The Ecstasy of Defeat

by AgentSnail

Beginnings

Beginnings

Just one more cart to push...

Just one more, Eldon was sure of it. He wiped his brow with a talon, flicking the moisture to the floor in a quick motion as his stomach growled. He peered over the edge of the steel container, staring at the coal momentarily, and sighed.

"What do you think you're doing?! Get back to work!" A griffin yelled, raising a spear and taking a few steps over. "You want your pay or not, laborer?"

Eldon didn't reply. They never liked it when he said anything back, and he didn't plan for this time to be any different. He simply lowered his shoulder and pushed once again, the cart squealing against the rails as it began to move, coalescing under the superior power of his hind legs. That was something that had unfortunately gotten him picked for this job in the first place.

But then again, he was sure he didn't want to be one of the griffins that had ended up smaller than average, and was placed much deeper in these pits than the rest of them. His thoughts shifted as the cart began to pick up speed, the kerosene lamps lining the walls becoming less useful with the barrage of light entering from outside.

Eldon squinted his eyes as he moved from the dark of the mine into direct sunlight, beginning to pull on the cart and slow it down as he neared the end of the line. It bumped into the small barricade at the end with a loud clack noise, earning him a loud scream of annoyance from one of the overseers. He tipped the hopper of the cart over a moment later, watching the black stones roll down a chute into- somewhere, he wasn't really sure.

In any case, a horn went off and Eldon stopped trying to push the cart back into the mine, allowing his sore muscles to relax. A griffin walked by, tossing a few coins at him in disgust. "You better try harder tomorrow." He said, narrowing his eyes and leaving Eldon to pick up the measly amount of currency. He looked it over, sighing as he realized that it was nothing special. Sometimes they screwed up and thew in an extra cent or two, but this time they were bang on.

Which of course, meant less food for him and his brother.

The griffin let out a groan as his leg gave him grief, stiffly walking off the dig site and towards the market that he visited every night. He went straight up to the same stand that he visited every day, waiting in a line that always seemed to accumulate mere seconds before he arrived.

"Twenty cents per pound?!" A griffin yelled at the front of the line. "I can't pay that and expect to feed my family, I-" he was cut off as an armored griffin grabbed him and pulled him away, the guy yelling and panicking as he disappeared around a corner. At least he hadn't been beaten to a pulp like the guy from yesterday, and then dragged off. The rest of the line quickly lost interest.

"Next!" The griffin operating the stall yelled, causing Eldon to jump. He turned and walked up to the window, unhappily plopping down most of his paycheck.

"Are there any mushrooms in stock?" He asked, fully expecting the answer to be no. Nothing besides beef was ever in stock.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. How much?" Eldon counted the remaining coins in his palm, handing a few over. "A quarter of a pound."

The female griffin nodded, turning to grab the mushrooms. Eldon threw a talon out and stabbed a small piece of meat, pulling it back towards him and hiding it under his wing before she turned back around. It wasn't a big piece, that would be stupid. She would notice something big. He picked up his food, turning and walking away with some meat, mushrooms and a small container of government issued soup broth.

He walked by a griffin body, unsure whether he was looking at a corpse or simply someone that had passed out from overwork and lack of food. Down the street a guard watched a griffin slowly walk by, only to hit him in the back of the head with a police club as he walked by, sending the innocent guy to the ground. The guards only laughed, turning and walking down the street as if they were invincible.

Eldon turned his thoughts back to the food bouncing around in his saddlebag. Despite the fact that he knew he didn't have much to eat, he was still excited. Tonight was a big night, after all.

___________________________________________

Steam rose from a pot's rim, a spoon breaking the mostly tranquil surface to rotate and distort the chef's expression. Eldon smiled slightly, staring at his reflection in an attempt to distract from the hunger that he seemed unable to remedy. Ever since the stupid griffon revolution, things had only seemed to get worse. All of the promises, food, a say, freedom... None of them had come true. If anything they'd reversed, completely demolishing the gains the revolution had wrought from the hands of the monarchy. And now, he had trouble figuring out which type of government he hated more, the rule of the king, or of the new "democracy" that supposedly ruled in the interest in the people.

