Page 35 of Queen's Griffon

He nodded and swallowed as he whispered, “I threw myself in the water to quench the flames and hid under the dock. I listened while the rest screamed.” His head ducked and she barely heard his next words. “I hid like a coward and let them die.”

Simhi reached out as if to pat his hand, but he snatched it close to his body. She tried to soothe. “You had no choice. The foe was too mighty.”

“Should never have gone,” he wailed. “We were punished. Punished for playing with things best left alone.”

“What did you play with?” Avera tried to clarify his statement.

“Not me. Them. Those who thought themselves smart,” he spat. “Toying in their laboratories. They made it angry.”

Avera shifted her position, but the unsteady rock caused her to almost unbalance. She thrust out a hand to catch herself and hissed as the ragged stone scraped her skin. Her palm came away bloody and she grimaced.

“You’re hurt.” To her shock, Vinmo grabbed her hand and tried to wipe the wound, only to freeze as his flesh came in contact with her blood.

His eyes widened and he began to shake. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Leave,” he yelled. “Leave before it sees me.”

“The monster isn’t here,” Simhi interjected. “It’s on Verlora.”

“For now. But it won’t stay there forever for it can see through her eyes. It sees me,” the man croaked. “Once prey is marked, it can never escape.”

“But you did escape,” Simhi insisted. “Remember? You’re safe here on Saarpira.”

“No one is safe. It will devour us all.”

With that claim, Vinmo tucked back into his hole and no amount of pleading would make him emerge.

They headed back to town with Simhi quiet for the first bit. Finally, she said, “That’s the first time he’s ever said anything coherent.”

“I don’t know if I’d call that coherent,” Avera grumbled. “He didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know.”

“He confirmed there is a monster flyin’ around, spewing green flames that burn. I think the captain was right when he said it might be a dragon.”

Avera couldn’t hide her surprise and stumbled. “Griffon said so aloud?” Because when they’d spoken, he’d claimed to have never told anyone.

Simhi shook her head. “Not to me, but Kreed says he mentioned it one night when they were deep in their cups. A dragon would match Vinmo’s account.”

“Dragons aren’t real, though.”

“Or they’re extinct, like the pink whales that used to swim off Verlora’s northern coast.”

“If extinct, then how would one come back to life?” Avera argued.

“Could be Vinmo had it right. Maybe our scientists were playing with things best left alone.”

“I wonder why he seemed so frightened by me at the end,” Avera replied. Her hand still stung, and she glanced at the blood drying on it.

Simhi cast her a sly glance. “Because you’re special.”

“Not really.” Avera laughed, the sound tinny and slightly false.

“You might not see it, but others do. Like Vinmo. He chose to speak to you, a stranger, for the first time since his return. Not his mother, or friends.”

“And?”

“Something obviously makes you special.”

“Maybe he was impressed with you calling me queen.”

“Does he really seem the type to care?” Simhi kept going, not waiting for a reply. “And his reaction when he touched your injury… It’s as if your blood triggered something in him. He seemed to think you were connected to the monster on Verlora.”

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