Gryphonia Freezes

Us griffins are known as great warriors, flying machines of death, bringing all the weapons of the ancient eagles and great cats to bear. Fortunately, this reputation, and not our political bickering, precedes us.

For months, I led scouting missions over the south marches, the mountain passes, and the plains that stretched south beyond them. I watched the ponies trudge on day after day, scanning the skies; sleeping in shifts, farm tools and daggers by their sides.

They were scared.

Scared, and for good reason: in their state, the griffin army could have rained from the skies and killed the lot of them, without need for a second strike. They were on the move, and the death of their crops had left them without food for the journey. They were separated by race, giving us aerial superiority over the earth ponies, strength over the unicorns, and numbers over the peagsi. Strength is in numbers and variety of attack, but only Hurricane was a military leader among them, and in her anger at the other tribes, she disregarded sound strategy in favor of pride.

They could not have been more vulnerable. The classic vision of prey on migration.

Apparently, they were lucky. They had their three tribes, we had thirteen. And, as non-cooperative as they were, we were worse.

--<(0)>--

“The representative from the Jirgin tribe has a proposal?”

“Yes, your excellency,” boomed the sword-carrying griffin, “the Jirgin have mustered our forces, and are ready to launch an attack. As our tribe is very small, we require reinforcement from the Uduyid and Temujin if we are to be successful…”

“The Temujin will never fly with the Uduyid again!” A starved-looking old bird stood from his place, and extended a claw in accusation, “Those filthy half-breeds have no place in battle! They will flee as soon as sun hits steel!”

“Sit down, you old cat! Not flying into a death-trap in Pegasopolis isn’t cowardice. Your charging in regardless was a disgrace to military strategy!”

“The Tuva demand that an assault be delayed until the border crisis with the Bajigt is resolved.”

“That can wait. Us and the Tas are even putting our land dispute aside until this is finished.”

“As the Tas ambassador, I have heard nothing of this. We will continue to withhold military support from the Bajigt until they withdraw from our territory.”

“It isn’t your territory; we’ve held it from the Pegasi for sixteen years since you abandoned it!”

“Is the Ursud ambassador present? He has been named as the intermediary for the land dispute between the Tuva, Tas,  and the Bajigt.”

“The Ursud refuse to send an ambassador until relief is sent for the flooding of their grazing grounds.”

“The Uduyid, Jirgin, and Bayad are negotiating relief efforts presently, he should be present.”

“If you all decide to stop bickering,” I shouted, “My tribe the Oriat and the Ongud have been flying recon, and are ready to strike as soon as we get a couple tribes of backup. We need to take out the Pegasi first, and we are also too small to take them alone.”

“It sounds like the Jirgin are prepared”

“We, the Temujin, and the Uduyid are brothers,” the booming voice stated, uneasily, “The Jirgin will only fly if our brothers are present. Years of less-than-pleasant relations have made us… wary of working alone with a tribe of another family.”

“When you pull your head out of your rear, you know where to find us.” I turned tail and walked from the council chamber.

“See? That sort of hostility is what I spoke of.”

“She was just being a bit curt, Galve.”

“If our brothers will fly with us, we will discuss flying with the foresters.”

Ugh. The sooner I got out of earshot of that drivel, the better.