5.Out Of The Dark
"You want me to leave them in that way?" he demanded.
"Until the whole thing with Lucifia is over, why not?" Brooklyn exclaimed, taking a quick look down the corridor to make sure that no one was listening. "A few more months won't kill them."
"Assuming of course that we defeat her in a few months," Goliath fumed. "Lucifia isn't like anyone we've faced before, you know that. For all we know, we could be fighting her for years, perhaps forever."
"Maybe," Brooklyn admitted. "But even if we don't, we shouldn't risk reviving them, at least not yet. Like I said, they've survived this long, a little more time won't hurt."
"And if it did?" Goliath asked, facing him angrily. "Do you want to risk that someone smashes them in the mean while?"
"Do you want to risk that Lucifia uses them to create some sort of Armageddon?" Brooklyn answered with a question.
As she believed it was finally tight enough, she put the soldering lamp out and placed it on the ground before turning to her PC and removing her map. Quickly, the clever sister rushed onto the stool and began to read the chat.
Eddison: Ready with the soldering?
Asrial smiled, ever since she had found a mail from Thomas in her PC, they had communicated over this special chat in a website of a large science magazine, and he still owed her an answer about how he had gotten over Xanatos's firewalls.
…
"I never found someone amongst my brothers whom I believed I could love in such a way," she said. "And our leaders program of bringing mateless ones from the different clans together is reasonable, but… "
The clever sister stopped.
What shall I say? she asked herself. That I would feel like a piece of meat trying to find a buyer, if I searched for a mate like this?
"Aye," Hudson said, as if he understood the unsaid words. "Lass, go out more, share time with your siblings. If you truly search love, ye may find it… as I did."
"I will try," Asrial promised, taking a quick glance at the monitor, and noticed that the lines showing her chat with Thomas had been deleted from the box.
Demona stood on the blanket, which began to glow and emit blue fog, and read the scroll performing the spell she had used on Goliath nearly a day before.
In the first few seconds, nothing happened and Darlene was about to say something, when the first cracks showed in the stone shell of the clones, and they freed themselves of it by what seemed more like shuffling than an uprising, some stone shells still hanging on them in the effect.
12. New life
A green skinned gargess with a beak and brown hair stepping out of Xanatos' plane.
"I'm Nia, second of the clan of Nevyn." she replied in a serious voice, which was just for a short moment broken by a hint of softness. "In the name of my clan, I thank you for your hospitality and help."
Having said this, she turned her head and looked back into the interior of the plane.
"Come out, it is all right." she told someone.
The slight blue skinned maybe twenty four years old hatchlings with the two horns growing out of his skull concealed by brown hair walked out of the plane probing on a cane.
A scar began by the middle of his brow and ran up angular to the left, heading to his left horn and vanishing under his hair, his left upper leg shattered and grown together in a totally wrong way.
The area around the so important left wingjoint was shattered and unglossed, making it clear on the first sight that it was impossible for him to glide
Blaen looked at the grey haired woman with the big glasses before the light brown eyes.
"You really think I'll be able to glide again?" Blaen asked, and as much as he tried to suppress the hope in his voice, it let him seem even younger and vulnerable.
Kelly looked on him for a moment, having a thoughtful look on her face, though understandable considering it was the same time she had seen a gargoyle directly. She then nodded.
"I never give promises," she said. "But your wing has the same structure as that of the bats I usually work with, and is larger which will make the operation easier."
13.Unresistable…
06.09.98; 20:47; Castle Wyvern; Perches Below The Highest Tower:
Blaen came out of the door, probing himself on his crane, though not as heavy as before, his left leg being straight as his right and most visible, both of his wings enfolding his slim body, with both joints looking perfectly symmetric, showing no signs of any wound, but a bound of scars where it had been cut open for the operation.
Dr. Kelly walked beside him, her light brown eyes looking interested at how her patient made his way to the perches, behind her Brooklyn and Nia followed.
Blaen took a look over the perch, seeing his friends in the courtyard below.
"You're sure?" he asked skeptically.
"Oh, every bat I treated before needed at least a week before I let it fly again," the doctor explained. "In your case your stone sleep has done the healing already and the pictures say it is all in its place. What you need now is a mass of training, as we humans say."
Blaen looked back on Brooklyn and Nia, the clan-seconds watching them and particularly him with great interest.
"If you need help I'll be there," she said, jumping to the perch left of him.
"We both will," Brooklyn corrected her and jumped left beside her.
