New Beginnings Part One
"New Beginnings
-- Part One"
by Lisette: Lisette_1@lycos.com
Created on: 8/20/98
Revised on:
7/20/98
Legalese: Nothing
here is of my own creation. Goliath and his crew belong to Buena Vista and
Disney while some of the
words used within are taken from "An den Mond" (To the Moon) and
"Wenn ich ein Vögel wär" (If I a Bird Could Be), two German folk
songs that were arranged by William Bausano. In no way will a profit be made from this.
Author's Note: This
story is the fifth installment to the Talika Series and a thanks to Skydancer
for some of the quotes used within.
Brief Summary: The
forgotten past is about to
resurface its ugly head for Talika and the clan.
Rating:
PG-13 due to
language and content
Decisions
Imagine the day when the world finally does come to
and end.
Imagine the feelings of sorrow, courage, despair, fright, hatred,
and love that will be felt by the general populous in their final days before
imminent death.
Now imagine the sobs of a young mother who listens to her
lonely baby's wail as she realizes for the first time that there will be no
tomorrow or future for her child -- no chance.
Now watch as an aging man
sacrifices his life by shoving a young boy out of the path of a speeding car,
knowing all the while that the boy will be dead by nightfall but not caring
because he knows that any time is better than none.
And now watch as a
middle aged man with a loving family at home is so filled with despair that
he purposely throws himself in front of that same speeding car, so eager to end
his pain that he can't wait for night to fall on the city.
And watch as
his next door neighbor chooses instead to return to his family to comfort
and be comforted in his last moments by his family.
And listen to an old
woman's scream of pain, outrage, and fright as she is first mugged for ten
dollars and then senselessly shot by a teenage girl that has lost all respect
for the life of others -- knowing that soon she will be joining her innocent
victims.
And now I want you to watch and listen as two desperate
individuals find comfort and love in each other's arms -- all the while whispering
tear-wrought promises to find each other in the next life -- convinced that the
power of their love will conquer all...
In a world so devastated and filled with
pain, it is up to each person to decide how they will live out their final
hours: in sorrow, heroics, despair, hatred, or in love.
Your life is
what you make it and only you can decide.
New Beginnings
Egypt -- Present Day
Grunting, the group of hired workers strained to
lift the heavy slab of stone that lay imbedded in the soft sand with the aid of
pulleys and steel wires. "Pull men, pull!" urged another,
standing back from the group in the shade of a tent, protected from the hot
desert sun. They had been working this particular site for weeks, searching for yet another lost tomb in the sea of sand that covered Egypt.
Weeks and weeks that were spent using up a grant given by one of the larger
universities back in the states. Still, Doctor Harold Osborne was convinced that
despite the fact that as of yet nothing had been found, that soon they would
make a discovery so great as to outshine even the discovery of King Tut's tomb. In all truth,
they had to or else the good name of Doctor Osborne would be slain and never
again would a grant for research be so easily won.
With a final grunt of protest, the strong
Egyptian workers heaved the large slab up from the ground and swung it away from
their dig, causing it to fall heavily to the ground. As the sand and dust
flew, workers and archaeologists alike turned away quickly, covering their eyes from
the blinding storm. When the sand finally settled, Osborne carefully took
his hand away from his face and stepped quickly out of the shade of the tent and
towards the dig. There had to be something here -- there had to be.
There was no other logical reason; why else would such a large and carefully
carved slab be lying out in the middle of the desert?
When their digging
had first uncovered the stone slab, they quickly set to work clearing the sand away
from all sides till it was revealed that the slab, which was about nine feet
long and about five feet wide, was in fact a lid of some sort covering a stone
box of the same dimensions. While his curiosity and excitement grew, the
group of experienced archaeologists quickly began digging deeper and deeper
until the mystery grew. Now the hole around the stone box was four feet
wide and ten feet deep, with no signs of anything but the box that was now ten
feet tall. Finally, the decision was made that while the strange writing
on the lid, which was also a mystery seeing as how it didn't seem to resemble
any sort of writing known to man, continued to be deciphered, the group of hired
workers would see if they could remove the lid. Which led up to now.
With excitement burning in his eyes, Osborne
reached the edge of the dig and quickly climbed the ladder down into the hole
surrounding the stone box. As the workers quietly stepped aside, Osborne
stepped towards the ladder, his knees shaking with every step as he slowly,
slowly climbed up the ladder that would lead him to the greatest discovery of
all times -- or so he hoped. Seconds later, he reached the top and
tentatively looked over the side and into the opened box.
"Well, Harold, what do you see?!" one
of Osborne's fellow archaeologists yelled from the tent, a bright smile on her
face.
"I.. I see a dark hole!" Harold
yelled out in confusion as he turned back towards the gathered workers and
co-workers. "The stone on top here is only a foot thick
on each side, and on the inside it's been smoothed till it feels as smooth as
glass," Harold described as he gently rubbed his hand over the smooth
stone. "The light of the sun reaches down about ten to fifteen feet
and it all looks exactly the same.. I can't see the bottom!"
"But.."
"Here, pass me up a rock or some sand!"
Osborne called out suddenly as he turned and looked down at one of the workers
below.
Nodding his head, the young Egyptian who was
fortunate enough to speak English quickly scavenged the ground and sand till he
found a good sized rock and then climbed up the ladder till he stood beneath the
Doctor and passed up his find.
Without another word, Osborne snatched up the
rock and returned to the edge of the box. Leaning as far over as he dared,
he then hushed for silence before dropping the rock into the box. In the
dead silence, everyone listened for the tell tale sound of the rock hitting the
bottom.. and waited, and waited. Finally Osborne gave up and turned back
to his colleagues with wide eyes. "If we couldn't hear the stone hit
the bottom, then this thing must be over a hundred to two hundred feet deep..
probably a couple of miles! But.. that's impossible!" Osborne
whispered, the confusion clear in his eyes. "Who would build a stone box
like this that's that deep.. and it must be man made because how else could the
walls become this smooth or the box this proportional?" he muttered,
thinking out loud as he puzzled over the idea.
"Doctor
Osborne! Doctor Osborne!" a young man called out, unaware of the
tense silence as he ran past the group of archaeologists,
heedless of the happenings around him.
"What is it, Jeffrey?" Harold
absently asked the graduate student that called out to him, his mind still firmly
rooted to the mystery of the box.
"We've got a partial translation of the
writing on the..." Jeffrey began, trailing off as he finally noticed the
open box. "You got the slab off!" he exclaimed in excitement.
"You have a translation?
But-"
"It turned out that the language is an
extremely ancient form of hieroglyphs mixed with a few other languages,"
the student hastily explained, his wide eyes remaining locked on the open
box. "The partial translation reads something like 'Beware all those who try
to..' we think that the next word is something like desecrate, 'the resting
place of..' and then we don't know about whose it is yet or much else after
that. Although it does seem to be warning about evil, genocide, and
something about some kind of matter..." the student trailed off, waving his
hand airily at the common warnings found on all Egyptian tombs.
"And that's all?" Osborne asked,
scrunching his eyebrows together as the mystery grew. "Well, it must
be a tomb then.. but why would it be so incredibly deep?"
"Maybe it would be better, sir, for you to
close up the box and leave it as it was found," the young Egyptian who
passed up the stone spoke quietly, his eyes wide with fear.
"Don't be foolish, young man. All tombs
that have been discovered up to date have had some similar warning on their
doors-"
"No sir, there is something different about
this tomb, and I suggest that you replace the lid before the evil is let out."
At this
grave warning, both Osborne and the rest of his
colleagues burst into laughter. "Young man, I can guarantee you that
there is no evil surrounding this mystery here.. if there is anyone down there I can guarantee you that he has been dead for quite a long time,"
he stated firmly as he turned and once more looked down into the long box.
Still, the man's words rang in his ears as he noticed for the first time that
the box was now six to seven feet long and three feet wide... the usual proportions of a coffin. As a
shiver ran through his aging bones, the Doctor began to turn away from the
opening once more when a flash of light from below caught his eye.
Gasping, he turned quickly and stared rigidly down into the hole as the light
grew brighter and brighter, closer and closer towards him.
