Sworn To Defiance (7 page)

Before she could say anything, he shook his head grimly. Silently telling her and his daughter to act normal. Ciardis’s shoulders tensed but she was careful to keep the sweep of her gaze going so that it came back around, took in the griffin and refocused on Seraphina.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ciardis noticed that the young griffin was calming down. He looked less like a pincushion of angry feathers and more like a scared and weary child. Intelligence was returning to his eyes where only a maddened fury had been present before.

“We need to keep talking,” Seraphina prodded. “It calms Skarar. Then you can get the ropes off of him.”

“To put another in its place?” Ciardis said tightly.

“A dream net,” Seraphina was quick to say. “Skarar is frightened and tired right now. You get the coarse rope binding off him and then he can sleep in my father’s arms.”

Reluctance clouded her mind, but Ciardis had to admit, she didn’t have a better plan.

Ciardis shifted the knife in her hands.

Seraphina said cautiously, “Keep it below your waist. Skarar can’t see it there as long as it stays on your left side.”

Ciardis caught on. “He reverted.”

“Mmhmm,” murmured Seraphina. Her head was half-turned to the griffin. With the quizzical tilt of her face, it looked like she had a question but Ciardis knew she was assessing his state. Assessing whether or not Skarar was likely to revert back to a primal state induced by fear. In Ciardis’s gaze he only seemed to be growing calmer by the minute. His feathers were now plastered against his back in fear. He was almost huddling now but the gaze in his eyes was still fierce.

She thought about what Seraphina had said. Conversation soothed him. Then conversation it would be. Not many people accused Ciardis of being stupid once they got to know her. She could be calculating when she put her mind to the purpose. She might be stuck playing tea with a young girl but she might as well get as much information out of her as possible.

“So Jason SaAlgardis is your father?” All the while, the man continued to creep forward. He was ten feet away now and moving no faster than a baby crawling on its hands and knees. But he didn’t have a choice. If he sped up the little creature would surely hear him. Ciardis had no idea what Skarar would do then, but she didn’t want to find out. Not because she was frightened of the trembling baby, but because even subtle movements could wrench the arrow in his wing enough that he could tear his flesh and be lame for life.

“Yep,” the girl replied cheerfully.

“And you’re the granddaughter of Emperor Cymus Athanos Algardis?”

If she was, that made Sebastian her cousin.

“Duh,” scoffed the girl.

“Do you know your father believes certain things about the emperor?”

The girl turned her full attention to Ciardis. Anger sparked in her gaze. But she kept her tone calm.

“True things! Everything my father told you was
true
.”

“And what were those things?”

The girl sat back with her legs crossed and her eyes shuddered. She scoffed, “Shouldn’t you already know? I’m not telling you anything.”

Ciardis leaned forward and gripped her hand tightly. “This is important.”

The flat of her blade rested against the girl’s skin, but Ciardis didn’t mean it as a threat. She just didn’t want to put the weapon down in case they needed it.

Seraphina turned a cold gaze on the Weathervane. “Let go of me.”

“I don’t think so,” Ciardis said in a calm whisper. “I need you to answer some questions. I’m not here to hurt you I just want you to tell me...”

But Seraphina wasn’t listening anymore. Her red hair began to lift from her head as if it was taking a life of its own. Instead of spiky clumps, every strand stood out from static. Lightning began to crackle in the air around them and Ciardis could have sworn she saw a streak of white energy materialize behind Seraphina.

The lightning must be coming from her father
, Ciardis surmised. It made sense. She was sitting a foot away from the girl and no hint of a mage’s aura was coming from her.

When she turned to look for the threat, she felt power trickle up her arm. Then she turned a wary gaze back on the girl. Seraphina’s eyes had changed. White lightning grew in them until her entire orb blazed with enclosed thunder.

“Or not,” Ciardis whispered in a horrified tone.

Shaken, Ciardis released her arm. She watched as lightning trailed from Seraphina’s skin and arced up over her body like fingers reaching for her. Gulping, Ciardis shuffled back. It followed her.

“Don’t move,” Seraphina cautioned. Ciardis turned her eyes from the lightening to the girl’s face. It was eerily calm.

