In the afternoon, when the sun was directly overhead, Jess and Gerred had already set off without even finding a place to eat lunch.
There are carriages coming and going to and from Goldshire all day long. The two of them hitchhiked on a carriage by chance and started on their way.
While looking at the patches of light all over the ground that filtered through the shade of the trees in Elwynn Forest, the fawns peeking out in the dense forest, and the colorful little birds jumping back and forth on the branches, and listening to the rhythmic rhythm of the sound of horse hooves and wheels.
At this moment, he also forgot about the Orcs, werewolves, death knights, and the orders of the Shadow Council. Staring at the gate of Stormwind that was getting farther and farther away and gradually disappearing among the tree crowns and light and shadow, he emptied his mind.
Lying and sitting on the swaying back seat of the carriage, drinking the somewhat fishy-smelling goat milk that someone else paid for, Jess really felt that if life could go on like this forever, it would be great.
"That day I looked at the horses in the mage district. They are all more beautiful than one another." He lifted one leg and asked Gerred next to him. "How much does it cost to raise a horse here?"
Gerred opened his eyes and looked at the sky and said, "I don't understand horses and I haven't ridden one either. You asked the wrong person. But I know that if you want to raise a horse, you have to treat it differently. Ordinary pack horses and warhorses are completely different grades. Not to mention those famous horses that only rich people can ride."
Jess said, "Someone told me that the real warhorses ridden by the knights of Stormwind cost almost dozens of silver a month. Do you think this number is believable?"
Gerred turned sideways and said, "I think it should be about the same. But this includes the combat losses in the calculation. For example, the wages for someone to get fodder, the transportation cost of fodder, the cost of training and so on. I guess if you keep a warhorse in the stable as a pet, it shouldn't cost so much."
"If you keep a warhorse as a pet, isn't it just an ordinary horse?" Jess asked.
"Ha, that's right. You get what you pay for. It's always like this." Gerred said, "Some griffins raised in the nest can't fly even after a long time without flying for the first time. They are as stupid as a pig with a bird's head. But if you want to train them by flying frequently, it's too expensive and laborious. Just thinking about dealing with griffins makes me tired. I just want to ride them into battle during combat. I don't want to take care of the eating, drinking, and shitting of those monsters at all. They are smelly, fierce, and there are so many troubles."
Hearing Gerred talk about griffins, Jess became curious. "Have you ever thought about how many beast tamers are suffering behind your back when you are riding a griffin smartly?"
"Roar, I'm not heartless." Gerred said, "Have I told you about Gossrum? He is a griffin breeder. My understanding of griffins is limited to how to communicate with them during combat and make them obedient in combat... And Gossrum is a real master beast tamer. I believe he can tell just by looking at a griffin flying by in the sky how heavy the eggs are between its two legs."
"Do griffins also lay eggs?" Jess asked.
Gerred asked in return, "Since birds and cats have them, why not griffins?"
That's really reasonable. Jess asked again, "Speaking of which, what's it like to ride a griffin?"
The dwarf narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time before saying, "It's like riding on a woman who is insatiable. She is shaking wildly and wants more, but you feel that you are already exhausted and can only let her torture you at will, grabbing your arms, shoulders, and shaking wildly. But as long as you whistle, she will understand what you mean and rush out for a while according to your thoughts. Slowly, you will find that you can't control it anymore. Hey, come to think of it, even the smell is almost the same."
Jess didn't know if Gerred was telling the truth or was showing off here at the same time that he had been with an insatiable woman and also ridden a crazy griffin. After all, he had no reference for either of these things.
"I wonder if I will have a chance to ride a griffin and try it?" He muttered to himself as if talking to himself.
"You?" Gerred turned his head and looked at Jess.
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked Jess up and down. After thinking for a while, he said, "I want to go back to Aerie Peak before Winter Veil. Are you coming?"
"Why? What are you going back for?"
"Maybe you humans don't think so, but Winter Veil is the most important festival for dwarves. I want to go back and see old friends. At least I want to tell everyone that I am still alive."
Jess asked hesitantly, "Is Aerie Peak welcoming to humans?"
"No." Gerred chuckled twice. "But they won't hang you up and feed you to griffins. I think after the Orcish war, my people's attitude towards you will be better. After all, countless dwarf warriors have witnessed the bravery of humans in battle and improved many inherent prejudices. At least most of my fellow clansmen I know think that compared to elves, humans are undoubtedly more reliable allies. Look at you, a seventeen-year-old guy. Usually you are as timid as a rabbit, but when you encounter undead monsters, you are as brave as a lion. I really can't see it."
Jess gave an embarrassed laugh. It was really uncomfortable for this guy to praise him like this.
The dwarf let out a long breath and said, "What I mainly want to say is that you might have a chance to ride a griffin and try it then."
"Really or not?" Jess immediately sat up straight. "Can I also ride a griffin?"
