Wings of War by Vera Gibson (books recommended by bts .TXT) 📕

Zevra could hear the blood curling sound of her wing crack under the force of her brother’s talons. She had fought him many times before but never was he so fierce and determined to kill her. His black wings blended with the black sky frantically pushing down in an attempt to force her to the ground; since he knew her being more slender of their kind meant she was faster and stronger in the air. He constantly clawed at her sides drawing massive amounts of blood that only stained and highlighted his black and red paws and the tips of his wings which constantly beated at her side. She was nearly to the ground when she caught a low wind with her right wing and used it to fling her brother off and flip over so that she was right side up. Zevra’s tan sides hardily shown, the red of her blood stained every inch of her fur, White feathers on her head and wings shown patches of skin where he had tried to ripe out feathers. With her hurt wing it was difficult for her to fly as fast but she knew she could still out fly her brother any day. While he tried to get himself out of the tree he had tangled himself in, she beat her wings down hard and pushed herself up and over to where he sat and plunged downward extending her talons and claws so that she could rip him to pieces. She felt as if something had just clawed her in the stomach… she couldn't finish him. She couldn't end her pain and suffering by killing her brother, but she was sure that he wouldn't give her the same courtesy. Before she realized it she had already pinned her brother to the ground his wings under masses of branches and thorns, his head in her talon and his paws to weak from his struggle out of the tree to move.

“Finnish it” he spat, she just stood there blankly at the one who used to care for her so dearly, that he would come to her side if she merely pricked her paw. “Finnish it!” he yelled more demanding this time, “Finnish it!!!”He screeched. She released her grip on his neck, and he began to prepare for strike to the head, but before he knew it she was gone.

“Venn” she mumbled to herself as she struggled to fly back to her home “your name even sickens me, so why can’t I kill you and end the misery of me and my people.”  Those were the words she repeated to herself as she passed endless fields of trees, all the way back to a waterfall that rained down into a lake that was surrounded by fifteen mountains each with many caves in them. Her’s was the cave just behind the bottom of the water fall. She flew in to the cave undetected by anyone and entered the large castle like cavern. In some places there would be grand robes hanging from the ceiling but this seine would soon fade into the cave walls that only complimented the underground castle. At times the wall would be wonderfully smooth as if it was made from the stones in a river, but other times it would seem as if there weren't a castle there at all. Every room was dressed with torches were the cave wall shown and robes were the castle wall shown as if they were both supposed to be hidden. She took special delight to her room which resembled the cave more often, it was a rounded large room with torches in every corner she often preferred to sleep in a nest but most of her kind would choose the bed. Her room opened up near the top of the waterfall just higher than all the other caves. The small landing looked like that of a castle balcony  leaning over the great mounting, and it was just far enough from the waterfall so that she couldn't feel the spray, although one of the castle robes covered the entrance whenever she wished to be left alone. Zevra pushed herself up so that she was walking strait up, and grabbed a towel to dip into the now cold water. Gently brushing her wounds with the damp rag, she screeched in pain. The cuts were deep and around them were bruises from where he had beat his wing against her side. She finally stopped brushing her side  when she could see all the white of her fur. But the towel no longer held its color it only held the color of her blood. She only noticed the silhouette of her father on her balcony after she had finished.  “how long have you been standing there?”she asked hardly looking up from her side.

“Long enough to realize, your cleaning new wounds” Her father replied in a deep voice. “What has he done this time?” he continued pulling the robes away from the cave wall so that he could walk through easily.

Zevra stood up and let her father slowly examine each scar she had, old and new no matter how much it pained her to move.  “We must stop this! His attacks on you are becoming far to frequent, he might kill you one of these days.” Her father said with worry in his eyes as he pulled away from her side.

“I will be alright father. Please stop worrying about me, I am a fine warrior and an even better flier, the fastest in all the flying worlds.” She said walking to the bowl that was full of the dirtied water and handing it to the maid who had recently entered. “Will you bring me a new bowl” she asked the young griffiness kindly.

