Act Two
Part One
The Eyes that See . . .
The Past . . .
Thorn smiled up at Grandma Ben, "H'llo Gram!" She called, and the old woman smiled back and picked up the pace of her walk. Hard to believe that such an old woman raced cows—and won—every year.
"Oh h'llo Thorn!" The old woman said, wrapping her arms around her grand daughter and hugging her tightly, "But y'know now that you're Queen of the Valley you'll have t'watch that country tongue of yours." Grandma Ben said.
"What about you?" Thorn asked.
"Oh hen feathers, I'm through bein' queen I can talk however I want." Grandma Ben said, "It's your job now."
The two women exchanged serious nods, and then broke out laughing.
"So what is it you wanted t'show me?" Grandma Ben asked.
Thorn smiled and said, "Can't you see it Gran'ma? You said that every queen of Atheia makes a contribution to the kingdom."
"That's right." Grandma Ben nodded. "Mine was the walls. I built the walls all around the kingdom."
"Right," Thorn said, "Well let me show you mine!" Taking the older woman's hand Thorn eagerly led her through the bustling streets of the City of Atheia, towards the castle that was being rebuilt in and with her name.
It had been the Red Dragon's idea, not hers, but the people seemed to think it fitting so she reluctantly accepted the honor.
Thorn led Grandma Ben to a large building near the castle's second gate; they were greeted by Taneal, a young Atheian girl who was missing several teeth.
"Oh Queen Thorn!" Taneal said, "We've been waiting for you!"
Thorn smiled and led Grandma Ben into the large building.
Grandma Ben gasped when she saw the interior.
"Do you like it?" Thorn asked.
"You could fit a dragon in here!" Grandma Ben said in awe.
"Well . . . yes," Thon said, feeling her grandmother was missing the actual point, "Look at it though! Look at what is inside!" Thorn spread her arms wide, indicating the many, many—
"Empty shelves?" Grandma Ben asked.
Thorn shrank an inch or two, "Uh . . . yes. Empty shelves now, but soon enough this will be the Library of Atheia! We are gathering together books now, making copies of books lent to us by kind citizens, creating an archive of all Atheia's history, and its fantasies as well, the first Library not made for just a Headmaster and his Veni-Yan disciples, but built for all the people of Atheia!"
"It is something." Grandma Ben said, and Thorn was relieved to hear the tone of approval in her voice. "What's that?"
"It's my latest work of art!" Taneal, an expert sculptor said. Thorn blushed at the statue of herself. It depicted Thorn as the country girl she used to be, wearing her good old green cloak, in her hand was the true and real sword that had once belonged to Grandma Ben. The wars were over, Thorn wouldn't need it anymore. The only inaccuracy was the Harvestar Family Crest around Thorn's neck, for in those days she had rejected her heritage and disbelieved that she might be queen.
But Thorn liked the statue because it reminded her of the girl she used to be, and incidentally reminded her of the friends she made as that dusky skinned farm girl.
"I see you do have some books too, it's a grand start to what should be a grand library." Grandma Ben said.
Thorn nodded, "Yes . . . I wish we could have found just one copy of Moby Dick though . . ."
Grandma Ben nodded, understanding that Thorn had never really done anything more than built a tolerance for the book, it was its reader that she truly missed.
Fone Bone and his cousins. Thorn could still remember the time that Phoney had gotten Smiley Bone to serenade the chickens in an attempt to get eggs, remembered how Fone Bone's head had caught fire the first time they met . . . actually that had been a bit scary.
It was while she was caught up in those memories that a great silver dragon gently tapped her on the shoulder with one of his large talons. "Little queen?" The dragon that would one day be known as Baldur said, "The headmaster and I worked very hard to acquire this book."
Thorn gazed at the book, and to her astonishment it was in fact Moby Dick!
Eagerly she opened the book to its first page, expecting the line that Fone Bone had read to her over and over (and over and over) again!
Rendith Dra Peoss, Rokkum Flesum, Flesum Rokkum . . .
