Pledged in Blood - Chapter Twenty Eight (Patreon)

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Chapter Twenty Eight

Tea

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We flew southwest for much of the day. Conversation was often light, or nonexistent as we all lingered within our own thoughts. I suspected we were all trying to resist second guessing ourselves for our own reasons. The gryphons made it clear that taking a dragon into one of their cities could have deep and long-lasting repercussions for them. I was sure their army and their nation had all sorts of laws about bringing potentially enemies into their midst. Yet if Melakar had managed it, then there must be loopholes for them to exploit. For my part, I would do my best to avoid making a bad impression for my people. 

My own thoughts often lingered on the possible consequences I would face for making such a foolish journey. Where the gryphons might get demoted or even imprisoned, I could lose my life. One wrong move, and they might think I was attacking. One misunderstood gesture, or grand miscalculation, and I might well be at war with the very city I was hoping to ask for help. After all, Melakar was far better at this sort of thing than I was, and it had still cost him his life. 

Melakar. My mind drifted to him often. Even weeks after his death, it still seemed impossible that he was actually gone. Though we had been apart for a decade before his end, I always knew he was only a day’s flight away. That if I’d ever had the nerve, I could have flown to him, visited him…swallowed my pride and told him I was sorry. Now, it was far too late. I swallowed hard at the thought, hoping he’d forgiven me in the end. 

Steady flight gave me time to roll questions around in my mind anew. How long had Melakar been working towards peaceful alliances in secret? And how long had he possessed the Queen’s Mantle? And what had it taken him to solidify the irrik oro, the blood bond with a clan of gryphons? At least those felt like questions I could get solid answers too, with enough work and investigation. Other questions might never be answered. 

Why was he shot down?

I knew well enough that learning the truth might not bring me closure. I also knew that there was a reasonable chance I would never actually find my answers in the first place. And yet, nothing would stop me from pursuing that truth until my dying day. 

As we flew, I took time to gaze across the vast stretch of rugged land beneath us. Though the region was not foreign to me, this was Melakar’s land to patrol, when he was alive. Given the great, cold distance that developed between us, I had not visited this region of the valley in quite a few years. His domain once emcompassed the entire southern portion of our valley, from the monolithic and near impenetrable mountains around his lair, to the vast, stony flats and churning rivers of the valley floor itself, to the increasingly rugged hills and bluffs that were our current destination. 

There were a few more clans va’chaak dwelling in and around Melakar’s land than there was in mine, especially along the flatter, marshier areas nearer the great lake. In another direction, a great forest stretched towards the horizon, draped in snow. Lines of towering, white-wrapped pines mingled with copses of birch and aspen, barren for winter. Gnoll tribes lived amidst the forest, along with a few scattered urd’thin villages, waypoints for their semi-nomadic merchant families. Though they all fell within lands that traditionally belonged to dragons, such scattered settlements had long been considered our neighbors, not our subjects. In times long past, we might have seen them differently. But ancient alliances, historical friendships, and a general lack of remaining dragons to enforce any claims meant they were all free to live their lives and spread their people amongst our lands as well as their own. 

I wondered if Nesh had ever met any of the other sapient peoples of the world before meeting me. It was obvious he’d met gryphons before, given that they seemed to dwell within his cities now. But had he ever met the gnolls, or the va’chaak, or urd’thin? He referenced them before, as if he had. Perhaps some of them had adapted to…or been forced into…human civilizations just Sparrow’s clan of gryphons had. Some of the gnolls and va’chaak in our lands would be less than friendly towards strange humans, given the way they’d suffered at their hands over their years. But I hoped that when the time came, by bringing Nesh around to offer them medical care, he would be able to bridge some of those divides. I was going to need their help in building my empire, and Nesh’s people were going to need their friendship. 

