The griffon manor foyer.

It was a spacious room the last time I was here and even then I didn't really get a good look at it due to being in a rush and being pushed out by our host's rude as fuck employee.

And now that I am back I can say that this place looks pretty good, it has a nice thick padded red carpet covering the wooden floorboards, there are scones at regular intervals that hang from the halls burning with a low flame giving the room a warm feeling. Hell, they even have a snack tray with a silver plate filled with all sorts of snacks that would tickle the palette of any griffon who would come to dine on said tasty delicacies. Another thing I noticed about this foyer is that it was quiet and that I couldn't hear any griffon that might be nearby other than the breathing of my diamond dog friend and myself along with the subtle drips of water landing on the carpet. It was just the two of us and we have the element of surprise on our side.

Looking around the foyer I saw that there were six doors and a staircase leading up to the second floor in the back of the room that splits in two leading to the upper left or upper right section of the manor, where the other doors lead I don't know and even though I was here not even a full day ago, I couldn't remember which door we came out of to get here.

Time to make the best of it before we get caught.

Picking a door that was closest to us I signaled my dog friend to follow closely behind me and to be as quiet as much as he possibly could and to my relief he did just that by shuffling his padded feet paws on the carpet.

Getting close to the door I pressed an ear to it in hope of hearing anything on the side of it but sadly the door was either too thick for me to properly hear what was on the other side or that there was no one there to begin with. Either way I had to make sure that it was truly empty so we don't get ambushed on our way to the next room. Placing my hand on the doorknob I gave it a gentle twist and seeing if it pulled inward into the forward I gave it a light tug but when it refused to budge I figured out that this door along with all the others must be pushed outward and I did so and to my luck it was also unlocked and on the other side was a simple sitting room with no one present.

Peering into the door I let my eyes scan every single inch of it and from what I saw that it was darker in here than it is in the foyer and that is due to the scones and lantern within the room are not lit and are simply sitting there waiting to be used. Gently shutting the door and leaving it the way I found it I then motioned my friend to the next door and just like the first one it too was also empty but this room was a bare of any furniture with the exception of scones on the wall near the door. I started to think that this manor is either recently built within a few years or that this place has been here a while but it had a new owner who was still moving shit in and settling into its new home.

Either way, this asshole is about to get evicted either in chains or in a body bag...or in a pile of cinders and burnt lumber.

Moving towards the door beneath the upper right stairs I gave the knob a jingle to see if it was locked and to my surprise, it was locked, a first of many surprises within this building but for the time being I had to move onto the other three doors to make sure that they were empty.

The fourth door turned out to be also locked as well as I guessed that it and the third door led deeper into the manor and when I checked the fifth and sixth room I found them to be empty as well, my guess is that they left the first floor rooms empty to give the false illusion that the place is desolate and empty but if an unwelcomed guest were to find themselves here...they will simply find themselves at the mercy of their captors as they get captured in the middle of the night.

As I returned to the foyer to begin my climb up one of the stairs to get to the second floor I sniffed something most foul and terrible to my nasal senses and when I followed my nose like Toucan Sam, I found the source to be none other than Scrawny who was giving me a confused stare as he tilted his head to the side to further accent his confusion.

"Dude, you stink...like holy shit dude. I am not even joking man, you smell like you haven't got a proper bath in years." I said as I suppressed the urge to gag and even then that is a feat of sheer force of will.

"What? I did take a bath!"

"When was this so called supposed bath taken?"

"Last year...I think."

"Fucking gross..." I said as I took a few steps away from him to get away from both the wet dog smell along with the scent of unbathed hound, the air was tinged with the stench but it didn't hit me until just this moment that this was not going to work out as I had originally planned it.

I don't know anything about griffons, but if I remember anything from my time being a huge Dungeons and Dragons nerd is that griffons are predators, they eat meat, they hunt from the sky and come screeching to the ground to capture their prey before tearing it to shreds, which means they have excellent eyesight and possibly hearing. Another thing is that they are part bird, so they might have an excellent sense of smell.

