Disclaimer/Author's Notes: The usual – Gargoyles & their world are owned by Disney and Buena Vista. All new characters invented and owned by me and folklore. I have a friend who says she's coming to read this who has never seen the show. Because of that, I'm posting Goliath's monologue from the show's opening credits here - subsequent chapters will not have it posted.
Rating: This prologue has violence, but no swearing. I'm rating this "M" just to be sure with the mature themes throughout the story. You have been warned. I'm labeling it "general" because this story has a lot of elements to it – it's not a quickie. The prologue is pretty gothic, but it won't remain that way - life is ever changing. So expect romance, angst, drama, action… I might even make you laugh before it's all said and done.
Trivia: You pronounce the name Aine "On-YA". I've seen sites write the pronunciation more eloquently, but as I know an Aine, that's how it's pronounced without all the fancy consonants.
I hope you enjoy it - positive reviews and critiques both help me improve, so both are welcomed and encouraged. This prologue takes place before the Manhattan clan awakens – so obviously, the characters don't appear until chapter one.
Prologue: Duel Intentions
History of the Manhattan clan:
One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear.
It was the age of gargoyles.
Stone by day, warriors by night,
we were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect,
frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years.
Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken, and we live again!
We are defenders of the night!
We are Gargoyles!
1974
20 yrs. before the the Manhattan Clan's Awakening: New Orleans, Lousiana
Two gargoyles hurried over a mausoleum in the semi-rundown graveyard. St. Louis No. 1, the oldest cemetery in the city of New Orleans, was kept well enough by caring people during the day, but at night the sounds emitted from the area spooked the locals. Moss grew on the sides of the homes for the dead as well as the trees, giving the peaceful place a dank, eerie feel. The crescent moon gave little light, helping the two figures to move unobserved in the darkness.
The tall, slender blue male gargoyle with a shock of black hair stopped a few yards ahead of the smaller figure, glancing back at his panting companion, a young, white female with an abundance of snow white hair falling over one eye, leaving the distinct brown markings on her face barely visible.
"Come on, we haven't got all night," he chided her. "Maia's gonna skin us alive if we don't hurry up."
"I'm…. going…. as fast as I…. can," she gasped, completely out of air. "You…. go on. That way… you don't get... a lecture."
"Are you kidding? he rolled his eyes. "Maia'd have my head if anything happened to you. Just step it up a notch! If you'd waited like she told you, your wings wouldn't been too tired to glide the whole way."
He moved forward once again, feeling pangs of guilt leaving her to struggle behind him. She was, after all, only 16 years old, 8 years by human standards. He might be her senior by only one hatching, but what a difference it made - he was a full-fledged adult, with a mate and an egg in the rookery! The thought of taking pity on her and holding her while they glided back to the clan crossed his mind, but he quickly squashed the idea. It might make his life easier for the moment, but she would resent him more. Besides, Maia had told him to treat her like an equal. An equal! It was ridiculous to think a hatchling could be equal to an adult! She was nowhere close to physically being an equal to the older generation! The command made no sense to him.
Mumbling to himself and still keeping half an eye on her, he continued a short distance in front of her. A command was a command - equal it was. So what if walking took a little longer than gliding? Maybe she'd learn her lesson and he wouldn't have to drag her around so much. She was so spoiled by Maia! In fact, Aine was the only one named besides the clan's leader. Which was odd enough, but the privileges she enjoyed were far beyond those of a normal hatchling. It angered him and his rookery siblings. For instance, what was the deal with her carrying a weapon? None of them carried weapons! Yet Maia had insisted it was for Aine's benefit.
No, he decided, it was time for her to learn her place in the clan. Hatchlings were hatchlings, named or not. They should act like it.
Aine had paused a moment more before scurrying after her companion. She resented his words, yet knew he was right. She hated being called "little", thinking it took too long to lose the status of "hatchling". She had a tendency to push her way into doing things she shouldn't, her curiosity of the outside world overcoming any inhibitions she might have. Sadly, her persistence created frustrating relationships between her and the other clan members, except Maia, who seemed to be sympathetic. This time, though, she now understood why Maia had cautioned her not to go with the older gargoyles. She was tired! She knew her older friend was sacrificing his time, staying with her on the ground instead of forcing her to be carried in the sky. Aine felt grateful to him for saving her the humiliation, and for that reason alone, she refused to complain as she followed him along the longer route to the clan. Instead, she chose to concentrate on breathing while she put one taloned foot in front of the other.
