In the End There's Farewell

By: Jess jessondra16@hotmail.com



In the End, There's Farewell

Scotland 992 AD

Young Brooklyn ran through the countryside, laughing as his mate, Anabella tapped him on the shoulder.

"Tag ye're it!" She said and took off in the other direction.

Anabella ran through the meadow and fell into a soft patch of flowers laughing. Brooklyn didn't see her there so when she grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall, he nearly had a heart attack.

She laughed harder as she got up and he lunged for her, missing and going into the brook. Anabella jumped in after him and soon the two were engaged in a fierce water battle.

"Anabella!"

"Oops, that's mum, I should go now." She said and climbed up the bank.

As she rung the water from her hair, Young Brooklyn snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist.

"Must you leave."

She leaned back against him and smiled. "What mum wants, she gets. It's dinner time, I canna leave her waiting. What if she should come out here and see us? We'd surely be outcast in society."

He kissed her on the side of the neck. "I will wait for you here."

"I will not be long." She pulled her dress on over her wet loincloth and halter top, and ran off into the night.

* * *

"Anabella, where have ye been?" Her mother asked as Anabella ran up to the door.

"I was out with my friend. I told ye where I was goin'." She answered.

"Ye're soakin' wet, ye are. Go and put on somethin' dry while I finish up dinner."

"Yes, Mum."

She heard her mother mumbling as she went out of the room to get a dry dress. "That girl becomes mare and mare truble ev'ry day."

Anabella smiled. She loved her mother immensely, and would never do something to upset her.

Trumpeting was heard from the castle and Anabella ran out to see what the commotion was about.

"Tis Princess Katherine's Birthday. And the day she takes the throne." Her mother said, answering the unasked question.

"Oh. Can we go Mum, please?"

"I doubt it Anabella, though ye're there often enough, I doubt we'd be welcome. The princess disapproves of us, ye know that. Now sit down befare ye're dinner gets cold."

"Yes, Mum."

Anabella gulped down her dinner and was out the door before her mother could protest. "Be back at sunrise Mum!" She called over her shoulder.

Her mother just stood there and shook her head.

* * *

"Love? Where are ye?"

"Over here Goddess."

She joined young Brooklyn behind their favorite tree and sat down.

"I must go back to the castle. It's Princess Katherine's birthday, and I'm supposed to be at the castle. Goliath will be mad enough as it is."

"Let me come with ye. Please?" She looked at him with her sparkling eyes.

"You know I cannot say no to that. Come on, let's go."

She climbed onto his back and they took off.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Goliath demanded.

Young Brooklyn looked shamefully to the floor. Anabella stepped in.

"Goliath, tis my fault. I begged him to stay a bit longer. I didna think twould be a problem. Then we lost track of the night."

"Anabella. . ." Goliath started, but was cut off by the trumpets. "We will continue this discussion later."

She smiled at him, knowing that they would not be punished now, and followed the two gargoyles to the great hall of the castle.

* * *

"And as princess, I swear to protect Scotland and all her people, till the end of my time." The princess stated, and the crown was placed upon her head.

She stood smiling at her people. The smile was quickly replaced by a look of contempt, hatred, and fear compacted into one, as Goliath and his second approached her.

The two gargoyles bowed at the feet of the princess and swore their loyalty to her and the castle in which she lived.

Katherine dismissed them with a wave of her hand, and someone in the crowd was heard saying. "Off with ye, filthy beasts.

Goliath's mate's eyes glowed a demonic red as he pulled her from the room.

"We do not have to take this." She said angrily.

"Do you wish to wage war upon the very castle in which you roost?" Goliath asked her.

"If it got rid of the humans. . ."

"Enough. I don't want to hear anymore about it."

Anabella ran up and hugged Goliath. "The way those people treat ye. . .if I weren't a girl I'd show them a thin' or two."

Goliath chuckled at her determination and placed his hands on her shoulder. "Think nothing of the sorts. I don't want it bothering you any more than it bothers me."

Anabella smiled sweetly, then, giving a short curtsy to Goliath's mate, ran off to find her young love.

"Not all humans are bad." Goliath continued. "Just look at Anabella. . ."

