Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
April 3rd, Gregorian Calendar
"It's quarter till midnight. I don't think anyone except beta-shift are awake. And the Gryphon you were asking about? He hasn't been back since earlier in the day. That's his berth right there."
The Ensign winced as his escort's claws dug into the skin of his shoulder, popping several seams on his uniform in the process. The immense creature lowered its muzzle to his ear, and spoke in a tone so low, it was at the same time nigh inaudible, yet chillingly clear.
"Unlock the door."
The man flinched, but dutifully typed in his officer's over-ride code. The Diamond Dog tightened his grip even further, before releasing it.
"Remain silent, and remain here. If you leave this bulkhead? If you make so much as a single sound of any kind... I will devour you. Alive."
The officer watched, unable to move, and barely able to breathe, as the lumbering black shape made its way to the door in total silence. In spite of its terrifying bulk, the Diamond Dog was able to rotate the door's latch, and push the panel to the side, without making any more noise than the familiar sound of boots against deck plating.
The Lupine paused, sniffed at the air, and silently extracted a pair of gray clamp-like devices from the satchel at his back;
One fairly large, the other small. Without further ado, he lunged forward, and the devices snapped shut with a slight hiss, click, and the whine of high powered electromagnets.
The Ensign flinched as the sounds of a hushed, short-lived scuffle reached his ears. The man blanched as the Diamond dog emerged from the compartment, with a familiar shape clutched under his left arm.
The old scars on his muzzle were overlain with fresh, exceedingly deep, long cuts that were still oozing grayish-red blood. One of the injuries had come within mere centimeters of removing the Lupine's left eye. He also sported a large missing chunk from his left shoulder, and a new notch in his tail.
The Ensign shook his head, as the sight of April's condition hit home. Her beak was clamped firmly shut with the smaller of the two maglocks. The larger of the pair had been devoted to her wings. The Diamond Dog had then obviously set about withdrawing more clamps for her forelegs and hind legs, and in the process received his newest injuries.
"No, no you *can't,* she just---"
The Diamond Dog growled, and narrowed his eyes.
"I no longer find you useful, flesh-bag."
Before the Ensign could move, or even make an attempt at crying out, the Lupine reached out with his free claw, and crushed the man's neck into oblivion. The creature spared a moment to catch the falling corpse, and pull it over the threshold into Fyrenn's quarters.
Finally, the Diamond Dog withdrew a small DaTab, placed it in the officer's front pocket, then retreated to the corridor and shut the door silently. April squirmed, and tried to call out, but the Lupine placed a firm claw on her throat, preventing air from reaching her syrinx in sufficient quantities to produce a loud noise.
The Lupine strode purposefully down the corridor until he reached the nearest large junction. A collection of empty supply crates occupied the space, and the Diamond Dog swiftly unlatched the cover to the largest, dropping April unceremoniously inside.
April lashed out with her cuffed forelegs as she fell, placing another five inch gash in the Diamond Dog's left shoulder. He growled, and slammed his uninjured shoulder into April's side, eliciting a grimace of pain from the young Gryphon.
"Keep your claws off me, you damn dirty fledgling."
The container was intended to transport frozen foods, making it airtight, heavily insulated, and by extension virtually soundproof. The Lupine snapped the lid into place, and secured its heavy magnetic locks, before April could squirm her way out, or voice a cry for help.
The Diamond Dog winced, and shifted his shoulder guard to cover his injury. He hefted the crate, flipped down his opaque visor, and strode directly to the ship's nearest gangway.
Not one single member of the North Carolina's crew challenged the jet-black Lupine as he disembarked onto the pier, and vanished into the night. They had no particular reason to do so. His gunmetal gray armor bore a distinctive red stripe, and four white letters. 'JRSF.'
Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
April 4th, Gregorian Calendar
Fyrenn sighed, and rolled his shoulders, trying to work the exhaustion and soreness from his muscles. A hot shower seemed like an appealing option, but he decided it could wait until morning. Given that it was half-past midnight, April was likely sound asleep already.