Halfway across the cemetery, he halted unexpectedly. Lost in thought, she almost ran into him.
"What are you…?"
"Shhhhh!" he insisted, cutting her off. His ears were perked, all the muscles in his body tense, signaling the alerted state he was in. She worriedly appraised the area, hoping his caution wasn't caused by a human spying on them. Her sides still heaved from the forced run, her deep breaths the only sound in the warm, still air. She curled her white tail around herself, waiting.
A snap penetrated the silence. The older gargoyle swung around towards the sound peering into the darkness. A low warning growl escaped his throat with his eyes glowing white, causing Aine's lips to quiver in anticipation of an attack. Just as swiftly as he had turned, he grabbed Aine and threw her on his shoulders between his leather-like wings.
"Hang on!" he yelled. She linked her talons around his neck, hanging on for dear life while he jumped over more boxlike graves. He used both his arms and legs to run moving at break-neck speed, occasionally leaping to and from the crypts, looking for a place to get enough wind to render them airborne.
"Why are we running?" she screamed in his ear, fully terrorized by his urgency. Her hair whipped in the wind, occasionally falling forward to sting her eyes.
"Not now!" he yelled at her, out of breath. He saw the end of the cemetery, with the Louisiana Superdome just on the other side of the road. He pushed himself to run even faster, continuing in a zigzag pattern.
A deafening roar sounded behind them.
Aine glanced behind her to see a distorted human/wolf running on all fours to cut them off at incredible speed. Its eyes glowed red while saliva streamed from its mouth in the force of the momentum it had. She screamed, pressing herself tighter into the male's backbone, trying to mold herself to his body, hoping it would help outrun the frightening figure behind her. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to summon courage even though she could hear it bearing down on them.
The gargoyles felt the jerk of abruptly stopping before they knew what had happened. The force of the sudden stop sent the female gargoyle somersaulting over his head into the air, slamming her body across a parked car, crunching the top of it before rolling into the street. She laid there, stunned, oblivious to what was happening beyond the cemetery wall.
The young male slowly got to his feet, hearing the snarls behind him. He quickly turned to face his opponent, wishing he had seen where his companion had fallen. He took up a defensive stance, flexing his muscles, his eyes glowing white from the adrenaline rush.
The creature grew in size as it approached, no longer using all four legs. Instead it lifted it's front half to stand on two legs, closing the gap between them slowly. It snapped it's jaws at it's prey, letting the sound penetrate the gargoyle's senses. A low, rasping voice came from a canine looking mouth as it taunted him.
"You gave me quite a chase. Too bad you're best wasn't good enough."
The young gargoyle paled, realizing the aching sensation in his tail was from the creature's bite, causing the abrupt halt that had sent Aine reeling. His eyes narrowed in defiance.
"It's not over yet."
The creature began to encircle him, causing him to turn, facing where the little one lay in the street. The gargoyle's eyes widened in disbelief at how far she had been thrown. It chuckled at his reaction, the red eyes glinting in the darkness.
"Not so, gargoyle. I have my prey, right where I want her."
It sprang forward, toppling the gargoyle over, slashing his arms with its claws. Grasping his arms with a yelp, he fell over backwards. Having him distracted, the beastly creature leapt away towards the gate of the cemetery, its intention clear. The young male sat up to bellow his fiercest wail, causing the creature to hesitate. It was all he needed.
The gargoyle lunged his body forward. The creature growled, leaning on its haunches before bounding forward to meet the blue warrior in midair. There was a crack as their bodies met, thudding on the ground when they landed. Snarls, growls and screams of pain filled the once still night. Gashes appeared on the face of the gargoyle, along with other heavy wounds from claws and teeth that slowed his movements, while his foe seemed to have an unlimited energy supply, no matter how many times it was slammed into the headstones around them, shattering the human markers of remembrance. It twisted its deformed, fur covered body under the gargoyle, using its legs to push him into a crypt head first, stupefying the unseasoned fighter.
"Stay put," it rasped, "and you'll live. It's not you I'm after."
