The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (18 page)

'Don’t. She probably needs a good cry and Rumal will understand that.'

She watched her friend a moment longer then turned to Sabyn.

'You’re right. It's just hard sometimes, we’re all so close.'

Yes, thought Sabyn, it was obvious.

'Would you like to learn a game we play at home?'

She looked astonished.

'Err?'

He explained, 'I thought it would give us something to do without feeling the need to interrogate one another and it needs three people so Gredel can join in.'

It sounded a good idea, thought Loi and she had no desire to burst into tears like Kassie. She knew she probably would if she thought about all the events of the past few days.

'That sounds fun. Why don’t we play it on the other side of the tent, so they have a little privacy?'

Gredel headed over to where Sabyn and Laura were. At least she wasn’t crying, weeping women always made him fall to pieces, he reflected sourly.

Phroma, picking up on Gredel’s thoughts, chuckled, a strange husky cough.

‘Citaan seems to have noticed that’
she thought to Gredel, who gave her a dark look. Phroma chuckled again. She adored Gredel’s wife, a tall woman about Laura's size and build, but with mid-length, wavy, turquoise hair and striking dark gold eyes, showcasing her water sprite lineage.

Traits she’d received from her Grandmother, a full blooded sprite, and thanks to that heritage, Citaan was gifted with water. Meaning she was one of the rare people who could actually ‘tune’ into Phroma and communicate with her. It had taken a couple of years before it became second nature though, so they had a legitimate excuse to gossip—it was practice.

Sabyn hunted out the pack of cards for the game while Gredel, Loi and Phroma looked for a variety of small objects; pebbles and snail shells. Having found a good handful of small pieces for the game, Loi went over to Sabyn, who was setting up the cards.

'Sabyn, look,' Loi held out her hand. 'I found these funny colored stones. Do you know what they are?'

Sabyn glanced into her hand as she prodded one of the green and pink spotted stones. He was quiet for a moment, then stood and walked to the tent. Laura looked after him in confusion, as did Tomiar who sent her thought to him.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
Tomiar could feel Sabyn’s amusement which confused her further until Sabyn sent her an image of what Laura had in her hand.

‘Oh I see. Oops guess we didn’t think to mention that.’

Tomiar seemed to regard her in amusement which made Loi feel a tad uncomfortable. Then Sabyn came back out the tent, carrying something. He gave her a broad smile.

'Why don’t you place your findings over here,' he indicated as he dug a hole in the ground with the heel of his boot.

'And then I’ll walk with you to the river so you can wash your hands,' he waved the soap he’d fetched at her.

She gave him a long look, then gingerly dropped her “findings” in the hole and resisted the urge to wipe her hand on her pants.

'Okay what is it,' she demanded as he covered the hole over.

'Ifanip droppings. Rather noxious. Next time you spot funny colored stones, I suggest you leave them where they are and ask one of us to identify them for you first.'

Her look of disgust made those watching laugh and Sabyn bowed to her teasingly.

'I would offer you my arm but…'

Rolling her eyes at his bad joke, she grabbed the offered soap.

'C’mon then, walk me to the river. You can tease me on the way.'

The others watched as Laura stomped off to the river while Sabyn teasingly left a safe distance between them as he followed her.

‘Humans can be such odd creatures,’
Tomiar thought to Loushka who agreed, then let out a sigh.

‘I’m so looking forward to flying tomorrow, I know it’s only been a day without but it feels like forever.’

Kerak and Phroma agreed.

Tomiar chuckled and flicked an image out of Catherine’s astonished face from the river incident,
‘I bet it’ll be an interesting flight for you, Loushka. Alek hasn’t appeared so interested in a female for a long time.’

Loushka agreed,
‘And I can’t wait to see the look on Rayna’s face.’

They turned and observed as all the humans came back from the river, now in good spirits.

Gredel reshuffled the cards and divided them into four piles. He looked forward to the flight tomorrow as much as Phroma and the other griffons and, of course, it meant they’d be closer to Citaan.

He wished again that they’d had enough time to fetch her, but she’d been at work in the Scrodian Mountains on a task Elena had set her. He let out a soft sigh at the thought of his golden eyed, mischievous wife. She would have loved to have been here to meet the women.

She’ll demand all the details when I get back,
he chuckled to himself, and I’ll bet she even interrogates Phroma.

We wandered over to where Gredel had set out the cards.

In his husky, surprisingly quiet voice, Gredel said, 'I thought you’d want to pair up, so the girls can learn how to play.'

