Chapter 3: It All Turns To Stone
It was true, what Goliath said, they did have more pressing matters to attend to, such as the possibility of another attack come sunrise. If Naruto was the leader of that army they he would have his men attack the moment the sun rises, preventing the Gargoyles from attacking and the guards would be in the middle of their shift change. This left them all with only one option, they would have to chase those barbarians so far away that they wouldn't make it back before the sun set the next night. Oh and the princes had figured it best if she go back into the castle, because they would get nowhere if Goliath's mate kept intimidating her with those glowing red eyes of hers.
"Those vikings could be back at any time, I say take all your Gargoyles and make sure they're gone!" the captain of the guard declared, his need to protect the castle was clear in every word that he spoke.
"I agree, we should go out in force and end these miserable bags of flesh, once and for all!" it wasn't at all surprising to see Goliath's mate agree with the captain, she was not a person to be crossed and attacking her home was possibly the biggest mistake anyone could ever make.
"It would be too dangerous, if you all leave now then the castle would be almost defenceless against an army that large. I advise that only a small group drive them away, just in case it's a trap and they attack once the hunting party leaves," Naruto advised, placing two hands on his staff and leaning against it for support, a sudden weariness befalling him.
"What's the matter?" Goliath questioned, immediately moving to Naruto's side to help him stand up straight, to which Naruto nodded in thanks.
"I must still be tired from the previous battle, my full strength has yet to return to me," Naruto said as he straightened his back and stood under his own strength, noting the concerned looks he was getting from the three people before him.
"You shouldn't tax yourself, if you need rest then you should be resting!" the female Gargoyle growled, unable to comprehend why humans, especially the blonde one before her, had to be so damn stubborn!
"This only further proves my point, the majority of the clan shall remain to protect the castle while I drive away our uninvited guests. I leave you in command until my return," those were Goliath's words before he leapt over the stone edge and glided down to the courtyard, needing to have a talk with his predecessor.
"I swear, the both of you are so stubborn!" the female hissed.
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much," Naruto laughed before another wave of nautiousness overcame him, but this time it was the female that helped him keep his balance, proving that she didn't dislike all humans, or Naruto was just the acception to the fact.
"Come, you stubborn fool, I'll prepare a potion to help your pain," said the female, casting one last glance back at the captain before she helped Naruto back into the castle, her right wing draping over his shoulders to help ward off the cool night air.
It was a rather strange sight, to find possibly the most human hating Gargoyle helping the castle's greatest human defender down the hallways. Guards moved out of their way, whispering to one another at the sight, but every time the female went to growl at them, Naruto just shook his head. They weren't worth the energy to get angry at, that and Naruto really needed something to help ease his pain. As they entered Naruto's room, having already picked up the necessary ingredients, the female helped Naruto sit down on his bed before beginning to mix the herbs and liquids.
"How long will it take for you to return to full strength?" the female inquired, never taking her attention off of the task at hand.
"It should only take a couple more hours of rest, but I'm actually more concerned about you. Despite your best attempts at hiding it, using hostility to prevent anyone from looking too closely, you seem to have been worried as of late. Is there something wrong?" Naruto inquired, taking note when the female stopped mixing her potion and a wave of nervousness flooded out of her.
"No, why would you think such a thing?" she asked, once more disguising the slight undertone of worry in her voice, no doubt hoping that Naruto would drop the subject.
Mustering up enough strength, Naruto silently approached the working Gargoyle, using his old Shinobi skills to not make a single noise. The female's nervousness was now confirmed when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her own skin. Goliath's mate was just about to lash out, her instinct taking over, but stopped her clawed hand inches from Naruto's face. Naruto didn't look scared, he didn't look angry, and he didn't even look surprised, he simply gave her a happy smile.
"I won't ask you to talk about it, you will talk about it when you're ready, just know that I'll be here whenever you do want to talk," said the blonde haired sage before he turned around and simply walked back to his bed, the female watching him the entire way with widened eyes.
After Naruto had taken the potion, the female promising that it would relieve the pain but he would fall asleep for a few hours, the young sage found himself dreaming. While watching Naruto sleep, Goliath's mate watched from his bedside, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Naruto, I'm so sorry," she silently sobbed before swiftly leaving the room, hoping to get her clan away from the castle before it was attacked again, this land would belong to the Gargoyles once more.
