The Elders Perch [Griffin RP]

[Lost Guardian]

Bloodpelt had paid little mind to the cream colored male and had only twitched her tail in response to the racket he had started to make, seeming to dismiss him as being too jumpy. She was happy to find that Eanoth wasn't as easily startled and that he was already more or less awake, having worried about trying to wake him only to wind up making him jolt up and hurting himself. After moving the bark closer to the male, she slowly sat down in the patch of sunlight that made her black feathers light up with a deep wine iridescence and shivered a little for the cold air inside the cave. The female's soft purr then turned to a light laughing call as she watched Eanoth's reaction to her berry choice and then swayed her long tail cheerfully, glad that she had chosen to find them. Her feathers then fluffed up shyly when the male offered her a spot to sit beside him as well as some of the fruits she picked.

"You can go ahead and eat what you can first," Bloodpelt purred warmly as she shyly moved to sit beside him, "It was custom in my flock for injured and elders to eat their fill before the rest of the flock..I need to pluck the feathers out of this anyways.." She gestured with her thin talons to the pheasant and hoped that Eanoth wouldn't take the injured or elder comments too badly, having hissed at before for it when she was still just a chick. After a bit, the female was comfortable enough to to slide down and lay on her stomach as she began the process of plucking feathers off the dead bird, her technique careful to preserve the feathers for nests. Bloodpelt was just about relaxed fully when a sudden chorus of screaming griffin voices made her jolt and look up with a clump of feathers in her beak, her ears straining then flattening when she made out what the noise was about.

"Sounds like that other flock found out what happened to that griffin you fought with.." She murmured darkly as her body began to stiffen and her fur bristled, making her already fluffy tail look rather comical. The female was worried that the other flock would come for Eanoth, seeking vengeance, and she knew he was still suffering from his injuries from the night before. One thing was for certain, if any griffin did come looking for blood they would be in for in for a shock as they were met but a red and black whirl of talons and a beak. In the back of Bloodpelt's mind, she knew she wouldn't stand too much of a chance against a group of blood-thirsty griffins but she wasn't going to let them get in without a fight. The sound of something approaching snapped her out of her thoughts and she jumped to her feet, fur raised, wings slightly flared, and her talons digging into the cave floor.

((:D Page 2!))

[Takora]

Terimaire pressed her head against that of Wolf, she was far to enraged in her very soul to back off now like nothing had happened. From the outer side she seemed relaxed, but her eyes gave all away. Her blue azure eyes glowed with a white inner rage, which was about to burst outside of her body if someone makes a false move.

“But did any of my griffins actually kill one of your flock? Did they? No they didn’t of course.” She hissed calmly against the face of Wolf.

“And Stardust, is gone, she won’t come back anymore. So that thorn in your ego is now vanished.”

Chardira shrieked back behind the corner as Wolf stared at her. Her heart was pounding against her chest. Why she was so afraid of Wolf she did not know even herself.

Terimaire raised then her head back up, away from that of Wolf.

“I provided shelter, now it is your turn, provide food for us. My children are hungry.” She spat angry at Wolf.

Terimaire turned then around and walked back to her flock, and spread welcoming her wings out. With her back turned at Wolf she spoke.

