Part Three
The Tale . . .
Standing before the portal, Loki grinned wickedly. Everything was going according to his plan. Soon, very soon, great change would sweep over Atheia, after all that was what Loki wanted. While Skadi sought vengeance for her severed hand, and to end some odd feud with the Atheians, Loki only sought change, and fun.
For a year the Atheians had held off the horde. For a year Odin and Thor had refused to intervene on the Atheians' behalf, while Skadi directly influenced the course of the horde's success. It was getting boring, it needed some spice, it needed change.
The Atheians needed a change, and the horde needed a new enemy, Loki had begun to provide that when he captured the human boy, Almasy. By allowing the child to learn "secrets" of the Horde, then to "escape" his clutches and find the portal that Loki himself had made, he had guessed—correctly—that that Atheian queen would send a team through to investigate. He had gambled that something fun would happen. Loki couldn't see the future, but through the dreaming he could see possibilities, he knew what lived on the other side of that portal, he knew all about gargoyles, he had after all, been the one who brought the first clutches of gargoyle eggs to Atheia over two hundred years ago.
Now, with Skadi and two score horde beasts by his side, he meant to give events a little push to be sure that the proper enemy returned through the portal. Loki, who loved change, mischief, chance and in all other words: fun, was the mastermind behind everything that had occurred for the past two hundred years, no matter what Skadi thought, he'd come into his own long before Thor realized he was dangerous, and long before Skadi dared to presume that he should be her student.
"Activate it!" Skadi barked at Loki.
Loki bowed before her, and said, "Not yet. The runes will take some time to translate." It was a lie, he knew the magic words and Skadi knew that he knew. What she didn't seem capable of figuring out was why Loki would stall, and Loki made no move to inform her, seeing her so confused was quite amusing.
When the time was right . . . only, when the time was right, would he activate the portal. He turned to two young warriors and said, "Be prepared, you'll take point."
Hudson gave Bronx a pat on the head as he watched four gargoyles approaching the castle, it was obvious that one of them was Lexington, his rare wing design was shared by only one other gargoyle in the Manhattan area, and that sad creature had entered a permanent stone hibernation.
So Hudson supposed that the others must be Talon and one of his clan, for they certainly couldn't be Broadway and Angela, who'd returned to the castle a few minutes ago.
In fact, as the four gargoyles neared, Broadway, emerging from inside the Castle with Angela, rubbed his eyes and said, "Hey! Who's that with Brooklyn and Lexington?"
"Friends of yours, lass?" Hudson asked Angela.
Angela peered, the four were closer now and Hudson was sure that her eyes, younger and stronger than his, could see more detail than he could, and he tensed a little when she said, without hesitation, "I don't know them."
Brooklyn landed in front of Hudson, and Lexington did a quick aerial loop before landing as well, "Broadway, Angela, you're back! Perfect!"
"Yes . . ." Angela said, sounding cautious, "but who are your friends, Lexington?"
As one of them, a broad shouldered young male stepped forward, and bowed low before Angela, Hudson could see why she would be cautious: both of these strangers wore swords strapped to their waists.
"I am Alabaster, and this is my brother Dark Eyes," The youth said, and his brother gave a curt nod.
"Well I'm Broadway," Broadway said, taking a step forward and extending his hand, which Alabaster eagerly shook, "And that's Angela, and Hudson."
"Don't forget Bronx," Lexington said, scratching Bronx behind the ear.
Hudson ran his fingers through his beard and said, "And where are ye from, lads?"
"Atheia," The one called Dark Eyes said, "And we hope to return there soon—not that your Manhattan isn't lovely." He added quickly.
"Aye, it's lovely," Hudson said, "but why're ye in such a hurry to get back to your home, having taken all the trouble to come here?"
"Well, we had hoped not to go alone." Alabaster said, "We would like you and the warriors of you clan to come with us, not so, brother?"
