Inspiring Illustrations - Fantasy Art - 16

16). The Griffin Invasion

Skylord is wingleader of his pride. For long years they nested among the eastern mountains above the rolling plains where the horse herds ran. Then came the riders of horses and season after season the herds thinned as they were captured and driven to the west. Competition between griffin prides became fierce as the fight for horsemeat became more desperate. Always Skylord was victorious and his pride became a flock.

It was he that first began the attacks on man. The taste was strange and sweet. The danger was great as the horsemen spat thorns and bore sharp claws, but times were now hard among the prides and flocks and there was no other way, and Skylord was developing a taste for this new flesh.

They glided from the mountains and drove the remaining herds before them to trample the horsemen. In the west where the mountains ended were strange small hills of stone and smaller caves of wood. Skylord and his followers descended upon these stone hills and rooted out the horsemen without horses inside, made them their new lairs and nested within. From these low stone peaks they crossed over the land and hunted. They tore open the caves of wood and feasted. This land was filled with many new beasts to eat and horseless men. The cry went out and flyers returned to call to their kind and the mountains emptied.