Chapter 11: David and Goliath
For a moment, Griffin was content to sit there, oblivious to the danger they were in. He knew he should have been worried—they were standing deep inside the sacred Vampyrum temple, steps away from where countless bats had lost their lives only a few years ago—but somehow, the relative calm of the pyramid's passageways soothed his worries. It was almost as though the battle outside simply didn't exist.
After catching their breaths, he and his mother began to scuttle along the various hallways and passages of the great pyramid again, peeking discreetly into each chamber they passed. Invariably, they were all empty, and Griffin was starting to wonder whether the Vampyrum had been really been performing sacrifices at all. As much as he hesitated to say it, the vacant rooms were oddly foreboding, like each tap of their claws against the floor was a step closer to their doom. Why wasn't there a single living thing in this entire eerie place? As his skin began to crawl with apprehension, they turned a corner, and Griffin breathed a bizarre sigh of relief. They had finally found what they were looking for.
More brightly lit than the passageway, Griffin's eyes swept over the chamber, his breath snagging in his throat. It was a larger chamber than the rest, with two entrances and a ceiling that reached impressively towards the sky. At the ceiling's centre, Griffin could see the greatly swelled stars shining through a wide hole, lending the room its bright glow. The beams of light shone down onto a large, round stone, set squarely in the chamber's center, bearing intricate carving's, whose meanings were lost on Griffin but still added to the ominous climate all the same.
Across the room, leading up to the smooth stone, Griffin could see a long line of bats, owls, rats, and even wolf cubs—all lined up neatly between pairs of cannibal guards. Prisoners, he realized, noticing how thin they all were—and jumpy too. He felt a pang of sympathy for them, understanding all too well what it was like to be constantly afraid.
Also in the room were two important-looking Vampyrum, hunched slightly in a way that added to their sinister appearance. They stood next to the stone, side-by-side. One had his eyes shut, mumbling strange words—the high priest, Griffin figured. He knew it couldn't be the same priest his father had fought, but the resemblance was striking—at least, from what he had heard in stories. Then again, nearly all of the Vampyrum looked the same to him.
The second cannibal proved to be the exception, however, as Griffin's eyes passed over the oddly familiar form—familiar in a way that made his skin crawl. The jet-black fur was uniquely streaked with stark swaths of bright silver fur, shining radiantly in the glow of the swelled stars above. There was something terrifyingly familiar about this bat.
Before Griffin could make the connection, the Vampyrum lunged onto the stone, where an owl lay with its wings spread wide open. In a quick flash of feathers and blood, the cannibal struck and reared back, the creature's still beating heart in its jaws.
The bat's face was suddenly raised into the starlight, its bloody muzzle cast into view. As the bird's limp carcass was dragged off the stone to be replaced by another victim, Griffin realized with a kind of unmatched fury who this monster was.
"Goth," he whispered under his breath.
Without even a moment's hesitation, without even the slightest ounce of thought or reason, Griffin leapt into the air. Images were flashing in his head: his father's body plummeting towards the ground, Luna being dragged away in a Vampyrum's claws, Cassiel spiraling into the foliage. Fearsome determination filled him to the brim—determination to rip Goth's heart out and return the favour, or maybe set him on fire to teach him how it felt. Something in his mind was shrieking that this was a terrible idea, but it was drowned out by the thousands of angry voices screaming over top of it.
As quick as he was, his claws hadn't even left the ground before his mother caught him by the tail and yanked him back sharply. He hit the ground hard, and felt his fury rise, looking over at her heatedly.
"I—!"
"No!" she hissed.
He wasn't listening. "Let me go!" he protested, struggling futilely against her hold. Couldn't she understand how he felt? Couldn't she understand what it had been like for him to watch his own father kill himself?
"Let me go! Let me kill him!"
"No!" she repeated, picking him up and pressing him against the passage's cold, stone wall.
"But…he killed dad," he pressed on, his temper deadening slightly at the ferocity of her hold on him.
"No. You will stay here, where it's safe," she told him firmly, flattening her ears against her head. She seemed to realize how tightly she was holding her son, for she loosened her grip slightly and took a deep breath. "Goth's mine," she said more calmly.