Elden stretched out a wing and slightly fanned the flames in the primitive firepit, hoping to use as little firewood as possible. He poked a stick back into the embers with a talon, sighing as part of his claw chipped off. He was starting to get scared, he just felt like he was beginning to fall apart. He was constantly tired, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like he had enough energy to do anything other than his job each day. Ten hours in the mine tended to do that.

He made sure that he soup was simmering and not about to boil over before retreating into the corner of the room, off of the dirt and onto the wooden planks. He stepped on the side of a floorboard and watched the other side pop up slightly, hinting at the treasure that lay beneath. Eldon wedged a talon in between the lifted side and the floor, pulling up the board and setting it carefully against the wall. He reached into the small space it covered and pulled out a couple books, cradling them like they meant the world to him. In a way they did, any outside reading besides what was specifically allowed by the government was illegal, punishable by jail time at best.

But even though Eldon knew this, he still couldn't help keeping the things around. Ever since the government had clipped his wings (and the wings of the rest of the population, for that matter) he'd lost whatever solace he could get out of flying. These texts had been his only escape from the hell this place had become, and he planned to make sure they survived. He'd kept them in immaculate condition, or at least, in the condition that he'd received them in. They were only small paperbacks, clear bends evident as he paged through a book related to the freedom of government he knew he'd never have.

This was one of the things he owned that would surely result in a death penalty, possibly even a mock trial. But he'd had them for so long, and they were one of the few things that his father had passed down. Of course, his mother had left and his father had simply disappeared, probably taken for re-education. He'd never known what had happened, and he hadn't let it bother him. Until he knew what had happened to his father, he couldn't be sad about it. At least, that's what he'd told himself, especially since he constantly feared being taken like his dad had been. Yet despite the fear, he still felt lonely around here during the day more than anything else, at least until Cato came home from school.

Eldon looked at the clock, judging how far the hour hand was between numbers. The minute hand hadn't been working for months, and he had lacked the money and the energy to get the only broken part replaced. He hardly had money to buy food anymore, but he didn't really mind the hunger a whole lot as long as his brother didn't go hungry. His heart seemed to almost break when the kid had to skip a meal, an event that was becoming more frequent.

But soon, he was sure they'd be hurting for food to such an extent that he'd have none of his food left to give, and he'd have to watch as the only other griffin that meant everything to him deteriorated before his eyes. He'd been planning though, hoping for an opportunity to leave the chain link fences of this place behind and go north, where the author of his book claimed residence. That all assumed that the author was both still alive and the government there remained the same. But it couldn't really be worse then here, could it?

It seemed doubtful, at least. He'd been stealing and storing little bits of food for months and he hardly had anything to show for it. Each infraction was a crime in and among itself, and he knew if he didn't leave soon he could be subjected to a search, through actual suspicion or just by chance. All he wanted was to get away from here, he didn't want to bring himself and his brother to death in the process. Ironically, he was fairly sure those were just two sides of the same coin anyway.

Eldon heard the doorknob turn, quickly jumping up to place the book under the floorboard and fix up his hiding spot as his brother walked in, actually smiling as he closed the door.

"What's got you so happy?" Eldon asked, matching his brother's smile as he grabbed the book from its hiding spot once again.

"They screwed up with lunch today and delivered double helpings of food. And guess what? The teacher actually turned a blind eye!"

"Sound's pretty nice," Eldon replied, checking on the soup again. "Hungry?"

"Oh man, yeah!"

"I thought you said you got twice as much food?" Eldon asked jokingly, putting on some well used oven mitts and pulling the pot onto a cooling rack. "Sometimes I think you have a hollow leg."

"Hey, it still wasn't really that much..."