Then the lightning jumped to the blade of her knife. Once. Twice. Forcing Ciardis to drop it. Stubborn she picked up her weapon back up, and shielded this time so that she had some protection.

Looking into Seraphina’s ghostly eyes, she watched as the girl said, “I don’t want to hurt you. But I’m going to ask you just one time. Please let go of the knife.”

Ciardis breathed out hard. “If I don’t?”

A bigger streak of lightning hit the ground between their knees. It left a charred mark in the stone of the street. Ciardis had never seen a weather mage with that much control in her entire life.

“Okay,” she said as she put the knife down by her side, “but if you keep this up you’ll have a big problem on your hands.”

“And what’s that?” Seraphina said with her characteristic tilt of her head.

It was odd seeing such a childish attribute in a girl that was clearly more powerful than she looked.

Ciardis jerked her head at Skarar. The young griffin looked to be hyperventilating. He was crouched down low and his feathers had risen once more until he looked like a giant ball of poof. His eyes had stayed the same: angry, frightened, and confused.

Seraphina’s father had stopped moving as well. Unfortunately he wasn’t crouching behind the griffin, but rather had been detained by two soldiers with swords to his throat.

Abruptly Seraphina’s face changed. The confident face of a mage was gone. Instead a young girl with a worried look in her eyes and frown on her face overtook it. Slowly her hair stopped sparking. It didn’t lay down flat, but Ciardis wouldn’t expect it to after that display. The power in her eyes dimmed until a normal blue iris became evident.

“Father,” she cried out.

“It’s all right,” shouted Jason. “Take care of Skarar. Keep going.”

Shocked, Ciardis realized that even with a knife to his throat and clear pressure from the two men gripping his shoulders he had refused to drop the shield protecting them from outside interference. Ironic that. She was trapped inside a bubble with a weather mage that had more control over her gifts than a master mage she had known for too short a time. Not her ideal situation.

Gulping Seraphina refocused her attention on the young griffin as she said, “Oh, Skarar, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted her to let me go.”

Carefully, Ciardis said, “I’m sorry about that. He’s afraid of lightening?”

“Most magic, actually,” Seraphina said dolefully. Every trace of her gift had left her. She sat ordinary once more except for the occasional spark of energy above them.

“So tell me about that, then,” Ciardis said while easing her legs around so that she no longer knelt on her knees but sat cross-legged instead.

Seraphina gave her a doubtful look. She didn’t trust her. Fair enough, but Ciardis had to show her she hadn’t meant any harm. If the girl believed her original questions weren’t important in the process, even better.

“It might help us approach Skarar and let him see we’re having a conversation,” Ciardis prodded gently.

She still held her hand above her head. She was beginning to grow dizzy. But she’d had worse injuries in fights before. This one wouldn’t kill her.

Finally Seraphina nodded and sat back on her haunches from where she’d risen up upon feeling threatened.

“He and his da are the last of three griffins left. Their whole family was hunted down by mages on the western plains. Now it’s just them and the golden one over there.”

“Hmm,” said Ciardis. “Well, I happen to know a whole pack of griffins that live in the Ameles Forest. They might not be so alone after all.”

Seraphina’s eyes lit up with a little girl’s delight as she turned to the griffin in excitement. “Did you hear that, Skarar?”

The young griffin’s tufted ears swiveled to Seraphina’s voice, indicating that he had heard her. That was a good start.

Ciardis took in the area outside their shield in a glance. From her small vantage point it looked like the rain of arrows had stopped. The fighting had stopped. Skar and Sebastian looked no worse for wear and the soldier from before was actually standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the prince heir. He seemed to be arguing with one of his men.

She couldn’t make out any more before Seraphina caught her attention.

“So there are more? How many more?” the young girl demanded shyly.

“At least six,” Ciardis answered absentmindedly. “There are boys and girls. They’re young still, too, so Skarar could have some playmates. My friend Terris knows more.”

Seraphina nodded eagerly. “Could I talk to her?”

“Sure,” Ciardis admitted. “She’s here in the city. I’m sure she’d love to meet Skarar and Skar.”

