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Something Far More Dangerous: Part 4

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Chapter 3: Vengeance

The mountains soon gave way to lush forests as Morzan and Ragnarök flew north toward Gringsford. As evening fell, the snow turned to cold rain. Morzan sat silently, contemplating what he would do to King Roland.

Sensing his Rider's thoughts, Ragnarök said, Be sure to leave some for me!

Don't worry. I certainly will!

It was late at night when they finally arrived at the coastal city of Gringsford. A castle stood atop a cliff that overlooked the forlorn town below.

"That must be where he lives." Morzan muttered to himself. He reached out with his mind, probing the occupants of the castle and searching for Roland's location. Most were just guards and staff. Finally, he found the king's consciousness on one of the castle's upper floors.

Alright, take me down. Once you drop me off, stay in the air and out of range of their weapons. , instructed Morzan.

Alright, but be careful. Ragnarök replied.

The dragon descended and silently landed on the roof. The pounding rain drowned out the sound of his wings so the guards wouldn't hear him. Morzan dropped down onto a walkway on the roof and stood back a Ragnarök took off into the stormy night sky. Morzan silently dispatched two guards with magic before climbing down onto a veranda that led to the inside of the castle.  

Morzan entered the door and found himself standing inside a long corridor.  None of the torches were lit and the room was pitch black.  

"Brisingr!" muttered Morzan and the torches lining the walls illuminated, bathing the room in a soft orange light. Looking around, Morzan was disgusted by what he saw.  Lining the walls of the corridor were the stuffed heads of slain gryphons.  There were dozens of them.  Morzan recognized many of them from the memories he had seen earlier.  He recognized the heads of Fireclaw's parents and Akron's father.

Morzan felt his blood boiling.  He couldn't help but wonder how many of these gryphons were just like Akron and his clan.  How many innocent gryphons had this monster murdered?  

"Never again..." he swore.  "No more gryphons will suffer because of this bastard!"

Arriving at the end of the hall, Morzan could sense that Roland was in the next room. Morzan grabbed the doorknob to open the door, but changed his mind.

I think I'll make a more dramatic entrance.

With an explosive blast of energy, Morzan reduced the door to splinters. There, on the bed, lay a middle-aged man in a nightgown. Morzan recognized him from the memories he had seen earlier.

The noise awoke Roland, who sat up in bed trying to comprehend what was happening. Before he could react, Morzan dashed across the room and grabbed him by the collar, flinging him out of bed. Morzan the lifted the confused king up, dragged him over to the window, and slammed Roland's face through the glass, cutting his face. Then he smashed the king's face through a second window and tossed him onto the ground.

Lying on his back with a look of confused terror on his face, Roland stammered, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I want your worthless hide!" growled Morzan, kicking Roland in the side hard enough to send him rolling across the room.

Morzan grabbed him again and lifted him up.

Gasping for breath, Roland stammered, "Please stop! I'll give you anything you want!"

"What I want is to watch you drift in and out of consciousness as you're slowly disemboweled" sneered Morzan, delivering a hard blow to the stomach, which knocked the wind out of Roland.

Morzan then delivered a brutal uppercut to Roland's jaw, knocking a couple of teeth out.

"Why are you doing this?" demanded the king, blood running from his mouth.

"I'll tell you just before I end your miserable existence in this world. However, I haven't made you suffer quite enough just yet!", snarled Morzan before punching Roland in the face again.

After delivering several more blows, Morzan finally grew bored and drew a dagger from his belt.

"Now, it's time to end this!" he smirked.

"Morzan! Stop!" called a voice behind him.

Morzan turned his head and saw Akron standing in the doorway. The gryphon looked exhausted and was soaked from the rain.

"You!" Roland bellowed when he saw the gryphon. "I should have known you were behind this!"

"Shut up!" ordered Morzan, backhanding the king across the face.

"I don't want you to kill him!" Akron protested.

"Why not?" demanded Morzan. "He deserves to die for what he's done!"