"Our ambassador would answer all of your questions, and any your king—er leader may have if you would just accompany us . . ." Dark Eyes said, shifting uneasily.
Alabaster waved his brother's words away, "Forgive my brother, he is terribly shy around strangers. Why don't you give us a tour of this lovely castle?" He asked Angela.
"Uh, excuse me—" Angela began, but she was cut off by Alabaster's brother.
"Shy?" Dark Eyes snapped, "I am worried! Brother, have you forgotten the danger—"
"Oh very well," Alabaster sighed, "Perhaps another time." He said, bowing apologetically to Angela, who did not seem all that sorry to see him backing off.
"Well, perhaps someone ought to fetch Goliath then?" Hudson suggested.
"He isn't here?" Brooklyn asked.
Hudson shook his head, "He mentioned going to Elisa's, but where he'd go beyond that . . ."
"We can look for him!" Broadway said, and Angela quickly nodded her agreement.
"My brother and I will return to our companions in this . . ." Alabaster tapped his chin, then looked at Dark Eyes for the answer.
"Central Park is what Almasy called it." Dark Eyes said, sounding relieved.
"I'll go with you!" Brooklyn said eagerly, and Lexington nodded his agreement.
"Aye, I think I'd like to meet these companions of yours myself." Hudson said, Bronx whimpered.
"We'll take you too, Bronx." Brooklyn said.
"And that's where we'll take Goliath." Broadway said.
"Yes . . ." Angela said, sounding hesitant. She looked as if she might say more, but instead turned and glided off without saying another word.
Hudson and the others landed in a secluded section of Central Park, they were completely alone.
"Where are the others?" Alabaster demanded.
Dark Eyes shrugged helplessly, "I'm not sure. Almasy?" He called out.
"We're here!" A voice said, and a young boy, no older than thirteen came out from behind a tree.
He was wearing a black tunic, and a long cloak, his face was handsome by human standards, though this was terribly hard to see, since his short, wavy brown hair was terribly unkempt, and he looked as if he'd fallen down a mountain, and then bathed in mud.
Next came three others, two adult humans, and another gargoyle, this one much older than the twins. He was probably older than Goliath, but not as old as Hudson, his skin was lightly tanned, and seemed to resemble a human's Caucasian skin tone more than any gargoyle's hide. In fact, with his wings folded around him like a cloak, he looked quite a bit like a human, his face looked very human, except for the pointed, elfish ears, and the teeth which were of course gargoyle. His dusty brown hair was lined with gray.
Of the two humans, one wore a hood, covering his face completely, though he seemed to have no problems seeing anything. He wore a black fur tunic, and had a sword, and several daggers strapped to his waist. He was wearing loose fitting cloth bracers, which despite being buckled in three places seemed to be sliding halfway over his gloved hands, and around his neck he wore a golden medallion.
The other human was of obvious Asian ancestry, his graying hair was styled in a topknot, and he wore what did appear to be armor not unlike that Hudson had seen samurai on the television wear, in addition to his black tunic and drawn back hood. Rather than a longsword, like his companion, his had the decorated and distinctive hilt of a katana.
"I see you have brought friends!" The gargoyle said, "A pleasure cousin!"
"I had no idea there were Gargoyles in Manhattan . . . or anywhere aside from Atheia." The young boy said.
"Well to be fair we thought humans were extinct until you castaways started washing up." Said the gargoyle, "Well cousin, I am Matthias, and this is young Damien—"
"Almasy." The boy corrected.
"Quite. He prefers to be known by his surname,"
"You would too if your name were Damien." Almasy pointed out, and Hudson, having never been called that, couldn't rightly argue, or agree.
"Yes . . . well as I was saying this is young Almasy, to my left is our new Marshal of the Armies, lord Kisaragi Hijihide, incidentally he too prefers to be known by his family name."
The Asian man, Kisaragi nodded.
"And to my extreme left, our new Headmaster."
"New?" Lexington asked.