Eldon chuckled, his smile wavering as the oven mitt caught on the end of a talon as he removed the extremity and the claw chipped. "Well I've made something kinda special, considering it's your birthday and all..."

"Oh, you did?!" Cato asked, trying to get a look inside the still steaming pot.

Eldon pushed him gently backwards, grabbing a ladle to stir the soup. "Don't look, it'll ruin the surprise!"

"Come on, lemme see!" The much smaller griffin yelled back, hopping around and flapping his equally flightless wings in excitement.

"No, wait until I serve you." Cato stuck out his tongue, clicking his beak in annoyance as he sat down at the table and crossed his arms.

Eldon picked up a bowl, filling it with a large amount of soup before he started on his own. He brought the stew over a moment later, setting it on the table in front of his brother. "Now you can eat."

"Hey, you think I'll ever get as big as you?" Cato asked, picking up a spoon but not yet starting to eat.

Eldon took a spoonful of stew, slowly slurping it down and savoring the taste. "I'd say so." He doubted it, even if he kept the kid fed. Somehow he'd avoided having his growth stunted even with his meager diet, and somewhat dwarfed the other miners, many of which were twice his age. Not that he was too old, almost eighteen by his count. But even so, he somewhat dreaded having such a big structure to feed and acting as such an easy target for hard labor.

Size was relative though, he was still a little smaller than the guards. All of them were well fed from birth, and consistently towered over the population. A feather fell out of Eldon's wing, clearly cut just above where he assumed the halfway mark was, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Hey bro, are you molting already?"

"I hope so." He replied, running a talon through the feathers.

"But won't you just need to get them clipped again?"

"No, shh. Eat your food."

"But if you don't you can get taken away!" Cato whispered, looking around nervously.

"Look, I'm going to let you in on a secret, alright? We're not going to stay here."

"Where can we go?"

"I don't care, somewhere else. Anywhere else." Eldon replied quietly, sighing.

Cato stared, not breaking the eye contact until he put a spoonful of stew in his mouth. "Where did you get mushrooms?!" He asked rather loudly, picking up another in his spoon with a huge grin.

"They had them in stock. Smuggled some extra meat out to save, though."

"Do you have a death wish?!" Cato hissed, making Eldon think that maybe his brother was realistically the more mature one.

Eldon threw his talons into the air. "No, I want an actual life! I don't want to live here, in constant fear that they search us and find the few things I care about. I want to go north, to somewhere called Equestria, and actually receive something for my work besides sore muscles and hunger."

"Why would you risk everything for that?" His brother asked.

"Because I don't want you to live like this for your entire life, I want you to learn in a school that doesn't teach you how to serve the government, and have friends that wouldn't report me if they got the chance. I want to be able to follow through with what I'm sure dad would have wanted."

Cato went silent for a while, staring at his soup as a mushroom surfaced and then sank again. "You know I trust you, right Eldon?"

"Yeah, otherwise I'd be gone by now." He replied with a chuckle, scooping out a chunk of meat and slowly chewing it up.

"Good, if this is what you think it right, then I'm behind you one hundred percent." The smaller griffin said, grinning with a more nervous air.

"It is, I'm sure of it." Eldon paused, taking another sip of the stew. "Now eat up, I'll tell you the plan later, alright?"

"How long have you been planning this?"

"As of today, seven months." He said, frowning. "Maybe a little more."

"You're insane, Eldon." Cato paused, sighing. "But if you manage get us out, my god. What a brother you'll be."

"I'm not worrying about getting us out." Eldon replied quietly. "I'll gladly go off to a camp or face death if it means giving you a life. You've only flown once before they clipped your wings, and you probably don't even remember it." A tear leaked out of Eldon's eye as his voice cracked on the last word, splashing into his bowl. "I think that's one of the biggest reasons I want to get you out. Flying is the greatest freedom, it's what griffins are supposed to find second nature. And with all the other stuff combined, that's worth way more than just my life."

"You aren't...planning on dying though, right?" Cato asked, his voice wavering as well.

