The Gryphon Chronicles- Book 1: The Corrupt King

Ch. 10: The Roc

Normally Cyra would wake Zephyr up as soon as she was coherent enough to flop out of bed. Today, however, she was salty. She was salty because it had been an entire day since Zephyr had refused to explain her lesson with Simon. Cyra didn't enjoy secrets and lies being traded without her involvement, and so she had decided to ignore Zephyr as a result. If Zephyr wanted to communicate, she could start by spilling whatever secret that Simon and Zerrin were making her keep.

On top of that, neither of them had seen Aeon since she'd left abruptly a few days earlier. Simon and Zerrin had stubbornly refused to explain that too, and at this point Cyra was getting fed up with the both of them. On the bright side, the little crystal-wolf-dog thing really seemed to like her. It had followed her to the previous day's magic lesson, against Simon's rather insistent wishes. She still didn't have a name for it, but she'd discovered that the creature was a female and a juvenile, thanks to Zerrins identification. She'd also found out that the gems and crystals glowed in the dark.

Today, Cyra was supposed to be having a lesson with Zerrin, but given her saltiness and Zephyr's odd mood, both Simon and Zerrin had agreed that they could have a free day. Cyra decided she would wait until Zephyr woke up, and then drag her out into the woods to show her the stone pillar. If she could, maybe Cyra would even convince her sister to climb it with her.

It took another hour for Zephyr to wake up. Cyra still stubbornly refused to do it herself as usual. Once they were both up, though, Cyra brought up some toast for them to eat. As they had breakfast, the little gemeke wriggled her way into Cyra's lap.

"So," Zephyr said, finally breaking the tense silence. "You mentioned you had something you wanted to do today?"

Cyra nodded. She considered putting an icy edge in her voice, but decided against it. "Yes. I'm gonna take you out to this place I found in the woods. It's pretty cool."

"Sounds good. Have you named that rock-dog yet?" Trying to change the subject, is she?

"No, not yet. It's gotta be something good. I can't just pick something dumb and have it end up sticking, but it can't be something over-the-top either."

"Sounds like a 'you' problem."

"Yeah, kinda."

After they'd both finished eating, Cyra grabbed Zephyr and pulled her out to the middle of the woods. They went on the same path they had taken to the now worn in track, and then went past it. Once they had reached the pillar, Cyra began trying to convince Zephyr to climb it. Zephyr refused, saying that she was sore and not a good climber to begin with.

Cyra scaled the side of the cliff just as quick as she had two days prior, grabbing onto ledges and handholds with superhuman speed. As Zephyr watched her from below, she was struck by how small and fast her sister was. She remembered how she had once said that Cyra was scarier because she was tiny and her anger was more condensed, and in her mind that point still stood.

Pulling herself onto the top of the rock stack, Cyra stood up and called down to Zephyr.

"You gonna come up here or what?"

Zephyr looked up at her. "No, you have fun. I'll stay here, catch you if need be."

"Come on! It'll be fun! It's super cool to see the whole forest from so high up!"

Zephyr shook her head, then moved to the tree line for some shade. When she sat down, she saw a black dot circling

Just a bird.

Then it got bigger

Much bigger.

Cyra sighed. Apparently, Zephyr was still being difficult. She turned to climb back down when she felt a gust of wind and a pair of razorlike claws digging into her torso and tearing her shirt. She heard Zephyr yelling in the distance, probably her name. The bird flew higher and higher, and Cyra grew dizzy from the thin air at such an altitude. Then, everything began to fade out.