Blaen took a last look on his second, before surprising himself by jumping on the perch in front of him, landing on all his fours, the cane in his left, his left leg hurting just a bit, but he had expected more.
Smiling as he felt the wind playing with his hair, the hatchling erected, leaving the cane on the ground as he extended his wings, feeling just a little stretching in his left one as he felt the wind under them, his eyes closed.
Opening his eyes he made the jump in the air before his mind could tell him to do not, and for a moment he fell before his wings caught the air, bringing him back up some centimeters.
Feeling his heart beating in his chest like mad, Blaen slowly glided to ground in circles, still anxious if the joint being brought back together just a day before would hold, but it did and as he landed he was immediately and loudly greeted by his friends.
Up at the tower Nia smiled on all her beak, and Brooklyn could practically see a weight being taken from her heart.
The second of the Nevyn clan looked into his eyes and for a moment he could smell her scent and felt a deep yearning…
"I better go down to him," Nia said.
"Yeah," Brooklyn said and knew she was right.
The second of the Manhattan clan stayed on his perch, his eyes following Nia gliding down to congratulate her younger brother…. Beside him Dr. Kelly had lighted a cigarette and stared into the night while leaning over the perch.
"I thought Xanatos made clear he didn't allow any smoking in his home?" Brooklyn noticed.
"We are not in his house, boy," the gray haired woman said, not even looking to the gargoyle as she breathed out a large cloud of smoke. "Besides, I doubt you with your enlarged lungs and stone sleep would have any problems with it."
Brooklyn thought about how Goliath would react seeing him smoke and shrugged.
"No need to test it, doc," he said. "So what will you do now?"
"I'll be back in the jungle next week," Kelly replied. "And meanwhile I'll take a look at the world's largest flying species, especially it's gliding and mating rituals."
Brooklyn thought it was an allusion on his sister and already opened his mouth to defend her, as his eyes met the light brown ones of the human woman, and he realized she wasn't speaking of her…
"Hey, I…" he began, but stopped, realizing that it was better to be silent. "I better take a look after Blaen."
With this the red skinned gargoyle made a jump, gliding down to where Blaen and the hatchlings had gotten company by some older gargoyles who had watched him glide and now congratulated him.
In the distance a yellow-skinned white haired elder, watched this with a thoughtful expression on her face.
06.09.98; 21:02; Labyrinth; Main Hall:
Angela knelt down by the five-year-old girl and put the plaster on her elbow that she had disinfected with a spray before.
"See, fixed already," the daughter of the Manhattan clan's leader said. "Did it hurt?"
The girl, blond haired and with wide green eyes looking out of the rather dirty face, nodded and turned back to her mother standing behind her, embracing her and practically sinking in her clothes.
The brown haired woman returned the embrace, stroking her daughter's hair and looking at Angela with a mix of fear and thankfulness before going to another part of the great room, as far from her as possible.
Angela sighed and looked around in the room, where more homeless were sitting near the walls or standing by the two fires lit in old barrels. Most visible were Burbank and Brentwood, Hudson's and Lexington's clones, who sat around at the wall to the right, away from the humans, though maybe not such free willed by their part.
The gargoyle from Avalon sighed and decided not to think about the barrier, which separated humans and gargoyles even down here, as she walked through the now well-known floors of the labyrinth.
Having placed the so important things back in the barely filled storage room, she closed the heavy iron chains again that secured it, laying the key back in her bag and walked into the kitchen.
"Now?" a damped voice asked.
"Nope…" Broadway's voice said a few seconds later.
As Angela entered she found her mate in the same position as before, standing above the sink while turning some knobs.
"No success?" she asked, as she walked to Maggie's side who looked at the cook and the gargoyle under the sink trying their luck.
The Mutate shook her head.
"And Tracy?" she asked.
"Is well," Angela replied, watching over her mate's tries to get the kitchen back to function. "It was just a scratch."
Maggie nodded, thoughtfully.
"I heard she will leave us soon," she replied. "Her mother seems to have finally found a job."
"Really?" Angela asked. "That's great…"
Maggie nodded, though she saw that something in the gargoyles eyes wasn't quite so happy.
"Try now," the damped voice said.
"Hey, it runs!" Broadway noticed, watching the water run out of the tap. "Thanks, big sis."
Asrial came out from under the sink, a strive of dirt at her left cheek, a dirty clout in her left and a spanner in her right claw, wiping over her forehead and thus blackening it a bit.
"Thank me when it runs for longer than a week…" the clever sister noted before turning to Maggie "Who made this system?"