When Naruto awoke once more, it was to the sight of a sword being swung down towards his neck, with enough force to decapitate him in one swing. Yet Naruto's reflexes were more than that of a normal humans, so he was able to slide out of the way before slamming a chakra enhanced fist right into the man's side. The attacker, who turned out to be one of the vikings that had previously attacked the castle, fell dead the moment he collided with the stone wall, his head actually being crushed from the impact. Shaking the grogginess from his mind, the young sage quickly grabbed his staff and ran from the confines of his room.
The castle was under attack once more and, much to Naruto's horror, the sun was high in the sky. That meant that not only could the Gargoyles not help but they were also in grave danger, something of which Naruto needed to attend to before anything else. Killing two more vikings, Naruto dove out the castle window, which was three stories high, and slammed another chakra infused fist into the ground below. Many more vikings died from large rocks being shot at them and one unlucky man was actually in between Naruto's fist and the ground.
"Kill him, kill the man in white!" one of the vikings roared as the mob encircled Naruto, hesitantly poking at him with their spears and swords, for fear of getting too close.
"Make peace with your gods now, because I'm coming for your necks!" Naruto roared before charging at the nearest soldier, grabbing him by his face, and throwing him several hundred feet into the air.
Using the other warriors shock to his advantage, Naruto ripped on of the swords away from them and began to violently hack them into pieces. Just as it looked like Naruto was going to wipe out the entire army on his own, a sword suddenly protruded from his chest, making even Naruto's eyes widen in shock. Slowly turning his head, to look at the man who had stabbed him, Naruto's shock filled eyes turned into that of anger. Standing there, a sorrowful look upon his face, was the captain of the guard, he was a traitor.
"Why?" Naruto asked, blood now flowing out the sides of his mouth, as the sword was roughly pulled from his back, allow him to drop to the ground.
"I'm sorry, it wasn't supposed to be this way," he said before darkness claimed Naruto once more, only this time he was close to death.
This wasn't the first time that something had been shoved through Naruto's heart, the last first one being a lightning coated hand of his best friend. Now, as Naruto lay bleeding out on the cold ground, he could only think of how ironic it was that he was stabbed by another traitor and this time he didn't think the traitor would get a second chance. When Naruto's eyes opened next he found himself among the still burning castle with many dead guards around him, their bodies already beginning to stink of death, and that's when he heard a mighty roar from atop the castle.
"I will have my vengeance!" the mighty Goliath declared to the heavens, his bat like wings extended to their max and his eyes glowing with a rage that few have ever seen and lived to tell the tale about.
Slowly Naruto got to his feet, holding his injured chest that had thankfully stopped bleeding, and attempting to get Goliath's attention. Sadly Naruto's injury was too close to his heart and a sudden jolt of pain sent the sage back to his knees, electing a cry of pain from his lips. It turns out that Goliath's predecessor had also come back to the castle because he was the one who arrived at Naruto's side first.
"Easy there lad, we thought you were dead," said the old gargoyle as he placed his clawed hand on Naruto's shoulder, helping the sage back to his feet with as much ease as possible.
"The clan, what happened to the clan?" Naruto asked in a pained tone but the sudden sadness that filled the old gargoyle's eyes was enough to make Naruto's heart break from sorrow, he had failed to protect those he saw as his family.
"Goliath and I tracked the vikings out into the wilds but only found a few men with horses, we realized too late that it was a trick. What happened here lad, how did they get inside the walls?" asked the old gargoyle before four more, plus Goliath, approached the injured Sage.
"We were betrayed by someone very close to us Goliath. It was the Captain of the Guard that sabotaged the bows so that they would snap and raised the gate so the vikings could enter the castle. He was the one who stabbed me in the back during the battle, if he hadn't then I could have driven the vikings away by myself. I'm sorry Goliath, I failed your clan," Naruto apologized with as much sorrow as was in each of their hearts, but Goliath just placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and made the last Uzumaki look up at him.
"No, you are not the one to blame, you are not the one who betrayed my clan, but we shall all soon have our revenge. Naruto do you have the strength to fight?" asked the mighty Goliath, something of which his predecessor was tempted to chastise him about, but a green glow surrounded Naruto's injured chest and he stood up straight once more.
"I will make that man wish he had removed my head when he had the chance."
Taking a sword from the battlefield and attacking it's belt to his robes, Naruto walked out to the front of the castle and let out a whistle that seemed to echo throughout the land. From the edge of the woods came Naruto's horse, which had fled from the stables the moment the fighting had begun. Once on top of the mighty beast, with his staff in one hand and the reins in the other, Naruto nodded to Goliath that he was ready. With another roar the gargoyles took to the skies while Naruto and the dog like gargoyle raced across the land as fast as possible.
