“This is useless!” Hansel cried. “Three days of searching and not a clue as to where this beast is, or even what it is?”
“Calm down, you negative-Nancy!” said Gretel with smirk. “I took you for the patient type.”
Hansel’s words were true, however, and so far there had been little sign that any great creatures were in this area. Their best chance had been to split up; always two groups of two with one remaining to watch the camp. On this particular venture Samantha stayed behind while Victor and Astrid travelled south and Hansel and Gretel went north. They automatically suspected that they were hunting a griffin, but this was a wild guess, seeing as it was rare for griffin’s to be found so far north. If it was indeed a griffin then there would most certainly be two of them, a male and a female, and Victor wondered if this had something to do with Rodrick’s riddle. Why would one be evil while the other is not?
On the fourth day of the hunt they travelled west as one group along what was probably an ibex path leading along a rocky slope deeper into the mountains. It was Gretel’s turn to stay behind and look after the camp.
The path became steeper as they went on, and at times it would be cut by a wide fissure or blocked by a nearly vertical wall, meaning they had to double back and find another way or risk making a dangerous climb. They were definitely getting higher. Astrid spotted a bird circling near a ridge in the distance. Everyone was filled with excitement, but the bird was far too small to be a griffin. “We should go and see what it is that has grabbed this bird’s attention,” said Hansel.
They scrambled up to a point even higher than the ridge. Astrid moved to the edge. Without any indication, it cracked and gave way, and Astrid fell. Out of reflex Victor jumped and took her wrist, but with a jolt he was almost thrown off the edge as well. Lying flat on the edge he was dragged across the rock until Hansel caught him. Victor watched Astrid sway. “That’s a long way down!” he screamed. “Hansel, pull us up! Pull us up!”
“I’m trying!” Hansel returned.
Astrid’s knuckles turned white as she held Victor’s wrist for dear life. “Victor, I’m slipping!”
“Just hang on! We’re going to pull you up!” Victor feared his arm was going to be torn off! But with a heave he and Hansel lifted Astrid up and they collapsed on the ground. Astrid had gone paler than usual, and she looked at her trembling hands in alarm. Victor rubbed his now aching shoulder, his chest rose and fell. “You’re heavier than you look…”
A stunned silence followed, until it was broken by Astrid’s laughter. “I hate to suggest we do more adventuring today,” she said, “but I think I saw the carcass of an ibex or something below.”
With a slight reluctance, they made their down to the dead ibex. The smell assaulted them immediately and a plague of flies buzzed angrily around. The ibex had been dead for a number of days. Victor and Hansel covered their noses and examined it. “Deep lacerations on its back. Could be talons?” Hansel wondered.
“The carcass has been fed on by a number of small creatures. Look at the tracks. A griffin would have taken it back to its nest, or devoured everything at once. There are no beak wounds.” Victor’s analysis was sound.
Hansel examined the head. “The skull is broken, and so are the legs. What if the griffin dropped the carcass by accident? Look there.” He noticed now the faint marks of dried blood. “The body landed here and slid onto this spot. That means the griffin (if it was a griffin) would have been flying west… I think.”
Samantha called out. “It was a griffin!” She presented them with a large white feather spotted with black that she found not so far away. “We have our trail!”
ns 172.70.131.211da2