"An old man named Scott…" the mutant said. "I believe he was mechanic once."
"Can I speak to him?" the clever sister asked, using the running water to clean her claws and face. "I could use some of the pipes he used, and some washers wouldn't hurt either."
"He is dead," Maggie replied. "Heart attack, and we never asked where he got the material from."
"Oh…" Asrial said.
06.09.98; 21:27; Castle Wyvern, Outside:
Blaen watched, as the teams were divided and plans were made.
"So you call it Protect the Hill?" the Welsh gargoyle asked.
"Yes, but there are many versions," Eve explained. "We play it open, on the ground, with flags…"
"Oh, we had something similar played in the woods," Blaen said, probing on his crane. "But we weren't so many."
"We neither," the gargoyle from the former Moray clan said. "But now we can make big groups."
Blaen nodded and looked ahead where Connor and some other hatchlings were erecting the large ring he would have to protect on the ground, and a similar one was erected by an elder with a striking resemblance to Connor.
It was when he looked there that he discovered a silhouette nearing the castle, which turned out to be another gargoyle nearing, one he hadn't seen before.
"Who is this?" Blaen asked.
Eve followed her friend's look and saw the blue skinned, red haired gargess landing near where the second ring was erected.
"She was our leader back in Moray," she told him. "She isn't important anymore."
Blaen looked surprised on Eve, wondering about the cold tone, before turning back to the strange gargess who had begun to talk with the elder who had erected the ring.
06.09.98; 21:45; Labyrinth; Main Hall:
"This is our home," Delilah said, entering the hall through the railroad.
Behind the hybrid followed a group of humans. A pair of Mexicans with their child, a boy around 10, their clothes looking a bit worn out and needing a wash, but otherwise okay, the man even looking finer than the woman and the boy.
Walking behind them were two men, one more thick with a face wide beard around his worn out face with brown hair and equal brown eyes, the other one with a woolen hat under which blond hair lurked out and a beard at least a week old, his mild blue eyes looking around with a skepticism equal to that that of his companion. Both wore clothes that were ragged at best, being partly dark by the dirt they had gathered.
Being experienced in such, the other inhabitants of the labyrinth didn't pay them much attention, except the youngest ones.
"Who they are?" Burbank asked, Malibu behind him.
"People from above," Delilah answered. "From Mexico."
The group had stopped looking somewhat reserved to what would become their temporary home and even more reserved on the three gargoyles talking.
"Hello," Malibu greeted.
He didn't get a response at first except the boy stepping a bit closer to his mother, but the boy's father wanted to say something yet never had a chance to begin.
"Okay listen, we have meal ready," a voice came from one of the floors. "Burbank, Malibu, help Broadway to…"
The mutant stopped, as she noticed the new arrivals.
"Talon let them in," Delilah explained.
Maggie nodded and gave the new arrivals a long look.
"Welcome," the Mutate said with a smile, which looked professional since she didn't really expect a response. "I'm Maggie."
"I'm Enrico," the Mexican said in English with a heavy Spanish accent. "These are my hijo Francisco, y my mujer Aura. They… want to stay here until I have cleared some formalities."
"Ellos son seguros," Maggie said. "Maybe you can even help us by distributing the meal."
"Si," Aura replied, showing the first time that she actually understood the language.
Maggie gave her a reassuring smile.
"Maggie, maybe I could use some unused pipes from outside," Asrial said, as she came out of the room.
"Sounds like a good idea," the Mutate said. "Why don't you look at the one in the electric main? Since it has been cut, it is pretty useless. Maybe you could get help?"
The gargess showed no response, starring on the newly arrived group.
"Asrial?" Maggie asked.
"Uh, yes," the clever sister said, looking back to the Mutate. "What?"
Maggie sighed, having seen the gargess done such before.
"I could help," the thinner of the two homeless who had accompanied the family said, looking at the gargoyle with his mild blue eyes, his companion having already left for one of the fires burning, seemingly searching the companionship of others. "I know a bit about such work."
"Me too," another homeless, a black man with large glasses and intelligent, eager eyes said. "I worked in a workshop once."
Asrial nodded, still looking a bit absently as she began to walk down to the railroad.
As Maggie showed the Mexican family the way to the kitchen, Delilah, Malibu and Burbank were left on their own as much as they could expect it.
"Boring," Malibu stated.
Delilah and Burbank nodded.
"Let's go out," Delilah suggested.
"Derek get mad again," Burbank replied.
"We will be fast," his sister replied, with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I want to use my wings," Malibu said.
