Prologue of The Gryphon

Prologue

An Excerpt from The Chronicles of Quat: The Gryphon

By Bryen O’Riley

Mikhail glanced at the glass-eyed woman behind him, drops of blood staining the front of her dress. She might as well have been a statue for all the thought and emotion she showed. He looked away as a shiver ran up his spine. Averness’s raven-haired, ethereal beauty reminded him of his wife. He hated the comparison.

Allynowyn was the polar opposite of Averness. Allynowyn was passion and fire, strength and satin. She would never have allowed a man to ruin her.

That thought gave Mikhail pause. He would have tried, of course. It was the only right thing to do. She had borne two abominations. The only correct course was to—

He shook his head. Where had that come from? His wife was long gone. Dead, maybe. He needed to focus on the cold, unfeeling woman with whom he was forced to travel. 

Averness pounced, graceful as lightning, upon a falcon that had alighted on a low branch nearby. She had jumped inhumanly high and caught it by the neck. With a quick jerk of her arms she broke its neck and was now roasting the bird above a cheery fire. 

She had, in common with all Fae, a strength and agility that were impossible—but then, he was used to that. What unnerved Mikhail was the deadness of her eyes. She hadn’t felt a thing. Not even the thrill of the kill. 

Mikhail felt his contempt for Alastar surge. He didn’t know how the man had done it, but killing his own wife’s soul was detestable. It was almost as bad as what Mikhail himself had tried to do.

Mikhail surveyed his fellow travelers. One would never have suspected that they toted quite possibly the most important object that had ever existed. It was a small group; the fewer people involved, the better. It was only himself, the stone-woman, the self-important object, two young peasant men to cart the blasted thing, and a solitary Cyclops.

The Cyclops presented a problem. What was his purpose? Not to keep the peasants in line; they were sufficiently afraid of him and Averness. Was the beast supposed to keep Mikhail himself in check? Mikhail normally would have scoffed at the notion. A mere animal intimidating him? He could think the beast into oblivion.

This one, however, showed a peculiar resistance to his abilities. He suspected that Alastar had impressed the creature. That action was strongly prohibited but Alastar had proven again and again that he didn’t care about that. Mikhail secretly wondered if the Council didn’t either. Alastar, their pre-eminent achievement, might have been exempt from their decree. The more so now, in view of this most important mission.

This most important mission that Alastar didn’t have time to bother with. What was that man up to instead?

To order The Gryphon from Amazon follow this link.