Keeper of the Flame (2 page)

Hugh stopped in his tracks and waited. The little creature seemed to be in distress, but still curious enough to watch him. Something was off about the animal. For one thing, its eyes held even more intelligence than an ordinary cat. For another, it wasn’t hiding from the rain, even though it was obvious the little thing was miserable. Hugh wanted to know more.

A moment later his patience was rewarded when the small creature poked its head around the corner again, a little at a time. At first, Hugh could only see half its face. When Hugh kept still, the little one moved closer, exposing its head fully, watching Hugh with those big, sad, gray eyes.

It blinked once and Hugh sighed. He needed to know more, but his first instinct was to help this poor bedraggled kitten. For he could see now, it wasn’t fully grown, even though it was larger in size than a fully grown house cat.

Perhaps it was the young of one of the big cat varieties that were said to roam this land. Hugh didn’t know, but he wanted to find out. He wanted to learn this little one’s story and help protect it.

Backing against the wall of the nearest building, Hugh crouched down, putting himself nearer eye level with the creature, hoping to put it more at ease. He remained there, unmoving, willing the cat to come to him.

Slowly, paw by paw, it moved out from around the corner and that’s when Hugh realized what he was dealing with.

The cat had wings.

Which meant it wasn’t a
cat
at all. It was a gryphon.

Not a normal gryphon. Not the ones he was used to seeing around here. Those had the back end of a cat and the head and wings of a predatory bird. This little one had the body and head of the cat plus long feathered wings that dragged behind the poor creature. Was this some new kind of gryphon? Or a different species entirely?

Hugh had no idea, but he knew a creature in distress when he saw one. He could not leave this little one alone in the freezing rain. In all likelihood, it would be dead by morning if he left it on its own. Hugh would not have that on his conscience.

Hugh sat, his back against the wall. He didn’t feel the cold, though he certainly noticed the way the wet ground soaked his pants. They would dry. So would he. What was important now was that he get the little gryphlet to come to him so he could help it.

There was no doubt in his mind that this odd kitten was a youngster. Probably just a baby. He would never be able to live with himself if he left the young one to suffer and probably die in this awful weather.

The kitten stopped, eyeing him warily as Hugh sat in the mud. He opened his hands, showing the wary kitten that he held no weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Hugh kept his motions slow and steady, his posture as unthreatening as possible.

He was rewarded as the baby gryphon came closer to him, inch by inch, moment by moment.

“Hello.” Hugh spoke softly, coaxingly, as the kitten stopped a few feet from him. He’d seen gryphons talk aloud in his brother’s court. He knew they could, but he had no idea at what age they mastered the skill.

“Hi,” the youngster answered, its head cocking adorably to the side. The gryphlet watched Hugh suspiciously, but didn’t run away.

“My name is Hugh. What’s yours?” Again, he was careful to keep his tone friendly and soft-edged.

“Hoo.” She tried his name but didn’t get it quite right. Hugh was charmed. “Am Misborn. What dey call me.”

“They?” Hugh’s tone invited confidence, though inside he was appalled and angered that anyone should call an innocent child by such a name.

“Mama an’ Papa.” The gryphlet moved closer and sat in the mud on Hugh’s right.

“Can I call you Miss? You’re a girl, aren’t you?” Hugh hadn’t gotten a good look at the creature’s hindquarters, but he suspected he was talking to a female. He still didn’t like the name, but perhaps she didn’t know what it meant. Shortening it to something more respectable was his best option at this point.

“Tink ssso.” The youngster’s head drooped with fatigue and she seemed to lower her guard a bit more. “Why Hoo magic?”

Hugh wasn’t exactly certain what the gryphlet meant by her question. It was possible she sensed the magic that lived inside him, deep in the place where the dragon shared his soul. It made sense. Gryphons were also creatures of magic. Perhaps that was what had drawn this little one’s interest.

