The Deeds of Eidyia

Flying through the small town and feeling the biting winds along my wings was far more pleasant than it had ever felt before, encumbered with only the thin hide to prove my birthright and a small dagger on my hip I dived down into the town proper and looked around. The rymaic clang of a hammer meeting some metal probably a plow or sword, there was little else a town like this would find use for.

The ground was hard with frozen mud and as I walked along it and I cursed my lack of paw coverings or gloves. Looking for the telltale sign of the recruitment tent I also kept an eye out for any food venders, quickly finding one and giving a pair of my megure coppers for a chicken breast that I bit down on without tasting swallowing to fill my empty stomach I continued on my way strutting past tenners and pony traders without any real interest in the insignificant town around me.

Finally finding what I had came here for I opened my wings to catch a gust of icy gale and rode it down a short hill to a large purple and yellow tent with a large plume at its top signifying a recruitment tent for the fief of Mid Talon Goldfeather. The Griffin who owned the area and who undoubtedly would be looking for more free griffins in her forces.

Pushing past the tent flap and scanning the cramped space filled with tables and books I caught the eye of an older griffin gently putting a quill into an inkpot to scratch a few more runes into the book before him, glancing down to finish the character he put the quill to the side and smiled warmly at me so I stepped forward offering my Hide Birthright without a word.

“A Freegriffin of House Stormwing, this is good hide, how did you beg your freedom?” he asked me running a talon down the intricate lines and pictures that outline my youth.

“My Hatchmother spoke for me to my Clanmother who offered me my freedom in return for one thousand silver” I remembered the deal, being born into one of the clans of a House a Griffin is not considered anything more than a servant of their Clanmother, this is unless they beg of their freedom, they are then given a task to accomplish in a year to be known as a Freegriffin and my Clanmother, being a kind old crow, had simply requested a sum of silver twice that of my upbringing.

“So you will have a one year contract to pay for your freedom and then what? Do you intend to stay with the Goldfeather company?” he began looking at my recent years, the blade-hen achievements I had accomplished in my short life.

“I intend to stay for at least three years then, if I have saved enough silver, to start my own company and offer my sword to become a vassal of the Crown” rather optimistic I thought but it paid to be ambitious.

“If that is the case I only need your oath of service and you will be a Freegriffin in the employ of Goldfeather” bowing my head and offering an oath to serve for three years in the Goldfeather company at arms, an oath I had memorized not two weeks ago for this very moment, I watched as he laid my Birthright into a small wooden box and locked it with a silver key.

Pushing back the tentflap I was almost run over by a pony dragging a wagon no doubt laden with gems and enchanted tools from Equestria.

“Hey Watch it!” shouted a tired looking pony strapped to the head of the cart. Ignoring the pitiful excuse for lunch I made my way to the local Inn with the intent to find a room to stay the night.

As it turns out this small town had two Inns, one was owned by a fat old hen who bossed her chicks around with a warm kindness that made the whole place feel homely, being that the only alternative had an Equestrian sign on the door I was more than happy to stay in good Griffin accommodation.

“Five copper a night” the fat hen smiled when I asked for a room, and I paid gladly offering another three copper to have a warm meal in the morn.

Pushing the door to the small room I paid for I found a nest of fresh straw and a small nightstand for my knife and small copper purse that I made use of before bedding down for the night.

The morning was a quiet affair, given that I had gone to bed early I left my room just as the sun lifted over the southern mountains. Oddly I remembered that the Ponies worshiped there sun goddess to bring the sun up each day, smiling to myself at the ridiculous notion I made my way down to the kitchen to ask about my hot meal and found a raven griffin of slight build slaving over a hearth keeping it burning, from the bags under his eyes I assumed he was there to keep the fire from going out.

“O-oh! Good morning Miss. Can I get you anything” He turned to look at me, swaying in a way that clearly indicated a light head, as concerned as I was for the wellbeing of the boy I nodded to the oven determined to get my food and leave.

“Yes, I paid for a hot meal, if you will I would take it by my leave.”

“Oh, Right, yeah okay” he moved with a deftness that only came to a Griffin of low enough status to work in such a menial position, I watched bemused as he threw together something warm and edible and thanking him with a copper I quickly left stepping into the Icy wind to make a good impression by being so early.