“And if one of your griffin even remotely touches one of my children, I rip personally their head off.” She said furious.

~~~

Last Night:

The whole night she flew through the sky, far to the outskirts of the Silverdawn Territory, in this remote place rarely a griffin ventured, since it was dangerous to be alone at the borders. But she did not care, not a bit. Her pride was hurt by Terimaire, who just walked over her like she was an ordinary griffin of he flock, inviting the very enemy to her home.

But she would return soon, claiming what belonged to her since years, but never voiced it. But now the time has come to take back what belonged since her birth to her.

The silvery griffin landed on a rock formation, gazing in the distance, but she smelled blood, and it smelled very familiar. She turned her head around, looked in all four corners of the sky, and spotted the very corpse of Seshmai on a rock ledge under her. Something was feasting on it, something large and black.

“Who dares to eat from the dead body of my flock member? That bastard will pay!”

Furious she jumped down the cliff, landing on the dead body of Seshmai, spreading her wings out and screeching loudly at the scavenger.

"Wow, calm down, you can have the corpse if you really want!” a male and charismatic voice came from the creature.

Still her wings spread out, and her feathers puffed up, Stardust blinked a few times. And then she realized it was a black griffin.

He was large, but she was also, probably he was only a few centimeters taller than her, but something made him appear larger, even if he wasn’t. The black griffin had jet black feathers and fur, all through his body, any other color seemed just to be sucked up by the black. His lower body was that of a panther, and his tail feathers ended in long black, symmetric stems. The only thing that stand out on him was his yellow beak, yellow forepaws and golden eyes he had.

Stardust shook her had, she would not sure let distract herself by the handsomeness of that male!

“Why did you eat him?” she bellowed at him.

“Uhhh.. because he was dead, girl.”

He had a point, to be honest.

“It would be a shame to let food rot just, when it can fill the belly of one, or even two.” He blinked with one eye at her.

Stardust was confused and startled, the male talked one second in street language, and in the next one in highly eloquent language, like he was a gentlemen since his birth.

Slowly she stepped off the corpse, behind it, but let a paw sill rest on it, just in case he tried something.

“So you are here to mourn after this griffin, or you just want a piece of him to eat?” he said interested and sat down on his hind legs.

Stardust was not sure herself, yes the loss of Seshmai was a great tragedy, but she had not eating since days, and was literally starving.

“He was a flock member of mine, before he was murdered…” Stardust said sad.

The black one lifted his right paw in the air and shook it in a gesture like he threw something away.

“Yes that is tragic indeed.” He smirked.

“But your former flock member would be sure happy to help you in his last action to prevent that you starve out here.”

He had again a very good point.

“I could eat…” Stardust gave in.

“Then eat as much as you want, as you can see I had already my fair share on him.” The black one licked his forepaw. It was indeed not much left on the dead griffin.

Stardust was torn inside, on the one side she was starving, but on the other one, could she really eat a former flock member, but he was already dead since hours right?

“Come one, don’t let a good meal go to waste because of your moralities. He won’t sure not mind.”

Stardust bowed her head down and snapped after a loose flesh hanging from a bone and swallowed it.

“Good yes, does not taste like the ordinary gazelle or rabbit?”

Stardust just closed her eyes and continued her meal, until she was somewhat not hungry anymore. She just ignored the fact during the meal that she was just now eating her own flock member right now.

As she was finished she lifted her upper body up again and turned around, walked away without saying a word to the black one. The male was somehow startled and jumped up, following Stardust.

“Hey missy, why are you leaving so soon?”

“I have to think about a few things how I can claim back something that was stole from me since I was born.” Stardust said angry.

“Maybe I can help?” The male chirped in her right ear.

Stardust stopped walking and looked into his eyes, somewhat confused and angry that he pestered her so much.

“Hey lady, don’t look at me like that. You just got a free meal from me!”

Stardust growled inside. Why was he always right, god damn it!

“My name is Stardust.”

“My name is Crow, "The Blackbullet."”

[RebornWolf]

Eanoth chuckled at her shyness, then proceeded to gobble up about half of the berries. Though he tried to force more food down his throat, he found that he felt quite sick.

Not much of an appetite? That isn't like you... He thought, musing over it.

"Injured you say? What, me?" He asked, trying to sound as sincere and shocked as he could manage. But, he failed, and melted into warm laughter. He didn't often feel this comfortable near other griffins, but there was something about these two- Wolf and Bloodpelt, that made him feel at ease. Eanoth noticed the pheasant being defeathered by Bloodpelt, and wished that his stomach would get its act together in time for him to share it with her. The blood from the prey smelled good, and made him close his eyes and sigh.