Eldon didn't respond for a moment, taking another sip of broth. "No, I'm not suicidal."

"Good, I was worried there for a sec." The small griffin said, tipping the bowl to his lips and slurping up the stew loudly. "Man, nobody makes as good of a pot of stew as you, Eldon."

"Glad you think so. You want to grab the last bowl?"

"You sure?" Cato asked, watching Eldon nod. "Wait, no. If we're getting out, you need to be at full strength. I don't like watching you give me all of your food like this." He poured the last of the stew into his bowl and set it in front of Eldon. "Call it an early birthday present for you."

"But it's your birt-" He made eye contact with the kid, and decided to drop it. "Fine." Eldon mumbled, finishing off his first bowl and moving on to the second. "What's the square root of twenty five, Cato?"

"Seriously? On my birthday?"

"I'll cut things short, but you need to know this stuff."

"For what?" the smaller griffin asked, sticking out his tongue.

"It's math, its uses are unlimited. At least, when there's more to do than hard labor. I want you to have more options than what I do."

Eldon gulped down his stew, not even trying to savor the taste. He wiped his mouth with a talon and sighed, feeling the most full he'd been for a long time. That sounded a lot better than it was, he realized with a slight bit of disappointment. Either way, he'd still gotten a lot further on this hair-brained scheme than he'd thought he would. But it was impossible to describe how much he hated this place. There were no words that could accurately pinpoint his distaste.

"It's five by the way." Cato said, filling the silence. "Right?"

"Yeah." Eldon rose, walking over to what looked like a wall. Of course, knowing what secrets it held, he always operated under the suspicion that it was obvious, completely noticeable that the wall looked different. And yet no one had cared, luckily. He pried off a board, setting the nailed side against the wall. All buildings were put together with screws nowadays, to prevent such tampering or show more easily that the boards had been tampered with. Wood shavings were a sign that always stood out when someone was searched. "Thirty times forty." He said, hearing a groan from his brother.

"How am I supposed to do that? The answer's like, a million!"

"Remember the zeroes rule?" Eldon asked, smirking ever-so-slightly.

"Wha- oh!" Eldon pulled off another board, fully exposing a saddlebag that he had packed with supplies. He set it on the floor and checked it through, running through a list that he had tucked into a pocket. Preserved meats, dried beans, clean(ish) water. "Where'd you get all of this?" Cato asked, looking at his brother's slightly annoyed stare with confusion. "Twelve hundred?"

"Yeah. I slowly grabbed these things over the last few months, never enough to grab attention, I hope. But this is about five days worth of food tops, assuming we find some other stuff to supplement this with."

"And how far is where we're going?"

"I'm not sure. But five days is pretty far, especially if I can get my wings to molt any faster."

"Wow, you've really been thinking about this for a while."

"Yeah, sorry about not telling you earlier, I just didn't want anything slipping out."

"Hey, come on bro!"

"What?"

"I could've kept a secret, you didn't have to worry about telling me." Cato countered, looking annoyed.

"It's just a larger chance to be found out, no hard feelings." Eldon rebutted.

"You're still on thin ice." The smaller griffin mumbled back, crossing his arms.

"Oh god, whatever will I do?" Eldon asked sarcastically, laughing as his brother punched him in the arm. "Anyway, don't cry over spilled milk."

"But-"

"Shush, go to bed."

"But-"

"I know it's early, but I'll have to wake you up in the middle of the night."

"So why don't you sleep?"

"Because I've got to get things ready, alright?"

"Yeah, fine…" Cato mumbled, not completely able to disguise his nervousness as he turned and walked into the other room.

Eldon watched him leave, quickly hauling the rest of the supplies from the hollow in the wall. It was hardly anything, in the overall scheme of things. Realistically, his harsh representation of the road ahead was nowhere near how hard things would really be. They had maybe five days of supplies, basic survival skills, possibly above average intelligence, and some brute strength that was hampered by the lack of food.

