in any direction, and the more he struggled, the tighter the ropes became. He felt his skin break suddenly; hot blood trickled down over his back paws.
The black griffin slumped back, groaning softly. The rain continued to fall, running in rivulets down his flanks. Dull fear burned inside him. He was trapped. He couldn’t fly, couldn’t walk, couldn’t fight, and the humans were there and watching him, free to do whatever they wanted to him. Would they kill him?
He stretched his neck upward, straining to look ahead, toward the village. The white griffin was lying there, not far away from him. She was dead. He could see the massive wound his talons had torn in her chest. The human was there with her, the one he had chased. It was cradling the dead griffin’s head against its chest and staring straight at him.
The black griffin looked back, some of his fear giving way to curiosity. This human was different to the others, in more ways than one. The fur on its head was black instead of brown, and the cloth that covered its body was unfamiliar, too. It had not run when he had swooped on it, but had stood firm and faced him. And there had been a griffin with it. Standing by its side. And when he had chased after it, intent on snatching it up off the ground, the griffin had flown at him. She had attacked him, to defend the human.
And now she was dead and the human was holding on to her body. The black griffin did not understand why. She was dead. What good would it do?
The humans around him were looking toward the one by the dead griffin, as if they were expecting it to do something. The human seemed unaware of them, but then it suddenly stood up and walked away, leaving the white griffin’s body lying where it was. The black griffin watched it go, and once again the strange feeling arose in his throat, that feeling of a scream trying to escape. But he could not make a sound.
Arren didn’t speak to anyone. He jumped over the fence again and re-entered the village, making for the nearest house. There was a shed attached to it, and he shoved the door open and went inside. He paused a moment to scan the rows of tools, then picked up a shovel and left. People had followed him to the shed and were watching him curiously, but he ignored them and returned to the field where Eluna lay. The black griffin was still there, fighting pointlessly against its bonds. People were poking at it with sticks to torment it, and the creature tried to lunge at them, hissing.
“Leave it alone!” Arren snapped at them. They glanced at him and desisted, though reluctantly.
Arren turned away. He paused a moment, looking down at Eluna’s still form, and then thrust the shovel into the ground by her head and began to dig.
People gathered around him.
“Sir?”
“Sir, you’re hurt, you should be resting.”
“Please, sir, let me do it.”
Hands tried to take the shovel from him. Arren jerked it back. “No!”
“But sir—”
Arren continued to dig. “Get wood,” he muttered. “Build a cage. For the griffin.”
“But why, sir? Weren’t—shouldn’t we kill it?”
“I will take it away,” said Arren. “It won’t bother you any more. Now get the wood.”
“Yes, sir.”
Arren didn’t watch them go. He continued to dig, not noticing the splinters digging into his hands, or the pain of the wound in his chest. The rain continued to fall, turning the dirt to mud even as he shovelled it aside. It dripped red off his tunic and turned him cold all over.
He did not stop digging until he had created a large, deep hole, and then he finally threw the shovel aside and returned to Eluna’s side. The white griffin’s body had gone cold, and her feathers were stained with blood and dirt.
Arren crouched beside her and did his best to smooth down her coat. She wouldn’t want to look dirty and bedraggled ; she’d always hated rain—
He stopped suddenly, choking back a sob. For a moment he sat still, shuddering, but he managed to control himself again. He lifted Eluna under the shoulders, wrapping his arms around her mangled chest, and began to drag her toward the hole. She came slowly, her wings and legs dragging, head bouncing gently on the ground. Arren fell into the hole and pulled her in after him. She landed on top of him,