Chapter Six

While many Glacials hid in their tents at the sight of Sular, all the mages in the clan came out in full force. There was joy in their faces, stark adoration as he passed by them, wading through the tent-rows. Many clutched at their badge of office, turning tufted heads to the stars.

"Fire has come to Ice," they chanted softly, bowing their heads to the Vahazayan in reverence.

"What is going on here?" he whispered to Ziara as she hobbled along side him. She shook her head, baffled.

"The mages have always been a liberal sort," she told him at last, watching dumbfounded as one tried to snatch a tailfeather from Sular's long, flowing white plume. "... perhaps a little crazy, too."

Sular smiled at that. "Mages are universally known for their eccentrics." He turned his sad eyes upon Ziara and when she met his alien gaze, there twinkled within her amber gaze a flash of similarity. The moment was broken when Shyela tugged at his opposite leg and told them that they'd arrived. Sular straightened himself as befit an honorary ambassador and stared straight ahead, crest held at the proper level for coming before a leader.

Twin guards flanked Tyan's tent, their pikes gripped tightly before the Vahazayi soldier, eyes wide, emotions sparkling across them rapidly. The clanleader emerged not soon after Shyela announced herself at his doorstep; there was little he could do to ignore her summons, what with the other mages chanting nonsense at her back. Ziara sat huddled to one side, wondering how she still stood with this motley group. She had her report to file, wounds to tend, something to eat, her parents to see ...

A paw touched her shoulder. Tuloc.

"C'mon, Zhi. Tyan wants you in the conference as well." Startled, Ziara glanced up; Sular and Shyela were gone. There was a noticeable bulge at the top of the clanleader's tent, marking where the Phoenix's huge raptorine head lay. "Tyan wants what!?"

Tuloc grabbed her by the uninjured portion of her upper arm, all but dragging her to the tentflap. "Hurry, Zhi. They've been waiting for you."

Almost in a daze, the gryphoness allowed herself to be pulled from her crouch and into Tyan's large home. Tuloc pushed the flap aside and thrust her forward with a sketchy bow towards his clanleader, taking his place beside his mistress, squeezing around Sular's slim bulk. The ambitious male looked up from where he sat conversing with Sular; the huge avian was bent double, almost flat upon the floor, every appendage tucked in. It looked obscene, Ziara thought with a grimace of disgust as she moved forward. Sular did not deserve to be treated so.

"Good to see that you've woken up, Scout Flurrith," Tyan said with a slight tinge of condescension in his voice. He gestured to a vacant spot by Sular. "I thought you would like to be present as I question this foreigner." Tyan glanced up at Sular and flashed him a false smile; stoic Vahazayi features met the look. Tyan immediately launched into a barrage of queries, to which Sular answered with veiled replies. The Vahazayi knew where this was headed -- it was as he'd seen so many times before. As old as he was, Tyan had no where near the maturity his ambition projected. The male gryphon surrounded himself with false glories, as a vain person surrounds themself with icons and perfection.

Seeming satisfied, Tyan folded his paws together and nodded to Ziara. "You can execute him now, Scout Flurrith."

"WHAT!?" Shyela, Tuloc and Ziara exploded all at once. Shyela pushed herself past Sular's bulk and put her beak to Tyan's. "You did not say that!"

Tyan blinked lazily, obviously taking extreme pleasure in his exercising of power. It wasn't often he could command such an act, and it would only lift him higher in the eyes of his clan.

"He is of no more use, Magess. Glacial gryphons accept no outsiders. Period." He leveled Ziara with a stare, completely cutting off Shyela's splutterings. "I said, execute him, Scout Flurrith."

A distinct rumble from Sular tore through any reply Ziara could manage. He was getting quite peeved with this dandy's idle banter and careless flinging of his life. Gently setting the furious Shyela aside with a wingclaw, Sular put his meathook beak directly up to Tyan's. "Try." A waft of steam puffed up from his white nares, coalescing on Tyan's own beak.

Ziara curled into her corner, trying to make herself as small as possible. Tyan gulped, trying not to meet the Vahazayi's unearthly flat grey glare. "Flurrith," he gasped, feeling himself being pushed backwards, even though Sular did not even touch him. "Do as I command."

"She will not," Sular said slowly and deliberately, getting to his feet, his eyes ever-pinned on his mark. "You rule on stolen rank, Clanleader." As he erected himself, there was the sound of groaning earth as the Phoenix stood upright, ripping out the tent poles, prying the cover from the hard tundra grass. From an antechamber, a scree resounded as Tyan's mate awoke. Shouts rang outside, guards and mages converging as one.