Seeing his rigid
posture one of the
archaeologists stepped away from the tent and closer towards the hole that
surrounded the box. "Harold? What's wrong? What do you
see?" she asked, her voice trembling while a cold coil of fear wrapped itself around
her spine.
Unable to answer, Osborne continued to watch with
growing fascination and horror as the green light grew brighter in intensity
until Harold knew that it was now only a few feet below him. Soon the
light and glow was evident for all to see, causing a panic to go up among the
workers as they struggled and rushed for the ladders leading out of the pit, sure
that the Devil himself was rising out of the pits of Hell to greet them.
"Harold! Get away!" she screamed
as the light grew brighter and brighter.. the green eerie light that had no
place in the middle of the desert. As she watched in horror, Harold
remained where he was till the glow of light left the box and surrounded
him. With a blood curdling scream, he was then lifted into the air above the
box until he was laid out flat on his back, floating in mid air. Still
screaming bloody Mary, the green light then lowered, taking Doctor Harold
Osborne with it, a look of horror fixed upon his face.
Screaming out, Osborne could do nothing as the
green light carried him further and faster down the dimensions of the box, watching the sunlight slip further and further from him
till darkness encased him; darkness that was only broken by the eerie green
light. Suddenly, seconds, minutes, hours, or days later -- which, he had no
idea -- he stopped descending and was laid gently on his back on a cold, stone
floor.
Breathing heavily in the purest form of fright he had ever
experienced, Osborne quickly climbed to his feet and surveyed his
surroundings. From what he could tell, he seemed to be in some sort of
large room with carvings similar to those found on the lid written on all of the
stone walls. His curiosity getting the better of him, Osborne
moved closer to the walls and attempted to read the hieroglyphics -- which was
when another mystery came to life: where was the light coming from that
allowed him
to inspect these writings?
Fear growing once more, Harold
quickly turned and saw that the source of light seemed to be coming from the far end
of the chamber. Not knowing why he did, Osborne began to slowly walk
across the chamber, noticing how the floor and walls were unnaturally smooth..
as smooth as glass, and that all of the walls were perfectly straight and
perpendicular to the floor. Not even a modern day architect could make
such a perfectly dimensional room such as the kind he was walking in.. a room
that probably dated back to the earliest times. Shaking his head, Osborne
continued walking across the large chamber until finally the light source was
revealed: torches. Lit torches lined the walls in this end of the chamber
-- perfectly lit torches where there was no breeze to cause them to shift
or move... perfectly still flames burning straight up into the air, causing no
smoke to cloud and choke him.
Mystified, Osborne turned once more and saw
the real mystery of the chamber: against the far wall of the chamber stood
a raised dais with what looked like a stone box that was what seemed to be the
perfect dimensions of the interior of the corridor in which he descended.
"The tomb.. I'm in the tomb and this must be
the coffin," Doctor Osborne whispered, his eyes lighting up. All
thoughts of escape from this place, the glowing light that brought him down, and of the warning of evil and genocide fled his mind as the blinding
curiosity of the past replaced it. Walking across the room, Harold gently
laid his hands upon the smooth surface of the coffin, marveling at the
intricate writings that lay across the lid.
As he traced his hands over
the top and down the sides, he noticed a seam that marked the end of the lid and
the beginning of the actual coffin. Smiling, Osborne began pushing against
the lid with all of his strength, all of the rules and procedures of archaeology
forgotten as the stone grated further and further until it crashed to the
ground, breaking instantly into pieces. Had Harold's attention not been
focused on the contents of the tomb but on the lid itself, he would have noticed
one final warning.. a gathering of the green energies across the lid until all
of the carvings blended into one flickering word: EVIL, before that too
disappeared and left the lid bare of anything.
But
Doctor Harold Osborne's focus wasn't on
the lid and instead was fixed firmly to the contents of the coffin.
Inside lay a body covered by a shroud of white, making the details completely
obscure. And on top of the shroud, lying where the chest of the body would
be, was a large angel.. or was it an angel? Osborne couldn't tell, because
even though it was shaped like an angel, it was like nothing was there.
The object was black.. but it wasn't really black either.. it was like the
absence of light. All light cast by the torches seemed to be absorbed by
the object creating a void of emptiness in the shape of an angel. With
shaking hands, Osborne slowly reached out to the object and touched it with one
finger.. and was amazed to discover that it had substance. He could feel
it and touch it and define its shape with his hands, but he couldn't feel any
texture whatsoever. It looked as though he was touching nothing, but it
was something because it was outlined by the white shroud.
Grinning like a
fool, the professor slowly reached out both hands until they were gripping the
angel firmly. As he then lifted it from the shrouded body, and as the
angel finally left its resting place against the cool shroud, a sense of evil so
great and pain so powerful overwhelmed Osborne and wrapped itself around his
belly. It was then that the last word of his student's warning came to
mind.. came to mind too late. The lid on the surface had warned not to touch some sort
of matter.... now the Professor knew what it was referring to.. dark
matter. The dark matter that was the last and only defense against the
evil that should never be released.
And then, as the shrouded body lifted
itself with its own strength from the coffin -- the body that should have been
dead after being laid to rest here for centuries.. millenniums -- Doctor Harold
Osborne cursed himself and all the workers who helped to unleash this evil...
the last thought that Doctor Harold Osborne ever knew.
New York City -- two months later
As the doors slid open to accommodate the flow of
people entering and leaving the busy airport, a young woman parted from the
crowd to stand alone on a small piece of sidewalk. Turning around in
circles, the girl stared in wide-eyed amazement at the towering piles of steel
that stretched farther up than the clouds, the roaring traffic, and the crowds
of people. Sure, she had seen the crowded city of Paris before, but
absolutely nothing -- not the pictures or the news reports -- could prepare her for
the large -- no, huge buildings that imposed over the busy streets of Manhattan.
"Skyscrapers," the young woman
whispered quietly to herself, her musical voice trying out the unfamiliar word.
Then, shaking her amazement away, she focused on the question at hand.
"Now, where to?" she said quietly as she once more
scanned the busy streets. "I have to find the gargoyle clan,"
she murmured as she waved her hand in the air. Not even a moment passed
before a taxi squealed to a halt beside her. Opening the door, the young
woman quickly hopped into the back seat.
"Where to?" the cab driver asked as he
peered at his new customer through his rear view mirror.
"To the 23rd precinct Police
Station," the young woman murmured as she stared out the window at the tall
building of the airport.
Nodding his head, the guy quickly swerved back
into the flow of traffic. Glancing back over his shoulder at the beautiful
young woman, the cab driver finally fully took in his new customer. She looked to be in her early twenties, with long pale blond hair
that fell in a straight wave down her back. She was of average height,
about 5'7" with a slim frame that was modestly covered under a baggy pair
of blue jeans and a white tee-shirt. Her skin was tanned, and as the
woman glanced in his direction he saw the most brilliant pair of blue eyes he
had ever seen. With the backpack that she clenched to her side, she could
easily have passed for another college student. But he knew better than
that. "So, you're French?"
Startled out of her reverie, the young woman met
the cab driver's kind gaze and said, "How did you know?"
"When you drive a cab as long as I have, you
become pretty good at picking out accents," he explained casually as he
zipped through the heavy traffic.
"Ah yes, I am from the province of Bretagne
in France."
"Oh.. well, what's your name,
sweetheart?"
Inwardly cringing at the pet name, the woman
offered a tentative smile before saying, "My name is Lisette."
"Just call me Harry," he said as he
honked the horn at another cab that cut him off. "So, what ya
doing in New York City... to the 23rd precinct, no less? Did ya know that
some crackpots blew that place up about a month ago?"
"Yes, I heard," Lisette replied simply.
"I mean, they've got the place
workin'
again, but what ya want there? You can't be more than a teeny bopper!"
"Nineteen, actually," Lisette
interrupted.
"Ah, you probably want to meet the gargoyles
that lived there, huh?" he probed.
"You could say that," Lisette agreed as
her mind drifted back to that day two weeks ago.
She had been
in a small cafe, reading a novel, when a news report caught her eye. Putting down the
book,
Lisette had watched in fascination as a shaky video taken at night showed four
winged forms jump from a smoldering, devastated building. According to
the news caster, in a place called New York City, New York in the United States
of America, a police station was blown up -- whatever that meant -- by a group of
monsters called gargoyles.