“Yes your majesty” she replied bowing as best she could without spilling the blood water, then she left as swift she could as to not intrude on her ladies and her lords conversation.  

Zevra walked back to where she stood before her father to speak again “I was unable to kill him father” She admitted collapsing into her nest like bed.  “I had him in my paws it would have been so easy to stretch a talon and slit his throat, but I just couldn't do it.” She finished staring deep into the ground.  She listened as her father walked up to her, his talons hit the ground hard he had the warriors body his two back paws were that of a bird that way when he stood on his hind legs his steps even sounded powerful. His wings were sharp and the feathers strong, they even seemed to form a cape on his back. But the rest was very lion like, his face though the shape of a birds showed the pride of a lion, and the strength of many battles. It was easy to tell Zevra took after her mother even if you hadn't seen her. Zevra had red feathers surrounding her silver eyes. The red was around the tips of her wings, as well as the end of her tail, these red traits ran throughout her family. Her wings are very dark brown at first then ease into a nearly white brown just before the red tips of her wings. She has very sand brown fur near her torso and on her legs, and white feathers on her head and chest area. Zevra and Venn were two of a kind when it came to their paws that had red tips even though their parents remained only with their eyes, wings, and tails with the wondrous red markings.

He kneeled down beside Zevra and pulled her face from the ground so that she could look into his familiar face. “Venn is your brother by blood whether I banished him from the family or not, and you two were the best of friends. It is no shame that you couldn't kill him. Your brother has lost his way and has lost the way of the kingdom, that is why he is gone, and I know that it is hard to lose your brother. It is your choice to kill him, in this battle you chose not to, and there is no shame in showing mercy to your own blood,” He said in a soothing voice.

“Thank you father,” Zevra replied with tears forming in her golden brown eyes. “You always have the best advice at the best of times.” She quickly blinked away the tears since she wasn't about to cry over something so trivial and stood up giving her father a hug.

“I’m sure your mother would have something better to say then what I had to, but I try my best,” Her father replied.

She kept her wings tucked in low as to hide her mark of which she was hidden as well as the many scares of her past, she didn't want just any random Griffin to see her as she was. She maintained a steady pace often leaving the dark brown griffin behind.  He was a strange character none like the creatures that she had been paired with on these journeys before. He seemed to never care about her safety and very often stared at her as if he did. He wouldn't let her fly for some absurd reason, and would consistently tease her about her obsession with the position of her wings.  “why must you hide behind wings?” he asked nudging her off the dirt road, “do you hide your scars… I thought you were stronger then that!” he continued mockingly. “Oh yes, you are royalty you have a mark of a royal that only her mate may see.” He said this time raising his wings and rearing up onto his hind legs, revealing a scare across his left wing that ran down to his fur, limiting his flying skills.

“I am not ashamed of my royalty. And there is no way that you could ever make me.” She said pressing her wings harder against herself.

He remained silent for quite some time after that then he finally said. “I had not meant to make you ashamed; I had meant to show you that there are others who may see you for who you are. For even most royals don’t know that the mark of a royal is not meant for her mates eyes only, it was meant for all she wished to show who she was, and so that she could hide who she was when she wished. when I reared up over you I had not meant it to mock you but to show you there is something all wish to hide, I have always wished to hide what kept me strapped to the ground.” He said looking straight ahead into the now dark forest.

“Your scar!” she said her eyes wide with realization. “I can fix that!” she said spreading her wings and bolting into the night sky. He watched as she rocketed from one end of the sky to the other, every star catching her wonderful colors that she had hid the entire trip. Finally she landed, grasped in one arm was a large leaf that bundled many other small herbs; she gently put these down on the ground. Suddenly she swatted one paw at him knocking him straight to the ground then pounced onto his wings and with a swift move tore open his scare with one of her talons. She hardly flinched at the horrifying scream that came soon after, grabbed the herbs and squeezed the juice from each leaf.

“W-What are you doing?!?!” he asked as he struggled to get free of her grasp without hurting her.

“I’m fixing your wing, now SHUT UP and stand still!”She replied concentrating on the herbs that she