Thorn's head began to hurt, and she dropped the book.
She felt her legs give out from underneath her and she fell into the dragon's arms. "Are you all right, little queen?" The silver dragon asked, an odd gleam in his eyes.
"Oh . . . yes, I . . ." She looked at her statue, somehow it seemed smoother, less like a stone statue and more . . . like flesh. "I . . . fell strange." Thorn admitted.
"Perhaps you are . . . overextending yourself." The dragon offered.
"Yes . . . that is exactly how I feel." Thorn said to herself.
"C'mere dear, I'll help you to your room." Grandma Ben said. Queen Thorn Harvestar complied. Looking over her shoulder, she said to the dragon, "I don't know what language that's in, but we'll have to find someone who can translate it."
The dragon smiled benevolently, "Of course! As you desire Little Queen . . ."
The Present . . .
Thor walked cautiously into the lair.
His father, Odin was sitting cross legged in the very center of the massive chamber where the four dragons would meet to discuss whatever matters needed discussion. Rarely had all four been together there for some time, and Odin sat there now, alone.
He looked up at Thor though milky white eyes, though they were not blind.
Odin saw more than Thor could, more perhaps than Thor ever would.
"There is a tremor in The Dreaming . . ." Odin said softly.
"Is there?" Thor asked.
"Many lives have ended tonight."
Thor shuddered, "Another battle?"
"Yes . . . exactly that. But you know my son. You were there."
"Oh father, surely you do not believe—"
"You were there for the greater duration, it ended shortly after you departed. Fear is thick in the air, and a Ghost Circle was nearly summoned."
"A Ghost Circle?" Thor asked. "What of Loki? Is he all right?"
"Yes. As all right as it is possible to be, your twin is, as ever walking a dangerous line."
"A dangerous line? Between what?"
Odin smiled, "Enough about Loki."
"But he—"
"Will be here shortly, and he will likely make up some feeble story to explain his absence, just as you meant to do."
"But I—oh . . . oh very well." Thor sighed.
"I desire the truth, Thor. Tell me how you did it." Odin said.
Thor shifted uneasily and reverted back to his human form, "Very well father . . . if you must know . . ."
Hours Ago . . .
Thor watched the Veni-Yan warriors and civilians alike fighting for their lives.
He remembered the legends he'd been told, those he'd read, when dragons and the Veni-Yan fought side by side.
Never again, his father had said. The night that the dragons finally abandoned Atheia both dragons and humans suffered tremendous losses.
But Thor couldn't help but think that if the dragons had stayed the course, had not turned their backs on what they considered to be lesser beings perhaps the humans would not have been turned to stone, perhaps none of this would have ever happened. Perhaps the rat creatures would not now be overwhelming everything.
There was nothing Thor could do. Technically he could wade into the battle, flame and talon, ripping rending, burning and blazing through the rat creature ranks, but what would that really accomplish?
He would be responsible for dozens, if not a hundred deaths before his own came about, and yet it would not have swayed the battle.
He heard screams, he heard pleas, he took a deep breath, he could not change the course of the war personally, could not fight or it would break the laws of the council.
But he could give the Veni-Yan one warrior who could fight, could make a difference, and could change the course of the war perhaps.
He walked into the old library, to the center of the great building.
The shelves were in disrepair, many books lay in piles or stacks on the ground, Thor ignored them all.
He approached the statue of Thorn in the center of the library. This one was so like the one in the courtyard, seemed so lifelike, seemed even to breathe.
There was a powerful dreaming energy in this statue, and Thor had a guess why.
He began to cast his spell, relying on his dragon blood to give him the magic he needed. He needed no words, for dragons, unlike humans are so in tune with the dreaming that words are not needed for their spells.
The statue's eyes blinked.
Thor continued casting. The sword, he had guessed truly was a legendary blade.
It had to be there as a marker, not just coincidence. This statue was no statue, it was a golem. A heartless and indestructible creature of stone, the perfect war machine for the destruction of the rats.
He continued to cast his spell, but something went wrong.
