The Dream of Flying a Gryphon

By the time the sun reached its highest point that afternoon, Jess and Gred were already on their way. They hadn't even stopped to eat lunch.

Wagons ran to and from Goldshire all day, so they caught a ride on one.

Jess watched sunlight scatter across the shaded forest floor, young deer peeking out from thick woods, and birds of every color hopping along the branches. Hooves and wagon wheels made a steady rhythm beneath them.

For a while he forgot all about orcs, worgen, death knights, and the Shadow Council's orders. He watched Stormwind's gates grow smaller and finally disappear among the treetops and patches of light, and let his mind go blank.

Reclining in the swaying back of the wagon, drinking someone else's slightly gamey goat milk, Jess honestly wished he could spend his whole life like this.

"I went to see the horses in the Mage Quarter the other day," he said, crossing one leg over the other. "They were all beautiful. How much would it cost to keep a horse here?"

Gred opened his eyes and looked at the sky. "I don't know horses. Never ridden one, either. You're asking the wrong dwarf. But I do know there are different kinds. An ordinary packhorse is nothing like a warhorse, never mind those famous breeds only rich people can afford."

"Someone told me a real warhorse like Stormwind's knights use costs dozens of silver a month. Sound right?"

Gred turned toward him. "Probably, but that would include the cost of using it in battle. Paying people to get feed, hauling the feed, training, things like that. If you kept a warhorse in a stable as a pet, I doubt it'd cost that much."

"But if you keep a warhorse as a pet, doesn't it become an ordinary horse?"

"Ha! Exactly. You get what you pay for. Always have, always will," Gred said. "Some gryphons raised in their nests can't even fly the first time they try after sitting around too long. They're like pigs with bird heads. But letting them fly regularly and training them takes a lot of money and work. Just thinking about dealing with gryphons wears me out. I only want to ride them into battle. I don't want to deal with their food and all their other needs. They stink, they're nasty, and they're always causing trouble."

Hearing Gred talk about gryphons made Jess curious. "Have you ever thought about how many animal handlers work themselves to the bone so you can look cool riding one?"

"Hey, I'm not heartless," Gred said. "Did I ever tell you about Gosrum? He raises gryphons. All I know is how to communicate with a gryphon in battle and make it listen to me. Gosrum's a real master trainer. I'll bet he could look at a gryphon flying overhead and tell how much the pair between its legs weighs."

"Gryphons have those too?" Jess asked.

"Birds and cats both do. Why wouldn't gryphons?"

That actually made sense. "So what's it like riding one?"

Gred narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time before speaking. "Like riding a woman who can't get enough. She keeps shaking and moving, wanting more, but you're already exhausted. All you can do is let her have her way with you while she grabs your arms and shoulders and shakes you around. But if you whistle, she understands what you want and rushes forward the way you tell her. Then, little by little, you realize you're losing control again. Come to think of it, they even smell about the same."

Jess couldn't tell whether Gred was telling the truth or just bragging about having been with an insatiable woman and having ridden a wild gryphon. Jess had no experience with either one to compare it against.

"Wonder if I'll ever get to ride a gryphon," he muttered, almost to himself.

"You?" Gred turned to look at him.

He didn't answer right away. He looked Jess up and down, thought for a while, and finally said, "I want to go back to Aerie Peak before the Feast of Winter Veil. Want to come?"

"Why? What for?"

"Maybe you humans don't see it the same way, but Winter Veil is the most important holiday to dwarves. I want to go home and see my old friends. At least let everyone know I'm still alive."

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Jess hesitated. "Do they welcome humans at Aerie Peak?"

"No." Gred gave a low chuckle. "But they won't string you up and feed you to the gryphons, either. I imagine my people will be friendlier toward humans after the Orc Wars. Countless dwarf warriors saw humans fight bravely, and that changed a lot of old prejudices. Most of the dwarves I know think humans are much more dependable allies than elves, at least. Look at you. Seventeen years old, scared as a rabbit most of the time, but when you ran into those undead monsters you fought like a lion. Never would've guessed."

Jess gave an embarrassed smile. It felt strange to hear such praise from him.

The dwarf let out a long breath. "What I'm saying is, you might get a chance to ride a gryphon while we're there."

"Seriously?" Jess sat up at once. "I could ride one?"

"Why not?" Gred said. "We don't get to decide whether you can ride one. The gryphon does."

"What do you mean?"

