Page 30 of The Most Unsuitable Prince (Another Arranged Marriage #8)
“My gods, is that a gryphon? They don’t look anything like the picture books I remember.”
Winter grinned at Rupert’s hushed whisper.
It was almost lunch time the next day, and they’d been out since first light.
It had taken hours to find the creatures, and as soon as they had, Winter ordered his party to dismount and crouch behind a bunch of convenient bushes.
The gryphon adults, unlike the youngster Winter had found easily, were more inclined to hide when groups of people were around, and Winter’s party was made up of six people and an equal number of horses.
“They have two forms,” Winter whispered back.
“This, where they appear more like a small dragon, is considered their grazing form. I know, I know, dragons aren’t typically orange, but I assure you, if they are threatened, or during their courtship rituals, their second form would look more like the ones you remember from stories.
We’d prefer they didn’t change forms until we’ve captured them.
Don’t be fooled by their lumbering size.
These two will move quickly if they’re startled. ”
He turned to Sigmund, who’d insisted on accompanying them seeing as Rupert was new to gryphon hunting and August was still out on a mission of his own.
“Pippin knows what he has to do, and I know you do too. Can you get the guards to go around on either side of them? They’ll need to be as silent as possible until they get to the other side.
Then, if they make a lot of noise from that direction, with luck, the gryphon will come straight for us. ”
“We’ve been on gryphon hunts twice before, your highness.
” Colins, one of the guards, spoke up. Once Sigmund had realized Rupert was intent on accompanying them, he’d contacted the World Council for the closest Martingale guards to give the illusion Rupert was still being protected without having to travel with Simigile guards.
Colins and Fanshaw had arrived on the back of a dragon overnight.
“That makes things so much easier, thank you.” Winter nodded. “If you and Fanshaw can move out, slowly and quietly. We don’t want to startle them before we’re ready. We’re only going to get one chance at this. Pippin, do you have my bag handy?”
Silly question. Pippin was always prepared. Winter took the bag his father had given him when he was fifteen years old. The leather case was more battered now than it had been when Winter had been first gifted it, but it was his most valued possession.
“What are you doing?” Rupert was there, peering into the case as Winter opened it.
“As I mentioned earlier, the key to a successful mission is to capture at least one of these gryphons with minimal harm to them or us,” Winter explained as he pulled out a small pouch.
“Being a mated pair, the second gryphon will allow the magic in this pouch to be used on it if we capture the first, because it will keep the two of them together.”
“Allow themselves to be captured?”
Winter could understand Rupert’s confusion.
The man typically hunted deer or boar. “The World Council has determined there is a strong element of sentience in gryphons, much the same as with dragons, but slightly less developed. If this had been a dragon situation, I would have literally walked up to the beast with the pouch, explained what was going on and what I needed to do, and provided that the animal wasn’t injured in a way that clouded their judgment, the dragon would typically allow it.
Gryphons are more stubborn, and to date, we’ve had no indication they can understand human speech. ”
He grinned at Rupert, who was clearly doing his best to take in the new information. “I have many talents, but speaking gryphon isn’t one of them.”
Rupert’s blush was cute. His husband definitely had a better idea of how talented Winter could be in other areas after the night they’d shared. “The key to a successful capture is to keep the gryphons as calm as…”
A shout went up, and then another one. Winter groaned as he scrambled to his feet, Rupert straightening up beside him.
The gryphons were on the move, but in the wrong bloody direction.
“The guards yelled too soon.” Clinging onto the pouch, Winter sprinted after the gryphons, too intent on getting to them to think about getting on his horse.
“This is good, this is good,” he muttered as he ran. “They’re not too freaked out, or they would’ve changed form.”
Winter didn’t have time to look for Rupert. He was going to have to trust that the man knew how to keep himself out of trouble. Pippin and Sigmund would’ve already moved to try and flank the two lumbering animals with the idea of herding them back in Winter’s direction.
“Come on. Come on.” Winter willed his feet to go faster. He was gaining on them, but he was panting hard. He just needed to touch one of them with the pouch.
One of the gryphons suddenly stopped, reared up onto its hind legs, and roared loud enough to shake the sky.
