Griffin Rider, Book 1, The Inventor's Tomb.

Griffin Rider

Book 1

The Inventor’s Tomb

By Brian W Moon

Copyright 2011 Brian W Moon

Smashwords Edition

Visit my Website at: moonlyte.net

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Contact me at: moonlyte01@gmail.com

Acknowledgements

There are key people in my life that really helped me write this book. Thank you to my wonderful wife, my gaming teammates and my close friends. All of you believed I could do this long before I was completely convinced.

Dedications

Once upon a time is how many of my stories started as my daughter and son sat on the bed waiting for the next bedtime story to begin. I never could just read what was in the book, I had to add my own words… and sound effects… and sometimes exaggerated acting skills… When I told a story I wanted my children to feel like they were apart of it. (Not necessarily the smartest thing to do when trying to get children to fall asleep.) I wanted to give them something they would talk about for days afterwards and even requested repeat performances. Books became favorites because they became more than just words and pictures on a page. This is where my love of reading and a hyper imagination planted its seed. I am thrilled that both of my children love to read and even write stories of their own.

First and foremost I dedicate this story to my children. This story was inspired by them and written for them. One last bedtime adventure story.

Chapter 1

The wind whipped past Eliza, as she urged Raima on faster. The alarm had awoken her and her family with its distant blaring and although her father flatly told her to stay home, she flatly ignored him. It wasn’t like her to be disrespectful to her parents; on the contrary she was normally a very mindful of their instructions. Not so much out of duty, but out of love for them. This was different though; this was the one alarm no one wanted to hear… the raiders are attacking the village. Eliza knew beyond certainty that she of all the people, in this small part of the world, was the only one who could get the upper hand in this attack. As she cleared the hilltop she got her first look of the village below. The whole village seemed to be awake, and fires had broken out. The long wail of the steam powered siren drowned out any shouts that may have reached her. Breaking the lights and the flames were shadows of people running or chasing. And there above it all was the pirate’s airship. Not larger than the size of a sailing sloop one would see on the great lakes, it was suspended from above by two black orbs. Eliza could barely make out the connecting wires from the balloons to the ship below.

Eliza cringed at the thought of what she must do, she so desperately wanted to ride in one of the great airships, and to see the technologies on them. Not this one though.

We need to get above them. She yelled over the wind and pulled up on the straps to redirect Raima. His massive wings pumped harder as he banked in an upward climb to get above the menace in front of them. The sleek griffin’s flight path took them above and behind the balloons, moving faster than any airship could maneuver.

In the games of her youth she had once asked her father how anyone could even attempt to take down such a vessel. Her father smiled at her as he sat down next to her in the warm sun. He was the village teacher; probably the smartest man in town, having gone to the University for, not just one but, four years.

Well lets look at this mathematically, he started with a laugh as his daughter groaned. Eliza’s brown hair cascaded around her face as her head sank between her hands at the thought of an impromptu lesson. Her father drew a make believe pirate sky ship from two different views, the bottom and side. The thing about this is called angle of attack. Now draw me a line from the gondola to the edge of the balloon. Eliza took up a stick hesitantly. Not really sure when the math would begin. She drew the lines on the two views and then waited. Good he said smiling at her, now extend those lines beyond the ship, but keep them straight. It was then that he showed her the blind spot and thus downfall of any airship. All were blind to attacks from above in a certain area. The math did come after that on calculating angles. Eliza didn’t mind so much now that she saw how it could be applied to defeat her imaginary sky pirates.

The pirates had actually made this easier for her by attacking at night; they wouldn’t see Raima until it was too late, if at all. Eliza felt Raima slow his speed as he came down on top of the first balloon. In the brief second his paws contacted the heavy canvas material, his claws extended and ripped at it through the holding mesh. The holes where small but there was a loud hiss as the upper chamber began to deflate. Raima pumped his wings and was on the next balloon in a heartbeat. He leaned forward in that moment and sank his razor sharp beak into the balloon, rending cables and fabric to pieces. This hole was considerable and the ship lurched beneath them as Raima took back to flight, angling upwards with Eliza’s guidance, always trying to keep to the blind spot so the pirates couldn’t take any shots at them.

