Ch. 63: Victory

As the sword arced through the air, a blinding light escaped from the gem at the pommel, and that was when Bart realized the trick. He tried to close his eyes, but it was too late. The spell temporarily blinded the gryphon. 

Adrian took advantage of the gryphon's temporary blindness to push himself to his feet with his working right arm, causing Rosy to grit her teeth in pain as she stole the pain from the gunshot wound in his left shoulder from him. Any normal person would have screamed. Even with all of the adrenaline pumping through his system, Adrian was on the verge of it from just the ten percent or so of the pain that he was currently feeling. When it all came back to him, he'd probably pass out on the spot, but that didn't matter right now.

Flicking his wrist, Adrian pulled one of the blades that he'd borrowed from Rosy out of its hiding spot. He hadn't wanted to resort to these during this fight, but he clearly had no choice now. Giving up on being quiet, Adrian rushed Bart with the intention of finishing this now, but even blinded, Bart was a trained warrior. He fought back, stabbing at Adrian with his bayonet. Unfortunately for the gryphon, Adrian wasn't going to be hit by such a haphazard blow. Not even injured. Rosy had taught him that. 

"Do... you... surrender?" Adrian panted, pushing the blade against Bart's neck.

"...Yes. You win... fair and square." Bart spat out angrily after a moment's pause. His eyesight was beginning to return... he'd lost, and he knew it. Only a weak fool would refrain from admitting it, and as a proud gryphon, he needed to admit it. No matter how much it grated on his nerves.

...

Maximus Chase was irate. Two of his strongest warriors had been defeated by a single man, even though they possessed weapons capable of dealing significant damage to the enemy, it clearly wasn't enough to bridge the gap between pure combat potential. 

He wasn't an idiot. He could see how injured the prince was. The moment that Bart had declared his loss, the prince had dropped to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut. The Rose princess had obviously expected this to happen, likely by sensing it through their reported 'blood bond,' and she'd darted across the room, fast as lightning, and managed to catch him before he hit the ground and was injured further, but the prince's wounds didn't really matter. The weapons hadn't been capable of completely bridging the obvious chasm that existed between the prince's combat potential compared to his nephew and Hal. 

He'd known about the Shadowborn King's conquest for over a decade now. His expansion was unrivaled in all of history. No kingdom had managed so many victories in such a short amount of time before, not in all the years that Gryvus had been collecting data for. It was clear that times were changing, but he'd been too stubborn to realize that it might end up impacting the city of Gryvus. Losing a few gryphons while they were out on missions was nothing, but he could no longer deny that this was getting bigger than that. 

If those Fraeguards prowling around the mountains actually managed to find their way to Gryvus in large numbers, based on the results of this fight, Gryvus's military would not be able to handle them. His people would be slaughtered.

He inwardly cursed himself. He'd been so stubborn. He'd been within moments of disowning Reese for even suggesting that they work with the resistance to fight this threat, but the boy had seen much further than he had, he was finally forced to admit. 

Maximus was prideful. He believed that his country was the shining example of perfection, but he wasn't an idiot. 'Tides are changing. It's time that Gryvus changed with them.' He thought as he silently watched his staff members help the Rose princess carry the boy to another room for treatment. 'She's changing, too, huh?' Maximus remembered the first time he'd seen the girl. She'd attacked an apple stand, and he'd been accompanying the guard retinue that had chased her through town. She'd been poisoned, beaten, and bloodied. She was barely standing, yet such dark... fire had raged in her heart. It had left a lasting impression on him. Now, that fire was... different. She seemed to actually care about life. It was incredible to see the young murderous girl's incredible growth. Before, he'd felt sorry for her. That was the real reason why he'd allowed her to survive on that ledge for as long as she had. Now that she'd finally managed to grow up, it was time that the Gryphon race did the same.

...

"You're an idiot."

"Uh huh."

"A dumb, stupid idiot."

"Yup."

"A really dumb, moronic foolish imbecile."

"Okay."

"A really really -"

"I get it already!" Adrian finally shouted, wincing in pain from the accidental strain. 

Waking up to a beautiful girl sitting by your bedside? Amazing.

Waking up with impressive amounts of pain running through your shoulder? So long as there's a pretty girl there, it's fine!

Waking up to the beautiful girl by your bedside repeatedly calling you an idiot in increasingly flowery language? Since he pretty much deserved it, Adrian was willing to just let her vent, but clearly, the venting wasn't going to stop any time soon. The more he agreed with her, the angrier she'd get, and the more adjectives she'd use. It was a vicious cycle that was clearly not going to end any time soon.

"How's my shoulder?"

"A misshapen lump of bone and gore." She told him bluntly.

"I know that. How long are we going to be staying here while I heal?" He rephrased his question.

"You'll make a full recovery... In a month's time." She informed him.

"A MONTH!!!???" Adrian shouted, causing his back to arch in pain.

"You're an idiot." She repeated, rolling her eyes.