(chapter 2) A winged friend
#2 of A Feral Mind not a Feral Heart
hey this is the second chapter of my series hopefully it'll help put a few pieces together even though there are more to come, Enjoy! A Feral Mind not a Feral Heart Chapter 2 A winged friend
- * * The dark cover of night lay over the kingdom, not many people dare to go out in the night the only ones awake are the guards and the outcastes A cloaked figure slowly walks the dark streets; it seemed to be looking for something ‘Are still sensing it here?' ‘No...it must have gone' ‘Or it was your fricken imagination, now let's go before anyone sees you' ‘Alright alright I'm going' The cloaked figure turned around without looking and bumped into a guard knocking them both over "Watch where your going!" the guard yelled before looking up "what the-" The cloak had come off of his head showing the head of a griffin The guard quickly stammered to his feet and began to run ‘Don't let him call other guards, if he does we're screwed' ‘Don't worry he won't get to far' The cloak was completely removed showing off the griffin's strong body and magnificent wings The griffin leaped high into the air and outstretched his wings, he made a dive and caught the guard and carried him up into the air The guard screamed fearing for his life ‘What do we do with him?' ‘We don't want to pull up any suspicion, just knock him out and put him at some random street corner' ‘Can I have a little fun with him first?' ‘What? No we have to get out of here just hurry up' ‘You're no fun' The griffin threw the guard into a small tree, even with the helmet on it was enough to knock him out, he then flew to the edge of the town and put the guard down flying away as fast as he could back to the rivers edge * * * ‘I think we should rest we've been searching for hours' Yaxon's voice went through Vern's thoughts ‘I guess your right, and we can get some water at that river over there' Vern walked up to the rivers edge and sat by a rock, he let Yaxon have his body back, so he could rest while taking a few sips of water in his hands Yaxon was leaning on the large rock and about to shut his eyes when he heard a loud crash The sound of tree limbs snapping and something falling out of a tree made him stand up and turn around to see where the noise had come from "owww damn it!" a voice screeched "I have to work on my forest landings, these trees are way to weak to land on" Yaxon was scared he didn't know what to do ‘Vern! Help! What is that?' ‘Huh?' Vern appeared beside Yaxon and looked at the creature Vern chuckled a little "kid your telling me you don't know who that is" "Should I?" "Yes, that's Beck, the griffin that was part of you at some point before we got rid of Linesp" "Seriously!" Yaxon looked surprised "why is he here" "I don't know but let's find out, I can talk to him" "Alright, just don't do anything stupid to provoke him" "When do I do stupid stuff like that?" "Just be careful and think before you act, hopefully he'll remember you" Vern took over Yaxon's body, in wolf form it was much easier to see in the dark so he quickly jumped over the rock and landed right next to the griffin that was still on the floor "It's been a while Beck" Vern said looking down at Beck "Vern, is that you?" "Yea, so what are you doing back in this kingdom?" "Well... I thought I sensed something here and I guess it turned out to be you" Vern and Beck chuckled a little "So how'd you find a body? If I remember your artifact was hidden pretty well" Vern spoke Beck stood up and lightly flapped his wings before tucking them away "Lucky me that there are kind hearted treasure hunters out there, and I found one of them or should I say he found me" "Really, what's his name?" "Bergun" "Sounds like an interesting guy" "He is... are you still attached to Yaxon?" "I think we should make this easier" Vern put his hand on Beck's shoulder, and a light came from it, now there were four figures standing there Yaxon, Vern, Beck and Bergun "Whoa! How'd you do that?" Yaxon asked "I did it the same way that you can see me I just made it so we can all see and talk with each other" "This is great, now I can introduce you guys, Bergun this is Vern and Yaxon" "Hello" Bergun said a little shyly Yaxon notices something "Beck, where is your metal head plate? I remember you had armor there" "well that is what turned into my artifact and its kind of fused to Bergun now" he chuckled at the end of that sentence Bergun showed the others his shoulders, shiny metal plates covered his shoulders like proper armor and moved as he did "Is that what happened to all of you, you were turned into artifacts?" Yaxon questioned "Most of us, Vern here ended up not being separated" Beck said "And why is that?" "Because you needed to be protected, and we knew Vern could do so easily" "Ok ... but why did you all leave in the first place?" Yaxon wanted answers Vern stepped in "how about we answer that later, the guards might notice a commotion if we stand here to long" "Fine..." Yaxon sounded disappointed Yaxon and Bergun faded back into there minds as Vern and Beck ran off deep into the forest ‘Why is it every time, I ask about the others we get interrupted?' Yaxon asked Vern in his mind ‘I don't know kid, I guess you ask at the wrong times...do you remember what the king showed us back at the court room? It was a torn piece of cloth, and Bergun had a piece missing from his clothing' ‘What's that supposed to mean?' ‘I think the king is after them also' ‘What do we do, I don't think they deserve to be hunted down for the amusement of that bastard king' ‘I say we ask them, maybe they were running away to, just like us' * * * "Your majesty, that creature has just left the kingdom's borders" a royal messenger approached the king and bowed "Good, we shall have a feast if they return successful" the king said "And if they fail?" the messenger asked "Then I'll send Hayus after them" the king replied "That man that we have locked up in the dungeon, your majesty?" "The very one" "How is he going to help?" "You'll see, now if you don't mind, I would like you to go check on him, we need him alive as long as possible" "Right away your majesty" the messenger left immediately * * * The two of them had stopped in a small clearing in the woods; back in there human forms Yaxon and Bergun sat along the rocks still tired "I think there is something we have to say" Yaxon said as Vern appeared next to him "What would that be?" Bergun said as Beck appeared beside him "we think the king wants us to hunt you down" Yaxon said pulling out the cloth that the king had given them earlier Beck looked at them surprised "he wants you to hunt us" "That's not a surprise" Bergun said "he's been after me for about two weeks now and I don't even know why, I didn't do anything" "I think the king knows something we don't" Yaxon said "Or he's trying to put us against each other" Vern spoke up "hmmm... what ever it is we can't let him do it, something tells me he just wants more power, and he'll do anything to get it" Yaxon said "But what is he after?" Bergun asked They sat there thinking, until Vern's ears perked "The artifacts!" Vern said fearfully "What do you mean? What could he do" Yaxon asked "No way he can collect them, I don't think he's even able to bond to them" Beck said "He doesn't need to bond to them" Bergun spoke "Your right... he just needs an army to control" Yaxon said "And he'll use us as a weapon" Vern stated "Shit!" Beck slapped his head "well what can we do?" "I think I know" Yaxon said and then looked at Vern "Find all of the artifacts and send that king packing" Vern smiled "Sounds like a plan" Bergun said "where do we start?" "At the inferno caps" Vern and Beck said in unison "There's an artifact there?" Yaxon questioned "One of the most protected, and one of the most powerful" Vern said "And he can fly almost as good as me" Beck said "then we rest up tonight and we head there in the morning, we should still have a few days until the king sends out bounty hunters, hopefully we can get there before then" Yaxon planned "Alright, and I'll keep watch for now, just incase that king decides to do anything stupid" Vern said They lay down on softer spots on the grass below, and closed there eyes for the sleep they needed for there journey the next day ‘Should we tell them?' ‘I don't think we need to' ‘But they should know that the king wants us to hunt them to' ‘Just, leave it for now; if we really need to say it then we can do so later' ‘Let's just hope that plan doesn't turn on us later' ‘Don't worry... it'll work out' * * * A man locked in a dungeon chained to the wall struggles against his restraints his long dark hair as messy as his frantic movements "I'll never do it never" he screamed "You won't be in control, it's my body" He seemed to have inner conflicts with his own mind "Are you alright?" the king's messenger stood in front of the seemingly deranged man The man kept screaming until the messenger placed a small cup of water close to his face "Go ahead drink" The man drank the small amount of water before continuing his struggles ‘The king wants to use