It put Hugh in a bad position, but his conscience wouldn’t let him leave this little girl behind. No matter what it cost him personally. Princes of Draconia protected the helpless and innocent no matter what land they were in.

“Do you need magic, Miss? Is that why you were following me?”

“Tink so,” she repeated. “Can I sstay?” Like the few gryphons he’d met in Draconia, she had trouble with the letter S, but less so than the gryphons with beaks. Her soft mouth formed words better, though she was only a baby and had limited vocabulary and the typical problems with pronunciation that most young creatures seemed to have.

“Stay with me? Yes, little one.” Her uncertain tone nearly broke his heart. She sounded as if she’d truly expected him to reject her. Poor baby. “Are you cold? I will share my coat with you if you like.” He lifted his arm and untied the flap that held his oversized oilskin closed on that side.

The coat was more like a cape that tied at various points, allowing water to sluice downward. It wasn’t the easiest thing to get in and out of, but it had the advantage of excess fabric that helped ward off the rain. This kind of coat was common enough as to be unremarkable and he could carry much beneath it should he want to smuggle anything on his person.

He lifted the excess fabric and the kitten scrambled under it faster than he would have believed. She was shivering and miserable, her small body skinnier than he’d expected.

“Hoo warm,” she observed as she settled next to him. She’d tucked her body around him, her wings under his arm, her front paws resting alongside his leg, her head turned to look up at him.

Wrapping the folds of his coat over her back and legs, only her head stayed uncovered as she watched him. Hugh let out a tiny tendril of his magic to warm her rapidly, gratified when her little body ceased shivering and her eyes closed momentarily in delight. He felt the way her magic touched his and accepted the energy he fed to her in a gentle trickle so as not to overwhelm her senses.

“Are you hungry?”

Her eyes popped open. “Yess!” Her verbal pounce reinforced the idea and Hugh had to struggle not to laugh. She really was the cutest little thing, bedraggled as she was.

“I have a meat pie in my pocket. You can have it.”

He pulled the waxed paper out of his inside pocket and unwrapped the treat within, holding it for her. Surprisingly dexterous paws took the pastry-wrapped meat from him and brought it to her mouth. It was gone in three bites and she looked to him for more even as she licked her paws clean. He noticed she favored one, but she was quick to hide it and he didn’t get a good look.

“More?” she asked, distracting him from his train of thought.

“Not with me. But I can get more. I have a room nearby where we can both get out of the rain. Would you like that?”

“Hoo take me wif?” She seemed so hopeful. There was no guile in this brave youngster.

“Yes, little one. I cannot leave you out here in the cold. Will you come with me?”

“Yess. Go wif.” She leapt to her feet under his coat and looked at him eagerly. No doubt she was hungrier than her dainty manners had led him to believe.

“All right.” Hugh stood and kept his arm raised so that at least some of the freezing rain was blocked over her little body. “Come with me and we’ll both get dry, warm and fed.”

She trotted at his side energetically at first, but soon began to slow her pace. Hugh finally stopped and bent down to her, meeting her eyes so he could gauge her reaction.

“Is it all right if I pick you up and carry you? You can stay warm under my coat that way and we can get there faster.”

Her answer was to raise her front paws to rest on his thigh. It was clear she wanted up.

Hugh took a moment to untie the flaps on his coat completely, then make an opening in front where she could look out if she liked. She was an intelligent creature who needed to trust him. Keeping her in the dark—literally—would do nothing to further that trust.

Once there was room under the hanging flaps of the coat, Hugh reached down and lifted her easily into his arms. The rain had turned to sleet and snow. No one saw him lift the large winged cat into his arms and walk on as if she weighed nothing at all.

Hugh had the strength of a dragon even when he was in human form. The little gryphlet was no burden at all for him as he held her shivering body close to his chest. She’d gotten cold again during their short walk no matter how much he’d tried to shield her from the rain.

Hugh was thoroughly wet now. Wet, muddy and a total mess, but he was warm. The kitten seemed to soak up his warmth and her shivering stopped again in short order.

