She started to walk forward to meet them. Sturm moved to accompany her, but she saw the beasts’ black eyes glitter with anger and she shook her head.
“You are human and you carry a sword,” she said softly. “They don’t like that. I must do this alone.”
When Laurana was about six feet from the leader, she stopped and bowed low.
“I am honored to be in the presence of one of such magnificence,” she said, speaking Elvish. “How may I and my comrades”—she gestured to those standing behind her—“be of service to you?”
Griffons, unlike dragons, do not have the gift of speech. The story goes that when the gods created the griffons, the gods offered the beasts the ability to communicate with humanoids, but the griffons, seeing no reason to have speech with such lesser creatures, proudly declined. In this and in most other things, griffons consider themselves superior to dragons.
Over the centuries, however, as the griffons and the elves developed their unique bond, members of the elven royal family learned to communicate mind-to-mind with the winged beasts. Laurana had acted often as her father’s emissary to those griffons who had made their home near Qualinesti. She knew how to treat them with the courtesy and respect they required, and she could understand the gist of what they were saying, if not their precise words.
The beast’s thoughts entered her head. The griffon wanted to know if she was truly Daughter of the Speaker of the Sun of Qualinesti. The griffon was clearly dubious. Laurana couldn’t blame the beast. She did not look much like an elf princess.
“I have the honor to be the daughter of my father, the Speaker of the Sun of Qualinesti.” Laurana managed the correct reply, though she was considerably startled by the question. “Forgive my asking, Great One, but how do you know me? How did you know where to find me?”
“What is going on?” Derek asked in a low voice. “Does she really expect us to believe she is communicating with these monsters?”
Elistan cast him a rebuking glance. “Like many members of the Qualinesti and Silvanesti royal families, Laurana has the ability to mentally communicate with griffons.”
Derek shook his head in disbelief and whispered to Brian, “Be ready to fight our way out of this.”
The griffon continued to inspect Laurana, looking her up and down, and apparently decided to believe her. The griffon told her they were sent by Lady Alhana Starbreeze to take the Daughter of the Speaker of the Sun and her brother wherever they wanted to go.
That explained the mystery. Laurana had heard from Gilthanas how he and Tanis and the others had met the Silvanesti princess, and how they had saved Alhana from being thrown into a Tarsian prison. The Silvanesti princess was mindful of her debt to them, it seemed. She had sent the griffons to find them and make certain they were safe.
Laurana clasped her hands. She forgot the formalities in her joy. “You can take us home?” she cried. “To Qualinesti?”
The griffon assented.
Laurana longed for home. To be once more in her father’s warm embrace. To see again the green woodlands and the sparkling rivers. To breathe the perfumed air and hear the soft, sweet music of flute and harp. To know she was safe and loved. To lie down among the tall green grass, there to drift into deep and dreamless sleep.
Laurana forgot, in her dream of home, that her people had been driven from Qualinesti, that they were living in exile, but even if she had remembered, it would not have made much difference.
“Gilthanas!” Laurana cried to her brother in Elvish. “They have come to take us home!” She flushed, remembering that the others could not understand her, and then repeated her words in Common. She looked back at the griffons. “Will you take my friends as well?”
The griffons did not appear at all pleased with this. They glared at the knights and looked extremely hostile at the sight of the kender, who had at last managed to climb out of the ditch and was saying excitedly, “Do I really get to fly on a griffon? I’ve never done that before. I rode on a pegasus once.”
The griffons conferred, cawing raucously, and at length agreed to carry the others. Laurana had the vague impression that Lady Alhana had asked them for this favor, though she guessed the griffons would not admit it. They laid down many conditions, however, before they would consent to let the others come near them, particularly the kender and the knights.
Laurana turned to give the others the good news, only to find her words met with grim, dubious, or uneasy looks.
“You and your brother and the rest may fly off with these creatures if you choose, Lady Laurana,” Derek said coldly, “but the kender stays with us.”
“What if the kender doesn’t want to stay with you?” Tasslehoff demanded, but everyone ignored him.
Gilthanas was on his feet. His jaw was swollen, but he had his wits about him. “I’m staying with the knights,” he said in Elvish. “I’m not going to let them get hold of this dragon orb, and I think you should stay, too.”
Laurana stared at him in dismay. “Gil, this is some tale Tas made up—”
Gilthanas shook his head. “You’re wrong about that. The knights discovered confirmation of the orb’s existence in the library back in Tarsis. If there is a chance a dragon orb has survived all these centuries, I want to be the one to find it.”
“What are you two jabbering about?” Derek demanded suspiciously. “Speak Common, so that we may all understand.”
“Stay with me, Laurana,” her brother urged, continuing to speak in Elvish. “Help me recover this orb. Do this for the sake of our people instead of wallowing in grief over the half-elf.”
“Tanis gave his life for mine!” Laurana cried in a choked voice. “I would be dead if he hadn’t—”
But Gilthanas wasn’t listening. Glancing at the knights, then turning back to his sister, he said, speaking Common, “Ask the griffons to take us to Icereach.”
Derek, Aran and Brian exchanged glances. Although unorthodox, this mode of transportation solved all their problems. The griffons could fly over the sea and thereby take them directly to their destination, saving them days and perhaps weeks of travel, even if they could find a ship, which was not guaranteed.
“Gil, please, let’s just go home,” Laurana begged.
“We will go home, Laurana, once we have the dragon orb,” Gilthanas replied. “Will you desert our friends in this time of peril? Leave them behind? Our friends would not abandon you. Ask Sturm what he intends to do.”
None of her friends had spoken yet. They had been watching and listening in silence, not thinking it right to intervene. They regarded her with sympathy, preparing to offer comfort, understanding her need, leaving the decision to her.
“What should I do?” she asked Sturm.
“Tell the griffons to take you home, Laurana,” he said gently. “The rest of us will travel to Icereach.”
Laurana shook her head. “You don’t understand. The griffons will take you humans only if I am with you… I’m the only one who can understand them. Gilthanas never had the patience to learn.”
“Then we will find our way to Icereach without their help,” Flint declared.
“You could come back to Qualinesti with me,” Laurana said. “Why don’t you?”
“It’s the kender,” Flint explained. “The knights plan to take him to Icereach.”
“I don’t understand,” said Laurana. “If Tas doesn’t want to go, Derek can’t make him.”
“You tell her,” Flint said, nudging Sturm.
Sturm hesitated, then said, “I think Tas should go, Laurana. I agree that this dragon orb may be of great help to us, and if Tas goes…” He paused, then said, “Derek would not hesitate to sacrifice his life for his cause, Laurana, and he would not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of others. Do you understand?”