The Gryphon Chronicles- Book 1: The Corrupt King

Ch. 11: To Start a War

The last thing Cyra remembered was the pain of the jagged talons digging into her torso as her body went weightless.

The next thing she realized was that she was in an infirmary bed and she ached.

Cyra groaned weakly and blinked. The bright lights hanging above her and streaming in from the window made it hard to see, but sitting in a chair next to her she thought she could see...

"Zephyr?"

Cyra winced at the weak, plaintive note she could hear in her own voice. She silently cursed herself for allowing herself to get hurt.

"Cyra?" Zephyr's head snapped up from where it was hanging low. She looked exhausted with worry, and Cyra could see the concern that ran deeper than the surface. "You- you're okay..."

"Yep," Cyra rasped. "I don't remember what I did, but I bet it was something dumb."

Zephyr shook her head, and tried to discreetly rub the moisture from her eyes. "No- no, something grabbed you. You climbed up that rock tower in the woods, and then-"

"The giant bird."

Cyra could still imagine those enormous razor talons. She could feel the bandaged divots where they must have cut in. There were traces of rusty red on her hands and on her bandaged arms. She could only imagine what her face looked like.

"Yeah. It was called a roc. King Hawthorn sent it. It was from his fleet, with one of his flyers riding it. It grabbed you off the pillar and it was gonna carry you off back to Eldrum."

"Back to-"

Cyra cut off as she started coughing. She brought her aching fist to her mouth, and it came away with a few specks of blood. She didn't show Zephyr.

"Back to Eldrum?" Cyra finished raspily. "Do the royals-?"

Zephyr looked worried about the coughing, but she didn't press. "I saw the queen and king of Andaxia and... they're not happy. I don't think they're mad at us, but-"

"They're mad at him?"

"Yeah. King Tarian wants us to stay in the city for a while. Him and Queen Harath are going to see the fae and ask for their support."

"Support... support in what?"

Zephyr didn't answer.

"They wouldn't- would they start a war? Over two kids and a stabby bird? They can't- they mustn't-"

Cyra tried to sit up, but immediately fell back with a cry of pain. Zephyr reached for her hand.

"Cyra, I-"

She didn't get to finish. Simon and Zerrin came in, followed by a deer Walker that Cyra had never seen. She wore a white wrap top that flowed into a small skirt, and a belt with a few bottles and pens tucked into it. Her dark hair was up in a bun, and she had a cloth strip tied like a headband with a pink heart symbol on it.

"Hello. My name is Juniper, and I am one of the healers for this sector. Can you tell me what your name is? Do you know where you are?" She asked.

Cyra nodded. "Cyra Avis. This is the capital of Andaxia, right? I'm assuming we're somewhere in the Master's Study."

Juniper jotted some notes down on a clipboard, nodding. "This is very good. Means her brain should be fine."

Cyra pulled herself up on the pillows a few inches. "Zeph said it was a roc, but there's not a lot that can hurt one of those. How'd you beat it?"

Everyone went silent, looking to Zephyr questioning.

"Um," She started. "I k-kinda shifted into a kind of Gryphon... what did you call it, Simon?"