Once I got to the next door I jiggled the knob for a moment to see if it was locked and with my current luck streak it wasn't, but when I popped it open just a crack I saw through the opening on the other side a griffon looking away from the door and was talking to another griffon that was out of sight for me at the moment.

"So Eddin what are ya gonna do once we get paid for holdin this princess hostage?"

"I'm gonna head back home to my village an finally tell that bastard of a father of mine that he is a piece of shite for bein' a drunkard all my life before giving him a good gutting and leavin to go find a new home elsewhere beyond the Fringe."

"You planning on going beyond the Fringe? That's minotaur territory ya daft fool!"

"Ah know that but what choice do I got? Can't stay here cause I would get a bounty on me head, can't go to Equestria cause the bounty hunters would get paid double there by those damn princesses, and the Badlands is a death wish! At least those dumb mino's won't question the reason why I am there unless they hear about me that is."

And as it turns out these griffons don't have much of a sense of smell, it is very weak as it is clearly evident that the smell of my dog friend would have alerted them if they was either a human or another dog or perhaps even a pony. But seeing how these griffons haven't even picked up on Scrawny's offending stench I can clearly see that their sense of smell of shit and that they rely on sight and possibly sound.

Pushing the door slowly until I had enough space to easily kick it in, I placed my foot on the door and counting to myself I forced the door wide open which knocked the griffon whose back was facing the door to be caught completely off-guard which sealed his fate as I took a few steps in to close the distance between the three of us.

With the griffon closest to the door turning his entire body to face me, by the time his large frame was about half way to facing me I have already brought my recently-acquired axe down upon his neck, cleaving into the meat and severing his spine in the process, killing him almost immediately from the blow and as for his friend, he was fumbling for his sword within its scabbard but as he gets a grip on the handle it was his turn. Still moving forward from my momentum of kicking the door in and stepping over the falling headless griffon corpse I brought my right arm down, the sword within my grasp coming down to split the other griffon's skull in two but I was out of reach and instead sliced maybe a centimeter of beak before he manages to back step away from me.

Seeing me bent over after making a too-wide of a downward arc with my sword the griffon pulled his sword out from its scabbard and before he could plunge it into me, Scrawny was already by my side, swinging that club of his over my head and like a professional baseball player he grand-slammed the griffon's head, breaking his beak into pieces in the process before finally grabbing his head by the broken remains of his beak and slamming him into the wall.

Pinning him to the wall I watched as Scrawny easily held the griffon there by his head and with him pinned I recover my lost balance and stand back up only to give the bandit the finishing touch by stabbing him in the heart with my sword. I had to wait a while for the griffon to die as he struggled a bit after I plunged my sword into his chest and only then did he stop fighting back and stopped breathing did Scrawny and I step away from the two fresh corpses to look upon our handy work.

And by look upon I mean I threw up onto both corpses just as a bolt of lightning strikes far above our heads, illuminating the room briefly with a flash of white from the window.

The first death I was able to ignore it because I didn't think of him as a criminal, but the second and third deaths...they had lives outside of this place, maybe even a family and loved ones...

I knew what I did was wrong, I know that I will be burning in hell for this, but I did it anyways and for what? Revenge because I was outsmarted by an older man who was playing the political game far longer than I have? A fool who only wanted his stolen gold, laptop and idol back? Or maybe even a wanna-be hero who thought he can single-handedly save a princess and get a reward for it.

But I know that there is no going back now, if I am going to hell then I might as well get an all-paid express ticket there because I am going to ride this train till the wheels snap off and we all crash into a ravine.

Wiping the bile from my mouth and spitting on the floor I smeared the removed spew onto the wall before retrieving my axe and sword from the two corpses and put them back by my side before going about looting the dead.

In all I found on the two deceased griffons a few small pouches the size of marble bags filled with silver and copper coins, a small piece of paper with a list of things to do on a daily basis here at the manor, and also a murder list for here at the manor as well. I even found a small brass key on a rope loop that was wrapped around the griffon who I nearly decapitated with my axe.