The red Gryphon carefully depressed the latch to his quarters, and stiffened as a distinctive scent reached his nostrils. Death. The smell of freshly spilled blood.
He ripped open the steel panel and darted into the compartment, drawing his sword in the process. The hollow stare of a dead man greeted him. His rank bars identified him as an Ensign.
The corpse had been placed face-up on the bunk, and a small DaTab was tucked partially into his front right pocket. April was nowhere to be seen.
Fyrenn's breathing quickened, and his heart-rate soared. The heat of a metabolism thrown into overdrive exploded across his chest, and his vision seemed to elongate slightly. Time slowed, and information began to process itself at an astonishing rate as his brain discarded everything but the moment, and its vital tasks.
He sheathed his sword, reached across the body, and plucked up the DaTab. The device's accelerometer triggered an autodial program, and the screen blinked a slow, steady indicator symbol as the line established itself.
The instant there was a secure connection, a deep gravelly voice came through the device.
"Thirty Seven, Sixty First Street. Room Nine Two Three Nine Five, Ninety Second floor. Fifteen Minutes. Arrive alone, and unarmed, or she dies."
The call terminated instantly, leaving no room for a response.
Fyrenn stood rooted the spot for almost a full two seconds, before clenching his right claw, reducing the hardened steel and plastic of the DaTab to tiny shredded chips. He turned, and narrowed his eyes as a figure blocked his path to the corridor.
Neyla's face was taught with rage, and anxiety. Her ears lay completely flat, and the muscles of her wings rippled visibly from the tension.
Fyrenn voiced a single word. His tone was abrupt, and seemingly emotionless.
"How."
Neyla shook her head once, and spoke, her voice remaining on a similarly toneless and even keel.
"I don't know. No alarm was raised. I heard no sound from across the corridor. The door was fully locked and bolted."
Fyrenn nodded curtly, and pushed past the Gryphoness into the corridor. Neyla surprised him by reaching out, and firmly arresting his progress with her right claw.
"No. You are not going to face this alone. It is likely to be a trap."
The red Gryphon growled deep in his chest, and dismissed Neyla's claw roughly with a twist of his shoulder.
"There is no question that it is a trap. She is meant to die, as am I. That was most likely the reason for removing her to a secluded, enclosed location, and for the shortened window of time. No space to use my wings. No line of sight for supporting fire. No time to formulate a backup plan."
Neyla snagged Fyrenn's shoulder once more, digging her claws firmly into the inner lining of his backplate to fully arrest his forward motion.
"All the more reason I should go with you."
Fyrenn hissed, and glowered, flaring his wings slightly and swishing his tail.
"I don't blame you for what happened. But I won't have you inadvertently causing April's death because you're unwilling to see me die for her. Not after all I've gone through to---"
Neyla tightened her grip roughly, dragging Fyrenn back half a pace until his beak was within centimeters of hers. The Gryphoness' tone dipped into a low, dangerous range, laden with crackling arcs of barely-restrained fury.
"After all *WE* have gone through. You may still be working through your various issues, but that doesn't change the fact that I am as much the only mother she has, as you are the only father. I will not have *you* inadvertently causing her death because you're too damn stubborn and fixated to admit that you need my help, do you understand me?!"
For a brief moment, Fyrenn and Neyla held each other in a fiery gaze. At last, however, Fyrenn sighed, and glanced away. Neyla released his armor plating, and exhaled slowly.
"It will take us six minutes to reach the specified location, meaning we have time to collect a limited amount of gear."
Fyrenn nodded slowly, and unslung his new rifle, passing it carefully to the Gryphoness.
"Have you ever used a bolt-action weapon before?"
Councilor Loryss paused as her DaTab flashed, and vibrated, indicating an incoming communication. She sat back in her seat, and pulled the sedan's door closed. As she accepted the encrypted transmission, she gestured to her driver through the soundproof barrier.
The man nodded, and exited the car, standing dutifully beside it, arms folded behind him. The DaTab chirruped, and a familiar voice issued forth.
