But the fey didn’t seem to be experiencing the same terror. He laughed instead, an exultant, natural sound that I’d never expected to hear from one of them, when we hurtled past the small wooden craft mid-air. And before I could scream again, he banked and swooped and headed for the side of the mountain, talons first. I had a moment to stare at the massive wall of stone rushing at us like a huge, pale fist, but found that I couldn’t utter a sound.

And then we landed, on a tiny shelf of rock that I hadn’t even seen, maybe because it jutted out just above the sea of clouds, which partly hid it from view.

“Perhaps next time!” my fey called out, to the pilot who had just drawn up alongside the cliff.

“That makes you one out of four,” he replied, laughing. “I like my odds!”

“And I like Sorjen red. See you below.”

The pilot nodded ruefully, and the small craft spiraled upward again as we dismounted.

My legs felt like jelly, but the fey’s were strong and steady, as if he did this every day. And maybe he did. He pulled messy hair out of our face, still grinning, as an older fey came running up.

Unlike the other two, the new arrival wasn’t in armor, but wore a simple brown tunic over gray leggings, and had straw in his hair. He also looked about as freaked out as I felt. “You’re going to splatter all over the cliffside one of these days,” he said, before he’d even reached us. “Mark my words!”

“Duly marked,” my fey replied. “Unfortunately, in that case, I won’t be around for you to say, ‘I told you so.’”

“You will if you get another mount—a normal one—like everyone else!”

“But I like this one. And I did go to a good bit of trouble stealing him.”

“Bah!” the old fey said, and reached for the bridle. “You’d have done better to—”

He never finished the sentence, because the gryphon clearly didn’t like anybody but its rider touching it. It tossed its great head, hard enough to drag the old fey off the ground and almost off the cliff. My fey grabbed him just in time.

“Let me handle Azurr?” he suggested, setting the old fey back on his feet.

“You’re damned right I’ll let you handle him! They’re nasty, bad-tempered, dangerous beasts, every one—”

“Nonsense. They’re brilliant, intuitive creatures. You just have to get to know them.”

“I don’t want to get to know him! Put him in the stables with the proper mounts, and let’s hope he doesn’t eat one, this time!”