The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (37 page)

I stared at him.

'You have got to show me that sometime.'

We continued down the rows of weapons and armor. There was even armor for the griffons, huge breast plates and leg greaves. And then some armor I didn’t recognize. I circled one of the sets and studied it. At first glance it looked like the armored torso of a very, large man, but it extended out some distance at where the backside would be. It seemed strangely familiar, as if I should know it.

'It’s for the Centaur Cavalry,' Alek wore a bemused expression. 'What did you think it was for?'

For what felt like the millionth time since arriving in this world my jaw dropped.

'Centaur Cavalry?'

'Of course. They’re essential to any fight.'

I stared at the armor again.

'And for those of us that haven’t seen a Centaur in real life before, we are talking about a creature which is half man half horse?'

He gave me that look again.

'Yes and no. At some point long ago in their evolution they were distantly related to both humans and horses, but they are their own species and they do have different breeds like any other creature.'

Alek led me further along the aisle, indicating to other sets of Centaur armor.

'There are three divisions within the Cavalry. The Aswaran division, which is for the large heavy races whose skills are directly linked to their physical strength. There is the Rodhite division, for which you need to be exceptionally fast, but still have the strength for the massive longbows and crossbows that are designed specifically for centaurs. And lastly, the Medanga division, the medics and messengers.'

'Are they here? At the castle?'

I would love to meet one, or just see one.

'No. We never keep all our forces in one area, so they are currently on Patrol. They’ll be back at the end of the month.'

'What makes them so vital to the forces?'

I could see Alek fight another look of astonishment and I frowned.

'I’m just curious. Remember this is all new to me.'

'They have two hearts and two sets of lungs Cat, along with four legs designed for speed. They’re practically the perfect species.'

'What did you think?' Alek asked curiously as they left the room; Cat had been rather quiet after viewing the Armory.

'You look well prepared. How many will join you in the fight against Jenviet?'

Alek shrugged, if he had it his way it’d only be the Griffon Guard, but Elena was concerned that Jenviet had a way to stop the griffons. She wanted Alek to take a large army and leave Loushka and the other griffons waiting, back from the fight. Loushka hadn’t been impressed with the idea.

'I’m not entirely sure, and things could change at a moment’s notice so we’ll see. Now, a treat,' he declared. 'This way.'

Alek whisked us down a corridor in the opposite direction to where we’d been this morning. I had to take a long stride to keep up with him, and we whizzed past a couple of astonished looking servants. I was rather flushed by the time we reached the door he wanted.

Holding a finger to his lips, Alek hushed me, 'Shh listen.'

About to protest that I hadn’t said anything, I stopped at the sound.

Weird. What was that?

It sounded like a heavy hum, almost a purr. I was puzzled and looked quizzically at Alek. He smiled and opened the door for me. The room was darker than the corridor, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust. As I waited I heard the murmur of voices. It sounded like Loi and Sian were here too.

Sure enough there they were in front of me with big, goofy smiles on their faces. Each had a sleepy griffon pup cradled in their arms. My heart melted at the sight.

'Oh, they are sooo gorgeous,' I cooed softly to the one in Loi’s arms, stroking its fur.

It was so soft, nothing like Loushka’s dense fur. It reminded me of when Audi had been a pup. She'd had fur as soft as this.

The pup made the noise I’d heard before and Loi giggled.

'Doesn’t the purr sound funny?'

'Like a soft lawnmower.' I reached out to touch the pup’s wings. So tiny and neat, folded at its sides, its baby feathers soft and downy.

I can’t believe how little they are, to think that Loushka was once this small.
I smiled at the image that sprung to mind of Loushka as a pup.

Alek slipped past the women, leaning over the pup pen and gave a low whistle. There was a frantic scrabbling then an excited noise that sounded like a cross between a chirp and a yelp. Cat, Sian and Laura all turned in time to see a larger griffon pup hurtle into the pen from the other room.

Ageip reared and flapped his wings hard, startling the younger pups in the women's arms.

Loushka poked her head through from the other room.

‘He wants to show you how well he can fly now, why don’t you come out and see?’

I was enchanted with the playful pup that spun and reared at Alek, showing off his lovely wings. He was much darker than the older griffons we’d met and his feathers glinted violet in the glimpses of light from the other room.

‘Who is he?’
I thought to Loushka.

‘His name is Ageip,
’ she replied and I could hear her affection for him.
‘He is Phroma’s son.’

Aha, of course he was, Phroma’s feathers had violet in them too.

'Would you all come outside for a moment?'

Alek turned from giving Ageip’s mane a good scratch.

'Ageip wants to show off his flying skills.'