'Seems like someone here has a few issues with his fellow griffons.' I thought to myself as I stepped away from the corpses and left the room before closing it behind me, making sure that it looked undisturbed so no one will notice that it is occupied by two dead bodies.

Robbing the dead may seem bad but they won't be needing it where they are going, after all they are or were in the same boat I am in so I bet that I will be seeing them in hell sooner or later.

As soon as we both stepped out I immediately went back to checking doors to see if they were locked and to my utter glee that I was proven right, the door leading deeper into the manor that just so happened to be the one I was standing next to was locked. With the brass key in hand I put it into the keyhole and with a slow twist I heard the small tumblers within the locking mechanism click and clack as the metal scrapped against the pins until finally I heard the all-too-familiar sound of a lock being undone.

Tugging the key out from the lock I grab the knob and with a weak-ass twist and a tug the door opened to reveal the glowing warmth of a lit hallway and the sounds of padded feet and claws off in the distance.

'Okay...we made it to the actual bandit lair...now how to go about finding the princess, rescue her guards, finding my shit and bringing back a severed griffon head on a silver platter to the king...eh I'll figure it out as I go along.' I thought to myself as I slowly closed the door but left it slightly askew so I could easily push it open when I come back to it, I still had to check the rest of the second floor rooms of this particular section of the manor.

From what I saw from the outside that it looked small, but now that I am in it and actually on the second floor it is actually quite large, I bet this is only like...a third or fourth of the actual manor.

How the hell did something this large even escape the gaze of the griffon king when its sitting near the base of the mountain? Does he not notice a massive ass building that is literally surrounded by trees on all sides? Or does the griffon lord I have the roof covered in tree foliage n shit to camouflage it from nosey little birds that try to spy on him?

It was during this moment that when I went see what was going on in the rest of the manor I have failed to realize that I could have just used my memory of this place to backtrack myself to where I was held hostage and where I went to pick up my things and my meeting with the big cheese himself.

I am such an idiot sometimes...

Facepalming myself for my moment of a critical failure I decided that now would be the time to retrace my steps and get back into the inner sanctum of the lair and rescue the hostage, recover my loot and defeat the boss. I know that this wouldn't be easy because I have almost no real combat training and these griffons do, I don't know the layout of the area yet they do, at this point it might be better to actually go room-to-room and make sure I don't get backstabbed by a ruthless bandit.

The other five rooms on the second floor I searched with all possible haste, checking each and every single one of them for anything of possible value or better yet if there was a griffon waiting inside for either an intruder or are just sitting in there relaxing.

Turns out this entire section of the manor was empty with the exception of that one room, because there is only one entrance (that I know of) for this building and that an intruder was to come upon this building, they would be stuck to this portion only and if they stayed they would probably get captured and if these bastards are evil enough, they would be sold as slaves.

With that in mind and that I now have the means of going deeper into the lair I went back to the bottom floor and tried to open both of the locked door with the looted key but for some reason it wasn't working so it would seem that I am either being retarded or that I need a different key...so Resident Evil 1 of this guy...to need a bunch of keys for his manor...

Fucking going to strangle him for making me find another random ass key just to find him.

Up on the second floor again at the slightly-askew door I saw that it was still empty with the only exception being the sounds of marching patrols of griffons and that was when I saw just how many are on patrol. It was a pair of griffons with one being male and the other female. The pair seems to be wearing what looks like leather armor that has been expertly sewn together, I can see the stitch-work from here and I must say that I am impressed with the level of craftsmanship that has been employed for this particular set of armor. They were wearing what looks like metal bowl attached to their heads that included their upper beak with two eye-holes for the all important eyes to see out of. I also saw that they had a pair of swords attached to their sides, no shield at all to act as an additional means of safety.

Where this armor came from I don't know, but I want to know where it came from so I can get myself a suit of it as well but with some modifications that is best suited to my body and my knowledge of medieval armor. Installing some chainmail above the armor with a bit of cloth on top of it would remind me of a crusader during the shit ages of humanity, but it would offer more protection from certain death against the dangers of this world.

Normal everyday clothing from Earth isn't very protective against sharp metal objects and claws belonging to mythical creatures let alone against beasts of the wild and possibly things I have never even seen before.