So things obviously looked good.

The griffin picked up a sheathed knife, removing it from it's cover and examining the battered metal. It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was sure as hell better than nothing. Eldon poked the tip with the flat at the end of a talon, flinching as a ball of blood quickly appeared. Sharp enough to do damage, at least. If worse came to worse and he had to fight off another griffin, this would do some serious damage if he could get it between the armor plates and into something important. But then again, this was going from his total lack of fighting skills.

Actually, that wasn't true. He had worked in the mines for years, a heavy weapon would be almost second nature for him to use. And yet this plan was appearing to have lower chances, as he realized without a ton of shock that he didn't actually have a hammer or a pickaxe.

So he'd have to make something then, like a primitive club of sorts. There was the option of attempting to grab something from the mines, but that was more risky than anything he'd done so far by a long shot. Do it yourself it is then.

Eldon drew himself out of his thoughts and tried to be confident like he had felt earlier, when he'd told Cato that he'd get out no matter what, even if that meant dying in the process. But even though he could tell the kid hadn't picked up on his fear, Eldon was scared out of his mind. He was hungry, probably more fragile than he should be, and he had to look out for another griffin that was in no way able to defend himself.

But there was always a way, he liked to think. On some minuscule level, escape was still possible. The main thing he worried about though, besides getting caught, was the possibility of torture and the stupid mock trial. Over the last year several griffins had faced the same fate over so called 'desertion,' followed by a public execution that was brutally slow. Yet no one knew what exactly killed the griffins, there was some sort of needle, and then a horrific amount of screaming. But Eldon had never looked away, or covered his ears, or tried to forget. Sure, he hadn't been allowed to leave either, but still.

The executions were supposed to instill fear into the hearts of the populace, show them that if they tried to escape the hell that was this country, that they would only be put into one that was about a million times worse. And it worked, he was deathly afraid of whatever they put in those syringes. But on the other hand, it only made him want to escape more. It was sick, that they would do these sorts of things just to try to keep order, while the government griffons looked on as if they were about to get a raise. Of course, those griffons that gave out the 'medicine for traitors' as they called it were the only ones that seemed to live comfortably.

And they only had to sell out any hint of their conscience to get there.

Eldon picked up a pair of wire cutters, clenching the lever together between three of his digits. He knew it could cut through the fence, but then again it wasn't a fast process. They would be in one place for at least two minutes, attempting to both not make noise and keep as low of a visual profile as possible. And big as he was, that wasn't easy either.

Eldon raked a talon through his mane, trying to imagine what he thought he would be able to even do when he got to Equestria, assuming it still went by the same name, and even existed. He really had no idea if it did, even though the author had explicitly stated that it was a work of nonfiction. Even then, he hardly knew what ponies looked like. There was a picture on the back with the author and his wife, along with what was either a midget or a foal, probably the latter unless they owned their own royal court.

"I can't sleep." Cato said as he stumbled back into the room, clearly looking tired but probably too nervous to actually get any shuteye.

"You should keep trying, even laying there is better than nothing."

"I'm scared." He continued, taking a small step back. "I don't like it here, but it's all I've ever known." A tear dripped from his face, hitting the ground and seeping between two floorboards.

"Hey, don't think about it like that..." Eldon cooed, crouching down next to Cato and pushing his chin upwards gently with a talon. "It's going to be better this way."

"But- What about Eris?" He asked. "I don't want to leave him alone!"

Eldon sighed, sitting down and leaning against the wall. "We can't bring him, you know."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to chance our survival on some random kid!" He yelled, immediately regretting the outburst. He really needed some sleep as well.

"He's- He's not some random kid, he's my friend!" Cato yelled back, wiping an eye as he turned and ran back into their shared room, slamming the door behind himself.

Eldon sighed and shook his head. This was hardly a decision; he knew he couldn't bring some other kid along, especially because he would be taken from his parents. And because it was a risk to Cato and him. He didn't want to sound selfish, but at this point escaping with other griffins was the last risk he actually wanted to take. He felt burnt out. And tired, so very tired.