But her sudden startled movements jolted him back out of his reverie, and he too heard the angry curses.

"And if they have? Let them come. I may be injured, but I am not helpless. And besides, it is not like I'm to fight by myself." He grumbled, but his energy was expended. He struggled to his feet, and stood behind Bloodpelt, ready to face the attackers.

But...wait. Makani hasn't raised the alarm...That cream chicken isn't one to miss something like this.

He limped slowly up to Bloodpelt and laid his tail on her flank. "Calm down...I believe it is our own returning." He whispered in her ear, turning to face the entrance to the cave. And true to his word, an extremely pissed looking group of griffins bumbled into the cave, making their slow way to the darkest and farthest recesses of the tunnel, before disappearing out of sight. He noticed that most of the Flock were still outside.

"Must be hunting for those scum..." He mused, then staggered back to his spot. Motioning to Bloodpelt, he let her know that she was welcome here. "You seem to have caught enough prey, so you wont have to go back out unless you want to. I think I'm going to go to sleep now. You can wake me up after you've finished your fill of the Pheasant if you'd like. Maybe then we can go outside near dark to look around." Eanoth offered, falling asleep. There was plenty of space around him and inside the cave, and he trusted Bloodpelt enough to sleep well around her. His feathers fluffed up from the chill of the shaded inside of the cave, as Wolf usually kept him warm. His mind faded into darkness.

--

Wolf spat on the Silverdawn grounds, but led the hunt for prey. Fanning out, her and her Thieves were a magnificent army, even with the fewer numbers. Before she left, she relieved Makani, the cream falcon, and the mottled brown eagle, who requested to hunt with the party, and left a single griffin of relatively hefty stature to guard the entrance.

Makani made his way up to the plateau were the Silverdawns' still resided. He settled down next to a group of females, neither ignoring nor communicating with them, glancing at them every once and awhile. The cream male made a great show of grooming his feathers, hoping to catch the eyes of a few desperate females.

--

Wolf had succeeded in taking down a large buck by herself, and another with the help of a flock member. The others had their mouths stuffed with rabbits and squirrels. Even a few of them could not carry the whole of their captures just in their beaks, and resorted to dragging them along by the talons.

As the group made its way back to camp, Wolf picked up a curious scent. Her eyes narrowed and he hackled, but continued on her way. Taking a few of the most succulent pieces and many of the largest, she dropped them at the entrance of the cave. She sent the remainder of it with a few griffins to the Silverdawns. Sighing, she made her way to the river to bathe.

Sunning herself afterwards outside of the shade on some orange rocks, she wondered briefly who's scent she had picked up.

[Takora]

The Blackbullet

Last night:

„Well it is late in the night, do you want to share a shelter with me, my lady?“ he crooned again into her ear. Stardust was annoyed as hell by that male, but she could really use some sleep after that night.

“I could use some sleep.” Stardust said dryly.

Crow jumped ahead with his spirits high, that he had such a wonderful female tonight as guest in his temporary home.

“So why are you called the Blackbullet?” Stardust inquired to shorten the walking time.

“Good that you ask, lady Stardust!” Crow said proudly.

“I raid regularly the caravans of the bipeds, stealing food, jewelry and their goods. They never manage to capture me, and all what they see from me is a black blur before the realize they have just been robbed by Crow! Because of that I am called the Blackbullet!”

“Interesting…”

“How about you? Stardust exactly describes you, beautiful girl.” Crow said while looking back at her.

Stardust shook her head. “Stars where falling when I was born, and I shine like one, because of that I am named like that.” She said calm.

“It really fits you, but you should be called Diamond.” He smirked.

“If he doesn’t stop flirting I rip his eyes out….”

After a short walking, they both came to a river where was a hole dug into a small hill. The male scurried inside and a few seconds later various feathers, sticks and bones flew out of it. Stardust had to doge the stuff that she didn’t get hit by it by accident. Intersted she peeked inside, only to find Crow dusting the rest of the garbage away with his feathered tail.

“It may not be a palace, but I think it is much for comfortable that the naked ground around here." The male pointed to a empty large nest.

“What is this place?”

“Mountain lions lived here before, but they kind of left.” He said with a dirty grin.

“Whatever you say, Crow.” Stardust stepped inside and settled herself into the nest, and Crow approached her from the side.

She shrieked up and spread her talons in his direction, her feathers puffed up.

“WOW MISTER! One step nearer, and I cut you in little strips!” she hissed at him. He was close, much to close to her for her taste.

“But I thought….”

“That we share the nest? You got to be kidding me! You sleep outside! Hush, go away!” she screeched at Crow.

“Bah!”Crow spat at the earth as he walked outside.

“What a pissy girl, but I like females with temper.” he smirked silent to himself. Crow walked a few times in a small circle before the entrance, before he settled down and curled himself up.

