuck out garishly from a hole that had developed from the bag's travels.
"We need to go northeast," said Flury, walking past Elda without looking at her. "Are any of you in condition for translocation? I didn't think so," he said in response to the shaking of several heads, crowned with hair or feathered.
"We can carry the humans for a while," said Callette. "But they're too heavy to be riding on most of us. Kit maybe."
"Nobody will be riding me," snarled Kit, still in a bad temper.
"Oh yes they will," said Derk, standing and facing his son. "You'll carry someone if they need carried. I don't care how full of yourself you are." Kit filled his lungs with air for a spirited vocal assault, but the look on Derk's face silenced him.
"Fine," he muttered, as if he were five years old again.
"You too, Elda and Callette," he said sternly.
"Yes, Dad," the two female griffins said in chorus. This was not a time to argue.
"I don't know about griffins, but I can carry a few humans if they don't object," chimed in Bolero.
"Thank you, Bolero," said Flury graciously. He was taking charge now; nothing would be done if he didn't. "Perhaps you could take Myrna, Corkoran, and Finn?"
"Of course," she said politely, winking at Flury before scooping Myrna, Corkoran, and Finn in a very undignified scramble into her ivory claws. Myrna would have objected, but Finn continued to maintain his spell powerfully.
"I'll take Dad, I suppose," grumbled Kit.
"Callette?" asked Blade raggedly, leaning against his sister. She nodded shortly, and Cazak grinned at her encouragingly.
"I'll take you, Querida," said Flury as Elda opened her beak to accept Querida. "It's fine; I'm bigger than you," said Flury to Elda's protests. She snorted and, before she walked away, gave him a glance that could have petrified him. It almost did.
Flury expanded himself into his normal shape, which nearly matched Kit's formidable bulk, and tried, as gently as possible, to wrap his talons around the skinny Querida. He hoped he had the strength for this.
"We'll have to go down for rests at least once an hour," he said as the other griffins picked up their cargo. "If any of us gets too tired we'll rotate humans and take someone heavier or lighter. Agreed?"
"Yes," said Kit and Callette, who were really the only ones this applied to.
"And… Fly!" he screeched, feeling the leaden weight of Querida weigh him down. But soon it passed and he was gliding closer to the blue mass of the sky. Kit was laboring nearby with Derk, while Callette, who was relatively strong, was easily carrying her skinny brother. Bolero flew by magic, so it wasn't affecting her at all.
After about two hours, at their second rest, Flury was feeling his recent hardships weighing on his wings. They were leaden and he was panting in agony with every single flap.
"You'd better let me carry her," said Elda when she landed next to Flury, who was lying on the ground in a tired heap. His breaths were becoming more labored and loud, his flanks rose up and down rapidly and sharply as he rolled onto his side.
"Really, Flury," said Derk as Flury tried to get up. "You've hardly the strength to get up, let alone lug Querida around."
"I won't let the beast carry me," grunted Querida, shaking her head at his condition. "I don't think he should be flying for the next few days."
"I can't make someone carry me," he gasped. "I can still fly. Just give me another hour."
"Flurian, I don't think even another hour will cure you. You've been going too hard for too long. You need to rest," Bolero said. Flury really didn't argue; his body was more exhausted than he had ever even imagined it could have been. "I can take you as well. My magic will suffice to carry you."
"Thank you," he sputtered. He felt tendrils of magic lifting him from the ground, weaving around him in a comfortable way, and then finally attaching themselves around Bolero's neck. There he hung, suspended in the magic and not in Bolero's way.
"Let's go," she said. "We need to move, now."