"A couple minutes couldn't hurt..." He mumbled to himself, sprawling out in the armchair.

__________________________________________________________

Eldon woke up feeling refueled, the best he'd felt in who knows how long. He was just glad that the clock only read one, which was about on time anyway. At least he had a little luck going for him. He ventured into Cato's room, putting a talon around the young griffin's shoulder and shaking him around gently.

"Do we really have to leave him?" He asked, turning to Eldon with tears already in his eyes. Had he slept at all?

"Yes, Cato." Eldon murmured, sitting down on the bed and folding back his catlike ears that were mostly covered by a tuft of feathers. "He has his whole family here. Would you really want to risk another kid's life on this, when it's our idea? If he came along and died, wouldn't that make it our fault?"

The other griffin stared for a moment before any hint of anger melted away and his head drooped. "I guess."

"Look, if we get to Equestria, maybe we can send somebody back to get him." That was almost surely a lie. The military patrolled the borders nonstop. Some veterans of a skirmish somewhere had marched through the village as some sort of propaganda stunt, trying to remind the griffins that it was the zebra mercenaries that they were really fighting. It was a lot easier to control a populace when it was concentrated on a different enemy from the state.

"Really?" Cato asked, forcing his older brother to refocus.

"Maybe." Eldon replied, ruffling the feathers on the top of his brother's head. "Now come on, I've got a saddlebag all ready for you."

"Aww, I thought you were going to carry everything!"

"What if we get separated? You don't want to be completely out of food right away, do you?"

"I guess not..."

"Alright then, here." Eldon said, picking the pair of bags up with a talon and placing them onto either side of the smaller griffin. He adjusted the straps underneath his belly and stood back, nodding in the affirmative.

"I hate these things." Cato complained, hopping onto the armchair and laying on his stomach.

Eldon only chuckled in response, craning his neck to preen any ajar feathers back into place. He moved a few, enjoying the artificial feeling of calm that seemed to wash over him. He'd always gotten some form of comfort from preening, whether or not he was actually accomplishing anything by doing so. It was just one of those things, he supposed, not that it was seriously interesting. In fact it was often rather boring to rearrange all of the feathers, especially when they had been clipped like they had been.

A wave of pride washed over him at the thought that they were growing, however, as he spread out his wings and observed the uneven feathers at the tips. He was probably far enough through molting that he could be punished, but luckily no one had really noticed. It wasn't an obvious thing, come to think of it, but it was still an amazing feeling to know that he would have the chance to fly again, and soon at that.

Eldon swept his wings downward, feeling a lightness that although close to lifting his weight would never keep him in the air.

"Can you fly?" His brother asked, in a more shocked tone than he would have expected given the fact that their entire race could fly, normally.

"Not yet. But I told you about how things used to be, right? That dad actually taught me to fly legally?"

"I dunno, you usually look all sad when I mention flying." Cato replied, a slight tinge of grief washing over his features. "I didn't think I'd be able to fly anyway, so I just kinda stopped asking."

"Aww, it won't be that bad." Eldon said, grinning. "As soon as you molt, I'll teach you how to fly. Again, I guess, cuz I doubt you remember time you did. But you'll pick it up."

"Promise?" The little griffin asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Eldon sighed, rearing up and stretching out his arms. "Anything else you want to grab? It's not as if we'll be coming back."

"Oh! Hold on!" Cato answered, hopping out of the chair and sprinting into their bedroom. He came back out with their blankets, shoving them both into one side of Eldon's saddlebag. Maybe the sad part about that was that they were thin enough to fit. The older brother only let out another sigh, closing a flap of fabric over the bag as he grabbed some twine and set about attaching the knife's sheathe to one of his hind legs.

"Do you think you'll have to use that?" Cato asked, pointing to the knife and suppressing a yawn.

