Young Writers Society

Chapter 19 Part 2: If you let my [James] go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will... take him from you.

After scarfing down water and food, crying for another hour, and asking a million questions about Hogarth’s sword and how far they were from the town, the child was exhausted. By the time Hogarth reached the city, the little boy had fallen asleep in his arms.

The setting sun cast shadows over the tall buildings into the city streets. Street lamps were being ignited in the main roads passing through the shops that led up to the arena. Fireflies jumped out of little gardens and patches of green, and their noisy friends started to hum loudly from the bushes.

There was only one tea shop in Ruddlan, so Hogarth made it his first place to look. He walked through the streets with the child in his arms and his horse in tow, hoping that Mindy had made it back to the mansion in time to get back up. Neither of them wanted to run after that strange monster hunter alone, especially with a child on their hands. He hoped that Clandestine wasn’t lying when she said the child’s parents were at the tea shop - then at least he’d have one less thing to worry about.

The sooner the kid was home and safe, the sooner they could get this griffin mess behind them. Or at least, that’s what they were hoping for. That’s what he was hoping for.

The kid began to squirm in his arms, sleepily opening his eyes.

“Papa,” he muttered, before looking up at Hogarth and showing a clear look of fear and disappointment. Hogarth was not his father.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find your parents soon,” he said, giving the kid a small pat on the back as he adjusted his grip on the child. “Do you recognize this street?” he asked, tilting his head to the side at the different shops around them. Most of them were closed or closing, and the street was dark, but he hoped the child would recognize his home.

The boy grabbed Hogarth’s sleeves and clung tightly. He looked around the street with wide eyes, before his gaze fixed somewhere further down. The boy immediately let go of Hogarth and started pushing away, trying to get down. Hogarth was reluctant to let the boy go free and lose him again, especially since he was holding the boy with one arm and leading a horse with the other.

“Woah, woah, you see your home?”

“Yes!” the boy squealed earnestly, still squirming to be let down.

“Okay, let’s go there together, alright?”

The boy paused for a second and nodded. That was enough for Hogarth, he let the boy down and watched at the six-year-old began to run as fast as his little legs could take him. Fortunately, Hogarth took one stride to each of the child’s three. It didn’t take long for Hogarth to pick out the tea shop sign poking out from the tall building and the several potted plants out front. As the child ran for the door Hogarth looked up to the second floor where there was a window propped open and a light on. Whoever ran the shop was home.

The child knocked on the door over and over, both fists pounding.

“Mama! Papa!”

From above, a quiet: “Killian?”

Hogarth saw a shadow pass over the window and saw it disappear from the window almost as quickly as it appeared. In a few seconds, he could hear running footsteps hurrying to the door just before it flew open and revealed a man with curly hair and tear-filled eyes who immediately grabbed the child, picked him up, and pulled him into a tight embrace. A woman who he assumed was the mother came right behind and wrapped her arms around the two.

But as she joined the hug she paused and looked up at Hogarth, eyes lighting with recognition, and then narrowing with confusion. She pulled away, wiping her eyes and straightening up.

“Barlowe took our case?”

The question pulled the father’s attention away from his son, and he looked up to Hogarth as well, casting a shared look of confusion towards his wife. Hogarth wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“No…”

The mother stepped in front of her husband and the child, letting the father take Killian further into their home. Words were exchanged between the child and the father but they were quiet and muttered.

“I thought they said it was just a local griffin - how - where did you find him?” the mother asked, holding the handle of the door.

“We found him in a griffin nest outside the city.” Hogarth took a slight step back. The horse snorted behind him. “And though it seems we did not formally file a case for your child, I will need you to come by the mansion tomorrow morning to fill out some papers for recording purposes. I understand though that it is late, and I’m sure you want to make sure your son is cared for. I’ll just need some information from you before I leave you for the night.”

The woman listened quietly, standing in the doorway with her brows pinched together. She nodded slightly.

“Of course, sir.” She backed up, opening the door all the way. “Should you come -“ her voice cut off when she looked behind Hogarth at the horse. The two of them met each other’s eyes. She stuttered.

