Royal Griffon Ch.12

Enemy for life, whoever had built this place.

While less cramped than the vents had been, the halls of Harakin Aerie were no less winding, and in some ways were much worse. The main passages were simple enough, large and spacious for things twice the size of a griffon. This also made them completely impossible to hide in and thus not an option for Nic in his current situation.

He was forced into the labyrinth of side corridors and backrooms. Hidden away from public attention, these passages had swiftly abandoned opulent scale in favor of rugged efficiency. Freed of the need to be presentable, they had transformed into a warren of passages, shortcuts, byways, and hidden infrastructure to support the more public parts of the spire. Worse, they crisscrossed back into the latter unpredictably. Several times Nic had been fleeing down featureless concrete passages, only to emerge through a hidden door into rooms of marble and gold.

In less pressing circumstances, Nic would have been impressed by how seamlessly the two faces of the building were woven together. Doubly so as he’d yet to detect any magical assistance smoothing over the edges, at least so far as the back of his neck was concerned. The mysterious builder, hated though they may be, had known their craft well.

All these thoughts were shunted to the side as Nic desperately sought to remain unseen. He hadn’t stopped since the queen had told him to run, changing course only when he heard footsteps or voices. It usually did the trick, though more than once he’d needed to dive into cover as unexpected guards or a stray servant had crossed his path.

Making it worse was the fact that he’d apparently lost his tablet at some point, leaving him with no wards or spellcasting ability. Granted, the cloaking ward wouldn’t be much use out here in the open, and the battery had been almost dead anyway, but he still felt naked without it.

At least the egg was safe, that was the important bit. Though he could do with it quieting down anytime now. Every other minute it seemed the heir had something of dire importance to share with the world, shaking violently inside the shell. Nic had nearly dropped the egg the first time it had happened, barely managing to hold on as the cracks in the shell widened steadily. The whole thing looked ready to fall to pieces at any moment. For all the nothing Nic knew about griffon reproduction, he sensed that it wouldn’t be long now before hatching became hatched.

Clomping boots pulled Nic back to the moment. He stopped and listened, eyes darting around the public hallway he was passing through. The sounds were coming from ahead, Nic realizing too late that he’d cornered himself with only two ways to go. He considered going back until he heard more boots marching behind him. Tamping down panic, he spotted a doorway to his left, large enough to admit a griffon with simple silver filigree decorating the frame. Not exactly the most nondescript escape route but it was the only option he had.

Sprinting to the door, Nic threw his shoulder into it, expecting weight but surprised when it barely even slowed him down. He just about tumbled over, pulled forward by the weight of the egg, but managed to catch himself at the last second. With a complete lack of grace, he wheeled around to close the door, catching just a slight inkling of movement around the corner as it settled shut.

Nic froze, holding his breath as he listened to the sound of people marching through the hall outside. The air echoed with their clanking footsteps, what sounded like an entire army marching past for an endless minute. It was a tremendous relief when they all moved on, no one so much as slowing near the door.

When at last the sounds had faded and Nic felt comfortable breathing again, he turned to assess his new surroundings. No angry queen confronted him this time, instead he found himself standing in what he could only describe as a viewing room. A large glass dome jutted out from the wall opposite the door, unobscured by supports, leaving only a solid pane of unbroken glass. It granted a commanding view of the sky around the Aerie, the room positioned just right to see several of the larger structures chained to the spire. Nic still had no idea what any of them were, but that was less of a concern right now considering the warship hovering among them.

It was enormous, made of sleek silver metal that shone brightly in the sun. It had no wings, instead looking more like a seafaring vessel, bulging in the middle before tapering off on either end. The front was carved in the shape of a beak, two signal lights granting it glowing red eyes. The sigil of Judai flock was carved into the side, loud and proud among open hatches that sat open all along both sides. They released a steady stream of smaller vessels and fully armored griffons, both taking flight and freely moving through the skies without challenge. Nic had no idea what it meant, but to his eyes it looked a hells of a lot like an invasion.

“Hello, little thief.”

Nic whirled about to face the voice, his heart leaping into his throat at the sight of the goblin Jeffery stepping forward out of the shadows. Literally. His body flowed like liquid from the smallest patch of darkness hiding in the corner. A neat trick that Nic would have been far more focused on if its performer wasn’t smirking and holding a gun.

“Stay back,” Nic said, clutching the egg closer as he backed away.

“Now, now, let’s make this real easy.” The goblin advanced on him. “Hand it over and this will go better for you.”

“Nice and easy, easy and nice,” said Gob, emerging from under one of the couches. It was an absurd sight, the angles all wrong, though any humor died at the sight of the sharp hooks he held in either hand.

“No,” Nic said, unable to tell if his tone was defiant or pleading.

