Princess of Beasts - Chapters Four and Five (Patreon)

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Chapter Four

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Nira glared at the white-feathered gryphon, her blood boiling. If he truly worked for the Golden Union, she’d never be able to let him go. The Golden Union was the name given to the grand coalition of nations had overthrown the Empire of the Black Star. Where once Nira’s people ruled half the known world, now there was only the Golden Union. They believed themselves heroes, and liberators. But Nira saw only self-righteous bullshit. For every so-called freedom they granted, came another they took away. To free one village, they’d burn another. Gnolls and kobolds slaughtered, their deaths praised as the vanquishing of ‘monsters’. The great dragons sent by the Empire to rule over provinces called out as demons, and hunted down by dragon-slaying warships. Cathedrals built atop the nesting grounds of ‘vermin’, worship of their gods enforced by steel and lead. 

Maybe they’d had good intentions, once. Though the Empire saw its ancestral conquests as bringing peace to a once-divided region, and gave those once seen as monsters a chance to be seen as people, not everyone saw it that way. Oceans of blood were shed during a century of expansion, but a century more had passed since. Still, Nira was not naïve. She knew those were wounds even time could not heal. 

And yet, the Union had a chance, in Nira’s youth, to end their own campaign far earlier. The Empire offered them a peace treaty, a chance to not only keep their early territorial gains, but to work with the Empire to negotiate, to try and resolve all their myriad differences without further bloodshed. But the Union refused. To all their self-righteous leaders, Empire itself was just another monster to be slain for their so-called gods. 

Nira hated the Union. They’d torn her home apart, murdered most of her family, her friends, slaughtered her people. They’d forced her from her home, and though they had not pursued her over the last decade, neither was she welcomed in any land they, or their allies controlled. She wasn’t even allowed to try and communicate with survivors back home. She knew her sister lived, but little else. 

Yet what sometimes angered Nira the most about the Union was their hypocrisy. They claimed themselves saviors, righting the wrongs of history, and yet all they did was commit the very same atrocities they swore they were avenging. Nira knew it didn’t take a damn historian to see how this was all going to play out. Someday, long after she was gone, some band of rebellious rabble would rise, forge an army, and annihilate the union. 

The cycle of bloodshed would continue, and Nira wanted no part of it.

When she first took over the airship, she wanted to avenge her family, to attack the Union, to raise an army and fight back. Over the years, she’d accepted the fact to do so would be suicide. Now, her responsibility was to the ship’s crew. In its own way, the Cataclysm was the Empire of the Black Star. These people, these so-called monsters, they were her family now, and the would do everything in her power to keep them safe. 

And if this Union spy of a gryphon put them in danger? She’d put a bullet in his brain herself. 

“Alright, Bird.” Nira drew her pistol, the one with the gryphon on it, and tapped it’s barrel against her holster. “Talk, before Rog starts lopping claws off. You work for the Union?” 

The gryphon did not reply at first. Instead, he made a show of stretching out his forelegs. A great yawn split his yellow beak, and he splayed his massive front paws, long brown talons unsheathed. “These claws?” The gryphon tilted his head, sizing Rog up. “He’ll have to get awfully close.” 

The beast’s size dismayed her. He was bigger in every way than her own gryphon friends. Hell, much as she hated to admit it, he was one of the largest gryphons she’d seen. While she’d never bet against Lissir and Sivik in a fight, this spy was more than large enough to hold his own and give them both hell, if it came to it. If the average gryphon was close in size to the larger brown bears that roamed the thick forests, than this male was closer to the polar bears that hunted the icy tundra. 

Rog licked his muzzle, stepping forward. “Ready when you are, shit-pigeon.” 

The gryphon merely sunk his claws into the floor, and scratched deep lines in the wood as he retracted his legs. “What was it you were asking again, Girl?” 

Nira grit her teeth, trying to keep her calm. “Do you work for the Golden Union?”

Finally, the white-feathered beast cocked his head, his beak half-open and ears splayed in gryphon smirk. “I don’t remember.” 

Nira held her gun up. “How’d you like me to pistol-whip that smirk off your beak?”

The gryphon narrowed his icy blue eyes. “How’d you like me to bite that hand off?” 

All around her, her crew stepped closer, rifles pointed at the white gryphon. Rog hefted his axe, while Kasis and Vekk clambered up cargo netting, seeking a higher vantage. Both had produced smaller pistols usually kept hidden in their clothing. 

With one free hand, Amelia unbuckled her safety straps. Without taking her eyes or her aim off the gryphon, she swung a leg over Sivik’s back and hopped to the floor. “Bet he’d drop the attitude if I put one through his paw.” 