Griffin wanted to argue more, to suggest that they take him together, to insist that he should have the chance—but he couldn't even bring himself to open his mouth. Though her voice had softened, the blazing fire in her eyes was undiminished, and it scared him. He had never seen his mother so livid. It was all too clear to him that she wanted to be the one to kill Goth; she wanted to avenge her mate. Who was he to take that from her?
A lump began to form in his throat as he turned to look inside the chamber once more. He nodded very slightly and his mother let him go.
He was scared for her. How could she possibly defeat the bat that had killed so many others? He looked at her fretfully, wanting to say something to delay her or make her change her mind, but he realized how much time they had wasted already. The line of sacrifices was short: only three more prisoners—only three more hearts before Zotz was free. They simply couldn't wait any longer.
"I can handle these wretches myself," Goth said suddenly, dismissing the small group of guards watching over the prisoners. "I have no need of you here; go help our comrades outside!"
The guards hastily bowed their heads in obedience, flapping out of the room to do as their king commanded.
"You!" he said after a pause, pointing to the last guard as it prepared to follows its allies. "Go check that no prisoners still remain below. If I find out that you've forgotten even one sacrifice, you'll make up the difference!"
Nodding deferentially, the final Vampyrum left, and Griffin couldn't believe their luck at having the room empty so suddenly. Only Goth, the priest, and the three captives remained.
"You needn't be so agitated, Goth," the priest said calmly. "We will soon be among Zotz's most favoured servants."
"I'll take no risks this time," Goth snarled, responding with odd hastiness and urgency.
"You've performed your duty admirably," the priest continued encouragingly. "Three hearts away from eternal glory."
"You may have the honor," Goth said indifferently. "I've lost my appetite for hearts."
With that, the cannibal retreated into a small corner, sighing and closing his eyes as though anxious. Griffin wondered distractedly what was making Goth appear so troubled.
A dull scraping sound wrenched Griffin's attention away from the Vampyrum, and he turned towards the noise. From his hiding spot, he could see the first of the three remaining victims approach the stone fearfully. It was a very young owl, from the looks of it, dragging its talons wearily across the stone floor, giving off an ominous screech. Griffin wanted anything but to have to watch it die.
"It's now or never," his mother said grimly behind him.
"Just…be careful," he told her, choking up slightly.
He felt her wings wrap around him once more, giving him a last fleeting nuzzle before leaving his side. She had hardly removed her wings from his body before she already felt millions of wingbeats away.
As she flew forebodingly into the chamber, it took Griffin all of his resolve to stay rooted obediently to the spot, wincing as though each beat of her wings were a thunderclap. She picked up speed before his forlorn eyes, entering into chamber as nothing more than a bright blur. The priest merely looked up curiously as she soared across the room towards the dark, unsuspecting form in the corner, realizing far too late what she was.
"King Goth!" the priest called out, but his warning was far too delayed.
Marina's streaking body slammed into the unsuspecting Goth from the side, just as he was opening his eyes. It was a hard blow, and Griffin squinted with the impact as it exploded in his ears and sent out stars behind his eyelids. It sounded like it could shatter bone, like the cannibal should have disintegrated, and yet Goth hardly flinched.
"What—you again!" he said in evident disbelief, his eyes focusing on Marina as she retreated tactically into the shadows. "How is it that whenever I strike one of you puny bats down, another comes to take his place?"
"You didn't strike Shade down," Marina shot back, pouncing from the shadows and clinging onto Goth's head. She sank her claws deep into the taut flesh of his face, anchoring herself to the beast. "He was a brave bat that died for a noble cause—which is more than they'll be able to say about you."
Goth roared and clasped his wounded face in fury. "That little runt was a coward, always hiding behind his little magic tricks," he returned, arrogant despite his pain.
Marina continued to gouge his skin until, with a great heave of his massive wings, Goth flung Marina off of him and sent her flying into the chamber's far wall. She hit the stone with a terrible smack before collapsing to the ground, coughing a little but still conscious.
"And you couldn't be more wrong about me, Marina," he continued gleefully, reassuming his composure. "I am about to make every bat on this planet immortal—a real hero, aren't I? No, I will never die. Sadly, I cannot say the same for you."
He strutted towards her crumpled body proudly, raising his claws dramatically as though readying to strike. Marina was far from defeated, however, and she quickly dodged his blow as it descended, rolling over and wrapping her jaws around the Vampyrum's rear claws. He yelled out in pain, careening over so that she could pull herself up onto the cannibal's back.