Flying down onto the town square I looked to the small crowd of griffins  quickly scanning them as they gawked openly. Uneven muscle tones and mutty feather colour I had no doubt that the crowd was comprised of low talon rabble, I also noted that they were standing before the old Griffin who I spoke to yesterday.

“Ah, good for you to join us Eidyia, I am impressed that you are all so early, it bodes well for this years training, I am to understand that you have more than a fair bit of experience as a Sergeant?”

“I have served as such” I bowed my head while tenseing to show the well built muscle around my entire from, I was no farmer or cook, I was a fighter, a taker of lives.

“Good, you can be our line by right” Nodding I looked back at the other recruits who were looking at me with a mixture of jealousy and disdain that was so common when the lower class met their betters.

It was two hours before the rest of the motley group arrived and I had very little hope for any of them. Under nourished and confused looking they were a typical band of castoffs from the farms when the winter stocks of the clanless became too scarce to feed the entire family.

“Now that we are all here” the Old Griffin started again, he had not spoken to me since I arrived, nor had any of the others. Instead moving to the most scared and confused and offering them words of support and encouragement, something I have no doubt made him an effective recruiter.

“Its a long walk to the keep, so we will be forming up in a unit to march, to do this you will form rows of six and you will walk in step with the line by left who will be setting the pace, the line by right will keep an eye out for any potholes or objects in the road and will alert the unit or try there best to remove the obstruction before the unit reaches it, are there any questions?” I watched as small groups, no doubt friends or people who had taken a liking to each other, grouped together, no doubt in the hope of walking in the same row so they can talk.

“Yeah, why can't we fly there?” a lanky hen asked with a rather nasal voice.

“Because you will be transporting food, clothes, two tents and more paperwork than any single griffin has any right to make” he nodded to the tent’s to the side of the town square “Your first task in the service of Goldfeather is to dismantle the tents, pack everything into the carrying sacks and carry them to the fort, its thirty kilometers from here so it will be a nice relaxing stroll” he grinned in the way that old Griffins do when they tell a lie to the young.

The Griffins were a surprisingly cohesive group for a bunch of rabble, but still I ended up with two carry sacks after a runt of a raven tried to lift one and was almost crushed. The march began with little fanfare, the old griffin lined us all up and helped the more defective farmers with marching in time with each other and in less than half an hour we were off. The road was a tenuous affair, a beaten down hard mud winding track through the bleak fields that made up most of the Griffin Kingdom farmland, the grain to our sides was mostly harvested which left stubs in the ground and a great deal of visibility to the wide frozen landscape, it also offered no protection to the frozen wind.

“So Eidyia is it? Where do you come from?” a dark grey feathered griffin with pink tips to her feathers asked me, marching in step to my left, given that I was the rightmost griffin this did not surprise me.

“Holly Honeybeak at your service!” she squeaked before getting a hold of herself, thankfully her step had not been lost in her sudden loss of posture, she must be taking to marching well.

“Its nice to meet you” I replied honestly, she seemed capable and her voice was far from annoying, actually her voice was rather pleasant but given that her name was Honeybeak that was hardly a surprise.

“So you are from a mid talon house? Why join with the rest of us then?” I assumed she was asking due to a lack of knowledge regarding how the upper houses worked and I was not wrong.

“Its hard to explain... If I remained in my house I would be sent to lead forces and command troops but I could not do so in my own name, If I buy my freedom from my Clanmother I will be allowed to legally own land in my own name rather than being a servant to my family. However I need money to appease the people who raised me and pay them back for the years they spent molding me into the griffin I am today.”

“Wait, you can’t just leave and own land?!” she looked agast “Why not?!”

“Well unless I buy my freedom it is assumed that I am owned by my Clan, any land I own and any force I raise is legally owned by my Clanmother, its how the upper class does things”

“Sounds a bit silly to me” She responded dourly before she got all perky and cheerful again “Still, you seem nice enough, my brothers all told me that any griffin from the upper talons were full of themselves and rude, but you seem nice” I was quite honestly touched by her words, given that I had not been told I was nice before, it was only much later I found out that I was not given that phrase often because I did not deserve it in the first place.