They looked at each other, and began to move.
06.09.98; 22:03; Labyrinth, sidetrack:
Having been successful in their search, the two homeless and the gargess had found a sidetrack, where one abandoned train once used by Cyberbiotics to transport material.
Having used a heavy saw and isolation material just to be sure, Asrial had managed to saw off a pipe of 1 meter, now giving it to the inhabitant of the labyrinth who had accompanied her and the newly arrived homeless, while the newcomer stood on the train.
"Please bring it back to the others," she asked him. "We will look further."
The man nodded and began to slowly stumble down the tunnel, back to his home, carefully balancing the heavy load in his arms.
Asrial felt a little ashamed about letting the man go like this, since she could have helped him easily, but she needed the time to speak free.
Hearing the sounds of the man's steps becoming more silent, Asrial turned around, seeing the newcomer kneeling on the train, inspecting it.
"You know," he said. "If I had a bit time and material, I could make it run again…"
"Thomas," Asrial said, suddenly feeling very dry. "What are you doing here?!"
The man in his mid thirties looked up, looking at the gargoyle who stood on the railroad under him.
"Would you believe it if I said I went bankrupt?" Thomas asked.
Asrial crossed her arms.
"Guess not," the man murmured.
"Have you any idea what trouble we will get into if anyone recognizes you?" the clever sister asked.
"Is there anyone down here who knows me?" Thomas asked, rubbing his hat.
"No," Asrial admitted. "But we have changing groups down here, and if anyone recognizes you or starts asking questions…"
"You would get problems with your leader, and I a cell in jail, I know." the fugitive said in matter of fact, and added softer. "I wanted to see you again."
Asrial sighed and neared the train, laying her upper body on it.
"Me too," she said in a depressed tone. "But there would have been other ways."
"Would there?" Thomas said and sat himself on the train beside Asrial's upper body.
They remained silent for a moment while looking at each other, and just because it seemed right, Thomas wiped a line of dirt from Asrial's beautiful orange cheek. The gargess smiled on this and unconsciously moved closer to the human, their faces getting nearer as they shared a first, soft kiss…
A near sound, maybe a rat, broke the magic and they looked surprised for a moment, trying to overplay what had just happened with a smile.
"Where did you get these clothes?" Asrial asked.
"I bought it from a homeless man," Thomas said. "He got some of my own and enough dollars from me… I didn't even wash them to let them look authentic."
"I know, I can smell it," the clever sister noticed with a smile.
"Hey, watch it!" the hacker said, and slipped from the train to the ground. "I had a hard time in them."
Asrial grinned even wider.
"Shall we look after more pipes?" Thomas asked.
The gargess nodded.
"Seems better." she said, taking up the saw.
06.09.98; 22:17; Castle Wyvern; Small Tower on The Back:
Tom leaned himself over the perch, staring down. Behind him stood his partner on guard duty, the blank, hairless gray skinned female he was close to, staring irritated first on him, and then on the red skinned beast with two large horns growing out of her forehead, seemingly dozing.
"I get sick of all this pointless watching," she said. "Aren't the cameras that Xanatos has installed here enough?"
Tom dragged himself away from the perch and looked at his girlfriend.
"Not for our leaders it seems, or do you trust them?" he asked.
The hairless female shook her head.
"Besides, you have to make extra duties," Tom added.
His girlfriend looked irritated on him, angry over the duties her brother and now second had given her.
"It's pointless," she said. "Back then, we had to at least be careful of Roland's bandits, the rogue clan or the Vikings, but now… All this for a single gargoyle?!"
Tom didn't respond at first, knowing far too well that she tried him to not discuss the topic further.
"Did you really…" he began,
The young warrior stopped, noticing the beast standing up and beginning to whine. Half a second later it had jumped on one of the perches, staring down to the wall on the more forward part of the castle.
Tom had to lay his upper body fully on the perch to get a look at what the beast had smelled, but as he saw it he rebuked himself for not having seen it before… the eventless time of watching seemingly had demanded a tribute.
"What is it?" his girlfriend asked behind his back, all irritation having vanished from her voice and being replaced by a dry professionalism, trained in countless nights and being used in too many others.
"Go and find Goliath," he said, pointing to the door in the direction, which didn't let her walk along the large wall. "We have intruders…"
06.09.98; 22:19; Castle Wyvern, Wall On The Eastside:
The hybrid and the two clones stayed there, hanging on the wall with Delilah in the middle, Malibu to her right and Burbank to her left, watching how the hatchlings flew in the sky, seemingly hunting for a ball, and to throw it in the large ring guarded by one of them.