Loi and Sian put the pups they’d been cuddling back in the pen and we followed him out. The other griffons had been gathered by Ageip and Phroma watched her son fondly. She gave him a playful nudge when he came close and he chirpbed (closest way to describe it) back at her. Loushka turned her massive head my way, her mane glinting red in the sun.

‘Were you angry at Alek for not mentioning his lineage?’

I laughed, it sounded so odd put that way,
‘No just annoyed he didn’t tell me himself.’

‘How are you finding castle life so far? And being linked to its Crown Prince?’

‘I can’t believe how big it is, Elena gave the men two days to "show us" the castle and it just seems impossible.’

Loushka did her version of a chuckle, a deep rumble.

‘Not to worry, you’ll get a feel for it.’

We waited in the courtyard, while Ageip rounded up everyone he wanted to show off to. Even Nnelg blinked in, and then Audi turned up a few minutes later. The poor girl had run herself ragged to keep up with Nnelg; she lay by my feet panting. I spotted Gredel and his wife Citaan standing with Phroma and Nesha, near to where Ageip patiently waited.

Phroma let out a roar and everyone fell silent. I watched as Ageip lined himself up to a spot he’d chosen and then paused to study us for a moment, to make sure we watched. I heard Alek smother a chuckle and looked up to see he had his serious face on. I had to resist a giggle.

Ageip let out a determined cry, crouched and launched himself into the air. With a frantic flapping and enthusiastic squeaking he managed to keep himself up. Everyone began to holler and cheer for him. The adult griffons did victory roars, while the pups that’d snuck out behind us squeaked in excitement and jumped up and down flapping their tiny wings too. Ageip landed neatly and everyone rushed to congratulate him.

After the crowd dispersed, the men all gathered together and we were finally introduced to Citaan. She had a lovely melodic voice and seemed genuinely pleased to meet us. The five of us chatted away about the trip to the castle, which Gredel had filled her in on.

She is stunning, I thought, even without her Ceylon blue hair and light gold eyes she’d be a beauty.

I’d love to have hair that color
. I sighed and glanced at Sian. She studied Citaan’s hair with an expression of envy. Realizing I watched her, she met my eyes with a rueful smile.

'Did the men mention about dinner?' Citaan looked concerned.

We exchanged a confused glance.

'Err, no?'

'Dinner is more formal so you will want to change into something dressier.'

Alek overheard the comments and leapt into the conversation.

'I meant to mention that, you four may want to head off now.'

He looked at Nnelg, sunning himself in the courtyard, 'Nnelg can you lead the women back to their room?'

'What?'
The dragon looked up,
'Oh I suppose so, but this isn’t in my job description.'

Alek gave him a narrow look and Nnelg shrugged, trotting over to us.

'C’mon then, we don’t want to be late.'

Audrey shot up from my feet when he moved away and stuck to his side like glue for the walk back to our room.

'What’s wrong with your dog creature?'
Nnelg asked me.

'What do you mean?'

'She doesn’t respond normally when I speak to her, and I’m not sure if she can hear me.'
Nnelg seemed rather baffled and I couldn’t help but laugh.

'We come from a different world Nnelg and we don’t communicate with telepathy there.'

'Then how do you communicate? Or how does the dog communicate?'

I thought for a moment. 'Audrey has excellent hearing and will listen to any verbal noises. She’s very quick to pick up on body language.'

Nnelg was quiet as we walked along. When we reached our room he sat up and looked at Audi. Audi sat too.

Nnelg cocked his head at her and she froze for a moment, unsure, then whined at him, swatting him with her forepaw and made him jump. We smothered laughter and watched, curious to see what would happen next. Nnelg leaned forward to sniff her then rubbed his head against hers. Audi was delighted and covered him in enthusiastic kisses.

'Nnelg seems to be getting along well with Audi,' Alek commented as we relaxed in the library after dinner.

I chuckled and told him about Audi’s sloppy kiss which made him laugh.

We’d all ducked off after dinner to have some quiet time, and Alek and I snagged the library. But I still hadn’t had a chance to have a look at the books. Instead, Alek had headed straight for a bookcase on the far side of that impressive window and after shifting a couple of books, released a latch that opened the door to his late father’s "secret study". I spent a good fifteen minutes or so, slowly looking over all the trinkets and gadgets scattered over the desk and shelves. King Nikias had had a fascinating collection.

'Did your father spend a lot of time here?'

I leaned back against Alek, the two of us stretched out on a chaise style seat. His legs were long enough to reach the end. I looked down at my legs between his. His made my legs look tiny. It was funny to feel so dainty in comparison.

'He tried to relax here in the evenings. I remember him saying it was a good way to wind down the day.' Alek spoke while playing with one of Cat’s hands. She was so tiny. He wondered how Daron and Rumal managed with Kassie and Sian. At times it seemed like he was a giant in comparison to Cat.