Bond Mate

         “Stop fidgeting!” Halvic whispered hoarsely to the jute bag that slung between him and his companion Jimme. The bag just kept swinging precariously. Any moment and it would fall to the hard ground.

         “Why this one?” Jimme asked as they slid the bag into the back of their cart. Half of Jimme’s face hidden in the shadows, but his vibrant red hair was easy to see anywhere.

         “I dunno all I’m doin’ is delivering the goods.” With that, Halvic jumped up to the driver’s seat and clicked the reins setting the two donkeys in motion.

         The thinner thief had to run up to the other side of the cart before he got left behind, “I don’ see why the ol’ bag of a wizard would want this girl, tha’s all.”

         Halvic could feel his teeth grinding away with Jimme’s endless questions and chatter. He figured he was a good enough thief for the job, but he had no idea why Balician the Dark wanted him to kidnap someone’s daughter. Halvic considered it his misfortune that he had to take Jimme along to help carry the girl. Jimme was a good friend. A good friend that loved to talk.

         The streets were quiet at this time of night with no one sane enough to want to go out -- except for Halvic and Jimme. As they traveled further out of the city towards the gates, the houses became more compact and faulty looking. The road began to narrow as well with most of the cobblestones either uneven or not there at all. The two donkeys kept an even and steady pace all the same. They were good beasts.

         Their kidnapped visitor in the back kept muffling some nonsense and trying to wriggle around. One of her big toes stuck out from the tied opening. Who she was Halvic didn’t know nor care about. All Halvic knew about her was she could fight back. He would have tender ribs for the next few days. Just the memory of that made Halvic want to rub his bruised sides.

         Balician promised him gold for stealing the girl from her warm and cozy bed. Gold was not something Halvic asked questions about too often, especially, if it came from a wizard. He was glad the wizard didn’t come to Halvic in person. Strange rumors floated about the city concerning the enigma that shrouded Balician.

         “Throw some of the hay on her,” Halvic ordered.

         “Why do I wanna do tha’?” Jimme spat down at the street through a gap left from a missing front tooth.

         “Cuz we have to pass the guards you pea-brain.”

         Frowning, Jimme crawled in the back and began shoving a layer of hay onto the bag, all the while glaring at Halvic’s back. As he started to climb over, Halvic stopped him.

         “No, no. Stay there. Try to look asleep with your head on the bag.” Wriggling his hand, Halvic motioned towards the slightly quivering bag.

         “You owe me good Halvic. Jus’ you remember.” Yet Jimme complied and rested his head on the jute bag.

         Shaking his head, Halvic eyed the gate that was coming into view. A few guards were waiting by the small wooden gate doors. Lamplight flickered from inside the guardhouse on this side of the city. Knuckling his forehead, Halvic smiled at the guards. The guards eyed the cart as it kept on its way out the gates.

         Once they turned off the side road, not too far from the gate, did Halvic have Jimme join him back on the driver’s bench. Straw stuck to Jimme’s brown wool coat and breeches. But he didn’t mind, there were worse things to have on a coat.

         Large gnarled trees loomed over the small dirt road. The darkness of night did not help steady Halvic’s nerves. The donkeys kept plodding along, never minding the watching feeling that Halvic had between his shoulders.

         “How much further?” Jimme whispered.

         “There’s the gate up ahead.” Halvic pointed off in the distance to an iron wrought gate that stood ajar.

         “I don’t like this place.” Jimme admitted.

         “Me neither.” Halvic flicked the reins urging the donkeys to go faster. The snap of the reins was worthless on the two animals.

         Shadows caressed the grounds, covering the distance between Balician’s manor and the gates. Manicured lawn ornaments became creatures of the night, while the flowered edges around the walks became waiting traps to swallow a man whole. One more quick glance, around and Halvic jumped off the driver’s bench, closely followed by Jimme. As they dragged the bag from the cart, the girl began to thrash about.

         “Keep still,” Halvic warned as he held what he thought to be the top half of the girl.

         Jimme, not waiting for Halvic, practically dragged him and the girl towards the front door not willing to stay outside any longer than he had to. Jimme’s green eyes were wide and kept searching the grounds for traps or wizard made creatures.

