its descent, and his mouth fell open. It was coming so fast.
He forced himself not to panic. Just keep calm; keep still; don’t loose the arrow until the moment is right. Think of it as a giant archery butt. Just don’t panic.
The black griffin was getting closer by the moment. Every moment he could see more of it. See the huge front talons, pointed straight at him. See the silvery feathers and the mottled wings, pointed backward like arrows. The beast filled his vision, huge and horrible. Its beak was slightly open, and he could see its eyes, big and silver, staring straight at him.
“Arren!” Eluna screamed.
He loosed the arrow.
It hit the black griffin square in the chest, embedding itself among the feathers. The griffin jerked suddenly in the sky, and Arren’s heart leapt. But the griffin’s dive did not stop. It continued to fall straight toward him, faster and faster. He panicked and ran, dropping his bow, but the black griffin only angled itself to follow him, skimming low over the grass. He could feel its presence looming over him, and terror ripped his chest apart. The poison wasn’t working. It was coming for him; it was going to get him.
There was a low, dull thud, and a scream, and then he fell. He was running so fast that he nearly flipped over when he hit the ground. The impact knocked all the breath out of him. He struggled upright almost at once, turning to look, and suddenly realised that the black griffin was not coming after him any more. It had fallen to the ground and was lying there, trying to get up.
Arren looked around for Eluna. And then he saw her, not far away from the other griffin. She, too, was on the ground; he could see her wings flailing as she struggled to recover herself. He ran toward her.
The black griffin had stopped moving. It was lying on its belly, wings and legs limp. Its eyes were still open, but as Arren neared it the beast let out a weary sigh and let its head drop. Its eyes slid closed.
Eluna was still trying to get up. Arren crouched by her side. “Eluna!”
The white griffin’s head turned toward him and she lashed out, hitting him in the chest. Arren fell over backward, hitting the ground so hard that his vision flashed red for an instant. He was nearly knocked out, but managed to get up again. His chest hurt horribly. He struggled back toward Eluna, calling her name. The griffin was twisted awkwardly, her hind legs turned sideways as if her back was broken. But she managed to gather them beneath her and tried to lever herself upright. One foreleg pushed at the ground, but the other didn’t move, and she fell back, hissing.
As she rolled over onto her side, one foreleg reaching out for something to grip, Arren saw the blood on her chest.
He felt his heart freeze inside him. “Eluna!”
This time she did not lash out when he came to her. She lay still, making a horrible rasping sound. Her eyes were glazed, and he could see the blood soaking into the ground beneath her, and into her feathers, turning white to red.
Arren knelt by her, reaching out to touch her. “Eluna—oh gods, no.”
Eluna tried to get up once again, but flopped back onto the ground. The blood was still coming, more and more of it. Arren touched her chest, very tentatively, and when she only jerked briefly he pulled the feathers aside to look at what was underneath.
“No!”
Eluna’s chest had been ripped open, right down the middle. White, shattered ribs were poking through the bloodied flesh, and the wound extended down to her foreleg, exposing the bone there, too. Blood was pouring out of it. Too much blood.
Arren pulled off his tunic and tried to staunch the flow, but the moment he touched the wound, Eluna screamed. Her head arched back and her beak opened wide, letting forth a loud, awful screech of agony. Her legs and wings trembled convulsively, and then her head suddenly dropped.
“Help me!” she cried, her voice garbled and panic-stricken. “Arren! Help!”
Arren grabbed at the wound, pulling the edges toward each other to try to close it. It moved a little, and he snatched up his tunic and tied it around her neck, binding the injury shut as well as he could. But blood began to soak through the fabric almost instantly, and Eluna’s movements slowed. She lay on her