“What, so this person told you that you could fight a wild griffin on your own, when you’re—you’ve never done anything like this before, have you?”
Arren shook his head.
“But this person persuaded you to do it on your own, without telling anyone where you were going or why, or even asking anyone for advice? Who was it? Was it a griffiner?”
“I thought I could do it. He said it was easy, and I—”
“And you just believed him?” Deanne was looking at him in disbelief. “My gods, Arren, I really don’t—I never thought you were reckless, but what you did was insane. You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”
A vision of the black griffin flashed across Arren’s brain, and he shuddered and felt tears run down his face.
Deanne hugged him. “There, look, just calm down. I’m sorry, Arren, I shouldn’t have—here, get up and come with me. You need to keep busy.”
“I want to go home,” Arren mumbled.
“You will, soon. Just come along and help me, would you? We have to get that cage finished and dragged back into the village. Might need an extra pair of hands. C’mon, up you get.”
Arren stood up wearily and let her lead him back to the field. It was still raining. The cage was completed, and the people who’d made it were now busy reinforcing and stabilising it; under the supervision of Kryn and his fellow griffiner. Their griffins were nearby, keeping a close watch on the captive black griffin, not liking being in the rain but refusing to leave their humans unguarded.
The sight sent fresh pain through him, and he gritted his teeth as Deanne helped him over the fence.
“Now, you’d better go and get your bow back,” she told him. “Go on, before the rain wrecks it. You’d better take the string off it, too.”
Arren felt vaguely irritated by her motherly tone, but he wandered off obediently and found his bow, lying where he’d dropped it. He removed the bowstring and threw it away. The rain had already ruined it. The quiver wasn’t too far away; he gathered up the fallen arrows and stuffed them back in, along with the unstrung bow. The work helped; he concentrated on what he was doing and let his mind go blank. It was better that way.
Once he’d slung the quiver on his back, he turned to see what the others were doing. The villagers had finished working on the cage and were now trying to lift it. Arren wondered briefly why they weren’t just dragging it, and then realised that the cage would probably come apart if they did. Besides, the ground was now very soft underfoot and dragging anything large and heavy over it would be a nightmare. Lifting it, though, didn’t look like a much easier option.
A strange energy filled him. He walked over to the cage. “Can I help?”
They glanced at him. “Shouldn’t you be resting, sir?” someone asked.
“Can you lift it?” Arren asked, ignoring him.
“Possibly,” said Kryn. He glanced at the people who’d spaced themselves around the cage. There were plenty of them; most of the village’s population had come to help. “All right, has everyone got a grip? Good. Now, heave!”
They lifted as one. The bars of the cage shifted dangerously, straining against their binding, but it came up out of the mud with a faint sucking sound.
“All right, let’s move,” said Kryn, pulling it toward the fence. The carriers shuffled in that direction for a short distance before they had to stop and put down the cage so they could rest.
Tamran, the third of the griffiners, stretched and rubbed his back. “Ow. Well, it’ll take ages, but we’ll make it. Eventually.”
Arren had been looking for a spot where he could get a grip and help move the cage, but couldn’t find one. In the end he settled for walking on ahead and warning people about unexpected tussocks and other things they could trip on. As they neared the fence he looked over at it and paused—how were they going to get the cage over it?
“Kryn?”
Kryn glanced at him. “Yes, Arren? What is it?”
“How are we going to get it past the fence?”
“I’ve already asked about that,” said Kryn, rubbing his chafed hands. “The nearest gate is all the way back there, so we’re going to take out the palings. Arren, can you go into the village and find something to take the nails out with?”
Arren nodded and walked off, glad to be doing something useful. He went back to