Chapter 8
The two Gargoyles, and one human, landed on the roof of Knight's Spur and were immediately met by an old gargoyle similar in appearance to Griff, only with reddish-brown coloring that was using a wooden cane to help him walk.
He introduced himself as Old Pog, and offered to lead the three to Constance, who was in charge at the moment due to Una's absence.
"Where is Una?" Demona asked, mostly out of curiosity.
"Our clan owns an occult store in SoHo," the older gargoyle explained. "Tonight she and Leo have left to run it."
"An occult store? As in magic?" Harry asked.
Old Pog nodded. "Yes, though all we sell is non-magical in nature."
"Do any of you have any magical ability?" Demona asked. She knew it was unlikely. Amongst her whole clan, she had been the only one with the ability to learn magic. She'd used a spell to check shortly after the Archmage had been banished from the castle. She suspected that the ability to cast spells was much rarer in the gargoyle race then the Fae or Humans. Considering that Fae were magically powerful, Gargoyles were physically powerful, and humans were about in between (provided Fae didn't cheat with their magic) it made sense in a way.
"Una can cast," Old Pog responded. "She is the only one, to my knowledge. Though she has yet to check the latest hatchlings for magical ability. She does not think their group is old enough yet."
Demona did a mental calculation. Considering that it was summer of 1995, the hatchlings would have been born in 77' so they would physically be 9 years of age, despite being eighteen. And Demona found that she couldn't fault Una for not checking their age group for magic. While some may be mature enough to understand the danger of the subject, the majority would likely still be too young to. Not to mention if she only checked those that were mature enough, whether they possessed magic or not, it could cause jealousy and problems amongst the year group, especially as Una was Clan Leader.
It was one reason why Goliath never took anyone directly under his wing as Clan Leader. For a young gargoyle, the Clan Leader and Second were greatly respected. And young gargoyles were still establishing the social hierarchy that would follow them as adults. For the Clan Leader to interfere in that, even indirectly, could see resentment form amongst the young gargoyles.
As Second, Demona had been under a similar stigma. But she had a bit more leeway as a female second, than she would have as a male, since females were typically the members of the clan in charge of Rookery's. As Clan leader however, it didn't matter if Una was male or female, she needed to maintain that distance, both for the hatchlings own good, and so as not to show favoritism to a single member of the clan.
In a way, Demona was thankful for Harry's upbringing, in that she didn't have to worry about gargoyle hormones running amok. Granted, he still seemed to act before thinking too much during the adventure's he'd told her and Macbeth about, but in his defense he had little faith in authority figures due to the Dursley's and the situations had always been beyond his control.
But at least he wasn't trying to claw out a rookery siblings eyes because he thought they had a bigger portion of food.
The redhead still remembered a young Broadway doing such a thing to Lexington. Luckily, as Gargoyles got older, they learned to control their reactions better. But for the first two decades of life, it wasn't unusual for a hatchling to go from calm, to murderous, to happy all in the span of a few moments. Which meant those responsible for overlooking the Rookery had to be attentive and quick to act.
Usually by the time new eggs would hatch, when the young gargoyles were twenty years of age, physically ten, they knew to control their emotions. Sure, some (like herself) still had fairly quick tempers, but that was more of a personal distinction than any lack of control.
In a way, she found it ironic.
When she had been a hatchling, she'd attacked Goliath because she thought he had insulted her by asking to borrow the stick she was pretending was a sword. Then the two of them became mates. And then she attacks him again, before calling an uneasy truce.
She idly wondered about Harry's temper.
During training, especially combat training with Macbeth, Harry tended to get angry quite often, in very much the same way as Demona. The redhead didn't know if that was his natural temper or his body adjusting to the new hormones flowing through it. He was quite good at controlling his temper, but the flash of white in his eyes betrayed it.
After a short period of time, Pog was a truly old gargoyle, and didn't move as fast as the older, yet physically prime Macbeth and Demona, nor the younger Harry. But as the only one of their group to know where they were going, he was the leader down the hallways of the manor.
Demona was quite pleased to see all the gargoyles that looked towards them as they passed.
Bu the groups attention was drawn by someone shouting, "Macbeth!"
The group turned to find a human walking towards them. Harry smiled, and Macbeth grinned.
Demona watched as Macbeth walked towards the man, clasping his forearm in the old style of greeting. "Arthur, it's good to see you."
"It is," Arthur confirmed, before looking past him at Harry and Demona. Looking back at Macbeth, he said, "You've got a fine son there."
"Aye," Macbeth confirmed, looking over at Harry. "There is none finer."
Were it not for the thick hide of gargoyles, Demona would be sure her son was blushing at his father's praise.
Arthur then turned to Demona. "It is an honor to meet you under more pleasant circumstances than our first encounter," the former King of Britain informed her.
"I hope you will enlighten us to those events," Demona stated.
This may be King Arthur, but he was still human. And despite the many revelations that had occurred the Demona recently, while she no longer wished to destroy humanity, she was still wary of humans.
"I would be glad to," Arthur assured her. Turning to Macbeth he added, "And I apologize for not doing so upon our earlier meeting, but I think we were both a bit preoccupied."
The old scot waved him off. "I understand."
Turning to Old Pog Arthur asked, "Are you taking them to Constance?"
"I am," Old Pog confirmed.
"I can take them if you'd like to return to whatever you were doing," he offered.
The old gargoyle smiled, before allowing Arthur to finish escorting them.
The King chatted with Macbeth as they walked. Eventually, he led them down onto the first floor, to what had probably been meant as a formal dance room. But the room had been converted into a training arena.
Two gargoyles were sparing within what appeared to be a painted circle on the floor. It formed the boundaries of a ring, which several other gargoyles were standing outside of watching the two.
Harry recognized both gargoyles as Constance and Staghart.
Staghart had the misfortune of seeing the group enter first, and took his eyes off of the female, allowing her to tackle him to the floor and pin him with a, later denied by the male, rather girly yelp.
The spar finished, Constance turned and smiled at the small group. "Harry," she greeted, before looking at Demona and Macbeth. "I assume you two are Demona and Macbeth?"
"We are," Demona confirmed. Eyeing the ring critically.
She wished they had something like this back at Castle Wyvern, but the humans were too numerous.
Constance obviously caught her interest. With a grin she asked, "Would you care to try your talons in the ring?"
Demona grinned, but looked at Harry and Macbeth.
"Go on Lass," Macbeth assured her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Arthur."
"I just want to see you fight," Harry said with a grin.
Demona grinned. Turning back to Constance she said, "I believe I would love to."
Macbeth grinned, but followed Arthur out.
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Once Arthur and Macbeth had settled themselves into the study the gargoyles of the London Clan had provided Arthur, the two former Kings shared small talk for a few minutes before Macbeth broached the subject he wished to discuss with Arthur.
"Have you ever had much interaction with the magical government of Britain?"
Arthur raised an eyebrow, but responded. "In a manner," he said. "For the most part, while I held ultimate authority of the countries magicals, I followed Merlin's advice. Since I myself was unable to perform magic, I felt it better to listen to the advice of a man who was both my own mentor, and a magical himself."
"What about after your awakening?"
Arthur shook his head. "While I believe I may find some clues to Merlin's whereabouts among them, I have not yet ventured into the magical world. Even with Merlin by my side, they were resentful of my rule, without him…" Arthur shrugged.
Macbeth was silent a moment. Finally he asked, "What if I could help you?"
"How?"
Macbeth grinned, before explaining more about his history as James Potter.
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A bit short, but I hope you Enjoy.
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