A Feather on the Breath of Ellulianaen
~
It took Halomlyn six nights to reach Thwyrlyn and Milélyn’s eyrie, for when he left his own eyrie the moon was waxing gibbous, and though it normally might be but a four or five night journey, he was forced to take extra precautions and only flew when there were clouds in the sky or the moon had not yet arisen, for it was very nearly a full moon. Then when he arrived at the borough wherein they had told him they would make their new eyrie, he had to look around to find it, for he had never been there before.
He espied Thwyrlyn and Milélyn’s eyrie on the second night of the full moon, though it was well hidden.
Milélyn had seen him coming and was waiting for him. He looked even scrawnier and bonier than the last time Halomlyn had seen him. Milélyn asked him, “How did you find us?”
Thwyrlyn was first to reply, “Ever did my brother Halomlyn possess sharper sight than any other gryphon,” but Halomlyn instead recounted everything that had happened; Hwedolyn’s guilt and his foolhardy quest to avenge his cousin’s death. And Halomlyn told Milélyn and Thwyrlyn that he needed their help.
Milélyn, glad to forget his own grief even if for a short while, immediately agreed to help him. “We must set off tonight, even though the moon be full. To lose your cub as well would indeed be too much grief to bear, for it would mean that Thwyrlyn’s father would have no descendants at all. The first thing we must do is seek the tavern-woman Hinfane, to find out if she knows anything.”
Halomlyn replied, “No. I am the fleetest. I will go northeast to the old tavern to ask Hinfane the widow if there has been any news of either gryphon or elf-mage. You both must follow me to the tavern at your own pace – as you fly look for any signs of Hwedolyn’s presence in the wilderness, slain sheep or goats, and meet me there as soon as you can – but if I should discover no sign of him in the north or the east I will meet you at the tavern and we will go south.”
Then Halomlyn gave them meticulous directions to his own eyrie in case they needed to meet there at some later date. He did not have to repeat the instructions, for gryphons are very good at remembering facts.
After they had eaten and made their farewells, Halomlyn flew like the wind, heeding not the full moon or the chance that any might see him. He was above the tavern of Hinfane within four nights, and from afar he saw that Hinfane herself stood in the copse of trees looking to the sky – or was she looking to the southern mountains? She looked older and greyer than when he had seen her last.
There were two barrels of mead standing next to her on the heather. He wondered how many nights she had stood there, waiting for them. Suddenly he regretted leaving without saying goodbye.
He alighted beside her.
Overjoyed to see him, Hinfane said, “I was afeared that you and your kinfolk had met a bad end! A traveller saw lightning strike a gryphon in the sky on a stormbound night some three months ago, a week and a half after the Midwinter solstice, when the night still ruled the day in these climes. I put these barrels out for you, but you did not arrive, and I feared the worst, indeed I feared that you had all died. Ah, I am pleased to see you, gryphon!”
Halomlyn said, “One of us, my nephew, was killed in that lightning strike. It was my sister’s only cub.” Halomlyn could say no more, for grief had overcome him.
Hinfane said, “That is grievous news.” And she tenderly rubbed the ruff of his neck and he put his wing over her, as though she were a gryphon-cub. “Is that why you left without saying goodbye?”
“Yes, it was. When we lost Atdaholyn – we feared that it had happened because we had disobeyed the gryphon-lore. I am sorry, Hinfane.”
“Then why did you come here now?”
In a high and tremulous voice, like the voice of a parrot, with tears welling in his golden eyes, Halomlyn said, “My cub…my own cub, Hwedolyn, has left… to find the elf-mage and take vengeance! I fear that the same fate awaits him, or a worse fate.” Halomlyn stepped back and stared at the widow with one fey gryphon eye. “You have heard news of him? A gryphon, flying alone, in the north?”
Hinfane said, “My miners watch the skies every night for gryphons, even as I do, and the merchants who travel far afield look to the stars in these days, especially on the nights of the new moon, to catch a glimpse of a great wonder, for such is a gryphon to those who have seen them. Travellers have brought news of snowdragons, falling stars, even frogs falling from the sky and other strange happenstances, but none have brought news of a gryphon anywhere near these climes, Halomlyn. I am sorry.”
Halomlyn said, “I will go and search further to the north and the east for any sign of him. I will return soon, for within two days my sister and her husband will have joined me. I would appreciate it, Hinfane, if you would ask your patrons if they have seen anything. Also, ask them about elves or Mages, if they have any clue, for where the elf-mage may be found, perhaps Hwedolyn might be found also.”
Hinfane said, “The tavern is closed on Monday for all but those staying in my rooms. But I will ask them again on the day after tomorrow. Mayhap a traveller has seen something in the south, though even on horseback they would travel much slower than a gryphon on the wing, especially in the mountains. How long ago did your son leave your eyrie?”
“It is twenty days since he left. I will search in the mountains for any sign of him, and return here on the night of the morrow, or whenever my sister arrives. I thank you, widow Hinfane! Truly you are Glaïfym’chadul – Gryphon-Friend!”
He went aloft and she returned to the tavern.
~
Milélyn and Thwyrlyn left their eyrie soon after Halomlyn left but they could not fly as fast as he could. On the third night of their journey they were still some distance from their old eyrie. The sky was overcast with clouds and the full moon was hidden for much of the night. As he flew Milélyn looked down to see a small cottage at the northern edges of the forest within a garden that had clearly been tended carefully. “Someone certainly lives in that cottage,” he said to Thwyrlyn. “I will alight next to it and ask the person who lives there if he has seen a gryphon.”
Seeing that a thin line of tobacco-smoke was ascending from the rear of the cottage, he assumed the owner of the cottage would be a farmer sitting on his back porch, puffing on his pipe, so he landed behind a large apricot tree, to the west of the house, where a farmer would not be able to see him. Thwyrlyn alighted just behind him.
“Farmer!” Milélyn whispered, “Hast thou seen any gryphons?”
“Who is that?” said the farmer. “Who are you? I cannot see you.”
Milélyn said, “It does not matter who I am. I want to know about gryphons – have you seen any? In the sky?”
The farmer puffed on his pipe and said, “Indeed I have. More than a week ago, it was, I would warrant. The moon – was it almost full? I cannot quite remember. A week ago, I’m sure. A gryphon, flying underneath the moon.”
Milélyn whispered to Thwyrlyn, “It can’t be Halomlyn – he has only been gone for three days. Perhaps it’s Hwedolyn.”
And the farmer said, “Aye, I saw a gryphon flying, beneath the moon, as clear as you like. And what a wonder it was! Aye, a gryphon.”
Milélyn and Thwyrlyn went aloft, and kept watch from then on for other farms or cottages where they might get news of the gryphon the farmer had seen.