Pala
Content Warning (click to expand)
coercive negotiation, social rejection
by Reggie Kwok
On a snowy day, Wintbert and Finnian the white-feathered griffins carried snow with their webbed paws. With their one-story-home sized paws and work ethic, they cleared the pathways of three villages, Foremire, Coastmill, and Conepine.
Every time the griffins cleared the snow, they received one hundred gold pieces from each village. When snow didn’t fall, the griffins offered rides for the low price of one gold per trip.
One day, Wintbert and Finnian prepared to work in Foremire when a wooden shovel with a rune on the hilt tossed away snow from a dirt path. A woman watched the shoveling happening by itself.
She said to the griffins, “Oh, we don’t need you anymore. We have Pala, a rune powered shovel invented by a wizard named Goldhawk. It’s faster than you two.”
Finnian said, “We don’t get paid enough unless it is winter. We need to be paid in gold for our survival.”
“Why don’t you invest in Pala yourself? You could make a fortune selling them to other villages,” she said.
“But,” Wintbert said, “we like our work and want to be paid for it.”
She huffed. “We don’t need griffins when Pala can do the work faster. Now go away.”
Wintbert disliked the feeling of an object replacing his job. He loved shoveling snow. His webbed feet didn’t freeze as he created large snowbanks for the children to slide. The adults did minimal shoveling and thanked the griffins for their work. With Pala, the humans wouldn’t invest in the griffins.
The griffins departed Foremire for Coastmill and Conepine. The two villages needed the griffins’ services, so the griffins cleared the snow within three hours. But when the next storm hit, all three villages had Pala up and running.
Wintbert was curious as to how Pala worked. If he could find the magic source, he could sell it to the humans. Maybe observing Pala in action would help.
Wintbert went to Foremire. Runes powered the shovels, and whenever a rune ran out of energy, a human would replace the discharged rune for one with magical energy, and Pala would continue shoveling.
Why would humans be interested in a device that cost more? A griffin ran on three meals a day and could shovel snow all day. If they needed more runes, how would the humans pay? The devices that the humans used were a downgrade, not an upgrade.
Back at the cave, Wintbert reported his findings to Finnian. “I saw Pala in action today. They are a menace to deal with. Why should customers pay more when we griffins can do the same task?”
“I think we should give up. Clearing snow has a new magic now. We should focus on our ride business more.”
“The humans should respect our services. It’s our duty to shovel snow, not some wizard.” Wintbert suggested, “We should wave a protest banner during the next snowstorm.”
“I’m staying in the cave. Good luck with that.”
“What?”
With those words, Finnian crushed all hopes of working together to find the demise of Pala. What could Wintbert say to convince his coworker to fight and to protest? No, he would protest alone.
Wintbert refused to submit to Pala. There had to be something wrong with the magic, and he was going to be there to witness the faults. If he had to, he would destroy Pala, but that was a little dramatic.
While Finnian flew about looking to promote the travel business, Wintbert bought some oil-based paints, cloth, and some wood. With the materials, he made a banner with the words, “Pala = Bad.”
During the first snowstorm, Wintbert flew to the three villages, where Pala was working as intended. The humans stayed indoors, but Wintbert trusted that he flew low enough for them to see the banner.
During the second snowstorm, Pala had some problems, but the magic was still working. Some of the shovels would slow down and stop while others worked as intended.
During the third snowstorm, Pala stopped working all together. Some Pala dug down instead of across, which left massive dirt holes with snow in them. Other Pala flew into the sky, which didn’t do the job at all.
This prompted Wintbert to visit the three villages and see if they needed his services again. First, he approached Foremire’s leader at his castle.
Foremire’s leader said, “We have complete and utter faith that Pala will clear the snow. We don’t need your help.”
As Wintbert left, Pala from all over the village flew with the wind. Snow blocked common pathways, and residents were stuck indoors without anyone to help.
Without pay, Wintbert couldn’t help Foremire.
Next, he went to Coastmill’s castle to speak with the village’s leader.
Coastmill’s leader said, “We have humans shoveling the snow as we speak. We have no need for your services.”
As Wintbert flew in Coastmill, several humans shivered as they dug through the snow with their shovels.
Going backwards without griffins to help wasn’t the solution either.
Finally, Wintbert visited Conepine’s castle.
The leader hugged one of Wintbert’s paws. “You’re here! Pala stopped working, and we need your services again. Are you able to clear snow on short notice?”
“I’d be happy to do it,” Wintbert replied, “but I need to get my coworker to clear snow with me. I don’t clear snow without him.”
“We are willing to pay a little extra.”
Wintbert flew back to the cave, where Finnian slept by a fireplace. Wintbert shook Finnian.
Finnian said, “What? I’m trying to sleep.”
“No,” Wintbert said, “we’re going out shoveling. Conepine has hired us again, and we need to get there now.”
“What did you do now?”
“I didn’t do anything but travel to three villages, and the third happened to need our help.”
“I guess we’re getting paid, huh. All right, let’s go clear some snow.”
Wintbert and Finnian spent the day in Conepine. They cleared the snow as usual, and villagers cheered as they saw a familiar sight. Conepine villagers spent several hours with Wintbert and Finnian, who built snow hills for the children and adults. In return, the villagers would pat the griffins’ paws. Human hands felt cold to the touch, but perhaps the weather was the cause of that problem.