She began viciously sinking her teeth into every inch of his flesh she could reach, tearing hole after hole. The wounds were not deep, hardly piercing the skin, but they bled terribly, and Goth let out a mighty shriek of anguish that caused the priest to look up from his next victim.
"Keep going!" Goth demanded fervently, flailing around as he tried to wrench Marina from his back. "Zotz is waiting for us—don't stop!"
The priest nodded quickly and returned his attention to the altar, driving his fangs into the owl's chest and rearing back as it let out a terrible hoot of a scream. It was so mournful and so desolate. Griffin almost felt sick, turning his fearful eyes away from his mother as the owl's body was thrown unceremoniously from the stone and the next victim approached. He hoped his mother could keep this up, or she'd join that owl—no! He couldn't think that way!
"You see," Goth said pointedly as his foreclaws finally closed around Marina's tail and he ripped her off of his perforated back. He hung her in front of himself, hanging her upside-down from her tail membrane as he spoke. "You are too late," he continued dramatically, keeping her at a distance from him as she writhed and struggled to free herself. "We are but a few sacrifices away from victory, Marina…Victory," he repeated wistfully.
"Oh yeah? How's this for victory?" she replied, pulling herself up with a great effort and closing her jaws around his flared nose.
Goth keeled over in agony as Marina tore her fangs free, ripping away a good chunk of the cannibal's nose and drawing back into the safety of the shadows once more. The Vampyrum reeled in pain, temporarily incapacitated as his snout began to bleed in gushes.
Griffin watched, frozen in his place by stone cold terror as his mother took advantage of Goth's distraction to rake him across the chest with her claws—then again, and again. The cannibal's fur began to shine with his own blood, the hair falling out in places, but he didn't show even the slightest sign of weakening. Still, she continued to get hits in on her opponent, bashing him in the side and tearing out his fur.
Eventually, Goth finally fell to the floor, moaning in agony and clutching at his wounds as Marina landed atop his chest. She pressed her foreclaw deep into the flesh beneath his chin, ready to slice his throat open no matter how tough his skin was. Griffin stared in awe at his mother's sheer fury, never once letting up or tiring. She had the most fearsome bat he had ever known at her mercy, and she seemed only moments away from sending the monster to his grave.
"Enough!" Goth yelled, pushing Marina's claw from his throat.
With a fierce grunt, he rolled over, his agility somehow unhindered by his injuries. In one heart-stopping moment, the two bats had switched positions, and now Marina was lying helplessly on the floor, pinned to the ground by Goth's immense weight.
"Ah, this is much better," Goth said, shooting Marina a hungry look, but sounding slightly out of breath.
Griffin watched his mother kick and struggle beneath the cannibal's grasp, but Goth had her immobilized. He felt his heart to turn lead. How could everything have gone downhill so quickly? She had almost had him!
Goth was practically foaming at the mouth now, staring half-crazed at his captive. Still, Marina's face never one faltered from its defiant glare.
"You know, I should thank you, Marina," Goth said thoughtfully. "You've been a constant nuisance to me—almost as big a thorn in my side as your pathetic mate. But you have made things much easier for me today. I confess, not without some shame mind you, that I have ultimately failed in my duty to Zotz. Despite all of the sacrifices I had collected, I found myself still one short. No matter, I thought to myself, I would simply have to place one of my own kind upon the stone—reluctant as they may be to oblige, they would have ultimately been rewarded a thousand times over for their courage. However, you have offered me a simpler solution. A solution that ties up quite a few loose ends, for that matter. Do say hello to Shade for me."
Before Griffin even had time to shut his eyes in preparation, Goth lunged swiftly, plunging his large fangs into his mother's chest. As her eyes went wide in shock, he reared back again with a horrible tearing sound.
It was all too quick—a small gasp of surprise from Marina's mouth before her head fell back against to the floor, her body unnaturally still.
"No!" Griffin screamed hoarsely at the top of his lungs.
It couldn't be! he thought desperately, it can't have happened! The bright, crumpled body on the floor couldn't be his mother, her chest rent in two. The small, dark, pulsating shape in Goth's jaws couldn't be her beating heart. The thick, swirling pool on the floor couldn't be her blood—this couldn't be happening!