Shaking off the tough canvas, Sular fixed Tyan with one shining eye. "I am not ready to leave just yet," he continued, paying no heed to the crowd. "You have personally extended my stay." Spreading his large brown-grey wings, in a blink, Sular disappeared into the snow-covered wilderness, blending perfectly into the darkness.

Shyela prodded Ziara. "C'mon, child. While he's busy." Grabbing the young female by the paws, the venerable magess dragged her charge out of the ruins of Tyan's tent, Tuloc covering their behind. Through the enveloping throng of their fellows, they took the scout to safety while Tyan ran around, calling to his warriors in a selfish frenzy.

Once safe, Ziara curled under Shyela's wing and wept.

Zayla touched her daughter's shoulder. "Tyan has sent you out every day for a month, Zhi. Please, ask your father to seek reprieve."

Ziara shook her head mutely, buckling on her flying harness. "I cannot, Mother," she said softly. "Tyan will hold true to his promise if I don't bring Sular back dead. Dad's life is more important than that alien's." Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't true; both males' lives meant as much to her now.

Zayla curled a blue-green paw to her chest. She glanced back to the sleeping chamber Kernow and herself had shared for so many years. "Kernow is ever-weakening, my daughter --"

"NO!" The scout fought back tears, hot tears of frustration and desperation; her dexterous paws fumbled the buckles. "Dad will be better. He ... always gets better."

"She'll never find him, Zayla." Kernow's raspy, phlegm-filled voice fell upon their ears. "If he wants to, he'll make himself known. Tyan's threats mean nothing to me -- or to him -- anymore." The curtain was flung aside and Kernow wobbled in, his flesh tight to his rangy, faltering bones. The sickness had finally taken him this year and though he made no mention, he was ready to consign to death. "Let the usurper come and claim his blood price, Zhi. There's fight left in this old body yet!"

Zayla sucked in a breath, tears welling in her wide opal eyes. She turned her back to them both and tottered into the bedroom. Ziara's legs sagged and she flopped to the floor, curling her tail between her legs. What to do, what to do ...

A rough-worn paw lay benediction on her forehead. "I was sent a vision," Kernow rasped, settling his bones beside her, tucking her midnight-blue head against his thin chest. Ziara rolled a blood-shot eye up at him. "A -- vision, Papa?"

"Aye, child. All creatures have a purpose in life and ours is not to be a pawn of Tyan's." Kernow shifted and Ziara could hear his very joints creak. "In my dream, a great golden flame spoke to me and told me that no harm would come to you if you fled the clan --" Under his paternal hand, she shuddered at the very thought of clanlessness.

" -- but if you stay, Tyan's ambition will kill you." Kernow paused, preened her ear thoughtfully for a moment. "He has already killed me; a dead male cannot die twice. If not for your own sake, Zhi, flee for your mother. Zayla has never known a harsh day in her life." Ziara felt his tears rain upon her pelt; she would not look up for fear of losing her own tenuous hold on her emotions. Kernow's arms tightened upon her, filling her with all his lost glory.

"Zhi," he whispered at last, phlegmy voice huskier still. "You are the last of the Flurriths. Our line ends with you if you do not go."

"Papa -- Tuloc --"

"Tuloc is not for a mate; his is a life devoted to his profession and that, I fear, is the way it will ever stay." Kernow lifted her chin with one paw, cupping her cheek with the other. "My only wish is that I could live to see my grandchildren ..."

"Papa!" She wept freely now, the utter cold lump of reality sinking into her chest. Her father was truly dying.

"Defy Tyan. Show him the true Flurrith spirit, Zhi. Leave here and seek the alien -- not for execution, but for protection. He will know the difference. The golden flame promised me."

The words caught in her throat. Ziara had no heart to tell her father not to believe in such feverish delusions -- why, look where a feverdream had gotten them already!

Suddenly, Kernow sagged; Ziara shot upright in horror, a cry in her throat. A golden wash came over his red eyes -- the Flurrith battlerage -- but a smile lit her father's pained features. Drowsily, the old warrior slipped into slumber, murmuring "What pretty gryphlets! Where did they come from, Zhi? Are they yours? They look like you ... oh? More?" A low, contented chuckle. "Come, babies; come see Grandpa ..."

Putting a paw to his chest, she determined that he did indeed sleep. Quickly, Ziara passed into her room to gather her belongings. She stowed them into a light carrysack and bade Zayla good-bye. With that said, she passed out the back tentflap and into exile.