Whenever my thoughts grew a little too dark, I glanced back at Nesh. Even in times of silence, an innocent sort of joy radiated from him. Somehow every time I looked back at him, he managed to smile even wider. His eyes shone as they swept across the lands gliding by beneath us. Now and then he watched my wings ripple in the wind, or the way the muscles along my back worked when I pumped them. Other times he watched the two gryphons flying on either side of me, staring at them with the sort of wonderment I’d thought reserved for children. From time to time, he rubbed the scales on the back of my neck, watching his fingers slide across them, or idly touching me as he stared across the horizon. 

“It’s different, isn’t it?” I finally called back to him. 

“What’s that?” Nesh leaned forward, easing an arm around my neck. 

“Riding me!” I lifted a foreleg and curled it, though I wasn’t sure he could see it well from his vantage. “Instead of being carried!”

“It is!” Nesh laughed and patted my neck. “I…I certainly never imagined I’d ever fly on a dragon. Or…fly alongside gryphons! You know, I’ve never even been in a sky-crawler, before! Never flown at all, till you nearly made me piss myself the day we met! But this is…” He trailed off, shaking his head, his words stolen by purest awe. After a moment, he chuckled to himself, casting his hand out in a sweeping gesture. “This is simply stunning!” 

“Just wait until you fly on one of us!” Blue Jay drifted closer, warbling birdsong laughter. “I’ll do acrobatics that’ll make you vomit!” 

Nesh scrunched his face. “How is that better? That sounds horrible!” 

I swung my head towards the gryphon. “You know he’d be vomiting on you, right Bird?” 

“Oh…” Blue Jay pinned his ears back, grinding his beak. “You’re right, that does sound unpleasant.” 

Sparrow chirped, flying ahead of us for a few wingbeats. “Thinking things through has never been his strong suit.” 

“I’ve yet to be convinced he has a strong suit in the first place.” I spared Blue Jay another glance. “Sarcasm, perhaps.”

“Nonsense!” The indigo and black gryphon waved a forepaw. “I’ve plenty of strong suits!” 

“Ego doesn’t count!” Sparrow chirped at him again as we caught up with her. 

Laughing, I beat my wings harder, accelerating past both of them. Though the gryphons were more acrobatic fliers, and could reach faster speeds overall, dragons were built more for endurance. I could fly at higher speeds for longer than either of them, as our previous group hunting trips had proven. I certainly didn’t want to wear them out when our journey was only beginning, but I decided to make them work to keep up for a little while, if only to keep them from snapping at each other’s throats until their bickering grew into an annoyance. 

We spent most of the day in flight. Only when I noticed the gryphons start to lag behind here and there did I decide it was time to stop for a break. I knew their pride would not allow them to ask for rest, and I saw no reason to push them too hard. So once it was clear that keeping pace with me was taking them extra effort, I decided it was time to hunt our late lunch. I found us a small stream were we could quench the thirst built by a long flight.

I landed on the snowy ground near the water. The stream’s swift movement kept it flowing even in winter, but ice edged its rocky shoreline in strange shapes, like bubbles built atop bubbles. More ice like frozen, layered waves coated the exposed surfaces of boulders jutting from its midst, where the water ever-sloshed around the gray stones. Isolated copses of slumbering trees and brush dotted the uneven landscape beyond the water. 

I let Nesh unbuckle himself and climb off my back, and informed the gryphons they should remain here and rest while I hunted. Both of them wanted to hunt with me, though I suspected that was pride talking. They did not wish to be outdone by a dragon, let alone in her debt. I compromised with them, and told them what I would hunt while I lead our journey. When we reached human lands and Sparrow took over, she and Blue Jay could do the day’s hunting. 

Nesh dug out his supply packs from my cargo harness as I took a turn to quench my thirst. When I’d had enough water, I left the three of them behind to hunt our meal. By the time I’d returned with the largest elk I could carry, Nesh had built a small fire to cook a bit of meat for himself. He had rations with him, but as long as their was fresh food available, he may as well take advantage. He’d also put an oddly shaped metal pot of some kind over the fire, on a little device that held it above the flames. A strange, herbal smell emanated from the steam that wafted from it. 