Matthias said, "They were appointed only days ago, when Princess Violet assumed the throne as Queen. But cousins, enough of that. I must say I am very thrilled to meet you, do tell me your names!"
"I'm Brooklyn, this is Lexington, Hudson and that's Bronx."
Matthias looked at Bronx for quite a long time, then finally turned back to Hudson, "And I take it you are the leader?"
"No." Hudson said, waving his hand in the air as if to swipe the very concept away, "No, I'm just an old gargoyle, who'd much rather spend his nights in front of the television than leading the clan. Our leader is called Goliath, and he's on his way."
Matthias seemed surprised, he shook his head and said, "Almasy has told me of television, I envy you the knowledge you must have witnessed through its magic, and I am sure your wisdom can guide us."
"Wisdom, eh?" Hudson asked, not sure if this were an attempt at flattery, or sarcasm.
"Certainly." Matthias said. "And perhaps, you might answer some questions for me?"
"Such as?"
"Well for starters, do you think your leader, Goliath will aid us?" Matthias asked.
"I don't see why not, though it would help if we knew what the trouble was." Hudson said, stroking his beard.
"Alabaster mentioned something about you guys running out of time?" Lexington pointed out.
"And indeed we are." Matthias said. "I can only tell you what I know mind you, Headmaster knows of the beginning, I only know of the present."
"The present is all that matters." Headmaster said calmly.
"Tell us." Brooklyn said.
Matthias nodded. "Well our enemy is vast and numerous, and more of them seem to crawl out of their deep caves in the earth every day."
"They are not normally, strictly subterranean creatures," Headmaster broke in, "the old text says that they used to live in the mountains."
"Yes," Matthias said, "but now they've set their sights on our valley, and our castle. The Headmaster tells me this is a continuation of an age old war, but now it seems our enemy's numbers alone will ensure an end to it. We Gargoyles have lived in Atheia for two hundred years, but this trouble only started two years ago, and in that short time our numbers have plummeted!"
"Plummeted?" Lexington gasped.
"Yes," Matthias said grimly, "Once there were five full, healthy clans inhabiting various parts of the valley, and we were very happy. However disaster struck at the most . . . inopportune time."
"What do you mean?" Brooklyn asked.
"Well you see two years ago this ancient evil began to resurface, slowly at first, we though nothing of it, we did not know they were dangerous, we did not know that war would come to us."
"War?" Brooklyn gawked.
"Our clans were not in contact at the time, there were rivalries, and unfortunately our cousins of the forest clan were the first to encounter the new evil, and they did not think to summon help until it was too late. Few of them remain today . . ." Matthias lowered his head, "We've lost all contact with the Mountain clan, all attempts to reach them have failed, we fear the worst."
Hudson shifted uneasily, this did sound like something Goliath needed to hear. He himself was feeling a terrible pull on his old heart, here he was being told that there was a place where gargoyles did, or had existed in great numbers, but were now being annihilated!
"Luckily hunters from the canyon clan received word from the forest survivors, they sent a group of hunters to face this foe, and did succeed in dirving them back . . . or so we thought."
"It was a temporary victory," Dark Eyes said sadly, "They returned twice as strong the following night, we were caught unprepared . . ."
"They did manage to reach the castle, and my clan before their losses began to resemble those of the Forest Clan," Matthias said, "And we were able to mount a defense from the castle, the enemy was repelled, we believed then, and were proven correct, that they fear the castle, believe it to be cursed. We were joined by the River clan, and I personally negotiated the pace between us and the invaders. Nine months passed, then quite suddenly we received our first hint of the portals that connect your world and ours, when humans began to wash up on our shores."
"Why should that suggest portals?" Brooklyn asked.
"Ship wrecked humans were washing up on the shores of a lake. It is not a very big lake, either." Dark Eyes said.
"Yes." Matthias confirmed, "Young Almasy and Marshal Kisaragi both arrived little more than a year ago."
