Chapter 1 Part 3:
Call to the Wicked
-Still life at the honorings-
TheGreekDollmaker
4
“So he disappeared in the middle of the night?” asked one of the Palatics.
“Seemed so, but he was found later by one of the reserve guard. To say that it was gruesome would be understating it. Whatever beast did this will not escape the wrath of the gods, unless the place where Polynice’s carcass had been found was indeed a burial. Pitiful excuse in my opinion. No wonder Ageleia refused to come. I wouldn’t either after learning such news.” they continued speaking.
Phonitheia had been patiently listening to the conversation nearby, glancing around from time to time as she ate barley bread dipped in wine, served with honey. She was at the temple of Silenus, sitting on cushions while food was being served. Olives, almonds, honey cakes and pitchers full of wine were being brought forth by the followers of the temple. The senate had hastily organized this Triumph a few hours ago. They wanted to pay honors to those that would surely fall during the hunt, and since she was fairly well known, she with other notable individuals were there to give them blessings and to increase their morale.
The Temple of Silenus, unfortunately, hadn't been used for weeks and there were few followers to take care of it. As a result, the honoring Triumph was done in such a hurry that there were many unfinished preparations. That didn’t bother the other gryphons, but it left a bad taste on Phonitheia. She disapproved the section of the temple they had chosen to hold the Triumph , at the back of the temple, a square room with only one balcony. Still, it was a big balcony, huge red curtains made from light linen near the balcony, gryphons and couches spread around. Still, it baffled her as to the decisions of the Senate.
She glanced around once more. From where she was she had an excellent view of the sierra of mountains that was Minerva. She could hear a cloud of joy from behind, conversations between comrades, all happy to talk and share their experiences. Followers, guards and Palatics sharing meals together, it made the atmosphere soothing, even if she didn’t want to participate. She was anxious for this ordeal to end as soon as possible, for she knew that if this went on for too long she would be asked to participate, breaking her oath, like the oath of many other old gryphons, that she feared. Why else would they hold the Triumph at a time like that? Needless to say, she wasn’t happy about that.
“Phonitheia, I must ask you something.” she was being addressed by a white feathered Palatics, his size and face betraying how young he truly was.
“And who you might be, Palatic? You look too young to have fought in war.” she replied, still facing the balcony as she looked outside.
“Oh, I am Laco, son of Isidorus. I recently came back from my training in Leukos” he said with a touch of uncertainty and shyness creeping in his voice “You see, I am a worryful being, like most gryphons my age. I - we lack certain virtues found in the old, the experience. I must ask, why aren’t we led by heroes such as you?”
“Then is that so, Laco; Am I a hero?” she turned to address him “I’ve seen things in my life that you wouldn’t believe, things never uttered by me or any other gryphon who stood by my side; but I am a mortal, just like you, and I am just as anxious and worried as you.”
“It may be so, but in order for us to take down this myth, shouldn’t gryphons like you, old and wise, be up front of us leading us to kill this thing.” he replied.
“Is that what you want, Laco? See me arm myself so I can head to the spirit of death while you stand close behind me? Don’t you want to go on and win glory for yourselves? or would you rather let it be awarded to others.”
“No, no, no, do not let my words become evidence of my youth. It it just that I have not been in this earth long enough to have tasted glory and celebration. What will come out of this, that I will be brought back a dead corpse” he tried to explain.
“Let me tell you Laco, supposing you return from the hunt alive, with the head of the beast in one claw and a sword in the other, you would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal in the memories of the generations? If you do so, neither would I myself be asked to go on fighting in the foremost, nor would more gryphon lives need to be lost.” she told him in response. Laco, holding back on a reply, making the nature of this mission more brutal and rewarding than it seemed. The truth was that she didn’t think that the terror of the anthropos would pose that much of a threat, even if old tales told otherwise. Then again, she hadn't been informed of its full capabilities. Word had it now that it managed to take out Prometheus’s guard. It made her frown, even if they may have been nothing less than rumors that popped up the last second..
She took her mind off the subject and glanced over at where the others were. Tiganites were now being served, a personal favorite of hers. She moved past Laco, still thinking about what he had heard, closer to one of the clay tables and picked a couple of them, all the while gazing into the night sky. The stars and moon had come forth and blossomed this night, each one of them as beautiful as the heavens themselves, illuminating their beauty for all to see. The night itself was calm and silent, a breathless infinite sea of stars scattered all around rising in their clouded majesty.
She snapped out of her dreaming though, not forgetting the pleasant conversations taking place behind her while followers and Palatics ate and drank. Phonitheia moved closer to the party, the night sky and the stars bringing her a sense of euphoria and good mood. She’d decided to partake in the conversations discussing recent matters. A few gryphons presented gifts to them out of good will, something she had to refuse. She would be giving them greater gifts after all, they were the soon to be heroes.
She was unfamiliar with many of the Palatics. She could recognize at most a few of them out of the two dozen of them, most too young for her to remember any important feats. A couple of them, though, she knew very well.