~~~

The next morning Stardust was awakened by a loud bump, and as she opened her eyes she found a rabbit before her nose.

“Breakfast is served, eat fast up, we are leaving soon.”

“Why the sudden hurry?” Stardust spat out while swallowing the prey.

“I never stay at one place for long, too dangerous. Other griffins might scent me. I was always a traveler, I was in every corner of Liasse already.” He smirked.

“My god…” Stardust said as she stood up and stretched herself, and walked behind Crow out of the cave.

“Before you tell me more about your plan, lets get away from here, shall we? That we can in peace talk about it.”

“Whatever you say.” Stardust spat out as she snapped her white wings open.

“Just follow me, I hope you can keep up!”

“Like I… HEY WAIT!” Stardust screeched as Crow had already lifted himself in the air. Swiftly Stadust followed him, and vanished into the distance.

~~~

As the other flock left to hunt for food, Chardira hobbled around the corner, and approached slowly the flock. They eyed her suspicious first, but then they just left her be as she walked up to Terimaire.

“Good morning my child, how are you?” Terimaire tried to said friendly, but anger was still heard out of her voice.

“I wondered if I could stay a while here, until my wounds are healed…” Chardira said while she lowered her head.

“You want to leave us?”

“No, not yet.. I don’t know… I was hoping after I recovered to look if my flock was still in their territory, or if a few of them could also escape and stray around… like me..”

“Escaped?”

“Yes, I was captured by the humans, and imprisoned for several months, yesterday I managed to escape. I don’t ask for free care here. When I recovered I will hunt for you to pay my debt!” Chardira said begging.

“I have no problem with that, I won’t push away a poor soul that needs help. Through I hope that you will stay with us.”

“I don’t know yet, I am sorry. Maybe, maybe not. It depends how that all turns out of me here.” Chardira settled down on her hind legs.

“You have my word that I won’t just vanish, without compensating you.”

Terimaire shook her head. “It is alright, feel like home here.” She smiled at Chardira.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself to our flock a bit?”

“Uhmm.. I try.. I guess…”

Chardira looked at the flock, but they just where minding their own business and ignoring her. She walked up to them and opened her mouth, but as she was about to say something, a griffin from the other flock walked up to the plateau and sat down next to the flock. The flock immediately hissed at him and moved a few meters away, leaving Chardira sitting alone in the middle.

“That is just great….” She spat silent out to herself.

Chardira decided just to settle down on her stomach, and warm herself in the sun. A few minutes later, the Band of Thieves returned and dropped some fresh kills near the Silvedawn flock. Hungry as they where, they jumped mindlessly on the pile of flesh, fighting for every bit.

Chardira could just watch hungry how they ate, she did not want to loose a limb trying to get some food.

[Lost Guardian]

Bloodpelt watched the male out of the corner of her eye as she defeathered the game bird, her ears twitching slightly when it started to seem like he was forcing himself to eat. It made her happy to see Eanoth react to her speaking of her flock's custom in a light-hearted manner and she was soon laughing softly with him as she relaxed more until she was put on alert. Flicking her ears back when she heard the male slowly moving to stand and whimpered slightly while moving back to help support him as the lack of alarm made her more worried. Silence had become a great fear for the red and black female ever since her flock vanished without a sound and only started to relax when Eanoth rested his tail on her.

"A-are you sure?" She stammered as she puffed up from embarrassment from the gesture and the tickling sensation caused by the male whispering in her ear. Her question was then answered as some the rather grumpy looking griffins that made up the flock slunk in and away from the two, an air of annoyance now filling the cave. Pinning her ears back sadly, Bloodpelt sighed softly then turning to rejoin the male as he laid back down and she settled down beside him while he spoke to her about wanting to sleep for a while and saying she could wake him after she's eaten. The sudden spike of fear had pretty much dampened any hunger the female had been feeling and now that she was coming down off of it, she felt worn out and a nap sounded good.

I'm sure meat and berries will still be good later.. Bloodpelt thought with a yawn as she slowly lowered her head onto her talons and shivered a little before shyly moving closer to the male who also appeared to be feeling the cold. Purring softly and after getting comfortable, the female curled her tail around herself so that the tip rested over her beak and slowly closed her eyes, hoping no one who saw her so close to Eanoth would become mad because of it. Her breathing soon slowed and became deeper as she drifted off into a calm sleep, her dreams peaceful and warm.

[RebornWolf]

Eanoth had tucked his head into his chest feathers as he slept, but he felt another being beside him. In the darkness of his mind, it barely registered, but instinct caused him to curl closer to the creature, closer to the source of warmth. His head rested on the others' shoulder, and he breathed in a sweet smell.

As darkness welcomed the beaten male again, he briefly wondered if he was still alive, or if he was resting with an angel.

--

Wolf snarled as she paced around outside of the cave. Trying to calm down, she tore sticks and shrubbery in half and cleared a good-sized camp clearing, right up to the base of the tree. One of the large thick branches hung over the clearing, where she decided she would sit when addressing her flock. Easily scaling the tree up to that point, she clawed her way over to the middle of the branch. An abnormably large lizard scurried past her, in an attempt to get away. She slammed her fist down, but the lizard dislodged it's tail, which continued to wiggle. Snorting, she reached down, nailing the lizard in the head with her talon and ripping it to pieces before eating it.

Her temper had mostly subsided by then, and she felt a sudden wave of tiredness. Letting a paw drape over the side of the branch, she fell asleep, her tail hanging over the opposite edge.

--