At least he assumed it did. He was casting a spell of awakening, and the golem was awakening. But it was beginning to breathe, was that normal? No, Thor did not believe it was.
The golem moved slowly, stiffly. That was to be expected, it was made of stone after all. But suddenly it began to crack and shatter, Thor was terrified!
He'd made a major mistake, he'd ruined everything, the golem was flawed, it would break, it would be destroyed!
It shattered and the stone fragments fell to the ground. In their place was flesh, blood, bone, a beautiful young human woman was standing and looking around blankly. "Gran'ma Ben?" She whispered. "Oh my gosh!"
Thor—who was in his true body—feared that his presence might frighten the creature, but he could not help but peer closer. What was this? How was it?
She was dressed in dark brown traveling cloths and wore worn old pair of boots. She had a forest green cloak over her shoulders, held the sword in her hand and looked around the library in confusion. "What's happened?"
"This place, "Thor said gravely, "Has been abandoned for over a year now. And before that it was abandoned for well over two hundred."
"Th-that's silly, I was just standing here with my Grand mother, we—" The former statue gasped as she looked down at her clothing, "My cloths? How did I get dressed like this?" An annoyed look came over her face, "Who dressed me like this? What's your game dragon?"
The dragon shook his head, "I do not know any more than you about what you are and how you came about, but I do know who you are and why you are here."
"Speak then."
Thor nodded, "You are Queen Thorn Harvestar—"
"Yes, I know." Thorn said, "Why am I here?"
The dragon was taken aback. So the creature believed it was Thorn? Well perhaps it was, how was he to know? This was definitely no ordinary golem. "Very well then," he said, deciding to speak to it as if it—sorry, she really was Thorn. "In that case your majesty it has been almost three hundred years since your reign, your children have all passed on due either to age or war."
"There was another war?" Thorn gasped, then added, "I had children?" This seemed even more shocking too her. "How many? What are—uh were they like?" Thorn asked.
"No time, and it doesn't matter anyway, they're dead. Your grand children will be too if you do not fight to protect them."
"R-right!" The young queen said. "Protect them from what?"
Thor frowned, he shoved some rubble aside, revealing a secret door. "This door will lead to you throne room, come with me and I will explain everything on the way."
"Very well dragon . . . but . . . where is the Great Red Dragon? Does he still live?"
"I . . . have never met him." Thor said. "Nor will dragons aid you in this battle, they swore two hundred years ago to never again interfere in human affairs, the fall of Atheia they consider to be a human affair."
"What are you doing then?" Thorn asked.
Thor smiled sheepishly, "I'm letting you interfere in human affairs."
"Ah." Thorn said, nodding in understanding. "So what's the situation then?"
"The castle is on the verge of falling, I am taking you to the throne room where, unless I am mistaken, your grand daughter Violet should be there."
"Grand daughter . . ." Thorn whispered. "I . . . I don't even know who her grandfather is!" the young woman said.
"That's really not important, what is important is the fact that Atheia is in ruins, the capital city is under siege, the city itself has been reduced to a ruin and the castle's defenders are so few in number that they can barely man the walls, at this very moment the entire castle is surrounded by several thousand rat creatures."
"Rat creatures?" Thorn gasped, "But they—"
"Are being led by a group of Hooded Ones now, or so I've heard spoken among the human soldiers. They believe the Hooded Ones to be rogue Veni-Yan monks, or dream masters, though they have yet to cast any powerful magics."
Thorn was very quiet as they walked through the narrow secret passage, Thor disliked it, and he could barely fit. "You are not without allies, after your . . .uh . . ."
"Death?" Thorn offered.
"Well . . . yes. After your death and after Atheia's fall gargoyles were brought to this world . . . somehow."
"Atheia's fall?"
Thor shuddered and gave her the rapid fire explanation of things that had happened during and after the fall of Atheia, leading up to what he knew of the Awakening, and the events leading up to this battle, she absorbed it rather well.