"It's like football," Malibu stated.
"Football on ground," Burbank replied. "And there is another ball."
"Soccer maybe?" his brother tried.
Delilah didn't join her brothers' argument, instead watching the game of these young gargoyles with total fascination and awe, asking herself for a short moment if she could join them, before realizing that…
A growl from above her head dragged her out of her dreams, and as she looked up as her brothers had before, looking in an all too familiar face looking down to them in a very angry way.
"Mast…" Delilah stopped… No, she knew it wasn't the master, but before she could say anything more the leader of the Manhattan clan talked.
"Up with you," he ordered them, and in a mix of fear, shame and programming, the trio did it.
"Trouble," Burbank noticed.
To her surprise, Delilah didn't just find Goliath standing behind the perches, but a gray-skinned female without hair, Hudson, and a green-skinned, blond-haired gargess she didn't know behind him, the gargess looking just as severe as her leader.
"What are you doing here?" Goliath demanded to know.
"Sightseeing," Malibu tried, earning a look from the bigger gargoyle, which made him quickly look down.
"Did Talon allow you to come out?" Goliath asked further.
"Not really…" Delilah began, feeling the shame rise in her.
Goliath gave the young hybrid a long hard look, which made her in turn look down.
"Our clan hasn't sent you members to help protecting you just so that you risk your life so easily," the leader of the Manhattan clan said, and looked out into the night. "Lucifia could track you even now."
Out of instinct, the three gargoyles of the labyrinth clan followed Goliath's look and felt fear rising in them, even though they saw nothing, but the usual silhouette of the town.
"I will take you back," Goliath said.
"No!" Delilah nearly cried off, earning skeptical looks from the Wyvern gargoyles.
"I mean if Lucifia is tracking us, we might directly glide into her trap," the hybrid continued.
"So what do you suggest," Deborah asked more than skeptical, recognizing it as one way to flee the problem, worthy a hatchling but not nearly of an adult gargoyle.
"We stay here a while?" Delilah suggested. "At least to be sure."
Goliath's stony face didn't change, as he stared on the hybrid, but behind him Hudson moved.
"Leader, maybe the lass has a point," the leader's mentor said good-heartily. "We could let them take the meal with us and then bring them back?"
Goliath thought about it, noticing in the corner of his eyes that not just some in the courtyard were looking at them, but that even the hatchlings had stopped their game to look to whom he was talking to.
"Well then," he stated. "I will send someone to tell Talon about your whereabouts."
Their guest's faces lit up.
06.09.98; 22:41; The labyrinth, main hall:
Asrial watched how Talon received the news of his clan members little tour by two of her clan mates, noticing that he wasn't very pleased.
"What do those children think they're doing there?!" the leader of the labyrinth clan asked the world in general, while Brentwood and Hollywood proved some intelligence by vanishing into one of the rooms, while the human inhabitants of the labyrinth paid this little or no attention, being used to such.
Diomedes and Fuchsia stood nearest to them, Maggie a bit aside, occupied enough to not notice as the clever sister slowly walked to one of the floors, following her instinct.
As if to prove all her teacher's remarks about her tracking skills wrong, she quickly found who she was looking for. Thomas had retreated as soon as he had seen the new gargoyles arrive, now taking his spare meal in one abandoned room of the complex, sitting on a chair around the table, maybe serving once as a office.
"It's all right," Asrial said, as she approached him. "The two haven't recognized you, I don't even think they would if you told them your name."
The hacker nodded, seemingly relieved and offered her to sit down as she approached, placing the bowl and bread on the table beside his.
"Why did they come by the way?" he asked. "The replacement coming tomorrow?"
Asrial nodded, taking a spoon of her soup.
"Three of the clones took a trip to the castle," she explained. "Talon isn't quite happy about this."
Slowly, she took a spoon of her soup.
"Understandable…" Thomas replied. "But I can understand them. I mean, would you like to stay here all time?"
Asrial shook her head and took a bit of bread.
"It shouldn't be necessary," the hacker added, and as the gargess opened her mouth he added. "The whole institution I mean, that homeless have to go here instead of getting help by the government."
"Talon told us that some here don't want to have anything to do with it," the clever sister threw in, not really interested in this topic.
Thomas shook his still hooded head.