“What are you cooking in that?” I sniffed at the steam, scrunching my muzzle. The smell was slightly bitter, and oddly appealing, like someone had swirled flowers into hot swamp water. 

“Tea! And it’s not cooking, it’s steeping.” Nesh produced a little cup from his pack, then a small cloth pad. “I found a kettle in Melakar’s things, thought I’d make use of it. Want some?”

“I rather doubt that.” I dragged the dead elk near the fire, creating a bloody furrow in the snow. “What is it?” 

“You don’t know what tea is?” Sparrow approached me, moving towards the gryphon’s shoulder. 

“Not exactly.” I stretched a wing, signaling for Sparrow to pause where she was.

We did not usually feed together, and I did not know how she planned to approach it. Truthfully, I cared not if they ate directly from the carcass alongside me, shored off the meat to eat elsewhere, or even cooked it over Nesh’s fire. But the meal was not yet ready. I took a breath, and spat a quick stream of roiling flame across the elk’s body. Sparrow squawked and jumped back, beating her wings. I waited long enough for the fire to consume the animal’s fur, then fanned my own wing sharply a few times to extinguish it.

“There. Now it’s ready.” I sunk my teeth in immediately into the elk’s haunch smoking haunch, savoring the spill of warm blood across my tongue and the crackle of seared skin and fat. I beckoned Sparrow and Blue Jay forward with a paw. I licked my muzzle, glancing at the female gryphon again. “Is tea what humans make when they put dry weeds in hot water?”

“Basically.” Sparrow chirruped amusement at the way Nesh grunted at my answer. She tilted her head, eyeballing the slightly charred elk, considering the best way to proceed. “Do you want me to wait while you eat, or…?” 

“Do what you wish.” I took another big bite, purring to myself at the rich, slightly minerally flavor of fresh elk meat. The scorched skin and layer of fat added a delightful crispiness to it, and a gentle, smokey sweetness.  

Blue Jay pushed up alongside Sparrow, across from me. “I plan too.” With a few deft swipes of unsheathed claws, he’d peeled away the outer layer of scorched hide. He sniffed it, then dropped it into his beak. The gryphon gave a pleased chirrup, then dropped his beak and tore into the prey beast’s flesh, eating with as much enthusiasm as I was. “Ooh, it’s nice when I don’t have to get past the fur. And burning it gives it a sort of, smoked flavor.” He lifted his head, tearing a strip of meat free, then gulped it down and flashed me an open-beak smile. 

Sparrow heaved a sigh, her wings drooping. “No manners at all.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you think the dragon would be more impressed if I used Nesh’s utensils?” He twisted is head around towards the human. “Nesh, do you have a spoon I can borrow?” 

Nesh scratched his head, wrapping a cloth pad around the kettle’s handle. He poured steaming liquid into a cup. “I don’t think a spoon would help for eating meat. Do you two want any tea? There’s not a lot, but I’m happy to share.” 

“I’d have some.” Sparrow bowed her head to him. “My drinking bowl is in my cargo harness.” Then she flashed Blue Jay a glare. “And that wasn’t what I meant. I meant, you shouldn’t just barge in and start feasting upon the dragon’s kill.” 

I licked blood from my muzzle, gazing down at Sparrow. Was she actually showing me respect, now? Or was she just trying to be diplomatic and professional, as usual? Either way, I reached towards the animals shoulder, and patted it a few times. “Eat. Please.” 

The female gryphon bowed her head in thanks, and with a bit more grace and restraint than Blue Jay, had soon dug her beak into the elk’s flesh. Nesh approached her while she ate, carrying the kettle. He dug out her bowl, set it on the ground, and poured some of his odd smelling tea into it. Steam rose from the liquid in swirling coils. When he saw me watching, he waggled the kettle at me. 

“Sure you don’t want some? It’s good for you.” Nesh fetched another bowl from Sparrow’s harness, rounding the dead elk to approach me. “Let me pour you a splash, and see if you like it.” 