"So the rat creatures want to destroy the entire kingdom?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Thorn asked.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Why?" She repeated. "If we're confined to this single castle, what need do they have to wipe us out?"
"Hatred is the only excuse they have, and seem to need." Thor said, not admitting that he'd never really thought about why the rats would need to keep attacking when they had all the territory they could want, and then some!
The rat creatures were not a warlike people, their warriors tended to back down from any fight that did not favor them in numbers . . . it had to be the hooded ones, but why would they want to see their fellow humans annihilated?
They entered the empty throne room, Thorn looked around, "Where is everyone?" She asked.
Thor frowned, "I do not know . . . follow me, we will stand at the top of the castle with your gargoyle allies and see. It will be sunset in just a few more minutes, the gargoyles will soon be waking, I hope it is not too late."
"Will you fight, dragon?" Thorn asked.
"No." Thor said, feeling like a coward. "I cannot."
Thorn patted his shoulder—he was still a dragon so she had to reach up to do so, "It's okay, I understand your dragon law is very important. You're sticking your neck out just bringing me here to fight . . . though I do wish I could remember the rest of my life."
"Perhaps," Thor said, "You do not need to. Perhaps all you need in order to find victory is what you are now."
Thorn shrugged, "Perhaps." Her countenance suddenly changed, she became serious ad stern, "but for now it's time to save my people . . . again."
Present . . .
Thor lowered his head, finishing the tale with the relation of how Thorn had indeed joined the battle, though he did not know how it had ended.
Odin nodded slowly. "My son." He said simply.
Thor waited a moment, and when it seemed his father would say nothing further, he asked, "What will you do?"
"Nothing. For now. I will watch, and decide . . ."
"What of Loki?" Thor asked.
Odin smiled weakly, "Your brother? He has made his decision. It will lead him to his doom sooner or later, but he has chosen to follow his heart and I cannot grudge him that."
Thor wrongly assumed that Odin meant Loki's attraction to the human woman. He said, "It is only a passing thing."
Odin's white eyes shimmered, "Is it really? But then so is life."
Goliath shook his head, "This place . . . it is so like my home, and yet so unlike it."
Elisa smiled, Goliath had spent the first few hours of the night after the battle helping to clear away the dead, and there were a surprising few. Of course with so few people at all Elisa supposed the thee or four dozen dead and wounded had been a devastating blow to the Atheians. At lest, that seemed to be the general opinion.
But once the dead bodies were buried, and the wounded cared for Goliath had gone about trying to memorize everyone's name, every Gargoyle he came into contact with he would eagerly greet, he was like a kid in a candy store, he couldn't meet other gargoyles fast enough!
He was eager to meet humans too, he'd eagerly shaken hands with the queens and several of the hooded soldiers.
Goliath had taken an immediate shine to a Gargoyle called Stoneskin who was almost as large and muscular as Goliath was. Elisa didn't want to see the two of them arm wrestle, even though her money would be on Goliath she wasn't sure there was a table in all of Atheia that'd survive the match.
Other gargoyles had seemed just as interested in Goliath, they referred to him as "King Goliath of the Manhattan Clan" whenever they had the time for it, or simply "King Goliath" when they didn't.
Brooklyn had said it was just the way things worked here. Hudson assured them that they'd understand it all soon enough.
Elisa was happy for Goliath, she knew his joy was not so much at seeing other Gargoyles—though that was a contributing factor of course—what made the big guy so happy was that his entire clan was with him to meet these new gargoyles.
Lexington and Brooklyn had become celebrities now, as it turned out there were no gargoyle beasts like Bronx in the castle, females would go on and on about how adorable Bronx was, which seemed to make Brooklyn pretty happy.
Angela and Broadway were being given the tour by a dashing white gargoyle named Alabaster, who didn't seem at all shy about telling Angela that she was as beautiful as the moonrise.
Goliath and Elisa were receiving the tour from Hudson, who was talking to Goliath about things he'd learned about their cousins. "It's not hard t'see there's strife between the clans," Hudson was saying, "Their knowledge of the Gargoyle Way is lacking in some respects as well, and I'm not just talking about the fact that they name themselves and lay claim to their own children."