"Most have already given up hope, but…" he stopped shortly, having an absent look on his face, which would remind a bystander on the way that Asrial looked sometimes, and then looked back on his friend with fire burning in his eyes. "If just one percent of all money made by the big companies above us would be used to help these people, then there would be no poverty here. Not to mention if our community would handle such things like your clan."
"This city alone has millions of people," Asrial noted. "A clan hardly has ever more than 100 members."
"Then there should be another political system," Thomas said determined. "Communism for example… the rich should be forced to take responsibility for the society."
The gargess felt a bad feeling rise in her stomach, though she didn't have much knowledge about human history or economic, but she disliked his tone.
"As long as you don't try to be the one," the gargess said, and tried to let it sound as light hearted as possible.
She didn't manage it perfectly, so Thomas looked surprised on her, slowly realizing what she meant.
"No, no," he hastily tried to explain, sounding worried.
Asrial smiled, happy to hear him sounding more like when she had first known him.
"Good, then you might be able to help me with an idea," she began. "You know, it would help them here a big deal if we could repair the mechanism of the large door at the entrance, so they can close it if they are under attack.
"Sounds great," Thomas agreed. "What about the cameras?"
Asrial shook her head.
"Talon doesn't want it," she explained. "But we can speak with him about it after the meal."
Thomas nodded, and looked back on the quarter that was left of his soup, despite his smile he was feeling other thoughts besetting him.
06.09.98; 22:43; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
"So the clones are basically copies of you who now live under New York?" Nia asked at the leader's table. "And you fear Lucifia might use them… sacrifice them to get more power?"
Brooklyn, sitting left of her, nodded.
"Yeah, that's pretty much the problem," the second of the Manhattan clan said.
"If you hadn't awakened them in the first place then you wouldn't have the problem," a voice far right of Brooklyn noticed icily.
The white haired gargoyle felt his mood dropping a bit, as he looked to the other less welcomed guest, sitting not unintended with Nia and Darlene, who had Gem on her lap, and stayed unusually quiet between them.
"Letting them stay that way for the next 1000 years wouldn't be a good idea either," Brooklyn noted.
"Says who?" Demona asked, and took a drink of her glass, not even looking at the younger gargoyle.
"We all know where your solutions lead to," Deborah noticed from the other side of the table.
The immortal stared angrily on her former teacher.
Nia meanwhile ignored this struggle, and looked over her back to the table where the three clones, or rather two clones and one hybrid, as she had learned, sat… They were rather alone since no one of the Manhattan clan had decided to join them at their table.
"We know that restricting them to the labyrinth might not seem fair," Goliath, sitting on the other side of the table, said. "But it is the best way to protect them, and probably the whole city."
"I understand," Nia said. "But I think it will be in my leaders interest to make contact with one more clan."
These words were directed to Goliath likewise as a request for an allowance to join the clones, which he thus gave his guest with a nod.
A second later Nia rose under the look of Brooklyn's eyes, and walked over to the other guests.
They were rather silent, eating their meal, not noticing her as she approached.
"Hello," the Welsh gargoyle greeted.
"Hi," the clone Brooklyn called Malibu said, and who had a striking resemblance of him except for the coloring and maybe some years of advantage in age, though the tone of his voice let it sound more like a question.
"I'm Nia," the second of the clan of Nevin said "I'm from Wales."
"This in Scotland?" Burbank asked since he had learned that many gargoyles were from there.
"No, it is a country southeast from there," Nia said, going over the lack of verbs in the clone's sentences.
"Do you speak English there, too?" Delilah asked, more advanced in the lessons Talon gave them in grammar.
"Actually, just one of our clan could speak it before we were transported here," the other gargess said.
"Talon said we can learn another language later if we want," Burbank said.
Nia looked interested, but it was then when Delilah realized that this gargoyle probably didn't know whom her brother meant.
"Talon is the master in the labyrinth where we live," she explained. "It is under the city."
Nia nodded, trying to sound interested, not wanting to show that she had learned it already.
"What do you protect?" she asked, trying to get over it.
"Protect?" Malibu asked, and thought. "Mhhh… the labyrinth."
"Each other," Burbank added.
"The city?" Nia asked.
The gargoyles of the labyrinth clan looked embarrassed on each other, in a way that made Nia suddenly think of her clan's hatchlings when they had been younger.
"We are not allowed to go into the city," Burbank explained, a hint of frustration in his voice. "We are not allowed to go here."
"They say it is dangerous, but…" Delilah stopped, looking around at the other tables where the clan partly had loud talks. "I think they don't want us here."