"Perhaps she is an exception. But she is one human out of the hundreds that live here." His mate argued.

"Give the world time." Goliath said and wrapped her up in his wings.

* * *

Scotland 994 AD

The Castle Wyvern Massacre

A terrorized scream rang throughout the village as the Vikings bombarded the castle wall with all the had. People ran, terrified, into the streets, trampling those that fell under foot. Anabella was caught up in this as she was returning from the castle. That was when she saw him.

A young child was in the middle of the street, crying, alone. Behind him was a swiftly approaching horse-drawn cart.

Not thinking for one moment about her safety, Anabella dove into the street, pushing the child out of the way. But she wasn't fast enough.

The single horse trampled over her right leg, followed by the wagon wheels. She cried out in agony as the bones in her leg shattered.

A kind woman and a young boy ran over to her.

"You poor, brave child." said Mary. "Come, Tom, get that lad ye were talking with earlier." She took Anabella under the arms and dragged her from the street and out of harms way.

That's when the Viking raid began.

They stormed through the village, burning houses, gutting any and all that dared resist them.

Mary, Tom, and Anabella were captured along with hundreds of other townsfolk and taken to the Viking camp.

* * *

Anabella screamed as the woman wrapped her leg tightly in a bandage.

"Hush now. We dinna want ta be causin' problems with the Vikings." Mary said. "Ye're gonna be alright, we'll take care of ye."

"Where's my mum?" Anabella asked.

Mary looked away sadly and shook her head.

"No." Anabella moaned, trying to hold back her tears of sorrow. "Tis almost sunset, the gargoyles will save us." she said hopefully.

"Yes, dinna worry mum, my friends the gargoyles will save us."

Mary looked up from her tears. "Nay Tom, the gargoyles were destroyed, all of them."

Anabella fell back from shock and started crying over and over. "No. No no no no no!" But soon quieted down as the tears overcame her.

Tom just stood silently and stroked her hair. Mary continued to wrap the shattered leg, though she knew that the child would never walk on it again.

As the sun sank below the horizon, Anabella began to slip into unconsciousness. She had been overcome by a strong fever and Mary doubted that she'd make it through the night.

* * *

A battle cry split the night as six aerial figures came into view. Anabella smiled weakly as she recognized the figure of her mate.

The gargoyles made fast work of the Viking warriors in the camp, and soon the village people were free. Young Brooklyn looked around for Anabella. Seeing the form of the human child, Tom, and his mother, bent over something, brought up his curiosity and he ventured over to them.

There, his heart collapsed as his set eyes on his beloved mate, on the ground and in poor condition.

"Anabella!" He dropped to his knees at her side and clasped her hand in his. "Anabella, what happened to you."

She smiled weakly at him, her dark eyes sparkling. "I thought ye were dead, my love. And that I would ne'er get to see ye again."

"Well, I'm here, and we're together. And I will take good care of you and you will get well."

Anabella's smile faded and tears clouded her eyes. "My love, dinna fool yerself. I'm dying. But if my death saved the young one in the street from the same fate, I welcome it." She winced as the pain in her leg rose in crescendo. "Twill be a relief from this world of pain and suffering. I will be reunited with my mother, and mayhap I will meet my father. Ye ne'er know what will happen in the next world."

"Anabella, do not speak like that. You're gonna make it. Just wait. The sun will rise, today and you'll see it and many others for many years, just wait."

"Yes, the sun. Can ye see it my love? Can ye? Tis so beautiful. . ."

"Anabella? Anabella! No!" Young Brooklyn began weeping, his tears falling upon the eyes of his lost love.

The Magus ran down from the mountain. "You fools!" He screamed. "If you hadn't come she would still be alive!"

"What?" Young Brooklyn joined his rookery siblings and Mentor.

"Who?"

The Magus opened the Grimorum ignoring their questions. "For that you shall suffer as well." His pointed a finger and chanted. "Dormiatis dum castellum super nubes ascendat!"

A magical smoke enveloped the five gargoyles, turning them to stone.

* * *

Young Brooklyn felt the stiffening in his body that always came at dawn. He stared longingly at the body of Anabella, then saw no more as he turned to stone.