The gentle herd of hyddi were oblivious to the real threat. None of them noticed pair of cold, golden-brown eyes watching them. A large, red-brown male strayed away from the main herd, and even closer to the creature watching silently from the cover of the tall grass. His long, curved horns glistened in the sunlight.
He suddenly cried out in alarm, and a large, tawny-colored creature burst out, taking chase. The half-bird, half-cat gryphon that had attacked him lunged too late, missing the hyddi and ending up sprawled on the ground. The gryphon hissed angrily, getting up to stand face to face with the badly frightened hyddi. The hyddi's sharp horns were pointed at the predator as he stepped back in fright.
The gryphon was about to give chase, when a long, spiraled horn stopped inches from its head. It looked up, into the threatening eyes of a unicorn, no doubt traveling with the herd of gentler hyddi. Unicorns, however, were not so passive, and even a single unicorn could cause serious damage to a lone gryphon.
Screeching in anger, the gryphon backed off in defeat. It spread its massive, feathered wings and took off looking for an easier meal.
Ashv growled to herself, ignoring her empty stomach as she landed on a solid rock outcropping.
The gryphon stretched her wings out, before settling down to rest. Her feathered, fox-like tail was curled around her body. Her gold-brown eyes glared down at a couple of argueing drakes.
The two-legged dragons were snapping at each other over a recent kill. The thick fur on their backs was standing on end as they hissed. The smaller one finally backed off, flapping it's wings as it took off to find easier food.
She wasn't used to hunting on her own. Always before, she'd had her family and her pride to help. But now, she no longer had a pride. Or a family.
She stared at the body of her dead brother in terror-stricken horror. The ground was soaked red with blood. The eyes of her pride were staring at her, accusingly.
Rarze had been her brother, her only living kin. Wouldn't she have been the last one to be accused of killing him? But the look in the eyes of the gryphons proved otherwise.
She hadn't done it! She tried to tell them, but they didn't listen, or didn't care. They needed a scapegoat, someone to take the blame, and she had been the first one there. The first to see the grass stained sanguine with her brother's blood.
For this she had been labeled Kinslayer, and exiled from the pride. She had never been back since. She couldn't, for if she returned, she would be killed.
Ashv shuddered, bringing her mind back to the present. Gryphons were social animals, and rarely traveled alone. As much as she hated to admit it, she was lonely. She missed the company of her own kind.
She sat up, looking to the west, where she was headed. In that direction lay Halt'syon, the capital of the humans' empire. She considered going there. Gryphons sometimes worked together with humans, learning their language. Though she had no love for humans, there was nowhere else to go.
She sighed, spreading her wings and taking off, flying towards the setting sun.
She soon spotted a dark-haired human, walking on a dirt road. She landed in front of him. He glanced at him suspiciously, fingering the handle of a small dagger at his side. If gryphons could grin, Ashv would have been. A tiny dagger wouldn't so much as slow down a fully-grown gryphon. Nevertheless, she spread her wings and dipped her head down, bowing to show she meant the human no harm.
He relaxed, nodding to her. "What do you want, Gryphon?"
Ashv struggled to form the human words from her avian beak. "Halt'ssssyon? Way to Halt'ssssyon?"
The man blinked, trying to understand her question through the gryphonic accent.
"Do you mean Halcyon? You want to go to Halcyon?" He asked.
Ashv nodded.
The man shrugged, then said, "Follow this road to the west 'till it splits into three roads. The middle road leads to Halcyon."
"Sssank you." she said as she took off again, resuming her flight to the west.
She came to the crossroads early the next morning. She hesitated, glancing back to the east, where her home lay in the k'Rajnate Mountains. She shook her head resignedly, and started down the middle road.
She'd scarcely gotten off the ground when she felt a burst of freezing cold air behind her. She turned and stared, panic-stricken, at the largest dragon she'd ever seen. The huge brown dragon looked down at her, his strange, faceted eyes whirling green-blue. She stared in shock as a human climbed down from the dragon's back.
She'd never known of a dragon working together with a human before! She stared at the tall, tanned man as he scowled at her. She glared right back at him, preparing to lunge at him if he tried anything.
Another sudden blast of cold air startled Ashv. Her feathers and fur were puffed out in panic. Two more, slightly smaller, dragons appeared suddenly out of thin air. Ashv had never seen anything like this. The two new dragons, one a bright blue color, the other green, watched her curiously as two humans climbed off their backs.
Ashv hissed nervously at the three humans. "Who arrrrre you?"
The first man feinted a look of shock. "It talks!"
The female glared at him before turning to the confounded gryphon. "Don't be scared. We come from another world, with our dragons. We were searching this planet for suitable candidates."
"Candidatessss?" Ashv asked.
The woman smiled. "Yes, for a dragon's clutch. You see, where we come from, dragons are partnered at birth to a creature of their choosing, and those two are forever after bonded together. It's a great honor. We came here looking for suitable people to come with us, to bond a dragon."
Indeed. If you want, we can bring you with us, to watch. Ashv jumped, her fur and feathers standing on end again. She hissed in fright, staring at the blue dragon.
"Sorry." The other man said. His long, black hair was tied in a braid, and his dark blue eyes glanced at the blue dragon. "Falaath didn't mean to scare you. That's how they talk." He explained.
"I can watch?" Ashv asked. Maybe she wouldn't go to Halt'syon after all. Maybe it would be better in a place with less humans, and more dragons. These dragons seemed friendly, after she'd gotten over her fright of them.
The large brown rumbled amusedly. Why just watch? Why don't you stand?
The brown's partner glared at his dragon. "Sylenth!"
Oh hush, F'ran. She's a perfectly good candidate for Adityath's clutch.
Ashv stared at the brown dragon. The woman smiled at her. "Well then, that settles it. Will you stand, aah..."
"Assshvee" The gryphon supplied.
"Ashev?" The woman asked.
Ashv shook her head. "Assshveee"
I believe she means Ash-vee. The green dragon stated.
Ashv nodded. "Yesss!" She sighed. She'd better work on her accent if she was going with these humans.
The human F'ran just glowered.