“What on earth…?” Winter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Rupert was on his horse, holding his sword above his head as he rode directly toward the gryphons. “Rupert, watch out!” He screamed.
The rearing gryphon shifted forms. In the face of a blatant attack, Winter didn’t blame him.
His only hope… Sprinting the last ten yards, Winter lunged at the unshifted gryphon, slamming the pouch onto its rump as its mate took to the sky.
The unshifted gryphon disappeared into the pouch, and Winter fell face first into the dirt.
“Damn it.” Winter spat out some stray grass as he scrambled to his feet.
Rupert’s horse was not prepared for a flying gryphon. Rupert was doing a darn good job of controlling it one handed, but all that horse wanted to do was run as far away as possible. Winter understood why. A flying gryphon had half the bulk of a dragon, but twice the fury.
The gryphon had soared high into the sky, and then it turned. Winter winced as it roared again, before folding in its giant wings and heading like an arrow straight at Rupert.
“Give your horse his head,” Winter yelled, trying to get Rupert’s attention. Honestly, the best thing for Rupert was if he were as far out of the firing line as possible.
“Your horse, sire,” Pippin rode up, flinging the reins of Winter’s horse to him as he carried on past.
“Pippin!” Winter jumped on his horse, who did know a thing or two about gryphons, chasing after Pippin, who was riding straight into the gryphon’s path.
It was like waiting for an inevitable carriage crash.
Rupert was still fighting his horse and trying to ready himself to meet a flying gryphon.
It was clear Pippin figured he needed to save the crown prince from his heroic stupidity.
Winter appreciated it, but he needed something to divert the gryphon’s attention from Rupert and Pippin and onto himself.
If the gryphon realized its mate was caught, it would give up.
Reaching into his pocket, Winter pulled out a small ball. You’d better work, he thought grimly as he pulled a small stopper from the top of it.
“Take cover!” he yelled at the top of his voice. In the distance, he could see the two guards and Sigmund coming from the opposite direction. “Take cover now!”
Pippin reached Rupert’s horse. Leaning over, Winter didn’t know how he didn’t fall off his own horse, Pippin grabbed Rupert’s reins and dragged the horse and his own out of the line of fire. Winter threw the ball that exploded into a fireball the moment it smashed into the ground.
The gryphon veered, and suddenly all it would be able to see was Winter and the fact that its mate was missing. The roar this time was a screech filled with pain.
“In here,” Winter yelled desperately, holding up the pouch. “I’m trying to get you and your mate to your child. Don’t you understand, you can’t stay here. You can’t stay here.”
The gryphon flew so close Winter felt the wind from the wings ruffle his hair. But in just seconds, the gryphon had landed with a thump, its wings outstretched as it approached.
“I’m trying to help you.” Winter prayed the gryphon would have some understanding of the emotion behind his words, if not the words themselves.
“You’re in the wrong lands. You need to be back among your kind.
I can make that happen for you. Please. This place isn’t for anyone as magnificent as you. ”
For a moment, just a blink in time, Winter thought the beast understood him – right before he disappeared.
“You know, that would’ve all gone a lot more smoothly if the beast hadn’t shifted,” Sigmund said drily as he held up the second pouch. “Mission accomplished.”
Letting out a long breath, Winter said, as calmly as he could, “Is everyone all right?”
“I’m sorry, sir.” Colins rode over, bowing low over his horse’s head. “I thought Fanshaw was closer than he was. That was all my fault.”
“As long as you two are all right.” Winter nodded, and then turned to Rupert and Pippin, who were making their way back, Rupert back in control of his own horse.
“Pippin, thank you. But the next time you ride into the path of a flying gryphon, I am going to make you eat kitchen waste for a week.” He grinned as he said it.
It was a running joke between the two of them. Pippin was fond of fine food.
“You’re welcome, sir.” Everyone sat around for a moment, as if waiting to see what Winter would say to Rupert. But it was Rupert who broke the weird silence.
“You saved me, Pippin. My horse couldn’t cope, and you…you saved me. I don’t know how to thank you, but you have my deepest, deepest gratitude.”
“It’s what the Martingales do for each other, sir.” Pippin tilted his head and scratched his curls. “So, at the risk of speaking out of turn, is it lunchtime yet? All this chasing stuff has made me hungry.”