Nia, seeing the random and unhappy looks that some of the clan threw on their guests from the labyrinth, didn't know what she could say.
06.09.98; 23:11; Castle Wyvern, Place Over The Courtyard:
Slowly, trying not to make a sound, Nia walked over to the perches where Hudson, Deborah and some other clan members were sitting and looking beneath them down in the courtyard.
There, unexpected and still in the middle of their meal, the hatchlings had been called upon by their second and teacher, different sets of weapons lay out on the ground, so they had to take them up in a hurry, as they were grouped with a partner they had to fight.
None of them had expected this training lesson, and even if some of them had wanted to protest foolishly, they had hardly found the time since they found each other engaged in a training fight with one of their brothers or sisters moments after they had been dragged out of the Great Hall.
Brooklyn walked through the lines of hatchlings, giving short remarks and advice with an unusually serious look on his face, a seriousness that was mirrored in that of his pupils.
Nia watched them locked in this training, reminding her so much that of a true fight, and not the usual fights between drunks in a bar she had once helped to end. Turning her head a bit, she watched the older clan members watching the hatchlings in turn with an earnest look on their faces, showing neither disapproval nor approval.
"Are there often such surprise trainings?" the Welsh second asked.
"Sometimes." Hudson remarked, standing beside her, turning his eyes only partly from the scene below. "Now they will get more regular to prepare them for the tests."
Nia nodded, having guessed such.
"I heard your clan has other customs, lass?" an older female, maybe two generations above her own, asked the gargoyle from Wales, her voice making clear that what she had heard hadn't impressed her so far.
"Yes," Nia said. "Thirty years after they have hatched, the young ones take a glide out to the hill where they spend the night. When they return, they're adults."
These words made two other gargoyles turn their heads from their children in the courtyard.
"Where is the challenge in this?" one brown skinned elder asked, totally surprised.
"Has there to be a challenge?" Nia replied, feeling a slight irritation rise in her by these gargoyle's words to the customs of her clan "They come back as adults, and as clan."
"But how have they proven that they are?" the brown skinned female continued.
"How do they proof that they are by doing some tests?" Nia countered.
"They prove they can survive in the wild and take care of themselves and others," a white skinned gargoyle of the same age as his brown skinned sister, maybe even her mate, said. "That they are mature."
"But what if one fails despite its best tries," the Welsh Gargoyle asked. "Because he or she is slow or a bit weak? Would you force them to stay hatchlings?"
This question made the older one stay silent for a second, most of all since Nia's voice had gained a slightly angry undertone.
"For one year until they can proof themselves again," a voice behind her said, and turning around the green skinned gargess looked into Deborah's face, noticing that the teacher's voice wasn't hard as that of her sister, even had a sad undertone, but nevertheless likewise determined.
"It's never happened, lass," a calm voice owning to the former leader of the Wyvern clan added. "And despite what you might think, we see if one of them tries… These trials are not just a test of cunning, but also of heart."
Nia swallowed, a part of her mind told her to ask further, to ask if they knew what this would do to a hatchling, not to speak of that a rookery might split this way, but finally she realized that maybe she hadn't the right to judge this clan who had led such a different life to her own… not to speak of that it wouldn't be diplomatic either, considering that Blaen owned them his ability to glide.
"It seems that our clans have a different customs after all," the Welsh Gargoyle finally said.
"Oh, that is all right," Hudson said. "Members of a clan are different and clans are different. There is nothing wrong with it, as it makes us stronger."
This was something that Nia could agree with, and as she looked at the gargoyles around her she found that they agreed, too.
Seems we aren't that different at all, she thought, before looking down in the courtyard, to the Manhattan clan's second. But how can I begin…?
07.09.98; 00:14; The Labyrinth, Entrance:
Asrial and Thomas stood a bit aside from the people of the labyrinth, on the abandoned railroad, and watched the big steel doors that they had helped to modify with some satisfaction.
After Asrial had dropped her initial idea to dismantle the doors completely, as she recognized how deep the doors really stuck in the wall, and that this way would have left the labyrinth too long open for any attack. It had been Thomas who had seen the now useless iron sticks lying around, and had noticed that they could be used to somehow fix the door.
After Talon had agreed, Diomedes and Javin had bent six steel sticks into the form of horseshoes, letting Talon and Claw use their electric blasts to melt them into the doors, grouped into pairs, one of them on each part of the sliding door near enough to, when the doors where closed, let a similar formed stick of steel close it when it was hung through them.
"Simple and effective," Asrial noted, wondering why she hadn't thought of it first.