"I have secured your missing asset. You were correct. She has since been given Gryphon Potion. She put up a fight."
Loryss rolled her eyes, and sighed.
"Don't expect any added compensation. I do not pay by the flesh wound. Contact me when you have proof of death for both the asset, and the red Gryphon."
The voice on the other end let out a rasping sound. It took Loryss a full three seconds to recognize it as a chuckle. She shivered involuntarily. The Councilor had never heard the Lupine express anything other than stoic anger.
"The chance to snap the red Gryphon's neck is compensation enough."
Loryss shivered again, and closed the channel, opening her door as the first drops of an evening storm began to fall. The weather system had been generated to the south, and west, so it was laden with mild acid rain, rather than the refreshing clear water of an Equestrian weather system.
The driver dutifully snapped open an umbrella, and moved to cover the Councilor as she exited the vehicle. She sighed, glanced up at her apartment building, and reflected that she would soon need to make arrangements for new accommodations.
The elevator chimed softly as the door hissed open. Fyrenn stiffened as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The corridor was bare. A concrete and steel box stripped of all useful materials.
A jet black figure resolved itself from a shadow in the corner, one paw lazily draped over the corner of a sealed crate.
"Your kind is so idiotically predictable. You know I've asked you here to kill both you, and the fledgling. And yet rather than doing the only reasonable thing, rather than saving yourself to fight another day, on your own terms... You come here in a fruitless attempt to save the young one. Pathetic."
Fyrenn exhaled sharply, and focused his eyes directly on the Lupine's muzzle, running over the familiar features again, and again, in a vain attempt to subdue his disbelief.
"Kryn?! I threw you off a building... You were---"
The Lupine chuckled, and shook his head, interrupting in a soft, almost conspiratorial tone.
"I was stronger than you gave me credit for. Strong enough to drag myself clear. I heard rumors that you escaped as well, but I certainly never imagined I would be paid to carry out my vengeance."
Fyrenn shook his head slowly, his eyes darting first left, then right, as a pair of Trolls and a Vulpine emerged from the nearest doorways. Each was fully kitted in matte black unmarked combat armor. Each carried a large hooked pike.
The red Gryphon tensed, and rose to his hind legs. He felt strangely light without his armor, and his sword. At the same time, he felt somehow liberated by the battle chemicals coursing through his body. Intellectually he knew it was a combat-high. But that didn't change the fact that it gave him an edge in some small way.
"So you switched sides. Last time I saw you, the PER were tugging your strings. Now you work for pro-Humanists."
Kryn snorted, and rolled his eyes, flexing his shoulders casually.
"I work for whomever pays well. The Human Government pays exceedingly well. In spite of their best attempts to create a flesh-bag who could stand a chance in a fight with one of us? They somehow still seem to recognize that you should never send prey to do a predator's job."
Fyrenn nodded slowly, and stepped into the hallway, beginning a series of elegant, slow, close-quarters circling motions with the immense Lupine.
"And that's why you find it difficult to understand why I'm here. Your selfishness is your impetus, like so many others of your ilk. I came here to free April... But I'll sure as hell settle for snapping you like a toothpick as an intermediary step. I beat you once before."
Kryn chuckled, and tightened up his movements, bringing him to within a foot of Fyrenn as the two continued to circle lazily.
"You threw me off a building, and I survived. What more could you do to me?"
Fyrenn smiled, and his eyes narrowed.
"Come a little closer, and I'll show you. You took my fledgling. That makes this all very simple. We'll tussle, you'll injure me, I'll injure you... And then I'll break your pelvis, shatter half of your ribs, dislocate both shoulders, and rip out your knee caps."
The red Gryphon lowered his tone as he and Kryn crossed to within inches of each other.
"And then I'm going to cut off your tail, gag you with it, and skin you alive. Using field stims to keep you conscious. When that's done, I'll cut out your eyelids, and crucify you to the outside of this building, with a bolt gun, to rot in the rain. But not before I make you watch every, single, last one of your stoogies die."
Kryn brought his muzzle to within an inch of Fyrenn's ear, and whispered.
