Her Quest

Chapter nineteen

The journey to Mount Lebanon on the back of a griffin was most uncomfortable. The bird like creature was large and warm and seemed to be struggling to fly against the strong winds, that were no doubt, sent their way by Zeus. Luckily for them, Hecate cast a protection spell around the animal which safeguarded their lives and made it slightly easier for the griffin to fly.                                                        

Nyctimus was seated first with Iaso at the far end, Penelope safely sandwiched between the two of them. Every time the creature tilted slightly to the one side, Nyctimus’ grip on the bird’s feathers increased.
He looked over his shoulder at Penelope. She looked completely forlorn. He wondered if what she said to Poseidon was the truth.                                                                                                                                           
He knew she resented her mother for the things that she had done to her, but basically giving Poseidon permission to kill her own mother was a bit much. Unless she thought that Poseidon was calling her bluff.                                           Penelope was not ruthless and Nyctimus knew that she loved her mother regardless.                                                                                                                                             
The silence was becoming too awkward and the position in which he had to strain his legs and arms to hold onto the griffin was extremely tiring.                He needed a distraction and a conversation to block out his mind’s rapid thinking.                                                                                                                 

“How do we know which one is Mount Lebanon? More importantly, how does he know?” Nyctimus yelled against the strong winds over his shoulder.                                                                                                                                            
“Griffins have a great natural sense of direction. Heracles told him where to go, so we’ll be dropped off on the exact mountain” Iaso yelled in response.           
                     
“And Mount Lebanon is easily identified by its vast growth of anemones”.
Nyctimus looked down at saw that there were lowering onto a mountain with small clusters of red flowers scattered in various places.

The griffin halted completely and Nyctimus jumped off. After helping Penelope and Iaso climb off the bird, he started inspecting the area.                        The griffin grunted in annoyance as if it were complaining.
Iaso went over to his face and started to gently stroke him. The griffin nuzzled his head in the crook of his forearm and closed his eyes.                                      “Stay here and wait for us, ok?” Iaso whispered in his ear and waked towards us.                                                    “Come on, let’s check this mountain out”.                                                                  Penelope stayed put.
“I don’t even know if he will harm her”. Nyctimus looked at Iaso and then back at Penelope.                                                    “Pen, don’t worry about that. Poseidon might be worse than trash, but he loves your mother” Iaso said, not sounding completely reassured herself.                    “If he doesn’t, I just sealed her fate” Penelope said, looking as if she only realised now what she did.                       

                                                                      “He only said that to stop you from your quest. He’s not going to kill your mother”.                                                          “How do you know that Nyctimus?” She asked him, her innocent eyes wide.
“I’m a wolf, Penelope. I know whether someone is telling the truth or not, remember?”.                                                  Nyctimus was lying. To be honest, he wasn’t paying much attention to Poseidon to know if he was lying or telling the truth.                                            Anyways, Poseidon was experienced. Someone like him probably knew how to manipulate their breathing patterns and heart rate.                                              His father was able to do the same.