Makani, dejected, rose to his feet and tried to follow the other griffins. His own flock shot him dirty looks as they dropped off prey. Inching forward, he attempted to take a scrap, but noticed a rather golden looking female staring at the prey pile, which was being quickly ripped apart by the Silverdawn.

"Jeeze!" He screeched, and dove in to grab a squirrel. Taking a pawful of its tail, he pulled it out of the tangled mass of starving Silverdawns and dropped it at Chardira's feet.

"Here" He said, nudging it at her with his beak. The other males had all but given up, and were staring on the path that led to Thieves territory. He turned back to smile at her warmly, before accompanying the males home. One of them turned to whisper in his ear.

"You're going to get yourself killed with all of that flirting you do, chicken." They taunted. His nature would not allow him to get angry with them, but he did have a come-back.

"Oh, I'm a chicken. A coward? Sure. But, hey, when you guys are rotting your old corpses away in that damp cave of ours, while I'm friendly with the ladies, you'd only wish you were as cool as me."

They snorted with nervous laughter, then continued down the path silently.

[Takora]

Chardira looked surprised at the squirrel that the male presented before her. “Thank you.” she said silent, swallowing the small meal down gratefully. Her stomach would sure leave her be now a few hours.

Meanwhile the Silverdawn griffins had completely devoured the prey that was brought to them, and they where still greedy fighting over a few bones with each other. Terimaire was sitting atop of her rock, silently eating her part of the meal. Since she was the Alpha of the flock, she got the first shot at the meal, and one of the griffins carried a big leg of an elk to her before jumping herself into the fight for food.

As Terimaire was finished half with her meal, she noticed that Chardira was sitting far away, staring at the remains of the pile of food.

“Do you want to join me?” Terimaire crooned in the direction of Chardira. The light blown griffin turned her head and looked surprised at her. Chardira was still very hungry and sure would not throw away an invitation to a meal.

“Do you mean me?” Chardira inquired politely.

“Yes, come here and join me Chardira.” Terimaire said gentle as a dove.

Chardira hesitated, but her stomach protested with a loud growl, and she gave in. She got up from her feet and walked slowly up to Terimaire, looking up at the white griffin perching over her head from the rock.

“Come up.”

“Uhm okay….” Chardira looked around, she was not sure if it was insulting to the other flock members to sit next to their Alpha, but when Terimaire said it, it must be somehow okay, that assumed she. With a short jump she was on the rock, and sat down besides the white griffin. Terimaire shoved the elk foot with her beak to Chardira and nudged her to eat. Carefully Chardira took a bite and started to eat. Terimaire smiled and was satisfied now.

But the flock was not at all happy about that Chardira was allowed to sit next to Terimaire, and that the alpha even shared food with her. One white female stepped forward to the rock and screeched angry at Terimaire.

“Mother, we are all still very hungry, why don’t you tell the thieves to get us more food?”

“I know that you all have been starving nearly for weeks now, but we should not annoy our new comrades that much.”

The other griffins heard the conversation, and stopped to fight over the last bones and lined up around the rock. Chardira stopped to eat and felt very uncomfortable now.

The crowd got angrier every second, and they shouted in unison at their Alpha that they are still hungry and demand for more food.

“SILENCE!” Terimaire jumped up on her four feet and screeched down at the griffins. The crowd felt silent and stepped back a few steps, Chardira tried meanwhile to hide herself in her own feathers.

“Alright, I will ask Wolf for more food.” Terimaire snorted angry and swatted the elk bone away from the rock, and let it fly across the plateau. Immediately the crowd started to chase the meat, and started again to fight over it.

Terimaire jumped from her rock, and motioned with her tail that Chardira should follow her. Chardira was not happy about that, she did not want to go to Wolf, but better than to stay her and be eventually devoured by the hungry griffins.

After a shot walk, Terimaire stood before the cave of the Band of Thieves, followed by Chardira.

Terimaire looked up and spotted the sleeping Wolf. “Wolf, my flock is still hungry and starving, are you able to go out again and hunt for more fresh kills? Chardira will join you if you don’t mind.”

Chardira was not at all happy about how that turned out.

“But why me? I am still injured!”

“You will be alright, Wolf will sure keep an eye of you.”

Yeah, that is not really what Chardira wanted.

[RebornWolf]

Wolf looked down, bemused, from her perch. When she could finally rest a bit, the leader of the Silverdawn had woken her up from her nap. And now she was requesting Wolf haul her unhappy campers out to hunt for another flock? Her own griffins were hungry, but took turns sharing the meal with their friends and siblings. In some ways, the Thieves were being more civilized then the Silverdawns.

As Terimaire walked passed them, many of them hissed angrily or rose to there feat. Wolf swished her tail, irritated. They backed down to let her deal with the nuisance. But her reply surprised them.

"Not now, Terimaire." Wolf sighed, still laying down. She put a paw up to her chin to support her head and she yawned. When the other leader would not go away, she pushed her upper body up, so that she was sitting instead of lazing around.

"You mean to tell me, that even after the food they received, they want more? You mean to tell me that not ONE of your griffins can go out and hunt for themselves? Rabbits aren't hard to catch. Elk are more of a challenge, but even four of your skinny ones should be able to hold it down. I am able to go out an hunt, and I did agree to hunt for your flock. But mind you, these woods run the risk of being over-hunted. I'll tell you what- You haul a few more of your griffins for me to take out, and I'll show 'em how to hunt. The right way. Maybe then, if something happens, you won't have to rely on me? How does that sound?" She said cheekily.

--