No matter how hard he tried to convince himself, though, the yawning pit in his chest told him all too well what he had seen.
As Goth swallowed his prize and shouted out to his god, Griffin felt the pain in his chest ignite into unadulterated fury, fueling a rage he had never known as it built inside him. Without thinking, he bolted from behind the chamber's stone entrance, paying no regard to his safety, unable to even feel his furious wings pumping as he shot towards his mother's killer.
Hearing Griffin's outburst, Goth turned, looking puzzled as a dotted silver blur rushed towards him with deadly intent. His face struck the light, and Griffin realized that the cannibal's jaws were stained with blood—his mother's blood. His father was dead, his mother was dead, Luna was lost, his grandfather was probably dead or else dying—and all this was because of him. Not anymore, Griffin thought determinedly, This ends now.
Rapidly closing the distance between Goth and himself, he realized lucidly what Zephyr had hesitated to tell him back at the spire: it was he who must kill Goth—he, Griffin, and no one else.
All too quickly, he collided with Goth hard, the sheer force of the impact knocking the Vampyrum off of his feet.
"What—?" Goth spluttered, baffled by this new attack. "Who—?"
He had no time to finish his sentence, however, as Griffin set about clawing and scratching at him relentlessly, screaming madly the whole time. He could hear Goth cry out in pain, recoiling at every blow, and it still didn't seem nearly enough suffering for what he had put Griffin through.
He could hear the Vampyrum sputter out a command, ordering the priest to continue the sacrifices, but it was all meaningless to Griffin. Everything else in the entire world had ceased to exist, as far as he was concerned. There were no sacrifices, there was no Zotz, there was not even the rat having its heart torn out only a few wingbeats away—he and Goth were all that mattered.
Griffin never once let up in his attacks, his claws covered in blood—whether his or Goth's was unimportant. After taking quite a beating, Goth exploded in rage, letting out an anguished roar and bashing Griffin back away from him with a labored effort. Griffin took a moment to recover and, finally free to take in his assailant's appearance, Goth's face crumpled in furious disbelief.
"You!" he yelled incredulously, his eyes wide. "The freak? But you—"
"Shut up!" Griffin shrieked, launching himself back into the air. This monster had no right to talk to him.
He darted towards Goth, who still seemed unable to comprehend that he was being attacked by this small bat—a bat he had only ever known to be spineless and weak. Griffin was beside himself in anger, wailing on the Vampyrum without mercy, bashing him with his wings and slicing him with his claws, all while letting out a terrible hiss.
"How does it feel!" Griffin yelled at the cannibal, too livid to even marvel at his newfound strength.
Goth turned and thrashed at Griffin, trying feverishly to catch his attacker as more and more scars were added alongside the ones left by Marina; but every time he reached out, Griffin would pull away to safety again, before quickly lunging to strike another blow.
"This is for my dad!" he shouted, sinking his teeth into the base of the cannibal's ears and tearing, shearing the flap loose. "And this is for my mom!" He leapt atop the Vampyrum as he keeled over in agony, placing his foreclaws onto Goth's head and driving his claws into his right eye. Goth let out a terrible scream.
"You'll pay for that!" Goth bellowed hoarsely, reaching up behind him blindly.
Griffin rolled in anticipation of Goth's grab, but was not fast enough. The Vampyrum's claws cut long tears into his wing membrane as he pulled away, ripping holes from his strong clasp. Completely oblivious to the new burning pain along his arm, Griffin retreated back a ways, clinging to the chamber's ceiling to regain his breath. For a moment, the two enemies stared at each other, recovering from their skirmish.
"You…fight admirably…for a northern bat," Goth wheezed eventually, visibly exhausted. He did not fly up to Griffin, but simply stood on the ground to look up at his opponent with a strange expression on his wounded face. It almost brought Griffin's fear tumbling back to stare into his eyes, one bloody and mutilated. "You are a much better match than your pathetic father, I'll admit—he was nothing without his stupid sound tricks. And you mother…"
Goth trailed off, looking over at the bright body lying on the stone floor, a small puddle of blood around it.
"Well, I'm not going like them," Griffin said stubbornly, refusing to let Goth's taunts weaken him. He was sick of being weak and fearful.
