The Dragoso Series 1: Discovery in Hardship
Chapter 6

After a hard morning of learning typical school things, Trevor and his siblings finally sat down for lunch. Aya and David laughed about their Potions class while munching on nachos. Trevor watched them as he sipped at his water.

“You know, I’ve noticed something,” Brenda piped up. Trevor looked at her, lowering his water bottle.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The food. They’re not health obsessed at all. Breakfast, they gave us any kind we wanted, even chocolate chip. These nachos...you can taste the grease in the meat.”

“We’re dragons now. With all the exercise we get, no doubt we burn all the calories.”

“Learn to live a little you four,” A voice piped up behind them. Trevor looked over his shoulder to see the other man that had been sitting with Sylark and Zoymey. “This stuff is all natural, that’s better than the crap they put in human school lunches. Drake is great for that. You four are with me in the stable after lunch, I checked my list. You’re all in for a treat.” With that said, he walked off. Trevor looked at Brenda with a raised eyebrow. Brenda shrugged and looked over at Aya and David. Aya sat with a chip in her mouth and David in mid chew. They looked at each other before Aya pulled the chip from her mouth.

“What do we all have next?” she asked. Trevor pulled his schedule from his pocket and opened it.

“Care of griffins...?” Trevor looked up at his siblings. “Clearly something we’re not exactly used to so um...what do you guys think?”

“We don’t really know much about griffins...” Brenda mumbled.

“Harry Potter had hippogryphs though,” Aya suggested.

“I hope not...that one in the movie wasn’t very nice to that one guy,” David added.

“Yeah, cause the guy insulted the hippogryph, you can’t blame Buckbeak for lashing out in anger!” Aya exclaimed.

“Hey, hey, settle down. Let’s just agree to give them respect and not do anything till uh...that guy tells us,” Trevor hushed. David crossed his arms and pouted while Aya continued to nibble her chips.

The rest of lunch was filled with awkward silence between the four siblings. As soon as it was done, they headed out to the back of the school where a lone stable stood. The yard outside of it was empty of any griffins, so no doubt they were all inside the stable. Trevor led his siblings into the stable and were greeted by many cooing creatures and colorful bird heads the size of horses reached out over stall doors. All eyes were on the newcomers as they entered.

“Wow...they seem...curious,” Brenda observed. A black griffin near the entrance reached its head towards Aya, as she was standing closest.

“W-what do I do?” Aya asked. She coward away slightly.

“You can pet her, just be gentle. Forgot to tell you four my name. Call me Malice.” Trevor looked towards the said man who sat on a few bales of straw nearby. “That’s Midnight, scratch her behind the feather tufts, she loves it.” Aya reached up and stroked the griffin’s beak. Trevor turned his attention to Malice.

“You really don’t live up to your name,” Trevor noted and Malice shrugged.

“I get that a lot. My parents named me that because I hated my caretakers apparently. Always full of malice so they used to claim,” Malice explained.

“Used to?” Trevor wondered.

“They’re dead now. Killed by something years ago. Around the time I discovered I was a Compass Dragon.”

“Sorry to hear that...” Trevor rubbed the back of his neck.

“It was like...a hundred years ago, I’m not too beat up about it.”

“A hundred?!” Trevor and his siblings exclaimed.

“What? Dragons live for a couple thousand years. Get used to it kids,” Malice remarked before leaning back. “Anyway, I only have you four during this class. Everyone else finished and moved on. So, look at the selection of griffins and pick who you want. Students get assigned griffins to work with. The red male and yellow male are off limits, they’re a special type of griffin that you’ll all learn about later.” Aya looked up and spotted a pink griffin.

“I want the pink one!” She claimed. The said griffin snorted before lowering her head enough to sniff Aya’s hair as she approached the griffin.

“That’s Roselia,” Malice introduced. Brenda looked up at a white griffin next to Midnight’s stall who let out a high pitched chirp.

“Who’s this one?” Brenda asked, approaching the beautiful griffin and stroking its face.

“Snowflake. She’s gonna be hard to groom, you see every bit of dirt on her.” Brenda nodded as Snowflake nudged her face.

“I want Midnight,” David said and Trevor smirked at his little brother. He looked up when he spotted a blue griffin. She watched him intently, waiting patiently. Trevor walked over to her and reached up to touch her beak. How he knew it was a female was beyond him, but somehow, Trevor knew.

“What do you think? Wanna be my partner in this class?” he asked her. The griffin dipped her head as if to nod. She raised her head and started to pick at Trevor’s hair. “Uh...Malice? What’s she doing?”

“Grooming. She has a thing about loving on humans, Kathey especially. Though she does actually belong to Kathey. She likes to groom hair. I’ve had a few times where she’s pulled my hair tie from my hair just to groom me. She’s pretty smart, aren’t you, Stephanie?” Malice replied. As if to respond, Stephanie squawked at him. “If she was a Royal Griffin like Madix and Thunder, I’m sure she’d be talking away about everything she knew.”

“Wait...talking?” Trevor wondered. The red griffin next to Stephanie’s stall poked his head out.

“Yeah, talking. We talk,” he snapped. Beak moving and everything. Trevor stared with his mouth open. “What are you, a fish?”