“I’ll come out here to talk with you,” she said quickly with a dip of her head. “Sorry, I’m disoriented. I’m - well, I was just expecting someone else. But I’m just happy Killian is back home.”

Hogarth raised his brows.

“Someone else?”

In the distance, he could hear the howl of a dog ring out into the sunset. His head lifted up and out in the direction of the sound. He knew what that meant.

Mindy had made it to the mansion and got back up, and had the dogs with her. And a howl meant they caught the monster hunter’s trail, and Clandestine would soon be caught and imprisoned, along with the egg returned to their hands.

--

Clandestine was beyond consolation. She was convinced that if she stopped looking for James she would never find him again. She’d forced herself to slow down enough to stop in town and brush Billy down, get him some water, and make sure he was okay, but the whole time her insides were itching. She couldn’t abuse Billy, but she couldn’t lose James - not like this. It was different, she told herself when he’d said goodbye. That made sense. He’d wanted to leave, they had no reason to stay together anymore because her wanting to stay with him wasn’t enough. Everyone always left, anyway.

But if Alex let the mayor know he was in town he was doomed, wasn’t he? And there was no way she’d be able to rescue him from a whole army. Even if she threw a few flames, she’d be too tired by the end of it to pull him out, and that would be no good.

No, she had to find him now. She had to find him before anyone else did, before anyone else recognized him. She’d already tracked him down once. She could do it again.

Clandestine sat atop Billy in the middle of an open field on the outskirts of the city. The sky was getting darker, and the sun looked like it was about to disappear behind the now distant cliffs. A faint breeze blew through the field, causing the grass to wave and sway to the side. If she wasn’t so stressed, it might’ve been a peaceful scene, with the pinks and oranges spreading across the sky, but as it stood, she was just anxious to get across the field to the other side. The only downside to a field when looking for something was that, if you were looking for a person, you’d be able to tell if they weren’t there pretty quickly. Unless James was for some reason lying down in the grass, he wasn’t there.

She didn’t know a lot about criminals and how they did things, but she had a hunch they would be outside the city walls. That’s where she’d seen the diamond brothers the last time they were doing sneaky business, so that’s probably where they would be again. She lucked out the last time she found them in the city at the auction of course, but she hadn’t been looking for them then either.

Now she was. She’d been going around the city and was very close to coming full-circle. She was afraid she’d missed something. Maybe she’d run through everything too quickly, or not traveled out far enough, or missed him by a mile. Maybe she missed a clue, or was just too caught up in her own mind to hear or see something obvious. Or maybe he skipped town.

The thought struck her in the chest like an arrow flying out of nowhere, causing her to stare out blankly into the field as Billy walked forward.

Would he have done that? Left her? Suddenly it occurred to her that what happened in town - him talking to her, listening, going along with her haphazard, disaster of a plan might’ve all been a lie again. He just told her he’d go off and find the Diamond brothers to get her off his back again because he didn’t want to run into her. He was just being Matt again; a nice cowboy with a heart of gold.

But she didn’t want that to be true. Desperately, desperately, she begged to the empty sky around her that it wasn’t true. If he’d lied to her again just to get rid of her she didn’t know if she could take it. But how would she ever know if that’s what he did until she found him?

If she found him?

Her eyes caught on something ahead of her, maybe a mile out, poking out of the trees. It definitely wasn’t a person. And it was too short to be a horse. She squinted, leaning forward in the saddle even though the improvement was minimal if nonexistent, and tried to make out the silhouette.

“Oh my gods,” she said aloud, putting a hand on Billy’s neck.

“Do you see this?” she asked, eyes wide.

Billy didn’t really reply. But that was okay. Clandestine was busy staring at the griffin standing at the edge of the field, with one wing flapping and the other limp at its side.

It was the mother griffin. The one they’d abandoned by the cliffs.

Clandestine knew it wasn’t a good idea, especially if the griffin recognized her, but she waited until the griffin disappeared back into the forest to follow. It was going in the direction she was heading in anyway, and there was something in her gut that told her she had to follow. There was still unfinished business for the mother griffin with purple, injured wings. It still had a baby to get back.