While Finnian tossed snowballs with the children, Wintbert approached a Conepine woman.
“Hm,” Wintbert asked, “what are you going to do with Pala now that they aren’t working?”
“We’re getting a refund. Goldhawk who sold the shovels should have to pay us for the damage. I mean, look at the holes in the ground. Those aren’t safe.”
“You’d think the wizard would test his products before sending them out to the world.”
“Would you help us with the refund? Your banner would assist in getting our gold back. We could ride you two to the wizard’s tower.”
Wintbert wanted to join these humans in getting the refund that these villagers deserved. If needed, he would destroy the wizard’s tower. But what would Finnian say?
“Let me speak to my coworker,” Winbert said. “Let’s go together.”
The kids tried to bury the macro-sized Finnian in snow, but they covered one paw. The woman ushered the children to the hill to slide down it. Finnian shook the snow off his paw.
“Oh, I was napping in the snow. It’s hard to nap outside,” Finnian said.
Wintbert said, “Conepine residents want a ride to the wizard’s tower, so they can get a refund for the Pala.”
“Are we getting paid to do that?”
Wintbert groaned. “Not everything we do has to come with gold. If we assemble the right humans, they can demand the refund from the wizard.”
“Oh.” Finnian shook the snow off his body. “I don’t want you having all the fun. Let’s go together.”
The Conepine woman gathered fifty villagers whose Pala had malfunctioned. The griffins flew off to the wizard’s tower, which took them until nighttime to find.
The wizard’s tower was a cobblestone masterpiece, but why he didn’t use other materials for the building was a mystery. From one of the holes in the building, a light shined.
The humans brought pans and sticks and made a ruckus outside the tower. They screamed, yelled, and chanted for the wizard to appear.
Wintbert might destroy the tower, but watching the protestors was much more fun.
As the moon reached its peak, a gong rang out from inside the tower. Goldhawk in black robes and pointy hat burst out the door.
“Why are you disturbing my sleep? I live far away from a village for a reason,” Goldhawk said.
One of the male protesters said, “We want a refund for the broken Pala. They either fly into the sky or leave potholes in the ground.”
Goldhawk stepped toward the crowd. “You all signed a contract when you bought Pala. I cannot give a refund.”
A female protester said, “Show us the contract.”
“No.” Goldhawk turned to the door.
Finnian and Wintbert blocked the door.
Wintbert said, “You aren’t going back inside until you give the gold back.”
“I converted the gold into furniture, so I cannot give you the gold back. How will I ever live without golden furniture?”
Wintbert pinned Goldhawk to the ground with his paw. “You caused my coworker and me to lose our jobs. Several Pala have gone rogue. Villages are stuck shoveling snow or are doing nothing. And now you say you cannot give a refund for the accidents that you caused. You—”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. He wasn’t a violent griffin, but pouncing on the wizard was very forceful. At that moment, he could do anything to the wizard. Eating Goldhawk didn’t sound like the best idea for his stomach. Humans weren’t a part of his diet in the first place.
“You’re coming with me.” Wintbert picked up Goldhawk and flew.
Finnian cawed and followed.
They arrived at Conepine, where Wintbert found a deep pothole that Pala made. Wintbert tossed Goldhawk into the hole. Goldhawk struggled to climb back up and slid down the hole. Without any tools, the wizard was stuck in the hole.
Finnian asked, “Did you really have to do that to him?”
“It’s for the best,” Wintbert said. “Some jobs can’t be automated.”
The griffins returned to the wizard’s tower. The Conepine protestors loaded the gold furniture on the backs of two griffins, and they returned home.
• • •
After several complaints from Foremire and Coastmill citizens about the poor snow removal, the leaders rehired the griffins at the same rate as before. From what Wintbert heard from the Conepine leader, the Conepine blacksmiths melted down the gold furniture and paid the protestors gold for their time.
During the spring, the Conepine leader found Wintbert and Finnian looking for customers for their transportation services and stopped them to talk.
The Conepine leader said, “Wintbert, Finnian, the village bought a special surprise with the village’s gold reserves. It’s for your efforts during the winter.”
The leader hopped on Wintbert’s back and directed the two griffins during flight. Next to Conepine castle, two archways made of white stone and brick stood out.
Wintbert asked, “What’s this?”
“It’s your new resting place. Since your cave must be far away, we built you two a place to nap,” the leader said.
Finnian said, “Woo! Nap time!” Trying out their new spot, the griffins rested, and they continued to prosper in their current lands.
About the author and the piece (click to expand)
We here at Hell Itself very much identify with Wintbert and Finnian. Reggie Kwok (he/him) holds a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in education. He currently lives in Massachusetts, USA. His Twitter is @KwokReggie. His Bluesky is @reggiekwok.bsky.social. He has published short stories at Samjoko Magazine, Underland Arcana, Scrawl Place, Androids and Dragons, Inner Worlds, Orion’s Beau, Zooscape, Midnight Menagerie, Madam, Don’t Forget Your Sword and has two forthcoming at Roses and Wildflowers and Androids and Dragons.
©2025 by Reggie Kwok. All rights reserved. May not be used for A.I. training.