There was Kallisto, young in age but with the charm of a god, impressing some of the followers and guards with his natural beauty. Even Phonithia batted an eye when she first saw him three years ago on the Pythian Stadium. It was so noted in fact, that rumors started circulating that she had taken Kallisto at her temple for some business the same night she saw him, rumors that had been, sadly, true.
On the other corner was Euthimia from the Irian shores, lecturing a couple of guards about importance of courage and good will. It was strange because she reminded her of when she was young and full of spirit, talking about her deeds from training to her climb to taking out threats by herself, stories that she has been repeating ever since..
Finally there was the old Nikomedes, whose age rivaled that of hers, sitting near one of the clay tables eating honey cakes and drinking wine. She accomplished many great feats with Nikomedes, but fate had never brought them together long enough for her to learn of his deeds in depth. From the Chaos incident, to the expeditions to the unknown lands, she never had the chance to form any long term bonds with him.
She approached him, just as he became aware of her.
“So you, Phonitheia, have you come to enlighten us with your wisdom, or can you not wait any longer for sleep to lay bare in your body.” he spoke with a old but understanding voice.
“Enlighten, Nikomedes? I am simply here for decoration, to give hope to the young and reassurance to the old. But I happen to enjoy myself here, so much so that I wish to stay until sleep carries me back home”
“Aye, but no good can come out of morale alone. Reassurance can only get you this far before you must go by the sword again.” he paused to take a sip of wine. “But whatever mistakes and misfortunes come I blame it on them.”
“Them? Surely you mean the gryphons at the Eastern Oroi?” she asked.
“No, not them, they are doing what they are supposed to. No, tonight I blame the senate. I blame the representatives and everybody in between for the the ongoing torture that will be this whole hunt.” Nikomedes said with bitterness and worn look.
“Oh, I see now.” she replied, finally understanding what he was talking about. “They don’t have any money to send Palatics over to the Eastern Oroi right?”
“Politics, my dear Phonitheia. Not to speak of the failed Agnostus expeditions, which nearly emptied your banks so much we had to spent money from the Hegemonic Bank, the corruption in your senate itself would be enough to hold you back.” he took another sip “Then again, the representatives themselves decided to help by threatening punishment if we dared open the Hegemonic Bank again. But now I am repeating things you already know, so lets leave that aside.”
“Thank goodness, last thing I want is a lesson on politics.” she paused “Speaking of which, how did they manage to convince you to sign up for this.” she asked him
“They didn’t,” he said while taking a bite out of a cake “I have some old debts that certain gryphons have not forgotten. If I were to not go, I would have to sit here for three months paying this cursed debt. So let them have me, I will be back at Iria in less than one week.”
“Ha, strange, for a moment I would have assumed you would have been the first one to go in.” she chuckled.
“Aye, it would be a lie for me to say that there wasn’t a small part of me that wanted to go into this.” he laughed. ”But I tell you, I am not deceived. What will happen surely will be lost in the minds of broken warriors. Our efforts will accomplish nothing.” he finished
Phonitheia frowned when she heard him say that “Nikomedes, I hope that that wine has not hit you very hard. Don’t tell me you will be inciting such words on the way.” she turned at him confused.
“Nye, the wine is still on its holder, yet to influence my soul and let my evils infect other gryphons. Everything that comes out of my beak speaks from the honesty of my mind, not my heart, for now atleast. I do think that this will be one of my last days, sought to fight a beast known to ages as the most powerful” he paused to eat some bread dipped in wine before continuing “This is, however, music to my ears. I would rest happy to die for the land I has sheltered and fed me fifty-three years of my life” he told her with a slight waving of his claws. He would had continued, had not Phonitheia interrupted him.
“You spouted the same words years ago when we were in the unknown lands. Each time we came across a Amphisbaena you prayed to Silenus and charged at the beast.”
He turned to face her again, laughing “Ha, you should have seen when I first saw that Golden Phoenix back at Authania’s keep. I do not think that I will ever hear the words of forgiveness come out of its master’s beak for as long as I live” he chuckled again.
Phonitheia laughed alongside him. The tales she had heard from Nikomedes always brought a smile to her face. A gryphon such as himself did a lot of foolish actions at his youth, though that did not show with his age. He let his white feathers grow so much, that he begun to look like the philosophers of Critus. The only feathers he checked on had been those on top of his head, and even then, several of them fell down on his sides from the length.
She reflected on that, reminding her that Nikomedes was on the mission too. If anything, this could very well be the last time his presence would grace this earth. It brought dismay in her heart, but her mind quickly withdrew that. He was too smart and experienced to lose his life to a simple myth.
Once she regained her composure, she talked to Nikomedes with a more serious attitude “So, how do judge your compatriots?”
“Ha,” he said as he took a couple of olives and put them in his beak “A lot of youth among us, a lot of unprocessed and inexperienced gryphons sent to take this thing down, cheaper to send those rather then anybody with guts. I‘lI wait until I see them hunched over the corpses of their comrades, bleeding, powerless to help them as their last breath leaves their body and they are left with one less gryphon to live. That’s what fate did to me. There is no reason for fate to spare them.”
“Their fate was already sealed when they ended up with you,” she replied “You will most likely put down the eager fire inside them just by your words alone.”
