Book 2: Chapter 111 (1/2)

“Are you done with your messages yet?” Alice asked, poking a dying campfire with a stick. It caught fire, and she waved it around a few times until it went out. Then she raised her head, peering at Mr. Skelly who was sitting completely motionless. She lowered her head and continued poking the charcoal. “I guess not.” She sighed and stood up while grabbing her dirty dishes.

“I’ll take those for you,” a skeleton said and retrieved the plates. “The leader is busy communicating with the mistress, a dragon, and the fake emperor. Perhaps the war is nearing its end.”

“A dragon?” Alice asked. “I wasn’t told anything about a dragon.”

“Oh,” the skeleton said and tilted its skull. “Well, the mistress’ best friend is a dragon.”

Alice stared at the skeleton as it walked away with the plates. Then she turned her gaze onto Mr. Skelly. He remained unmoving, his empty eye sockets locked onto the tree ahead. “The war is nearing its end?” Alice mumbled and bit her lower lip. A wrinkle appeared on her forehead as she lowered her head. The campfire crackled as a piece of white wood snapped in half.

“Alice.”

Alice turned her head and nearly screamed at the grinning skull that appeared in front of her face. She gritted her teeth and punched the skeleton away, causing a squeaking sound to resound as its bones hit the ground. “Did you just squeak?”

The skeleton sat up and shook its head. It reached behind itself and picked up a cloth sack which it dusted off with its bony hands. “The leader wanted to give this to you as a present.” The skeleton stood up and placed the squirming bag onto her lap. “He had us look really hard for one. We didn’t sleep for weeks, ignoring the hunger of our bellies and the fatigue of our muscles.”

“You don’t need to sleep or eat, and don’t give me any nonsense about hurting muscles,” Alice said with a snort. She glanced at the squirming bag. “If this is a really big worm, I swear on my left foot, I’m going to leave and join the dwarves.”

“Do people commonly swear on their left feet here?” the skeleton asked as Alice pulled on the ribbon holding the cloth bag shut.

“No,” Alice said. Her hands trembled as she pulled the lip of the sack back, revealing an eagle-like head. Her eyes widened as the creature blinked and let out a tiny squeak. A catlike paw stepped out of the bag followed by a sleek body with a pair of wings. Alice gasped and brought her hands to her mouth, lifting her head, her eyes watery. “Oh my lord. You didn’t.”

“We did,” the skeleton said with a grin. “Remember, this little fellow’s the leader’s gift to you.”

“What about its mother?” Alice asked, lowering her hands to grasp the baby gryphon. It mewled and licked her skin with its pointed tongue. She lifted the gryphon up and snuggled it against her face before holding it away from herself to inspect it.

The skeleton froze. “Uh…” It cleared its nonexistent throat. “Like I said. We worked very hard to get you one.” It glanced at Mr. Skelly, who was still motionless, before meeting Alice’s narrowing eyes. “Bye.” The ground broke open beneath its feet, and it dove headfirst into the tunnel that appeared.

Alice sighed as she parted the feathers on the baby gryphon’s forehead, revealing a pulsing rune. “So you do have a mother,” she said and stroked the gryphon’s wings. It yawned and curled up into a ball, snuggling against Alice’s stomach. “But knowing those skeletons…”

“Ah, you’ve received my gift, I see,” Mr. Skelly said, interrupting Alice’s thoughts. He turned his skull and smiled at her before standing up. “I have some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“The bad news.”

“The good news? If you insist,” Mr. Skelly said. “The good news is the gryphon’s mother is still alive and well. She willingly gave my men one of her children after we saved them from a pack of wild cows.”

Alice exhaled and glanced at the baby gryphon on her lap. “That’s good. And the bad news?”