"Oh? And just how do you plan on beating four-to-one odds."
Fyrenn's grin widened, and he held up a claw.
"Two-to-one."
The red Gryphon closed his claw, and lunged. The surprise of the maneuver, combined with the peculiarity of his words, gave him a fractional moment of advantage. He swatted at Kryn's face, tearing open the fresh wounds April had left there only a short while before.
As the Lupine staggered backwards, the Gryphon pulled away, making a dive for April's crate. The Vulpine foolishly attempted to come between Fyrenn and his objective. The red Gryphon reached out and effortlessly snagged the creature's weapon, snapping it as though its steel shaft were made of balsa.
Fyrenn tossed one half of the weapon over his shoulder, momentarily blocking one of the rushing Trolls. The second half he threw like a javelin, pinning the offending Vulpine to the wall behind the crate.
A ear splitting 'CRACK' filled the air, and the creature's skull exploded into a fine mist, just as Kryn managed to regain his faculties. The shock of the moment brought the Lupine to a halt, just long enough for another resounding impact sound to fill the hall.
The plaster of the nearest wall sprayed outwards from a fist-sized breach, and the Troll immediately behind Fyrenn went down in a violent explosion of bone and blood.
Kryn lunged toward the red Gryphon, but abruptly found himself faced with a large gray and black mass. Before the Lupine could react to stop himself, he found he had plunged his extended claws directly into the skull of the last Troll.
Fyrenn released the corpse's shoulders, and allowed his impromptu shield to fall away.
"You made a serious error in judgement. Your 'target' has a mother too. And you've made her very, very angry. That's a truly poor choice of enemies. I gave her my rifle. And a thermal scope, that's good for up to six thousand yards, through nine or ten concrete walls. She does not believe in mercy. And she does not miss."
Kryn closed to grappling distance as swiftly as he could. The maneuver was intelligent on many levels. It allowed the Lupine to leverage the close confines of the corridor, together with his vastly superior strength, and weight.
It also allowed him to make his thermal signature more difficult to distinguish from Fyrenn's. The red Gryphon realized that regardless of how swiftly Neyla made her way into the building, his fight would be over by then. One way or another.
Fyrenn hated fighting in confined spaces. A Gryphon's natural advantages, as compared to other Equestrian races, were mostly tied up in their capacity for flight. Fyrenn's strength and durability seemed god-like by Human standards, but they were nothing whatsoever compared to Kryn's, by a similar ratio of differentiation.
The Gryphon's agility, speed, and reflexes could make Kryn look as if he were mired in cement from Fyrenn's perspective, but to be fully effective, Fyrenn needed space. Space he didn't have.
He had to use his beak and both foreclaws to keep Kryn from biting out his throat. That left only his wings and back claws as offensive weapons. The two creatures tumbled, rolled, and lunged through the corridor, smashing their way through walls and support beams as if they were nothing more than tissue curtains.
Fyrenn batted at Kryn's head with his wings. The Lupine's lack of corresponding limbs left his skull open to the savage beating, but Kryn was exceedingly durable. Fyrenn began to wonder which he was damaging more; His wing joints, or the Lupine's skull.
He found he could only make use of his back claws in intermediate spurts. Half the time, he needed them for stability. Kryn was faced with the same conundrum. Nevertheless, the two beings managed to place several gashes into each other's chests and legs that would eventually prove fatal due to blood loss, if left untreated.
Both combatants quickly realized that their environment was a vital resource. While the walls and parts of the support structure were too flimsy to do any damage, some of the larger structural beams were strong enough to present a useful crushing surface.
Initially it seemed as if the advantage would belong to Kryn. His greater mass, size, and strength allowed him to throw Fyrenn's relatively light frame around like a toy. The red Gryphon took several heavy hits as his back, injured wing, and one foreclaw were repeatedly rammed against a four foot thick steel upright.
Almost immediately, however, Kryn realized that his advantages were negated. Fyrenn, for his part, realized that he had no sense of his pain whatsoever. While Kryn had some conception of the fact, he found himself far more concerned with Fyrenn's ability to flex his body into amazing contortions, that the Lupine's body simply could not mimic.