"Gryphons are smart. You won't understand how smart until you've dealt with one. Sometimes it's hard to think of them as animals at all. The relationship between gryphons and our clan isn't really one of taming and being tamed. It's more like a natural agreement. Even wild gryphons out in the mountains don't attack dwarves without a reason, and our people treat them as friends and help them when they're in trouble. They do the same for us. Wild gryphons care a little more about protecting themselves, though. If a dwarf runs into a bear, a gryphon might come down to help. If it's a troll, a wild gryphon will usually look after itself first. The gryphons that live with us, on the other hand, always fight with everything they've got, unless they think some suicidal mission is pointless."

"But doesn't that get in the way?" Jess asked. "What if you decide on a dangerous mission with an equally great reward, but the gryphon refuses? Wouldn't that badly hurt a gryphon rider's effectiveness? Sometimes sacrifices have to be made."

The dwarf leaned closer. "That's the whole point, my brother. Gryphons usually aren't afraid of sacrifices that really matter, but they absolutely refuse stupid decisions. Most of the time, they're right. They even help shape the riders' plans. That's why I say they're unbelievably smart. They're like a bunch of squawking wise men. You've got to respect them."

Squawking wise men... Jess found that relationship hard to picture.

But this was how the Wildhammers had lived for two hundred years. The trolls fighting them in the Hinterlands had grown weaker and weaker, while the Wildhammer newcomers and their gryphons had built the great fortress of Aerie Peak together. Who was Jess to criticize an alliance that strong?

"Of course," Gred continued, leaning back with his head resting on his arms, "gryphons don't always behave. Once they're on the ground, you need to cover their eyes, like you humans put blinders on warhorses to stop them looking sideways and keep them moving bravely forward. The problem with horses is that they're too easily scared. The problem with gryphons is that they're not scared enough. Those little bastards love bullying weaker creatures, and they never stop eating. After holding themselves back in the sky for so long, they land and can't control themselves. They run everywhere, and you can hardly pull them back."

"If I stood in front of one, would it eat me?"

Gred sighed. "Did you listen to a word I said? Gryphons are willing to work with brave, kind people. They'll fight alongside people who value the bond between them, and they can tell who those people are. Once, when we fought the trolls alongside the elves in the Hinterlands, some elves rode gryphons whose dwarf riders had been lost. Those gryphons fought just as bravely with the elves as they had with us. If even those shameless, low-down elves can do it, why couldn't you? Unless you've got some awful dark secret you're hiding."

Jess licked his lips. Well, that was true.

He'd already come into contact with one unmistakably dark spell: Fear. That meant shadow energy might already have affected his body or mind, even if he couldn't feel it yet.

What if those gryphons sensed the darkness inside him the way the Holy Light did, swooped down, and snapped him up in one bite?

But the chance to ride a gryphon was too tempting. Even if there was a risk of getting eaten, wouldn't it be worth trying once? He'd be flying!

Jess asked another question. "Why don't the elves raise gryphons for battle, then? If they can fight together, why haven't they formed the same kind of agreement as the Wildhammers? Elves have lived in the Hinterlands a lot longer than dwarves, right?"

"You're right," Gred said. "By the time we came to Aerie Peak, elves had already lived around the Hinterlands for almost a thousand years."

He pulled a blade of grass from a bag beside him, apparently one he'd picked up by the roadside, rolled it between his fingers, and put it in his mouth.

"Why don't they want to raise gryphons? Simple. Elves don't like working with anyone else. They don't like things they can't control. They want to enslave every living creature they see. If they can't enslave it, they kill it. If they can't beat it, or it would cost too much, they keep it outside their homeland and try not to deal with it. Only when they're in real trouble and can't handle it themselves will they lower their heads and ask for help."

Gred went on. "They stubbornly believe that they, the quel'dorei, are different from us mere mortals. You know what quel'dorei means in their language, right? 'Highborn people.' They see themselves as higher beings born from the Well of Eternity, a sacred race blessed by this world. Anyone they don't rule, anyone who doesn't follow their rules, is a worthless savage. Hard to understand, isn't it?"

Jess laughed weakly along with him.

"Well, the red dragons' flames taught those arrogant bastards a lesson," Gred said. "Maybe they've finally figured out it's time to step outside their 'invincible' circle of runestones and see the wider world."

"If you hate elves so much, why do you always want to look at the Windrunner sisters?" Jess teased.

"Female elves and male elves are different species! And female elves in bed and out of bed are two different species again! You're in the Mage Quarter. Learn a little about classifying species from those mages, boy. You'll understand when you're older. Don't be so rigid!"