“They’ve mustered the courage and the will to become Palatics, pushing their bodies at the brink of perfection. They had it coming.” he replied.
“So you’ll shatter their spirit into a million pieces? The young must not be put off by adventure, in fact, I believe they should seek it.” she answered back
“Maybe it should be so, but then again, I am perplexed too at times of my own self. I view the world comically, yet other gryphons keep telling me I kept the cynicism that was common among my parents. Maybe I am growing mad.”
“You are turning old, thus, you are turning wiser Nikomedes.” she tried to reassure him.
“Have I grown too wise? that I do not know. Neither of us appears to know anything great and good. We fancy that we crawl over the slain corpses of our comrades, friends, sons and fathers, knowing how to lead more gryphons to life and death, that although we know nothing, we appear to be wiser thanks to our adventures and wars, but the only thing we must surely know is how to fight. I find it disturbing that is the only thing we can offer to the young that we can be sure they will take at heart.” he said restless, taking a sip from his wine.
“Maybe.” Phonitheia stopped to think, sort of taken aback at Nikomedes suddenly getting philosophical at her “Yet, maybe that’s all it needs to be” she glanced away from Nikomedes, gazing at the nighttime instead “This world is a circle, that’s how the gods meant to make it. I have young ones and they will grow up, following the steps I once took and flying where I once flew, dreaming for the same glory and wealth as I had. If it may be so, then they should do it, rather than spend their life away from danger, never taking any risks for the fear of getting hurt. I am happy about that Nikomedes, even if that may be horrible in your eyes. ” she said while eating olives.
“I know such pains, so let us leave it at that.” he said to her while letting out a big sigh “But tell me, you bore the pains of childbirth?” Nikomedes asked, totally surprised by such a thing “I may have spent too much time philosophising. I didn’t know that you and Dion had managed to do it before he passed away.”
“A couple of months before his death I gave birth to Sapho, though unfortunately, he wasn’t there, due to the illness. Mentioning it, bearing children was far more of a difficult task that summoned all of my knowledge. A task that requires compassion, one filled with many surprises. I honestly don’t know what to expect of them these days. It may be so that all this time, they may have infected my soul with their childish nature.“ she laughed
“Ha, such a hard task indeed. I know, for I have two sons and two daughters just out of Iria, all planning to become infantry.”
“Oh, I assume everything went fine. I’ve heard ” she said.
“Don’t worry, they all passed by childbirth with no death, and my wife Algerina has lived through them. This is why I love the wealth I have, since it says me from having to witness the death of newborns, or even, the death of my wife. I should tell you all about my gryphons when I get the chance. Phobos and Kronos have superb skills with the bow, while my daughters, Oresteia and Aligenia each have different goals. The first wants to become a follower under the Temple of Leto, the latter wants to become a Palatic.” he paused to take a sip of wine.
Phonitheia smiled when she heard that “It’s been years since I have seen you Nikomedes, so much so that I hadn’t realised that you had a family. What other news do you bring from there?” she said moving closer to him.
“Not a lot. I live just barely outside the city, I like the extra space to be honest, plus I meet a lot of merchants and artisans coming into the city. I tell you, I’ve heard a lot of things and rumors all around. Once I heard some Minervian claim that you retired due to Dion’s death.” he told her
“False words. I shed all of my tears and made peace with his death years ago.” she started stoically, trying to contain her irritation. "Plus, I have gryphlets I would rather teach by my own, rather then leave them under the guise of strangers. I am done with those times.”
“I make no accusations, Phonitheia.” he said “I simply tell you what I have heard from some individuals. I will be honest, I’ve heard worse about your compatriots.”
“I do hope so. I am still worried as to what will be said of me after death takes” They both sat in silence for a few seconds, contemplating what they just had said. It didn’t last long, as they both started chuckling at each other while eating nuts and honey cakes.
“So” started Nikomedes “Are there anymore subjects that are in need of resolving? We still have some time before all the food is eaten”
Phonitheia tried to think of something, getting engulfed in her own line of thinking.
“Certainly there is.” she suddenly exclaimed “Until now, it hadn’t passed my mind, but such tricks does the mind play. I am afraid that either Keratios or the senate may be on the lookout for me, to make me shed the oaths I have taken to hunt this beast down, through that remains unheard.” she told him.
Nikomedes turned to face her quickly, taking a second to stare dumbfounded
“What kind of bastardized senate would dare to rip you from your seat and throw you between young and inexperienced gryphons after all you did? What politician, even the most corrupt one would have the guts to choose you when they already have me to command and follow orders.” he said worryingly.
“I don’t know, but Keratios is increasingly getting ruled by fear. I know he wants to protect us as much as his claws can. I just do not think that the city picked the right gryphon to rule us”
Nikomedes was quick to reply “You are afraid Keratios himself would dare do such action. I may be harsh on that gryphon but even I know where his heart’s intentions are. But let’s not dwell deeper in that lake further, though. What do you seek?” he told her reassuringly.
