sir, so the reeve sent a message to Eagleholm. A few days later, three griffiners showed up. They were older than you, sir. They stayed here a while, asking questions and making plans, and then they flew off together one morning, sir. They came back with the griffin’s tail for a trophy. Said they’d found it in its territory and killed it, sir.”
“I remember that,” his wife said suddenly.
“Anyway,” said Arren, “I’ve been assigned to do this and I’ll do my best. Now that Eluna has an idea of where it lives, she can track it down.”
“We trust you, sir,” said Renn.
But Arren wasn’t sure if he trusted himself. Now he was here, and hearing about this griffin first-hand from one of its victims, he was feeling less and less certain by the moment. Back in Eagleholm, when he’d told Bran and Gern about his mission they had been impressed and confident. Neither of them had had any doubt that he could do it, and that had boosted his own confidence. Now, though, his certainty was beginning to drain away, and he started to think that perhaps he was in over his head. What am I even doing here? he thought suddenly. I’m an administrator, not a hunter!
“I’ll do my best to make sure your trust is well placed,” he said smoothly. “Now”—he stood up—“I’ll leave you to rest. I think you’ll be fine. You’re a strong and brave man, Renn. No doubt I’ll be telling your story back at Eagleholm for years to come.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Renn.
Arren left the house with Eluna. “So, what did you think of that?” he asked her.
Eluna shook her head with a quick, darting motion. “I think that tomorrow we shall find this griffin’s territory and fight it, and we shall win.”
That cheered him up a bit. “But how will we do it?”
They walked in silence for a time, both thinking deeply.
“I’ve got a plan,” Arren said at length. “How about we find a place to perch, somewhere near to its territory. You call out a challenge, and when it comes flying to attack us I’ll loose an arrow at it. If I time it right, it should be all over in moments. We won’t even have to go near it. How does that sound?”
Eluna listened. “It sounds like a good plan,” she said. “Have you got the poison?”
“Yes; there should be enough to coat at least three arrowheads. I think I could do it in three tries. And if that doesn’t work—”
“If you do not bring it down, I will,” said Eluna. “I will fight it in the air.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Eluna’s beak snapped shut an inch from his neck. “Do not tell me what to do!” she rasped.
Arren jerked away instinctively. “No! No, look, please, calm down, that’s not what I meant. I was just—well, it would be dangerous.”
She hissed at him. “You think I am afraid?”
“No, no, not at all. I just don’t want you to be hurt, that’s all.”
Eluna looked amused by this. “So, it is not me who is afraid. It is you.”
“Yes,” Arren said simply. “If you were hurt . . .”
She raised her head proudly. “I am not afraid. I must fight. A griffin who does not fight is worthless. A coward survives, but a coward does not live.”
“Yes, but there’s a difference between being a coward and just being sensible.”
Eluna snapped her beak. “To fight is to live. And I will fight to protect you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Arren muttered. “I shouldn’t have got you into this, Eluna.”
“It is not your fault,” said Eluna. “I was the one who killed the man. I was the one who agreed to come here. If I must fight, then I will.”
“I won’t stop you,” said Arren, knowing he couldn’t even if he wanted to.
“And this wild griffin will learn the meaning of justice,” said Eluna.
Arren ate dinner with Roderick and his family; it was plain but well cooked, and he ate heartily. The journey had given him a very large appetite. Eluna was given an entire side of beef to eat, and she tore into it enthusiastically as soon as it was placed in front of her. When Arren stepped in to visit her before he went to bed he found her sleeping soundly in her nest of hay, surrounded by scattered bones. He smiled to himself and left quietly.
His own bed welcomed him, and he stripped down to his trousers and got under the covers; he hadn’t brought