Of Griffins and Dragons

• Rosemary Fung
• Short Story
• 2006

I am Ambereye. I am a griffin and this is my story.
I live in a cave at the foot of a large mountain with my mother. We are of the griffin race, a noble creature with the head, wings and front claws of an eagle, and rump, hind legs and tail of the lion. Together, the feather melds with fur to create us; the griffins.
I am named Ambereye because they say when I was hatched my eyes shown fiery like liquid amber. My friend is named Seaura. She is a dragon; silvery, blue-green scales and magnificent wings with a translucent membrane. She has not yet grown her horns; we are still young. Though to me she is an old friend for we were but hatchlings when we met in the forest.
I was hunting that day. Mother had discovered my secret just that morning and I just had to prove myself to her. It was then I stumbled on Seaura.
She had come down from her home on a mountain ledge to explore. I liked her; until she offered a flight.
“Why not?” asked Seaura when I had declined.
“Afraid a’ heights.” I had mumbled.
Then she had laughed and laughed till tears came to her eyes. But she had a good nature and said that it would pass over. We were close ever since, though my fear never did go away.

My mother and Seaura’s parents were very good about our friendship until the year all the prey began to disappear. Then, my mother began to get cranky and irritable and to blame the dragon family for the loss of food source; for we both knew that they were the only creatures around the area that rivalled us in hunting. I asked Seaura about this.
“No way!” exclaimed Seaura, surprised. “Mother has laid another egg this month so she needs softer meat, meaning we’re all eating less than usual. Anyhow, we’d never do such a thing. Do I look any fatter to you?”
She had made her point; for Seaura was a slender as anything, and thinner than usual too. I tried to tell my mother this but she just wouldn’t listen.
“Do not believe the lies of dragons. They are as unstable and as treacherous as the fire they breathe.” Then she would go out to hunt and bring back a hare; which would start off her complaints all over again.
Sometimes I would see my mother and Seaura’s father meet up in the air. I usually could tell they were arguing. Then Seaura’s father would spit a ball of flame and my mother would make herself scarce, shouting insults all the way.
But that be as it may, Seaura and I still played together by the frothing roar of the waterfall. That all changed on one fateful day.

I was playing hide and seek with Seaura and I was hiding when the air was punctured by two, shrill shrieks. Even the mighty roar of the falls was no match for these familiar cries.
“Mother!” Seaura and I cried out simultaneously. For yes, they were the voices of our mothers, cries of anguish and rage, of grief and fury, of a definite, underlying hatred.
I leapt up from my hiding place and immediately plunged through the undergrowth, whilst Seaura took straight off into the air. We were both headed for the same place; the mountain. For once I envied Seaura’s ease in flight, for one can only imagine speed by which she could reach her mother before me. I put on an extra burst of speed and tried hard not to think about Mother’s plight.
Finally! I had reached my home cave. I plunged straight into the dark crevice, ready to defend my mother from whatever beast had taken hold of her.
There was no beast. There was only my mother, standing in front of me with hatred burning deep within her eyes. She said nothing; just turned her eyes to the back of the cave.
“Oh no,” I whispered. On any other day there would be filled to the brim with our hoard, a treasure trove of priceless gems hoarded from as far back as my great, great grandfather. At just the right time in the evening a beam of sunlight would shine directly into the cave and onto our pile of treasure. It was a spectacular sight; sparkling emeralds, exquisite rubies, sapphire, topaz and amethyst, all drank in the light and illuminated the cave wall in a myriad of colours. But now, now in the dimness of midday, the cave seemed twice as dark and empty as usual. That was because indeed it was so. Somehow, some when, half of our precious hoard was now no more. All our finest and most prized gems were now gone; even my first quartz. I just stood there dumbly, thinking all the while, how could this happen?
I felt my mother come up to my shoulder.
“It was the dragons,” she whispered with vehemence. I whipped around, but before I could speak a shadow fell over the cave entrance.
“Egg thief!” Outside stood Seaura; with her mother. Seaura looked at me helplessly as her mother tried to manoeuvre her large frame through our small entrance, all the while crackling with grief and rage.
“Egg thief!” she repeated, eyes steaming with tears. “My baby, my precious baby, only a month till hatching and you! You stole my egg! I revealed my nest to no one but you- I will have YOUR HIDE!” With those words she threw herself against the crevice but to no avail.
Until then, my mother had been standing quite still with surprise. But gradually her memory returned, and with it came her anger.
“I didn’t think you could sink any lower,” my mother hissed dangerously. “But I suppose I was wrong. You really think I would fall for that silly pretence? You really think I would forgive you after you had stolen generations of griffin treasure to fill that ridiculous crystal cavern of yours? I think not! But return it- and I may spare you.”
“So it is true then.” Seaura’s mother had calmed down now and looked as if she had not truly believed it before. “You have stolen my egg; and now you want our hoard. After our years of friendship. I had not believed it when my mate told me you attacked him. Never ever… I do not have your treasure, Crest. Goodbye.”
She turned around and flew away. Seaura glanced at me uncertainly then followed her mother back to their nest.
My mother spoke to me without taking her eyes off the dragons.
“You are forbidden to see that dragon child again.”
My eyes widened in shock.
“But-”
“It is for the best, Ambereye,” was the sad reply.
I knew it was no use to dispute. Instead I sneaked out at night to meet Seaura one last time. I gave our secret call and waited for her to come.
Come she did, in a matter of seconds and was asking questions before she even touched down.
“What’s going on? Why was your mother yelling? Did she really steal our egg? Why didn’t you answer my call-?”
I held up a wing for silence.
“I have to be quick. My mother has banned me from seeing you ever again.”
Seaura was flabbergasted.
“She can’t!”
“She did. And we have to live with it. I can’t make her see sense and I daresay your mother wouldn’t want us playing together either. So I’m here to say farewell.”
Seaura just shook her head and edged away from me, then spread her wings and flew back to her nest. I was distraught but as my mother said, it was for the best.