“You see, I spend most of my time today with my gryphlets, so much so that I didn’t have time to ask the politicians or the librarians for the forbidden history behind the old myths about the capabilities of the “Anthropos”. I have read about the history of the Anthropos as mere beasts, that appear every ten years or so in either the unknown lands or some other nation while they run rampant outside the reaches of this world. Beyond that, I was hoping that you would share an insight to what the senate keeps clear of the citizen’s eyes.”
“Huh, what makes you so sure that I, old Nikomedes from Iria, would know of such history, more so than one of the closest gryphon in the enti-”
“You were a Librarian under the Library of Iria. Archekantos Timo told me everything about you a few years ago when he was still alive.” she grinned.
“Well, I guess I have been found” he replied.
“Do not fret, time is on our side. I doubt that those honey cakes are ending anytime soon. But if I had to speculate about you, I am thinking an hour at most.”
“Ha, if they get the roasted piglet I could remain here all night. I will hold some for you if you stay, but my stomach makes no promises” he told her.
Phonitheia just shrugged the last comment as she prepared to listen to Nikomedes. Nikomedes tried to concentrate for a moment before starting his tale.
“So Phonitheia, whose anxious heart now obliges me to tell you this tale.” He started off with a calm look on his face, totally engulfed as to what he was doing.
“Let me tell you about the creature known as a
‘Human’...”
-The Resting Gryphons-
TheGreekOwl
***
Aristi raised his head and looked up front, a stone room with dozen or so seats empty, save for a few unfortunate souls laid out before him. For years he has been avoiding and cursing the Hospitums, all the times, dangers and illnesses brought death to gryphons he knew and loved. It was unfortunate that he had to do so again, no less for his brother this time..
The stone room was like a corridor with rows stretching all the way to the end. Three beds in each row, rows of windows near each bed as big as a gryphon, letting the cool night air flow through the room. The room made him shake, not from the wind, but from what he had gone through, growling as he walked down the room in search of Forea.
A lot had happened today.
One gryphon was left dead, another ten were wounded, and one of them nearly lost his wings. The thought of losing his brother pained him, so much so that it reminded him of older peaceful times, when the two brothers spend time together under breathless songs and glorious feasts. But that had been before Forea got injured, now deep inside him lay the yearning to forget what he had seen.
He walked through one of the lanes, a few sleeping ill and injured gryphons dreaming blindly of a dead past. It made Aristi cringe in fear, like he was being taunted, seeing him again in such state. He increased his speed, his panting increasing from the beak trying to cool himself as he went from bed to bed, searching for his brother from the edge of the eye. He silently cried as he spotted Forea lying down in a bed, isolated from other gryphons by quite a few beds, one of his wings bandaged down, blood betrayed where the stab had been inflicted.
He paused, a breath to calm down, before he approached him slowly, his motionless body giving away that he had been asleep. He got closer to the bed, the damage to the wing became more clear, a clear line of blood on the bandages atop of the wing, the nightmare that he had witnessed coming back at him. The desire had been burning inside Aristi to talk to him, and the same must have been for his brother.
He stroked the feathers on his head, trying to wake him up as gently as he could. Slowly Forea started waking up, first with changing emotions, than a rising claw to get rid what had been on his head. He opened his eyes only to see before him Aristi, his face quickly turning to delight as his brother hugged him as tightly as he could.
“I missed you Aristi” tears had formed in his eyes, happiness that had been everlasting as this seldom having been experienced.
“I would die before I saw you suffer. Mother said she visited you when you were unconscious, she cried over you.” he spoke silently to his brother, gripping him tighter as they cuddled their heads together out of compassion. They kept doing so time and time again, their claws hugging each other, a wave of happiness flooding both brothers. It took them a minute before they finally calmed down, questions finally settling in.
“Aristi, where’s mother, I want to see her.”
“Forea, we were both crying about you, but she is working hard right now. How about your wings? Will they be well?” Aristi asked with a look of concern in his face.
Forea whipped his head up “The healers were cautious, and let the surgeons take care of this. A fragment of the blade it's still inside the wing’s arm, but they told me it will be removed with a few slight moves. They told me skilled surgeons from Asclepius’s Sanctuary will arrive tomorrow on all watchtowers, through I am confident that our surgeons will do the job just fine.”
The last comment left Aristi thinking of something, for a split second he stared confused at his brother before coming back to talk about the day’s events “There’s more to it than that. Have you heard of the ambush with Apotheus?
The relaxed posture disappeared as Forea allowed himself to get frightened for what had happened “Do not tell me, has he too?” he whispered
“Not him, but a few of us got injured. Leido isn’t doing very well, but I am certain he will make it.” he tried to reassure his brother.
A breath of relief left his lungs, the look of concern and worry leaving his body “Let him be strong, and pray that he doesn’t welcome death with madness. Only the insane and the poets do so.”
“Ha, but don’t you pride yourself a poet, Aristi;” he said as he perked up.
“True, but life would be bitter without poetry, it surrounds my thoughts all day,” he answered back as he run his claw through the feathers of his head.
Aristi was quick to reply “Well, and what if your hope is what fuels your dreams? Surely life is what makes the arts so enduring, not the other way around.”