"True." Said Akron. "But I want him to face justice. I want him to be put on trial and answer to both the gryphon and the humans he has wronged. And then he will be dealt with accordingly."

Morzan scowled at Roland but finally he released the king and let him fall to the floor.

"Consider yourself fortunate that my friend is a better person than I am!" he spat.

Morzan strode over to Roland's desk and grabbed a blank scroll, a quill, and an ink well.

Placing them on the floor in front of Roland, Morzan demanded, "Now, your highness, my demands are simple. Firstly, you will amend the law to recognize the gryphons as citizens and you will return the land that you have stolen from them."

Roland glared up at Morzan with a look of disbelief, as if he couldn't fathom why anyone would want to help gryphons.

"Next, you will announce your resignation as king."

"You fool!" Roland sneered. "Just who do you plan to replace me with? I have no heir!"

Unsheathing Zar'roc, Morzan drove the crimson blade into the wooden floorboards in front of Roland.

"Did I stutter or are you just too stupid to comprehend what I said?" bellowed the Forsworn. "Now, if I were you, I'd get busy, or so help me I'll rewrite the law myself with your blood!"

Morzan glanced over at Akron. "You can be the new king."

"What?" Akron replied. "How can I be the new king?"

"You told me earlier that your family were the previous rulers of both the humans and the gryphons." explained Morzan. "By my reckoning, that should make you the new king. Besides, these people need a real leader like you. You're willing to listen to people."

Akron sighed. "It's not going to be easy. I wasn't prepared to take on this responsibility."

"You'll do fine." Morzan said with a grin. "You will certainly make a better leader than this slime!"

"Alright." Akron said, relenting.

.

.

.

The next morning, King Roland publicly announced his resignation as king and begrudgingly appointed Akron as his successor, an announcement which, to everyone's surprise, was met with a mass cheer which sounded throughout the city. Akron and Nesira immediately went to work planning how they would run the kingdom.

That evening, Morzan joined the gryphons in the former king's chambers.

"This castle was not built to accommodate gryphons. We will need to demolish it and build a new one." Akron said, surveying the room around him. "And I want to devote resources to building a new university."

Morzan, however, did not appear so optimistic.

Sensing that his friend was troubled, Akron asked, "What's wrong?"

"When Galbatorix learns of what I've done here, he will be most displeased." Morzan explained. "When he learns that gryphons have the potential to use magic, he will see you as a threat. He will try to exterminate you just as he did the dragons, the elves, and the dwarves."

"What can we do?" asked Nesira, a tone of shocked disbelief in her voice.

"Strengthen your military." replied Morzan. "There is an ocean between you and Alagaesia. Any attempt to invade this land would require many resources. Galbatorix lacks the time and resources for an immediate invasion, so instead he will likely try to undermine you with treaties, or he may try to gain your loyalty. Either way, it would be best to refuse his offers. He will be a greater threat to your people than Roland ever was."

Akron sighed sadly. "I had wanted to avoid creating more weapons and I have no intention of staring a war."

"It makes no difference." Said Morzan. "Galbatorix is a power-hungry monster. However, this land possesses weapons and machines that are far beyond anything that exists in Alagaesia. Perhaps that will be your best defense."

Akron nodded. "Yes, perhaps you're right."

"It's a necessary evil." Nesira added in agreement.

At that moment, a guard suddenly burst into the room clutching his hand across his face as blood ran between his fingers.

"Your highness, come quick!" the man stammered.

"What happened?" demanded Akron, examining the guard's injury.

"That black gryphon… He's gone mad! He's in the dungeon!" said the guard.

"Nesira, take him to the physician!" ordered Akron.

Akron and Morzan raced down to the palace dungeon to find a scene of carnage. The mangled bodies of guards lay strewn about the floor.

"Oh no…" Morzan heard Akron mutter.

Fireclaw emerged from the cell where Roland was being held, his feathers and talons covered in blood and a look of cold satisfaction on his face.

"What have you done?" demanded Akron.

"What does it look like?" smirked the black gryphon. "I gave that vermin exactly what he deserved. And soon, the other humans will get the same."

