First Master-Complete!

[Raneth]

A new Magistream story, one I wrote a while ago and never got around to posting. This one is short, probably around 7 parts. It takes place just after the creation of the Keep. Comments and critiques are appreciated!

Chapter 1

The town stretched below the clear glass windows, thatched houses and patches of wheat dotting the landscape. Inside the mansion, a fire burned in the hearth, and a sleek-looking cream-colored cat rested on the lush red carpet. It opened one golden eye as Renna ran the duster over the mantle, then rubbed its face against her leg as she moved past. Renna smiled down at it.

Voices came from the hallway, and Renna tucked the duster away, moving toward the side of the room. The door to the sitting room banged open, and Master Lukas entered.

The nobleman was bedecked with fancy robes and gold jewelry that gleamed in the firelight. The cat, a gold ring in its ear that matched those Lukas wore, moved to wind around his feet.

“Don’t tell me he can’t get in. That’s impossible. He is the most powerful mage I know, the most powerful mage in all the region. It’s a stone castle. He can get in!” Lukas flailed his hands.

“The magic is powerful,” Lukas’s clerk said as he entered behind him, a sheaf of papers shaking in his hands. “No one has ever gotten in. It is…protected, the letter says, from those with magic.”

“Have commoners gotten inside?” Lukas whirled on the unfortunate clerk. “No? Then it must be for magi!”

Renna ducked her head. The master sounded angry.

“You. Enough cleaning for now. Out.” He pointed, and the small door in the wall that would lead to the servant’s tunnels swung open. Her job was done until Lukas left. Discussions of magic were not for her.

“Nonsense!” Lukas boomed in response to something his clerk had said as the door closed behind Renna. The loud voice sent her nerves jangling, and her chest tightened, her breathing coming short. “The proper spell will break the wards. No creature, no force, no spell is intelligent enough or powerful enough to protect a castle from another determined mage.”

“But that’s just it,” the clerk was saying as Lukas headed down the hall. “It’s not just one…”

The warmth from the sitting room leeched away as the hallway stretched on, the only light coming from beams that shone through small holes in the wall. Spyholes, her mother had once said, from a time before Renna was born when mages and sorcerers warred with one another.

Renna could never imagine Master Lukas going to war. He was a powerful mage, but Renna had never him use his magic to do more than fluff pillows or throw things when he was angry.

Something heavy thudded from the room she had just left, Renna jolting at the noise. Her chest tightened further, and she gasped.

She hated magic. Whenever Lukas used it, Renna could sense it, and it drove the air from her lungs and made it hard to pull a breath.

She hated to admit it, but it scared her. A full grown woman, and she was frightened of magic.

Renna scurried further down the hall, following the well memorized path to the servant’s quarters. The air grew chill, the cold from the stone underfoot seeping through her thin soled shoes, but as she got further away from the room where Lukas used magic she moved with more comfort. Light glowed from the small door in the servant’s halls.

“Renna?” Renna jumped at the voice as she stepped through the door, then gave a shaky sigh and smile as her friend Gloria raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t expect you back so soon,” the older woman said. “You’re not slacking, are you?”

“The master ordered me out,” Renna said. She crossed the room, throwing her duster into the corner and sitting down heavily on her cot.

“Sounds familiar,” Gloria said. “Lady Vilas ordered me out after that horrible little creature of hers hissed at me. You’re lucky you’re just a chamber maid. You don't have to put up with her chatter and her cooing over that snake.” Gloria shuddered. “It’s been a tiny little fanged thing for years. That’s not natural.”

“Magic isn’t natural,” Renna said, her stomach twisting as she said it. She didn’t know if that was true. But magic certainly didn’t feel right.

She didn’t mind caring for the Lord and Lady’s creatures, though, even the small snake--basilisk, she thought was the proper term. The poor thing was so small, it couldn’t hurt anyone.

“Not natural? That’s for sure. The Lady today was upset about something else, too.” Gloria leaned back against the wall. “Some tower. Seems the household is going on a trip.”

Renna’s eyes widened. “A trip?” She hadn’t been further than her mother’s house since she had been taken on as a servant a year ago. “Where are we going?”

“Some locked up tight mage tower.” Gloria shrugged. “There’s riches to be had, if you believe Lady Vilas.”

Renna’s stomach dropped. The Master’s words suddenly sense. “When?” she whispered.

“I would expect soon. The next few days.” Gloria grinned. “Excited?”

“Are you certain?” Renna asked, standing. Magic be damned. She knew becoming a servant would benefit her beyond the pittance she sent home to her mother each month.

“I am. But don’t let it get to your head. You’re a chambermaid. You’ll be emptying chamber pots into the bushes the whole trip through, and making sure that damn vicious cat doesn’t escape.”

“I know.” Renna put that out of her mind. That didn’t matter. Being near magic didn’t matter, not anymore.

She would get to leave the town! No one but the richest merchants, the nobility, and the mad had the resources or the guts to trek into the wilderness where creatures both magical and just plain vicious waited.

It would not be a long trip, she knew. But she would see at least part of the world outside the fiefdom, a place outside the grip of Lord Lukas. Free from the ever-present weight of magic on her chest.

She couldn’t wait.

***

“So, is the trip all you’ve dreamed of so far?” Gloria asked archly. The wagons stretched out around the curve of the mountains, a misting rain plastering her blond hair to her forehead. Renna couldn’t respond over the mound of horse blankets she carried.

