novelraw Chapter 104
Chapter 104
To outpace Azure, a griffin would need to be a five-star adult at minimum.
A five-star, or perhaps even stronger.
The vertical slits of Aiden's eyes narrowed into a single, razor-thin crimson line.
“Bianca,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Can you follow the scent?”
“I have an incredible sense of smell, aow!”
“Then track the griffin.”
His crimson gaze met her wide, pale eyes. She flinched, shrinking back slightly.
“I'll try.”
He's so scary right now…
The great red dragon nodded once. Let her try. If she fails, I will consult the Fifth Crown.
Bianca lifted her head, her nostrils flaring as she tasted the air. The scent is faint, aow, but it's still here!
With a powerful beat of her white wings, she launched into the sky.
Aiden's gaze followed her ascending form. Perhaps he wouldn't need to trouble the Fifth Crown after all.
His own red wings unfurled. With a mighty push, his claws left the earth, and his body surged into the night.
*****
Black wings flattened, and the griffin dove toward the ground.
As it neared the forest floor, it released its grip. The blue wyrmling in its talons tumbled to the earth, rolling several times before skidding to a halt. She managed to scramble to her feet, taking a few stumbling steps before collapsing.
The griffin landed softly, its great black wings folding against its back. It walked up to a small wooden cottage and tapped its beak gently against the door.
Click…
The door swung open. A Wood Elf emerged, a slender figure standing six feet tall. Her form was elegant, her features beautiful. A simple bodice of woven leaves did little to conceal the proud swell of her chest. Long, ink-green hair cascaded to her waist, framing a pair of pointed ears.
Most would react with terror to finding a monstrous eagle's head, nearly the size of their home, waiting on their doorstep. But the elf's deep green eyes bloomed with delight.
“Tharion! You've returned!”
“Kree,” the griffin chirped in response, then stepped aside.
As it moved, the Wood Elf saw what its massive body had been concealing. In the clearing, the blue wyrmling lay sprawled on the ground. She appeared to be unconscious, her wings and scales slick with blood, but the steady rise and fall of her chest betrayed the life still within her.
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It was a blue wyrmling.
“Tharion! You actually hunted down a blue wyrmling!” the elf exclaimed, her voice filled with awe. “You are magnificent!” She threw her arms around the griffin's massive feathered leg.
“Kree-ar!” The cry rang with pride. To hunt a dragon was the dream of nearly every griffin. Now, he had achieved it.
“Kree-kree!”
The elf listened, her head tilted. “Tharion, are you saying you want to save her for your whelp's first meal?”
The eagle's head bobbed up and down.
A smile graced the Wood Elf's face. “Of course. This is your kill, Tharion. You may do with it as you please.”
“Kree-ar.”
“Don't worry, it's yours.” She paused. “By the way, are your whelps due soon?”
“Kree-kree!”
“In a few days? Then you should go back and be with Vaerlyn.” The Wood Elf smiled and released his leg. Originally, Tharion had been her only bonded partner, but the powerful griffin had managed to court a mate, turning one companion into two. Once Tharion's whelps hatched, her retinue of bonded creatures would grow again.
“Kree-ar.”
The griffin bid its partner farewell. Its sharp lion's claws sank easily into the dragon's scales. With a beat of its black wings, it took flight, carrying its prize toward the massive nest cradled in the canopy above.
*****
Heavy eyelids slowly lifted.
A sharp, stabbing pain radiated from every inch of her body.
Azure's blue eyes took in her surroundings. The walls were made of woven black branches. A nest.
She looked around. Two pairs of ruby-red eyes stared back at her.
Two griffins.
So this is their lair. I didn't escape after all.
Her gaze was calm, devoid of fear or panic. This was not the reaction Tharion had hoped for. A surge of annoyance rose in the griffin, but he suppressed it.
The blue wyrmling's life was already fading; another blow might extinguish it. For now, she needed to live. At least until his whelps hatched. He wanted his children to know their father was a mighty hunter, a slayer of dragons.
Azure's gaze shifted to a clutch of red, cone-shaped eggs nearby.
Seeing them, she understood why the griffin hadn't killed her immediately.
To be a first meal?
Her blue eyes closed. An image of a red dragon surfaced in her mind.
How strange. Why am I thinking of him now, on the brink of death?
These are two five-star griffins. Even if that brute Aiden came, he would stand no chance.
*****
After several hours of flying south, following Bianca's lead, they came to a halt.
Whoosh!
A red and a white dragon, one large and one small, hovered in the night sky.
They no longer needed Bianca to track the scent. Before them lay the griffins' stronghold.
The forest terrain gave way to a single, titanic tree, three or four hundred yards tall, that dwarfed everything around it. Its colossal canopy blotted out the sky for hundreds of yards in every direction. Nestled in its center was a gigantic nest, from which the foul, unmistakable stench of griffins emanated.
Aiden's red gaze glanced down. At the base of the great tree, gnarled, living roots had been shaped into a village of houses. An ethereal glow lit some of the homes, but most were dark. It was late. Humanoid figures patrolled the perimeter.
They were over two yards(six feet) tall, slender, with green skin, pointed ears, and long, dark green hair.
Wood Elves, a high-tier species—a branch of the elven kind.
This is a Wood Elf tribe. The griffin must be the bonded beast of one of their champions.
It doesn't matter. None of it matters. Today, all you wretched things will meet the same end.
He turned to Bianca. She was still staring at the giant tree.
“Bianca.”
Her white head snapped around, her bright eyes meeting his.
“Hide in the clouds.”
“Aow? But I can help!”
A flicker of red flame ignited deep within Aiden's crimson eyes.
“Go.”
“Okay!”
The reply was immediate. With a flap of her white wings, she shot straight up into the cloud layer. A moment later, a round, white head poked out from the edge of the clouds, her bright eyes still fixed on him.
Aiden looked away from her, his gaze returning to the colossal nest.
I had not wanted to do this so soon. Not while I am still so weak.
The Crown in his eyes blazed with crimson fire.
A torrent of red mana erupted from him, surging toward the heavens.
The black night sky was instantly set ablaze, awash in a sea of incandescent red.
…
[The Ninth Crown has descended.]