"I hope not. I'm not the most experienced griffin when it comes to weapons." Wasn't that was the understatement of the century. The pair went silent for a while, neither appearing like they wanted to actually begin the journey that Eldon had planned for so long.

Finally Eldon took a step forward, grasping the doorknob and pulling the door open as a cold wind followed it inside. He walked into the street, looking around at the completely deserted environment. Cato followed along beside him, sticking to his side like glue. He could hardly blame the kid, after all, this whole thing was starting to scare him as well. More than it already did, anyway.

In any case, he'd memorized the route he had to take, and as he made a left turn the fence was already in sight, marking the end of a street. He heard movement and jumped, hurrying off into an alleyway and nearly bumping into a trash can in the meantime. Two griffins went by, swinging kerosene lanterns and laughing their heads off about something. Eldon waited much longer than was probably necessary before getting up to move and knocking the lid from the trash can.

The sound rang out as it spun around, silenced as he smashed it flat with a talon. There was some more talking, coming closer as Eldon grabbed Cato and pulled him against the wall next to the trash can as tightly as he could.

Light spread across the ground, a few rats skittering away farther down from the duo. Eldon couldn't even bear to breathe, his lungs painfully protesting as he tried to wait out the griffins.

"You hear anything over here?" The griffin asked, turning away and making the light waver.

"It's probably just the rats, Rookie. They're vicious little suckers."

"Will you stop calling me that Joel?!" He yelled back, a chuckle filtering down the alley from the other griffin. "Must just be the rats…" The rookie mumbled, turning away. Eldon let out a breath, his heart pounding in his chest. His talons were shaking uncontrollably, one of them struggling to maintain its hold on his knife. He took in several more gulps of air, turning and looking around the side of the trash can.

"Hey Joel, I gotta take a piss. I'll catch up, alright?" the rookie asked, his shadow following the other guard's.

"Sure thing, rookie." Came the voice back, echoing down the street as the griffins moved further away.

Eldon found the area to be clear, and was now just down to the battle between his impatience and the fact that he would rather remain hidden.

Without too much internal deliberation he began to move, pulling his brother onto his back and looking around. He felt the kid's talons wrap around his neck, interlocking with each other just under his chin. Hardly a few more seconds passed in his escape before he saw another light down the street, from the way he'd come. Eldon took off at a fast trot, trying to balance his all consuming fear with the need to retain his energy for later.

That's what everything came down to now, how long he could get this measly supply of food to last.

"Eldon-" Cato began, tugging at his brother's feathers.

"Shush." He replied, flicking the talon away. He was at the fence now, staring up at the imposing mix of rust and iron. He reached into his saddlebag, feeling around for the wire cutters that didn't seem to be there. He began to panic, pushing his palm around with more force in the pocket.

"Eldon,"

"Not right no-" He stared, looking at the wire cutters his brother was trying to hand him.

"They fell out. Behind the trash can."

Eldon thanked the forces above. Not to say he believed in a god, because that was illegal. But in any case, they would at least make it out of this stupid fence. He clipped through one of the links, moving down and clipping the next with a soft chinking noise that quietly sang out into the night, competing with the soft trickle of water as he got down to the final links and his heart rate sped up accordingly... wait.

"Hold it." A rather familiar voice said only moments later, as light shined over the area. "What exactly do you think you're doing? That's vandalism and attempted escape, both crimes punishable by death."

"I wasn't-" Eldon began, turning around.

"Oh? Then what were you doing?" The guard asked, pointing his spear at Eldon's throat. "If you don't mind?"

"I-" He stopped, staring at the other griffin as one of Eldon's talons slipped down to touch at his knife.

"You better just come with me." The griffin said, reaching towards Eldon's wrist. The latter griffin never really thought about how to retort, his only response to tighten the hold around his knife.

"No." Eldon squeaked, squaring his back feet and staring into the guard's eyes. His heart felt like it may explode out of his chest at any moment, the way it was beating. It was so loud, he was surprised the guard couldn't hear it.

