but Vahn did something Trevan didn’t expect. As Mave moved to their side, her wooden sword raised and ready to strike, the gryphon turned sharply, making a bird-like scream, and swiped at her. Trevan didn’t see if it hit, but Mave dropped ten feet.
“Woah!” he yelled, yanking the reins. Vahn fought as Mave went under them and came up on their open side.
Trevan felt the wooden sword hit his thigh but ignored it as Vahn tried to spin on their sparring partner, swiping out again at the Andinna. She went up and over them this time.
“Mave, I don’t know how to control him!” Trevan called, realizing the gryphon was acting on instinct. He held the reins, pulling back to hopefully figure out what would make Vahn stop. “Mave, stop!”
He found her again, hovering twenty feet away. Vahn saw her as well, and Trevan wondered if the gryphon would go for her now that she had distance.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her volume just barely loud enough for him to hear clearly. “It’s going well. We’re learning something.”
“I don’t trust this,” he called out, trying to angle Vahn to land again. The gryphon did as he asked but remained wary as Mave landed and walked to them. She walked with the same confidence she always had, but there was a wariness from her as well. “He doesn’t either. Now he thinks you’re the enemy. You can see it. Look at how he’s reacting to you.” For safety, Trevan looked around the clearing and saw Emerian walking slowly to them. He didn’t want the mutt to accidentally sneak up on them and spook Vahn, so he angled the gryphon so he could see both Andinna.
“I see,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. I was hoping he would be okay with a simple exercise, but…”
“Mave, they must have trained him to kill Andinna to save his rider,” he pointed out sadly. “He’s not safe for this type of training.” He took her concentration on Vahn as a chance to see if she was okay. She wasn’t. He could see the bleeding on her thigh. “He injured you. Even though you spoil him, he was still okay with tearing your thigh open.”
“Yeah…” She looked down with a frown he had seen countless times before. The frown told him a hundred things. She hated to be wrong, hated misjudging the situation. “I’ll get it looked at,” she promised quietly. “I’m sorry. I thought this might work. You could join us in battle one day, and it would be good training for everyone here…”
“He’s taught to kill you,” Trevan reminded her softly, dismounting. He normally would let go of the gryphon’s reins and let the beast do what it wanted, but Trevan couldn’t trust that now. “I don’t know if we can break that conditioning, especially with weapons coming at him. He’s probably seen a lot of his own kind die. I definitely don’t trust taking him into a fight where we’re going against his own kind. He’s as likely to turn and attack the closest Andinna.”
“I don’t doubt it,” she agreed, reaching down to massage her thigh, the wooden morok discarded on the grass. “Why don’t both of you take the day off? This…this didn’t go the way I wanted. I’m sorry, I won’t suggest this again.”
He watched her turn around and walk away. He could see the limp and the defeated slump in her shoulders, a sight he had never witnessed before. Even at her lowest, he had only ever seen her walk tall.
“I can help,” he called out. “With the leg. Emerian, you know where I keep our aid kit, yeah?”
“I do,” the mutt said, nodding as he finally reached them. “I’ll meet you at our home with it ready.”
“Thank you.”
When Trevan looked back at her, she was watching them.
“I can tend it on my own,” she said softly.
“I know you can, but Vahn did it, and I feel responsible. I should have been more insistent about not being comfortable with this.
“This wasn’t your fault,” she said. He put himself between her and Vahn as they left the clearing. “I…I don’t often have ideas that might be useful. It’s not what I spend my time doing. I was hoping I was onto something that could be useful. I have to make sure Emerian is ready for missions with me, and this would have been helpful. I don’t want to see him get taken out by a gryphon before he even has a chance.”