“You really don’t have a choice human,” Jeffery said, advancing another step. “Now hand it over before-”

“Wagh!”

A loud clang sounded behind them, Nic glancing to one side just in time to see Hob plummet to the ground. Wisps of the same power clung to him, Nic quickly surmising that he’d tried to step out of a shadow on the ceiling, forgetting that gravity was a thing. He landed in a heap on the floor, his body all twisted up as the fluid shadows failed to reform in the right shape. Arms where legs should be, the head on the wrong way, a crossbow sticking out at a random angle, it was quite the strange sight. It looked painful, though Hob seemed less distressed and more frustrated, the way one would about stubbing their toe.

“Yeah, give us, egg, and- ack!” Hob managed, an arm vanishing then reappearing, still in the same spot.

Jeffery sighed, an expression of long tolerance on his face. He pointed at Gob, gesturing with his gun towards their companion as he continued struggling to right himself.

“Will you help him?”

“Can do cousin!” Gob said, abandoning any attempt at being intimidating as he trotted over to Hob. “You gotta stop stepping out from ceilings Hob. Ya ain’t good at it.”

“Shut up!” Hob snarled, flinching away from his companion. “Don’t touch me, I got it!”

Gob didn’t listen, reaching forward anyway. The part of Hob that was still liquid shadow reacted, grabbing the other goblin and pulling him into the mess with a startled yelp. The pair quickly descended into squabbling as they tried to pull free of one another, the fighting doing little to help the situation. Eventually, Jeffery stopped waiting for them to finish and cleared his throat to get Nic’s attention.

“Just give me the egg human. This doesn’t have to be difficult.”

“No,” Nic said.

Jeffery sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Always the noble ones that make things difficult,” he muttered, drawing a knife as he advanced. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nic backed away, realizing too late he had run out of room to retreat into. Jeffery knew it too and so took his time, letting fear do his work, Nic’s heart hammering in his chest, mind raging with panic.

Behind them, Hob and Gob finally managed to get themselves sorted out. This somehow caused the crossbow that had been mixed up in the middle of them to fire, a sharp crack of electricity sounding as the bolt loosed. It came nowhere near anyone, instead flying off into the room, but the sudden noise still managed to make Jeffery flinch.

“What the-” Jeffery began, cut off by Nic doing something very stupid.

It was less a plan than it was a spur of the moment impulse, driven by pure, unalloyed need. Bowing forward, Nic charged, angling his shoulder to body check Jeffery square in the chest. Somehow this worked, Nic managing to knock the goblin over and send the two of them to the ground in a heap. Jeffery gave an undignified grunt, losing grip of his pistol as it went spinning away across the floor. Nic didn’t fare much better, the egg slipping from his grasp and sliding away in the opposite direction.

For a moment they flailed, Nic rapidly realizing that there was no part two of this brilliant plan. He wrestled with Jeffery, trying to keep his knife pinned down and out of stabbing range. Jeffery was stronger than he looked though, fighting back and turning the whole thing into a contest for control of the weapon. Nic could only keep resisting, trying not to think about the fact that Hob and Gob were undoubtedly on their way to help.

Though it was Jeffery himself that broke the stalemate when he drove his knee into Nic’s side. Pain bloomed over his ribs as Nic tumbled away, coughing raggedly as he tried to recover himself. Jeffery beat him to it, rising to his feet with a cough of his own.

“Get the egg you idiots!” he snapped. “Someone will have heard that!”

“Aye, aye boss,” the other two said as one, Nic catching a glimpse of them moving somewhere to his left. Jeffery meanwhile turned to Nic, holding the knife aloft with unhealthy intentions.

Nic looked around, desperately searching for any options, forcing himself to think through the pain and panic. His eyes fell on two relevant details. The first was the crossbow bolt Hob had accidentally fired. It had struck the window, going only part way through the glass, the material too thick for it to piece all the way through. Though it had still done damage, a web of cracks spreading out from the impact point and growing larger even now.

The second was Jeffery’s gun. Pure happenstance had deposited Nic right next to it, the blued metal body pressed up against an end table. Thinking fast, Nic dove for the weapon, the barrel lighting up with bright red runes as he wrapped his hand around the grip. It felt lighter than expected but Nic ignored that detail, flipping over on his back to point the weapon at Jeffery. The goblin stopped at the sight though didn’t look overly scared, not even bothering to raise his hands.

“Well human? What are you waiting for?” the goblin asked. “Ready to find out how good my wards are?”

That thought hadn’t even occurred to Nic, mostly because he had zero intention of taking a shot at Jeffery. Instead, he raised the gun to point it at the bolt in the glass and squeezed the surprisingly heavy trigger. A hollow boom sounded as a white bolt of energy flew from the barrel, zipping across the room to strike like a thunderbolt.

It was all Nic was able to process before the entire window shattered.

*

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