Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 163: Cavalry to the Rescue

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three: Cavalry to the Rescue

Adariel stood rooted to the spot for a moment or so, feeling breathless with horror as he watched the griffin soar high into the sky with Ella screaming at the top of her lungs.

He couldn't move.

Then a strangled cry rose from his chest and he scrambled up the rocks as nimbly as a spider. He was so scared of the abyss behind him that he felt sick: he kept slipping, losing his grip, and sliding back down the slope so many times that his thin fingers were soon grazed and his bony knees got scratched bad enough to bleed. 

His heart thudded rapidly, but he hardly noticed: he could think of nothing but the enormous denizen carrying his brother's partner farther away with every beat of its monstrous wings.

He prayed to the gods, known and unknown, to keep her safe until help could arrive.

When he finally saw the tip of Xaphile's tail among the rocks before him, he uttered a sob of relief.

"Big Brother, help!" he cried with what little breath he had left; his little hands tugged at the sleeping boy's long hair, and he frantically scratched at Gus's clothes until he had a tuft of cloth in his fingers. "Quick, you have to wake up and help her!"

Xaphile opened his eyes sleepily; Gus jumped as if a snake had bitten him.

"Are you crazy?!" he yelped. "What in the name of Asgrog are you—?!"

"It's Ella!" Adariel wailed hysterically. "A monster—a giant griffin snatched her away and carried her off! Please, we must help her!"

"What?!" Xaphile gasped, getting his feet at once. "What happened?! Where did she get taken to?!"

"It flew toward the Mountains!" Adariel cried. "You have to follow it!"

"We can't!" Gus scoffed, horrified. "We can't follow a griffin from the ground! It's impossible!"

"Then I'll follow it from the air!" Xaphile snapped. "Stay here!"

Adariel watched as he began to rip his shirt off, frantically dragging it over his head. Hands trembling, he tossed his clothing on the ground and unbuckled the clasps keeping his wings pinned against his back. He clenched his fists and they unfurled with a rustle.

Gleaming black feathers caught the light when he went to the edge of the precipice: the wind blew beneath them and lifted them into the air.

"Phil, are you sure you can do this?" Gus squeaked, looking down at the chasm. "Can you really follow her?!"

"Vordt taught me enough to work with," he countered. "Wait right here until I come back."

And without waiting for a response, he began to flap, squeezing his eyes shut as his monstrously huge wings caught the air. Faster, and faster, he flapped, until his body grew lighter and his feet began to rise, the toes of his boots dragging against the stone as he hovered.

Tiptoeing forward, he spread his arms, dove off the edge of the cliff—and flew.

"Bring her back!" Gus bellowed, waving. "Bring her back, and hurry! Griffins are deadly!"

But Xaphile was already soaring away.

Soon, he was little more than a wobbling speck.

Adariel swallowed, since he could feel his brother's anxiety even from this distance.

"Damn it to the nine fires!" Gus growled, drawing Adariel's gaze. "Even a giant monster such as a griffin will be hard to spot if it went into the mountains... this is bad, very bad."