"The formel's wings caught an updraft, beating hard. Tek sprang from the hillside, seeming to fly herself for a moment. Jan still thrashed in the gryphon's grasp, but could not break loose. Tek passed beneath them - too low, and cold anguish filled Jan as he realized she had missed her lunge.
Then the wingcat lurched downward suddenly, losing her hold. Her talons tore across his shoulders. He slid free and dropped to the rocky slope. Jan bolted to his feet, wheeling about, and saw Tek skidding downhill with the gryphon's tail caught fast in her teeth.
Tek scrambled to brace herself. She turned, her forelegs splayed, weight thrown back on her hindquarters like a wolf cub playing tug-at-bone. Jan saw her head shaken from side to side, the sinews of her long neck straining, her forehooves lifted from the mountainside as the wingcat fought to flee."
- Birth of the Firebringer

----------------------------

Probably my most detailed work yet. I've been painting this on and off since May 9th! And finally it's done!! I've been planning this painting for a very long time, ever since I read that passage in "Birth of the Firebringer" but was never brave enough to do an illustration this detailed. Well, now I have and I'm dead tired! I'm still going to continue the Firebringer Illustrations, hopefully there will be more improvement.

Painted in Open Canvas
Time: ...weeks... ...I lost track...

Firebringer Trilogy (c) Merideth Ann Pierce
Artwork (c) Nekkyo Usagi (Me)