The griffons dozed in the afternoon light and Audrey decided to help Gredel, though I don’t think she improved his game at all, but she did take great delight in somberly chewing any winnings he made; leaving the remains in a nice soggy pile for him.

In the heights of the sky far above, the air began to chill and Daron wrapped his arms about Sian, tucking his thighs around hers. They’d had a fantastic afternoon. She was astonished at Nesha's skills and the breathtaking scenery. It was like nothing on Earth and yet so similar.

For the last hour Daron had fallen silent as they enjoyed the ride. At least with her back to him he couldn’t see her blush when he’d tucked her in. It was getting cold and she appreciated the warmth he radiated.

Like a heater, she thought in amusement. No wonder he could get about in that sleeveless tunic.

Breaking the silence Daron said, 'I think it’s time we headed back, it’ll be dark soon.'

Sian glanced back up at him.

'Okay.'

A strand of hair fluttered around her eyes and Daron tucked it behind her ear, pleased when she blushed.

‘Nesha, lets go home,’
Daron thought to his friend.

‘Good I’m starving and the conversation sucks, though some of your thoughts are certainly interesting,’
Nesha chuckled.

‘What? You weren’t supposed to be listening in on that.’
Daron was outraged and a bit embarrassed.

‘What else was I supposed to do? It's not like I could do the tricks I like to practice, what with you two lovebirds wrapped around each other. You’d fall off,’
Nesha snapped.

‘Sorry,’
Daron sheepishly thought, grateful that Sian couldn’t see him blush.

‘I didn’t know it would be like this.’

Nesha swooped lower until he spotted the campsite then with careful strokes of his wings, lined himself up and dropped, all four paws hitting the ground at the same time. He lowered his upper body and Daron slid down, then turned to catch Sian.

As he was about to walk to where the other griffons lounged he heard Sian’s voice.

'Nesha, wait a moment.'

Nesha’s huge eagle head swiveled to stare at her and she felt that instant of astonishment at being faced by a real life griffon. She shrugged the thought off then stepped forward and beckoned to Nesha to lower his head. He did so, and she placed a hand on his mane then cuddled into him.

'Thank you so much for that amazing flight. I can’t wait for you and Daron to show me all your favorite tricks.'

Nesha watched her curiously then headed to where the others were, settling down next to Tomiar and sent a thought to Daron,
‘She’s not bad friend. Not bad at all.’

Daron and Sian appeared to be rather comfortable in each others company. I exchanged a look with Loi and Kassie. The only trouble with sharing a tent was it meant we weren’t able to grill her for information.

Oh well, I guess we can wait until we arrive at the castle.

Alek touched my leg, bringing me back to the game and I frowned over the cards. We played late into the evening and when the symbols on the cards began to blur, I decided to call it a night.

'I’m done.'

Audrey staggered up from snoozing beside Gredel and made her way over on wobbly legs. I bent down to give her a hug and giggled at her little kisses. Kassie, Loi, and Sian stood too, and the men escorted us to the tent.

I pushed through the dividing curtain into our section and sat on my cot to undo my boots. There was a loud meow from Lucky when Kassie greeted her. The cat had been asleep all day, not surprising I guess, she’d probably had enough excitement in the last few days to last a life time, I knew I had.

Sian was the last to enter the tent and she gave Daron a shy smile as she passed him. Reaching out, Daron grabbed her hand which made her look back in surprise.

Feeling his stomach twist into knots, he decided against trying to speak and lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to it.

Her eyes glowed and she flushed a pretty pink. She gave his hand a quick squeeze before ducking through the curtain.

The next morning Gredel woke us before dawn. The burly man appeared to had gotten over his nerves around us and we had discovered he had a pretty good sense of humor. So we decided against bodily harm.

Yes, we may have had eight hours sleep the night previously, but it still felt like we could do with a dozen more. I glared at his retreating form while I attempted to clear my head. The urge to hurl something at him was strong, as was the urge to curl up and go back to sleep.

But the cots we slept in weren’t that stable and it would be pretty easy to ‘accidentally’ knock one over. I heard Kassie sigh in resignation and grinned.

I bet the same thought occurred to her.

We shuffled around our small tent space, got dressed, and packed up our gear. I kept myself busy while I tried to ignore the annoying voice in my head that mumbled about flying and heights (and lack of safety belts, parachutes and oxygen masks). My pack ready, I glanced at the others.