Fortunes-Favor

The wind whipped at Flint’s face like a thousand tiny needles. He was slogging through snow up to his knees, his pack heavier on his shoulders with every forward movement, as if the very mountain was trying to keep him out, pushing him back a step for every two he gained. This was the third such peak he had climbed in as many weeks, searching for the rocky eyrie of the half-gyrfalcon, half-snowleopard griffin. He knew the chicks would be older now, this late in the year, but they also matured much more slowly than hawks and remained in their parents’ territories. The soldiers the Duke had managed to spare were back at the camp,