It took no longer than two hours to actually reach the viking camp, which hadn't even tried to contain its cheers of victory over the Gargoyles that were now no more than dust, or so they thought. Goliath was the first to let out his warcry, a sound so loud that it literally caused many of the vikings to almost jump out of their skin, but that wasn't the worst of it. A thick mist suddenly surrounded the entire camp to the point that the vikings could barely even see three feet in front of themselves. One viking turned when he heard the sound of a horse moving towards him at a fast pace and was rewarded by Naruto's blade cutting his head clean off with a single swing.
"Kill them all!" Goliath roared as he and his fellow gargoyle dove into the mist and screams could be heard not ten seconds later.
While the Gargoyles sought out their revenge, Naruto jumped from the top of his mighty horse and drove his sword threw a man's heart before his feet even touched the ground. With his staff held in his right hand, the last Uzumaki sent a shockwave out of it so strong that it actually made a viking implode from the invisible force.
"You are all going to die, that's a promise," Naruto swore before flipping his sword around and stabbing it into a man's throat as he was sneaking up behind Naruto, the man would take five minutes to actually die from lack of oxygen.
"Naruto, they've chased after the princess!" Goliath roared before taking off towards the cliffs, which was no doubt where the traitor captain and the viking leader went to get her back, and Naruto followed after the large gargoyle.
Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him, nearly running just as fast as Goliath in his angered state, and they soon arrived upon an interesting sight. The Viking leader held a blade to Katharine's throat, threatening the princess with death if she tried to run away again. It was only the primal roar of Goliath that drew their attention away and made the former Captain of the Guard grow pale in fear.
"So Naruto was correct, you are the traitor!" Goliath bellowed, his eyes glowing white from the sheer amount of untamed rage that threatened to be released upon those who stood against him in the coming slaughter.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way Goliath, the vikings were supposed to take the people and leave your clan in peace!" the former comrade pleaded, drawing attention away from the Viking leader so that he could throw his dagger at Goliath's unguarded side.
Just as the dagger was about to leave the viking's hands, a sword suddenly erupted from his chest, making him look down in shock before he fell to the ground dead. It was revealed to be Naruto that had somehow managed to teleport behind the viking and end the tyrant's life with a single thrust of his sword, leaving only the traitor to be dealt with. Goliath slowly stalked towards his former human friend, his towering from proving just how large a Gargoyle was when compared to a human.
"Goliath...I'm so sorry," the man whispered as he fell to his knees, having accepted his punishment for the betrayal he had brought upon his friends, but Goliath only stared down at the man before grabbing him by his collar and hoisting him up to eye level.
"Death would be a release from this torment you now feel and you have not suffered enough to be granted death's embrace. You will live the rest of your life with the mark of Cain branded upon your soul. You are a murderer, a liar, and a betrayer," Goliath growled before he threw the traitor back to the ground and stalked away, washing his hands of the revenge that would have forever changed him.
"Are you alright?" Naruto asked Katharine, only for the princess to wrap her arms around his waist and hold him as close as possible.
"I-I thought I was going to die," Katharine whispered, only for their moment of peace to be interrupted by a mighty roar.
Running back to the viking camp, which no longer consisted of any vikings, Naruto and Katharine gasped when they saw five Gargoyles frozen in stone while the sun had yet to rise. Naruto's azure eyes instantly locked onto Magus and sent him a look that made the wizard freeze right where he stood.
"Oh Magus, what have you done?" Katharine asked as Magus dropped to the ground, while also dropping the very book that he used to cast the spell on the Gargoyles.
"I thought you were dead," Magus weakley said before Goliath hoisted him off the ground the same way he did to the traitor.
"Change them back!" Goliath ordered.
"I can't, the counter spell was burned!" Magus protested and thankfully Goliath dropped him back to the ground before letting out another roar, a vengeful cry for everything he had lost this night.
Naruto watched as they took the solid stone Gargoyles back to the castle, he watched as Goliath asked Magus to cast his spell one last time, and he watched one of his few remaining friends be turned into stone until the castle rose above the clouds. Naruto now stood next to the carriage that was to transport the Gargoyle eggs, but he had no intention of going where Katharine and Magus were headed.
"Are you sure you won't come with us, you don't need to go out on your own," said Katharine as she stood before possibly the wisest man she had ever known, whose gentle azure eyes betrayed just how much he had seen in his life.
"I need some time away from people, some time to heal from what has happened here, but I don't believe this is the last time we shall meet," Naruto said as he placed his hand on Katharine's shoulder.
"I know you may not believe in our religion, but may God watch over you during your travels."