“Very well.” I sniffed at the stuff as he poured it for me. Little bits of dead plants swirled in what looked like dirty water. The scents of flowers and herbs wafted from it, though up close, the scent was a little more pleasant than expected. “This looks like stagnant ditchwater, and smells like medicinal ditchwater.” 

Nesh chuckled and shrugged. “I had to work with what was available. Melakar had a bit of tea left in some pouches, probably from his last vassals, but it was pretty stale. I mixed in some of the remaining herbs and things from the gryphons and from the last of my medical stockpile. Give it a try. I won’t make you drink it if you don’t like it.” 

“Spoken as if you could force me to drink if you wished too.” I bumped my nose against Nesh’s chest, then returned my attention to the strange stuff he’d poured me. 

“Fair enough,” Nesh said, rubbing the back of his head. “Just see what you think.”

I gave the tea a few more sniffs, then lapped it up. He’d scarcely even poured me a mouthful, but there was enough for me to get the taste of it. The hot liquid tasted a bit less murky than it smelled, with an oddly pleasant sort of bitterness to it, balanced by a hint of flowery sweetness. In truth it tasted far better than I expected it. It also brought a pleasant internal warmth to counteract the cold air that otherwise smothered me. 

“That is not unpleasant.” I nosed at Nesh again, this time in gentle gratitude. “I would have more, if you can spare it.” 

“I can!” Nesh poured me a little more, though not near enough to fill the drinking bowl. “But I’m afraid a tea kettle doesn’t exactly hold a dragon sized portion. If you all enjoy it, maybe we can stock up on tea whilst in Tivos, as well. Worst comes to worst I could just make each of you a few kettlefuls.” Nesh patted my neck when I lowered my head to drink the offering. “I’m glad you like it, though. I think you’ll really enjoy it if I get the chance to make you some truly fine tea.” 

Across the elk carcass, Blue Jay chirped twice. “I don’t know about her, but I can’t tell the difference between fine tea and piss-poor tea.” 

Sparrow shot him a glance. “I’m continually surprised someone as crude as you can even tell the difference between tea and piss.”

Blue Jay only met her insult with a smile. “Is there much difference, though? They both seem like waste, to me.” 

Nesh poured a little more into Sparrow’s drinking bowl, chuckling. “I suppose he prefers coffee.” He returned to his own cup, and added the last of the kettle’s contents to it. “I enjoy both, myself.”

“I, meanwhile, wonder why you humans ruin perfectly good water that way.” Blue Jay ruffled himself and returned his bloody beak to his food. 

Sparrow clacked her beak, turning her head towards Nesh. “I tried to get him to enjoy both, but I don’t think he’s ever once given either a fair shake. Only drinks them when he has too. Had an officer who preferred a formal tea ceremony proceed any meetings, and Kraas would just grind his beak and fidget the entire time.” 

“Now, ale,” Blue Jay said, swallowing another big strip of meat. “Ale, I like. And wine, mead…” He waved a paw. “Rum, whiskey, vodka…” 

“So you don’t like tea, but you are a drunkard.” Nesh laughed as he set the kettle in the snow to cool off. He drew a knife, slicing hunks of meat off to cook from an area we hadn’t touched. “Noted.” 

“Of course he is. He’s a raider.” Sparrow splayed her ears and lifted her crown feathers in smug display as she regarded the blue and black gryphon. 

Blue Jay shook his wings, staring right back at her. “Your claws might sink more deeply if I hadn’t seen you drunk off your ass-feathers.” He swished his tail across the snow, speaking to Nesh and me even as his gaze remained leveled with Sparrow. “When she gets really good and stumbling drunk, she tends to start singing old gryphon folk songs. One time, she flopped down in a puddle in the street, and spent the morning singing to the street sweepers before she finally passed out. If she weren’t so diminutive she’d have blocked morning traffic!” 

“Now that sounds like a side of you I’d enjoy seeing.” I arched my neck, grinning down at the female gryphon. 