"Enough!" Akron roared, an anger the likes of which Morzan had never heard from the gryphon.

"I've given you far more chances than you deserve, Fireclaw. I've tried to be patient with you, but this time you've gone too far!"

"You were always too weak to do what needed to be done, Akron!" retorted Fireclaw. "You'll never be able to rule over the humans! The only way is for them to fear us!"

Akron glared at Fireclaw and continued, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you've left me no other choice. Fireclaw, you are hereby banished from kingdom of Danthuania, for the sake of preserving the peace between the humans and the gryphon race."

Fireclaw squawked defiantly. "We'll see what my clan has to say about that!"

"You have no choice, Fireclaw!" Akron continued. "My clan outnumbers yours. You have until tomorrow morning to leave. You and anyone who stands by you are no longer welcome here."

Fireclaw crouched as if he was about to tackle Akron, but a glare from Morzan dissuaded him.

Backing down, Fireclaw sneered. "Very well. But where are we to go?"

"There is a mostly unexplored continent to the northwest. I remember seeing it on a world map created by the academy. It's quite a long flight across the ocean but surely a gryphon could make the journey. If you are unwilling to coexist with the humans, I suggest you go there and establish your own kingdom."

Realizing that he had no chance to win, the black gryphon dipped his head.

"So be it. But mark my words, Akron. Some day the humans will rise up against you. I wish I could watch them destroy you!"

With that, Fireclaw stormed off, leaving Akron and Morzan alone.

"He reminds me a lot of Galbatorix. You shouldn't have let him go." Morzan said to his friend.

Akron sighed. "I doubt he poses any further threat to me or this kingdom. Once my messengers spread the word of Roland's toppling to the various clans hiding throughout the land, they will surely stand by us. There is still much work to be done."

The next morning, Fireclaw and his clan gathered in front of the palace before their departure. A group of approximately fifty gryphons stood by Fireclaw.

Akron addressed the group of gryphons one last time.

"If any of you wish to coexist with the humans, you are welcome to say." offered the king.

The gryphons of the Black Talon Clan just glared back at him with a look of hate and anger.

"Give it a rest already, Akron!" snapped Fireclaw. "My clan answers to me and me alone!"

"Alright then, you've made your choice. Now begone from our borders!" ordered Akron.

Fireclaw took off into the sky followed by the rest of his clan, flying off toward the northwest and toward an uncertain future.

.

.

.

For the remainder of their time with the gryphons, Morzan and Ragnarök assisted Akron and Nesira in reworking the laws of Danthuania. It was decided that in addition to a human army, a gryphon army would be created as well. Although Akron and Nesira opposed the idea of conscription, it was decided that every gryphon and human would spend a minimum of two years serving in the military upon reaching adulthood.

Finally the day came for Morzan to return to Alagaesia. That morning, Akron and Nesira, now king and queen of Danthuania, joined their friend outside the palace.

"I wish there was something we could do to help." Nesira said, looking at her friend sympathetically.

"Don't worry. I'll be alright." Morzan replied, forcing a smile.

Yes, just remember what we told you about Galbatorix. Ragnarök added.

Morzan threw his arms around Akron, embracing the gryphon tightly as tears ran down his face. More than anything, he wished he could stay. Akron and Nesira were the closest thing to a real family he ever had. But he knew it was not meant to be.

Pulling himself away from his friend, Morzan wiped the tears from his face with the sleeve of his cloak.

"Goodbye, Akron. Goodbye Nesira. I'll never forget either of you." he choked.

"Farewell, my friends. It has been an honor to have you with us." Akron replied.

"Yes, and thank you for everything you've done for us." Nesira added graciously.

Morzan nodded, offering one last silent goodbye before climbing into Ragnarök's saddle. It would be the last time he would ever see either of them. Then the rider and dragon took off into the blue sky, heading back toward the north.

To be continued…
Morzan takes his revenge on King Roland.  All canon characters belong to Christopher Paolini.

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