Right away Lisette
had discarded the news report as
being false, for she knew that the gargoyle race was a noble one and could
never have caused the destruction she saw. Still, the important fact was the fact that there were gargoyles alive somewhere in the world
today. Ever since her awakening two years ago, she had been waiting to
find a purpose to this new life that was forced upon her.. now she knew:
she had to go to these United States and find this clan of gargoyles... it seemed
as though she had a second chance; and this time you could bet that she wasn't
going to let her inexperience get in the way. There would be nothing that would
stop her from protecting this clan of gargoyles.
As the days went on, Lisette kept an eye peeled
to the news, hoping for any word of the clan, while she spent the rest of her time
diligently studying and learning the English language. By the time she saw
the next news report five days later that cleared the gargoyles of all blame of
the bombing, Lisette found that she could speak English fluently. Within
another week she was on a plane for Manhattan.
"Lisette," the cab driver said.
Snapping out of her reverie, Lisette noticed two
things right away. First of all, the cab was no longer moving, and second
of all, from the tone of the cab driver's voice, he had obviously been trying to
get her attention for some time now. "I am sorry Harry, what were you
saying?" she asked sheepishly.
"I was just saying that we're here," he
answered good naturedly as he indicated the sidewalk besides the car.
"Oh, good..." Lisette mumbled as she
pulled a small black wallet out of her backpack. "How much do I owe
you?"
"Sixteen-fity."
Quickly Lisette dug through her wallet before
pushing a twenty dollar bill into his hand and said, "Thank you Harry, keep
the change."
"Hey thanks!" Harry called out as
Lisette climbed from the taxi.
Squinting up in the
darkening evening sky, Lisette
took in the tall building before her. She recognized it instantly from the
news casts -- the 23rd precinct. From outside appearances, she could
immediately tell that a lot of repair work had been done. Still, Lisette slowly
backed up till she was staring up at the ruins of the clock tower -- the
gargoyles' apparent home.
"Horrible, ain't it?"
"Excuse me?" Lisette asked, looking
around to see who had spoken.
"I said that it's horrible... how they
repair the rest of the building and don't even touch that old clock tower."
Turning again, Lisette finally found the
speaker -- an older African American officer. Quickly she scanned his
uniform till she found his name tag. Officer Morgan. "Yes, it
is," she agreed as she watched him shake his head slowly before leaving the
early night and entered the brightly lit building.
Shaking her head, Lisette quickly looked up at
the towering ruin above her and muttered, "Sad indeed," before she
straightened her shoulders and entered the building. Right away her breath
caught in her throat at the loud bustle found throughout the large squad
room.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est..." Lisette trailed off in
amazement. Never before had she seen such noise, movement, and apparent
disorganization. Shrugging her shoulders, she daintily sidestepped a
handcuffed, screeching woman accompanied by a man and woman wearing blue
uniforms. Scanning the room, she quickly looked around for anyone who
looked as though they weren't busy and knew what they were doing. To her
immense relief, her eyes easily found a familiar face. Trying to look as though she belonged there, Lisette quickly
moved across the room to a cluster of men and women dressed in identical blue
uniforms. "Excuse me, Officer Morgan?" she interrupted as she
tapped the elder man's shoulder.
Turning around, Officer Morgan looked at Lisette
with a questioning glance. "Can I help you, miss?" he asked, a
smile on his kind face.
"I'm hoping so," Lisette said,
returning his smile. "I was wondering if you could tell me how to get
up to the clock tower?"
"The clock tower?!" Morgan asked,
crinkling his eyebrows in confusion. "Now why would you want to go up
there? It's a wreck and very dangerous.. no one is allowed up there."
"Oh yes, well I am a reporter and I was
given permission to go up there and check it out for a story I am doing about
the gargoyles..." Lisette fibbed smoothly.
"A little young to be a reporter, aren't
you?" Officer Morgan asked, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Never too early to start," Lisette
quipped quickly.
"Uh huh, and who was it that gave you
permission?"
"The Captain."
"Captain Chavez?"
"Who else?" Lisette agreed. This
wasn't looking good... at this rate she'd never get the directions. Then
again, she never was a good liar. Just as she was about to tell him never
mind, the suspicion in his eyes disappeared and his warm smile returned.
"Well, alright. All you have to do is
go up those stairs behind you, take a left and then find the door labeled
'supplies.' Just pull down the ladder inside and you're set to go."
"Thanks!" Lisette replied, smiling
gratefully at the elderly officer. Turning, she quickly hurried away
before he could change his mind and
followed the directions given to her. A couple of minutes later she found
herself standing on the glass covered remains of the clock tower.
Everywhere she looked she saw smashed glass, pieces of wood, furniture, and
masonry. Sighing, Lisette shook her head sadly at the destruction and
moved till she was standing on what must have been part of the glass clock
face.
There she stared out at the dark and starry night, the soft wind
blowing through her silky blond hair. Smiling at the peace that welled up
within her, Lisette inhaled a deep breath of the cool air -- and then gagged as the smog and pollution-ridden
air filled her lungs. "New York City, not your little village,"
Lisette chided herself.
Out of all of the places in Manhattan to search
for the clan of gargoyles, this was probably the best place to start the
search. Despite the fact that dozens had probably already gone through the
rubble of the gargoyle home, there was still a chance that she may
find the one clue that would lead her to their present hideout. Turning
around, Lisette quickly surveyed the massive ruins. Bending down, she
carefully picked up what must have been, at one time, a beautiful mirror.. now
just a frame with a piece of cracked glass within. Staring through the
dirty glass at her reflection, Lisette couldn't help but think back to her own
clan and their home together.. and the destruction that was left in their
wake. Shaking her head, she quickly put the shattered mirror back on the
ground and moved about the destroyed area. "No time but the
present," she murmured as she dug in.
Sighing, Elisa moved around the busy squad room,
knowing which spots to avoid from experience. As she neared Matt and her
desks, an audible groan escaped her lips. Not only did Matt have the night
off, but from the unorganized stack of files on her desk space, it was apparent
that he also left all of his paperwork for her to finish.
"Hey Detective!"
Turning around, Elisa managed a small smile for
the officer that was approaching her from across the busy room. "Hi
Morgan."
"Did Bluestone stick you with the reports
again?" Officer Morgan asked as he eyed the pile of folders that were
balancing precariously on Elisa's desk.
"Yeah.. I guess this is his way of pay back
for being gone so much last year," Elisa said wryly. "But what
are you still doing here? I thought you'd be out on patrol by now!"
"I should be, but the Captain wants me to go
kick a girl out of the clock tower."
"Another?" Elisa groaned.
"And here I thought we were done with all of the people trying to get up
there and gawk!"
"You and me both," Morgan agreed with a
smile.
"So, how did this girl get up there?"
"I told her how," Morgan
replied sheepishly, his dark cheeks darkening even more while his eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Morgan!" Elisa laughed, shaking her
head in disbelief at her old friend.
"Hey, the girl was really nice, and I didn't
think there'd be any harm in letting her look around while I checked out her
story."
"You're just too nice sometimes," Elisa
chuckled as she glanced at the waiting paperwork.
Catching her wary glance, Officer Morgan quickly
spoke up. "Yeah, maybe I was a little too nice. I really should
be hitting the streets, but first I gotta escort the young lady from the
premises.. unless you'd be willing to put the pile of paperwork off for a couple
of minutes and do this old man a favor?" Morgan trailed off as he
looked at Elisa with twinkling eyes.
"We both know that it'd be you doing me the
favor," Elisa said, smiling gratefully at her old friend. "You
go hit the streets and I'll take care of our curious visitor upstairs."
"Thank you Detective... and please be
gentle; she really was a sweet kid," Morgan implored with a smile as he
started heading for the exit.
"Aren't I always?" Elisa called after
him with a grin. Still smiling Elisa turned away from the huge workload
and headed to the familiar supply closet. Seeing that the ladder was
already down, she quickly climbed up into the shadowy remains of the clock
tower. Peering into the inky darkness, Elisa moved until she was standing in the bright
moonlight of the clock remains. Now doesn't this bring back memories?
she thought wryly as memories of the time she spent here with the clan and of
the night she and Goliath had ended up at this exact location after being
attacked at her apartment. Things would have been so much easier if she
only would have known then about her forgotten past. Then again,
that was the whole point of a memory wipe, wasn't it? To not remember.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and
focusing on the task at hand, Elisa turned back to face the demolished clock
tower. "Hello?" she called out, her voice echoing in the
demolished abyss.