“True, but each gryphon was born different by fate. No art like that of poetry and theater has inspired gryphons to be hopeful of tomorrow. I spent hours yesterday writing in those empty books I bought from that merchant at Minerva.”
“Oh? where have you put it?” he asked.
“Well that depends. If you look to your right it should be under your left paw, and if you look to your left you should have already stepped off of it." he said with a dumb grin on his face. That brought a look of comfort to his brother, the reminder that even at such times their playful and tricksters nature would never abandon them.
He looked on both sides, as he cursed himself for not realising he had stepped on his brother’s book, ending his cursing when he saw a leafy blue-green book under his left paw, as he reached his back legs to get it.
Picking it up, he noticed how deliberately crafted it had been. It had been binded with such care that he felt that in his hands had been a book handled by the librarians of Minerva themselves. The book was big and nice to the touch, at least a hundred pages long judging by the thickness, all around the front a fancy tolling that looked like the sun, in the middle a silhouette of a unicorn engraved. Books already had already been somewhat of a hard commodity to get in the league, let alone in the Eastern Mountains, but to hand out something like this was beyond his comprehension.
He raised his head and looked at at his brother, for a moment sharing the same feeling he had when he first received the book, nodding his head as if to say ‘Go ahead, take a look’.
He gazed back at the book again as he carefully opened it. Revealed to him, the first page, filled to the brink with words, no speck of space left wasted. Top to bottom lines separated where one poem started and the other one ended. Reading a few of them surprised him, all written with feeling and passion that made this cold winter night afternoon more comfortable. The moon shined down on them as he came together, and a canny thought crossed his mind, for he never let a good teasing go unnoticed. He picked on of his brother’s less well written poem and started reading it out loud.
Why do you look, with eyes wide open.
To think that I heard your barks
Beast of the defeated, that leave us paranoid and broken
To raze and leave me a corpse
Let out screams, cries of hatred, in the open.
I let my heart free, no shield no weapon to protect me.
To let the pains of freedom be taken away,
Run beast run, for we come and we shall pray.
We shall make contact , brothers and sisters unite.
With swords in our hands and valor in our hearts.
We shall strike down the beast, justice full at last.
“Ha! a blind gryphon must have written this.” he said with a grin on his face.
“Doesn’t help, that it was read by a blind one too.” Forea deadpanned.
“From experience, I can tell you we are all blind when arguing with other gryphons” he was quick to reply again.
“And where did you learn that?” he asked.
“In many places, but I can tell you that I didn’t have a knife stuck in my wings when I was learning such things.” he said before putting on a grin, trying to contain his laughter as his brother shot him a deadly look before continuing.
“Ha! next time you try to jump on a beast from beyond time and see how it feels to experience a blade entering your wings.” they carried on for how long they didn’t care, the company of each other, the tender touch and brotherly love keeping them together. They lived for such moments after all.
Finally, after they had spent time together, letting out their anger and stress through talk and cracking jokes at each other, they finally rested for a moment. But in that rest, a question came into Forea’s mind, one that he had held back in the shadows of his mind ever since he had woken up this morning. He had other questions to ask to his brother, but this one had come first.
“So, where had you wandered? I asked the surgeons, they didn’t see you either.” he asked.
Aristi was startled by the question, though he tried to regain his relaxed posture. He had forgotten what he even had come here for “I tried to visit you, but the surgeons told me that you been threatened. By the time they would let me in, I was with Apotheus and his partner,” he said in a stressful voice.
“And where had you been with him.” he continued on, confused by the sudden change of tone in Aristi’s voice.
“We were with Thales, the mapmaker, you know, the one we used to be friends with,” he replied, taking a big breath, as he had been anticipating his brother’s response. Forea had beensharp and inspirited, so much so that at time he blamed himself every time he had been imprecise and misunderstood.
“Oh, him. I remember, I heard he was teaching a few tricks to the guards on survival in the Eastern Oroi, in order to help find the Anthropos,” he stopped as he finished his sentence, a horrible thought entering his mind, as he had realised what the stress of his brother had been “...y- you aren’t going too, are you Aristi?”
“Forea, brother, I don’t think I could leave you in ignorance from my intentions.” he told him, with steady and calm breaths “I have asked our father to let me be part of those left to fight, and after heavy pledging he has me do so, under the protection of Apotheus of course.”
At that moment, Forea’s stared at him in disbelief, and in an instant he felt complete revulsion “Stop trying to wax poetry at me you fool! for the love of gods, have you been touched by insanity? You want to be found dead like that scout that got killed?” he shouted at him.
“Forea, I know you want to speak with wisdom but I have already decided.”
Forea was bewildered and stared at him open-eyed “Oh of course, you saw what that monster is capable of yet you still feel obligated to face it down. Do you want to shatter our lives? Do you want to be torn apart just so you can avenge what happened to me? Let that not be so, I beg you, let this be the task of gryphons more capable than us!” he begged.
“I am not doing this only for you, Forea. This is for every gryphon whose life has been infected by that illness. We were the first ones to witness it, and by god, I feel obligated as every single gryphon that goes down there to find and kill that crippled spawn of flesh.” he answered as insecurities hanged over him.