“They were human raised, Madix. Give the kid a break,” Malice called. Madix narrowed his eyes at Trevor before snorting and turning around in his stall.

“You’re lucky I’m nicer than most Royal Griffins, human. Thunder over there is a prime example.”

“What did you say about me?!” the yellow griffin in the stall across from Madix snapped.

“Cool it, Thunder!” Malice snapped. Trevor just stared for a moment before looking at Malice.

“So what exactly are we doing today?” he asked.

“Grab the griffin treat containers. Tops match the griffin color. Sit in their stalls and make friends. Some can do a few tricks, just be patient and make nice,” Malice instructed. “Containers are in the tack room.” After doing so, Trevor entered the stall, finding it quite clean, and sitting in a corner. He opened the container and Stephanie lowered her head to sniff.

“Know any tricks?” he asked her. Stephanie tilted her head curiously as she listened to him. Trevor looked her over. Sure enough, what books have said about griffins, they were lion/eagle creatures, only these ones were the size of horses. Their front feet were bird feet; their back feet were paws and it was easy to tell what was feathers and what was fur on their bodies. “Can you sit?” Stephanie’s bottom plopped to the floor. Trevor smiled and he held a treat up to her, which she took carefully from his fingers and swallowed it down. Trevor took another and observed them. They almost looked like a mix of seed and dry jerky pellets. Not very big , probably because they didn’t have teeth to chew them. From what Trevor saw anyway. Curious, he looked up at Stephanie.

“Lay down.” Stephanie did so and Trevor held a treat in the palm of his hand to her. Stephanie took it and swallowed it down. “Can I see in your mouth?” Stephanie tilted her head before lowering her head to Trevor’s hand, her beak resting on it and opening her mouth. Trevor looked at it and could see small teeth lining the back of her mouth. Trevor pulled another treat from the container and Stephanie took it. “Thanks.” He smiled at her and she purred.

They spent a good while sitting and Stephanie doing a few simple tricks for Trevor. It wasn’t long until Trevor’s head was down on his arms between Stephanie’s front legs while she groomed his hair. The trust he gave her was visible, and they only just met too.

“Wow, Stephanie. Didn’t think you’d turn on me this fast.” Trevor looked up and spotted Kathey looking into the stall.

“Oh...sorry, I didn’t know I was pushing boundaries...” Trevor stated and Kathey smiled.

“Not at all. I was joking. Stephanie loves people. And anyone who lets her groom them. It’s a pastime of hers that she loves to do. It’s one way to form a bond with a griffin. If only they were all that easy to bond with.” Kathey looked over at Madix.

“I heard that!” Madix shouted.

“Don’t complain. You get the good food here, that’s why you never left.” Madix snorted and Kathey laughed.

“How do you even get along with Royal Griffins. They seem so...bitter...” Trevor asked.

“Yeah, they can be. Once they learn to trust and realize captive life is better, they stick around. Despite their attitudes,” Kathey explained. “It’s a start to getting you in a saddle on her back and eventually flying. Unlike horses, a griffin and its rider need to be one or it’ll be a disaster. If you’re in the air and you don’t trust your steed, you’ll fall a long way. Turning dragon before you hit the ground is hard to do.” Trevor grimaced.

“I’ve only done trail rides with my siblings, I’ve never actually really rode before,” Trevor stated.

“Well, it’s easy on a griffin. We teach some basic things regarding what most horses do for shows. We teach side steps, jumping, and laying down and standing while on a griffin. The flying is a more advanced thing once you’re used to being in the saddle.” Kathey clicked her tongue and Stephanie stood, being careful to not step on Trevor as he stood.

“Malice said other students already finished this class, just how quick is it?” Trevor exited Stephanie’s stall and stood against the pillar beside it.

“You learn grooming tomorrow. Day after is learning tack care and actually gearing up the griffins. Afterwards, it’s a few weeks for the riding skills you need to know. Final is the flying. Your test is doing everything from the grooming and gearing up to a course in the woods behind the property to prove you can ride and get out of dangerous situations while you and your steed stay safe. Ambushing dragon or possibly a wild animal. That’s staged of course, but you have to be ready for it all.” Trevor nodded as Kathey explained the test.

“Seems like it doesn’t take much,” he noted. Kathey shrugged.

“Depends on the class too. A lot of the last class picked up on it quickly. A few already took riding lessons for horses so they knew a lot of what was required in class. Had we done shows with the griffins, they’d be in those shows and have griffins of their own.”

“Griffins of their own?”

“We tend to rescue griffins from humans who don’t understand they’re different from horses. If a griffin trusts you and loves the home it’s in, they won’t fly away from home. They soar in the sky sure, to stretch their wings. A lot get abused because they don’t get to go out and be free from their stalls. It’s horrible. We end up having to get griffins to trust us again. The riding arena we have usually ends up being a rehabilitation pen for the longest time.” Trevor looked among the six griffins in the stable.

“Think I can help you out when I finish the class? No creature this gentle should have to live a life like that,” Trevor requested.

“Pass the class and I’ll personally teach you about griffin rehabilitation when we have another case come in.”

“Deal.”

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