"Uh, oui, une minute s'il vous plaît.. I
mean, one minute, please!" a female voice called out from somewhere in the
darkness. Hiding a smile, Elisa listened as the person stumbled over the
debris and into the moonlight. Surprised, Elisa saw that the 'girl' she
was looking for was in fact a slender young woman with long, pale blond
hair. "Sorry, I was... just..." the young woman trailed off as
she stepped into the moonlight and focused on Elisa.
Her own smile faltering under the young woman's
intense gaze, Elisa shook her head once more. "Listen, you're
not allowed up here, so if you'll follow me I'll escort you back
downstairs..." Elisa trailed off as she noticed the shocked expression
hadn't changed. "Hello?" she asked as she waved a hand in front
of the girl's face.
"You're fey.. no.. not fey.. but
something," the young woman said quietly, her face screwed up tight in
concentration.
Startled, Elisa stepped back a few paces before
she regained her composure. "Excuse me?"
"I can.. I can sense your magic.. what..
what are you?" Lisette asked as she stared closely at the woman, taking in
every detail through her eyes and her other 'senses.'
"I.. um, I'm a detective," Elisa said,
finally regaining control of her shock. "Second class, here at the
23rd precinct..."
"No, that's not what I meant," Lisette
said, shaking her head slowly, I can feel your magic.. but it's not quite that
of the 3rd race..." she trailed off slowly as she continued to stare at the
woman. Something wasn't right here. The woman before her looked
nothing more than an ordinary woman, very beautiful, but still just a human..
but she wasn't. The dark skin, the high cheek bones, the dark
eyes, the long black hair, the jeans and jacket... it all looked human, but she wasn't. The woman before her had an
audible aura of something else, with powerful magic and energy pulsing behind
every move. This 'detective' was very powerful.. and she couldn't be human.
"I.. um.." Elisa trailed off, so
surprised that she didn't know how to answer the young woman's questions.
How could she sense that?
Luckily for Elisa, an escape route quickly
appeared. "Hey Maza! You up there?" a male voice called
out from below in the supply room.
"Uh, yeah..." Elisa said, turning at
the sound of the new voice.
"The Captain is looking for you!"
"Okay, I'll be right down!" Elisa
yelled back, her eyes returning once more to the mysterious young woman.
"Listen.. I have to go back downstairs, but I want you to wait here for
me," Elisa said quietly as she met the young woman's direct gaze.
"But.."
"Listen.. uh..."
"Lisette," the young woman supplied
quickly, a small frown pulling at her lips.
"Okay Lisette. I want you to wait here
for me.. I'll be back soon," Elisa said as she started moving towards the
ladder leading down to the dark supply room.
"But I need to find the gargoyles!"
Lisette called out as she followed the detective.
Stopping abruptly, Elisa turned to face the young
woman, throwing her off because of the quick stop. "What?"
"I came here to find the gargoyles.. can you
help me, Detective Maza?" Lisette asked, flashing a small grin at the older
woman.
Looking into her crystal blue eyes, Elisa was
amazed at the depth found within.. it was like looking into a bottomless
pit. Shaking her head, Elisa broke her gaze and started backing down the
ladder. Stopping at a half way point, Elisa looked back up at the shadowy
figure of Lisette. "Listen, just wait right here for me.. I'll be
back as soon as I can get away and then we can talk. Alright?"
Sighing, Lisette nodded curtly and mumbled,
"Fine, I'll wait here for you.. but please hurry."
Smiling, Elisa continued down the ladder and
called out, "I'll be right back!" before closing the door of the
supply room behind her.
Sighing once more, Lisette turned away from the
ladder and moved till she was once more staring out into the dark night from the
open face of the clock tower, dropping her backpack on the floor beside
her. What was going on? She should be out in the night searching for
the gargoyle clan.. then again, maybe this Elisa Maza would be able to help her
find them. And even if she didn't know about the gargoyles, it would still be
worthwhile to find out exactly what she was; maybe she knew of her
mother... "No, my mother is dead.." Lisette murmured to herself
as she stared out into the dark night sky.
Suddenly, a flash of red caught her eye.
Turning, Lisette studied the dark night carefully, searching for what had caught
her attention. There it was again. Turning, Lisette strained her
eyes, trying to make out what she was seeing. Just at that moment, the
moon decided to make a sudden appearance from behind its cloud cover, revealing
the shape she had been trying to see. "A gargoyle," Lisette
breathed, watching the form in amazement.
Now she was left with a decision..
should she wait for the mysterious detective to return or should she chase
after the gargoyle that she saw? It didn't take long for Lisette to decide
on the gargoyle -- that was her main purpose in being there, after all.
Besides,
she always knew where she could find the detective.
Moving quickly, Lisette
mumbled something in French and then in a flash of green light her form changed:
body lengthening about half a foot, skin turning light blue, blond
hair turning even paler till it was almost white, jeans and tee shirt melting
away to be replaced by a white halter and loincloth, and talons, wings, and a
tail sprouting from her form -- her transformation complete.
Smiling at her luck, Lisette turned and jumped from the edge of the
clock tower, her wings catching her easily and lifting her high into the dark
night sky. It had been quite a while since she had done this.. glided on
the dark currents of the night. Not since that night so long
ago.. the last night she had glided with her clan -- the night before their
destruction. Looking down at the city streets below, Lisette marveled once
more at the gift that she had. "If it was not for you mother, I would
not be able to see the world as I now do," she murmured as a warm current of
air carried her higher into the night sky. Clearing her mind once more, Lisette turned and followed
the air currents, straining to catch up to the gargoyle she had spotted.
Moving through the crowded hallway, Elisa hurried
past the throng of people, sidestepping crooks, cops, and lost civilians.
After a few more twists and turns she finally arrived at her destination:
Captain Maria Chavez's office. Taking a deep breath to steady herself,
Elisa lifted up her hand and knocked on the closed door.
"Come in," was the hardened reply that
she received.
Forcing a smile on her face, Elisa opened the
door and stepped into the cluttered office. "You called for me,
Cap?"
"Yes I did. Where have you been?"
Captain Chavez said as she looked up at Elisa through narrowed eyes, the
paperwork she had been working on temporarily forgotten.
"I told Morgan that I'd escort the girl who
was snooping around in the clock tower to the door," Elisa said truthfully,
her usual half smirk showing through.
"Uh huh. That's good.. so what are you
going to do now?"
"Um, excuse me?" Elisa said, completely
caught off guard.
"Well, when I came in here tonight, I
couldn't help but notice the pile of late paperwork that was stacked on your
desk. You were about to tell me that you were going to spend the majority
of tonight finishing that up and then finally turning it in, right?" Chavez
asked, an evil glint in her eyes. "Unless you've somehow managed to
finish all of that work in the last few minutes?" she asked archly as she crossed her arms
and waited for an answer.
"No, I was just..."
"Stop. I don't want to hear it.
Whatever it is, it can wait. Right now I want you to get your little butt
back to your desk and finish that paperwork!"
"But Cap..."
"No
buts," Chavez quickly interrupted
as she stood up from her seat and leaned across the desk, her hard eyes meeting
Elisa's. "I'm not stupid Detective, I know of the little game that
you and Bluestone play -- always leaving the dirty work for the other one.
Well, you're here now, so you're stuck with it!"
"And that was just what I was planning on
doing," Elisa said with a sigh as she turned away from the Captain and left
her office. Trudging across the busy squad room to her desk, Elisa
couldn't help but look towards the ceiling and curse her rotten luck for not
getting out of the precinct sooner. "Guess my mystery woman
there will have to wait," she muttered as she took off her red jacket,
rolled up her black sleeves and turned back towards her desk... and looked down in
surprise. Next to the huge pile of paperwork that was scattered on her desk
sat a long and narrow white box.
Surprised, Elisa slowly drew the box closer to
her as she turned to survey the busy squad room. Everything looked
normal. Curious, Elisa slowly reached out and opened the lid of the box
and gasped. Within the box lay three of the most beautiful red roses she
had ever seen in all of her very long existence lying on white cotton.