“Gloria!” the sharp voice of Lady Vila cut through the air, and the horses hitched to the wagon nearest them stamped. “Hurry and bring me the tarp! The wet is getting in!”

Renna nodded to her friend as the other woman rolled her eyes and hurried across the makeshift camp, mud spattering the hem of Gloria’s skirts. Renna struggled under the weight of four horse blankets, and sighed when Arthur, the head of the stablehands, took them from her.

It had rained the entire duration of the journey, a long, soaking spring rain that drenched the caravan as they waited for who knew what. Another mage, the servants whispered, one who would help Lukas get inside the magical castle. It was only another day's ride to their destination just down the mountain to the strange new castle that Lukas was intent on taking for his own. Expanding his lands, or so he called it.

Renna was just happy to be out of the drafty old mansion and away from her usual boring duties of dusting the same rooms over and over. Work never ceased, but some jobs were more enjoyable than others. She was in no rush to visit the magical castle, either. Let Lukas and the others handle that--she was content to enjoy the fresh air, rain or not.

A small mew came from the ground, and she jumped.

“What are you doing out here?” she smiled down at the Master’s cat. The creature flicked its ears, the gold hoop dull in the overcast light of the cloudy day. It blinked gold eyes, and meowed again.

Odd. Silka was a lap cat. It had been strange enough that Lukas brought her along, but it was unlike him to let her wander through the mud. “Best get you back to Lukas,” she said, grabbing the small creature. The cat lay limp in her hands, flicking her ears impatiently, and Renna had to take a moment to figure out how to carry her properly.

“I don’t know why that beast lets you near it,” Arthur called from behind a line of horses. He flicked mud from his bristly white mustache. “In my twenty years here, I’ve never seen it act so nice to anyone but Lukas.”

“She knows me, don’t you Silka?” Renna patted the creature's head, the gold hoop in the cat’s ear dangling loosely as she flicked her ears back and forth. "I always see her when I'm doing my rounds."

“Maybe. When outfitting the Master’s horse for a hunt, though, that beast cat always attacks if I get near. Maybe it just copies the master’s impatience.”

“She’s not so bad.” Renna patted the cat’s head, the cat making no move to jump from Renna’s arms as she stepped through the sucking mud. Other servants and stablehands milled around the four wagons that made up their small caravan, and Renna nodded as Tara, the other chambermaid, waved when she walked past.

Odd. Renna wasn't working, and neither was Tara. Silka was wandering loose. Come to think of it, even the horsemen were idle. Where was Lukas?

She paused as she neared Lukas’ wagon, the pennant denoting the house of Trennen flapped in the breeze. Voices wound through the open air.

A man in mud-spattered purple robes stood across from Lukas just outside the wagon, conversing in quiet tones. On his shoulder sat a beautiful, fiery bird, like none Renna had ever seen before. A silver chain looped around the man’s waist, and attached on the other end was a tiny mud covered…thing. Renna reviewed her mother’s lessons of creatures to be careful of if she ever explored the mountains. Wings and the head of an eagle, but its hindquarters were that of a cat.

Gryphon. The word popped into her mind. Its feathers were pale yellow, save for a white splotch that looked like a star on its chest. It looked at her, and her heart began to beat faster. It chirped quietly, a sad sound.

Lukas looked up immediately. “There you are!” Silka leapt from Renna’s arms to Lukas’s shoulder, settling into its place around his neck like an expensive living fur. “What were you doing to her?” Lukas demanded.

Renna ducked her head from her employer, the robed man’s gaze still heavy on her shoulders. “Nothing, sir. I saw her…walking in the mud. I figured I would keep her from getting her paws dirty.” As if to back up her statement, Silka started grooming her front paw.

Lukas glared. “Well then.” He lifted Silka off his shoulders, the cat mewing in indignant protest. “If you think she is dirty, you can spend the journey making sure she is kept clean. I want her fur spotless, her nails clipped, and her litter odorless. Add this to your other duties. You can start by washing her now.”

Renna bristled. Lukas had a temper, but this seemed unusual. “Yes sir.” Renna took the cat without meeting Lukas’s eyes, the creature immediately twining itself around her shoulders the way it had Lukas’s. She heard an annoyed grunt from Lukas, but didn’t look up.

“Wait a moment,” the robed man said. Renna froze, her skin tingling as the man walked closer. The chain went taught, pulling the gryphon, and it stumbled in the mud when it tried to follow.

“A fine creature,” the robed man said. “Quite rare. Not particularly powerful, however.” Renna let Silka cuddle closer, the man’s words sitting ill in her stomach. “Why bring it?” He asked the last of Lukas.

“She is my companion,” Lukas said. “My wife brought her basilisk also, the one you spelled. The spell worked perfectly--its as young as the day it hatched!”

“Of course. That is an easy spell for most.” The man waved his hand dismissively, then looked once more to Silka. “She seems to like you,” he remarked.

“I…interact with her often.” The man’s eyes were dark and impassive. Renna’s gaze traveled instead down the silvery chain, settling on the small gryphon. Its feathers were muddy and almost matted. She doubted it could fly, and wished she could wash it like the master had ordered her to wash Silka.

“Do you?” The man raised both eyebrows. Over his shoulder, Lukas watched with a furrowed brow. “Temple cats are notorious for being picky. You are lucky.” Renna’s chest went tight, and her skin prickled. Magic. This mage was using magic.