The white gryphon only snapped his beak at her. “You’d better put one through my eye next, female.” 

Amelia shrugged. “That can be arranged.” 

“You don’t seem to understand the situation you’re in, gryphon.” Nira took a step closer, waving her pistol. She was careful to remain outside his range, though she wasn’t totally sure she’d be clear if he suddenly lunged. She’d just have to rely on Amelia’s sure-handed aim to put a round in the beast’s brain before he could shred her too badly. “There’s over a dozen guns pointed at you, and-”

“And you don’t seem to understand that your threats sound just like everyone else’s.” The gryphon lifted a black-tinged forepaw, waving it a circle. “Threats which are empty, until you’ve proven you’ll make good on them. And making good on most of yours would either kill me, or leave me in agony the likes of which would render me incapable of answering the questions which are so clearly burning a hole in your brain.” He set his paw back down. 

“Used to being threatened, are you Snowballs?” Lissir gave a mocking coo. “Poor snow gryphons, so mistreated by the Union.” 

Snowballs gave a low, menacing growl, shifting his weight. “Either shoot me, or bring me your leader so I can hold a civilized conversation. Until then?” The gryphon clacked his beak. “Get fucked.” He glanced back and forth between Sivik and Lissir. “You two especially.” 

Both female gryphons hissed, but before they could reply, Nira held up her free hand to ask for their silence. They’d have plenty of time to teach him some manners later. “Bring you our leader?” For the first time, Nira felt as if she held an advantage. “Who is it you wish to speak with, Gryphon?” 

The gryphon slowly swung his head around to fix his gaze on here. “Well, Girl, it is my understanding that-”

And that Rog kicked that advantage out of the airship and sent it tumbling down to earth. “You know who you’re talking too, Bird?” He stormed forward, waving his axe at the princess. “This is Imperial Princess Nira, of the Empire of the Black Star!”

The gryphon lifted his head, his ears perked. “Is it?”

It occurred to her in that moment, that this gryphon might be here to kill her. Nira swiftly drew her other pistol, flicking both safeties off. The pieces wouldn’t fit, though. If that was true, why wouldn’t he have gotten himself caught earlier? But now that Rog had let the truth slip his tongue, she needed to be all the more cautious, just in case. 

“Damn right it is!” Rog gestured with his axe again. “You address Princess Nira, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking, hard-fucking captain of the Cataclysm! So start addressing her properly, before I stomp your disrespectful beak in!” 

Nira shifted her gaze to Rog for just a moment, unable to hold back an amused smile despite the tension in the moment. “Did you just describe me as hard-fucking?”

The gnoll grinned at her while the other guards kept the gryphon covered. “Well, aren’t you?”

Nira chuckled, nodding once. “Carry on, Guard Captain.” 

Rog thumped his axe handle down against the floor, his voice rising into a forceful snarl. “You wanted to speak to our leader? Start speakin’.” 

“So you’re Princess Nira?” The gryphon ignored Rog, focusing his attention on Nira. “You should have said so in the first place.” 

As much as Nira wanted to point out the stupidity of that statement, she knew there was little reason to do so. “I am. Why, you here to kill me?” She lifted both pistols, aiming them squarely at the gryphon’s head. “Now’s your chance, if you think you’re quick enough.” 

“I don’t think anyone’s quick enough to avoid bullets.” The gryphon slowly gazed around at all the firearms pointed his way. “Let alone that many of them. No, if I was here to kill you…” He slowly pushed himself up onto his haunches, every weapon in the room following him. “I’d do it when I had a far better chance of success.”

Nira clenched her jaw. “That wasn’t a no.” 

The gryphon only smiled, shrugging his wings. “No, it wasn’t. Maybe I am here to kill you.” 

Amelia shifted her position, taking a step to the side, ensuring she had a clear shot at the gryphon’s head without risking any crossfire. “Just gimme the order, boss, I’ll put him down here and now. You’ll have a few new feather pillows by sundown.” 

“Does the girl with the rifle ever shut up?” Snowballs stretched out his black-feathered wing, using it to shield his head from Amelia’s view. 

“You know feathers don’t stop bullets, don’t you?” Amelia shifted her aim, lower, just past the gryphon’s shoulder. “And I can just shoot you in the heart, instead of the head, anyway.” 

Snowballs snapped his beak. “You ever shoot a creature my size in the heart, before? If your round makes it that far-“

“Oh, it’ll get there, Bird.” Amelia took a step closer. “Count on it.” 