him... I can see why, the poor soul... Hayus what will become of you?' the messenger thought as he walked out still hearing the mans deranged yelling * * * The dawn shone its early light the woods waking the group Yaxon Yawned and stretched "hmmm, I guess it's time we headed to the inferno caps" "Yep, now wake them up so we can go" Vern said Yaxon shook Bergun waking him from his light sleep "Time to go" Bergun pulled himself up off the ground "ok... Beck, do you mind?" A flash of light came off of him, as a feathery down came upon him and he transformed into the griffin "This should make it easier" Beck said "I guess it's my turn now" Vern said "Wait" Beck intervened "I think it would be easier to lift Yaxon since he's probably lighter" Yaxon looked surprised "lift me?" "Yea what did you think we were going to walk that would take days" Beck gave him a funny look "I guess it's faster, lets go for it" Vern said "Are you sure?" Yaxon said nervously "What are you scared?" Beck said while laughing "A little" Yaxon said rubbing his arm "Don't worry, if you don't struggle we can be there in less than an hour" Beck said getting on his knees "I think it'll be easier if you rode on my back, I don't want to accidently drop you" "Go on we have to get there" Vern urged Yaxon on "Alright..." Yaxon slowly got onto the griffins back Beck grabbed Yaxon's legs so that he could lift him more easily "Whoa!" Yaxon panicked a little "Calm down, I haven't even taken off yet" Beck said "I'll distract him" Vern said Vern made Bergun appear next to them seemingly floating in mid air "You should talk a bit to keep yourselves occupied" Vern said Beck's wings opened as he ran and jumped forward, then with a great flap of his wings they were off many feet in the air Yaxon panicked a little at first but Vern and Bergun calmed him down, and after a few minutes he even started to like the view "I've never been this high up before" Yaxon said "Well get used to it, the inferno caps are much higher than this" Vern spoke "And it looks like were going to be up here for a while, we still have a long way to go" Beck said back to them "Well... Vern could you tell us more about this thing we are going after?" "Sure I guess... let me think... it's a scale, it's shiny and it has someone were looking for in it" They chuckled "I meant something we don't already know" Yaxon said "All I know is that it's heavily guarded by natural formations, but it shouldn't be anything me or Beck here can't handle" "Let's hope so... and you said there were more artifacts, how many are there?" Yaxon asked "Well including me and Beck...about 5, I think we destroyed the 6th" Vern said still thinking of something "You have an artifact?" Bergun asked "Yes" Vern looked at him "it's the chains" Yaxon pulled out a few that were exposed "I remember getting these after Linesp was gone... and everyone else" Yaxon looked sad "I'm going to guess that Linesp was 6th artifact" "uh huh... caused a whole load of destruction to... that's why we had to get rid of him" Vern said A quick screech was heard "hey guys look, you can see the inferno caps up ahead, we may get there sooner than I thought" Beck told them "That's great" Yaxon looked out to the peaks of the inferno caps There were three massive mountains with each peak having no snow at the top but instead seemed to glow a light geo orange "I see where it gets its name" Yaxon said "Yea... just wait until you get inside" Vern said "Inside?" "You didn't think that the artifact would be exposed outside did you?" "We have to go inside mountains? How are we getting in?" Yaxon asked "There's a massive cave in one of the mountains we need to find it and get through the passages that will eventually lead us to the artifact" Vern explained Beck started to descend "I think I can see the cave" he said Yaxon looked around and spotted a large cave in the side of the western most mountain "I see it to" Beck landed in the entrance on the cave and let Yaxon off of his back "Ok Vern I think it's your turn now" "Obviously..." Vern took over and stood next to Beck "There only seems to be one path" Beck stated "Then that's the one we follow" Vern said taking a sniff of the air "I can even smell him, his scent is all over this place" "Then that means that it'll be more dangerous, stay on your toes" Beck said They both dashed in not knowing what was awaiting them up ahead ‘Good luck guys' Yaxon voice said * * * End of chapter 2 well thats that, please comment i'd like to know what you think of my stories, it also helps motivate me so please do