She took a step back. “I should wash her, like the master ordered me to,” she said. The man held her gaze for a moment longer, and it felt like an eternity.

“Very well.” The tightness vanished, and he turned away, the phoenix on his shoulder turning its head to look at her. The gryphon gave a doleful chirp, and Silka hissed.

______

TBC

[Amki]

Ah, seems interesting. I am guessing she might just have some magic power, or something alike.

[Raneth]

Thanks for the comment!

_________
Chapter 2

The mage had set up a tent of his own next to the caravan, and the gryphon was staked outside in the pouring rain. It kept squawking, the sound hammering through the laughter and chatter of Gloria and Tara.

“Renna?” Gloria elbowed her goodnaturedly. “What’s with you tonight? You’ve been staring into space, more than usual for you.” Gloria and Tara sat against the wall of their shared wagon, an oil lamp casting light and warmth around their small shelter. Lightning flashed outside, followed by a rumbling clap of thunder, and Tara shrieked, then followed it up with raucous laughter.

“I’m alright.” Renna smiled, accepting a flask of wine from Gloria but not sipping it. “I…What do you two know of this new mage that’s arrived?”

“Why? You like the look of him?” Gloria smirked.

Renna shivered in revulsion. “Be serious. We’re going to a magic castle, and his creatures…” The gryphon squawked again, a high pitched shriek that sounded like a child’s cry. It made Renna’s chest ache. Why was he treating his pets that way? Lukas, for all his faults, at least let others look after Silka.

“He’s a mage. They use their creatures for power.” Gloria shrugged, taking the flask back and taking a gulp. “They’re not real animals, in a way. They’re magic, right?”

“I thought they were magical animals,” Tara said, holding her hand out for the flask. “But not normal ones, certainly.”

“But that baby gryphon…”

“Renna, you’re young.” Gloria leaned back against the wall of the wagon. “That’s what mages do. Lukas is the nicest of them. Ten years ago, he had a visitor, another mage. An old man, he was, with a horse who had spines and black bat wings. He had a magic halter to control the beast. I think it shocked the creature into submission whenever it so much as lifted a hoof. It was horrible, but that’s what magic is. You’ve said it yourself, remember?”

Renna nodded. Magic didn’t feel natural. “But that’s no reason to hurt the creatures,” she whispered.

“Magic creatures are vicious. Look at Vila’s little snake, or Lukas’ cat--well, for most people but you,” Gloria pointed at her. “Magi need magic to control beasts like them.”

Renna stared at the lantern, wincing when the gryphon’s shriek cut through her again. It made sense, of course. It explained why only magi could control magical creatures.

But the tiny gryphon didn’t seem vicious. Only hurt and afraid.

***
The rain pounded against the roof of the wagon, but the lightning and rumbles of thunder had stopped as the storm passed over their camp. Now the only rumbling was Gloria’s usual snoring.

The gryphon’s shrieks had kept her awake, and now that they too had fallen silent Renna had no hope of falling asleep. The image of the tiny creature, staked outside in pouring rain without even a tarp to cover it like the horses did, wouldn’t leave her mind.

She eyed her blanket, discarded against the wall of the wagon. She didn’t need it, not when she was warm in the wagon with the other girls and the lantern.

It was probably too late to help much, but she had to try. She balled the blanket in her fists, shoving it under her arms, and moved toward the door to the wagon. Gloria and Tara didn’t stir.

Skin growing cold with goosebumps, Renna opened the door and headed out behind the wagon, the rain immediately plastering her hair to her face in clinging strands. She darted under the tarp that protected the horses, one of them stamping a hoof in surprise, its chain rattling. Even the horse wore a blanket, Renna noticed. Outside the tarp, the rain hissed against the ground, the air filled with the smell of damp and churned mud.

She peered across the camp, unable to make out anything in the rain and dark. The faintest of glows clued her in to the location of the wagons, where small lanterns like the one in hers cast faint warmth or illuminated late night games.

The master’s wagon was in the lead, and the strange mage had erected his tent next to it. Her mental map wavered in her mind, and she blinked hard in the dark. She wished the gryphon would call again, or this would all have been for nothing.

The sound of its sudden squawk made her jump and sent icy shock through her veins. It came from a faint glow in the distance, and Renna started toward it, her bare feet squelching in the mud. Muck and slime clung to her feet and dirtied the hem of her nightshift, but she didn’t care. She kept the blanket folded tightly against her chest under her arms, keeping it as dry as she could. Her shift hung on her like a residue.

The gryphon squawked once more, louder, and the shape of the mage’s tent loomed like a shadow ahead of her as she approached. The chain that staked the creature to the ground whispered against the grass, and her gaze fell on the silhouette of the tiny thing as it jumped toward her, the chain preventing it from lifting its front feet more than a few inches off the ground.

Renna stumbled back, nearly slipping in the mud. This was a magical creature, no matter the size. It was owned by a mage who very likely was far more cruel than Lukas or Vila. Why had she come here?

The gryphon took a step toward her, the shape of its taloned feet obvious in the dark. It gave a small sound, a chirp that was barely audible in the rush of the rain.

Renna leaned forward, arm muscles shaking as she tossed the blanket out. It covered the small gryphon all at once, all except the chain, which moved like a snake outside the edge of the blanket as the tiny creature moved around underneath the fabric. Renna stared, heart pounding.

