:: http://www.geocities.com/dragynmistress ::
:: By Jennifer Vromant			   ::
:: jen_vromant@yahoo.com		   ::
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Aerdancer - Chapter 03

Our mother never came home after that.  It turns out the humans had captured her as she had landed in their camp for a closer look.  We were lucky we had remained hidden.
 
After waiting in the nest for a day, we decided we should go to the dragons, because they eat the same thing we do.  We did not know where the other gryphons were, if there were any left, since gryphons are such solitary animals.  We waited until nightfall to scale the cliffs.  Once we were on level ground, we silently crept towards the volcanoes.  We had to go through the forest and cross a great river, but we thought that if the dragons could do that, we could, too.

On our way though the forest, we found a baby unicorn and a baby pegasus.  They were each a few months old, and we decided to take them with us, and maybe restore them to their herd.  As we struggled with the iron cages, we heard a shout behind us and we saw a little fire coming towards us in the woods.  We quickly freed the two and silently left, the two little ones at my heel.  When the humans found their prisoners gone, they made a loud, single noise that echoed through the night sky.  We ran as fast as we could with the two young beast tagging along.

Then we were through the forest, and on open ground.  It was still a good run to the river, which flowed swiftly and deeply.  Then it was still a good run to get into the rock desert, where lumps of rock as high as trees offered superb hiding space.  We did not see any way to cross the river, except try to fly, which the unicorn obviously could not, as it had no wings.  Suddenly the unicorn, with the pegasus close behind, started a mad dash to the river.  We had no choice but to follow.  When the unicorn reached the water edge, it started striking the ground with its hoofs.  The pegasus just watched the other side cautiously.  When we arrived, the unicorn had somehow convinced the river to move aside, and then stop altogether.  Without asking any questions, the five of us quickly ran across and into the desert of rocks.

We turned just in time to see the river continue its natural course and the humans stop short in front of it.  They looked upstream and downstream, but they did not believe we could make it across the river.  We spent the night in the desert, cuddling the unicorn and the pegasus between the three of us.  We were all too tired to say a word.