Exhaling slowly, Elisa reached her hand down tentatively and picked up one of
the three roses and held it to her nose. It was a perfect rose.
Suddenly, one of the long and sharp thorns
stabbed into her delicate skin, causing her to cry out in pain as the rose
tumbled back down to her desk. While holding her hand protectively in her
hand, Elisa looked around quickly and was relieved to see that the sound of her
cry had been covered up by the loud squad room. Turning her head, her long
black hair trailing down her back, Elisa looked down at her hand and watched as
the wound healed quickly, leaving only a small smear of blood where the wound
once stood.
"Man, if anyone ever saw something like that
happen, my cover would be blown," Elisa thought worriedly to herself.
She just couldn't afford to get hurt in front of anyone, because now that she
was in her body, the body of Talika the protector instead of a mortal's body,
she couldn't control her healing. If she received any sort of
wound, it would instantly heal up, no matter if she wanted it to or not.
The mortal body of Elisa Maza that could receive wounds and sustain them was
dead and gone forever.
Shaking her head, Elisa turned back to her desk
and saw that the white cotton lying beneath the three red roses now had a drop
of blood: her blood from the wicked thorn. For some reason, the roses no
longer looked beautiful, but ominous instead. Shaking her head once more,
Elisa quickly closed the lid of the box and pushed it aside, turning once more
back to the large stack of paperwork; she would ask Goliath about the roses
later.. after all, even though he was asleep now, he could have found someway to
deliver the roses.. who else would have given them to her?
Somewhere over Manhattan
"Argh! This isn't getting me
anywhere!" Lisette groaned in frustration. She had been doing her
best to catch up to the mysterious gargoyle for the last half hour.
Instead, it seemed that despite her best efforts, she was only managing to follow
her and maintain the distance between them. "Yep, it definitely has
been a while!" she huffed as she strained her tired wings. Suddenly
she had an idea. "If I can't catch up to her, then I might as well go
in front of her!" Lisette huffed. Quickly she stopped moving and
began to hover over the dark streets below. Murmuring something quickly in
a mix between French and Latin, Lisette then began to glow a bright green. When the glow dissipated from around
her, she found herself standing on the rooftop of a building in her human
form. Turning quickly she caught sight of the
gargoyle. From this close, she could tell that she was female,
with blue skin and wild red hair.
"Hey!" Lisette yelled, jumping onto her
tip toes as she started waving her hands in the air wildly above her.
"Hey! Over here!"
Startled, the blue gargoyle looked down and saw
the young woman waving frantically at her. "Humans!" Demona
growled in hate as she stared down at the beautiful young woman. She was
still in the process of trying to eliminate all of the humans of the world, but
it didn't hurt to kill this one now. Smiling evilly, Demona descended
quickly in the night sky till she landed a few feet away from the annoying human
woman.
"Hi!" Lisette huffed, trying to catch
her breath. "I did not think that I would ever be able to get your
attention!"
"Oh, you got my attention all right,
human!" Demona growled as she reached behind her and unslung her laser
gun from around her back.
Confused at the venom in the gargoyle's voice,
Lisette backed up a few paces and stared at the gargess. Already she
could see her eyes lighting up in a flash of red -- never a good sign when
dealing with a gargoyle, for that usually signified anger. "What..
what's wrong?" Lisette stuttered as she watched the gargoyle take something
out from behind her back. The object was about two to three feet long and
made from a black metal unlike she had ever seen before.
"Die you foolish human!" Demona
screamed out as she pulled the trigger on the device and an arc of deadly red
light shot out and crossed the distance between them, intercepting once with the
human's right shoulder.
Screaming out in pain, Lisette quickly fell to
the ground. Gaping up at the gargoyle that now towered over her, she
gently lifted her hand up and pressed it against her shoulder, whimpering as the
pain flared through her shoulder. Pulling it away quickly, Lisette was
amazed and horrified to see that her hand was now covered in blood -- her blood.
Laughing maniacally, Demona raised the gun once
more and aimed it at the young human's head. "And another one bites
the dust," she whispered quietly as her finger began to tighten once more
on the trigger...
This couldn't be happening. This couldn't
be a gargoyle before her! Gargoyles were born to protect, it was a part of
their nature! But all that this gargoyle seemed capable of was destruction
-- her destruction at the moment. Quickly Lisette felt her eyes
begin to burn a bright green as her pain and fear began to change into a
blinding anger. In a sudden burst of magic, Lisette sent the startled
gargoyle flying across the rooftop where she landed in a pile, instantly knocked
unconscious.
"Bitch," Lisette mumbled, recalling the
one word that she had heard so often since her arrival.. most commonly used in a
negative tone of voice towards women. She had no real idea of what it
meant, but she imagined that it wasn't good. Straining, Lisette slowly got
to her feet, crying out in pain as even that small movement caused her shoulder
to burn. As the tears stung her eyes, Lisette moved across the roof until
she was standing over the evil gargoyle's body. "Je te n'aime pas,
donc, tu dois aller à l'Antarctica maintenant!" (I don't like you, therefore, you should go to Antarctica now!) she whispered harshly as a green
glow overtook her blue eyes once more. As the green dissipated, so did the evil gargoyle that had
attacked her.
Instantly a pang of guilt
sprang from within
her. "But, elle était mal!" she reasoned with herself in her
native tongue. Shaking her head, Lisette decided to worry about it later
as another wave of pain shot from her injured limb. Crying out, Lisette clutched her shoulder with
her already bloody hand, any slight movement causing pain now. Gritting
her teeth, she searched the rooftop for her backpack before realizing that she
had left it back at the clock tower.
"Great, just great. And
where is the clock tower now, oh stupid one?" she asked herself as she
turned in a circle and surveyed her surroundings. Everywhere she looked she saw building
after tall building, all looking the same and none looking familiar.
"With my arm hurt, I will never be able to glide back to the clock tower, and
without my sack, I have no money which means I cannot take a cab or use anything to
help stop the bleeding," Lisette said in frustration
as she realized how much her predicament really did suck. "Now I am
stuck somewhere in New York City, which is probably as big as Paris, with no
idea where I am, hurt, no money, and no way to get back to the only place where
I actually knew someone!" she ground out, wishing all the more that she
would have stayed at the clock tower like the detective has asked her to -- or
better yet, back in France.
"But whining about it
will not aid the
situation," she countered to herself once more. Looking around
the deserted rooftop, Lisette found what she was looking for on the far
corner: a clothesline with two large sheets draped over it. Grimacing
at the throb in her shoulder, Lisette moved slowly across the roof and then
gently ripped off a piece of the sheet. Steeling herself against the
pain, she then tied it tightly around her wounded shoulder. She knew that
it wouldn't hold for long, but hoped that it would at least stop the bleeding for
now.
"And now time to get down from here,"
she said firmly as she walked to the edge of the building and looked down to the
ground. Sighing, she bit her lip against the pain in her shoulder and then
quickly cast a spell that placed her on the sidewalk five stories below. Turning,
she then lifted her head high and began
to walk along the deserted sidewalk; where to, she had no idea, but at least she
was going somewhere.
That, though, remained a good question: where would she go
now? Did she even need to go back to the clock tower and the detective
there? Maybe to get her bag, but that was it. Her purpose there in
New York City was no longer. All this experience with this gargoyle did
was prove to her that not all gargoyles were as kind and as good as her clan
back in France. But they were nothing more than dust that lived on in her
memories. The clan here in Manhattan was obviously nothing like them..
they were evil and cruel.. and maybe they did have something to do with the bombing
of the clock tower. The menace in that gargoyle's eyes was enough to make
Lisette believe anything.. not since the Roman's had she seen such hate in a
person's eyes.
But now what? Her whole reason for being here in New
York City was to find a purpose with this new clan. Should she go back to
Bretagne? But what was there? Definitely not the existence that she
wanted.. alone with her memories. Alone. That was what she was
feeling. Her dreams had been shattered once more and now she was alone
with her destroyed hope and her memories. Now she was in a new world with
no home, no friends, and no one to love her or care of she lived or died -- she had never felt more alone in her
life... not even when she awoke in the cave, confused and disoriented with her
mentor's dusty remains laying on the floor beside her. She was all alone
now.
