Chapter 39: The Griffin’s Dream

By the time the sun reached overhead in the afternoon, Jace and Grider had already set out, not even looking for a place to eat lunch.

Carriages to and from Shining Gold were available at all hours of the day and night, and the two men hitched a ride in passing and were on their way.

While looking at the light-filled patches of light coming down from the shade of the Irving Forest, the deer showing their heads in the dense forest, the birds of all colors jumping back and forth from the branches of the trees, and listening to the rhythmic rhythms of the horses’ hooves and the sound of the wheels.

For the moment, he also forgot about any orcs, any werewolves, any death knights, any orders from the Shadow Council, and stared at the gates of Stormwind, which were getting further and further away, fading away between the canopy of trees and the light, and emptied his mind.

Laying in the back seat of the rocking car, drinking goat’s milk that someone else had paid for that smelled a little fishy, Jess really thought it would be nice if this was the way it was going to be for the rest of his life.

“I was looking at the horses in the mage district the other day, and one was better looking than the other.” He crossed one leg and asked Grid next to him, “How much does it cost to keep a horse here?”

Grid opened his eyes and looked at the sky and said, “I don’t know anything about horses, and I’ve never ridden one, so you’re kind of the wrong person to ask. But I know that if you want to raise a horse, you have to differentiate between them, ordinary packhorses are not at all in the same class as warhorses, not to mention those famous horses that only rich people can ride.”

Jace said, “I was told that those real warhorses that the Stormwind knights ride cost almost a couple dozen silvers a month, do you find that number believable?”

Grid sidled up and said, “I think it would be about the same, but it’s one of those things where you have to factor in the wear and tear of being used in combat, such as the labor to get someone to get the feed, ah, the freight to deliver the feed, the cost of the training, and whatnot, and I’m guessing it shouldn’t take that much to keep a warhorse as a pet in the stables.”

“Doesn’t keeping a war horse as a pet make it a regular horse?” Jace asked.

“Ha, that’s right. Penny wise and pound foolish, always.” Grid said, “Some of the griffons that are fed up in the nest can’t even fly the first time they try to fly after not flying for a long time, they’re as dumb as a pig with a bird’s head. But it’s too expensive and too much work to fly and train them regularly, and I’m tired just thinking about dealing with griffins. I just want to ride them into battle when it’s time to fight, I don’t even want to care about what those monsters eat, drink or do, they’re smelly, they’re mean, and they’re full of shit.”

Hearing Grid talk about griffins, Jace was curious: “Then have you ever thought about how many tamers are suffering for you behind the scenes while you ride a griffin in style?”

“Ho, it’s not like I’m heartless.” Grid said, “Did I ever tell you about Gothrum? He is a griffin breeder, and my knowledge of griffins is limited to how to communicate and make him obedient in combat …… while Gosrum is a true master of beast taming. I’m sure he can casually glance at a griffin flying through the sky and know how heavy an egg he has grown between his two legs.”

“Do griffins still grow eggs?” Jace asked.

Grider asked rhetorically, “If birds and cats have them, why not griffins?”

That’s really something, Jace asked again, “Speaking of which, what’s it like to ride a griffin?”

The dwarf narrowed his eyes and thought for a few moments before saying, “It’s like riding a lustful woman who is rocking wildly for more, but you feel exhausted and have to let her torment you as she pleases, grabbing your arms, your shoulders, and rocking wildly. But all you have to do is whistle and she understands you, scurrying out for a while with your thoughts, and slowly you realize you’re going to lose control again. Hey, when you put it that way, it even smells the same.”

Jace wasn’t sure if Grid was being serious or if he was just showing off both banging a horny woman and riding a crazy griffin at the same time here, after all, he didn’t have much of a reference for either of those coming up.

“I wonder if I’ll ever get a chance to try riding a griffin?” He muttered as if to himself.

“You?” Grid turned his head to look at Jace.

He didn’t answer right away, but looked up and down and wondered what he was thinking about for a moment before saying, “I’d like to go back to Eagle’s Nest Mountain before Winterfest, are you coming?”

“Why, go back for what?”

“Maybe you humans don’t feel the same way, but Winterfest is the most important holiday for Dwarves, and I wanted to make a trip back to see old friends, or at least to tell everyone that I’m still alive.”

Jace asked hesitantly, “Are humans welcome in the Eagle’s Nest?”

“Not welcome.” Grid grunted and giggled twice, “But you won’t be hung up and fed to the griffins either, I suppose after the orc wars my people are treating you all a little better, after all countless dwarven warriors have seen the valor of humans in battle and improved a lot of their inherent prejudices. At the very least, most of my fellow clansmen I know feel that humans are undoubtedly more reliable allies than elves. Look at you, a seventeen year old boy who is normally as wimpy as a rabbit but is as brave as a lion after encountering undead monsters, it’s really hard to tell.”

Jace let out an awkward laugh, it was quite disconcerting to have this guy compliment him like that.

The Dwarf let out a long breath and said, “I mostly meant to say that you might get a chance to try your hand at riding a griffin when the time comes.”

“Seriously?” Jace immediately sat up straight, “I get to ride a griffin too?”