With this information now on hand from the wandering patrol of griffon bandits I waved Scrawny over to me and told him what the new game plan is.

"Okay, it seems that the griffons here have access to some good armor if the leather I saw on those two are anything to go by. Thick hides sewn together can easily soften a blunt blow such as your club but it wouldn't truly stop a sword from cutting through them. These griffons are either richer than they appear to be or that they only have so much gold in stockpile to afford well-maintained arms and armor seeing how they are outside the law. They have the advantages of knowing the layout of this manor, superior numbers, better weapons and probably actual martial training but we got an advantage they don't." I said as I whispered to my friend who was busy trying to keep himself from moving in his giddiness to do some good in his eyes.

I still think that I am doing a bad thing by killing these griffons even though the king on the mountain could have and possibly did assembled and sent a team of highly trained griffon soldiers to come here and rescue his daughter.

But its already too late now since I have already killed three of them and that I am already inside the manor and I am not leaving my laptop behind for these griffons on either side of the law to have in their talons.

"But what advantage we got?" Scrawny said as he scratched his head, almost bonking himself on the head with his club when he forgot that he was about to scratch an itch with the big meaty paw that was holding the blunt object.

I smiled to myself as I thought on all of the stealth-based games that I have played and in a moment of silence I prayed to whoever is listening at the moment that the two of us get out of this alive and in one piece.

"We have the element of surprise. They obviously can't smell us so that is a plus, the ongoing storm that is happening outside will be muffling our footsteps and the carpet on the floor beneath us is already doing just that. What we really only have to worry about is getting caught by the griffons out in the open, making loud noises because they can still hear us if we are louder than the storm, and most importantly not leaving everything as we came here." The last one caught Scrawny's attention but when I clarified what I meant he made an understanding nod at me. As we finished talking about our predicament a bolt of lightning flashed by the window again, this time it was louder and that the raining was getting heavier, the storm was picking up something fierce.

If we enter a room, ransack it and then leave it as it is, and a griffon patrol were to come along and go in and see it...I bet my left nut that they will sound the alarm and our little stealth mission will be over and we will be up shit creek without a paddle and the canoe is sinking fast.

With this in mind we pushed the open door and slowly stepped across the threshold and closed it behind us and locked it to give it the air of untouched to the untrained eye. Now standing in the lavish hallway I took the lead and slowly walked down the hall, keeping my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary or better yet, more rooms to search in the event there are griffons inside them.

Slowly walking down the hall I saw no other patrols nor did I hear them over the sounds of the storm, its easier to hear the heavy footfalls of padded paws and talons on a carpet then it is to hear two bipedal beings moving as slowly as possible. As it turns out as we get to the middle of the hall it opens up to reveal an intersection and that was where the griffons was currently at, they were moving in a slow even march but even then I can tell that any minute now they might turn around and march right back to us so we had to move fast so I decided to duck across to the other side and my friend almost stumbled after me.

So now there are two griffons at the other end of the three-way hallway we both went across to see If the door on that end led anywhere but when we got to that end it was locked so pulling out my brass key I pushed it into the lock and gave it a twist and to my surprise it worked so with a twist and a push I soon found myself back in the foyer of the manor.

'Fuck a duck...'

This was where we started and it would seem that the only way forward is through those two guards...this isn't going to end well for us.

No where to go but forward to reach my prize I decided that if I am going to hell then I might as well go feet first into it.

Going back into the three-way hallway I grabbed my sword and axe and clenched down on them tightly as I heard the sound of the leather grips being crushed beneath my grip but as I tried to put myself at ease and be as calm as I physically can. I started to think happy thoughts of kittens rolling around on grass, puppies chewing on a stuffed toy, me looking at a scale to see that I lost ten pounds, all of those did nothing to steady my nerves but in the end it did one thing right and that was stop my hands my shaking and leveled out my breathing.

I soon heard the steady footfalls of padded feet and talons on the carpet coming back to us and I knew that our time was up, we had to act fast and we had to be the first ones to act or otherwise we will end up captured again or killed.