They walked through the alleys, heading away from the cliffs, toward the safer working-class part of the city where he’d taken a room. Opting not to be murdered in his bed, Hugh had chosen one of the better inns to sleep in. He’d rented a room for the next week and paid half in advance to keep the innkeeper friendly.

Arriving at the door with a giant kitten under his coat, her head peeking out from between the folds near his chest, Hugh realized there was no way to hide her. The noise level from within the inn was higher than normal, probably because so many had chosen to seek shelter from the storm in the taproom.

There was a back entrance and Hugh made for it, but it was also the area where the innkeeper kept his spare barrels, and he was out there on the covered porch, wrestling with an empty when Hugh approached. He could have waited until the innkeeper went back inside, but Hugh needed to feed the kitten and for that, he’d need an ally in the kitchen. Who better than the owner of the establishment? If Hugh couldn’t talk the man around, they could always find another inn.

But the man had seemed kind. Hugh had observed him taking less than the standard amount for lunch from a nearly blind old woman the day before and giving extra portions to her as well. The man seemed to have a big heart and Hugh was counting on that inner kindness to help him help the gryphlet as well.

“Sir.” Hugh spoke in a quiet, unhurried voice, hoping to put the man at ease. “May I have a word with you?”

The innkeeper looked out into the sleet and spotted Hugh standing by the steps to the covered porch. Hugh had dared not go closer until he’d warned the innkeeper of his presence. It wouldn’t do to startle the man.

“Certainly. What is it you have there?” The man squinted, looking through the gray precipitation, staring hard at the gryphlet’s head poking out from the coat.

“That is what I wanted to talk to you about.” Hugh stepped closer, moving under the end of the covered porch and shrugging his coat open wider so the innkeeper could see more of the baby gryphon in his arms. “I found her in the street. She is very young and in need of food and warmth. I will understand if you wish me to go elsewhere.” He kept his tone calm and quiet. To his relief, the man stepped closer.

“Fell out of your nest, eh, little one?” The innkeeper addressed the gryphlet directly, his gaze rising from her eyes to Hugh’s with grim understanding. “Aye, you can both bide here. It was good of you to bring her. I have seen this before.”

“Often?” Hugh couldn’t help but ask as he stepped forward, farther under the covered porch, heading toward the door. The innkeeper opened the door so he could pass through and their eyes met.

“No.” The innkeeper shook his head, a grim cast to his features. “Not often. Thank the Lady.”

Hugh wasn’t sure whether the man thanked a female deity or perhaps the Lady Doge who ruled this land. It didn’t much matter. What mattered now was getting this poor, bedraggled kitten warm and dry. And fed. The little cub had to be starving—Hugh could feel the bones of her ribs sticking out beneath her skin.

The innkeeper led the way down the dim hall toward the bedchamber Hugh had been given. It was worth noting that the older man apparently didn’t want the gryphlet in the busy common room, even though the fire was roaring in there, where many people had gathered on this gloomy, sub-zero day.

“I’ll send the boy up with coals for the fire and food for the youngling,” the innkeeper said as he bustled ahead of Hugh and his burden. “Blankets and nesting material too, though you’ll have to promise to keep her safely back from the fire. This lass is too young to know the danger.”

“No fire,” Miss piped up, holding up one paw that Hugh now saw was singed. “Hoo warm.”

Hugh shared a grim expression with the landlord who had opened his door with the master key. “Perhaps some salve for her paw? If you have any.”

“I’ll see what the missus has from the stillroom.” He blocked Hugh’s path when he would have entered, holding his gaze with a hard look. “You seem to know your way around gryphons.” It was more question than statement.

“Not gryphons, exactly.” Hugh shrugged. “In my travels I have become familiar with many different creatures. They seem to like me as much as I like them.”

“They are often better judges of character than most men, I reckon.” The innkeeper nodded once and moved aside. “All right then. If you would see to her for the night, we’ll see what must be done in the morning. If anything.”