“Why not.” Grid said, “It’s not up to us if we can ride it, it’s up to the griffins.”

“What do you mean?”

“Griffins are very intelligent, you don’t realize how intelligent a griffin is until you deal with one, and sometimes it’s hard to think of them as beasts. It can be said that the relationship between griffins and our clans is not one of domestication and being domesticated, but more like a naturally occurring covenant. You see, even those wild griffons wandering around in the wild mountains would not actively attack the dwarves, and our clan would treat those griffons as friends, taking the initiative to help them in times of distress, and vice versa. It’s just that the griffons will be more concerned with protecting their own well-being; if a dwarf encounters a bear, a griffon might come down to help, but if it’s a troll that they encounter, the wild griffons will tend to defend themselves. Of course, the griffons we live with never fight to the death, unless they find certain suicidal actions pointless.”

“But won’t that affect your operations?” Jace said, “For example, what if you are determined to carry out an operation with great risks but equally great rewards and the griffons defy it, won’t that make the griffon knights less effective in combat? After all, there are many times when sacrifices need to be made.”

The dwarf leaned over to Jace’s side and replied, “That’s the point, my old man, griffins tend to have no fear of sacrifices that are actually worthwhile, but are determined to defy decisions that are foolish. They are right for the most part, and they also positively influence the strategies of the Griffon Knights. That’s why I say the Griffins are ridiculously smart and as respectable as a bunch of squealing wise men.”

Squeaky Wise …… It’s kinda hard for Jace to understand this relationship from his perspective.

But the Barbaric Hammer Dwarves had come to this for two hundred years, the Cintron trolls who fought against them were getting weaker and weaker, but the alien Barbaric Hammer Dwarves built the great Eagle’s Nest fortress with the griffins, so what position was he in to criticize such a covenant of steel?

“Of course.” Grid leaned back and lay on his arms, “Those griffins aren’t always docile, once on land they have to find a way to cover their eyes, like you humans would put blindfolds on your warhorses to obscure the view from both sides and keep them moving forward fearlessly. Unlike horses that are too timid, the problem with griffins is that they are too bold. These baddies always like to bully the weak and small, either that or they just keep eating, and after being suppressed in the sky for too long, once they hit the ground these desires are completely uncontrollable la, running around uncontrollably, and can’t be pulled no matter how hard they try to pull them.”

Jace asked, “So will they eat me if I show up in front of them?”

Grid sighed and said, “All that I just said for nothing? I mean, the griffins are willing to work with brave, kind people, willing to fight together with those who value their relationship, and they’re definitely capable of distinguishing that. There was a time when we fought trolls with the elves of Sintran, and the elves were even able to fight on griffins that had lost their dwarven riders, and those griffins were just as valiant in battle as they were with the dwarves. If the vile elves can do it, why can’t you, are you hiding some dark secret that you cannot tell?”

Jace licked his lips and thought to himself, Indeed.

Now that he’d been exposed to an undoubtedly dark magic, Fear Magic, then his mind and body had, probably, been affected by some of the Shadow energies, even if he didn’t feel them at all at the moment.

What if those griffins sensed his inner darkness like the Holy Light and rushed up and took him away with a mouthful?

But the lure of riding a griffin was too great, so what if I could have the chance to ride one once and risk being taken away by a mouthful? It was flying!

Jace asked again, “Speaking of which, why don’t the elves tame griffins for battle? If they can fight together, why haven’t they established a covenant like the one between the Barbarian Hammer Dwarves and the Griffins? Elves have been living in the area of Cintron much longer than dwarves, right?”

“You’re right.” Grid said, “Elves have been living around Cintron for nearly a thousand years before we traveled to the Eagle’s Nest Mountains.”

He pulled a branch of grass he had caught from the side of the road at some point from beside the bag, twisted it and held it in his mouth, and said, “As for why they don’t want to tame griffins, I think it’s really quite simple: elves don’t like to work with others, and they don’t like things that aren’t under their control. They like to enslave every living thing they see, and if they can’t, they kill them, and if they can’t be defeated, or if the cost is too great, they isolate them from their homeworlds, and try to make as little contact as possible, unless they are in great trouble they can’t deal with on their own, and only then are they willing to bow down and ask for help.”

Grid continued, “They stubbornly consider themselves, the Quel’dorei, to be different from us mortals. You know what Quel’dorei means in Elvish, the noble people, who pride themselves on being a higher being born from the Well of Eternity, a sacred race blessed by this world. All who are not ruled by them, who do not submit to their rules are barbarians with no value to their existence. Quite difficult to understand, eh?”

Jace followed with a dry laugh.

“But the Red Dragon’s flames taught these smug guys a good lesson.” Grid said, “Maybe they finally realized that it’s time for them to step out of their ‘invincible’ Rune Stone Formation and come to the outside world for a good look, too.”

“If you hate elves so much, why are you always looking at the Windwalker girls?” Jace teased.

The dwarf said, “Female elves and male elves are not the same species! And female elves are two different species in and out of bed! You’re in the mage district, at least learn to categorize species from those mages, boy, live long enough and you’ll understand, don’t be so rigid!”