It was a miracle! Felix's hand came across a loose stone on the floor. Felix didn't have too long to think of the consequences. Felix just picked up the large stone and tossed it at the gryphon's falcon head which was coming closer to Felix. Felix didn't aim his throw, but the gryphon's head was close enough that Felix didn't really have to aim. The stone hit the gryphon in the forehead with a loud thud.
The gryphon's head backed away quickly and Felix was too scared to move. Realization hit Felix as the gryphon looked back down at Felix. Felix had just hurt the gryphon and now it was going to kill Felix out of anger. Even though that may have been the obvious result if the gryphon had been grown up, the gryphon was still a toddler. It didn't become angry, it became sad. Tears formed in the gryphon's black eyes as some blood trickled down its gash.
Felix was confused by the gryphon's reaction and started to get up slowly. The gryphon suddenly began backing away from Felix as it whimpered and cried. Eventually, it was back in its corner and in the darkness, the gryphon began to cry. Felix began to hurry to the door till he heard the sobs of the gryphon. Felix turned and listened. The gryphon was actually crying! Those were real sobs that Felix knew all too well. "Why is it crying?" Felix wondered.
"Because you hit it in the head with a rock? Wouldn't you cry?" Felix began arguing with himself while wondering what he should do.
"No, I would have ripped a human apart if I was in the gryhpon's position," Felix replied.
"But that gryphon didn't do that. Instead, it cried, like a child who had just been injured," Felix pointed out.
"That things too big to be a child, isn't it?" Felix thought.
"How would you know? You don't know anything about creatures like gryphons. They could be very large creatures even as babies," Felix still continued to argue with himself, "Did you notice the feathers?"
Felix began recalling the feathers on the gryphon's head and realized there was something a miss. "It has the right coloring of a falcon, but its feathers are still fluffy as if it was a..." Felix began to realize.
"a toddler," his thoughts of reasoning finished, "This thing must still be an infant. It would explain why it didn't attack when you attacked it and it would explain why it would back away, afraid of you even though it was clearly bigger than you."
"But what do you propose I do? It tried to eat me," Felix questioned.
"Maybe this is your chance. You could make friends with the creature and..."
"Are you serious? It tried to eat me!"
"Think about it, if you go back there and help it, you might be able to befriend it. It has been treated terribly by the guards and soldiers. You might be the only one acting kindly to it and it might see you as something other than food or an enemy. Plus, it might become useful later to have a gryphon as a friend. Lord William did say they were very loyal creatures."
Felix continued to argue with his thoughts for a little while longer so that he could understand all the reasons and possible outcomes and benefits to both options. It became clear that befriending a gryphon was something very useful even if it meant risking his own life. "If I'm going to do this, though, I'm bringing the deer with me. It's still hungry, after all," Felix reasoned.
Felix took the deer and began dragging it into the darkness while carrying a lite torch he obtained from the wall were the only human exit was. As Felix got closer, he was able to see the gryphon's whole body for the first time. Its entire front was like a falcon's body, including falcon talons for front feet. It had the body of a four legged creature though and the front half was covered in feathers and two wings that folded to the side. The back half was a lion's body with the back paws and tail of a lion. The gryphon was curled up on the ground and Felix couldn't see the private area, but from the tip of the lion tail, he could tell it was a male because the dark furred tip was starting to grow.
Felix was surprised to see the gryphon actually cowering in the corner. It was afraid of him. Felix pushed the dead deer closer to the gryphon. The gryphon peeked out from its curled position and stared at Felix before looking at the dead deer.
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"Why?" the gryphon questioned, "Why me? The first time I wonder alone, I'm taken by these horrible humans. And Daddy said humans were kind creatures. Why do they all hurt me? I did nothing wrong,"
The gryphon continued to remember how he had wondered alone by himself. He had seen a group of humans and gladly walked up to them. The gryphon's father had told him how humans were like them and intelligent creatures. The father of the gryphon had protected humans before, but never told his son of the evil humans, because not many humans came to the mountains.
Now, the gryphon was trapped in a cell with humans that tortured him for no apparent reason. "That human was the only one that seemed to care about me. My only hope for something more then this pain has hurt me like all the other humans. I don't understand. Daddy said that humans were good creatures." the gryphon cried.
Suddenly, the gryphon heard something and peeked out. The human was back with the deer in front of it. The gryphon looked at the human and then the deer before...
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