Not only did that allow Fyrenn to significantly decrease the amount of damage Kryn could do using nearby hard surfaces, but it allowed the Gryphon to lodge his beak firmly in the Lupine's shoulder wound.
Fyrenn clamped down with all of the considerable force his jaws could muster, and then ripped, putting every one of his neck muscles into the motion. The maneuver cut deep, severing bones, muscles, tendons, and blood vessels.
Kryn almost immediately lost the ability to precisely control his left foreleg. Pain exploded across his entire body, as if someone had poured salt into the wounds April had given him. Fyrenn hissed, and grinned, pulling away as Kryn reeled backwards. The Gryphon waited calmly for the Lupine to pick himself up, and refocus his eyes.
As Kryn got back on his hind legs, Fyrenn screeched, and lunged forward.
"You laid your paws on my daughter! For that? You will endure MUCH more pain before I permit you to die. I'm going to make an example of you that your whole SPECIES will tremble to remember!"
In spite of his renewed furor, Fyrenn again found himself disadvantaged by the combat space. Kryn, for his part, seemed to redouble his efforts. His pain gave him a reserve of strength in the same way Fyrenn's rage empowered him.
Fyrenn winced as the Lupine once again scraped against his sore wing. Kryn noticed the gesture, and poured all his efforts into doing damage to the limb. While his sense of pain was more or less disabled, some of the tertiary effects of the trauma bled through nonetheless.
The red Gryphon found it difficult to precisely make use of his limbs in the aftermath of the pounding. It was as though the impulses which should have translated to pain had overwhelmed his muscular control. It felt something like the sensation of a limb going to sleep, or a caffeine overdose.
Fyrenn paused, briefly fought with himself on his next course of action, then gave in to the sensation.
The opening was all Kryn needed. He bounded forward, and shoved Fyrenn to the floor, pinning his wings down with his foreclaws, and savagely biting at Fyrenn's own forelegs.
Fyrenn clawed at Kryn's chest with his back paws, but the action produced no useful results. The ribbing and muscles in the area were too tough, and Fyrenn's angle of attack was too shallow.
Kryn smiled, and growled.
"Now perhaps *I* will make an example of *you.* I don't see you throwing me off this building... So let me hear you beg for your life. Before I snuff it out."
Fyrenn coughed, and shook his head, his eyes fixating on a point over Kryn's right shoulder.
"No. Beg for *yours.*"
Kryn began to turn to the side, thereby placing his left eye in precisely the right position.
April hit the Diamond Dog with all the force her young back legs, and wings, could muster on short notice. She instinctively let out a war-keen as her extended talons raked deep into Kryn's skull, eviscerating his left eye and ear beyond repair instantaneously.
Fyrenn pushed up and out, flipping the Diamond Dog away into a dazed stagger. April latched on with all of her claws, and her beak, ripping, tearing, and beating at Kryn violently without reservation, though Fyrenn noted with pride that she seemed to be very strategic in her actions, not at all blinded by her anger.
The red Gryphon lashed out with a claw, and snagged a broken piece of steel reinforcement strut. He closed with Kryn, who was frantically and unsuccessfully trying to get the vicious fledgling off his back.
Fyrenn nodded to April, who dropped off the Lupine just in time for his first blow to hit home. While Fyrenn's greatest display of strength could never match even half of Kryn's total strength, it was still more than enough to do severe damage combined with the leverage of a blunt steel object.
Fyrenn lashed out over and over, ruthlessly beating Kryn's chest so swiftly, that the Diamond Dog was unable to move quickly enough to block the flurry of blows. Ribs cracked like trees before and axe, and Kryn crashed to his knees in indescribable agony, screaming loudly enough to rattle the nearest doorposts.
Fyrenn dropped the steel bar, reached out with both wings and foreclaws, and took Kryn's right shoulder. With a gargantuan twist, and a grunt, he popped the bones out of joint. As the Lupine fell to his side, tears of pain streaming down his muzzle, Fyrenn repeated the procedure with his left shoulder.