The lump froze, then started squawking. Loudly.

“Shh!” Renna darted forward, forgetting her fear of the gryphon in her sudden dread of what the mage would do if he found her there. She pulled the blanket off, revealing two enormous golden eyes that blinked at her, the gryphon’s feathers even more rustled than before.

The eyes caught her, and her fear vanished. Even the sound and feel of the rain against her skin faded, the scent of wet earth and damp fabric gone.

Her chest felt tight, but it was not the tightness that made her pull for breath and fight against her own body for air. This was no clutching hand, but a weightless band that pressed up against her back and brought with it a rising excitement.

Flight. Strength. The gryphon’s gaze brought her that.

Then she was hammered down all at once. A chain looped around her neck and chest sliced the band in half, bringing a cord of pain that made her cry out, her voice mingling with the gryphon’s squawk.

Then she was alone again, her nightshift soaking wet and cold against her skin. The gryphon rolled on the ground, the slim chain rattling as it tried to fight its way free.

“Who’s out there?!” the voice cut through the night, and Renna’s heart skipped. The gryphon screeched, the sound harsh and pained, and Renna ran.

The sound of her labored breathing mingled with the steady rush of the rain, and her feet slapped against the mud and puddles. In moments she was back under the tarp, panting hard as she leaned against the horse’s flank.

Her chest was tight again, and not from her dash. The gryphon screeched, and she squinted her eyes against the noise.

The gryphon wasn’t evil. It couldn’t be. There had been no viciousness or malice in its eyes, and that feeling when she had been close to it…it was more than the caring she felt for Silka, when the cat purred under her hand. It had been a bond, a bond that the pain from the chain had severed.

She rubbed her neck, imagining the chain and the tight pain of the cutting links against her skin. That was what the gryphon felt. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.

And she knew it was wrong.

____

TBC. Comments always appreciated.

[Blazen749]

Yeah first post. Awesome beginning.

[Raneth]

Thanks for the comment!

Chapter 3

“Get up, lazy!” A familiar voice laughed, and something hard nudged her in the side. Renna rolled over, only to bump against the side of the wagon.

“Renna, I’m not going to ask why your hair and nightshift are wet, but if you don’t get up it’ll be both our heads. The caravan is leaving and we have work to do!” Renna opened her eyes to see Tara leaning over her. “Come on!”

“There in a moment.” Tara huffed in response. She left Renna alone in the wagon, and the sun lanced through in from outside when she opened the door to let herself out. Renna blinked in the harsh brightness.

Nothing for it. As Tara said, there was work to be done. She stood up, grimacing as her still-damp nightshift clung like slimy cold seaweed from the ocean.

Then a different chill went through her when she looked down at the empty wagon floor.

She had left her blanket with the gryphon. . If the strange mage found it, and knew she had been skulking around his tent in the night…

“Renna!” this was Gloria’s voice. “What, are you ill? Lukas says we have to make it to the castle today!”

There was nothing to be done about it. She had her work. Hopefully the man wouldn’t even remember her.

She got dressed quickly, heading outside into a sunny morning, only a few traces of pink left in the dawn. Arthur was adjusting the traces and lines on the horses while they cropped the grass, and Gloria sat hunched over a firepit, striking flint against stone.

The mage’s tent sat in the distance, but there was no sign of the small gryphon. Only the post that had staked it to the ground remained.

“Here,” Tara said, and Renna groaned as the other woman dumped a pile of laundry in her arms. “From Master Lukas’ wagon, to be washed. And there’s more where that came from. Our wagon is a washing room now. Drop that off and get the rest.”

“Don’t worry girls, I’ll tell them to keep the ride smooth,” Arthur called as Renna trudged into the wagon and dropped off the load of clothes. The stablehand cinched the harness around the lead horse’s neck. “Have to keep those clothes nice for the Lord when he enters the castle, aye?”

Renna sighed, stretching her arms over her head to work the kinks out of her back. Tara dragged over a tub of water. “Hurry up then and get the rest of the clothing.”

Right. Renna set off across the camp at a jog, her eye once again drawn to the mage’s tent. No sign of him or his gryphon, or even the fiery bird that had ridden on his shoulder.

She was so distracted by thoughts of the gryphon that she didn’t see Silka until the cat was under her feet. A furry tail wrapped around her ankles, and that combined with the lingering fatigue from not having slept well nearly tripped her.

“Silka!” she scolded. The cat tilted its head, then mewed loudly, leaning its body against her legs and purring.

“Not now, Silka.” Disentangling her legs from the clingy cat, Renna set off again toward Lukas’ wagon.

A furry dart zipped under her legs, and Renna stumbled again. “Silka!” she moved the cat away with a leg, and the cat immediately ran up to her again, meowing persistently.

“I’ll feed you when I get there!” Renna yelled, then immediately felt ridiculous for talking to the cat. “Come here, you.” She scooped up the obnoxious creature, the cat going limp on her shoulder as she started walking again.

Voices emanated from the space near Lukas’ wagon, and Renna paid them no mind until sharp teeth nipped at her hand.

“Ow! Silka, you,” she dropped the cat, who immediately fell into a crouch, ears flat. Silka stared at Lukas’ wagon, letting out a dangerous sounding hiss.

Renna’s heart sped. “What is it?”