They swung around for a second pass. Raima was picking up speed in his banking dive and was headed for the first balloon again. Eliza held on tightly and leaned forward, now looking like a race horse jockey. The griffin came down along side of the balloons and spiraled at the last second. Eliza’s saddle had been custom made for her by her best friend Aden and his dad. Her boots had built in pin rings that fit into a matching set along the saddle to the stirrups. A brass rod slid down between the rings and locked into place, holding her fast in the saddle. This was a good thing, because right now she was looking at open sky to one side, and ground to the other. The balloons jiggled as Raima skimmed the side and lashed out with beak and claw. Several smaller holes appeared, but more importantly one of the main cables snapped. As he completed the circle, leaving Eliza a tad queasy, she noticed people sliding down rope ladders and cables, abandoning ship. She would have smiled if she wasn’t busy turning green.

The front balloon was all but gone and the fore of the ship was now pointing straight down and falling quickly as the rear balloon lost its gases. Seconds before the ship crashed to the earth, there was a loud explosion of fire and steam amidships as the boiler erupted. The pillage of the town turned into a route of the attackers. With out their support from above and more importantly without a means to escape, the pirates’ thoughts of plunder turned to one of fleeing on foot. The only logical explanation as to the demise of their ship could only be that somehow the king’s men had been laying in wait for them. Eliza banked Raima towards home, sighting on the constellation of the rose, which always showed the way to her home.

The triumphant flight home was one Eliza savored. It had been a long time since she and Raima had flown by starlight. Raima did more gliding than flying on the trip back to the family farm. A griffin was a common sight in the mountain regions, much like highland leopards and bears. They were never seen in any domestic capacity. Eliza and her family never made the mistake of calling Raima domestic. Many debated at the level of a griffin’s intelligence, but no matter what animal they compared them to, Eliza knew none of those animals came close. Griffins are fiercely loyal to their pride or is it flock? The great minds could never seem to agree on that point. They are a very powerful, very proud and very deadly predators. The corsairs of the animal kingdom with bodies of lions and the head and wings of an eagle, they are fast and powerful. Although never seen, it was said they could take on a dragon without much effort. So Eliza knew that an airship would be no match for Raima. She sat in the small saddle and guided him to the left and down heading for the outer barn. Raima had been hers to care for since he was a hatchling so small she could hold him in her hands. She was its mother and best friend but even thinking like that could be dangerous. Griffins are very intelligent and although speech between griffin and human would never be possible, they could learn to understand parts of human speech. It was never wise to insult a griffin because it might understand at least the implied if not the actual words and it would express its displeasure with claw and beak. Flying with one was also never advisable. Fast and playful, their acrobatics left many queasy just watching them. The thought of climbing on one’s back on purpose was just mad. For the most part griffins and men keep their distance from each other and lived in an unspoken truce. Raima was the exception to the norm, sort of like its rider Eliza.

Eliza had raised the griffin from hatchling, well even before that… since egg. It was found along the cliffs to the north. The egg had fallen from its nest recently because it was still warm when the village’s wood smith found it. He had been looking for a certain type of tree when he came upon the egg. The wood smith quickly bundled it up and headed to the Gallo home. Carl Freestone had done some work for the Gallo family, creating a wonderful hope chest for their daughter and it was then that Joel had offered to teach Carl’s sons in private, after hours. Joel knew the Freestone boys from town and knew they had to work during the day in the family shop. So he spent the evening with the three boys teaching them reading and writing, math and sciences. Their older boy William had just been accepted to the University and Carl thought his discovery was meant to be his way of showing his gratitude.

For all his years at the University, animal studies were not a class Joel Gallo took, and so he assumed the egg to be that of some large variety of bird. He gave it to Eliza with the understanding it was up to her to do what had to be done to hatch the mysterious egg. After all, if it hatched, it would grow and sooner or later fly away. It would be a wonderful life lesson for his fifteen-year-old daughter.

I can keep it after it hatches father? Please promise me I can keep it. She begged her dad.

Sweetie, I give you my word that it can stay here as long as it wants to. BUT when it wants to fly away to be with its own kind we will have to let it go. That’s the way nature is. They both agreed to this.