NYPD 23rd Precinct
Sighing, Elisa turned off the computer and closed
the folder that she had been working on. Turning, she put the folder on
the newly organized stack of files that had been lying on her desk.
"Done," she mumbled with a small smile as she picked up the heavy load
and moved it over to Matt's desk. "I'll just let him take care of
filing it!" Elisa continued with a grin as she stood from her chair and stretched her stiff muscles.
Leaning down, she grabbed her red coat from the chair, slipped it on,
and moved down the hallway, up the stairs, and to the supply closet.
"Time for some answers," she murmured as she pulled down the ladder
and climbed them until she was once more standing in the devastated clock
tower. "Hello!?" Elisa yelled as she surveyed the dark wreck.
"Lisette?"
Silence was her only answer. "Where
did she go?" Elisa asked herself as she surveyed the dark ruins.
Turning towards the open clock face, a piece of black cloth caught her
eye. Moving closer, Elisa saw that it was the backpack that the young
woman had slung over her shoulder earlier. Bending down, Elisa knelt
before the heavy sack, her conscious weighing against her curiosity.
Eventually, her curiosity won out. Looking around the ruins to make sure
that she was alone, Elisa gently reached down and opened the zipper on the large
part of the bag. After digging around for a couple of minutes, she found
nothing of interest: a discman, CDs, batteries, a couple of French novels, three
candy bars, and a bottle of water. Sighing, Elisa then moved to the smaller pocket. There she
hit the jackpot.
Inside she found a hairbrush, gum, a pen, a small
notebook with the address of the precinct on it, a small dark blue velvet pouch,
a passport, and a small black leather wallet. Smiling at her luck, Elisa
first opened the billfold. Right away she found a wad of French and
American money, which together totaled more than $50,000 US dollars.
"At least I can be sure that she had enough money to survive here in New
York City... although right now she's sitting without this money," Elisa
thought worriedly to herself.
After checking the pockets of the billfold
and finding nothing else, she then moved to the French passport. According
to the information there, the young woman that she had met earlier was really
Talia Seul. "Talia Seul.. Talia Alone.." Elisa murmured, relying
on her knowledge of the French language to translate the meaning of the last name. She was born on June
25, 1979, making her 19 years old, in the province of Bretagne in France.
"Why would she lie to me about her name?.. unless her name really
isn't Talia Seul either," Elisa thought out loud as she stared at the picture of
Lisette. Shaking her head, Elisa put the wallet and passport back into the
bag.
Curious, she then picked up the small, dark blue
velvet bag. Pulling gently on the ribbon that tied the bag shut, Elisa
stared in wonder at the contents of the bag. Inside were eight coins that
caught and reflected the moonlight. Carefully, Elisa reached out and
lifted one of the coins, allowing the moon to reflect off of its
surface so that she could read its dulled surface. Gasping, Elisa quickly lowered
the coin and placed it back with the others. "Eight French coins that
date back to 990 AD... they must be worth a fortune!!"
Quickly Elisa
redid the delicate ribbon and placed the velvet bag back into the
backpack. Picking it up, she quickly slung the bag over her shoulder and hurried down the ladder and into the
halls of the 23rd precinct. "I have to get to Goliath and have him
help me.. we need to find her!" Elisa mumbled as she rushed down the hall
and out of the building, ignoring the stares of her fellow co-workers as she
jumped into her car and tore out into the night traffic, before she gets
herself in trouble she finished silently, worry creasing her brow.
Somewhere else over Manhattan
"I can't believe you ate the whole
thing," Brooklyn muttered as he eyed his gliding companion's paunch.
"Hey, all this gliding gave me an
appetite!" Broadway protested as he patted his large blue stomach good
naturedly. "Besides, I said you could have some."
"Yeah, after you finished it off!"
Lexington piped up from Broadway's other side. "Whoa! Talk
about deja vu!" he quickly exclaimed as he looked at his rookery brothers
in amazement.
"Probably because this happens nearly every
time we go on patrol together!" Brooklyn said as he dipped his wings to
glide lower and miss Broadway's swipe.
"Ha ha, very funny!" Broadway growled.
"Ah, he's just steamed cause Goliath took
Angela patrolling with him and he got stuck with us!" Lexington laughed as
he too avoided his rookery brother's aim.
Soon a full out war began as the three brothers
swirled and dipped, trying to best the rest. They hadn't had fun like this
in ages; they hadn't had the chance to act like rookery children in ages.
Still laughing, Brooklyn stopped doing the aerobatics and started gliding back
towards the Aerie building. "Come on guys, let's head back
to the castle -- the others are probably back by now!" Brooklyn laughed.
"Are you suggesting this as our second in
command?" Lexington laughed as he caught up to Brooklyn.
Winging up on Brooklyn's other, Broadway tried to
put on a serious face -- failing miserably -- and said, "Yes, oh mighty leader,
we shall do as you command!"
Rolling his eyes at the laughing duo, Brooklyn
just smiled and said, "No, as your rookery bro-" he trailed off as
his eyes narrowed.
"Our rookery
what?" Broadway asked in
disbelief.
Laughing, Lexington quickly nudged his brick colored brother. "What
was that?" he questioned, smiling broadly.
"Just shut up and look!" Brooklyn
snapped as he pointed to something on the ground in front of them.
Silencing immediately at the intensity in
Brooklyn's voice, the two gargoyles quickly glanced in the indicated
direction. About 100 yards in front of them walked a young human woman on
the deserted sidewalk.
"Jeez, when will these humans learn that it
isn't a good idea to go walking around by yourself at night?" Lexington
asked as he peered down at the young woman.
Shaking his head, Broadway met Lexington's gaze
and said, "I don't know, but all it does is make our job more
difficult. Should we follow her to make sure that she gets where she's
going alright?"
"Probably.. Brooklyn?" Lexington asked,
turning to his rookery brother.
"Yeah, it's a good idea to make sure that
she does make it alright, but I don't think that all three of us need to follow
her. If you guys want, I'll go ahead and make sure she gets home and you
two can head back to the castle," Brooklyn suggested as he followed the
young woman's movements with his sharp eyes.
Shrugging his shoulders, Broadway turned and met
Lexington's gaze once more. "I think that it's a good idea.. but are
you saying it as our rookery brother..."
"Or as our second in command?"
Lexington finished with a small smile.
Turning to glare half heartedly at his brothers,
Brooklyn grinned instead and said, "As your second in command. Now
get moving before Goliath begins to worry!"
Laughing, the two brothers altered their course
and began to glide back in the direction of the castle. Brooklyn barely
heard Lexington say, "He just thinks that she's pretty and wants to be her
hero if she needs help!" before they both broke up in a fit of laughter that
gradually died away on the night breeze.
Smiling, Brooklyn shook his head as he dipped
lower to follow the young woman's progress more closely. As he got closer,
he realized that Lex was right.. she was beautiful from what he could see.. for a human that is.
She was wearing blue jeans, a white tee shirt, a red piece of cloth tied around
her shoulder, long blond hair that stretched down her back.. a
red piece of cloth? Squinting his eyes to see better in the night gloom,
Brooklyn saw that the red piece of cloth was in fact tied tightly around her
shoulder, and that not only was it red, but it glistened slightly under the
occasional light of a street lamp.. as though it were wet. Also, he could
now make out red splotches all over the back of her white shirt. Concern etching his
face, Brooklyn glided lower still and watched closely as the young woman
continued walking down the side-walk, her gate becoming more and more uneven as
she occasionally placed a slender hand against a nearby wall for support.
Just as Brooklyn was about to dive down to assist
the woman, a loud and jeering voice caused them both to pause. Shaking his
head, Brooklyn quickly glided down to the nearest rooftop and watched with
glowing eyes as four guys sauntered out from a dark alley and encircled
the young woman.
"Hey baby, whatcha doing out so late?"
one of the guys with green, spiky hair asked quietly as he advanced on her.
"Alone?" the other
guys taunted as
they expertly began to move closer, causing her to back away.. right into the
alley.
"I am going to the police station, thank
you," Lisette said coldly, her eyes flashing angrily as the young men began
backing her into the alley.
"Oh hoh.. did you hear that boys? The
girlie is going to the police station!" the leader of the group, the one
with the green, spiky hair cried out as the rest began to whoop and laugh.