All the while, our main food source, the deer, was fast disappearing. We were puzzled; until our first sighting of man.
They were small; but came in large numbers. They made other animals do their will and used other objects to strike down their prey. And it seemed they were systematically killing off all the deer!
“How much could they eat!?” I asked incredulously one day as we watched them go by. “Let’s eat them shall we?”
My mother slowly shook her head. “Somehow I don’t think that would be wise,” she replied with a frown.
I couldn’t understand that because they were really midget little things. And as the year wore on I really wished we had attacked them because they were killing more and more deer and boar but were not growing any bigger. It was strange really. I itched to talk to Seaura about it but I respected my mother’s wishes and kept well away.
But it was way too much when I saw the strange creatures striking down the trees. There was no stopping them; once I saw a panther attack a man and drag it to it’s den; the next day man came back with twice their original number, tracked down the panther and slew it, taking only the skin.
I felt useless because I had to stay home more and more for I still would not fly. Griffins are quite cumbersome on land, so, with the new threat, I could not help hunt. My mother hunted alone.
It was from one of these hunting trips that my mother returned, gasping and furious for, she told me, she had seen one of our stolen gems, our most treasured lapis lazuli; in the hands of a man.
“Oh I so wanted to eat him!” she exclaimed. “He showed my gem to another man and pointed in the direction of our home! Then he saw me and I flew off but, oh can we not kill them all?”
“No, mother,” I said sadly. “You said so yourself; we kill one- and we are doomed.”
“One way or the other,” muttered she. “We’re doomed anyway. We shall guard our hoard day and night, I say!”
Even so, that strategy lasted only till night. For danger was closer than we had thought…