“Aristi, I know you as my brother, and I hold you close to my heart, but this,” he raised one of his claws like that of a beggar, trying to turn around what he perceived as insanity “This is not the actions of a one who is sane. Do you realise how senseless this is? Do you not see the futility,” he told him.
He felt like he was being driven off to a corner, his tactics had failed to calm his brother. He had not been this intimidated by him in quite some time, and his mind raced to try and make him understand.
“And whose actions are sane in this mess?” he asked back, trying to change the nature of the question.
“Certainly not yours.” Forea answered back.
“You don’t get this don’t you?” Aristi said.
“To be honest Aristi, no. I don’t know why you all of a sudden feel that its your honor to go fight when you know that you are fighting against a being that has no regard to honor or sanity. Why are you doing this? Are are doing this for me?” that question had been what he wanted, a reason, a chance to finally calm and to sooth the pain his brother would feel for him doing such a thing.
“Forea, believe me when I tell you, I am doing this for you, and for every gryphon that goes down there and faces that thing. I know, to you that it sounds as if I went insane, as somegryphon as Ironicos would try to attempt. Then again, you don’t get it. Compared to what I have been taught, to die fighting for a cause is the greatest virtue one can achieve, one that is meant to be written down.” he looked at Forea, his eyes betraying that he was starting to believe him “My desire is to help kill that thing, so that we may not be hunted or threatened by that beast. I want to live like a gryphon but in my mind, the minds of others, can that thing continue to exist.”
“Two fish,” Forea said to him, staring intensely “At this point, we are like two fish, connected by the tail, each swimming in a different direction. Aristi, I,” he paused looking down on the book he had written so many of his poems. He stared at it for a second before responding “Just go.”
Aritsti stared confused and kind of shocked at that answer, “You understand?” he asked just to be sure that this had been a call for encouragement, not denial.
“I understand, but do not let that be soothing words for you. I do not agree, and if fate had not trapped me here with a wounded wing, I would do anything in my power to stop you. But I know that I am powerless to do such thing. So be it. Go send that thing to Tartarus where it can be torn to shreds.” at that, the look of worry and discomfort had been abandoned.
He realised what kind of depths he had cursed himself into. Forea’s eyes gazed deep into him as he regretted all the actions that had led him in such a pathetic and depressive sight before him. It had not been his wish to die, not really. After what he had heard from his brother, he didn’t want to betray him, and return back a bloody corpse. He nodded and took off the way he had come to head home and sleep.
Forea on the other hand tried to get rid of the questions and worries. He opened the book with care, mechanically in a way, the thought of his brother vowing in front of him made him loathe himself more than he had ever done so. He reached for the ink bottle and the writing feather from behind the bed where he had hidden them, and begun writing his work.
***
***
At the Domus of Ageleia.
Wild songs filled deep in the blind overcrowded night as they diverged and laid out to be heard by Minerva and the homes below it. In one of the homes, two young and illustrious gryphons stood in silence in front of a red door dressed in leather, the first carrying a shield in one claw and a scroll in the other, the second one having its claws gripped on the shoulder of the first. The door where they stood forth and stared at, trying to comprehend what they were about to do had been the Atrium, the main part of the domus where guests were greeted. Showered in nervous thinking deep within their minds, their bodies tired but able, wishing for those terrible moments to come and go. Finally, one of them broke the silence.
“Dareius, for the last time, I have not followed you for six hours through the freezing night to let you tell such horrible news alone” he put more pressure on his grip as he tried to persuade him “You know of the pain and sorrow that Ageleia will let, to see her clutched in her legs to learn of what has happened to her son, Between us, it would be better for me to deal with her.”
“Lift your claws Leon, and let me do this as Prometheus appointed me to do. Through you may be a very close friend and partner, Leon, it is my duty to do as I was told.” he told him dismissively.
“That is not the way to do so Dareius. Am I mistaken when I talk of Phoceo who, when faced with that glance of infinite shock, Ageleia’s stare rendered him immobile, stuttering as he informed her of the sudden death of her parents, and to see her sorrow, the shock that left Ageleia in tears for two nights.”
“That is true.” he told him batting an eye.
“Then hand over the scroll and stand aside,” he told him with obvious disparity in his voice, “I beg as a friend and as a comrade. I will not shatter or break as I tell her of what has happened to her son especially in the state that you are. Let me carry out this duty for you.”
“Ah, that is where you’re mistaken, Leon. To make sense of what will happen is not my duty, nor is it for me to let my job be done by those that are more experienced and more sturdy than me. The principle which I have learned and I follow is to always carry news regardless of what the consequences may be, just as I had been appointed to do six hours ago. Again, I respect your offer, Leon, but I refuse to let you carry out my duty.” he said that as he pushed the door open, leaving Leon behind to watch and dread as his friend went in to deliver those terrible news.