         Before they had time to knock, the large doors swung inward. A loud male voice boomed: “Enter!”

         Halvic’s knees began to shake with fear. Jimme practically pushed Halvic into the manor.

         “Oh yes, you owe me for this one.” Jimme kept repeating as they made their way further into the manor and down to the basements.

         The inside of the manor was just as engulfed in darkness as the world outside. Halvic actually made out his pale reflection in a stand mirror. Even his reflection sent him running for his life. He could almost feel his blonde hair standing on end all over his body. This was not going as planned. Next time a wizard has a job for him the answer would be no!

         By the time they made it down to the lower basement, the two were shaking with terror. There were no lights, which they were able to see by, but only a soft glow. This was not going well. The wizard would kill them as a repayment. Maybe even turn them into some kind of beastie. Or he may even cook them up and eat them!

         A single closed wooden door waited for Halvic and Jime. Underneath the door, a faint light glowed. On rusty hinges, the door opened for them like all the others.

         Blinded by the light, Halvic and Jimme squinted into the room.

         “Well? What are you waiting for?” A feeble voice questioned from inside the room.

         Dazed, Halvic looked over at Jimme. Just as confused, Jimme shrugged his shoulders claiming he had no idea what was going on. Hesitantly, both entered with the bag still struggling between them. Standing in the middle of the room waited a small knobby old man.

         Black robes hung loosely on his frame, trailing the ground. Dark eyes, gleaming through his bushy white eyebrows, studied both men as they entered his inner sanctum. Eyes still sharp and clear aside from his age. A long white beard fanned across the elderly man’s chest.

         “Why in the world did you put her in a bag?” The old man spluttered his small arms waving about frantically.

         “What else were we suppose to do with her?” Halvic exclaimed, as the old man waved his arms about some more.

         After a flash of light and the sound of cloth ripping, their stolen property fell to the stone floor. Petulant green eyes stared up at Halvic and Jimme in turn, a cloth gag still tied around her mouth. Her brown braid was a mess from being stuck in the bag the entire time.

         “Why you do tha’? She’s for Balician the Dark, she is!” Jimme pointed down at the girl.

         “Why I am Balician the Dark.” The old man puffed up his chest.

         Jimme looked over at Halvic, “He’s got to be joking, righ’?”

         Shrugging, Halvic answered, “Dunno. Some man that works for him spoke to me.”

         “Are you just going to stand there or are we going to get to work?” White hair that didn’t lay flat on his head gave the gnarled little wizard a crazed look. Hobbling to one of the clustered tables he deftly picked up his pointy hat and plopped it on his balding head. “Now, where was I? Oh yes!”

         With more arm waving, the room flickered, and then vanished completely to reveal a larger area. It was full of fantastic creatures and shelves containing a plethora of books and gadgets. A unicorn happily chewed away on hay in one corner, while fairies fluttered about the room chasing a small red dragon-like creature.

         “Now there, now there… leave the wyrm alone!” Trying to rescue the little dragon the doddering sorcerer chased the flock of fairies about the room, his robes hiked up to his pale boney knees. After the fairies escaped into the rafters, did he turn back to Halvic and Jimme. “Bring the girl -- I mean young lady -- into the middle of the room.” He ordered.

         In nothing save her nightgown, the young woman walked into the drawn circle on the stone floor. With nothing better to do, Halvic and Jimme followed standing just outside the circle. Without second thought, the wizard draped his outer robe on the woman. Lost in thought, Balician the -- not so -- Dark wandered about the room looking under desks and shuffling stacks of paper. Whatever he was looking for he could not find.

         “Do you need help with something?” Halvic asked as he watched the man hobble about the room.

         “No, no. I know I put it here someplace.” All the while scratching at his beard and mumbling to himself. “Wyrm! Wyrm! Find the gryphon.”

         The red wyrm flew out of the room into another corridor. A squawk and a crash later, the wyrm flew back in to rest on Balician’s shoulder letting out small coughs of smoke.

         “Good boy, good boy.” Chuckling, the old man patted the creature’s lowered head.

         After a few moments, a regal looking gryphon swaggered into the room with a wooden bit in its beak. A small cart trailed behind the gryphon with a bulky shape in the middle hidden by a cloth. The great beast was all gold from the feathers to fur. Halvic’s mouth dropped open in amazement. A gryphon!