“Then count on me living just long enough afterwards to tear your princess limb from limb!” The gryphon hissed, then held up his forepaws towards Nira, pads up in supplication. “Which, I assure you and your trigger-happy crew, I have no desire to do. In fact, if you’d all lower your guns, I think we’d all breathe easier.” Slowly, the gryphon folded his wing back against his body, exposing his head for Amelia and the other guards again. “I assure you that despite my bravado, I’ve no desire to be shot in the head, the heart, the paws…” He glanced sideways, glaring at Amelia. “And certainly not the testicles.” 

Amelia only smirked at him, returning her aim to his head. “I ain’t lowerin’ shit till you’re in shackles.” 

Nira took a deep breath, considering the situation. If the gryphon really wanted to attack her, she was pretty sure Amelia could drop him. And if Amelia missed…Nira wasn’t convinced she’d have time to put the bird down herself at such close proximity. At least, not before he’d already opened her up. They’d probably end up killing each other. Grinding her teeth, she made a decision to try and deescalate things, just a little. 

“Alright, Gryphon. I’ll give you a chance.” She sunk a pistol back into its holster, then waggled a single finger at him. “One chance. I’ll put my guns away…” She settled the other pistol into place, then buckled both down. “And my guards will lower theirs.” She gestured at the guards, and the gnolls and va’chaak slowly eased their weapons down. She waved Rog back, and her guard captain hesitantly stepped away. “Amelia’s stays, though. And if you try anything-”

“You’re tie me up and spank me like a naughty boy?” The gryphon flared up the longer crown feathers around the back of his head. “Yes, I understand the implications.” 

“Ooh, I dunno.” Lissir turned towards her sister, offering a playful warble. “Spanking a helpless male snow gryphon does sound fun, don’t you think, Sisters?” 

“It sounds a delight!” Sivik chirruped laughter, ruffling up her feathers. “Princess, when you’re done with him, do you think we can keep him?” 

Nira laughed, glancing towards her feathery friends. “I’ll think about it.” She quickly turned her attention back towards the male gryphon. “Now, Union bird. You have a name?” 

“Of course I have a name.” The gryphon clicked his beak twice. “I am called Alakor.” He bowed head large head. “And to answer your earlier question, yes. I work for the Golden Union. Though, not always entirely by choice.” 

Nira ground her teeth. She’d never actually met a gryphon that worked for the Union before. Most of their people seemed to view anything other humans to be lesser beings at best, monsters and vermin at worst. Then again, she’d never heard the term snow gryphon before, either. Sivik and Lissir made it sound as if such gryphons often worked for the Union. She’d have to ask them about it in private later. 

For now, Nira drummed her fingers against her pistol handles. “Go on. What do you mean, not always by choice?” 

“I mean, everyone works for them. There is no choice.” The gryphon ruffled his feathers, snorting. “You do as you’re told, or you’re punished.” 

Rog growled, low in his throat. “Fucking Union. I knew they’d pull that shit. Burn the land, enslave the survivors, it’s all they ever meant-”

“Oh, pull your head out of your ass, dog.” Alakor glanced at the gnoll. “Your kind used to butcher human villages to take their food, their valuables, and you’d enslave the survivors.” He flicked his wing towards Kasis. “Her kind used to raid travelers in great swarms.” He lifted a forepaw, flicking a single finger towards Nira. “And her people pushed his people into the slums.” He gestured at Vekk. “And then they conquered the rest of you, made you part of their army, and used you to enslave half the damn continent.” 

Nira squeezed her pistol, her blood hot, her heart thumping hard enough to leave her pulse echoing in her grit teeth. “That was centuries ago, gryphon. That was-”

“The exact same thing the Union has now done.” The sharpness in Alakor’s voice was enough to cut through her own impulsive retort. He slapped his forepaw against the ground. “Most of their people don’t realize it, yet, but they’ve simply swapped out one oppressive society for another. Neither Empire nor Union was ever any better than the other, you’re just…oppressive in different ways, I suppose.” 

“Except here?” Sivik hissed, flaring out her wings. “You won’t be treated like an animal. A beast.” 

Rog thumped his axe against the ground. “Or a monster, or a criminal, just cause your ancestors were bad people.” 

“Tell that to your Princess’ serfs.” The gryphon tilted his head, gazing at the gnoll. “Their farmers. Where do you think all that food you got in the palace came from? Entire provinces of the empire were dedicated to farming, to rearing livestock. And not by choice, either. Those people had their whole lives dictated to them by the Imperial Court. Given land, told to farm it, and made to give all their crops to the court, to be distributed amongst the cities. Allowed to keep just enough to survive on, and that’s it. That’s their lives. You wonder why the Unions ranks swelled so quickly? Because they had entire nations of farmers, living in the dirt for generations, so they could feed the Empire’s army of beasts.” 

