The Shadow's heir

“Laela. Calm down. Listen to me.”

Laela folded her arms. “I’m listenin’.”

Arenadd sat down on the white marble plinth that rose out of the middle of the chamber and gestured at her to do the same.

Laela sat beside him. A moment later, Oeka got up beside her and settled down on her haunches. She nudged Laela with her head, like a cat. For a moment, Laela wondered if the griffin was asking to be petted as a cat would, but when she looked, Oeka had turned her head away and was staring aloofly at the ceiling.

Arenadd watched them with the hint of a smile. “Oeka is a griffin, Laela, and griffins demand our respect.”

“I’m a human, an’ I ain’t seen much respect from her,” said Laela.

“You have to earn a griffin’s respect, Laela. And then you have to keep on earning it. You impressed her, but unless you keep on pleasing her, she’ll take what she wants. A griffin doesn’t have to have a human, you know. If she wants to, she can leave you and look for a human she likes better.”

“Good,” Laela said viciously. “Let her go, then.”

“What, and lose everything you gained when she chose you?” said Arenadd. “Stop being a griffiner?”

“Yeah, whatever. I don’t care.”

Arenadd sat back. “Oh dear,” he said mildly. “And there I was, planning to give you an official position. Oh, well. I suppose I’ll have to find someone who isn’t so easily discouraged.”

Laela choked. “Official position? Me?”

“Yes. I can’t give titles or responsibilities to a commoner, now can I?”

There was a pause.

“All right,” Laela said eventually. “I see what yer tryin’ t’do. Don’t know why yeh care so much, though.”

Arenadd’s black eyes glittered. “So are you ready to start learning how to be a griffiner?”

Laela looked at Oeka. Once again, she was struck by how beautiful the griffin was. “But she bit me,” she said again, rather lamely.

Arenadd sighed and rolled up his sleeves. “Yes. Griffins do that.”

Laela saw his exposed forearms, and breathed in sharply when she saw the maze of scars on them. “Skandar did that to yeh?”

Arenadd pulled his sleeves down again. “Look on the bright side. At least Oeka was born and raised in the Hatchery. Skandar was born wild. When he looked for a human to choose, he ate the ones he didn’t like.”

Laela shuddered. “Oh, gods.”

“Yes. So, are you willing to give it another try?”

Laela paused. “What’s this official position yeh gonna give me?”

“Master of Wisdom,” said Arenadd.

“What’s that?”

Arenadd smoothed down his hair. “That’s just the official title. The Master of Wisdom is the foremost advisor to the Eyrie Master. In this case, me.”

Her eyes widened. “Advisor? Me? But. . what would I be doin’?”

“More or less what you’re doing now,” said Arenadd. “Letting me confide in you. Giving me advice. Only I’d be paying you to do it. But you have to be a griffiner,” he added. “I can only give official positions to nobles.”

Laela grinned. “How much money are we talkin’ about?”

“Oh, I don’t know. About five hundred oblong a week, I think, is the official amount. I can ask the Master of Gold, if you like.”

“No, I think that’s enough,” Laela said slowly.

“So you’ll do it?”

Laela reached up and tentatively touched Oeka under the beak. The griffin lowered her head, and Laela rubbed her fingers back and forth as she’d seen Arenadd and other griffiners do. Oeka closed her eyes and cooed in response.

“Yeah,” said Laela. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent!” Arenadd stood up. “Now, I’m afraid our first lesson is going to have to wait because I need your help with something else.”

Laela stood, too. “What is it?”

“Come with me. I’ve got something very special to show you.”

Laela followed him through the door and into his own room. The moment she stepped through the door, she winced. “Holy gods, it’s like an oven in here!”

Arenadd rolled up the sleeves of his robe again. “Yes, I’m sorry about that, but it was necessary.”

There was a roaring fire in the fireplace, and dozens of braziers had been lit around the room to add to the heat. Laela, already sweating, looked at Arenadd. “Why?”

“Because of that,” said Arenadd, pointing.

Laela followed his finger. “What in Gryphus’ name is that?”

The creature perched on a table by the fire looked like a bird at first glance, but Laela instantly decided that if it was a bird it was very, very wrong.

It was about the size of a chicken, and more or less shaped like one, with a small, lean body perched on two legs, with long talons shaped for gripping branches, and a pair of wings placed just below the base of the neck. But the neck ended in a big, muzzled head topped by a pair of stubby horns, and the tail was long and serpentine and had a diamond-shaped membrane on the end.

And where a bird had feathers, this thing had pale green scales.

Arenadd took a step toward it, but the creature backed off, opening its mouth to reveal dozens of sharp, silver fangs. The King moved away from it, shaking his head. “It won’t let me go near it, but it should let you-it’s probably well trained.”

Laela hadn’t moved. “What is it?”

“It’s a dragon,” said Arenadd. “From Amoran. They use them to carry messages.”

Laela’s mind reeled. A dragon!

Everyone knew about dragons, of course-there were dozens of stories about them. But as far as she’d ever known, they were myths, or maybe something that had existed once but not now. Seeing one here was unbelievable.

“I thought it’d be bigger,” she said at last.

“As far as I know, that’s about as big as they get,” said Arenadd. “Now, can you do me a favour? See if you can get close enough to take the message from it.”

Laela started. “What?”

“Look there,” said Arenadd. “On its back.”

Laela ventured a step closer and finally noticed the small brown cylinder strapped to the dragon’s back. “It’s got a message from Amoran?”

“Yes. It arrived early this morning. It should let you take it.”

“It won’t bite me, will it?”

“No; it’s perfectly tame. Dragons aren’t very aggressive anyway.”

Very carefully, Laela reached out toward it. The dragon came closer to her and sniffed her fingers. Wary of its teeth, she tried to touch its head. It let her do it, and even thrust its snout at her, asking to be petted. Laela noticed the bristly ears and scratched them. The dragon hooted and put its head on one side, asking for more.

Laela smiled despite herself and scratched more vigorously. The dragon hooted again. Then it leapt. Laela jerked away, but she was too slow. Before she knew what was happening, the dragon had jumped onto her arm and was perched there, talons gripping.

Specifically, gripping the half-congealed wound.

Laela let loose with a stream of curse-words, and groaned in relief when the dragon decided to shuffle further along toward her elbow. The wound still smarted, but the pain faded quickly enough.

“Go on, take the message,” Arenadd urged.

Laela pulled herself together. Once the dragon had settled down on its new perch and begun to nibble at its