Page 49 of Flame and Sparrow

It gave a few pitiful flaps that lifted it up to my chest. I couldn’t help catching it and wrapping my arms tightly, protectively around it. The extra warmth and weight against my chest helped combat the growing fear in my own heart, too, and I can’t say I didn’t appreciate that.

“You get away with a lot of things because you’re cute, don’t you?”

It chirped proudly.

“I thought so.”

Together, we made our way to the tower’s first floor, squeezing through a set of heavy metal doors that had been left partially ajar.

My footsteps echoed on the stone floor. The ceiling soared high above me, and several large, unlit chandeliers hung from it. There were plenty of tall windows around the space, but the light from the glowing orb outside was not bright enough to make much difference as it seeped through the glass. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, I managed to make my way over to a small side table where I spotted a few tarnished chambersticks holding unused candles. I grabbed one and held the griffin up to it.

“Help me out here, won’t you?” I asked, giving the downy fur of its chest a little squeeze.

It gave a disgruntled snort, but eventually obliged, flicking its tail and then burping out a burst of flame to ignite the wick—and almost my sleeve with it.

I took the candle in one hand while the griffin clawed its way up to my shoulder and wrapped around the curve of my neck, burying its face in the folds of my shirt.

Once my companion was secure and still, I walked deeper into the place, making my way into a second large room. This one seemed to be a strange combination of a study and a gallery. Tables covered in both strange equipment and books were evenly spaced throughout the room. There were countless paintings and tapestries brightening the stone walls as well, but they were all very practical in presentation; not art so much as instructions featuring diagrams of various creatures I didn’t know the names of, and charts containing divine symbols I recognized alongside words written in a language that I didn’t.

I studied it all, slowly making my way toward the largest of the tapestries in the center of the room. Candlelight washed over this tapestry’s many, many colorful threads, over a creature with a lithe, muscular body covered in silver fur. It had long, elegant legs, and there were antlers protruding from its narrow skull. It was so large I had to take a step back to see the thing in its entirety.

I nearly dropped the candle as I did.

That beast.

Iknewthat beast.

I didn’t know its name, but it was the same creature I’d seen outside my house in the weeks before my sister disappeared. The one that had died on my doorstep. The one we’d burned, whose ashes and smoke had lingered like a curse over my old life and home.

I slowly backed away, turning a slow circle, taking in the rest of the room and trying to make more sense of it.

The griffin lifted his head from my shoulder, its body tense, its feathers ruffling.

“Where have you taken me, little one?”

It made a clicking noise deep in its throat, sounding sorrowful, almost.

My instincts told me to run. Instead, I kept returning to the tapestry, inching closer and closer each time, despite my fear.

Eventually, I worked up the nerve to let my fingers run over the worn threads.

Where was I? What deity did this creature answer to? Was this a part of the Fire God’s domain? The questions kept coming. Memories soon followed, clear and sharp as knives in my side—the claw marks this beast had left in the door; the smoke and strangeness that had followed in the days after; the tang of metal and magic in the air; my sister’s empty bed…

And the blood, bright and burning and red.

So much red.

My knees felt weak. I knelt to keep from losing my balance, bracing a hand against the cold floor. The tiny griffin scrambled to stay upright as I dropped, eventually leaping from my shoulder and smacking against the tapestry. Its claws came out, digging into the woven artwork, trying to catch itself.

A wild thought seized me as I saw the threads coming unraveled beneath its claws—don’t destroy it.We can’t let it die!

It had been an omen before. It had died on my doorstep, and then my sister…my sister…

I grabbed for the griffin. It let out a screech and scrambled higher, completely out of my reach—

Right before bursting into flames, setting fire to both itself and the tapestry.

Chapter15

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