Down the hall the footfalls grew louder and louder as they got closer and closer and before I knew it they were right at the three-way intersection about to make their glances down both ends of the hall and when they did they saw me and Scrawny waiting for them.

The one nearest to me let out a loud squawk of surprise but I am not sure if I am lucky or just a random act of weather, a thunderclap went off outside, a roar of thunder muffled the griffon's squawk from being heard by the others in the manor besides the four of us and we all knew it.

With our cover blown I reacted by bringing my axe down onto the nearest griffon's shoulder but the griffon in question saw it coming and took a quick step back and let my swing collide with the carpet before pouncing on top of me, his wings flared open as he took flight to gain the height advantage before coming down on top of me, knocking me to the ground in the process as well as knocking my weapons out from my hands. Scrawny on the other hand took his swing with that club of his and his swing actually made contact with its intended target by banging against the she-griffon on the head making her fall down from the blow, leaving a noticeable dent on the helmet but it clearly wasn't enough to knock her out as she got back up and bull-charged at the diamond dog.

The two of us made our first strike but it wasn't enough to completely incapacitate or kill these griffons which gave them the two the opportunity to attack us in kind. With male griffon that I attacked was now on top of me, his talons went straight for my throat as I chocked and gasped for air as my own hands went for his wrists to try and pry them off but then he reared his head back and suddenly snapped forward, his beak striking the carpet as I managed to move my head out of the way by angling it to the right and as soon as it connected with the floor I returned fire with an evil trick.

I kneed the bastard in the balls.

Kneeing him in the balls I watched as he immediately let go of his grip on my throat before falling to the side, his talons going for the family jewels to hold them to help soothe the pain but I never game him the chance to fully recover. With him now to my left I rolled over and stood up before grabbing my sword that I dropped when I was tackled, reaching for my sword I grabbed it uncontested and with it in hand I rolled my shoulder and with a swing in a wide high arc I watched as the blade found purchase by cutting clean through the griffons torso, cleaving him in half the short way. For a moment I thought I only hacked his spine in half which would render him a cripple due to no longer behind able to use his hind legs but for me to actually cut someone in half, hell that actually scares me a little bit, I have to be a bit more careful with my strength if I actually want to fight someone and not kill them from now on.

Gasping for air as I coughed up a storm as I slowly struggled to regain my breath in time to see Scrawny get thrown into the wall and was about to take a swipe at him with her talons but she got the chance because I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and threw her to the wall behind me and kicked her in the ribcage. The kick to the ribs has forced the air out from her lungs and before I could run her through with my sword, Scrawny came from behind me and puncher her square in the face, denting the helmet she is wearing even further to the point that it might have just killed her from having her skull caved in.

The she-griffon slumped to the floor in a heap, falling over as her head bounced off the carpet once before coming to a complete stop which left me and Scrawny trying to catch our breath with me leaning on a wall while my buddy had his paws on his knees.

I looked down the hall to see if there was anyone coming and when I saw nothing but the scones on the wall burning brightly and the storm outside raging on still I let out a shuddering sigh of relief that nothing was coming our way. Between the two of us we had killed so far five griffons, three of them were caught unaware and had no time to retaliate but the last two, they managed to put up a fight no matter how quick it was still a fight that could have gotten us killed.

Shaking the thought that we were almost killed I decided that if we are going to survive this mess, then we are going to have be smarter then this.

As soon as we got our breath back and the shaking from our hands have faded away, we went back to creeping down the hallway, the carpet and the storm doing its best to muffle our approach and with each step we take the more I felt that an impending sense of doom coming my way.

Getting to the halfway point of the long hallway, Scrawny and I saw that there was a door in the middle of each wall and I knew that if there was any griffons within these rooms than I am sure that the one that Scrawny was slammed into would be on alert because there would be no reason as to why the guards that was on patrol would have slammed on the wall that hard a short while ago. And if these griffons were smart they would be waiting for us to open the door before attacking us in an ambush.

And without missing a beat the doors were thrown open the moment we got to them and from within those rooms pairs of talons came out, grabbed us and dragged us into our own rooms.