A breeze blew the soft white curtains of the wagon, and Silka walked closer as though were stalking a mouse. Breathing coming fast, Renna followed, taking care where she put her steps.

“This is a last resort plan, but it is a good one.” The mage’s voice froze her in place.

“Do you really think so?” Lukas’s voice quavered, the way it did when he was trying to appease Lady Vila after she was in a mood. “I know of such magics, but I’ve never tried them. I just…I just couldn’t.”

“Do not fear. I will not ask of it you, or your creature. That is why I brought the gryphon. No barrier can stand up to blood magic. Given the treasures inside, I think one sacrifice can be made, don’t you?”

A chill wormed its way into Renna’s blood. Silka hissed again, almost as if she understood.

“All you have to do is channel the magic during the sacrifice. Then I can take over.”

“Just channel it?” Lukas sounded like a child.

“Just channel it. Hold it until the creature dies, then channel it back to me. It’s very simple. Once I have it, I will break the barrier. We will be inside the castle by tonight.”

Renna moved away, her face pale. The laundry was forgotten, and she moved behind a tree, sliding down into a sitting position. The rough bark scraped her back. Silka followed her, the cat bumping her hand with its head and mewing quietly, a small sound of consolation.

Blood magic. Sacrifice. The gryphon.

The mage and Lukas were going to kill the gryphon and use the power they got to break the barrier that protected the castle. The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place with horrid snaps. That was the entire reason he had brought the poor creature, the reason it had stayed outside the night before in the rain.

It was a sacrifice.

Silka’s rough tongue on her hand brought her out of her daze, and she blinked. Wetness dripped from her eyelash, and she hurriedly wiped away tears she hadn’t known she shed on her sleeve.

She had to get the Master’s laundry.

After that, though, came a new task. She had to save the gryphon, and set it free.

How she would do that before tonight, though, she had no idea.

***

“You’ve been out of it all day. The trip getting to you?” Gloria peered at her over the washbasin, and when Renna looked up she was greeted with a flick of water in her face. “Wake up, there.”

“I’m fine.” The sun lanced through the open windows, the bright day stretching toward late afternoon. The interior of their wagon reeked of soap and wet fabric.

“Really? Because you’ve nearly scrubbed Lady Vila’s dress to shreds.” Gloria took the garment out of Renna’s hands, stumbling a little with the sway of the wagon as she moved to put it in the drying basin. “Let me guess-excited about seeing the magic castle?”

Renna gave a weak smile, her stomach fluttering into a thousand butterflies. “Kind of.”

“There!” Arthur’s booming voice reverberated through the wagon. “Castle ahead!”

“Well, now’s your chance.” Gloria stood, darting toward the door. “Let’s jog alongside and get a look!”

Gloria swung open the door of the wagon and headed outside, the open door causing a rush of fresh air that dispersed some of the scent of the harsh soap. Renna wiped her hands on her skirts, following Gloria more slowly. Time to see the castle that a mage would kill for.

The wagon rolled along, and she jumped out carefully. Others were exiting wagons too, including the baker and the castle chef, Tara, and at the front of the caravan, Master Lukas and Lady Vila.

But the castle took up most of the scene. A row of mountains knifed the sky, and on the peak of one sat the enormous stone towers, clearly artificial but at the same time hewn from the stone of the mountain itself. The late afternoon sun shone, illuminating the white-grey stone like a jewel. Below, a valley spread out underneath it, and a stream with crystalline blue water burbled around the borders.

Renna released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. It was beautiful. Her breathing, usually tight in the presence of Lukas’ magic, was easy and free. If this was magic…it was good. It was not a terrible fortress filled with power. How she knew that, she didn’t know, but she was suddenly certain that this castle had nothing for the mage.

“We travel for one more hour!” A harsh voice broke the spell. “Then we make camp.” The mage had appeared next to Lukas and Vila, the gryphon still on the chain and the phoenix on his shoulder. Renna knew that the command was for her and the other servants, not for Lukas. Presumptuous, though, of him to order Lukas’ servants around.

The master didn’t argue, though. The group of them walked back to Lukas’ wagon, disappearing inside. The gryphon vanished when the door shut, and Renna felt a strange snap when she lost sight of it.

They were going to perform the sacrifice tonight. They would defile the beautiful castle, and murder an innocent creature.

Something meowed, and Renna looked down to see Silka by her feet once again. “I know,” Renna said.
She chewed her bottom lip, staring at the wagon and the gorgeous castle that dwarfed it. She had to do something. She just had to set the small gryphon free.

Something caught her eye, and hope filled her. Tress jogged by, carrying a cloth-covered tray.

Tress, the cook.

“Don’t worry, Silka,” Renna whispered. “I’ll find a way.”


_________________

TBC. Comments and critiques always appreciated!

[Raneth]

Chapter 4

“You want to do what?” A rushing servant, his hands filled with bread sticks from the interior of the food wagon, jumped at the cook’s tone. He hurried away when he realized it wasn’t directed at him.

“Help with the food. Just for tonight.” Renna paused as a cricket hopped out the window from the food wagon, disappearing into the rapidly darkening forest. The camp had been made, the wagons pulled closer together. Their journey was over, and the castle filled the dusk sky. “I want to…maybe try my hand as a…” Renna thought frantically. “As a food server. Expand my skillset.” Tressa’s lined face grew more lines as Renna spoke, the older woman’s hands on her hips. “I thought maybe starting now during our small journey would make it easier to learn.”

