Zenora

Emily’s point of view:

It was my mother’s bow? Wow!

Brock explained to me that the bow and quiver were indeed my mother’s, but as it was really old, they had to adjust it with the black ivy leaves and a new leather strap. Then they made the leather outfit match the ivy leaves as well. I thought it was really beautiful and now I had something to carry with me, that had once belonged to my mother.

“We should get going now though, I can’t stop thinking about what happened to the others. Shouldn’t you get your Gryphon too, Brock?” I asked since I hadn’t seen anyone ready up a Gryphon for him.

“He has a mind of his own and won’t be contained in the stables.” Brock said while scratching his head.

“Hmm, just as stubborn as his master.” I said with a smirk on my face.

Brock rolled his eyes and then let out a sharp loud whistle when he put his fingers to his mouth. I looked at the sky and saw a dark creature flying around the castle. He came down to the courtyard where we were all standing and he landed next to Brock.

It is a dark gryphon, as black as the night! And he was a bit larger than all the other brown gryphons too. “What is his name?” I asked Brock in wonder and wanted to step closer to the Gryphon.

“Nightwing, but don’t come too close yet, he might bite you.” Brock said a bit alarmed.

But as if the black gryphon had heard him, accusing him of being a brute, he stepped away from Brock and walked towards me, at which he then lowered his head and spread his wings. Was he bowing to me? I smiled at this cute gesture and then crossed my legs, pretended I wore a dress and bowed like a lady to him. He then lifted his head again and stomped his front paws alternately on the ground and squeaked happily. “Hi there, Nightwing.” I giggled at him and scratched his feathery head.

Brock hit the front of his own head and my father’s jaw dropped to the ground, as well as other people that walked around us…

“You big stubborn brat! I tell her that you are dangerous and you just shame me with a bow to her? I’ll get to you later.” Brock scoffed at him, but all I could do was chuckle at the two of them. And when it couldn’t get any worse for Brock, Nightwing then turned his body and pushed his big butt into Brock’s body, letting him know that he didn’t care about what his master had said.

After a few moments, when the urge to leave came back again, Brock lifted me to sit on Nightwing and then strapped me tight to the big saddle and sat behind me. My father gave me the warm coat Natalya had brought earlier, and I put it on. My bow and quiver were in one of the saddlebags, along with my supplies and Brock’s sword as well. And as we lifted off, Nightwing didn’t have any trouble carrying another person, seeing he was faster than any other gryphon already in the air. Then, Archeops gave the sign for the troops to fly south.

It was getting darker and I started to get a little hungry when we were flying for about half an hour, so I asked Brock to get me my bag out of the big saddlebag. I looked inside and saw some buns, bacon and cheese wrapped in paper. Then, I put some bacon in between the buns and gave one to Brock and ate one myself as well. There was also a leather flask in there with water which we both drank.

Suddenly, Nightwing huffed with the nostrils on the top of his beak and turned his head a bit. “What? Would you like some bacon too?” I asked him but he didn’t do a thing. “Okay, some cheese then?” I held a piece of cheese up to let him see it and he flapped his wings and squeaked loudly. He scared us a bit with his joy, but luckily we were strapped to the saddle so nothing could happen. When he calmed down I threw a big chunk of cheese in the air and he caught it handily with his beak.

“Don’t spoil him too much, he will become very obnoxious.” Brock said. But I just shrugged my shoulders and threw him another piece of cheese.

“WAIT! Now I get it!” I yelled and both Brock and Nightwing jumped up from the surprise of my outburst. I suddenly got what my mother was trying to say on the stone tablet! The purple Gryphon likes cheese! Oh, how stupid could I be?!

“Are you going to let me in on your thoughts? Or am I to guess?” Brock said. I explained to him that I didn’t get what my mother had said on the stone tablet. The part where if ‘she’ didn’t listen, I just had to give her some cheese. But I just figured it out now, that she meant her purple Gryphon.

“Thanks, Nighty!” I said while I went through Nightwing’s feathers with my fingers to which he responded with a cute growl.

When we are back on the castle grounds I will go to her as soon as possible, maybe Archeops would like to join me and help to tame her if necessary. But right now, I was getting tired as it was almost night. I had asked Brock how long it would take us to reach the portal and he replied that we would reach the others in the morning.

“So fast? I thought you said it would take the men three days.” I asked Brock surprised.

“No, they went there on horses, not in the air on Gryphons.” Brock explained and told me there is a big canyon between the castle and the mountains. So, on land, you would have to travel to the part where the canyon is at its smallest and cross the bridge there. But since we are on Gryphons, we can fly right over it and it will save us two days. Also, the Gryphons can sleep while flying, which will take away any rest we would otherwise need for the horses to take, so that saves us time too.

I wondered for a second why we didn’t send the Gryphons immediately, instead of the men on horses. But I figured that it wouldn’t be necessary since it took the same amount of time for the others to reach the portal as the men who drove from the castle did. Also, it wouldn’t come in handy to escort the others when they were on land animals.

So, still tired and determined to take a sleep, I unclasped my belt and asked Brock to hold me. “What are you going to do?” He asked and I told him I wanted to sit sideways so I could lean unto his chest and fall asleep easier.

“Nightwing will catch me if I fall, right Nighty?” He squeaked in agreement, which made smile.

“Really, Nightwing?” Brock said while rolling his eyes, because of his pet responding to my question, and then looked angrily past me into Nightwing’s eyes. I smiled that I could make Nightwing listen to me and that Brock was continuously eager to scold his pet for it.

I swung my left leg over Nightwing’s head, while Brock held me tightly around my waist. Then I fastened the belt again and hugged Brock. “I love you too.” I said softly.

“What do you mean ‘too’?”

“When you gave me the red leather armour, you called me love.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.” I yawned and fell asleep in his warm embrace.