Thomas nodded, looking thoughtful, which didn't surprise the gargess since they both knew that this construction probably wouldn't withstand an attack forever, and if would effectively trap the residents of the labyrinth in their home this way.
"I will leave this morning," Thomas said finally, not taking his eyes from the door.
"What?" Asrial asked totally surprised, being pulled down to earth so quickly, adding more silently, "Why?"
"For one, there is your sister who tends to look at us as if she has caught a secret," the hacker in disguise said.
The clever sister knew better than to turn around right now to look at Fuchsia.
"She might just think that someone likes you…" she stopped. "Because you helped us so much."
Thomas nodded.
"Maybe," he admitted though not convinced. "But my friend will leave this morning, and it would be even more conspicuous if I wouldn't leave."
Asrial's mind took arguments to counter this, but she remained silent, realizing that they probably were taking too large a risk right now.
"It was just so good to see you again," she said. "And I had hoped we could talk… about us."
This made the human look on the gargess, finding in her eyes a longing he knew he had in his own.
"We will," he said.
"And will it work?" Asrial asked, looking to the door as she made this question, which had tortured her since they had kissed.
Thomas, likewise not looking at her but at the door, thought for a moment.
"If you manage to defeat this Lucifia, and I manage not to be thrown in jail anytime soon, I think we can work out everything," the hacker explained.
A laugh emitted Asrial's lips before she could hold it back, and some meters behind her Fuchsia looked at her skeptically.
06.09.98; 23:11; Castle Wyvern, Guest Room:
The two gargoyles stood before a bed, staring at each other.
"You had no right to judge my clan on this," Brooklyn said irritated.
Nia returned his look.
"I didn't want to," she said, not moving back. "I just meant that your clan should help the clones."
"At the moment, we are busy trying to find the gargoyle who might want to kill them, and the whole city with them," Brooklyn replied. "What else can we do?"
"Teach them," Nia said. "Help them to grow… in some way, they are still hatchlings."
"Talon does this already," Brooklyn threw in.
"He can't show them what it means to be a gargoyle," the other second replied. "And they yearn for it… like they yearn to be respected by you, while you reject them, as I saw."
"They were created to fight us, to replace us," the red skinned gargoyle nearly snarled. "Our clan nearly split over whether to awaken them or not, and Goliath made some sort of a devil's deal with his ex, so what do you expect of us?"
Nia looked totally surprised for a moment.
"Split?!" she asked, totally skeptically.
Brooklyn sighed, realizing that he had just told someone, not belonging to the clan, something important.
"Goliath might have been overthrown," he said, nevertheless earning an even more surprised look from Nia. "Look, what I mean is that it isn't really the best time now for us to help them..."
The green skinned gargess looked at Brooklyn for a moment.
"I see, but please promise me to speak with Goliath about it…" she said, and as she did she could hear Brooklyn groan. "Cause there might never be another time."
Brooklyn exchanged a look with the older second, and then he nodded.
As the atmosphere between them cleared, so did Brooklyn's thoughts. This wasn't why he had hoped her to be asking to be alone with him, but maybe they could…
"It won't work," Nia said in a soft voice.
Brooklyn stared on her, asking herself if she had read his mind or just his face… slowly realizing the depth of her words.
"Hey, see when this is over, if it is over…" he began.
"Then we are still seconds of our clans," Nia ended the sentence calmly. "We have responsibilities."
"I KNOW my responsibilities," Brooklyn hissed, suddenly feeling pissed off by everything.
How could he once have wanted this post? How could anyone in the clan yearn for a post, which brought nothing but trouble and pain?
Nia had remained silent, as Brooklyn calmed down.
"How long?" he asked.
"My leader wanted to phone me this night to learn how the operation has turned out, and when we were coming back," Nia explained and stopped for a second just to continue. "If Xanatos can make it, we fly tomorrow night."
Brooklyn felt like being hit hard several times, but strangely it wasn't pain he felt, but coldness.
"So soon?" he asked.
"The clan is worried about us," Nia explained. "It isn't safe here, and I can't take the risk."
Brooklyn looked into her light blue eyes, which still showed the shadow of the pain coming from the self inflicted wound of blaming herself for Blaen's injuries. Finally, he nodded.
"I understand," he said finally, defeated, feeling his tail drop. "I just had hoped…"
Nia touched his right claw, and then slowly she moved her knuckles over his eye ridge.
"I, too," she whispered, looking into his eyes.
A moment later, they embraced.
To be continued…