Chapter 18-1

Chapter 18: Griffon

Zakhin'Dakh hatched the middle of five siblings—three males, two females. He wasn't the biggest and strongest nor the smallest and weakest of his siblings, but he was probably the most curious. He was the first to have to be carried back to the nest after wandering near the entrance of the cave his parents were nesting in, and the first to try to fly. The first to succeed, as well, though that took a bit more work. 

 

In time, of course, it was time for him to leave the nest for good, and he flew off away from his parents' territory, as well as the directions his siblings were going. He flew for a while until he found a good place that didn't seem to be claimed by any other griffons. He found a good place to nest and started to settle in. 

 

Game was fairly scarce that winter, and Zakhin'Dakh had to fly further afield to find something to eat. He wasn't the only one, however—he noticed a few tall things he'd never seen before in the distance. They looked kind of funny since they walked on only two legs, but they looked pretty big, so he didn't get too close to them. 

 

He did, however, see them hunting some of the same deer he had wanted to eat. That was a problem, but he just had to look elsewhere. They noticed him hunting, however, and he started seeing them more frequently. A group of them was slowly making its way in the direction of his nest. They would stop every now and then and look at things on the ground, then keep moving. Zakhin'Dakh didn't really know what they were doing, but the way they kept getting closer to his nest made him nervous.

When the group was only a few miles away from his nest, Zakhin'Dakh decided something needed to be done. Being a territorial griffon, he thought it would be good to fly down and drive them out of his territory. So he flew over and dove at them, shriek-roaring a challenge at the intruders. Then one of them threw something at him. He didn't want to get hit by it, so he dodged to the side. It nicked his back leg just enough to draw blood. The others started throwing things, too, and after a little bit, he decided it was best to fly away instead.

He started back toward his nest, but the thought occurred to him that they might be headed there with their sharp things. A little more debate brought him to the decision that it was time to find a new territory. And so he flew away.

Zakhin'Dakh flew for a long time, stopping only when he needed to eat, drink, rest, or sleep. He didn't really keep track of where he was going, except it was into more mountainous areas. Eventually he flew up and over a ridge and saw a valley below him. Deciding it was time for a meal, he descended into the valley to see what he could find. 

 

He could hardly believe the first thing he saw.

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Finally, Zakhin'Dakh gets his own chapter! Garkhen has to wait still, but he's much more patient. 

He doesn't have very clear recollections of the earlier parts of his life, given that he wasn't that unusual of a griffon in terms of mental capacity or size back then, and it shows in the detail (or rather, the lack thereof) of this section.