Roars and screeches reach my ears past the sound of the wind. We must be getting close. I can’t exactly see to tell, because I just so happened to not have my gryphon riding goggles on me for this little adventure. Ryn and I streak right past what sounds like one semi-truck slamming into another, and I turn to clock what the hell that was and see we just flew right past Zeph and Treno and the handful of gryphons they’re fighting.
I turn back around and blink back the fresh set of wind tears that steadily flow out of my eyes and see Lazza not too far out in front of us. I home in on him like a sniper, tracking his every movement, and a weird sense of calm comes over me as we close the distance between us. I think he’s hurt, because he’s not moving very fast, and I suddenly feel like a lioness assessing injured prey.
I call on my magic and wrap myself around Ryn’s neck, because we’re coming in hot as fuck and I know shit’s about to get a hell of a lot bumpier. Ryn doesn’t release a warning growl or make any kind of vengeance-filled gryphon declaration, he moves like a Stealth Fighter I saw once at an air show when I was younger.
He slams into Lazza so hard I hear bones crack. It’s like Lazza had no idea he was even there, and the next thing he knows, he’s being bulldozed. Despite my koala grip on Ryn’s neck, I go flying forward and off of him. It’s like horseback riding all over again, only this time I won’t land in a puddle of mud, I’ll fall to the earth and discover what a pancake feels like.
I know Pigeon can survive that kind of experience, but I’m not sure I can.
I’m flung so hard off of Ryn that I can’t even coax a scream out of my panic tight throat. I’m just weightless, flying past the snarling that starts, and I know I need to think fast. I call on my whip swords and flick them out, hoping they find purchase somewhere and I don’t start my plummet back to the ground.
I’m jerked to a stop, and I look up to see the blades of one of my whip swords wrapped around Lazza’s gryphon’s thigh. It cinches tighter as my weight pulls the blades deeper, and blood starts to pour out of the wound, down my weapon, and out into the sky.
Lazza and Ryn go at it, clawing and snapping and trying to shred one another. I’m hanging onto the handle of the whip sword for all that I’m worth as I’m yanked around and flung about as they battle. Ryn and Lazza break apart and then slam back together. It forces them into a dive, and I quickly go from hanging on for dear life to being pulled down through the sky like a doomed kite. I hold on with every ounce of strength I have in me, and then a crazy idea pops into my head.
I check on Pigeon out of habit because normally I have her to thank for the crazy, but she’s still out, so this one is all me. I let go of the whip sword I’m clinging onto, and it disappears. I free fall toward Lazza and Ryn and where they’re snapping and clawing at each other as they fall. I can’t dive as fast as they can, but I know at some point they’ll have to pull up, and that’s where my crazy idea comes in.
I watch as Ryn tries to break away from Lazza to get to me.“No!”I shout at him, not sure if he can hear me in his head if I’m not in gryphon form too.“I’m fine, just do as much damage as you can and catch me if this doesn’t work,”I shout out mentally, hoping somehow he can hear it. I extend my arms and legs like the skydivers I’ve seen in movies do, and it does help to stabilize my fall a bit.
The fast approaching night turns everything around me into shades of blue and purple, and I fall through wispy barely-there clouds and know the ground is getting closer. But thankfully, it’s shrouded in growing shadows and darkness, and it’s hard for me to gauge how far impending pain is.
Lazza kicks off Ryn and spreads his wings. My heart leaps as his rapid descent stops, and he’s lifted back up on the current, his back headed right for me.
I call on my whip swords again and aim both of them for the ends of his wings as I get closer to him. Both weapons hit their mark, and I would roar in celebration, but the wind has stolen my voice, and I know that the hard part is just about to start. I’m about to wrestle a gryphon midair which, depending on how it goes, will either be the smartest or most idiotic move I’ve ever made.
I slam into Lazza’s back as gently as one does when they’re hit by a car. It knocks the wind out of me, but thankfully I still have the wherewithal to yank on the whip swords that are wrapped about midway on both of Lazza’s wings. I shove magic into my arms in hopes it will help fortify my strength, and fuck does it ever, because both of Lazza’s wings snap back, and we start to flat spin down.
I gasp, trying to pull oxygen back into my chest, as Lazza roars and tries to snap at me over his shoulder. I’m too far back, thank fuck, and when he realizes he can’t get to me, he twists his body so the flat spin becomes a barrel roll. He strains against my hold on his wings, trying to put them in a better position to help him navigate through the air. But the blades of the whip swords dig deeper into the muscles of his feathered appendages, and part of me hopes he struggles enough that it cuts his fucking wings off midway. He could use a taste of what his parents did to Zeph’s brother.
I shove more power into my limbs to keep his wings from moving an inch and do my best to hold on as the velocity of our spin tries to fuck with my plan to ride this Syta bitch down to the ground. Each revolution threatens to rip me off of Lazza’s back, and I know I can’t let that happen. I can’t let him get away again.
Since crazy as fuck ideas seem to be a new forte of mine, I snatch on to another one. On the next spin, when we reach the point where gravity is working in my favor again, I let go of the whip swords and dive for Lazza’s gryphon’s neck. I call on my swoosh blades, and instead of trying to hold onto him with my hands, I dig the blades into the sides of his throat, hoping the speed of the roll he’s executing helps to decapitate him.
Warm blood leaks out of the wounds I’m pressing into his neck. It makes it hard to keep a hold of the weapons, but I grit my teeth and divert all energy into doing just that. Talons rake down my shoulder and arm as Lazza tries to rip me off him. I’m unfortunately within striking distance of his front legs again, but as he attempts to pull me around and off of him, he also helps to move the black blades in his throat. A gurgled scream rips out of his beak, and I send a mental,“That’s right, motherfucker, you’re going down if I am,”at him.
A roar sounds off behind me, but I don’t pull my focus from Lazza and my efforts to inch by inch remove his head from his body as we fall like a meteor to the ground. I dig in even harder as I start to make out the details of the ground.
Just a little longer and—I’m yanked off of Lazza’s back before I can even finish that thought. Strong, warm arms wrap around my waist and pluck me off like I’m a tick. I lose my hold on my weapons and cry out as I’m torn away.
I call on another swoosh blade, twisting in the arms of whoever has me so I can shove it in their neck. The sight of tan skin, onyx scruff, and wavy black hair that’s being windswept away from an entirely too handsome face makes me pause.
“What are you doing, little sparrow?” Zeph asks me evenly, like it wasn’t obvious.
“Saving the day,” I croak back in answer, pissed that he just rained on the hero shit I was trying to pull off.
Gryphons are battling in the distance, and I can hear faint growls and cries carried over to us in the wind.
“By killing yourself?” he demands tersely.
“No, by killinghim,” I snap back, turning and looking for Lazza in the sky around us. I expect him to be trying to get away again, but I’m surprised to see he’s still falling to the ground.
I don’t get my hopes up that he won’t somehow be able to stop his trajectory; I’ve seen and also survived too much to think we’ll win this easily.
“Why aren’t you a gryphon?” I ask, settling into Zeph’s arms as his powerful black wings angle us down for a smooth gentle descent to the ground.
“Because you needed rescuing.”
I scoff.