Nira’s whole face burned, her ears hottest of all. She knew well enough that things were not perfect in the Empire, but those systems were antiquated. Her own parents had spent a good portion of their lives trying to reform them, to improve the lives of those very farmers. “You know, my mother and father had dedicated themselves to making things better, to bringing them-”

Once again, Alakor cut her off. “Your parents were too late. The Union gave them hope for a better life, immediately, a chance to fight for a future for the children.” He snarled under his breath. “It was all a lie, but false hope is hope just the same. They’ll just be oppressed in a different way. Forced to build cathedrals, forced to worship the Union’s gods, forced go out and fight. Their children won’t be farming dirt. Instead, they’ll be spreading the Union’s golden light with steel, and lead and blood. They think things are better now, but soon enough they’ll-”

“Tell her where you come from.” Lissir glared at him, prowling around him like a cat daring to toy with prey far beyond its measure. “Tell her where snow gryphons come from.” 

Her sister nodded, hissing. “Yes, you’re so eager to tear Nira’s people down, to drag out all their darkest deeds as if the Princess herself gave those orders. Why don’t you tell her one of the Union’s dirty little secrets?” 

Alakor leveled a smoldering glare at the two female gryphons, taking a slow, deep breath. “I was only making a point. I assure you, I have no love for the Golden Union. As you said…” He glanced down at his forepaws, his ears drooping. “We’re treated like animals. Beasts of burden, of war.”

Nira folded her arms. “I’m not surprised. I didn’t think the Golden Union allowed any non-humans into their ranks, outside forcible conscription.”

“Tell her where you come from.” Lissir came to a stop alongside her sister, glowering at Alakor. “Or I will!” 

“Do it, then.” Alakor did not look up from his own paws. His wings hung limp at his sides, his tail lifeless behind him. 

“They’re bred.” Lissir softened her tone, just a little. She did not sound so derisive now, rather she sounded as if she pitied him. “Like beasts would be, on a farm. For their size, for their color. They saw how useful winged creatures can be, they know how effective the Empire’s armies were. But we’re monsters, you see.” Lissir put a paw to her chest. “At least to the nations who founded the Union. So they captured a whole clan of arctic gryphons, generations ago, and bred them for servitude, and for symbolism. They only wanted white ones that these particular gryphons were gifted to them by the gods, kissed by their glorious light. The white feathers indicated purity.” 

When Lissir stopped speaking, Sivik continued for her. “It’s pitiable, really. Poor Alakor here probably doesn’t even know his parents. To my knowledge, they’re taken away in the egg, or as fledglings, then raised by the Union, taught to speak and fight and worship their gods, and be good little birdies. Or they’re beaten. There’s probably only a few hundred of them now, serving as spies and reconnaissance, and probably, special guards, mounts for important nobles, that sort of thing. Treated like good hounds, at best. Though…something tells me Alakor here was anything but good for his masters.” 

“Actually, that’s where you’re wrong.” Alakor lifted his head again, some of his previous defiance returning. “I’ve been good for a very long time. Very good, in fact. Worked a lot of dangerous missions, did as I was told, biding my time, waiting for an opportunity. A chance to tell them all to go fuck themselves.” 

“And…” Nira waved a hand. “Let me guess. That’s why you’re here? You slipped your leash to find me, and spill the Union’s secrets, hoping for revenge against a cruel master?” She shook her head. “You’re out of luck, bird. My crew and I decided years ago, as a group, that we wanted nothing to do with that whole mess. Much as it pains me, my country is gone, my family is gone, and nothing I can do will bring them back.” 

Alakor tilted his head and perked his ears, a smile parting his beak. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say. For firstly, I did not slip my leash. The Union sent me to find you.” 

Something cold twisted in Nira’s belly, and she forced herself to swallow. “Why?”

“They believe you’re dangerous. They’re considering having you captured. Or killed.” He lifted a forepaw, glancing at it, casual as could be. “So they sent one of their most loyal spies to find your ship, chart your course a while, and report back to them. Of course, if that loyal, gods-fearing spy were to be captured, then his orders were to kill you if possible, even if it meant losing his own life.” 

Nira squeezed her pistol handles, fighting back the urge to draw them. 

“So you are here to kill the Princess!” With a furious snarl, Rog hefted his axe again. 

Alakor made an irritable chirruping noise, ruffling up his white feathers. “Of course not, you silly mutt! Have you been listening to anything I’ve said? You think I have any intentions of undertaking their damn suicide mission? I’m not throwing my life away for those assholes! No, no.” 

“Then why are you here?” Nira kept a grip on her guns, but left them holstered.