“I sense unease in the air.”
I woke up, startled. My mother was sitting upright and alert, with an intense look in her eye.
“You stay here, Ambereye. I will see what there is to see.” With that, she flew off. I settled back down. It was probably nothing. Mother was probably overreacting from the stress of the afternoon…*yawn*…
“Ambereye!” my mother screeched at me from outside the cave. I poked my head through the crevice. My mother was pacing agitatedly outside. Her feathers were all ruffled and her fur glistened with sweat. As soon as I popped out she rushed over by my side.
“Listen,” she said frantically. “The man creatures are about to steal our hoard! I saw them, a great line of them holding sticks of fire, going straight for our cave! The man from this afternoon, it was leading them! They will arrive in a few minutes; I have to go and fight them off! Stay here and guard our treasure. Under no circumstances are you to follow me, understand?! Stay, stay for all you are worth, do not let them have our hoard! I will be back within the hour if all goes well! For our hoard, Ambereye!”
Then she leapt into the air and zoomed off, leaving me to guard our treasure and bite my claws in worry for my mother. I should go and help her! -no, I would be a nuisance. I must stay alert! I must guard our hoard! So I walked over and lay on our gems, trying desperately not to let my mind wander.
I lay like that for a few minutes, fretting, when suddenly I heard a piercing whistle. I knew that whistle! Seaura!
I stumbled over to the cave entrance. It came from high up the mountain, probably her nest. She was whistling continuously, as she did whenever she was in great peril. I had to help her! But no; Mother said to stay! But her parents would come; wouldn’t they? Unless of course they were there anyway, lying quite still with their eyes wide open in eternal shock- I pushed that thought firmly out of my mind and hoped, hoped, that there was somebody, anybody, who could help my dearest of friends.
I hoped in vain. I waited and waited but still Seaura whistled on. I could hear it begin to waver, and realised I was the only help available. I looked back once at our hoard. My mother said to stay… But she didn’t know this was about to happen. Nope. She would’ve sent me along with her blessings if she’d known… No matter. I had known from the beginning anyhow that I would never, ever abandon Seaura when she needed me.
I clambered outside. The full moon seemed as sinister as it was peaceful. It seemed to be mocking me as I stared up, way up, at where her nest would be. There was only one way for me to get there; and I did not like it one bit.
I had to fly. I hadn’t flown in ten years. And the only time I ever did was a two inch hover for five seconds. It was that bad. Way above, Seaura gave another, shriller blast as she whistled as if she really needed help, NOW. OK Seaura, this is for you…
And I leapt off into the air. It was easy; but it was not the flying that was the problem, it was the fear.
“Don’t look down, don’t look down…” I muttered. Instead, I looked straight up, at Seaura’s nest. I was scared. But I did it; for Seaura.
One last stroke of the wings and I landed on the ledge that served as the dragon’s nest. I took my bearings.
Five men were scattered around the ledge. A long vine like thing with hooks dangled over the edge of the ledge; their means of getting up here. The men were slowly advancing on Seaura, who was crouched, wounded and frightened, against the mountain wall. Seaura broke off her whistling when she saw me and cried out in relief.
The men began to turn around, but, as fast as lightning, I leapt forward and swept two of the creatures off the ledge to meet their doom far down below. The other three were more cautious; when I came forward again they poked me with sharp, shiny sticks; pain blossomed on my side.
I had weapons too. I clawed two of them and jumped on another, rolling it off the ledge. But the others were too quick; I couldn’t get at them through the barrage of pointy sticks. I was bleeding and hurt but I could’ve staved them off if I had not looked down.
Immediately I was overcome with a wave of nausea. Not now… I could see my death written all over their sharp little sticks as little by little my life drained away…
Suddenly, a great force pushed them aside and they fell off the ledge to join the others in their fate.
“Seaura!” I was so happy. I could tell Seaura was too, though she said nothing. She just licked at my face and laughed.
All of a sudden the mountain seemed to tremble. Loose debris rattled down from farther up the mountain and we instinctively flew off the ledge. We watched the mountain shaking for a while before it seemed to have settled down again.
We heard a pair of approaching wing beats. Seaura’s parents had arrived, bearing a mysterious bundle. Suddenly I remembered.
“My mother!” I cried. “I have to help my mother!”
“Where is she?” asked Seaura’s father urgently.
“Fighting men near our cave!”
Without a word the adult dragons flew off. We followed, though much slower. Somehow, during that battle, I had lost my fear of heights. It now seemed incomparable to other things that exist in the world.
By the time Seaura and I caught up with the other dragons the fight was over. It seemed that while one lone griffin seemed to be a fair fight to man, add another two dragons to that and they weren’t so tough. One little fireball had sent them on their way, double time.
My mother saw me.
“Ambereye! What are you doing out of the cave?! Our hoard…” Wordlessly she sped back to our cave. Except when we arrived we could all see it was a cave no longer. It had caved in.
“Our hoard!” screamed my mother. “You dragons! I know you caused this! And you Ambereye! You have betrayed me-”
“Silence!” bellowed Seaura’s father. “You should be ashamed of yourself Crest,” he said sternly. “You know very well that was a tremor; the mountain does it as it wills. And Ambereye is a very brave griffin. I do not suppose you realise he risked his life and your wrath to save Seaura? For that we are infinitely grateful, Ambereye.” There he smiled warmly at me. “And you cannot still blame us for your stolen hoard after you had seen man with it.”
“But my hoard…” my mother pleaded wretchedly.
“You are still thinking of your hoard when you could have lost your only son?” asked Seaura’s mother.
My mother hung her head.
Seaura’s mother continued, “You are a good griffin, Crest. We freely offer you half of our crystal hoard.”
My mother was surprised. “You do not still believe I stole your egg?”
At that, the she-dragon smiled and held forth her arms. In them she held a beautiful baby dragon, not yet a day old.
“It was man.” Both griffin and dragon were forgiven. Seaura and I could sense this and we really grinned because that meant we were at last able to play with each other again.

Man never really came back in great numbers again, for whenever one appeared we all would gather and swoop down upon them, rising at the last second. That always scared them off and soon there were no more man in or around the mountain area. Well, there was the occasional loner who would come by and attempt to find the dragon’s nest but they never succeed because the dragon family had moved much higher up. The only access possible was by flight now.
Best of all, I got to play with Seaura again, along with her new baby sister, Flameheart. And we would now be able to roam the skies together and play hide and seek in amongst the clouds.
This was my story.