Makani had arrived at camp shortly before that Silverdawn's flock's leader and that golden griffin. He started forward to them, surprised. "Oh, it's you!" He said, a gentle smile on his face.

"If you wouldn't mind, mi'lady, may I hunt with you?" He asked Wolf earnestly. She nodded without looked at him, and allowed two more of her griffins to volunteer. Wolf stepped forward, and nodded at Terimaire.

"We'll take this one, and at least three you send us. We will all meet before this-" She said, walking a short ways to an abnormally shaped boulder. It was red, like a lot of the rocks around her, but it wad in the shape of an upside-down griffins foot, complete with jagged "talons" pointing up to the sky. "This here stone."

Turning her back on them, she added. "Don't let them be late, and pick some that wont be swayed by or scared of my griffins, please."

Makani bid them farewell, and stood by to escort them, when they felt the need to leave.

[Takora]

Terimaires expression got angry as Wolf addressed her in a very impolite fashion.

“You may not know, but they haven’t eaten much since weeks, and are still nearly starving, especially the fledglings, they need more food to survive the next few days!”

Terimaire ignored the other griffins and their aggressive behavior.

„I am sorry to disappoint you, but my handful of remaining females are not hunters, and will never be. As I already told, you all my strong hunters and guardians where killed by the scaled demons, not long time ago.”

Terimaire seemed strong to the outside, but in her inside she was still sad when she had to talk about the indecent a few weeks ago. She could just not forget the scattered corpses and body parts that where randomly laying around in the sand pit, and the blood of them that tinted the sand crimson red.

Chardira just slinked back during the whole conversation, even when the male said friendly hello to her.

As even Wolf demanded to send out her precious children to hunt, and risk their lives, it was enough for her. She clawed with her silver talons into the stone, and crushed it easily between her paws. Her gracile outside did not assume that she had so much strength in her old body.

Without saying a word, and giving the young male a glaring gaze, that he should not follow them, she left again with Chardira walking after her. Chardira was glad that she was away again from Wolf, that griffin crept her out.

After a short walk again, both entered the plateau again, with the hungry griffins waiting.

“Will we get more food?” One screeched hungry.

“No.” Terimaire said short before jumping back on her rock.

“But why?” A young fledgling inquired. He was maybe three months old, and had a silvery white puffy fur. He has just started to loose his fluff and grow real feathers, but due the lack of food they where just atrophied, naked stems.

“I will go hunt…” She said broken and lifted her body up again. Chardira felt guilty, even when she had just a few pieces of meat.

“I... I go with you!” she shouted and ran up to Terimaire, who just spread her massive, black and white wings to lift off.

Terimaire nodded friendly to Chardira and smiled, before lifting off. Chardira spread her wings also and jumped from a cliff edge to follow Terimaire with gliding, beating her wings was just to painful for Chardira at the moment, thanks to the wounds she had.

After a short flight, Terimaire decide to land in a glade, that was divided by a small river. She laded near it and walked up to it, lowering her head to drink from the fresh liquid. Chardira landed rather ungrateful near the silvery griffin, and walked up to her.

“I am sorry for you loss, I did not know….” Chardira said sad.

“It is alright, that is life.” Terimaire said as she lifted up her head again. Chardira also bowed down to drink, but suddenly a loud noise let both griffins shriek up.

“By Barroth? Could it be?” Terimaire said exited and started to run through the forest

Those where the sounds of an animal screaming for help, the sound of easy prey. Chardira had problems to follow Terimaire, but eventually she managed to catch up as Terimaire stopped to look down from a small hill.

What both saw then was exceeding. A black griffin was clawed on the back of a giant Caribou bull, and fighting with it. The bull was jumping around widely and shook its antlers enraged around, in an attempt to hit the griffin on its back. But the griffin continued to claw on its back and tore deep wounds in the animal. Suddenly, the bull shook again its horns around and hit the griffin, knocking it of his back. The black griffin landed hard on the forest floor and was a bit dazed as he tried to get up again. The bull saw its chance and reared up, trying to crush his attacked with its hoofs and body weight. But the griffin realized early enough that he was about to be trampled and launched himself forward, his talons white opened and beak. The black griffin hit then the Caribou on his neck with the talons and ripped the throat of the bull open. The bull stumbled back and fell over, and did his few last breaths before dieing.

Chardira mouth just stayed open in awe, that black griffin sure knew how to fight, and had nerves out of steel.

“Magnificent!” Terimaire said loudly as she walked towards the black one.

The addressed one turned around and looked interested at the two griffins.

“Oh well, thank you, ladies!” the black one said amused at the compliment, and tried to sort his ruffled feathers, thanks to the fight.

“I never saw a griffin take down alone a Caribou, especially such a giant bull…” Chardira said still in awe, and looked at the dead animal.

“What brings you here, in the outer part of the forests?”

“Well hunting, since it is our territory.”

“Uh oh… so you are Silverdawns?”

“Well yes.”

“Uhmmmm…. I am sorry then… Take this kill as payment for not killing me please.” The black one stepped back, his head lowered in a submissively gesture.

“Well thank you, we take this gift gladly from you.” Terimaire said as she walked up to the corpse, and started to eat.

Chardira walked up to the side of Terimaire, whispering in her ear.

“That male can good fight, maybe you should ask him if he joins your flock?”

Terimaire stopped eating and smiled at Chardira.

“Little you know my dear, that was my first thought as I saw the bull fighting with the bull.” She smirked amused.

Chardira looked confused, but decided to swallow down quick a few pieces of meat, before she fell over because of hunger. Meanwhile Terimaire walked up to the black one, opened her wings. Opening the wings to another griffin is considered a friendly gesture, since it exposes the weak points of a griffin.

