(Adventure Adrian and the Kings) The Herald Quest

Chapter Six

SIX

“Whoa boy! Girl? Griffin!” I yelled in the bravest voice I could. But we were descending from the skies at great speed and towards the ground with the clouds whizzing past my chilly face. My squealing and useless commands seemed to do little in stopping the griffin’s flight.

We’d been travelling for sometime, crossing many strange lands and seas. But now the creature had decided it was time to land and at last I would finally see where I’d been taken. The griffin braced its legs and hit the ground with a thump. It skidded from side to side along the dusty path before coming to a safe stop.

I puffed out a mouthful of air and was just relieved that we’d avoided a crash landing. The griffin then began to slowly sit down and loosing my grip on its neck, I slipped all the way down the creature’s bony spine and collapsed into a heap on the gravel track.

To say I was dazed by the events of the last few hours was an understatement. I’d seen my teacher attacked by gargoyles and took a ride on the back of a griffin, all on the same day! Now I felt empty. I couldn’t tell at that precise moment whether I was scared, nervous or just too confused to think straight.

Trying to guess the distance we’d travelled and the speed at which we’d flown, I was sure we must be in another country, and from the looks of my surroundings it was somewhere in the countryside. Either that or my knock to the head earlier had sent me into a crazy dream.

“Hey!’ I shouted and ran around to the front of the griffin to get its attention. It was so tall that even when the creature was sitting down, my voice couldn’t reach up far enough and it didn’t hear me calling at all. So I tried again.

“Hey…er…griffin?” I yelled even louder and this time kicked its front leg as hard as I possibly could. The creature barely noticed what must have felt like a tickle but slowly glanced down at me with a clueless and blank expression.

“Yeah you! Where are we?” I asked stupidly. The griffin responded to my question with a tilt of its head, like it was listening carefully to the sound of my voice but couldn’t work out what it actually meant. “Where have you brought me?"

Instantly I felt embarrassed. Did I seriously expect this thing to understand a word I was saying? But what you have to realise is at that moment my mind wasn’t exactly working logically. After all, I’d just been on the back of an animal that until this afternoon I thought didn’t actually exist. Then I’d taken a trip to what might have been the other side of the world!

The creature used its back leg to scratch behind its ear before shaking its head and gradually rising up to stand. I stood back cautiously as the griffin opened its wings and bent its legs. The creature sprung into the air and with a few powerful flaps, it soon disappeared into the sky and out of sight.

“Hey wait!” I yelped and started to run desperately down the path after it. But the griffin was long gone and I was all alone. I leant forward, put my hands on my knees and panted hard. I was so out of breath and slightly panicky. I looked around in every direction but there was no-one to be seen. Everything was silent and I was all on my own.

That was when a million questions began to spill out of my head. For example…

1.     Why were the gargoyles hunting Aunt Edna and was she still alive?

2.    How exactly did she magically summon a mythical creature from a walking stick?

But most importantly…

3.Where was I and what the heck was I supposed to do now?

Suddenly I remembered the two tools that my Aunt Edna had ensured I take with me. I eagerly removed my rucksack and placed it on the ground before kneeling down and scrambling around inside it. I eventually found both items, the map and my trusty book, then threw the bag straps back over my shoulders.