Fliers

For four hundred years, they were the enemy. Turns out they were fighting the wrong war too.

Gryphon-bonded, signet-less, sharper than any rider at the quiet magics — and the first to know the venin were real.

The other cavalry

Gryphon, not dragon

Where a rider bonds a dragon, a flier bonds a gryphon — eagle and lion, seven feet of beak and talon — and the partnership is for life in the most literal sense: when a flier dies, their gryphon doesn't outlast them by long. They carry no signets. What they have instead is discipline and lesser magic — mindwork, and the runework the signet-proud riders never bothered to master — flown in tight drifts of seven or fewer along a border Navarre has always called the front line.

Cliffsbane, Zolya

A leap off the edge

Fliers bond at the Harvest: walk to the lip of Cliffsbane, look at the river a long way down, and jump — aiming to land on a gryphon flying below and hold on. Miss, and you swim to shore and pick another branch of the service. No Parapet, no bodies on the stone. Statistically far more fliers live to graduate than riders survive their first year at Basgiath, which is the sort of fact nobody at Basgiath enjoys hearing.

Old enemies, one enemy

The alliance nobody wanted

When Zolya falls, a third of the gryphons shelter at Cordyn and then relocate to Aretia, and the four-hundred-year grudge quietly becomes the smaller problem. Fliers fight beside dragon riders at Resson, learn runes alongside Violet's squad, and end up written into the wards themselves — the wardstone altered so their magic works inside Navarre's borders, which is flatly treason and also the only way anyone survives what's coming. Plenty of riders still look at them like the enemy. The fliers keep saving them anyway.

Cross-reference

The fliers' world

Swipe to meet them all

Gryphon Their mountsGryphonEagle and lion, seven feet of talon. Bond once, bond for life — and die when their flier does.Enter Gryphon →

Cat Cordella One of themCat CordellaEmotion-amplifying mindworker, third in line to the Poromish throne, Xaden's ex. Delightful.Enter Cat Cordella →

Zolya Where they bondZolyaCliffsbane, and a leap off the edge onto a gryphon below. Miss, and you just swim home.Enter Zolya →

Resson Where the war changedRessonThe first time gryphon and dragon fought the same enemy, side by side.Enter Resson →

Aretia Where they train nowAretiaOld enemies at Riorson House, learning the wards that were never meant to be shared.Enter Aretia →

The File

Kingdom: Poromiel — Navarre's enemy across the border for 400 years
Mount: Gryphon, bonded for life; the two die close together
Bond rite: The Harvest — a leap off Cliffsbane at Zolya
Their magic: No signets; lesser magic, mindwork, and superior runework
Formation: Drifts of seven fliers or fewer
The turn: 400-year foe, then Navarre's frontline ally against the venin
Books: Fourth Wing · Iron Flame · Onyx Storm

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