“Well, have you ever thought of joining the Silverdawns?”

“Hmm… why not.” The black answered quickly.

“We can really use a male of your caliber, you are a good hunter.”

“Thank you, my lady.” The black one bowed his head to Terimaire.

“My name is Terimaire, I am the Alpha female of the Silverdawn clan. And that is Chardira.” She nodded over the gold-ish female that was just greedy trying to devour the whole prey.

“My name is Crow, the Blackbullet.”

“What an interesting name, well shall we eat a bit? Then we don’t have to carry the whole giant bull.”

“Yes, my lady.” Crow said amused and walked over with Terimaire to eat also from the dead animal.

But little they know that Crow was already involved with another female, that had discussed a plan with him.

[RebornWolf]

"Weaklings" Wolf said, picking the inside of her beak with a small bone before flicking it away. But, she sighed. She wouldn't have minded if starvation killed off a few of the Silverdawn's adults, but fledglings? Eanoth would have taken a special distaste to that scenario. So, as the two females left in an angry huff, she relented behind their backs.

The griffins around her noted the particular sound in her voice as she said "Makani, go take a squirrel or somethin' for their chickletts." The request came off of her tongue like cold syrup, as if she had to force the words out.

The cream male nodded, and picked up the last three squirrels from the meager heap of prey. The griffins that were dinning reached out angrily, but he smacked at their paws quickly. "This is an order from Wolf. I remember you big loafs didn't go out to hunt. Well, if you're so hungry, stop picking off of the work of others and go catch yourselves something to eat! We aren't an entitlement flock- you aren't going to get anything if your don't work!" He screeched.

The sparse griffins still outside dropped what they were doing in shock. Makani almost never spoke up, least of all spoke his mind to a more dominant griffin. They were beginning to realize why Wolf kept him.

But, as the hurried Griffin trotted away, he felt as if he had cheated them. In truth, he just wanted to talk to the female again. It wasn't some special attraction...just...that she was pleasant.

--

Makani made it to Silverdawn camp in a few moments, as he set a galloping pace. But, he arrived too late, just in time to watch Chardira and Terimaire disappear over the edge of the cliff.

"H-Hey! Wait" He called desperately, rushing forward, but they were too far off. Turning around, dejected, he trudged forward to the fledglings.

"Wolf sent this for you're fledglings..." He said, pouting. He layed the morsels before the fledglings, so that they may eat.

[Lost Guardian]

A deep purr rumbled up from Bloodpelt's chest as she relaxed against the male, the fur and feathers on her shoulders fluffing up a little when she faintly felt something resting on them. She never realized just how much she truly missed the warmth of another and how much better it felt to have someone to curl up beside. The female didn't know how long she was asleep before the sounds of an argument begin to slink into the cave and roused her from her peaceful sleep with an annoyed flick of her tail. Moving slightly to stretch, she stopped herself from standing when she felt something weighing down on her and found out it was Eanoth when she looked back, making her have to settle back down so she wouldn't wake or hurt him. Curling her tail back under herself, Bloodpelt turned her head towards the cave entrance to listen to the debate going on outside.

These griffins sure do bicker a lot... She sighed as she shook her head slowly and rested her beak back on her talons with her ears back, not used to hearing the amount of screeching she had in the last several hours. Though it didn't take long for the racket to die down, there was no way that the red and black female was going to be able to get back to sleep and she decided to eat a little so her stomach wouldn't start growling. Slowly reaching out for the plate of bark with her talons, Bloodpelt carefully pulled it over to herself in an effort to make as little noise as she could and began to pick at the pheasant. Using her sharp talons with scalpel-like procession, she began to divide the bird up into two equal servings pausing only occasionally to clean the blood of a claw before going back to work.

Good..the meat's still fresh.. The female purred softly as she finished separating the pheasant, leaving the half for Eanoth on the bark as she grabbed a talon-full of blackberries. Twitching her tail tip with an amused look in her eyes, she carefully began to crush the berries and rub them onto the meat to add a sweet flavor to it. After sniffing at her little concoction and cleaning the berry residue off her talons, Bloodpelt purred happily and began to eat slowly while giggling quietly to herself.

((Bleh short.. x.X))

[Takora]

In the morning:

“That griffin knows how to fly fast!” Stardust thought to herself as she had problems to follow Crow through the clouds. It seemed that he even enjoyed diving through the foggy clouds and even played with them. But Stardust had no time to frolic in the sky; she needed to finish her plan in her head while keeping up with the black one.

Stardust dived through a cloud and expected then to see Crow again, but he was gone! Worried she looked around, how embarrassing to loose that male! She flew a few circles and screeched Crows name a few times in hope that he would respond and come back.

“Oh, you already screech my name? How nice!” she heard the males voice… under her?!?!

Stardust looked startled down and saw that Crow was flying on his back under her, and looked amused up to the silvery griffin.

“Stop that fooling around and bring me finally to the place you wanted to go!” she snapped loudly at him and swatted with her right paw after Crow. He just folded his wings together and dived down, only to shoot up again thanks to a wind gust. Both continued then to fly on, without fussing from Crow of Stardust.

After a while they reached the central part of Liasse, where the sand slowly swallowed the forest. Stardust looked worried around, she was never so far away from her home, and this was the land of the scaled demons!

