Rise of Allies (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 4) (11 page)

“His appetite seems a little less than normal for a gryphon of his size. He’s finished off half a salmon daily.”

“Not bad. Thanks for taking care of him, Doctor.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” When the walkway ended, a small trail led deeper into the woods. “Up that way about twenty yards. Best not to stay too long. We don’t want to strain him. He’s got to conserve his energy for growing his new plumage.”

Jake nodded, then continued up the trail alone.

Through the trees, he soon found that the small woodland path ended at the foot of a rock formation. It seemed he had some climbing to do, not that he was surprised. Gryphons, being half-eagle, preferred to build their aeries in high, rocky places like this, secluded from the world. Back home, Red’s nest was tucked away among the stone towers of Griffon Castle’s rooftop.

As Jake approached the rock climb before him, he tilted his head back and called toward the topmost boulders: “Red? Anybody home? It’s me! I’ve come to see you!”

He started picking his way carefully up the pile, but found himself tiring quickly after his earlier ordeal. As he found another handhold between the folds of rock and pulled himself up, he reflected on the day’s events.

Dani being cross at him was a clue to how bad it must have looked from the outside. Maybe he had come closer to death than Aunt Ramona or the physicians had cared to tell him. All the more reason to spend some time with Red.

A chunk of rock rolled away under his foot as he stepped up onto the next outcropping, but he caught his balance and moved on.

Thankfully, he could barely remember the moment when he had noticed the blood trickling out of his nose. Honestly, it had been pretty horrifying. He had thought he was going to die there and then.

Everything was foggy after that, but at least he had shown his mettle. Besides, what had happened wasn’t his fault. He had only been doing what the Elders told him.

Aye, they jolly well
ought
to put him in the Lightrider group tomorrow to make up for nearly killing him like that, he thought. Especially since tomorrow was his birthday.

At last, he reached the top, where he immediately spotted the Gryphon’s nest wedged between two boulders. Built of mud and straw, the nest was waist high, with about a five-foot circumference. Red didn’t even bother getting out of it when Jake joined him.

The poor beast—usually his mighty defender—merely peeked over the edge of his sickbed as Jake approached, dusting off his hands after that climb. “Hey, big fella. I came to see you. How are you feeling?”

“Becaw,” Crafanc-y-Gwrool answered with a plaintive note, his golden eyes soulful with misery. Today, the usually magnificent creature wasn’t at all living up to his royal Welsh name, which meant Claw the Courageous.

Indeed, Jake’s eyes widened as he realized there wasn’t a feather left on the Gryphon’s head. Dr. Plantagenet hadn’t been jesting.

But for a few scraggly patches of sorry-looking feathers and baby-chick fuzz, the mighty Gryphon’s eagle parts were as naked as the Christmas goose. Even his lion body looked mangy.

Jake couldn’t help staring.

“Caw!” Red protested, using his beak to pull his blanket up to hide himself.

“Aw, I’m sorry, boy. No offense intended. It’s all right. You don’t have to be shy with me. I’m your master, and I’m here to make sure they’re taking good care of you.” Jake climbed up onto the edge of the nest and sat there to be close to him. “Is that blanket warm enough for you?”

“Becaw,” Red said, resting his beak on the edge of his nest with a gaze full of woe.

“Try not to worry,” Jake encouraged him. “This will pass before you know it. Besides, it’s not like you’ve got some disease. This is
supposed
to happen to you every now and then, right? Just think how magnificent you’re going to look when your new feathers grow in. You’re going to be handsomer than ever. Don’t worry,” he added, “I won’t leave Merlin Hall until you’ve got through this.”

Jake patted the Gryphon’s chicken-skin head, wondering if it unnerved Red not to be able to fly for the time being. His pet seemed comforted by his presence.

Jake proceeded to tell Red about his Assessment to distract him from his condition. He played down the bad part, of course, not wanting his currently helpless protector to worry about not having been there.

“So now I get to see which group they’ll put me with tomorrow,” he rambled on. “You know my preference, I’m sure. I’d love to hear the lecture from whatever mentor they’ve got lined up for the Lightrider group. I wonder if they’ll talk about what it’s like to fight the Dark Druids, or how it feels traveling through the Grid…”

He shrugged after pondering it for a minute longer. “Ah, well. I’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jake stayed with Red until he heard Dr. Plantagenet calling him from the bottom of the rocks. “I’m going to have to ask you to come back down now, Lord Griffon! We’re closing up for the night.”

“Be right there!” he yelled back. Then he turned ruefully to Red. “Looks like I’ve got to go. But I’ll be back tomorrow evening to see you, promise. They’re going to be keeping us busy all day.”

“Becaw!” Red said. It was always difficult to know exactly what he was trying to say without Isabelle there to translate telepathically, but Jake was fairly sure his loyal pet wanted to be the first to wish him an early happy birthday. Red nuzzled Jake’s hand with his large, golden beak.

“Aw, thanks, boy. Get a good night’s rest. This whole molting business will be over before you know it. Bye for now.” Then he climbed back down the boulders, retraced his steps along the wooded trail, then rejoined the others out on the main path.

They wanted to know at once how Red was doing. Jake reported to them on his pet’s condition while Dr. Plantagenet escorted them back toward the entrance of the menagerie.

Along the way, they passed an intersection with another path and heard a banging sound coming from one of the pens. When they looked over, they saw a huge, human-like creature on the loose.