"Well, hey baby.." the leader crooned as he darted forward and pushed
Lisette against a grimy brick wall, his body pinning her against it while
he gently pet one hand against her smooth cheek. "We can help you
out!" he whispered fiercely as his friends drew up beside him.
"Hey look at that! She's
bleedin'!" one of the boys cried out with a stupid grin on his face as he poked
at her bandaged shoulder.
Screaming out in pain, Lisette flinched as
darkness started to steal over her vision. Reacting quickly, the leader
quickly covered her mouth with his dirty hand as one hand began to travel
lower. "Shh, honey.. we don't want anyone interruptin' us."
As the pain subsided and the throbbing returned,
Lisette turned her icy stare on the young leader. Meeting his dark glare,
she felt her eyes slowly begin to burn green as her anger built. Suddenly
she released it all in a burst of magic that sent the leader flying across the
alley and into the far wall. "DO.. NOT.. TOUCH ME!" Lisette
cried out, her breath heaving as she fought to regain her composure.
"What the hell!?"
"Did you guys see that!"
"What's up with this bitch? Let's get
the hell out of here!" the other members of the little punk squad yelled
out as they turned to run from the scene.
"No! Grab her!" the leader called
out, halting his friends in mid-step. "This bitch is going to
pay!" he said as he brought a hand to his mouth and wiped away a trickle of
blood.
At this command, the group quickly shrugged their
shoulders and began advancing on the woman. Seeing this, Lisette quickly
called upon her magic and started dealing out devastating blows to the
group. And up from above, Brooklyn continued to watch, his mouth wide
in amazement. Just as he was about to come down and kick some butt,
the woman surprised him by sending the leader across the alley, her eyes glowing
green.
"She's fey!" he gasped in amazement. Frozen in
shock, he continued to watch as she began fighting the group of punks using
nothing else but magic. Suddenly, he saw the leader of the group begin to
sneak around Lisette, moving closer and closer to her unprotected back as she
dealt with the others. Seeing the punk's intent and having no time to dive, Brooklyn did the
only thing that he could think of.. the exact wrong thing to do.
"Hey, watch out!"
Startled, Lisette broke off her attack and looked
high up into the alley in search of the cry. That second of inattention
was the one thing that the leader needed as he darted forward and dug his nails
into Lisette's shoulder wound, causing her to scream out in agony. This
time she could do nothing to prevent the darkness from swimming up to meet her
as she lapsed into unconsciousness.
As the woman fell to the ground, the group of
punks hesitantly advanced forward, afraid of another attack. When they saw
that none would be forthcoming, they knelt beside her.. ready to watch at first
and then take their turn at revenge on the beautiful girl.
Slipping out a jack knife, the leader
inched the gleaming blade towards the top of her shirt when a
demon like roar broke the quiet of the night. "Oh God," the
leader stuttered in fear as the knife dropped out of his hands and onto the
grimy ground of the alley. Turning, he just had enough time to turn and
stare up into the sky before he was knocked off of his feet and to the ground by
a flash of red. Groaning, he looked up and into the eyes of the Devil
himself. "A gargoyle!" he screamed out in panic as the
glowing red eyes focused on him. "Let's get out of here!!" he
screeched in panic as he scrambled to his feet and ran from the alley, the rest
of his gang close behind.
Sighing, Brooklyn allowed his eyes to quit
glowing as he turned back to the young woman. She didn't look so
hot. Her shoulder wound was bleeding fiercely, easily soaking the bandage
and dripping down her arm as her tanned face became increasingly pale.
"She needs help," Brooklyn muttered thoughtfully as he knelt beside
her. Just as he had seen Elisa do it before, Brooklyn gently reached out one hand and placed it firmly
over the wound, hoping to slow the bleeding. Groaning, the young woman
shifted slightly, but still didn't regain consciousness. "I can't
bring her to the hospital.. what if they try using some instrument with iron on
her!" Brooklyn said aloud to himself as he stared at her face. She
was even more beautiful in person, with high cheek bones, a small, pert nose over wide, full
red lips. "I need to take her to the castle," Brooklyn finally
mumbled to himself, coming to a quick decision. It made the most sense,
because not only did Xanatos have state of the art equipment, but there was also
the rest of the clan, a fey, a half fey, and a quarter fey living there.. they
may just be of some help.
Nodding to himself, Brooklyn leaned forward and gently slid his arms under the woman and easily lifted her into his
arms. When she didn't wake he turned and surveyed the dark
alley. He needed to get higher so that he could get some altitude and
find wind currents to glide off of. Disappointed, he quickly realized
that there was nothing to be found here that would do the job: just trash bags
and a few dumpsters. Sighing, Brooklyn gently readjusted his hold till he
was holding on to her firmly around the waist with one arm, her head tilted
forward. Careful not to jostle his passenger, Brooklyn
gently scaled the side of the building, the crunch of stone the only noise. It was
extremely slow going, each step a baby one because of the difficulty of trying
to climb with one hand, but a few minutes later he was at a high enough height
that he was able to push away from the wall and let his wings catch him.
Once he was airborne he readjusted his grip on the unconscious young woman
once more so that he was again carrying her in his arms, her head supported on
his shoulder.
"Goliath's not going to believe this,"
he muttered as he soared higher into the night sky, looking down at his
passenger to see her eyes moving quickly beneath the cover of her eye lids..
dream time.
Smiling, the young baby gurgles in her mother's
warm grip, the arms safe and protective as she stares across the room. It
was the same room.. always the same room with the same view: grimy dirt
floors, a hearth with a small fire burning, a rickety old table with wooden
benches, an old bed made out of lumber pressed against the far corner, and the
pale and cold sunlight seeping in through the open doorway. No, look at
her face.. please look at her face! Lisette begged of her mind's eye.. it
wasn't to be. Every time it was the same dream with the same view.
Laughing, the baby gurgles some more as she is
gripped tighter by the hands as she rises higher in the air, moving with the
mother as she stands up from her chair quickly. This isn't a game!!
Look at her face! Lisette urged, knowing that the baby wouldn't do any
different than usual.. too young to understand.
Suddenly the room begins to tilt as the baby is
lowered quickly to the floor and then laid on the cold dirt. The cold
upsets the child, and she quickly begins to scream with tear filled eyes.
Turning her small head, the young infant watches through blurry eyes as the
mother walks towards the open door, never once looking back.
Then she stops. Holding her breath, Lisette
urged for the dream to go on. As the baby continues to cry, the mother
stops by the door and weakly reaches one tanned, slender hand out and rests it against the
door, the hand trembling. Ever so slowly she begins to turn. Just as
the corner of the woman's face reaches the light, the dream slowly fades to
black.
No, Lisette sobbed in her mind's eye as darkness
once more reigned over her world. I need to see her face...
Aerie Building
As the elevator dinged open on the highest part
of the Aerie building, Detective Elisa Maza rushed through the opening and into
the Great Hall of Castle Wyvern. Turning in circles, she quickly found
what she was looking for. "Owen!" she yelled as she rushed up to
the calm as ever man servant.
"Yes Detective Maza?" he asked in his
usual bored voice.
"I need to speak with Goliath! Where
is he?" Elisa panted, trying to regain her breath.
"I do believe that he and the rest of the
clan are gathered outside in the courtyard."
"The courtyard?" Elisa asked in
disbelief. Usually when she came to the castle, the clan was always
gathered in the recreation room with Goliath hidden away in the library reading
one novel or another.
"Yes, they have just returned from patrol
and are.. uh hem, swapping stories," Owen said, raising his eyebrow
slightly as he said the last part, indicating that it wasn't his own term to
describe the event.
Nodding her head, Elisa turned and ran towards
the far end of the room where the large doors leading into the courtyard were
located. "Thanks Owen!" she yelled over her back as Elisa pulled
open the massive doors and ran into the courtyard.
It was beautiful out
here, with spring already past and summer in full bloom. There were trees,
grass, and flowers of all varieties blooming in the warm night air. But
Elisa saw none of this. Ignoring the beautiful scenery, she ran past and out onto the stone
parapets where the clan was gathered. "Goliath!"
"Elisa?" Goliath asked in confusion and
the beginnings of worry as he watched his love run up to the group.
"I need your help!" Elisa said as she
pulled to a stop beside the group, ignoring the looks of worry from everyone
gathered.