The white gryphon very slowly pushed himself back up onto his feet. He mantled his vast, black-tipped wings, lifting his head. Posing that way made it all the more obvious just how much bigger he was than the other gryphons aboard her ship. “I am here, Princess Nira, because I’m tired of being treated as an animal. As disposable!” Alakor said, bowing his head until his beak touched the floor. “Because I seek to defect from the Golden Union. I wish to join your crew.” 

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Chapter Five

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Nira’s jaw dropped. For a few heartbeats, she simply stared at the great white gryphon, trying to process it. She’d never had anyone try to defect, before. Most of her crew had been with her from the beginning, loyal members of the former Imperial Empire. Soldiers, spies, mechanics, and so on. Others they’d gathered over the years. A few were rescued from the Union or other hostile forces, a few others were rather notorious outlaws she’d manage to befriend, and invite to join her. But this was different. This was very different. 

The princess took a breath. Only then did he realize just how silent it had gotten in the docking bay. Amelia kept her gun pointed at the gryphon, but most of the other guards were glancing around at one another, uncertain. Rog, Kasis, and Vekk all stared at her. The gryphon sisters murmured to each other in their own tongue. Everyone, it seemed, was waiting to see how Nira reacted. 

“Let me make one thing clear, Gryphon.” Nira strode towards him, jabbing a finger in the air. She was close enough now to be in range of his claws, should he wish her harm. But if nothing else, she was fairly sure if the gryphon meant to attack her, he would have done so already. “I don’t trust you for a second.”

“And yet, here you are, close enough for me to take that hand off, if I but wished to.” The gryphon lifted his head, his black-edged tail swishing behind him.

“I don’t have to trust you to assume you want to live.” Nira waved at all her guards. “Any harm comes to me, and blah, blah, blah, painful death.” 

“A fair point.” Alakor folded his wings back against his body again. “I don’t expect you to trust me, anyway. I sure as hell don’t trust you and your guard dog.” He tossed his head towards Amelia. “Or your sniper. Or your admittedly pretty little sparrow-sisters.” 

“Sparrow?” Sivik hissed, hunkering down into a tensed up crouch. “Call us sparrows again, you inbred city-bird. I dare you.” 

Alakor ignored her threat. “I also said you were pretty. The point is, I don’t trust any of you, and I’m not foolish enough to expect you to trust me. Nonetheless, allow me to make it formal.” The white gryphon lifted his large head, wings outstretched, then folded to sharp angles. “I, Alakor, Second Flight, Aerial Reconnaissance and Special Mission Wing, hereby surrender myself to the Empire of the Black Star, thereupon requesting asylum until such time as my defection can be processed, and completed.” 

Sivik nudged her sister with her beak, chirping. “Those city birds do know how to speak pretty, don’t they?” 

Alakor glanced back at her. “Get you all tingly under the tail, does it?” 

Sivik only stared at him. “I’m sorry, I’m not interested in virgins.” 

Alakor brought his wings back in again. “You are wildly mistaken about that.” Then he returned his attention to Nira. “Is there anything else I need to say, or do, to make it final?” 

Nira pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. “Fuck if I know. Alright, Amelia? Lower your rifle.” 

“You sure, Boss?” Amelia grimaced. “I don’t trust this cocky shit-pigeon anymore than you do. How do we know he’s not actually here to learn as much about us and our ship as he can? Then he slips away, and spills all our secrets to his masters.”

“We don’t know.” Nira approached Amelia, and gently set her hand across the barrel of her rifle. “But I think we’ve made it abundantly clear that any attack on the crew is going to result an overabundance of lead in his general vicinity.” She pushed the barrel down, softening her voice. “It’s alright, Amelia. It’s alright.” 

Amelia sighed, dropping her gun from her shoulder to rest it across her arm, instead, the barrel pointed away from everyone. “Well, shit. I never get to shoot anyone anymore.” 

“Let’s try and consider that a win, shall we?” Nira smiled, giving Amelia’s arm a thankful squeeze. Then she turned back towards the male gryphon, approaching him again. “Alright, Bird. I’m willing to grant you asylum on my ship, but only under very strict conditions. I’m going to put this bluntly. As far as I’m concerned, you’re basically a prisoner until I’ve reason to trust you as anything more. I’ll give you quarters, and allow you to go a few common areas, but that’s it, for now. And you’ll be under guard at all times, and all your actions will be reported to me.”

“All my actions?” The gryphon clicked his beak. “It won’t be a very exciting report, as I plan to do little more than rest while I’ve the chance.” The gryphon waved a paw, adopting a slightly higher tone. “The gryphon woke in the night, went for a piss. Went back to sleep. Woke again, possessed of an especially impressive morning erection. Dealt with it. Went back to sleep.” 

Nira folded her arms, smirking. “What, they didn’t let you do that back home?” 