The moment I was grabbed was also that same moment where I decided to loosen my grip on my recently acquired hatchet and due to my loose hold I lost my weapon. In the future I will not make that same mistake twice.

I don't know who would be stupid enough to try that but the first griffon that I saw who also seemed to be the one that was grabbing me by the shoulders was also the first one to die. How I killed him is relatively simple, as soon as I was dragged into the room they let me go because they failed to have their weapons drawn or laying around when they needed them but with them at the moment disarmed I thrust my sword arm forward and skewered griffon Uno in the chest, the blade piercing through a ribcage to get to the juicy blood heart in the middle. The three other griffons in the room saw this and in a flurry of movement they drew their short swords and hatchets, enraged that one of their own was killed before their very eyes.

The other three griffons saw this as their chance to end me and they took it as the one closest to me took a swing with that hatchet of his, but instead of burying it in my right shoulder as it was meant to, I instead took a step back while dragging the freshly slain griffon with me. End result was the hatchet biting deep into griffon shoulder meat and clipping the tip of its right wing.

Meanwhile the other two griffons took their swings, one went with a chopping motion that actually chopped into my side, the blade cutting not too deep into my ribcage as I found that the blade wasn't even that sharp to begin with, it left a cut that was surely causing some blood loss but not enough to be a fatality.

And as for griffon number three, his dagger found its place in my thigh and boy did that fucking hurt like hell. Imagine the pain of getting poked very hard, and have that pain amplified several times because its deep and that it was wiggled a few times to make it hurt even more.

With the griffon that was holding the dagger that was currently buried in my left thigh staring up at me as if he just struck a killing blow, I reminded him that such callous actions will not go unrewarded. Glaring down at the griffon who thought it was a bright idea to stand between me and my quest for reclamation and revenge I backhand him across the beak with my left hand which disorientated the little bastard while his buddy was stupefied that he missed his mark and chopped his buddy in the back.

I don't know what is worse, in my opinion, the fact that you missed your possibly only swing, or the fact that your missed swing whacked your buddy in the back and possibly crippled or killed him.

As it turns out the weapons these bandits are wielding are either in such poor condition that they might just fall apart in a single swing, haven't been sharpened in years, or are in the talons of those that have never held a weapon before in their lives. But it doesn't matter to me, they decided to go for a life of crime instead of earning an honest living.

Food for thought.

Pulling out my bloodied sword from the deceased hybrid of lion and eagle I gave it a twirl which threw most of the blood on its blade onto the griffon who was bitch-slapped by me while his friend was busy wiggling the axe blade from his now obviously dead friend's shoulder/back. With my bit of swordplay done I turned my attention to the griffon who was trying his hardest to yank the axe from decreased griffon number...six I think?

Anyways this ass gasket was about to give up the ghost but the moment he manages to finally yank the axe out from his friend's shoulder I took a swing and cleaved through both of his talons at the forearm.

Now I know what many people would think of me for doing this but let me tell you this. I don't give a fuck.

This bandit just tried to whack me with an object that is used to cut wood in half, I am not a piece of lumber goddamn it!

With the now armless griffon screeching in agony for the loss of his arms, I silenced him by running him through an pushed his corpse off and to the side as I as focused on the griffon who stabbed me in the thigh.

This particular griffon is going to die an agonizing death.

Moving within grabbing distance I slammed my weapons on the floor as soon as I have taken notice that it was just me and him left in this room.

Gouging out the griffon's eyes I then kicked him out the second story window, his body landing with a thud outside as he screamed and screeched his lungs out as he was now rendered blind and was bleeding profusely from his now ruined eye-sockets and the numerous cuts that litter his body from the shards of glass that slashed him up. Turning away from the window I returned my attention to the other griffons in the room before jumping over a telegraphed swing from a griffon's sword before burying my sword into his skull, the blade easily going all the way to the shaft which left it irretrievable for me at the moment so I had to rely on much more practical tools for the job, my hands.