“You know, I feel like I’ve heard that story somewhere.” Nesh skewered his meat, and set it on stones near the flames, where it sizzled and steamed. “Back when I was still in the academy, there was rumors going around about some gryphon legion party in the capital that got out of control. Well…more than one, really.” He folded his arms, turning towards Sparrow. “Wouldn’t have guessed you were involved.”

“I was off duty!” Sparrow made sound of indignity, something akin to a squawk and a chirp all jumbled off. “Hell, I was in the middle of my vacation. I’d never do such a thing during duty hours, nor when I was expected to be on duty soon. And, it was before I was even promoted to this position.” She ate a little while longer, only to jerk her head up and continue. “What he’s not telling you is that it was part of a retirement celebration for an older gryphon. There were dozens of us there and we were all trying to keep up.” She snapped her beak at Blue Jay. “And you kept putting more bowls of spirits in front of me.” 

“I didn’t make you drink them.” Blue Jay ate a few more beakfuls of meat, finishing off his portion. “You didn’t have to keep up with me.” 

“You’d have never let me live it down if I didn’t!” Sparrow stripped the last bits of meat clean from her section of the carcass. “At least I didn’t vomit and piss on myself.” 

“I only vomited a little!” Blue Jay walked down to the stream to wash up. “And I did not piss myself! I fell in a puddle, just like you.” 

Sparrow cupped a paw near her beak, whispering to Nesh and I. “He was so drunk, he pissed his feathers!”

“I can hear you!” Blue Jay rinsed his forelegs off in the stream, then ducked his head to wash the blood from his beak and face. He took a drink, ears swiveling towards us. “And I did not!” 

Sparrow went to the stream next, swatting her tail across Blue Jay’s face as they passed one another. “Whatever you say, pissfeathers.” 

When I was finished with my own food, I joined Sparrow alongside the water. I lowered my head to it, sniffed it once, and then took a quick drink. The water was too cold to drink much at a time, but I used it to wash my paws and face. I curled my tail so that it bumped up against Sparrow’s. “So how much alcohol will it take to get you to sing us all gryphon folk songs?” 

“Oh, no.” She stretched her wing out between us as if to ward off the very idea. “I haven’t drank that much in years, and I’ve no intention of doing so ever again. I’ve a captaincy now, and that means I represent the Gryphon Legion at all times. I’m not just some young, faceless legionnaire who can get away with that sort of thing, anymore.” 

“Yes, you’re certainly not young, anymore!” Blue Jay called back to us from near to Nesh. 

Sparrow jerked her head around to hiss at him. “And you’re older than I am, so if I was you, I’d clamp my beak shut.” 

“You should smack him.” I drank a little more water, pausing to smirk at the gryphon. “In the balls.” 

Sparrow warbled laughter. “I’ve half a mind too, sometimes. But that’s something a raider would do, and I’d rather remain above his level. But if it keeps it up, it’s going to get awfully tempting.” She pushed herself to her paws, and shook the snow from her haunches and tail feathers. “We should be underway as soon as Nesh is ready.” 

“Agreed.” I finished washing, and followed her back to the others. 

I settled near Nesh, and while he finished cooking his lunch, I let my thoughts drift. Never in my youth would I have imagined I’d sit and share tea with a human, and with a gryphon. Let alone that I would travel with them to human lands, hearing embarrassing tales from their youths. Our lives took strange turns, and I found myself wishing Melakar was still around, so that I could share my own life’s latest twists with him. And yet, if not for his death, none of this would have happened.

It did not take long for Nesh to finish cooking his lunch, nor much longer to eat it. Once he was finished, he quenched his little fire with several bowlfuls of snow. Steam hissed and lashed at the air in angry coils, and soon even the hottest embers were but cold ashes. Nesh packed everything away where it came from, and buckled the safety straps around himself once more. When Nesh was ready, Blue Jay hoisted him up and deposited him on my back. He patted my neck and hunkered for, a silent signal that he was ready to go. 

Once more, we returned to the skies.