Confident that they would find their griffin today, the company decided to go all-hands-on-deck and leave the camp entirely until the hunt was over. “We don’t know how far the griffin’s lair is,” said Hansel. “But we know where to look.” They travelled west for two days.
Victor carried a stick of charcoal that he had used as a pencil, and now he drew arrows on the rocks to ensure they would find their way back. He shrugged. “Rodrick got us lost in here before. I’m just being careful.”
The ground levelled out and they stumbled upon a strange rocky expanse. It felt as though they were standing in a castle with the great walls of the mountains soaring up all around them. The air was still and silent. “Look!” Sam called, as she ran over and collected another great feather, but this one was silvery green and blue.
“You have a keener eye than I thought, Sam!” said Gretel.
They crossed the expanse until they picked up traces of blood soaked into the rock. The trail led them to the body of a griffin. It was larger than a horse, and even though it lay dead, the beautiful gleam of silver, green and blue was mighty and majestic. It seemed almost asleep, wrapped in its powerful wings, with its heavy beak resting peacefully on the rock. “The griffin,” Hansel murmured. “King of kings.”
Astrid crouched before it. “Not the king of anything anymore. This is the male, which means the female can’t be far.”
Hansel observed the sole wound in the beast’s side. “Is it just me, or does it look like this was caused by a beak?”
Victor agreed, but didn’t know why. “It doesn’t make sense. I’ve never heard of a griffin killing its partner before.” He remembered Rodrick’s riddle. “Maybe that’s what he means by ‘one is evil’.”
“Sounds pretty evil to me,” the others agreed. “I guess we’ll see when we find it.” Of course, finding the enemy griffin was another matter entirely.
ns 172.70.178.32da2