“You’re a chambermaid. The worst you have to worry about is soiled linens. Do you know the hassles I have to put up with? Do you know the least bit about preparing food?” She threw up her hands. “I have enough to deal with, with half our food going bad while the master wants a proper dinner every night!”

“I…I could start as a serving girl. Just for the night.” Renna gave her most winning smile.

Tress shook her head. “What’s in it for you, girl? I know better. You got your eye on that mage? Is that it?”
Renna’s stomach turned, Tress’ gaze growing more thoughtful. If that’s what it took… “Alright, you found me out,” Renna said, wincing as a wrinkly smile formed on the old cook’s face. “I just want to see more of him, that’s all. Before he leaves for the castle.”

“Ah, to be young again,” Tress said, all traces of suspicion gone. “I think I can fit you in. Lukas will be taking his supper in a short time. You can fill their glasses.” She beckoned, Renna following her inside the cook’s wagon. The scent of old bread and spices filled her nose, with the bitter tang of rot a counterpoint. She supposed there was no avoiding some spoilage after a weeklong journey.

Baskets and metal casks lined the floor, and one sloshed as Tress hit it with a kick. “I’m keeping the wine here. When the meal starts, fill this flask, bring it in, and stand just outside the wagon. You’ll be able to see Lukas, Vila and the mage from the window. When their glasses get empty, fill them. That’s all there is to it. You can handle that, right?”

“I…yes,” Renna said. How she would actually free the gryphon, she wasn’t sure, but at least she’d be in the same room-sometimes, at least. “I can do that.”

“Good.” Tressa handed her a silver pitcher. “Fill that up and meet me outside Lukas’ wagon. Hurry!” The wagon jolted as the woman grabbed two enormous baskets and headed back outside.

Renna let out a slow breath, taking the lid off of the metal cask Tress had kicked. She dipped in the flask, the strong-smelling ruby liquid filling it up to the brim. That had to be enough.

If only she was smarter, she could put something in their food-something to make the mage sleep, so they couldn’t work their magic. Then she could let the gryphon go and he’d be none the wiser. But she wasn’t that smart or learned, and she put it out of her mind as she hurried across the darkening camp, nodding as she caught up to a young boy who had stacks of plates in each hand.
“Where are the cups?” he asked her, and Renna cursed and headed back.
Tress scowled at her when she finally arrived outside Lukas’ wagon, snatching the cups out of her hands. “Go,” she whispered to the boy with the plates, and he headed inside. “Greetings, my lord,” he said his voice piping high. “Dinner is served.”

“Make it quick,” Lukas said. “Rylan and I have a journey ahead of us tonight.”

“Yes, my lord,” the boy said, darting out of the wagon. He gestured frantically at no one in particular, and Renna hurried forward with the cups and flask.

The interior of the wagon glowed, and her chest tightened painfully. No lanterns were lit-instead, glowing balls of magic cast light as bright as day over the table. Renna blinked back painful tears as her eyes adjusted, and her hands shook when she placed the three glasses down.

Something chirped, the sound striking her chest. The gryphon was curled in the corner, its face wedged in the wood. The chain around its neck looped to the mage’s chair.

This would never work. She would never be able to get it free.

“Wine!” Lukas snapped, more distracted than angry. She jumped, hurrying over and willing her hands not to shake more as she poured the drink. Lukas and the mage were poring over a map, with scribbles of writing that Renna could not read all over the edges. Lady Vila leaned back in her chair with a spoonful of soup in her hand, her pearl white basilisk over her shoulders. There was no sign of the fiery bird.

Renna paused after filling the glasses, her gaze riveted to the corner. The gryphon’s feathers were matted and scraggly, even worse than the day before.

Lukas gave a half-aware wave, a clear dismissal, and Renna backed away from his chair toward the door.

She had to do something. She wished she had thought things through a little better. She was in the same room, the gryphon mere feet away. She may never be so close again. She couldn’t just leave it!

“Blast it!” Tress’ voice echoed from outside, followed by an ear-splitting screech.

The mage reacted first, standing up from his chair at the same moment the fiery bird came shooting through the window, Silka in pursuit. The cat’s claws were outstretched, her lips peeled back to reveal sharp fangs as she leapt from the window sill to the back of the mage’s chair and then into the air, swiping at the phoenix’s tailfeathers.

“Silka!” Lukas bellowed, but the cat didn’t stop, landing on the table and spilling all of Renna’s meticulously poured wine onto the map. Silka leapt again, her back claws ripping the paper, and the phoenix let out a warning shriek.

Vila leapt back from the table. “Grab her!” she demanded of no one in particular. Wine dripped onto the floor.

“No!” the mage bellowed, as Silka leapt again. Then flame burst from the bird’s wings, directly at the leaping cat.

Silka howled and heat swept up from the table, the wood catching quickly. Lady Vila screamed.

The gryphon in the corner squealed, thrashing against its chain. Silka darted past Renna’s ankles.

Now. Now now now.

Renna dove for the corner, coughing as the small space began filling with black smoke. She ignored the mage moving his hands, ignored Lukas’ yelling and the shouting from outside. Next to her, the mage leaped across the table, grabbing at nothing. Silka appeared next to Renna again, meowing, before disappearing once more.

She grabbed the chain around the gryphon’s neck, adrenaline making her ignore the sharp pain that shot up her arm. She wrenched the metal links off of the creature’s neck.