Bobbing and weaving between angry griffons and their sloppy swordplay I only ended up getting nicks and small cuts but nothing too life-threatening to worry about, but when an over-eager griffon that looked a little too young to even be here rushed me I decided that this one was not worth killing. Missing me by what might as well be a mile I ran up to him before kicking the young griffon in the ribs, cracking and possibly breaking at least three of them in one go and as soon as my foot was back on the floor I reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck before tossing him into the room that I walked out of and left him in there to stew among the dead bodies that I left behind.

Gripping the dagger that was embedded in my thigh I clenched my teeth and with a howl of pain I pulled it out to see that my blood has stained the short stubby blade red. Dropping the small weapon on the floor I looked around for something to cover up my fresh bleeding injury, I spotted that one of the deceased griffons had a scarf wrapped around his neck and with him no longer being alive he doesn't need it anymore.

Ripping the scarf from the dead bird's neck and remembering from my Boy Scout education on mediocre medical training, I wrapped the length of scarf as tightly as I could around my thigh to staunch the blood loss. As it turns out the mediocre training paid off because the bleeding has stopped and also that I could still feel my left leg hasn't gone numb yet.

I just I don't have to amputate my left leg, I sort of like it where it is at the moment.

Looking down at the young griffon cub writhing in pain I wiped my hands of the mess that has been made only to hear a loud yelp of pain come from my outside the room I was in and when I went out to find the source of it, what I saw made my blood boil.

A griffon was stabbing my friend in the gut with the short spike on his battle axe, the large blade on the opposite side was coated in blood and the spike that was embedded in Scrawny's chest was deep and the wound was leaking blood. My best friend was hurt and he needed my help.

My vision turned red and all I saw was a dead griffon walking.

Without thinking or even releasing that I even moved I was already upon the griffon that was hurting my friend with my hands firmly clamped on his shoulders. Ripping him of my friend I threw him into a wall, tilting a scone that was above his head as hot ashes landed on his head as he let out a squawk of pain from being burned but it was short lived as I reenacted a rather famous scene from Game of Thrones but with my own twist on the bastard.

Grabbing the screaming griffon by the head I put pressure on his skull and I put all of my strength into it as I heard his skull begin to crack and creak under my fingers.

"You made a terrible mistake little bird. You hurt my only friend, you made him bleed in my presence." I whispered to him as I brought my face close to his, just above his beak as I firmly held him in place as the pinned griffon tried to claw my arms but all it did was make me exert more pressure on his skull until he finally let go of my arms and just hung their limp as he continued to scream out in pain.

"Now, embrace death!" I shouted before giving it my all and with all of my muscles working overtime I heard the creaking and cracking of bone come full tilt as the griffon's skull finally gave in as his head popped like a grape.

The griffon's head exploded, sending bits of brain, bone, eyeballs, and most importantly copious amounts of blood all over my hands but I didn't care as I flicked my hands of the mess and immediately went to aid my friend.

He was sitting on the opposite side of the griffon I just brutally executed and was holding the battle axe in place as to not agitate the wound further but he was whimpering in pain and he looked like hell if the bloody nose and weeping cuts are of any indications. I wasn't a doctor or even a trained nurse but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Scrawny was in a world of hurt and that I had both get that spike out of his chest and also stop him from bleeding out.

Kneeling down beside him I placed one hand on his chest and the other on the shaft under the blade before glancing up at him and told him to brace for it.

"This is going to hurt, you will probably want to rip my head off after this but it as to be done." I said in a low calm tone, Scrawny was looking at me but he couldn't say anything due to how much pain he was in as all he could do was whimper sadly as he grit his teeth and placed a meaty paw on my left shoulder to help him brace for what was about to happen next.

On the count to three I told him that I would take the spike out from his chest and that I would apply pressure on the wound to help staunch the flow of blood but what I didn't tell him was that I was going to make this quick.

"Three." I skipped one and two and went straight for the end as I yanked the spike from Scrawny's chest and the reaction was instant.