"Yes," Goliath said, "But we shall tech them, if they are willing to learn."
"Aye lad, but I'm for wondering how much time we'll have t'do it in, repairing the gate in a single day doesn't seem possible." Hudson said.
Goliath nodded, "Yes . . . but we'll find a way. I didn't come all this way just to see our brothers and the humans that protect them during the day slaughtered."
Hudson nodded.
Elisa held onto Goliath's arm, "Is it what you expected?" She asked.
Goliath patted her hand gently, "It is more than I ever thought possible! It has been a long time since I've seen so many Gargoyles and humans living together so closely, and with no prejudice lost between them!"
"Yes . . ." Elisa nodded. That seemed sort of unusual to her at first and she half expected to see some kind of evidence of racism among the humans, knowing mankind to be shamefully bad at accepting things that were different from themselves.
But she supposed day after day and night after night of trusting one side to protect you and then protecting them in turn had woven a close community. The fact that she could hold on to Goliath's arm without attracting a single sideways glance was really quite pleasant.
People were watching them, but with curiosity and all of them seemed happy to see Goliath, time and again Elisa heard both humans and Gargoyles alike say "Hail Great King!" as they passed him by.
Goliath was not only accepted here without prejudice, but hailed as a king!
Elisa saw another Gargoyle, a massive one who was also hailed as king come up to Goliath. "I King Grund, as you know." The fat gargoyle said.
Goliath nodded, "I am Goliath."
"Grund knows." Grund said darkly. "I come special offer for you, we speak together . . . bring advisors if need."
Goliath nodded slowly, "Of course . . . what is it you want to speak to me about?"
Grund did not say. Goliath looked to Elisa, "Coming?"
Elisa did not like the look of Grund. It was not that he was morbidly obese, it was the fact that her cop senses were working over time telling her this guy was no good. She nodded to Goliath, but Hudson shook his head.
"I'll leave ye to it lad, I know where the comfortable chairs are, and I'll be getting about the business of resting these old bones after a battle like that."
Goliath nodded and Elisa followed him and Grund down the corridor.
"Goliath great warrior, Grund see, Grund respect."
"Thank you." Goliath said, though he sounded unsure. "You must all be great warriors as well to survive so long against such a horde."
"Grund not great warrior. Grund not good warrior." King Grund said darkly. "Grund okay warrior. Grund passable warrior. Grund good enough survive. King Goliath great warrior, be greater with River Gear."
"River gear?" Elisa said.
"Grund trade. Give Goliath sword, shield and armor of River Clan."
"IN exchange for what?" Goliath asked.
"Small thing only, cousin." Grund said darkly, "Small matter of Stone Skin, Canyon clan hero . . ."
To Be Continued . . .
A/N: There wasn't much gargoyle focus in the final chapter because it was the first Thorn chapter, and I wanted to introduce the Lord of Locusts. The new chapter focus order is Lex, Brook, Angela (scripted to be Goliath but I just got too used to writing Angela) Locusts (sometimes he will actually be skipped though, keep him mysterious),and Thorn. This chapter here was originally a Lexington chapter however after adding the Thorn elements to it, ran for about twelve pages so I cut it short and focused on the Goliath sequence instead, though it was really sort of Elisa, I didn't plan it that way . . . whatever.
Made the next chapter largely Lexington, which is as it should be . . . because it's what the people want, Loads of Lex! (Jedi Mind Trick: You now like Lexington more than any other character . . . oh, and these aren't the droids you're looking for . . .)As for Violet being a . . . whatever you tried to say, I cant tell you, that's secret. I will say she has a lot of stress in her life, maybe it causes her to be short with others? Or maybe she is just a . . . whatever.
Ah Act Two. The conspiracy, the final fall, the Lord of Locusts, and of course the triumphant (kind of) return of the Bone Cousins and their Rat Creature friend Bartleby, I cant wait to post more chapters!