He opened the door, before his tired eyes was a gryphon in a navy blue chyton. It covered half her body, obviously for the symposium she was about to attend, two claws with a tint of azure eating salted shellfish from a plate, a rare commodity in the mountains of Minerva especially during the winter, one only affordable by the wealthy. The room contained sparse furniture, Ageleia sitting on a bedstool, an opening in the in the high ceiling showering the room with moonlight as she feasted on her luxurious food. Seconds after his entrance, Ageleia noticed the young gryphon entering, almost immediately laying her eyes on him.
“Greetings, please come in.” she tells him, gazing at his untethered feathers and sleepless eyes “Your body looks like it had endured much suffering. Please, if you come from land which few fly in, I will be happy to let you sleep by for this night, through I have festivities to attend to.”
“My mistress, I come from a distant land but I am no traveller. I am a messenger from the Eastern Oroi” he answered back.
“Ah. wonderful,” she cooed, a splinter of a smile forming across her rostrum, “It must be my son. I want to read his thoughts on how he deals with the events he partakes in.”
She let the plate of shellfish by the side as Dareius just stared at her, something that she took notice of. Dareius didn’t want to betray his emotions, he wanted to preserve a stoic stance and to just get this over with. But his heart felt cold to think that he would and try as he could he could not frown a little bit. She noticed that frown, and for her that was all that she needed to realize that behind those tired eyes laid the urge to cry. He just kept looking at her and she couldn’t help but accept her gross infecting cynicism, staring at the messenger before addressing him.
“Is it because of the long travel that you frown before me,” she paused “or has something gone wrong.”
In front of her stood a gryphon with bright years in front of him, ready to tell her things that no curse or blessing would be able to shield her heart of pain. He struggled to let his voice be heard, a small headache creeping its way in as it tried to divert its mind. The only thing he did was nod at her
“Of course not, why would he pay a messenger to come in the middle of the night. I am such a fool.” she murmured, letting a huge sigh escape her after that.
She looked at him, the feeling of knives stabbing her before ever really knowing, choking down her throat appearing to top it off. She knew it was inevitable. Bad fortune was meant to strike those that deserved it, to go against fate is a crime not even the gods would dare to commit. Even he knew it, but he was not lost in his own sea of existence, not yet. He still had an order to abide to.
“My Mistress, I am Dareius of Platos” he started with all the strength he could muster “I am here to inform you by order of the senate, that your son, Polynices, fell heroically six hours ago while searching for the myth known as an Anthropos, in the Eastern Oroi. The Senate, the Politician Keratios, and the Archokantos Prometheus sent their condolences and will dedicate the symposium to him, as well as all of the gryphons who are about to fall.” he finished before he could start stuttering, her cold soul breaching eyes almost making him do so. He held through, and even though he wanted to leave, one of his other orders was to hand a report written in a hurry by the syrgeons at the Eastern Oroi.
For Ageleia herself though, the stage was dark. She covered her face with her claws trying to contain her thoughts. What dread she felt, to learn that her only son had died in the midst of winter. Her memories felt stained, the blood flowing through her veins castrated and bastardised by the guilt, the horrible guilt, that made her silently depressed and angry. For others the thought made them cry, as all parents shed tears when they learn that their sons and daughters met death before them, their hearts conquered by sorrow. For her, through, it made her heart conquered by silent and compressed rage, a trait she had learned when she was under Temple of Ponos, a trait that had strained her fame for so long.
“My Mistress” he interrupted her as she focused her eyes on him again “I was tasked to
hand you a report of the event. Here is how we found...” he stopped from the stress, taking a small breath to even it out before continuing “Here is how everything went down, a diagnosis from the surgeons of Ekantoarchos Apotheus.” he finished with a hurried voice.
Ageleia focused her eye on Dareius, moving closer to get the scroll as opposing sides of her mind fought with each other, ready at to explode at any point. Getting closer, she took a good look at Dareius in an effort to divert her rage. He was quite young, his size making that clear, his feathers white, a few long ones on top of his head falling over the sides, finally, a thin layer of dust, snow and messy feathers giving away what he had gone through to get the message across.
She picked up the scroll from his hands, unrolled it and began reading its contents.
---
For the eyes of Ageleia of Minerva
By order of the senate and Keratios. A report on the death of Polynices of Minerva, Son of Ageleia and Metrophanes
Chiros Surgeon Theonomous
Three Scouts heard a loud bang in the air, speculated to be of a magic spell. Following where the sound came from, they searched and found a spot of snow stained by blood, followed by the dead Polynices in a small cave dug out on snow, one carved out by tools or/and magic.
We arrived with Chiros Surgeon Akakios and Ekantoarchos Apotheus, with several guards and younger field surgeons. In our diagnosis, we found no torn feathers, no broken beak, no wounds inflicted by claws or anything that would imply that there was a struggle between the gryphon and its enemy.
What we found was an entry wound in the chest, one that had hit and shattered the coracoid with amazing accuracy, going all the way through the lungs and into the lorax. If would require great strength and ability in the blade, if a blade had been used. My speculation is that the damage was inflicted by an arrow, which entered the skin at such speeds that it left the entry wound relatively small. After that, the inflictant must have tried to remove the arrow, but the tip must have broken or come off. Whichever is the case, it mostly likely that we will find an arrow tip inside of the dead gryphon. This does not explain, through, of the loud bang the three scouts heard before finding the body. If it may be that the creature wields magic.
