Gods in the Lianreida - Part 3 of 15

Had Larias not been ensuring his chariot was hidden, he would have seen a second flight of griffins following the first. These were gold in colour and the helms of their riders gleamed brightly in the afternoon sun. They wheeled after the first flight in a perfectly disciplined formation before their riders rose in their saddles and flung a hail of long-shafted arrows after the first formation. The sunlight glistened momentarily off the arrowheads but the missiles could not reach their targets and the arrows fell harmlessly into the trees below.

Larias did not see. He spoke a command to the chariot and watched it shrink until it fitted in the palm of his hand. As he bent to pick it, there was an angry hum behind him. Startled at being discovered, but not alarmed, Larias straightened and stepped nimbly aside, reaching back to snatch an arrow out of the air. As he turned, he gently muttered a string of words, smiling in satisfaction as the arrow grew supple in his hand.

A woman stood behind him, dressed in the forest-coloured clothing of an elven tree-guard—not the wisest costume for a human in these lands. Her almond-shaped eyes were the colour of warm honey or golden leaves, and her face was the same shade as the bark of a young bronzewood. In the hand behind his back, Larias felt muscle grow beneath supple hide, felt the body thicken and knew his work was almost done.

The woman regarded him from beneath the soft fringe of her night-colored hair and drew the bow to full nock.