The Beasts of Rainfall

Chapter 7- The Beast

When she awoke from her nest she had made in the tree, it was to the smell of breakfast.

That night, Clio had tried to sleep, but she kept thinking, thinking, hating herself for not knowing. Griffin, who made his bed on the ground, slept, but kicked out in his sleep, cried out softly, balled his hands into fists. Clio wondered what kind of nightmares he was having.

Eventually, she slept though, and she blinked her eyes open slowly as the smell of fresh meat reached her nose.

Clio sat up, and rubbed at her eyes. “I didn’t know you cooked.”

“Just another one of my many numerous talents.”

Clio did not smile. Not yet. “So, why did you go for the doll?”

Griffin sighed, and bit his lip. “I had a little sister... she was a feisty little thing, but she loved her dolls, she would practically horde them, and she treated them as if they were real, tucking them in each night, talking to them...”

Clio did smile this time, softly, recalling how her brother used to play dolls with her. “Well, maybe you can still get it to her. She’s a Beast now to, right?”

Griffin closed his eyes and bit his lip harder, and Clio blinked.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, not speaking. He poked the food with a stick, then dished it onto their plates. Eventually he smiled quietly though, and picked up the doll. “No more need for any of that though, right? I mean, look at that happy little button eyed face. This right here, is our symbol of hope.”

Clio blinked slowly. “You want us to tell the people of Rainfall the truth. You want us to ‘create peace,’ to save lives, well isn’t that what Finn thought? I barely know you and you are suggesting that we just go save an entire kingdom of people who turned into... into Beasts! This whole adventure, save people thing, isn’t that what Finn wanted? And look how well that turned out. She is broken, Griffin.”

“Wow, Clio, you think that’s what I want? We aren’t doing this for fun, and we are not doing this to become queen or something. We are doing this because we have no other choice. People die every day because of what the Queen did--”

“People died every day in the War. It’s like it never ended.”

Griffin narrowed his eyes dangerously, all humor gone. “People are not dying in a war right now, Clio. Sure, the Beasts are dangerous, but you don’t battle them, you slaughter them. When you caught my leg in those metal teeth, you were planning to shoot me like an animal. That, is not a fair fight. I had the disadvantage. You don’t know what it is like, being an animal like that, your common sense just seems duller, colors are different, it all seems almost like a dream... until an arrow bites your neck and you see the one color that always stays the same, red...”

“Are you a poet?”

“Yes, and a Doctor, why?”

“Oh.”

“Oh indeed. So Clio, are you with me on this? Sure, we should be mortal enemies by all means, but you have thus far taken this incredibly well, and honestly... I think this could work. We can change things. We can save people.” He looked at her sincerely with his blue eyes and mane of tangled black hair, and Clio closed her eyes.

“You said yesterday, when you were telling the story, that it was like the war never ended. That it was a war between men and beasts.”

“I believe that there are men and beasts on both sides.”

Clio stared into his bright blue eyes with her plain hazel ones and shrugged. “Ok.”

Griffin stood back and smiled. “You're not one for words, are you? Well, that’s alright, because on our epic adven-- I mean, our epic save-people mission, I can warn you ahead of time that I never shut up. Ever.”

“Wait.” Clio had been thinking of questions to ask Griffin about his story all night, because there were definitely some things they needed to clear up before any more planning happened.

“How did you know all of that? Last night. You knew everything. How?”

Griffin’s smile faded a little, and he hesitated before he said “Me and my sister--”

“HEY! Who are you?” A loud voice echoed down the hill, and Clio jumped up, grabbing for her bow, only to realize that Griffin had it, and had already loosed an arrow, his eyes wild. Clio’s eyes darted up the slope and she a tiny squeak escaped her gaping mouth as the arrow pierced Mace’s burly chest, and he let out a strangled gasp.

Mace’s large groupies were pulling out their own long bows and hunting knives, and Griffin ran towards them at full sprint, back hunched, arrows in hand, he jumped onto the closest one and stabbed, again in again. Clio stared with horror as the other Bane aimed his bow and an arrow hit Griffin in the arm. He cried out softly, then tackled the man’s feet. Clio grabbed her hunting knife and ran towards Griffin grimly.

Griffin grunted as the man slammed his fist into Griffin’s head, but Griffin plunged the arrow into the mans chest before Clio jumped towards him.

Griffin whirled with dangerous speed and grabbed her wrist, slamming her into a tree, and Clio gasped with pain, her vision blurring, her head throbbing. He looked like he was about to hit her, but froze as his eyes met hers. The cold, merciless, fire had left his eyes as he saw how horrified Clio was, and his expression became pained.

“I am so sorry. I have to finish this. What they did to her... I... I am sorry.” His voice sounded miles away as he carefully set her down on the ground, letting her head rest on the roots of a tree, before standing again. One of the men behind him moaned and began to stagger up, and Griffin hesitated before gently angling Clio’s head away from the men. Her head still throbbing, her senses muddled, Clio barely heard Mace’s scream as his skull was pierced by the long arrow one last time by the man she had just started to trust.

Clio wondered as her eyes closed whether there was even any man left in him, or if the Beast had taken over.