Lissir whispered to her sister. “I doubt it’s that impressive, anyway.” 

Alakor tossed his head. “Seriously, though, your terms are acceptable. I have no intentions of making trouble for you, or your crew. In fact, in the interest of advancing mutual trust, I suggest you plot a course northwest, as soon as possible, and put the whip to your engines.” He scrunched his face, ears flat. “Or, whatever it is pirates say to an airship. Just make it go fast.” 

“Northwest?” Kasis, perched atop a nearby stack of crates along with Vekk, finally spoke up. She had her tail draped across Vekk’s lap, who was gently stroking it to keep her calm. “From here? Why the hell would we go that way? We’ll hit the Broken Teeth!” 

“Can you not fly high enough to top them?” Alakor turned towards her, head tilted. “Or the charts needed to guide you through the shattered sections? I can guide you, if you prefer.” 

“You’d probably fly us right into them!” Kasis growled at him, balling up her fists. 

“Easy, Sunshine.” Vekk kneaded her bronze-scaled tail. 

Nira worked her fingers together, idly cracking her knuckles. “Why do we need to go northwest?” 

“Because.” The white gryphon turned his head, preening one of his wings. “I’m two weeks late to report to my handlers. They’re going to send someone looking for me. Whether that’s other gryphons, or ships, I know not.”

Rog leaned his axe up against the same tower of boxes Kasis sat atop, then folded his arms. “Then we’ll blow ‘em out of the sky.” 

“You could,” Alakor said, spitting a loose feather towards the female gryphons. From the way they both hissed at him, Nira guessed it must have been a rather serious insult among their people. “But then the rest of them would know right where you are. And, while you’ve been playing hide and seek in all the low cloud cover, the Union is negotiating a treaty with the lands beneath you, giving them access.” He settled his wing back. “That’s why I’ve been stationed out here.”

“Shit.” Nira rubbed her forehead, glancing up at Kasis. “Thoughts?” 

“Assuming he’s telling the truth? Transiting the Broken Teeth would be the quickest route to safe skies.” The kobold tapped little claw tips against the crate she sat on. “But, technically, we’re not exactly welcome there. I don’t think Prav’s people would be dumb enough to engage us, but you never know. They do gotta lotta guns there. Might have to pay ‘em a visit first.” 

The urd’thin sitting next to her spoke up. “You wanna bribe that asshole again?”

Kasis shrugged, leaning her head against the urd’thin sitting next to her. “On the plus side, might be able to learn something while we’re there about the Union’s movements or intentions. Or, instead, we could go around, but it would take longer, and we’d still have to cross embargoed lands.” She tugged at one of the carabiners on her shirt. “We’re still waiting on the boys to return from their supply run, too. They were headed out that way, and should be back tonight, though, tomorrow morning at the latest. If we could get them word, they could meet us nearer the Teeth.” 

Alakor glanced between the two of them. “You can wait a little, I think, but I wouldn’t dally too long, if you wish to avoid being discovered.”

“Kasis, when we’re done here, plot up a few courses for us. Let’s be ready to move on, as soon as the boys are back.” Nira turned back to the gryphon. “Any other little warnings for us? Or any way to prove that there’s not actually a trap waiting for us at the Teeth?” 

“Afraid not. Trust me, or don’t.” Alakor stretched his other wing forward, preening it next. “As for other warnings, not at the moment. I’ve other things to share with you, but you’ll forgive me if I wish to wait until I can trust you, too. Won’t do me any good if you bleed me dry for all I know, and then kick me off your ship. The Union would have me executed, if they caught me and learned of my attempted defection.”

Amelia snorted, shifting her rifle to her other shoulder. “Oh, well, we sure wouldn’t want that.” 

Alakor gave her a sidelong glance, still preening. “Dare I ask who these ‘boys’ are you mentioned?” He settled his wing back down. “I’m guessing since you’re waiting on them to return to this ship, they’ve either a smaller craft of their own, or wings? Perhaps a pair of male gryphons to go with your sharp-tongued females?” 

“Something like that.” Nira didn’t feel the need to elaborate. Assuming Alakor didn’t do anything to get himself killed, or tossed off the ship, he’d find out soon enough. 

Lissir gave a warbling coo. “Oooh, Malaresh is going to love him.” 

“Oh, won’t he?” Sivik shook herself, fluffing her ashen feathers. “I can’t wait to see that. Though…” She cast the white gryphon a playful look, her ears half perked. “I still think the princess should let us string him up in the dungeon.” 

Lissir chirped laughter. “Torture dungeon, or sex dungeon?” 

“Depends on how well he behaves himself!” Sivik’s answer had both female gryphons cackling. 