The creature tried to limp away from the battle, but the blue gargoyle cleared his head in time to use his tail to knock it off its feet, using the element of surprise to reengage himself in the bitter battle. His battle cry was stifled by the monstrosity's own roars of fury. This time it held back none of it's rage, claws flying. In a few short strokes it stood over the exhausted gargoyle warrior to deliver a death blow, when a heavy weight plowed into its back, followed by a searing pain in its right ear. It screeched a horrible sound through the night, standing with the astonishment of the unbearable pain. The action threw the weight off its back before it fell to the ground, rolling on the grass in agony while its body slammed into the different gravestones. It finally managed to be cognitive enough to stand on two legs. It scanned the area where the gargoyle had laid – he was no longer there, just as Aine's body in the street had disappeared. The deformed being removed its hand from its head, realizing that it had a gaping hole where once its ear had been.
"You might hide this time, but vengeance will be mine!" it roared.
"What is it?" Aine whispered from their hiding spot, shuddering at the threats it imposed upon her. She shoved her bloody dagger back into the pouch she wore on her ankle, a gift from Maia's human friend.
"A lycanthrope," came the faint reply. "A human that has shapeshifted into a wolf."
Her head whipped around to face him. "It doesn't look like a wolf to me. It's... hideous. We've known shapshifters before and they didn't look like that."
Her companion chose not to answer.
She again peeked watched the monster roar again in anger as it staggered against a crypt, trying to focus.
"Why is it after me? I've never seen anything like that before," she asked him.
"We'll have to ask Maia. She'll know," the blue gargoyle quietly answered her, wincing in pain on the ground.
"I'll find you, little one, and your clan too! You'll never rest a day so long as both of us are alive!" the raspy voice continued to bellow, the creature's bloody fist shaking in the air for emphasis. "I may have lost an ear... but you will loose something much more dear to you!"
Finished with its vows of vengeance, it slunk into the night, turning now and then to peer into the darkness for the forms of the young gargoyles, hoping to see the direction they took. It's eyes unable to locate any sign of them, it continued on its way, seeking to stop the bleeding of the sticky head wound.
Still shaking slightly from the attack as the adrenaline seeped out of her, she continued to crouch behind the large statue of an angel in the cemetery. Aine watched until it was evident the creature had vanished, then tried supporting the young warrior as best she could. He weakly smiled at her futile efforts, knowing before she tried that it was impossible. She, too, realized he was too large for her young shoulders to support. She let go of his arm with hopelessness, and crouched beside him.
"What do I do?" she asked him, frightened with the aspect of the creature returning.
"You climb up the wall over there and glide back to Maia. Get help," he wheezed, the pain increasing with every breath.
"But I can't just leave you. What if it comes back?" she asked, horrified.
"If it comes back, it's going to have others with it. We'll both die." He gritted his teeth, trying not to loose consciousness. Sensing her hesitation, he barked, "Go get help – that's an order."
He noticed the tears forming in her sky blue eyes, reminding him of her tender age. He checked himself, trying again to encourage action with a softer tone.
"Aine, it's our only chance."
She nodded slowly, with no words to express her feelings. She straightened, rolling her shoulders back, taking a brave stance for such a young gargoyle. She cautiously checked their surroundings, then started to majestically head towards the road she had lain in just a short time ago. He admired her inner strength - in the moment, she reminded him of the stories of their ancestors the elders of the clan had told them when he was a hatchling. With an afterthought, he summoned his strength to stop her.
"Aine!"
She paused with a glimpse backwards.
"You fought well, rookery-sister. I'm proud to have fought with you."
She wasn't prepared for the prestige of the term rookery-sister, an endearment only shared between those of the same rookery hatching, and even then only those of close association. To call another gargoyle not of the same rookery hatching a rookery-sibling was rare - a great honor. With a sob in her throat, she turned back and ran blindly to the bottom of the coveted dome building, flinching as she passed the crunched vehicle she had plowed into earlier. Putting her talons into the brick, she scaled the wall until she reached an appropriate height. She spread her small wings, and with a last backward glance at the young warrior that had saved her life, she swooped into the night sky.
The blue gargoyle leaned back to make his shallow breathing easier. Noting the position of the moon, and considering Aine's youth, he doubted help would arrive before the morning sun. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to finally be enveloped by sweet unconsciousness.
Forgotten on the ground, a hundred yards away from the wounded gargoyle, an ear shifted back from the shape of a wolf, to that of a human ear.