The Gryphon spat, and rammed Kryn's head down with his back right paw, forcing his legs to splay out. As he clutched both foreclaws into wicked curves, he smiled.
"I warned you this is what would happen. I warned you, *exactly,* what would happen."
Without further ado, the red Gryphon reached down, fueled purely by the white hot fire of his rage, and ripped Kryn's kneecaps clean out.
As the Lupine collapsed entirely into a fetal position, falling unconscious from the sheer trauma to his body, Fyrenn's battle-fury abruptly subsided back into the pool of icy cold, clear anger that had been driving him for days.
He sidelined all other emotions, and collapsed beside April, pulling her close with both wings, and forelegs, and weeping tears of relief with absolute abandon. Silence descended, save for the soft rattle of the rain against the building's roof.
The peace was nearly shattered as Neyla came bounding up through the nearest stairwell, Fyrenn's rifle slung between her wings. She paused, staring at the scene of total carnage, before rushing forward, and collapsing into the group hug.
For the third time in a short span, Fyrenn found himself flooded with an array of dizzying affectionate, and longing emotions.
The moment lasted for several minutes, before the three Gryphons finally separated. Fyrenn ruffled the feathers behind April's ears, and grinned.
"How in the blazes did you get out of that crate?"
April giggled, and returned the mischievous smile.
"Oh it was worse than that. He had me mag-cuffed. Beak, wings, front, and back legs. But Minos used to use those all the time as a training exercise. I've been getting out of higher grade restraints for years. Sometimes under water."
Fyrenn glanced over at Kryn's limp, but still breathing form.
"Well, I promise you this much... No one else on this planet will be dumb enough to come after you ever again. Not after I'm done with him."
The red Gryphon strode over, and began rifling through Kryn's armor. His eyes lit up as his claw hit upon a DaTab. He pulled the device free, and secreted it in the feathers of his neck where it would be invisible and safe.
Neyla placed a gentle arresting claw on his shoulder, and shook her head slowly.
"You're bleeding badly. I need to bandage you before you do anything else. And then you have to promise me you'll let Chandler do a complete work-up tomorrow morning.
Fyrenn opened his beak to protest, saw the hard edge in Neyla's eyes, and exhaled slowly.
"Fine. Though I know exactly what she'll say; 'Stay calm and still for two weeks...' Never gonna happen by the way, and 'None of your injuries are serious enough to leave more than a few hidden scars.' Though I'll admit... That was a painfully near thing."
The red Gryphon collapsed to his side, and allowed Neyla to go to work. The Gryphoness had packed her satchel with an emergency JRSF-issue medical kit, in addition to the ammunition for Fyrenn's rifle, and she worked with the scabbie foam, bandages, and herbs as if she were a natural.
April walked over to Kryn's body, and glowered, giving his shoulder an experimental kick.
"Are you really gonna do what you said? Skin him alive and bolt him out in the rain?"
Fyrenn's gaze hardened, and his beak turned down, leaving no possible doubt as to the strict veracity of his one-word response.
"Absolutely."
Councilor Loryss flinched slightly as her screen illuminated with several urgent messages, accompanied by a jarring series of notification alarms.
She inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly to calm her nerves. Once she was sure her demeanor was sufficiently under control, the Councilor reached out and tapped several keys on her desk. The room went dim as the windows tinted, the door locked, and all forms of internal security surveillance were disabled.
The screen's interface split into a half-dozen audio waveforms. A soft spoken male voice began the conversation.
"We did our best to secure the site... But the media had already arrived some thirty minutes ago. Someone tipped them off."
A female voice spoke next, edged with concern, bordering on panic.
"Considering what happened to Warluf and Sievers? I'm not sure there is *anything* I can do on this end. If I refuse to allow these stories to run, it will draw attention to my office... And it would make no difference in the end. This is already on every fringe-thinking political web site out there. It is only a matter of minutes before it is plastered all over GNN."
A stronger, harsher male voice came through swiftly, and decisively.
