A Feather on the Breath of Ellulianaen

  ~

  “Well, men,” said Hinfane to her patrons that night, “I have told you everything that Halomlyn the gryphon told me. His only son – the very gryphon who scratched out the eyes of the elf-mage and saved you all from certain death – is lost, missing somewhere in the south, having gone on a futile quest for vengeance, to avenge himself on that very elf-mage who lived amongst us, and caused such trouble in the tavern and killed Uz’s husband; for that elf-mage has also killed one of the gryphon’s kin, and he has gone to seek vengeance. I reckon that we owe the gryphon for saving our lives, and I’ve figured out that there might actually be a way to help him. Can I not find three men amongst you who are handy with a sword, and don’t mind heights?”

  Viv the dark-skinned miner, Cam the tall red-headed Northerner with his rune-tattooed arms, and Galt the hook-nosed miner stood up immediately and volunteered. Then another voice called out from the back of the tavern. “I be handy with a sword, believe it or not, and I have good reason for wishing to wreak vengeance on that Nomoi bastard elf anyhow.” It was Uz, the wife of Huch, the man whom the elf-mage had killed. She came forward; a thin-faced bony woman with tiny, severe eyes and a mouth as narrow and dour as the mouth of a miser’s purse. “I have little use for caution these days, anyhow. I would as soon join that useless Huch of mine on the funeral pyre as linger here on this worthless, miserable, despairing, wretched earth.”

  “That’s five,” said Hinfane, shaking her head at Uz’s melancholia. “We have but three gryphons, or perhaps four, upon which to ride.”

  “Oh, gryphons,” said Cam, “If that’s the sort of heights you mean, I’m afraid I’m out of it. I don’t mind climbing hills, but flying, I don’t think my stomach could take that. I’m used to being half a mile under the earth, not half a mile above it.”

  The gryphons were sleeping in the stable that Hinfane and the miners had made into a comfortable eyrie. Hinfane, Viv, Galt, and Uz, stood at the door. Hinfane knocked.

  Hinfane walked in on her own first, as she had arranged earlier, for she knew of the gryphons fear of humans and had no wish to unsettle them.

  Hinfane said, “Gryphons – four of us wish to join you in your search for your son, for you may have need of allies, and we are handy with swords and halberds – mayhap you will meet the elf-mage again, and, whilst we can like as not do little against him if his magic has regained its strength, we might be able to hurt his servants somewhat. Then again, even elves bleed purple blood, as the proverb says, and a lucky stroke with a sword can do some temporary damage.” And she asked the other three humans to step in through the door and introduced them.

  The gryphons discussed the offer in their own tongue so that they could speak freely without offending the humans.

  Milélyn clenched his jaw, making the sinews on his neck stand out, and said, “Should we break with gryphon-lore on this point? I think not. And it is the half-moon - it is still a week before the new moon...” And Halomlyn could see that Milélyn wanted to say, “Enough damage has been done by breaking with our customs in the past,” but he did not say it for fear that it would hurt Halomlyn’s feelings. So Halomlyn said simply, “Yes, Atdaholyn should not have died – I ought not to have broken our customs by moving to a nearby eyrie. And we should have moved when we had a chance to do so.”

  Thwyrlyn shook her neck feathers and said, “Yet in the gryphon-lore there is no definite prohibition against accepting human help when it is proffered. The lore advises against being found by humans in the first place – and it is too late for that now! And the widow did warn us of the elf-mage – kin-of-mine, she has already shown us that she is an honest human. Gryphon-mate, I believe if Ellulianaen sends help to us it would be foolish to reject it.”

  And Milélyn sighed and folded his wings, for he knew that when Thwyrlyn had made up her mind it was almost impossible to convince her to change it, and if she ever brought Ellulianaen into the conversation then it meant that her mind was doubly made up.

  Thwyrlyn, oblivious to the meaning of Milélyn’s sigh, continued, “And what of Halomlyn and Tiawéflyn’s cub? What if we come upon Hwedolyn in the midst of making battle with the elf-mage? We have already heard from Kereth that he is likely to have a battalion with him. Did not gryphons fight alongside dalhalgohae many aeons ago, in the Dragon Wars? Did not many humans and dwarves acquit themselves heroically in the battles and defend gryphonkind from the evil men and dragons of those times? Three swords are better than none. These four could be heroes such as we sing of in the sagas of the ancient times.”

  Milélyn snapped, “And there were many traitors among the humans in those ancient times also.”

  Thwyrlyn said, “Come now, Milélyn. The widow Hinfane has proven herself loyal already, and Uz has a reason to hate the Nomoi, for the elf-mage had killed her husband. And the others also hate the elf-mage, for he killed their friends. You have to admit that I am right about these things.”

  Suddenly Milélyn realised that Thwyrlyn had her heart set on it, and that his life would be unbearable if he insisted on not taking the humans. “Yes, the women both have good reasons to join us, so I agree, we shall take them. As for the other two, I suppose we will have to accept them on trust,” he said weakly, still feeling certain that this was not the best thing to do, but knowing that he could not stand up to Thwyrlyn once her mind was made up.

  Hwedolyn told the four humans of their decision, and they quickly went and got their armour and their swords, for women fought too in those days on the borderlands, and Hinfane went and found Zhallad.