That wonderful hope chest became an incubator for the egg, and it was wrapped in a warm feather tick comforter. Raima was born in the hope chest two weeks later with a series of cracks and then a loud squawk that sent Eliza into her parent’s room, totally forgetting the egg. When both her and her father walked back into the room, nothing seemed amiss. Joel opened his mouth to say it must have been a dream when another squawk had them both turning to the chest. It was then that they realized what must have happened. Joel lit the gas lamp in the room as Eliza rushed over to see her hatchling. Eliza gasped and let out a squeal of delight. Her father rushed over and the first thing his mind latched onto was their kitten was attacking the baby bird. Then he realized two things at the same time. First they didn’t have a cat or kitten and secondly, the body of the kitten moved with the head of the scrawny looking bird. His knees gave way and he knelt hard against the floor as his body went limp with realization at what he was looking at.

Oh daddy, we have a baby griffin! Look how cute it is. Before Joel could react let alone think Eliza had scooped the kitten size creature up in her arms and carried over to the basin by her bed. Joel scrambled to his feet and crossed over to her as she carefully wiped the small creature down with a damp cloth. It looks like Marcie’s gold tabby father. I wonder what you feed a griffin. Joel could only look at the creature flapping its wings, in disbelief.

What will we feed it, indeed?

~~~~

Eliza landed with practiced grace. Raima almost seemed to prance with pride as he headed towards the barn. Eliza twisted the rods and pulled them free of the brackets to stretch her legs and then pushed off Raima and slid back over his haunches.

Fur and feathers, stand still so I can get your harness off. Eliza almost had to tackle Raima to get to the saddle’s buckles. With some comments from her and a lot of squirming from him, the leather saddle slid to the ground, and he trotted off to the watering trough. She stowed the saddle in the barn and turned towards the house. Raima was on his last circle, 3 counter-clock wise, before settling down on his rug pile. She could hear his humming, not really a purr nor a song, as he kneaded his bed.

The kitchen light was lit and she could make out the shadow slowly moving in the rocking chair on the porch. She may have saved the day, but what price was she going to pay for her act of heroics?

Well, is everything safe in town? Her dad’s voice came from the shadow as she neared the porch steps. He wasn’t yelling at her, or storming off the porch to tan her backside. Eliza mentally groaned; this wasn’t going to be pretty. She almost wished for a spanking just to get this over with.

There are some small fires, but nothing major. It was a pirate’s sky ship and we came at it from above like we talked about and Ra…

When we ‘talked’ about it four years ago you were fifteen and you didn’t have a griffin. Joel paused for a second and Eliza felt certain now it would come. Get yourself inside and get to bed, we’ll talk about this tomorrow.

Eliza was speechless at this change in father’s tactics. She opened her mouth, and then closed it, thinking it better not to give her father reason to explode. She walked to the front door and opened it.

Thank you for coming home alive. He said softly, sincerely, heart felt. That tipped the scales, and Eliza ran up the steps to her room and practically collapsed on her bed. Tears welled in her eyes and she cried. Her heroics of the last couple of hours no longer held merit when compared to disappointment in her father’s voice.

Chapter 2

The Gallo’s farm wasn’t meant to be the size it was. It started off as a hobby for Sarah Gallo and her love of horses. They started off with two horses and a goat. Sarah and her children loved to ride the horses and the five children rotated the chores weekly. That all changed with Eliza’s griffin, or as Sarah refereed to it as Joel’s Blunder. After Raima joined the farm, the number of goats, and then sheep had to increase. Although the Gallo’s welcomed the income of selling the wool, since teaching didn’t pay all that well, everyone had to adjust to working hard. Surprisingly enough Raima himself didn’t bother the animals on the farm. He took on the roll of watchdog, keeping watch over the animals. Each new generation of the herd accepted Raima’s watchful protection more than the last. Now Raima could stretch out on the large rock in the middle of the pasture sunning himself, while the sheep huddle around him, making it look like he is sitting on clouds.

The day started slowly with Eliza getting up a little later than her siblings. Her wall clock showed 7:42 as she carefully pulled the counter weights up to keep the clock moving. She peered in the small glass pane on the side, to watch all of the little gears spin and tick off the time. It always fascinated her to watch the intricate system of gears and springs move. She knew her father and the three younger children would be off to school already. That left her and her mom for the rest of the day’s chores. Jonathan, the second oldest, but the first boy in the family, left for the University with the Freestone boy. Eliza came down to the kitchen for a bite to eat before heading to the barn. She found her mom relaxing with a cup of coffee, humming a hymn they had sung in church.

Raima is pretty full of himself this morning. Sarah said to her daughter. "Why don’t you tell