A Feather on the Breath of Ellulianaen

  ~

  She flew above the trees forlornly, not sure where to go, gliding on the wind aimlessly, trying to stop the teardrops from falling, yet even so she did not believe what he had said. She flew for at least half an hour in wide circles, mourning, for even she had not realised how fond she had become of Hwedolyn. She went high into the stratospheres and glided among the clouds, thinking, trying to work it all out. Had he lied? Was he telling the truth at last? Then she came down and glided above the tops of the trees.

  Suddenly she heard the sound of cruel laughter come from below her.

  A reptilian voice said, “A gryphon who lies. Hahahahaha! This is indeed humorous.”

  She flew down and perched on a rather hefty oak tree, and looked down to see who had spoken. The injured wyvern was lying on the ground, its wings broken beneath it. It looked to be close to death, for it had fallen from a great height during the battle.

  The wyvern said, “You are in love with a gryphon who tells lies! Hahahaha! Is that not the worst transgression in the gryphon-lore, gryphon-sow? That gryphon you love tells lies! Hwedolyn loves you, but he told a bare-faced lie to get rid of you because he’s afraid you’ll get hurt in his quest for revenge. Pathetic gryphons! How will you ever marry him now, when you know he tells lies?” And the wyvern gave a cough, spat out a small rivulet of blood, and died.

  Gwendolyn went aloft and flew back to where Hwedolyn was, and flew down to him.

  Gwendolyn said, “Hwedolyn, the wyvern is dead. It told me you lied to me – I know you did, either before or now – and perhaps the wyvern is simply trying to make things worse – but in my heart of hearts I still believed you love me. I think that when we did the dance, before, in the sky, that was when you were honest, although your quest distracted you from me, which does make me wonder. But although I cannot agree with your quest, for it is turning you into the sort of gryphon who tells lies, I will stay by your side, for clearly you need someone to protect you from yourself! And I find that I’m extremely fond of you, despite your many obvious, grievous, glaring faults, and I find that despite myself I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. I would willingly fight alongside you, though I am slight of frame, and less able to breathe fire, yet my talons and beak are sharp! And Chalyom taught me all about medicinal herbs and remedies, and I am going to stay beside you so just in case you get hurt again, for clearly you need someone to take care of you.”

  Hwedolyn said, “But I don’t want you to get hurt, Gwendolyn! You don’t need to be caught up in all of this! Go away!”

  Gwendolyn said, “Hwedolyn, you lied to me, and that is a grievous breach of the fellowship of gryphons.”

  And Hwedolyn felt terribly ashamed, for the very last thing he ever wanted to be was a gryphon who tells lies. “I’m sorry Gwendolyn,” he said, “I’m sorry that I lied.”

  “Don’t ever do it again!” she said, with a terrible warning in her voice. And Hwedolyn waited for her to make some smart comment about his grandfather, Lydlaedlyn, or mention Lydlaedlyn’s nickname, “the gryphon who lied,” but she didn’t. She stayed silent.

  “You didn’t even mention Lydlaedlyn,” said Hwedolyn, amazed, for in the past any gryphon who had even suspected that Hwedolyn might be lying had mentioned his notorious grandfather in a superior, insulting tone of voice.

  She said, “Hwedolyn, I will never use Lydlaedlyn’s name against you. You are not your grandfather, and no one should be held responsible for the sins of another – in any case, I do not hold any clue as to the circumstances of his life. Perhaps he had a reason to lie to the other gryphons. Or perhaps he didn’t lie – perhaps the nickname was completely unjustified. But you will never have a reason to lie to me!”

  And suddenly he realised how painful the wound in his tail was, and gave a great groan. Gwendolyn took out a small bottle from her medicines, and a large pot, went down to the river and filled it with water, then made a fire in the clearing. As the water was boiling, she gathered some leaves and roots and put them in the pot with the contents of the bottle.

  Not long afterwards, when the mixture had boiled and cooled down a little, she gave him the brew and said, “Drink this. It will dull the pain somewhat.” And he drank it and fell into a deep healing sleep, and did not wake up for many hours.