Awareness flooded her. Knowledge of flight, of the feel of grass beneath talons and the air rushing over healthy feathers. At the same time, pain and exhaustion dragged at her, the band of consciousness tugging at her insistently in a need for help.

She grabbed the gryphon. Standing, she caught the mage’s eyes through the thick smoke. He stared straight at her.

She turned away, toward the open window. “No!” the mage screamed.

With a wrench of her shoulders, she threw the small gryphon out into the open air. She knew when the small creature opened its wings, the cool air from outside catching it and buoying it to freedom.

“No!” The mage gestured with an outstretched hand, air whipping through the wagon. The fires died. The phoenix darted through the window like a fiery missile.

“Renna!” Lukas screamed. “Catch that gryphon!”

The mage turned back to her, his gaze dark. He knew. She would never be able to fake that it was an accident.

Stifling a wretched cough, she leapt out the door at a dead run, heading toward the small sense of awareness. The sense of the gryphon.

________________________________________

TBC. Comments always appreciated!

[Amki]

Yay for the gryphon, I hope they both flee successfully You have some really nice descriptions there. =]

[Raneth]

Thanks for the comment!



Chapter 5
Renna didn’t look back, and didn’t take any notice of the people around her who looked up as she ran past.

Soon, the sight of the clearing where they had made camp faded into the distance, and she ran through the forest, branches reaching out and vines snarling her skirts. All she could think about was the fire, the angry eyes of the mage, and of course, the gryphon.

Pain stabbed through her side, the cramp slowing her as effectively as if she had run into one of the trees that surrounded her. She stopped, gulping air and listening hard for any sign of pursuit.

Something rushed overhead, larger than a bird, and her veins filled with fire and an urge to run, no matter the pain. It must be the mage and his phoenix.

Instead, a dark shape landed with a whump into the loam next to her, and her sense told her what it was, not her eyes. The gryphon.

The small creature stood, its bedraggled wings still spread. The white splotch on its chest was still visible in the dim light when it turned to her and chirped.

“You…” Renna sank to her knees, the pain in he side easing. She held out her arms.

The gryphon walked closer, then leaned against her knees. Renna put her arms around the frail creature. Without the chain, no pain met her touch.

Renna did not know gryphons, but she knew animals, and the gryphon was dreadfully thin. Its legs shook when she patted it on the head, and the feathers under her hands felt dry and brittle, not soft and smooth. When the gryphon lifted a foot, placing it on Renna’s knee, its talons were chipped and cracked.

It chirped once again, and laid its head on her knee. Her awareness of it returned, even stronger now. She knew, immediately, what was happening, even though it should be impossible.

This was magic. She was linked to this magical creature.

She should be afraid. Every logical part of her was protesting, her mind squirming in denial. She was not a mage. She had no magic, and no knowledge of controlling magical creatures at all.

But the part of her that sensed the gryphon didn’t care. The gryphon was part of her, and she would never let anyone hurt it, ever again. No, her. The gryphon was a her.

“I’ll call you Star,” Renna said. The gryphon chirped, not moving her head, and a rush of acceptance filled Renna. She sat like that until the pain in her side faded completely, the sky overhead dimming and the first star appearing.

The gryphon lifted its head, its pupils widening. Overhead, something else flew-but this was no gryphon.

A fiery streak burned through the sky, like a shooting star her mother had always told her to wish on. The phoenix. The mage, Rylan, was looking for her.

“What am I going to do?” Renna asked, her voice swallowed up by the quickly darkening forest. The gryphon chirped, her beak clacking the way Silka’s teeth chattered when she stared at the squirrels that ran around outside Lukas’ keep.

She couldn’t stay here, and she couldn’t go back. Trees stretched overhead, the enormous stone castle looming in the night sky.

Her stomach twisting with fear, she stood and began to walk away from the camp, checking an urge to run in a panic once more. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew she couldn’t let the mage catch her, or Star.

She wished Gloria was here, or Arthur with his horses. She was no stranger to work and exercise, but jogging through a pitch dark forest was far different than carrying linens in a civilized castle. More than once her foot slipped on wet leaves, or a branch would tangle her hair. She didn’t even have a string to tie it back. At this point, she would gladly have cut it short if she had a knife.

The only thing keeping her from falling in a heap was Star. The small gryphon loped in a gangly run beside her, her small size forcing her to run where Renna merely jogged. Overhead, a bright flash went by again, but this time it was higher. Either the phoenix couldn’t see well at night, or it was simply tracking her.

The latter thought proved true when she heard crashing, and her heart leapt. A small light bobbed in the trees behind her, giving off a steady bouncing glow, much different than the wavering light of a lantern. Her chest tightened, and her jog slowed to a walk.

Magic. The mage himself was tracking her.

Her breathing came loud in her ears, a whistling wheeze that froze her in place and doubled her over. She would never escape. “Go on,” she whispered to Star. “Fly away!”

Star, now little more than a dark shape in the night’s gloom, cocked her head. Renna’s sense of the creature increased, and suddenly the pressure in her lungs was gone.

Right. The gryphon had magic too. Relief swept through Renna as she sucked in a grateful breath, adrenaline shoving her forward as the streak in the sky grew brighter.

Star began to run faster, chirping so quietly that Renna could barely hear it. She kept running, keeping pace with the small creature and ignoring the annoyance of the slippery mud underfoot and the grasping branches and burrs.