"Going against authority, that's another crime. Don't just keep adding it up, guy. I've not got all night." The guard grabbed Eldon's wrist, twisting it painfully and making Eldon drop the wire cutters from his fingers. He let out a shrill cry, Cato in silent tears on his back as Eldon tried to disguise his own noise. His brother... That was what made his blood boil, rage overwriting fear as he unsheathed the knife and stuck it upwards without a hint of logical thought, straight into the throat of the griffin.

The guard let go, clutching at his throat, eyes filled with a look of disbelief and fear as Eldon pushed himself backwards against the fence. The griffin staggered for a moment before falling onto his side, still staring up at Eldon. The pool of blood spreading on the ground made him feel sick, his dinner threatening to show itself once again. The choking seemed to go on for ages before the griffin went silent and Eldon allowed himself to begin to relax, but only slightly. He'd just taken the life of someone, watched the light drain from his eyes.

He knew he shouldn't, but he felt remorse. He felt sorry for the griffin he'd killed in his prime, with one shot to the neck. Another rendition played through his head, making him wheeze slightly as a tear slid down his cheek. Cato was silently bawling into the back of his neck as the larger griffin tore his eyes away from the body, eyes wet as he continued cutting links in the fence.

Only a few seconds went by before a hole was opened up the rest of the way, and Eldon stared through for a moment. It looked too good to be true, not that replays of what had just happened weren't being subconsciously viewed over and over in his head and decidedly making things less than perfect. He climbed through carefully, staring at the guard regretfully, before he reached back through and grabbed his knife, moving it around a bit and retching before it came free. He bit the blade to hold it without thinking, his stomach contorting in disgust as his talon went for the lantern the guard had dropped, along with his spear. This whole ordeal brought down their time to put distance between here and them down astronomically, although the fact that Eldon now had a lantern could allow for a little extra lead once they were in the dark of the woods. It was off now, considering it had fallen over, but it had flints inside. That was another advantage.

He did an abrupt about-face, before suddenly turning back to the fence again. He hopped through, hissing as one of the sharp metal prongs drew a neat cut along his back. Eldon knelt down next to the griffin, tapping him on the helmet and trying to give his best rendition of an apology, even if he really didn't need to express it in the first place. It made him feel better, especially since he needed to take the guy's armor.

The plates of metal weren't too hard to strip off, first the helmet and then the chest plate. He applied the same protection to himself, placing the helmet over his brother's head and smiling lightly as the little guy took a heavy breath and blinked away a tear. Some more plates later, making sure to keep the small ones in his saddlebag to make movement easier, he was ready to go. The same spike scratched against the armor as he went back through, feeling less defenseless than he had before.

Eldon turned to look at the outside world, somewhere he'd never been until now. But he'd gotten through stage one of this hair-brained scheme, and now it was just down to getting away. He broke out into a run, his legs making swish noises as they brushed through the tall grass, along with unilateral complaints from the sore muscles that hadn't gotten enough of a rest.

Maybe it wasn't true yet, but he felt free. The society he hated, the embodiment of his torture in this world, was behind him and getting further away by the second. That was good enough for the moment, enough to push the thoughts of murder and fear a little further into the back of his mind.

Author's Note:

God damn this is an old story. It started as one thing, became another, and now it's this. Name stayed the same though, even though all three things had completely different characters and plot lines.

Comments

[Topranger96]

I eagerly wait to see where this goes, off to an interesting start!

[Max]

Dang poor eldon, that must have been scary as hell for him at least hes out now, i actually felt bad for the guard too considering he didnt used brute force, really interesed on it I AM WATCHING YOU.

[Father Figure]

Gryphons are pretty badass, in my opinion of course. This is getting damn interesting really fast.

Also, I believe you called Eldon, Eravel at one point.

I can't wait for more!

[The Flash]

Finally got around to reading this!

Poor Eldon. But this is looking really interesting, a nice change from the usual stuff I read on here. Looking forward to more :D