With respect to Ageleia, and her son Polynices.
Signed Prokratios Miliate Milos
---
Ekantotarchos Apotheus.
I shall make this quick. I can say with almost certainty that the beast uses magic.
After the diagnosis for the dead Polynices, peace upon him, I took my troops and laid them near the the Dens of Herodotus where I feared the beast may have tried to take shelter in. We faced off the creature somewhere off in the canyons. This was our first encounter where the Anthropos used magic, as the beast fired invisible projectiles/fireballs out of its hands and had grey skin/fur, one that blended well with the snowstorm.
Despite our realization that our shields were useless, we attempted to swarm it. but despite our speed and determination, we met heavy resistance that left us with several wounded, their status unknown as of the time of the writing, but from my brief exposure with their wounds, they looked exactly like the ones inflicted on poor Polynices.
I send my condolences to Ageleia for the loss, and sent a message to the senate to Keratios, requesting that they follow the pleads of my lord, Ekatonarchos Prometheus.
Signed Hegon Keratios
Prokratios Miliate Milos
Proto Sophus of Leukodoria
Chiros Surgeon Theonomous
Chiros Surgeon Akakios
Ekatontarchos Prometheus
---
Ageleia rolled the scroll up and handed it back to him, shaking all the way through, closing her eyes as tears began forming up, her emotions swirling in an eventual outburst. She moved back to try, Dareius realising that she is trying to shelter him from her rage, cursing herself for doing this in front of him. Finally, after heavy breathing, she finally let it all out.
“Seven Daughters I had” she started “Seven Daughters I had, not one dead from even childbirth, but one Son I was blessed with, and now he has been taken away from me. Out of all nurturing mothers that exist, I am now no longer able. The blood that flows through me does not belong here. One of the gryphons that I have raised and have loved equally as others has been murdered by foreign blood, blood that is bitter and poisonous, blood that burns claws and minds, blood that has made life curse its existence!” she took a big slow breath, her body shaking slightly while she held off the tears welling up in her eyes “But in the end, I say no. I refuse to sit idly behind the walls of this city, I refuse to drink this poison to the bottom, the venom for the restless. This is what I will do, when I crush the skull of that monster with my own claws, to march above his broken body, craving its death as I finally struck down upon that life unworthy of life with swords and arrows!” the intensity of her voice peaked at that moment, the rage residing in her mind spilling over, leaving Dareius to simply watched the old and battered gryphon rage in her sorrow. She stood there for a moment, looking away while letting the anger dissolve taking big breaths, Dareius feeling the skin under his feathers burn from the heat and the stress.
A moment passed before the mourning ended, Ageleia finally letting her last big and exhausting breath. She looked at Dareius, standing in deep silence, the look on his face barely betraying the stress he was under.
She took a few steps closer, taking a moment to pause, releasing the anger that she had let out “I...“ she started, “ I apologise for my outburst, Dareius. I just...”
“I understand of your pain my Mistress, and what you spoke of entered my heart.” he managed to tell her, trying to contain what he had felt in the last minute or so, a sudden pain leaving his body as he realised that Ageleia had calmed down. He really didn’t like seeing gryphons struck by such tragedy, even if he didn’t know them. If anything he was relieved slightly that she had shed tears for him, a sign of how much she cared for her son.
“Dareius of Platos,” she addressed him, taking him off guard “Tell me, when are the Palatics leaving for the Eastern Oroi?”
Dareius scrambled to answer “A few hours after dawn, my mistress.”
“Go forth to the Senate and Keratios, tell them that I will lend myself to guide the city, to hunt down and to exterminate this pathetic being that has caused so much sorrow. I will inform my family when the morning comes and I will not tolerate this fact getting known before dawn, is that understood?” she was considerably calm when she told him that, even if she was shaking from the stress of what had happened.
“I will my Mistress” he replied back, before exiting the Atrium, leaving Ageleia to her thoughts.
As he closed the big red doors, he and Leon took flight to the direction of the Temple of Sirenus, the music guiding them there. But for Ageleia, the music fell on deaf ears.
The countdown had begun, in the deep reaches of her heart, in the tears she shed for his death, in the words she couldn’t let out. The countdown had begun and there was nothing that could ever stop it, nothing except the death of the monster that caused her such grief. Inside her, she let out cries of hatred and she vowed revenge, seeking the delight of bloodshed over that thing.
She looked up, outside of her balcony, the stars from above illuminating their brilliance like heaven, the sound of ballads and lyres echoing from mountain to mountain. Her daughters were at the symposium, laughing and taking pleasure in the company of others, unaware of what had happened to their brother. The moment would come, she knew, where she would have to tell them. She felt tired, both in her mind and spirit, cursing that pathetic life she now hunted.
So she left to go pray at the Temple of Ponos, she cursed the world beneath a dark sky. Such is the fate of this earth, bitter and brutal, only chosen broken blood to populate it.
***
-The Injured Sleep-
TheGreekOwl
[Continued to next post due to character limit]