City of Death by Laurence Yep Read Free Book Online

forepaws. “Who knows? There are many tall mountains and deep chasms between you and the city. And it’s winter so there is ice and snow.”
    â€œOuch.” Koko raised a hind paw and rubbed it for emphasis. “I don’t think these tootsies can make it.”
    â€œIt sounds like it would take forever on foot. If we can get help from the griffins,” Bayang added, “it’s worth a slight delay.”
    â€œToo lazy to fly yourself, dragon?” Kaccap demanded.
    â€œMy friend,” Scirye said coldly, “injured her wing fighting the emperor’s enemies.”
    â€œIndeed,” Kaccap sneered.
    Scirye glanced at Leech who shrugged. “I’m with Bayang and Koko. I say let’s ask the Keeper for help.”
    â€œI can’t leave my wagon behind,” M ā ka said.
    Kaccap eyed the shining wagon and chuckled. “Is this my lady’s chariot?”
    â€œThis really isn’t your battle,” Bayang said.
    â€œIt is now,” M ā ka said stubbornly. “Didn’t I fight side by side with you?”
    The last of the bouquets were disappearing. “I suppose so,” the dragon admitted.
    Scirye pointed at the cave. “Captain, have your squad pull M ā ka’s wagon as far as it will go into the cave and then send someone back for it.”
    Kaccap opened his beak to protest but shut it with an abrupt clack. At least he hadn’t refused out loud.
    The snow swirled as five griffins settled on the slope. As they hid the wagon inside the cave, Bayang shrank again to human size.
    When the griffins returned outside, they crouched on all fours. As Scirye climbed onto one, she felt the thick pelt. Their coats of winter fur made them appear even larger. When Kles shed his winter fur in the spring, she was always careful how she spoke to him because he grew touchy about his shaggy appearance.
    Koko felt the fur of his griffin. “Whoa, it’s like riding an overpadded sofa.”
    The next moment the badger had tumbled to the ground as the griffin reared. “Have a care, you overgrown weasel. You can either ride as a silent passenger, or you can be carried like prey in my claws.”
    Meekly Koko put up a paw. “Um, I vote for the first one.”
    So the griffin grabbed the badger by the scruff of the neck and slung him up onto his back, making a point to clean his forepaws with snow afterward.
    â€œSquad up!” Kaccap ordered, and the griffins leaped into the air as one.

 
    11
    Scirye
    As far as Scirye was concerned, there was nothing to beat the elegance and power of a dragon in flight, but the griffins were a close second. And there was something to be said for warm fur rather than cold scales during a winter flight.
    She had to suppress a giggle because Koko had been right. She felt like she was flying on a furry sofa.
    She’d never ridden griffins bareback and without the proper tack before. Fortunately, Kaccap’s shaggy coat gave her more to grip. It had been years since her father had given her riding lessons, but at least she remembered to try to keep her shoulders straight and parallel to her mount’s shoulders. Her friends were doing their best to copy her but they were only barely managing to keep from falling off.
    She had expected Kles to ride with her, but the little griffin had made a point of using his own wings. Kles might be the size of a parrot, but he had the heart of a war griffin.
    Ragtail, his clan had called him. His full name, Klestetstse, meant Shabby in the Old Tongue. It was an odd sort of name that didn’t fit the polished courtier she knew. And he had always passed his name off as a joke, insisting that he might have been shabby once but had grown into a magnificent specimen of griffinhood.
    However, it seemed now that his own clan didn’t agree with Kles’s claims. His old acquaintances had treated him as some sort of joke.
    As Kles struggled to keep up with his larger