Alakor only heaved a throaty sigh, lashing his black-edged tail. “If you’re trying to intimidate me, it isn’t going to work. You’re on an airship, so I’m quite sure you’ve neither such place.” 

“Are you so sure?” Lissir took a step towards him, flashing an open-beak grin. “Where else would take prisoners to be interrogated? Or rewarded?”

“I wouldn’t press your luck, Snowballs.” Nira rested her hands on her pistols, her mind whirling, trying to spin off in a thousand directions all at once. She needed to talk to her people about several different subjects, none of which she’d broach with the snow gryphon around. For now, she fixed her attention on him. “Since you’ve accepted my terms, I hereby grant you asylum from the Golden Union, revocable at any time on my discretion. Your request for defection will be taken under consideration, and all acts you comment in our custody will be factored into that decision, as will all information you offer that aids us in any way. Anything else you’d like to say or add before I have you shown to your temporary quarters?” 

Alakor shook his head. “Nothing in the immediate present. Though I should request quarters with a nice, soft bed. I should also request something to eat and drink, whenever possible. I’ve not eaten since before dawn.” 

Nira pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Making demands already?” Sivik nudged her sister. “He really will get along well with Malaresh.” 

Amelia shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Malaresh is always a perfect gentleman around me.”

Lissir clicked her beak. “Cause you’ve always got that damn rifle strapped over your shoulder.” 

“If you had a custom Ebony Ranger, you’d keep it close, too.” Amelia cradled it against her body, grinning.

“Gods, female, do you fuck the gun, too?” Alakor turned towards her, flaring his wings. 

Nira jabbed the gryphon’s feathery shoulder. “Watch your mouth, Gryphon. I won’t tolerate any disrespect towards my crew from a prisoner, defection, or not defection. Keep that up, and you’re going to regret.” 

Amelia stared Alakar down, then made a show of stroking the rifle’s barrel in an especially provocative manner. “Gotta keep it happy, somehow.” 

“Careful now,” Sivik said, bumping her gray feathered tail against Amelia. “You’ll excite the virgin.” 

Nira chuckled, turning away from them for a moment. She was well aware that her crew could take care of themselves, and hold their own against anyone. But that was not the point. They were her crew, her responsibility, and she’d stick up for them against anyone, anywhere, at any time. Sure, they insulted and teased each other plenty, but only in the way of family. They’d all earned that right. They shared bonds of blood, survival, friendship, respect, and even love. 

Her crew, her ship of beasts, they were a family. 

And Alakor was not part of that family. 

“Rog, pick a few guards to reassign to Alakor, day shift and night shift both.” When the gnoll nodded his understand, she looked up at Kasis. “Slight chance of plans, I think. Plot us possible courses to the Teeth, but also to Prav’s. And at least one course around the Teeth. Embargo or not, Verille’s forces wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually engage us. Or so I hope.” 

“Sure thing, boss.” Kasis kicked her little booted feet, looking like a tiny lizard-child atop the box. 

“Vekk, get the damn door in bay four fixed.” Nira rubbed her forehead, trying to consider all the other preparations they might need to make. “Order an inspection and test firing of all engines, the turbines and props, run a few drills, check all the pressure levels, the boilers, pistons, fuel lines, see if the gas bags…” She trailed off when the urd’thin just stared at her with flattened ears. Vekk never did like being told how to do his job, even by his captain. She held up her hands. “I know, I know. But we haven’t had to run everything full-tilt in a while, so I just want make sure everything’s ready.” 

“Boy, Princess, I wouldn’t have thought of that!” He nudged Kasis, whispering overloud. “I probably woulda got us all killed!” 

“Point taken, Vekk, and thank you for your tireless hard work.” Nira reached up and patted his boot with a smile. 

Rog put a hand upon Nira’s shoulder. “Hey, Princess, where do you want to put the bird for now?”

Nira thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s going to have to bay seven, for now.” 

“I dunno if Malaresh is gonna like that.” 

“He’s going to have to deal with it, like all the rest of us.” She waved towards Vekk. “Once bay four is safe again, we can put Alakor in there. But till then, seven is the only place big enough to hold him. Plus it’s got access to a gryphon suitable tub and latrine.”

Alakor cocked his head, and chirped. “That already sounds better than what I had before.” He glanced over his wings at the other two gryphons. “Though it’s a shame I don’t get to spend my nights with those two lovely females.” 

Nira pursed her lips. “They’d eat you alive.” 

“Literally!” Sivik snapped her beak. 

“Though, I wouldn’t mind being his guard,” Lissir said, looking Alakor over. “Because then I could put him in shackles, and slap a chain pouch over that smart beak so he’ll finally shut up.”