"Your asset failed to accomplish his task, Councilor. No amount of damage control is going to prevent this from becoming public knowledge."
Loryss glared at the monitor, and leaned in over the desk, enunciating to make sure her point was delivered with sufficient force.
"I accept that this has gotten out of hand. But I categorically refuse to conscien any suggestion that we shut down the program. If we move swiftly to evacuate and disperse all assets, we have a unique opportunity to hang this mess around our opponents' necks, and divert suspicion."
The Councilor sat back, and steepled her fingers.
"As the dust clears, we will put political pressure on the remainder of the Council to cover over any other information they possess, in order to prevent a scandal. You do not shoot a person simply because of one tumor. You merely excise the infected tissue. Is that understood?"
A long silence told Loryss that there would be no objections. She nodded curtly, and folded her hands on the desk.
"Now. Before we sign off this evening, I want a comprehensive plan in place for a full scale withdrawal and dispersal."
The sun peaked over the horizon just as Fyrenn, Neyla, and April alighted on the Battleship's foredeck.
Before he quite knew what had happened, Fyrenn found himself face to face with Kephic's snarling visage. The Speckled Gryphon hissed, and flared his wings.
"Don't you EVER, I mean *EVER* pull something like that again!"
A long, and awkward pause ensued, before Fyrenn found himself constricted by both of Kephic's wings. He returned the hug gingerly, trying to avoid putting excess pressure on his impromptu bandages.
The speckled Gryphon released his brother, and offered him a wry smile, before kneeling, and scooping up April into a similarly enthusiastic embrace. Fyrenn found himself unexpectedly accosted by Varan.
Though the golden Gryphon was not normally given over to physical displays of emotion, Fyrenn had discovered that he was more open when it came to members of his family. As his sibling pulled away, and joined Kephic in tending to April, Fyrenn noticed Sildinar standing near the island structure, looking on with a bemused smile.
Fyrenn began to make his way across the deck, but found himself abruptly facing a veritable assault from Stan, and Skye.
The Unicorn delivered a painful hoof to the Gryphon's side, glowering.
"You are NUTS! Don't you ever scare us that way again!"
Carradan snorted, and tossed his head in Kephic's direction, then Skye's.
"Yeah. What he said, and what she said."
Fyrenn raised an eyebrow, and allowed his ears to cant back slightly.
"Are you quite finished? Because I just finished taking a hell of a beating. And I'd like to shower and get some real medical attention, if it pleases your highnessess."
Stan inclined his head, stiffening his muzzle and throwing it up into the air at a ridiculous angle. His attempt at forcing a posh accent onto his Brooklyn drawl nearly put Fyrenn into a fit of laughter.
"You are dismissed, my good sir. Go ye forth and screweth up no more."
Fyrenn sighed, and rolled his eyes as Skye dug a hoof into Carradan's side, and snorted. The Pegasus gagged, and rolled over onto his side.
"Verily! I am betrayed!"
The red Gryphon allowed a small chuckle to escape, before finally closing the distance to Sildinar. The roan Gryphon offered him a gentler, brief embrace. Fyrenn smiled, and inclined his head towards the group, who were all clustered protectively around April, plying her for the harrowing recounting of her incredible escape.
"She is amazing."
Sildinar nodded, and shot Fyrenn a sideways glance.
"That one will grow up to be a feared and respected warrior, you mark my words. It was no accident she came under your care Fyrenn."
The red Gryphon sighed, and inclined his head as he laid his right claw on the hatchway.
"There is a plan in everything. Speaking of which, please look after her while I get the blood and plaster off. Then I promised Neyla I would let the doctor poke and prod me for no good reason, so expect that to take an hour or so, then I'm getting some well deserved sleep. Plan to have everyone assembled in the officers' conference room for the evening meal. And call Hutch too, make sure he's there."
Sildinar nodded, and tilted his head.
"What are your intentions?"
Fyrenn cast a grim look over his right shoulder as he stepped into the corridor.
"Turn on the news. You'll get the gist of my strategy pretty quickly."