Scrawny's meaty paw gripped my shoulder tightly to the point that I thought I heard the bones there creaking from the pressure being forced onto it while I dropped the axe onto his lap while my hands was now on the quarter-sized puncture hole to stop any blood from leaking out. With my hands on the wound and the amount of blood leaking out appearing to be a small amount, either the spike didn't hit anything important as it missed all vital organs or that the spike was slowed down and barely penetrated his chest due to his fur and him trying to stop the griffon from outright killing him.

Either way I got him to stop bleeding by using my shirt that I was wearing as a blood rag and I am sad to say this but I think I can never wear that shirt ever again even if I somehow manage to get rid of the bloodstains and the smell.

With my shirt now working as a bandage and a plug to the wound in Scrawny's chest I was now helping him get back up onto his paws so we can get out of this hallway but as I got him up I kneeled down and grabbed the battle axe off the floor and used it as a walking stick to help us get out. The axe itself weighed about twenty pounds and for me it for some strange reason felt right in my hands.

I don't know why but this weapon feels like it belongs to me, like some sort of calling between me and this weapon...it is almost like this weapon is just begging for me to use it, to own it.

Maybe I should stop overthinking this shit, I highly doubt that type of thing is even real.

Giving the ax an experimental swing with just one hand I found it to be easier than it should be but when I gave it another swing but with both hands, it felt as if I could easily cut a tree down in one fell swoop.

Yes, I do think I will be keeping this axe, maybe this will serve me well as a wood-chopping axe. Paul Bunyan would be proud of me...I think.

Scrawny now standing behind me and me leading the way back to the foyer so he can hide in one of the lower rooms to wait for me to finish my mission so I can tend to his injuries along with help him back to town.

Steadily walking down the hall with my friend in tow, a paw resting heavily on my right shoulder as I guided him to safety that is the previous chamber, our walk was cut short when I heard the sound of claws and paws rapidly moving in our direction from behind us.

It would seem that there was at least one griffon that was being a complete and utter coward who hid the entire time during the fighting and just now decided to take a swing at me as soon as they thought that we were too tired to fight back.

All I wanted to do was just swing my axe at the little fucker and scare him when the axe head would be right in front of his face just a few inches away. What I wasn't expecting was for me to have my grip on the weapon to loosen up to let the shaft slide further from my hand to the point where it was at its farthest and the axe blade actually cleaved the poor bastard's head in half. Like I wasn't even expecting that to happen let alone why my hand suddenly felt like it wanted to loosen its grip just to chop the poor bird in half.

Looking down at the dead griffon I saw that the axe had chopped right into his head, the top part of the griffons head, plus the top half of the beak, was resting on top of the axe while the bottom half of his head, beak and the rest of the body, dropped to the ground with blood pooling around the missing section of skull.

Hell, even a portion of his brain was exposed due to the cleaving that just happened.

Just looking down at the resulting mess made me feel queasy and it wasn't before long that I just heaved all over the floor, splashing the ground in bile and melted fish meat. Unfortunately for one griffon corpse it got splattered with my vomit so whoever gets the terrible duty of cleaning this place out will have to eventually take out the dead body that have been puked on.

As soon as we got to the end of the hall and back to the door we came from, I pushed it open and led him down the stairs to an empty room. The room in question that I sat him down in was one of the furnished chambers that had a sofa on it and put him down so he can stop moving and helping the blood flow move faster.

"Okay Scrawny, I need you to stay here and stay out of trouble. I will be back soon with my prize and the griffon princess and her goons, just keep pressure on that bandage and try to get anything underneath the wrappings. I do not want you to die from an infection because you decided to go poking something you shouldn't be." I said to my friend as I calmly talked to him, I did everything I could to make him comfortable while he stays here for what might be a long night.

The moment I made him sit down and stay there on the sofa I grabbed my battle axe and made my way back to the door. If I am to find the griffon princess in this manor than I better hurry up, these bastards for the most part probably heard what happened upstairs and are now getting themselves ready for me.

Cracking my neck and rolling my shoulders I brace myself for yet another foray into the manor.

Author's Note

I am terribly sorry for the long leave of absense, between me still hunting for a job, finishing another round of college, and also a bout of me hitting a wall of writers blockage.