Alakor turned around towards the females, hissing. “You know, I’m starting to think tying someone up is what gets your tail lifted. If I let you tie up my paws, you gonna let me climb on your back and fuck you a while, Pretty Sparrow?”

“A while?” Lissir only laughed, rustling her wings. “I doubt you’d even know what to do without some Golden Union taskmaster yelling instructions at you.” She lifted her voice an octave, to imitate a human. “Not like that, bird! Don’t just lay on her! Thrust! Thrust already!” 

“And that’s all it would take,” Sivik said as much to Alakor as her sister. “Two pumps and he’s crooning and spent.” 

“Oh, I suppose you would be the expert, hmm?” Alakor pivoted towards them, his wings half-flared, a derisive sneer in his voice. “The way you two question my prowess makes it sound as if you’re hoping for a demonstration! If I’m so inexperienced, then what does that make you, the ship’s whores?” 

Nira jerked her head up, spinning towards the gryphon. “Alakor! You do not talk to my crew that way!” 

Alakor ignored her, glancing back and forth between Lissir and Sivik. “Do you two lift your tails for your rider, too?” He sucked in a mock gasp, turning wide eyes towards Amelia. “Is that what you use that rifle for? Well, I’ve got something you could—AAWWWRRKK!” 

It was at that point that Nira stormed up behind Alakor, snatched his tail for leverage, and kicked the gryphon in the testicles as hard as she could. The sound that came out of his beak as a result was highest-pitched, loudest squawk Nira had ever heard in her life. The gryphon’s blue eyes popped out, and a forepaw shot back to clutch his battered pride. Alakor’s hind legs came together, his eyes slowly went cross, and with a long, low groan, the big gryphon crumpled to the floor.

“That’s for my crew!” Nira folded her arms, glaring down at him. “I warned you, bird! No one belittles my crew like that!” 

All around her, the gathered crew burst into laughter, along with a few quasi-sympathetic groans from the males. Kasis pointed down at him, cackling. “Right in the bird-balls!” 

Amelia flashed her a big grin. “Oooh, bullseye! I coulda done that, yanno, didn’t need you stepping in.” 

Nira shrugged. “I know, but I already warned him once. I ain’t letting him insult my crew, let alone my friends.” 

Alakor groaned again his eyes squeezed shut as he ground his beak. He rocked around on the ground a few times, beating his wings against the air. “Oooooh, ooooh, gods! What…is it with this ship, and going for the balls?” 

“If you’re asking for it, you get it.” Sivik strode forward, climbing up atop the fallen male, then seating herself upon him. She flared her wings in victorious display. “I claim this snow gryphon on behalf of the good ship Cataclysm!” 

Alakor groaned and wriggled, beating his wings again. He made a half-hearted effort to dislodge the female, but then gave up. “Don’t know what…you think you’re claiming! You didn’t even do it!” 

Sivik offered him a sweet smile, her ears happily perked. She lifted a forepaw, curling it into a fist. “Would you like me to?” 

Alakor gulped, awkwardly shaking his head against the floor. “…I’ll be good.”

Sivik set her paw back down against him. “That’s what I thought.” 

Nira folded her arms, grinning at the female gryphons. “Maybe you two should be his guards. At least when you haven’t got any other duties.” 

“Oooh!” Sivik warbled to her sister. “That does sound like fun!”

Alakor coughed, squirming beneath Sivik, his voice somehow both hoarse, and squeaky at the same time. “I think…if it’s just the same to you…I’ll stick with the gnoll guards.” 

“Oh, I’m afraid not.” Nira nudged the pinkish pads of the male gryphon’s hind paw with the toe of her boot. “You should have thought of that when I warned you to keep your beak shut.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rog. The gnoll was wearing an odd expression, muzzle split with some combination of grimace and grin, one ear flat and the other perked. “Add the girls to the list of his guards, would you?” 

“Sure thing, Princess.” 

“Right, then I think we’re down there.” Nira clasped her hands together, surveying the room. “Well done, everyone! I’d like you riflemen to remain here, make sure our guest doesn’t cause any trouble. Ladies?” When the gryphons glanced her way, Nira continued. “When Snowballs can stand up again, escort him to his quarters. Take the other guards with you, just in case.” 

Amelia stepped forward, gesturing at Sivik. “I’ll go, too. I gotta get her saddle off, anyway.” 

“Good.” Nira backed up a few paces to give the gryphons some room. “When you’ve got him settled, Lissir? I want to talk.” Nira had questions about Alakor’s people that she didn’t want to ask around him. “Rog, Vekk, Kasis? You’ve all got your assignments. When everyone’s finished, come find me in my office.”

*****

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