"And that's what started the second war." Almasy said.
"Yes, you see while our enemy was willing to tolerate us," Matthias said, "they hated the humans."
"It was my brother who started it, not so?" Alabaster said, sounding amused, "He slew one of them to save Almasy."
Dark Eyes slumped, but Almasy patted his arm, being too short to reach his shoulder.
"Yes, he did." Matthias said, "And it was the right thing to do. But it did break our treaty, the war began anew. We have fought now for an entire year without any lasting end . . . many brave gargoyles are gone to dust."
Brooklyn and Lexington looked shocked, and Hudson stroked his beard, lost in thought.
"It sounds like fighting isn't working for you."Lexington said.
"We yet live, not so?" Alabaster scoffed.
"True," Lexington said, "But if you can come here, why not evacuate the castle?"
"The queen may consider that." Headmaster spoke up, "Though I doubt we Atheians will abandon our ancestral home. In truth most of the known portals in Atheia are unstable, it was through pure, dumb luck that young Almasy discovered the one we used, this was our first journey in, to discover what lay on the other side."
"But finding you, cousins," Matthias said, "Is heartening! Surely you can help us, surely your warriors will lend us aid!"
"How many of ye are left?" Hudson asked cautiously.
Matthias shrugged. "I know not." He admitted. "Little more than three score all heads told,"
"Thrice that number in human soldiers." Headmaster added.
Hudson stroked his beard. "We haven't even a dozen to offer ye."
"What are you talking about?" Brooklyn demanded, "We have to help them! We could get Talon and his clan, they could even fight in the day! Xanatos could help, w-we can't just abandon them!"
"I never said that we would," Hudson said calmly, "though the decision itself belongs to Goliath. Might be there are other options to fighting."
"Like what?"Alabaster demanded, but before Hudson could tell him a flash of purple light appeared, a swirling vortex of energy, and from it leapt two great beasts the likes of which Hudson had never before seen!
To Be Continued . . .
Author's Note, Fiery eyes: The writer would like to note, that he is aware that normally only female gargoyles have pink glowing eyes, the only exception in the series that I can recall at this time, is Thailog, who, needless to say, wasn't normal. But Dark Eyes is a male, and his eyes do glow red instead of white. I used artistic license to make him appear more demonic, more evil. He's gotta look evil! In the artwork this story is based on, Dark Eyes is actually supposed to resemble a cross between Demona and Thailog, as if they'd had a son, mind you he's not actually related to either of them. That's just how I drew him.
To lay all bare, its about four hundred years since the ending of BONE, in the first hundred years there was Queen Thorn, who handed the throne to Queen Magnolia. Magnolia was her daughter, who her father was I won't say, that's none of my business. Magnolia in turn had Birch and Violet, Birchseems to havedied when the rat creatures invaded again, Violet and their cousin Leif, along with several hundred Atheian citizens were "incapacitated" for over two hundred years. During this time, Magnolia, who survived, was entrusted to care for some gargoyles eggs by Loki, who'd disguised himself as another human survivor. The gargoyle clans had two hundred years to grow, Magnolia separated them into five different clans before her death of old age, and appointed five kings/queens over the clans. Methusala is the only remaining gargoyle of the first generation. Overall the wars are started by Skadi, who hates Thorn and pretty much just wants to wipe out her descendants. Loki was a "child" when the war ended, but still capable of bringing gargoyles into the mix a few months later, older and wiser these two hundred years later, Loki manipulates events. This is all based on a story and fan art that were incredibly violent, this story will be far less so, therefore I chose, not long ago, not to post the prequel on
In this story I wanted to spend less time on the battle field, and more time playing with The Dreaming, fooling around with romances, and generally having fun. It's my story, I'm allowed to have fun! Besides, it's a big change for me to do a fantasy / romance, instead of an action/adventure, or pure, somewhat irreverent humor fic, I wonder how it'll go.