"Why not." Gerred said, "Whether you can ride or not is not up to us to decide, but up to the griffin to decide."
"What do you mean?"
"Griffins are very intelligent. You won't realize how intelligent they are until you deal with one. Sometimes it's hard to regard them as beasts. It can be said that the relationship between griffins and our tribe is not a relationship of domestication and being domesticated. It's more like a naturally formed covenant. You see, even wild griffins wandering in the wild mountains and forests will not attack dwarves on their own initiative. And our tribe will also regard those griffins as friends and take the initiative to help when they are in danger. The same is true in reverse. It's just that griffins will pay more attention to protecting their own safety. If dwarves encounter bears, griffins may come down to help. But if they encounter trolls, wild griffins will tend to protect themselves. Of course, the griffins living with us always fight desperately unless they think some suicidal actions are meaningless."
"But won't this affect your actions?" Jess said, "For example, if you resolutely carry out an action with great risks but also great rewards, and the griffins disobey. What should you do? Won't this greatly reduce the combat efficiency of griffin riders? After all, sacrifices need to be made many times."
The dwarf leaned closer to Jess and replied, "This is the key point, my brother. Griffins are often fearless of those truly valuable sacrifices, but they resolutely disobey some stupid decisions. They are mostly right in most cases and also actively influence the strategies of griffin riders. That's why I say that griffins are ridiculously intelligent and respected like a group of chirping sages."
Chirping sages... From Jess's perspective, it's quite difficult for him to understand this relationship.
But the Wildhammer dwarves have been like this for two hundred years. The trolls in Hinterlands who oppose them are getting weaker and weaker. But the foreign Wildhammer dwarves have established the great Aerie Peak fortress together with griffins. What right does he have to criticize this iron-like covenant?
"Of course." Gerred leaned back and lay on his arm and said, "Those griffins are not always obedient. Once they are on land, we must find a way to cover their eyes. Just like you humans put blindfolds on warhorses to block the vision on both sides and make them move forward fearlessly. Different from horses being too timid, the problem with griffins is that they are too courageous. These bad things always like to bully the weak or keep eating. After being suppressed in the sky for too long, once they land on the ground, these desires are completely uncontrollable. They run around uncontrollably and can't be pulled back no matter how hard you pull."
Jess asked, "If I appear in front of them, will they eat me?"
Gerred sighed and said, "Was everything I said just now in vain? What I mean is that griffins are willing to cooperate with brave and kind people and are willing to fight together with those who cherish their relationship. And they are definitely able to distinguish this. Once we fought against trolls together with the elves in Hinterlands. The elves were even able to ride griffins that had lost their dwarf riders and fight. Those griffins were as brave in battle as when they were with dwarves. Since despicable and shameless elves can do it, why can't you? Are you hiding some unspeakable dark secret?"
Jess licked his lips and thought to himself, indeed.
Now he has come into contact with an undoubtedly dark magic - Fear spell. So his body and mind may have been affected by some shadow energy, even though he doesn't feel it at all at this time.
What if those griffins detect the darkness in his heart like the Holy Light and come and take him away with one bite?
But the temptation to ride a griffin is really too great. What if there is a risk of being taken away with one bite if there is a chance to ride one? That's flying!
Jess asked again, "Speaking of which, why don't elves domesticate griffins for combat? Since they can fight together, why haven't they established a covenant like that between the Wildhammer dwarves and griffins? Elves have lived in Hinterlands for much longer than dwarves, right?"
"You are right." Gerred said, "Before we went to Aerie Peak, the elves had lived in Hinterlands for nearly a thousand years."
He pulled out a grass stem that he didn't know when he picked up from the side of the road from beside the bag, twisted it and put it in his mouth and said, "As for why they don't want to domesticate griffins, I think it's actually very simple. That is, elves don't like to cooperate with others and don't like things that are out of control. They like to enslave everything living thing they see. If they can't enslave them, they kill them. If they can't beat them or the cost is too high, they keep them out of their homeland and try not to have contact as much as possible. Only when they encounter huge troubles that they can't deal with will they be willing to bow their heads and ask for help."
Gerred continued, "They stubbornly believe that they, the quel'dorei, are different from us mortals. You know what quel'dorei means in Elvish, right? Noble people. They consider themselves as high-level beings born in the Well of Eternity and a sacred race blessed by this world. All those who are not ruled by them and do not obey their rules are barbarians with no value of existence. It's hard to understand, right?"
Jess followed with a dry laugh.
"However, the flames of the red dragons gave these self-righteous guys a good lesson." Gerred said, "Maybe they finally understand that it's time to walk out of their 'invincible' rune stone formations and come out into the outside world and take a good look."
"You hate elves so much. Why are you always thinking about looking at the Windrunners and them?" Jess teased.
The dwarf said, "Female elves and male elves are not the same species! And female elves are two different species on and off the bed! You are in the mage district. At least learn from those mages and classify species, kid. You will understand when you live longer. Don't be so rigid!"