“Well, that might be good.”

This time it was Ciardis who nodded. “But we need to ditch these soldiers first.”

Seraphina sat up. “I agree.”

“Then let’s see if Skarar is ready for us,” Ciardis ventured.

Seraphina nodded.

Their eyes met as the corners of their mouths raised in fierce grins.

W
ith a quick intake of breath—a gulp, really—Ciardis turned carefully from Seraphina to eye the griffin. Skarar hadn’t flinched when Seraphina’s father was detained by the guards behind him. Which was odd because even if a scuffle hadn’t ensued, the griffin’s acute hearing should have picked up on the presence of at least two more men approaching him. But he hadn’t. As she eyed Jason SaAlgardis in the grip of the two men, Ciardis had the funny feeling that the invisible shield in front of them had something to do with it. She couldn’t see it with her naked eye but she could feel it with her mage sight. Perhaps Skarar wasn’t aware of it. Or if he was aware, he didn’t care enough to turn to see what his ears couldn’t tell him.

He’s smart
, Ciardis thought to herself.
Better to take on the threat in front of you than the possibility of one behind you
.

Unless you could see the future and
knew
the person behind you would kill you faster than the one in front of you, it was her philosophy to take the one in front first as well.

As she watched Jason SaAlgardis’s mouth move angrily she had to admit that an outside threat didn’t seem so imminent now. The soldiers weren’t harassing or hurting him. It would seem they were true to their leader’s words earlier, she thought as she flashed back on what the captain had said: “We don’t want to hurt anyone.” She couldn’t say the same about a young griffin. Then again, if she had been overcome by fear, bound by ropes, and surrounded by strange beings she might have lashed out too.

Ciardis watched to see if Jason SaAlgardis would be able to negotiate something,
anything
, before she needed to get within striking distance again but his expression didn’t look too promising.

The soldiers surrounding him looked furious and determined not to let him loose.

The shield stayed in place.

He stayed in custody.

An uneasy truce reigned.

Ciardis turned her focus on the creature Seraphina was still staring at with slumped shoulders. The girl looked back at her semi-hopefully. Ciardis grimaced and decided to do her part in this mad plan.

With a soft voice, Ciardis coaxed the griffin. “Skarar? Skarar, we’re here to help you.”

The young griffin lowered himself as close as he could against the ground. He shivered like a ball of feathers and looked so pitiful that Ciardis wanted to gather him up in her arms. The fact that he was almost bigger than her, had sharp claws, and an even sharper beak kept her back. One life-threatening injury was enough.

Seraphina began to edge forward. With careful, cautious movements she managed to get closer.

Skarar eyed the young human female with piercing eyes. Waiting for something.

For her to attack him?
Ciardis wondered.

It didn’t seem very likely. But a lot about this day didn’t.

He didn’t move though. Seraphina kept creeping forward until her hand hovered just over the crown of his head and she lowered her palm to softly pet the feathers on top. To Ciardis’s astonishment, a croon rather than a cry echoed from Skarar’s beak. The sound he made was very strange.

It sounds like an owl with the purr of a kitten
, thought Ciardis.

When Skarar tilted his head into Seraphina’s head until her fingers were forced to slide down into the dense ruffle of his neck and his head bumped against Seraphina’s flat chest, Ciardis breathed a sigh of relief. If he was taking comfort in Seraphina, the crisis was almost over.

Seraphina lowered her chin to rest it on Skarar’s head and spoke to him. “It’s all right, Skarar. You’re all right. The bad men are gone. This woman’s going to help us get these ropes off and then we’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

The owl purr intensified until Ciardis could feel the sound like a vibration in her heart.

Seraphina raised her voice. “It’s all right now, Lady Weathervane. You can come closer.”

Ciardis hesitated for a full five seconds. She’d been slashed once. She really wasn’t eager to repeat the experience.

Seraphina tilted her head, her cheek still on Skarar’s head. Patiently, she said, “He’s calm.”

Ciardis almost rolled her eyes at the youthful impatience in the tone. It was filled with the confidence only a youth who thought they knew everything could bestow in two words.

She reminds me of me
, she thought ruefully.