The leaves and twigs began to slip and scrape less, and her feet hit harder on firmer ground. They were going downhill, she realized, her calves aching, and ahead the night sky faded into nothing.

A cave. Star was leading her underground.

She stopped outside the entrance, panting. The sound of flowing water came from inside the cave in a steady rush. Star chirped, the small gryphon now completely invisible in the darkness.

For a brief second she considered turning back. Star was safe now. She could claim it was all an accident, that she had run on to try and find the gryphon but had been unable too. She could say she got lost.

If she kept on, she had no idea what would happen to her.

Star chirped again, and something flashed inside the cave. For the briefest moment, her fears vanished in the face of the glow.

Fine then. It was too late to turn back now.

“C’mon, Star,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”
***
It was more than a cave.

Renna walked on, one hand pressed against the smooth rock wall of the tunnel. Star padded by her feet, the light feathery touch of the gryphon’s wings the only sign she was there.

The only thing that kept her moving forward was the steady beating glow of light from deep within the cave. Every flash illuminated the interior of the tunnels for a brief heart beat’s length, showing Renna the scalloped walls and stalactites that hung from the ceiling. The light filled her with warmth and a strange calm, so that she didn’t jump when something darted ahead of her.

But she did freeze when she heard a voice echoing from the walls.

“She’s gone into the cave.” Her heart pounded. It was the mage!

“How can you tell?” Lukas responded. Their voices wound through the walls, the volume as though were standing right next to her but the cadence and tone warped.

“I can sense her. She has magic too.” Renna sucked in a gasp. “Unrefined, but its there, and getting stronger. She stole the gryphon.”

She had magic? Impossible. She looked at her hands, and down at the gryphon, when the next pulse of light flashed. She was a servant. Only nobles had magic.

“What was that?” Lukas actually sounded frightened.

“Stay calm. It’s one of the wards from the castle. It’s…monitoring us.” Something shrieked, probably the mage’s phoenix. “It will not let us go this way.”

“But it let her go?!” Lukas’ angry retort cracked through the stone walls like a hammer.

“Perhaps. Or perhaps she is dying, or perhaps lost in a ward meant to confuse.” A chill went down Renna’s spine. “All I know is that we cannot go this way, or we risk that and worse.”

“Then what can we do? We need the gryphon, don’t we?”

“Hm.” The mage kept speaking, but his voice faded into unintelligible garble and soon nothing. They had probably moved away from the cave.

The light pulsed again, illuminating the small gryphon by her feet. Star chirped, her eyes glowing in the light for a moment before it faded again.

“Are we safe, Star?” she whispered. Was she lost and confused in some magical ward meant to protect the castle? Was that why she had felt safe-because it was all a trick?

Did she really have magic?

Star nuzzled her shins, the sensation similar yet different than when Silka had done it. Her sense of Star increased, a presence of power she could not ignore.

Maybe she did. And if she really was some sort of mage, maybe she wasn’t so lost after all.

“Help me out, Star,” she whispered, her face heating with embarrassment even though she knew she was alone. She was no mage. She was a servant. This was like her old games with her friends when they were young, when they pretended to be magi fighting in the wars, with awesome powers at their command. She had given up on that a long time ago.

But still, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She tried to call up the sense in herself that she felt whenever Lukas used magic-the tightness in her chest that always brought anxiety and a need to leave.

Nothing. She let the breath out in a sigh. Even if she did have magic, it was useless. She had no idea how to use it!

Star chirped, and her awareness of the small gryphon increased once more. Then light flooded through the cave, casting her into that strange sense of calm.

Maybe…she reached out to it, both with her hands and with her strange sense of Star.

All at once the cave system stretched out before her in her mind, in all directions, tunnels twisting both ahead of her and beneath her feet. They wound deep under the mountain, narrowing to tunnels only creatures smaller than Star could fit through and expanding to passages bigger than the hallways of Lukas’ mansion. Her senses expanded out further, and water rushed into one tunnel from a stream above ground, a grassy bank just beyond it. Stone weighed down the grassy bank, the weight both real and abstract in her mind. The stream nearly glowed in her sense, and she gasped.

Then something caught her, a force so powerful that it dwarfed her and any sense of the world she had. An enormous hand held her, and she felt pinched between the tips of claws. Her mind bounced like a rock on the surface of a pond, but she felt no fear, or calm, or anything.

Light flashed, and she saw an old man kneeling against a stone wall. Above him, an enormous shape circled around a stone spire. Whatever it was, the beast’s shadow covered the man.

Then it was gone. She leaned against the cave wall with one hand, one more lost in the dark.

“Star,” she said, and the gryphon nuzzled her again. “Was that…the castle?”

Lukas and the mage had said that the wards here would trap her, or worse. But she didn’t feel trapped. That glimpse of the caves, and of the castle…she could get there, if she kept going. At least, she could if she could get that sense of the caves again.

It was not the fireballs and summoned storms that all the stories of mages had told of, but if it was magic, she was happy to have it. Closing her eyes and touching the wall, she sensed the caves, and began to walk forward.

_____________

TBC. Comments and critiques always appreciated!

[Amki]

I love it.
I suppose the old man will be a good one, huh? He'd better be. xD Perhaps it's Thane (hehe).

[LightningDragon]

I'm loving this! Your descriptions really give readers a sense of being there.