Gathering her wits, Talia got to her feet. The girl stood no more than 4 foot 10, but her features were very well defined...not at all childlike. The catacombs had been her home her entire life, deep beneath the more used tunnels and passages mage families of past generations had carved out false passageways, that , when in turn, were greeted by the family spread to a staircase leading down into the dwellings. 20 years Talia had spent playing in the dark with her brother, Orion, only leaving to buy food.
Now that Orion was gone she had no one to lead her from the maze...Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and listened for a moment. Faintly, almost inaudibly, she heard a familiar trill. Eyes remained closed as she made her way toward the noise, tracking as Orion had begun to teach her when she was but 5. Not much to track underground, she was a little rusty. Without opening her eyes she knew she had reached the hidden entrance of the catacombs. Soft feathers brushed her cheek and a series of clicks and chirps greeted her happpily.
"I missed you, too, my dear friend." Talia smiled brightly opening her eyes to the gryph that stood eye level before her. Glancing this way and that, not entirely throwing caution to the wind, she moved with the gryphon to the cover of deeper wood.
"Orion should have been back by now, Shadowsong...This isn't like him...And I'm not waiting anymore. Mama always said 'He's the boy, Tali, he's supposed to take charge' or 'you don't need to learn your magic, dear, Orion is here to protect us...'. Its been two months, he's not doing a very good job of taking charge and protecting."
Talia kicked a rock, sending it skittering over the roots of the close knit trees. Shadowsong stopped suddenly, body going rigid and tufted ears swiveling. Talia crouched low and went very still out of habit. In the distance, voices and movement could be heard. With one fluid motion Shadow's beak had grasped the neck of Tali's tunic and taken off at a lope, carrying her like a fledgling. As they broke through the trees, Talia swung herself to the back of her friend, entwinging her hands in the feathers of his neck and hunching close as his dark wings spread and caught the wind. The voices became shouts, and the whistles of air moving past her, if she had dared open her eyes, were arrows. She had never been shot at before...what had happened to Orion if this was the meeting she met?
