Sworn To Transfer

“She’s better now. Sane.”

“I don’t care.”

“Excuse me,” said Alexandra, venturing forth. “She told you this? Is she truly well?”

They all heard an angry shriek inside the enclosure when Meres removed his hand from the barrier.

Vana shot him a look and said, “Sane, huh?”

“She just doesn’t want to be left alone in silence in that stupid cage,” he retorted.

“Can you prove it?” Alexandra asked with an unwavering stare.

Meres nodded and said, “Take a look for yourself.”

She stepped forward to touch the barrier and he guided her down to speak with the imprisoned griffin. Julius followed after that, and then Vana took a brief look inside. Finally, when they had all emerged once more, Meres said, “So can we release her?”

“It is possible,” said Julius reluctantly.

“More than possible,” said Alexandra firmly. “No creature of the Ameles Forest shall be imprisoned against their will when it’s clear their mind is whole and well.”

“I suppose the deaths are just going to be forgiven?” said Julius sardonically.

“She was driven by rage at the death of her magic.”

“By that logic, if someone killed you and I decided to kill five sylphs in retaliation, I would be freed?”

Alexandra sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“Is there a council here?” Ciardis ventured. “One that your grandfather is part of? Now that she is well, they can decide.”

As all four adults looked at her, she added, “Can’t they?”

“It’s true,” Alexandra said slowly. “They can do it.”

“Until then she stays inside the cage,” said Julius firmly.

“A twenty-foot cube is no place for a pregnant griffin or any creature of the skies,” said Meres tightly. “In fact, I’m surprised she has survived this long.”

“What would you have us do?” snapped Julius. “Kill her?”

“Even if this imprisonment were a punishment for crimes committed rather than an attempt to keep her from harming herself or others, it could not last forever.”

“We can feed her, make sure she has nutrients and is as comfortable as possible.”

“It will kill a person’s mind,” Vana interjected with shadowed eyes. “It would take longer in a creature with the magic and mind of a griffin but it would happen.”

They all looked at her, flabbergasted. “What?” asked Alexandra.

Vana sighed and said, “I’ll tell you this much and no more. During the Initiate Wars, prisons were created to keep enemy combatants in. For the strongest mages, it broke them down over time. It wasn’t really designed for kith, hence the size. What the Princess Heir was doing with it, I don’t know.”

“How she got it is what I want to know,” demanded Meres.

“And why in the seven hells is it in our forest?” demanded Julius.

Vana shrugged.

“After the wars, a lot of the artifacts were left out on the battlefields. It wasn’t until the school of mages made a concerted effort, ongoing even now, to clean up the sites that we truly saw all of the atrocities of the war,” said Ciardis.

At a surprised look from Vana and Meres, she gave a sheepish grin. “I read a lot.”

“Right, well—”

“No,” interjected Alexandra. “It’s time. It’s time to get her out. Now.”

Alexandra looked over at her brother firmly. This time he didn’t object. Even he couldn’t condone an individual being stripped of their mind and magic slowly; it was torture.

Vana, Serena, and Meres backed away as the siblings strode forward to take their place. Alexandra lifted a necklace out from under her robes. At the end of a long silver chain was a beautiful key made of polished metals with intricate detail work.

She and her brother put their right hands on the wall, careful to keep the rest of their bodies at a distance. The fence began to pulse with a white light. Alexandra took the key and inserted it directly into the glowing wall. As she turned it, they all heard the click of a lock springing open, and then a portion of the fence began to dissolve. The siblings backed up in haste, preparing to face a potentially angry griffin.

When Rania stepped out in the sunlight, she blinked at the natural light shining in her eyes and dipped her head at Meres in thanks.

“Now,” he said slowly after bowing to the silent griffin, “I’d like to check on your kits.”

After all was pronounced well, Rania spoke, “I leave for my nest.”

As she turned, she spread her long wings to fly.

They watched silently as she flew away.

Chapter 24

As they walked back toward the village, Meres said, “I’ll check on Raina as much as possible.”

Turning to Julius, he said, “I assume you know where the nest is?”

“About twenty miles north, in the cliffs above the waterfall,” Julius said.

When they arrived back Alexandra called the council of elders to a meeting. Since the meeting hall was on the forest floor and fairly large, Ciardis saw no reason why she couldn’t attend. Vana left, whether to avoid being asked more questions about the prison in the middle of the forest or to take a small rest, Ciardis couldn’t tell.

A few minutes into the conversation, Ciardis was beginning to wish she’d taken the chance to leave, too. No one could agree on anything, but they all thought Julius and Alexandra had made an impulsive and potentially reckless decision to allow the griffin to be set free.

A woman with long feathers in her golden hair and the wisdom of ages in her eyes stood and said, “This is a grave decision that has repercussions for us all. What if she returns in a fury as she did before?”

“Then we will aid her, heal her,” Alexandra’s grandfather countered before Julius or Alexandra could speak.

“But—” protested another gentleman.

He was interrupted by a loud bang as the outer door of the meeting hall burst open in a gust of wind. When Ciardis looked over at the door, she reassessed her previous impression—it was more like a gust of angry woman.

In the doorway stood a stocky human woman, very unlike the svelte Panen people around her. She put her hands on her hips and angrily demanded, “What have you lot done to that poor griffin?”

Alexandra stepped forward. “She was imprisoned, but she’s gone now.”

“Gone?” huffed the woman. “I should hope not, since I just got her bandaged and fed in my healing center.”

The entire room stared at her in confusion.

“You have a griffin?” said Julius slowly.

“Here, Helen? Now?” said Alexandra.

“Ain’t that what I just said?”

“What color is it?” This came from Meres.

“I’m not here to answer ten question from you lot. You want to know about the griffin? Come see for yourself.”

As they all rushed down the aisle, she held up a warning finger, staring up at the Panen who all towered at least two feet above her. “But I’m warning you lot. Disturb her rest and I’ll have your heads.”

To a person they hastily nodded, and she turned and slowly walked out of the meeting hall, the group behind her following like recalcitrant children.

When they arrived at the healing center, it was as she said. Raina was looking a little bedraggled in a nest that took up half the room. “What happened to her?” demanded Meres.