Dani gasped and pointed. “Dr. Plantagenet! That one got out of its cage!”

“Oh, er, that’s not one of the animals, strictly speaking,” he answered. “That’s Og.”

“Og?” Jake echoed.

“Ogden Trumbull. He’s building a new fence around one of the pens for me. He helps out around here.”

They looked at the Green Man in surprise, then stared at the towering figure, who was pounding thick wooden posts into the ground using his fist for a hammer.

Wearing nothing but tattered brown trousers that were much too short for him, Og had leathery, grayish skin the hue of stone. His thighs were like tree trunks and his massive arms seemed too long for his body; he did not have proper human hands, but only three thick, crude fingers.

He was bald-headed, with a broad, dull-witted face, a low brow, and no discernible neck, just massive sloping shoulders. His large, slightly pointy ears flopped outward at the tops.

“He’s so big,” Dani murmured in trepidation. “What
is
he, Doctor?”

“Well, er, he’s half-troll,” Dr. Plantagenet admitted in a delicate tone.

“Half troll?” Archie cried.

“Shh! You don’t want him to hear you! No need to hurt his feelings,” the veterinarian chided.

“I don’t understand.” Archie turned to him with that familiar fascinated scientist glow coming into his eyes.

“Og lives out here at the edge of the zoo. I wouldn’t dream of caging him, of course. He’s half-human, after all, and thus has human rights, and so far, has done nothing to earn a prison. Still,” the Green Man explained softly, “although Og is
reasonably
civilized, he’s not fit for…shall we say, an indoor life. Out here, he can have at least some supervision and a purpose for his existence. He’s quite good with some of the larger animals.”

“You’re attempting to civilize a troll?” Archie asked in dubious amazement.

“Half-troll,” Dr. Plantagenet corrected.

“How’d that happen?” Jake drawled.

The Green Man sighed. “Og is the result of an unfortunate experiment by one of our more misguided wizard-scientists.”

“You mean somebody made him?” Dani asked in surprise.

“In a laboratory, yes, I’m afraid.” The twigs on Dr. Plantagenet’s crown waved as he shook his head in regret. “He’s a little bitter about it, truth be told. But honestly, wouldn’t you be? Poor, young Og will never have a normal life, being neither fully troll nor fully human.”

“That must be very lonely for him,” Isabelle remarked.

The Green Man nodded. “The animals here are his friends. As am I. If I could just get him to quit trying to ride the Oliphants,” he added wryly. “Like many youngsters his age, he’s quite obsessed with horseback riding, but of course, there’s not a horse alive strong enough to carry him, poor lad.”

“Well, I’m not sure I want him going anywhere near my Gryphon,” Jake said with a worried frown.

“No, I’ve told him to leave the Gryphon alone until he’s done molting. Og understands that.”

“Good.”

“But I still don’t understand,” Archie persisted. “Why would anyone want to tinker with breeding a better troll?”

“I don’t know, but it cost the wizard his powers. The Elders sentenced him to have his magic removed by the Extraction Spell as his punishment for crimes against Mother Nature. I suppose the wizard’s intentions were good, at least in his own warped mind. You know how they tend to go astray.”

The kids nodded.

“Apparently, he was trying to create a super-strong hybrid servant. To elevate the rock troll into a useful species. They’re not very nice, in general.”

“I’ll say! Trolls are known for their tempers. And occasional bouts of cannibalism,” Archie said.

Jake and Dani looked at him, aghast.

“Don’t worry, Og’s not going to hurt anyone,” Dr. Plantagenet assured them. “I work with him every day to teach him how to behave. He’s
reasonably
civilized. Besides, he’s barely your age—just a boy, himself.”

“A troll boy,” Dani echoed dubiously.

“Half-troll.” Jake quirked a brow at her. “Who’s seven feet tall, several hundred pounds of muscle, and could rip your arms off if you look at him wrong.”

“Right,” said Archie. “Think we’ll keep our distance.”

The Green Man winced. “That is probably for the best.”

They had reached the arched entrance of the menagerie by now and started to say goodbye to Dr. Plantagenet, when suddenly, Jake witnessed the strangest phenomenon in the distance.

Out on the wide, green lawn that stretched between the palace and the zoo, a large, upright circle of bluish light appeared in a sudden, brilliant flash.

“What’s that?” he cried, pointing to it as it glowed, pulsating with energy.

“Oh, you’ve never seen that before?” the Green Man countered. “That’s a portal opening up—a gateway to the Grid. One of the Lightriders must be coming in.”

Jake drew in his breath. “Lightrider?”

In the next heartbeat, he was running as fast as his legs would carry him to see this marvel up close.

“Jake, wait up!” his friends called, but there was no chance of slowing him down.

He had to see this, and he wanted a front-row seat to whatever was going to happen. As he neared the portal on the lawn, he could see it better. Pliant and plasmatic, the portal swelled and shrank slightly, like a living thing breathing. A strange sound came out of it as it throbbed, a deep, vibratory hum.

Skidding to a halt a few feet away, Jake confirmed that it was, indeed, a flat circle, maybe eight feet in diameter, like a giant round mirror.

The golden-white light coming from the portal was shot through with moving swirls of pink and blue, like the colors on the fragile membrane of a soap bubble. Beyond its glowing surface, he caught a tantalizing glimpse of a tunnel.

Meanwhile, Jake wasn’t the only one who came running to see the Lightrider about to make his entrance. Other guests crowded around to view this rare and fascinating spectacle.