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“You girls be cool. We’re going to be on our way.” Elena nodded toward him and they slowly began circling around the herd as the beasts munched on their peace offering.

“I don’t even want to know how you befriended them,” he whispered as they calmly passed.

“Sidi and I stumbled across them while trying to find a shortcut to the canyon. Thankfully we had a lot of fruit. Their main food seems to be the lizard, like what we had, but the gryphons went crazy for the sweet treat. I’ve brought them some ever since,” she relayed with an awkward laugh and a shrug.

“Thank the goddess!”

He couldn’t fathom what might’ve happened if Elena didn’t have something to bribe the beasts with. It was miraculous that alone seemed to appease the creatures. The only thing he could surmise is that Elena was too small to pose a threat, but also too big for them to consider food.

Something tugged his tail and he froze.That’s definitely a beak latched onto my tail.

“Son of ametcor,” he cursed as he slowly glanced back to confirm his suspicion.

“Oh, shit. Hey, girl,” Elena nervously cooed as she turned to face the large gryphon latched onto his tail.

He stiffened as the large damme lurched forward, her sharp beak dangerously close to his neck. There was no time to grab his disrupter. Unexpectedly the gryphon nuzzled his chest with her large, feathery head and his eyes widened in shock. He stayed stock still until the beast backed up and rejoined the rest of the herd.

“I think you made a friend.” Elena gaped at him.

His gaze narrowed as he studied the herd. He nearly laughed out loud as something occurred to him.

“Look at the gryphons. See a resemblance?” His tail snaked around to help emphasize his point.

“Oh my gawd. Your tail, red skin and black hair. They think you’re one of them,” she snorted.

“I think so, but let’s not test that theory and get out of here,” he encouraged her, nodding forward.

“What’s the hurry when your potential mates just tripled?” Elena giggled as they started walking again.

“Amusing,” he chuckled then pointedly focused on her. “I’m content with one little mate, who’s a bit wild.”

EIGHT

A DEEP DARK PLACE

Elena

“Usually this is the best place to view the reptile base, but the air is too thick. You can sort of make it out. See that glowing light over there?” Elena pointed to the far side of the gorge, beyond the section where the chasm dropped away from the canyon floor.

“Aye.” Payim nodded.

“That’s atop one of the towers. There’s two more farther out. Even on a clear day it’s hard to see the wall surrounding it unless you scale the other side of the canyon, but it looks a little like this.” With her foot, she sketched the outline of what she’d seen in the dirt.

“The towers probably help guide their cruisers in,” Payim mused. “I’ll feel better when we contact my comrades.”

“They must be worried about you.” She frowned, imagining how frantic she’d be.

“Let’s get that power cell.”

“All right. We can stash what we don’t need up here.” She took the bundle of blankets and wedged them beneath a large rock near the canyon rim.

“There’s no food in here, so it should be safe to leave. You sure we don’t need the light?” He checked the contents of the one bag.

“No, but we might use the rope.” She pointed.

Payim nodded, grabbing the section of paracord before stashing the bag.

“Watch your step. This path is steeper than the one to the cave and the gravel is slick in places,” she warned as they started down the trail heading into the ravine.