         “Ah, there it is. You had it all along, didn’t you?” The wizard spoke to the gryphon with fond amusement.

         “I though’ they wer’ all dead,” Jimme whispered to himself in disbelief.

         “Very close to it.” The wizard lost some of his befuddlement as he answered. The gryphon pulled the cart up to the girl. “There is a certain thing that people forgot about gryphons.”

         “What’s that?” The young woman piped up with a strong voice. The gag lay forgotten on the stone floor.

         “They need a bond mate at birth,” Balician had a dark glint in his eyes, “or they die.”

         “Does it have to be a human?” The girl wore the black robe like a queen.

         Carefully dropping the bit from its beak, the gryphon walked away to wait and watch. With a flourish, Balician plucked the cloth off the cart. Underneath, a blue and red speckled egg about two feet in diameter sat on a pile of straw.

         “No, not a human, my dear girl, but a wizard. A wizard that has the strength to work with all animals.” Balician the Dark stepped away to join his gryphon.

         “So why did you wan’ the girl?” Jimme had to drawl a few time for the wizard to understand him.

         “Ithos, my gryphon told me she was out there.” Ithos preened at the wizard’s words. “So I asked around for the best thief in the city.”

         “And you found me?” Halvic asked.

         “No, you were further down the line than I wanted, but you did the job,” Balician muttered, disappointed in his voice.

         Halvic pushed Jimme to make him stop laughing. “I bet you wouldn’t even be on that list. At least I was.”

         That didn’t make Jimme halt his laughter, it only made it worse.

         Shaking his head, Balician turned to the woman. “What’s your name?”

         “Eva Mallore.” Her sparkling emerald eyes kept watching Ithos, the gryphon.

         “Well Eva, my dear. Tell me, do you love animals?” Dark eyes glittered at the girl, both from the wizard and the gryphon.

         “What kind of question is that? Of course I love animals.”

         “Good, good.” The wizard tapped his right forefinger to his chin, “How old are you?”

         Green eyes flared at the wizard, “Nineteen and I am no girl.” The last comment directed to the squabbling thieves.

         “It was dark. You looked like a girl to me.” Halvic tried to defend himself.

         Halvic felt like he was up for the meat market. Eva eyed him from his dull black leather boots to his dark green coat. Her green eyes drilled into his blue, making him flinch. The answer to kidnapping someone would be a definite no after this escapade.

         “Quiet, it’s almost time.” Balician waved his arms about to gain everyone’s attention.

         “Time for what?” Jimme asked.

         “For it to hatch,” The wizard whispered.

         After the sorcerer’s last words, the egg gave a quake. The whole room stopped to watch the small gryphon try to free itself from its egg. The fairies fluttered down from the rafters to land about the cart. Slowly, a wet ball tumbled out of the cracked egg, landing in the straw that covered the bottom of the cart. A rainbow’s array of colorful fairies, scared by the outburst, shot up into the air to hover above the cart. Whispering curious words and snickers to each other in high-pitched voices. Suppressing an urge to walk to it, Eva waited at the edge of the circle.

         “No, let it come to you,” Balician warned. His eyes never left the cart.

         Hay jutted out in all directions from wet fur as the little gryphon lifted its head from the cart. The poor thing looked like a porcupine missing a few of its quills with the hay protruding in every direction. With whatever grace it had at the moment, the little gryphon tumbled off the cart, landing face first with it’s tail flipped over on it’s head. Standing up the black and gold gryphon stumbled to Eva, taking shaky steps.

         Not minding the mess the gryphon made, Eva picked up the amazing creature and cradled it in her arms. Carefully she cleaned the hay from the animal’s fur and feathers. Its little black wings about the same size as her hands, definitely not suitable for flight, Eva assumed. Large yellow eyes studied Eva, a contrast to the black feathers on its head.

         Name? A female voice telepathically asked Eva.

         “Eva.”

         Mine? The gryphon asked.

         Eva thought about this for only a second, “Adora.”

         “So it begins, so it begins.” Balician chuckled. He couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face or the tears that started to flow down his cheeks. The gryphons would thrive once again. They would live for another day.