Crow recognized the worry of Stardust. “Don’t be worried, the scaled demons only go hunting in the night, during the day they just laze around in the sun!” Stardust just shook her head and closed up to Crow.

Soon a mountain chain showed up, it was similar to the mountains that Stardust knew, but they where still different. They where deep red with sandy colors, and reached high up in the skies, between them where long and deep canyons, where sometimes even a small river was. Crow flew quickly and agile between the stone pillars that reached high up, while Stardust stumbled and had problems to not to crash into one.

Finally, to Stardust’s relief, Crow landed on a plateau that was covered in red sand. Stardust landed next to him and looked annoyed around. Her silvery pelt was now all red!

“No worries my lady, where we go is a lake where you can wash your beautiful feathers!” he smirked.

Crow started then to run and jumped off the cliff, without opening his wings. Stardust ran after him and looked down the cliff, why the hell he was dong this! But to her surprise, under the cliff edge was another small, that lead into a small cave opening. Crow looked up to Stardust and grinned, and then vanished into the cave. Annoyed followed Stardust, and squeezed herself into the small cave opening. For a few minutes, both walked along a tight cave tunnel, where hardly light was in it. Often Stardust stumbled and landed with her head on the back of Crow, or ran with her head against a stone.

Finally the tunnel had an end and ended into a huge cave. Stardust had to blink a few times to adept her eyes again to the light. What she saw was just overwhelming. The cave was illuminated by thousands of small mushrooms that glowed; also in the center of it was a large lake, probably fed by an underwater spring. Also from the roof where sun pillars reaching into the cave, since several small holes where in it.

“Welcome to my summer residence, my lady.” Crow said amused. “Maybe do you want to take a bath now?”

“And giving you a show? Hell no!” she snorted at the male and walked over to a stone that she used as seat. Crow chuckled amused and followed Stardust, and took a stone as seat to the opposite of her.

“So, tell me your story my dear.”

“Alright. The Silverdawns have a quite long history you know. The alpha pair contained at least one silvery griffin, that was so since we exist. Terimaire and Talantor are the current leaders of the flock, or where. Talantor was killed along with his son Tekaro from the winged demons a few weeks ago. Tekaro was the prince of the Silverdawn flock. But what no one knew is that Terimaire had a brother, called Tismar, my father. Before Tismar got himself alpha along with his mate Tekri, both vanished. And so Tekaro and Terimaire got alpha. But Tismar left back an egg, that egg was me. Terimaire raised me as flock member, knowing that I am true queen of Silverdawn. As I was old enough, she told me what happened. You know, she could just have dispatched me while I was a helpless chick, but she did not. And so I agreed to shut up in order to stay in the flock.

But Terimaire made a mistake lately, she invited our very enemy “The Band of Thieves” into our territory, to protect us, since all our males where killed by the scaled demons! I can not accept that those dirty bastards live near us and eat out food! I am the true queen and know what to do to survive without those bastards! But what is in my way are four things, the three eggs from Terimaire and Talantor that are still in the nesting cave, and Terimaire herself. If those four nuisances are gone, I can become queen and reign like a true Silverdawn over the flock and bring it back to its very glory of the old days I was so often told in the past!

And there is where come you into play. You have to get into the flock as a spy, and act as assassin. Dispatch first the eggs, and then Terimaire!”

Crow nodded interested. “What a heartbreaking story my dear, but what do I get out of all that trouble?”

“Well my dear, I need a king to reign along my side, and you seem be very fit for that job.”

“Me a king? I am just a dirty griffin vagabond my dear. But why should I decline such a nice invitation from such a handsome female.” He blinked with one eye.

“I can not go back to the Silverdawns until you are finished with your job. They knew I was not happy about the pact.”

“I see, and how should I get into the flock?”

“Terimaire is very desperate, and welcome everyone in her flock with open wings, a hunter would just be the right thing for her. Go into the territory and hunt there. Sooner or later you will encounter them. Play like an innocent griffin that just wants a flock. And when you have gained their trust, finish your job.”

Crow stood up and walked up to the lake, and took a few beaks full of water. “Well, I suppose we have a deal then, my beauty. I guess I better go now again, the sooner I finish my job, the sooner we can have our weeding night.” The male said amused as he dashed out of the cave again.

“What an annoying playboy…” Stardust looked at her golden claws. “I guess I keep him as long as he is useful for me, then my claws have soon again something to do.” She laughed amused.

~~~

As the flock members saw the cream colored griffin entering the plateau, they piled up to a line and hissed disapproving at him. But as she offered the squirrels to the fledglings, they fell silent.

“I knew that they had stored more meat for themselves!” a female commented angry as she shoved the few fledglings to the squirrels. The fledglings started to eat the bit of meat without a fuss, and shared fair among each other, much more civilized than the adults.

~~~

Each griffin swallowed as much meat as they could fit inside themselves, such a rich meal was sure rare in these cold parts of Liasse. As everyone was stuffed with meat, they flopped down on their bellies to clean their beaks and claws.

“We should head back to the flock, the fledglings need the food.” Terimaire spread her wings and lifted off, leaving the work to carry the still massive prey up to Crow and Chardira.

“Pfffffffff…” Chardira snarled disapproving at that gesture, while she was wounded, Terimaire was not, and the old lady was sure still strong enough to help.

“Come on Goldie, I make sure that you don’t have to carry much.” Crow said amused as he packed the bull on the head, while Chardira packed the animal on the back with her claws.

Both lifted then off with the fresh kill to follow Terimaire.