seymoure | "Heart of the Crown" Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Griffon War

Griffins had not been seen in even longer than dragons.

It said a lot about Slip that his first thought had been a momentary flash of “I could make a lot of money putting such a thing on display.”

As flame belched from one of the beast’s beaks, all thoughts that he had exploded into, “What do we do now?”

Hawk didn’t have to think. He evaluated the risks and knew that they were in no danger from the Talons or the Hespons, who had both fallen back to a point beyond the flight of his arrows.

The last few Hespons were losing altitude quickly and would have to glide down to the world below; it would take them days or more to scale a peak worthy of flight again.

The Talons were getting tired. Their flight was not up to that of the dragons. They had been in battle when they picked up the chase, and any body chemicals that had made them excited enough to enliven their flight were wearing off. They were slowing down at a visible rate.

The griffins were ready to encircle the dragons and threaten the course of passage.

Hawk’s fingers wrapped around an enchanted arrow and guided it to the string of his bow. He knew natural order, and the lead beast was the one that must be brought down. If he fell, the others would take time to reorganize.

The leader was the one that first breathed fire at them; the others were acolytes and did the same seconds later.

They waited for permission, and that was when they began to burn the air around their targets. They were not harming them yet.

Hawk was not going to wait for that fact to change.

He let the shaft fly with the confidence of previous success.

He was disappointed as the arrow drew near its mark.

The missile simply disappeared.

Hawk looked at Slip with confusion in his eye.

Slip uttered a curse word that even Hawk had never heard before.