As each beat of the creature’s wings pulled them higher above the park, Petra did as she’d been told, clinging to Axel’s back while gripping the griffin’s flanks with her knees. She looked along the span of his wings; fully extended, they appeared almost twice the length of his body. So powerful were they that the griffin did not need to exert himself to keep them gliding at a great speed. Petra’s hair had been blown out of the collar of her blouse, where she’d tucked it, and trailed behind.
When she braved a glance down, she saw that they had long cleared the treetops, and were ascending to the height of the taller buildings. Below, the green lawn fringe of the park looked even more unnaturally and uniformly lush than it had at ground level; the children frolicking upon it looked like porcelain dolls on a backdrop of make-believe grass. Slanting his wings elegantly, the griffin took them above the thickly wooded forest. Its canopy was consistently thick, but had none of that artificial uniformity which had been imposed on the grasses surrounding it. Some trees, more ambitious than their neighbours, broke past the canopy and reached gnarled, leafy fingers towards the sun; others, choked by vines and stunted by disease, could not compete with the more aggressive of their kind, and shrank back.
They glided at this height over the park a few times, tilting with the griffin every time he turned. The sensation of being compelled upwards and forwards eventually grew exhilarating instead of alarming. She felt a new buoyancy wash over her as the griffin swooped right, turning the riders nearly to their sides. She knew their combined weight must be staggering, two young humans and one griffin, but they manoeuvred as easily as if they’d been wisps of cloud.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she was content simply to feel the wind in her face. She smirked a little at the thought of Rowena at her tedious tea house, sipping at a cup of lukewarm brew. Feeling the updraft beneath them again, Petra wondered if Axel would be attending class tomorrow, and if he would reply truthfully when Mr. Arterberry asked where he had been. She vaguely contemplated whether it would be worth going to lessons if he intended to be there.
But her expression soured when she remembered that ‘Park Boy’ had outwitted her attempts to taunt him, and had not even allowed her the satisfaction of returning her quips. She’d been somewhat shamed by the boy’s refusal to treat her with the contempt that, in all likelihood, she deserved.
Distantly, just above the whip of the wind, she heard Axel speaking. Petra’s eyes opened to see his head craned back, a self-assured smile on his face. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she replied quickly, hoping her breathlessness didn’t sound like nerves. Glancing over his shoulder with a little difficulty, she wondered whether Axel was steering, or if the griffin could guide himself. She could see no bridle, or anything else for that matter that could be used to direct the creature, unless Axel was guiding him with his body. “How do you guide him?” she yelled, her voice competing with the rushing wind.
“You don’t need to speak so loud. You’re right in my ear.”
“Oh,” she said, her tone lowered to its usual volume. “Sorry.”
“I can guide him with a little pressure on the shoulders, just to tell him where to turn. Other than that, he does most of the work.”
When Petra next caught a glimpse of the ground, she saw no longer saw the green expanse of the park, but instead the rooftops of buildings and neatly paved squares of the metropolis. And she realised they were descending rapidly, as the griffin navigated the channels of air between narrow streets, scarcely wider than his wingspan, plunging around corners in a way which left certain townspeople below much shaken. Petra grinned as she saw one mature, well-dressed woman (on later reflection, Petra realised it had been Mrs. Desselles, a wealthy, widowed acquaintance) brandishing her parasol as they swooped past. A quick dive towards a market stall left both riders laughing mischievously as the griffin glided over the sellers and their expensive wares (this was the Archadean Square after all), close enough to cause shoppers alarm.
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