Counting Shadows (Duplicity)

them.”
    Lor nods, but just then his stallion bucks. He flies out of the saddle, landing in the sand next to the stallion. Lor cries out and jerks away, but his foot is caught in the stirrup. The stallion’s eyes roll wildly with fear, and it rears, yanking Lor off the ground by his foot. The horse lands a moment later, slamming Lor back down into the sand.
    He turns to me, his eyes as wide as his horse’s. “Faye!”
    I jump off Tamal, stumbling as I land. I try to grab Tamal’s reins, but he jerks away from me and gallops back the way we came. Cursing, I run toward Lor.
    The stallion starts spinning in circles, trying to dislodge Lor. Lor screams at it and reaches for his foot. But he’s thrown away as the stallion frantically whirls around.
    I leap forward and grab the stallions reins. He rears again, nearly tearing away from my grasp. But I manage to hang on and jerk the reins as he lands. “Easy,” I say in the calmest tone I can manage. “Easy, boy. That’s it. Just hold still.”
    The stallion stands still for just a moment, his entire body shuddering. I step to his side and quickly pull Lor’s ankle out of the stirrup. Lor stumbles away from the horse, his foot dragging behind him. It looks broken.
    The moment Lor is out of reach, the stallion rears again. His hooves strike dangerously close to my face. I yelp and let go of the reins.
    The horse whirls and takes off down the beach, following Tamal. I call after it, but of course it doesn’t come back.
    I walk toward Lor, realizing that I’m also limping. A sharp pain sears my right thigh, and I look down to find blood there. The stallion’s hoof must have caught my leg when he reared.
    “Are you alright?” I ask Lor.
    He frowns at me. “You’re bleeding.”
    “That’s not what I asked you about.” I reach his side and offer him my shoulder to lean on.
    Lor shakes his head and doesn’t accept my offer of support. “I’m fine. No pain, remember?”
    “Your ankle is broken,” I say, nodding to his limp foot.
    He shrugs. “Could be worse.” Then a shaky grin spreads across his face. “You know, sweetheart, when you threatened the whole trampling thing, I didn’t think you meant it seriously.”
    I roll my eyes. “This isn’t my fault. If anything, it’s—”
    A whinny interrupts me. I whirl toward it and find Lor’s stallion backed against the cliff face. It rears and bucks, but I can’t see anything threatening it. What the hell is going on?
    Then something swoops down from the cloud-cover. Its large and winged, and I shake my head, unsure how that’s possible. The bird is bigger than a horse.
    A scream tears through the air, starting as a shriek and slowly rising into a roar. I clap my hands over my ears, but can’t seem to make my feet move. I’m frozen as the creature descends from the clouds.
    I see its beak first, and decide it must be a giant eagle. Maybe something from the Southern lands, where monstrous-sized creatures are common. That would make sense, right?
    Then I see the rest of it. It has four legs, not two. The front legs end in long talons, while the back have paws that look feline. Its tail lashes back and forth, like a cat’s, and the back half of it reminds me of a sleek panther.
    It grasps something in its talons. At first I think it’s moving, but then I realize the thing it clutches is limp, moving only from the turbulence of the creature’s flapping wings.
    I peer closer at the thing in its talons, and my gut drops. It has a dark brown coat and blood dripping from its hide. Tamal.
    “It’s a gryphon,” Lor murmurs, as if answering my thoughts.
    The gryphon drops Tamal, and the horse’s body falls limply into the sand. I can see now that his side has been ripped open, exposing a bloody ribcage.
    The gryphon shrieks again, and I tear my gaze away from Tamal. The gryphon’s ivory beak is covered in red, a stark contrast to the rest of it. Every feather and strand of fur on it is pure black, so dark it gleams blue. Its talons are ivory, and its eyes have no color at all.
    The gryphon lands next to Tamal’s body, its wings spraying sand everywhere. It lunges at Tamal’s corpse and buries its beak into the horse’s side, growling as it tears a chunk of flesh off. As it tucks its wings to its side, I see something on the gryphon’s back. A person sits astride it on a saddle.
    “Lor.” I point to the rider. “Something is
riding
that thing.”
    Lor grabs my hand and yanks me toward the path