I sucked down a breath and raced after them. Yeah, maybe running blindly into a cave wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I couldn't leave Logan to the gryphons' mercy - or lack thereof.
So I ran forward and found myself in an enormous cavern. The walls were made out of some shiny, reflective, phosphorescent rock that gave the interior a soft, golden glow, almost as if there were lanterns flickering in the stone. The ceiling rose a hundred feet above my head, while piles of pine needles and dried summer grasses lined the floor inside, stretching from one side to the other like the flowers in the courtyard ruins. It was also surprisingly warm in the cavern - much warmer than it should have been - and I sighed in relief as the higher temperature chased away the chill that had sunk into my bones.
Too bad the gryphons were waiting for me.
There must have been a dozen of the creatures in the cavern, and before I realized what they were doing, they all crowded around me, forming an unbreakable ring and cutting me off from the exit. My steps slowed, then stopped, and I looked from one creature to the next, expecting them to leap forward and tear into me, the crazy Gypsy girl who'd been stupid enough to run right into the middle of their nest.
"Um, Gwen?" Vic asked. "You know how not good this is, right?"
"You just better hope they don't like to eat shiny things too," I muttered.
But instead of chomping down on me, the baby gryphon skipped over and put his head against the back of my leg, nudging me forward. I swallowed again, but all I could do was go where he wanted me to.
The baby kept pushing at me until I was near the back of the cavern. The adult gryphon who had grabbed Logan was there, standing next to a series of shallow pools. The surface of the water gleamed like a coin under the golden glow from the rocks, adding to the airy, enchanted feel of the cavern.
The gryphon had laid Logan down next to one of the pools of water. A bit of steam rose from the surface, and I cautiously stepped forward, pulled off my glove, leaned down, and dipped my hand into it. To my surprise, the water was warm, and I realized that the cavern must house some sort of natural hot springs - and that maybe the gryphons didn't plan on eating us after all.
"You didn't bring us here to hurt us, did you?" I asked the adult gryphon as I straightened back up. "You brought us here to keep us warm . . . to save us from freezing to death in the storm."
The gryphon nodded, agreeing with my words. I hesitated, then slid Vic back into his scabbard, pulled off my other glove, and slid them both into a pocket on my snowsuit. Slowly, I walked toward the gryphon and stretched out my bare hand. The creature watched me approach with solemn eyes, as if he knew exactly what I was going to do. I drew in a breath, reached out, and gingerly touched his wing.
Images and feelings flooded my mind. I felt the gryphon's strength, his pride, his love of sailing through the clouds. The gryphon had been flying high when he had heard his baby wail. The creature had swooped down into the trees to see me and my friends helping. A wave of intense gratitude washed over me, that I'd helped save his baby from being turned into a Reaper slave.
There were other images too, of the gryphons hiding in the ruins, watching my friends and me fight against the Reapers. So it was they I'd sensed peering at me. I felt the creature's burning hatred of the Reapers and his sadness at how the Reapers forced the Black rocs to do their bidding. And finally, I saw the gryphon watching me help Logan through the forest and his admiration for how I kept going, even though he knew we wouldn't make it through the night without finding some sort of shelter.
I opened my eyes, dropped my hand, and looked at him. "Thank you," I whispered. "For bringing us here. For saving us. You didn't have to do that."
The gryphon stared at me, and I felt a wave of pride wash off him - that yes, he did have to bring us here. That he'd felt honor-bound to help us just as we'd helped his baby.
I carefully ran my fingers across the gryphon's wings. The creature let out a little snort, but I could tell he liked it. The baby nudged his head against my legs again, and I dropped down to my knees and petted him too. Then I turned my attention to Logan, who hadn't stirred the whole time we'd been in the cavern.
The gryphons gathered around and watched while I unwrapped Ran's net from Logan and carefully placed it to the side. He didn't come to, not even when I unzipped his snowsuit and pulled his clothes up so that I could check his wound. Blood had seeped through the crude bandage I'd wrapped around it, and I slowly untied the cloth and peeled it away. Thankfully, the wound had finally clotted, and Logan wasn't bleeding anymore. I didn't know how much more blood he could afford to lose.
I used Vic to slice up the last of my extra clothes, then went over and dipped the cloth into the hot springs. I'd expected the water to have a sour, sulfur stench, but instead it smelled light and floral, with a fresh, clean, almost vanilla scent. I used the cloth to wipe the dried blood off Logan's wound. The roc had left a nasty gash in his side, and he probably needed stitches, but that wasn't something I could do. It didn't look like the wound was infected, though. Maybe Logan would be a little stronger in the morning - or at least well enough to walk the rest of the way down the mountain.
I used the last of my cut-up clothes to bandage his wound again, then covered him back up with his other clothes and made sure he was comfortable on the bed of needles and grasses. I also pulled my sleeping bag out of my backpack and covered him with it. Logan slept through the whole thing. I stroked his black hair back from his forehead, then leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Logan sighed, but he didn't wake up.
I unbuckled the scabbard from my waist and propped Vic against one of the rock walls so he could see out into the cavern and keep watch. Just because I was surrounded by gryphons didn't mean Vivian and Agrona couldn't show up with more Reapers and rocs.
"Get some sleep, Gwen," Vic said, realizing how exhausted I was. "I'll stand guard tonight, just in case one of these oversized fuzzballs decides to make a move."
The gryphon leader snorted at that, but one by one, the creatures all settled down around me, the combined warmth of their bodies adding to the steam rising up from the hot springs.
There was nothing else to do but wait for the storm to pass and morning to come. So I lay down and drifted off to sleep, with the gryphons cocooning me.
Chapter 32
I fell into a dark, dreamless sleep and woke up sometime later.
At least, I thought I was awake - until I realized I was standing in the middle of the cavern staring down at my sleeping body lying next to Logan's. I blinked and blinked, but the image remained the same. I turned around and around, but all of the gryphons were sleeping, as well, and I was the only one who seemed to be awake - or whatever this was. It didn't feel like another nightmare, though. It felt . . . real.