"No," Goth agreed. "You've grown to be a much closer match than either of your wretched parents, I'll give you that. Really, it'll be a shame to have to sacrifice you to Zotz."
"For someone so confident, you don't seem to be in much of a hurry," Griffin returned. He could play this game too. "I would know better than anyone what someone looks like when they're scared. You're scared of me Goth."
"Scared!" he spat. "I fear only Zotz!"
"Maybe that's where you went wrong."
The words just kept spilling from his mouth, his mind rarely intervening. He supposed that he needn't be limited to condescending, fearful speech as he had been in the past.
"I've had enough of this," Goth said with evident weariness. "First there was Shade—and he was a nuisance to be sure, but I dealt with him quickly enough. Then your poor mother here—I guess she was more trouble than I ever gave her credit for, but it seemed she would follow Shade even to the grave."
He turned his eyes pointedly to Griffin. "And know there's you. As blind and stupid as Marina, and as stubborn and arrogant as Shade. But the bigger they are…"
"Enough talking!" Griffin said, sick of hearing his parents belittled by this monster. What made him think he was so superior?
He dropped swiftly from the ceiling, hoping to catch Goth off-guard and finish it quickly. There would be no second chances.
The Vampyrum laughed.
"Say hello to your dear father for me," Goth said, turning quickly and thrusting his claw into the air.
Griffin flared his wings and closed his eyes in panic, but he knew it was no use. He had been tricked. He had no time to brake, no time to turn back. Something told him to fold his wings in, as though hoping to lessen the blow as he came plummeting towards the outstretched claw. It hardly made a difference, though, as he felt the cold talon tear into his abdomen. It ran him clean through; he could even feel its tip protruding out his back.
"The bigger they fall," Goth finished, his wicked smile returning, though his bloody eye socket turned it into a terrible grimace.
Griffin felt his body losing its strength, shuddering slightly, yet he was oddly calm. It didn't make sense: he was impaled on Goth's finger, the life undoubtedly draining from him, but he felt no sadness—no surprise. After all, had he really expected to best the bat that had killed so many others?
As the cold claw pressed against his insides, he was glad that he didn't feel any pain, at least. In fact, his entire body felt strangely numb, and it was only a sense of disappointment that wafted over him. He had failed his mother, he had failed his father, and he had failed every bat still fighting outside the temple. In the end, they had fought for nothing.
How long would it be before death took him? he wondered distractedly.
Still, as the seconds dragged by, Griffin felt no weaker than he had before. He opened his eyes curiously, and saw the same expression of disbelief creep onto Goth's own face—or it was it pain?
Suddenly, Goth began to mouth something in wordless shock, his free hand pulling in to clasp at his own stomach. His eyes went wide as he freed his claw from the depths Griffin's torso, looking down at himself in confusion. He was moaning slightly.
"What is this?" the cannibal whispered fearfully, removing his hand from his abdomen and holding it up to the starlight.
It was covered in blood.
Goth was bleeding. He was bleeding from his stomach—Griffin could hear the liquid making a terrible sound as it splashed onto the floor. He could looked at the Vampyrum's torso in confusion, his eyes taking in the chamber's stone wall as it peeked through a gaping hole in Goth's stomach. Griffin looked down at his own body anxiously and couldn't see even the slightest scratch against his skin.
"I…I don't…understand," Goth gasped, his breathing becoming shallow. "How…?"
With one final, disbelieving look at Griffin, the Vampyrum king collapsed onto the floor, his fur quickly soaking itself with his own blood. After only a few moments, he stopped breathing entirely.
Griffin felt himself collapse as well, falling to the floor beside the cannibal's lifeless form, feeling equally puzzled. As confused as he was, he was much too tired to even try to conceive what had just happened—for all he knew, as he felt his vision waver and his ears become sluggish, his exhausted mind was hallucinating. Had he just killed Goth? Was this whole thing just a dream?
The last thing he could remember seeing before losing consciousness was the high priest, standing less than a wingspan distant from him as he removed a rat's lifeless corpse from the stone and hauled a struggling Graywing on in its place. In his final moment of clarity, Griffin registered that the sacrifice must not continue, that this was all real and that the bat must survive or Zotz would reign forever—they would fail. It was with a strong sense of despair, however, that his body succumbed to its fatigue and everything went black.