"What's wrong Elisa?" Angela asked as
she watched her human friend closely.
"Do you need help with a case?"
Broadway broke in eagerly, a smile lighting up his face.
Flashing one of her small smiles, Elisa shook her
head at Broadway. "No case, but something different. I need
your guys' help finding someone!"
"Who lass?" Hudson asked as he
scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"She's
in her late teens, early twenties, with long blond hair that
stretches down her back, blue eyes, about my height, 110 pounds, tall and
thin, and last seen wearing baggy blue jeans and a white tee shirt," Elisa
described from memory, replaying her time with the girl in her head.
"Also, her name is either Lisette or Talia Seul."
Just then a sudden noise from behind the group
caused them all to turn quickly in surprise. "I think that I just
found who you're looking for," Brooklyn panted quickly as he hopped down
from the parapets, careful not to jostle the girl anymore than necessary.
"Oh God, what happened?" Elisa said,
immediately by Brooklyn's side as she gently checked out the shoulder wound.
"To her shoulder? I don't know.
But I found her wandering the streets where she was attacked by a gang of
punks..."
"Was she hurt?" Angela asked quickly,
concern touching her face as she looked at the still form of the woman.
"Why didn't you take her to the
hospital?" Goliath asked, worry creasing his own features.
"No, she wasn't hurt," Brooklyn
answered quickly to Angela as he began moving past the clan. "She
managed to fight them off pretty well on her own."
"She fought them off on her own?"
Lexington asked in amazement as he looked at her small frame, moving beside
Brooklyn.
"Where are ye going lad?" Hudson asked
as Brooklyn hurried past.
"To the infirmary, and get Owen!" he
yelled over his shoulder, with Elisa and Lexington running beside him.
"Owen?" Broadway asked in
confusion. "Why do we need Owen?!"
"Because I think that she's fey!" was
the yelled response as Brooklyn disappeared from sight.
"What?!"
"Broadway, go find Owen! Hudson,
Angela, come with me!" Goliath ordered as he turned quickly and began
running after his second in command, the rest of the clan in hot pursuit.
As Goliath rounded the final hall, he quickly
entered the infirmary where he saw Elisa and Brooklyn bent over the young
woman. "Elisa?..."
"Where's Owen?" Elisa asked as she
gently untied the cloth that was wrapped tightly around the girl's shoulder.
"Broadway went to find him.." Goliath
trailed off as he stared at the red wound on the girl's shoulder.
"Is it a gun shot wound?" Lexington
asked quietly from his perch against the wall.
"No, I don't think so.. I can't see any gun
powder or anything..." Elisa muttered as she grabbed a scissors lying on a
stainless steel table nearby and gently cut off the sleeve of the shirt and
pulled it away to show the wound. "It looks like a clean hole
straight through her shoulder..."
"A laser?" Brooklyn asked as he pressed
his hand over the wound in hopes of slowing the bleeding.
"I think so," Elisa agreed grimly,
meeting his shocked expression.
Suddenly the door burst open behind them as Owen
and Broadway hurried into the room. Without saying a word the man servant moved
instantly by the young woman's side, pushing Elisa and Brooklyn out the
way. There was no reaction or no word as he quickly went to work on her
shoulder, a tense silence falling over the room. A while later, Owen
finally stepped away from the young woman, a clean white strip wrapping its way
around her shoulder and arm.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything, they
watched as the mysterious young woman's eyes fluttered open. The first
thing that those striking blue eyes saw was Brooklyn's smiling face.
"Oh no!" Lisette whispered as her eyes widened in fear and she sat up
quickly, crying out as the pain flared up in her arm.
"Hey, take it easy!" Elisa said
quickly, instantly by the girl's side.
"You!" Lisette gasped, recognizing the
detective easily.
"Who else? Now just hold still or else
you're going to hurt your arm even more," Elisa soothed as she gently
pushed the young woman back onto the infirmary bed.
"But.. but the gargoyles," Lisette
gasped as she looked at the gargoyle clan, who now all mirrored her shocked
expression.
"It's okay, they're friends!" Elisa
urged, a small smile on her face. "Besides, I thought that was why
you came here.. to find the gargoyles..."
"It was... but one of your clan sisters
found me first..."
"Uh oh," Lex murmured as the picture of
that particular gargoyle came to mind.
"And the first thing that she did was shoot
me in the shoulder with.. fire, from this big machine!" Lisette said
angrily, her eyes flashing a bright green, which caused everyone in the room to
flinch back in surprise.
"Demona!" Brooklyn growled, his eyes
flashing white as he thought of his hated enemy.
"Ah.. so she finally made it back to New
York City," Elisa said thoughtfully, thinking back to when she sent Demona
to Norway in a fit of anger.. well justified anger.
"It was a short stay then," Lisette
snapped angrily, her eyes flashing once more that eerie
green of the fey as she thought of the gargess's unexpected trip to Antarctica.
"Are you one of Oberon's children?"
Lexington asked quietly, breaking in on her anger.
"What?" Lisette asked, thrown off guard
for a minute.
"Are you fey?" he persisted, the
perfect picture of innocence.
For a moment, the anger faded back from her eyes
as she smiled at the younger gargoyle. "I.. wait a minute!" she
broke off suddenly, the wary look entering her bright blues once more.
"How do I know that you will not hurt me with another of those
machines?" she asked, eyeing the clan.
"It's called a laser gun, and it's because
it's not our way to do that.. attack humans.." Brooklyn answered slowly.
"But isn't this Demona a part of your
clan?" Lisette asked, not letting her guard down yet.
"Not any longer," Goliath answered with
a tired sigh.
"I.. I do not understand," Lisette
answered back, her French accent mixed in with her melodious voice causing each
to strain to hear her words. "Is she the one who destroyed your home
above the clock tower?"
"How did you know about that?" Elisa
asked in confusion. "You were in France at the time, weren't
you?"
"Yes," Lisette answered slowly, eyeing
Elisa suspiciously. "It was all over the news.. that bombing of your
home at the police station... how many are there in your clan?" she asked,
taking them all off guard at her sudden change in topic. "The news
footage showed only four gargoyle forms.."
"Well, after the massacre at Wyvern, there
are just seven of us. There's Lexington, Broadway, Goliath -- our
leader," Brooklyn began explaining, pointing to each gargoyle in
turn. "And Hudson -- the previous leader, Angela,
Goliath's daughter, and then there's Elisa Maza and that there is Owen
Burnett..."
"And this is Brooklyn, the gargoyle that
saved you from that gang and brought you here," Elisa interrupted as she
pointed to Brooklyn with a small smile forming on her face.
Smiling tentatively at the gathered group,
Lisette lifted a small hand and pointed to herself. "And I am
Lisette.. but what is this you said about a massacre?" she asked, her voice
straining at the mention of the word.
"A very long story," Goliath broke in
sadly, thinking back to all of their adventures of the past three years.
"Very well," Lisette agreed,
understanding the need for silence about something so personal. Besides,
there was something else that still bothered her. "But if you are human,
Elisa, then why can I sense such powerful magic from you?" Lisette asked,
once more taking the detective off guard by such a direct question.
"Ah.." Elisa stuttered as her gaze
jumped back and forth between Goliath and Owen, the only ones who knew the real
story.
"Well," Brooklyn broke in quickly, not
even noticing the small look of relief that spread across Elisa's face.
"Apparently when Puck turned her into a gargoyle one time, she developed
the ability to do magic as a side effect.."
"Turned into a gargoyle?" Lisette asked
in confusion.
"Long story," Brooklyn replied with a
sheepish grin.
"But.. who is Puck?" Lisette asked, her
confusion growing.
Sighing, Angela shook her head slowly and smiled
at the young woman. "That could get complicated."
At this, Lisette leaned back against the propped
up pillows and thought for a moment. It all sounded plausible.. it could
happen. But for some reason, Lisette had the gnawing feeling that it
wasn't the whole truth.. Elisa felt just too powerful for that to be the whole
explanation. Shaking her head, Lisette looked up to the clan and smiled a
bright smile.. she would worry about that later. For now she would accept
that explanation.
"But that hasn't answered any of our earlier
questions.." Elisa broke in hesitantly as she laid one of her dark hands on
Lisette's shoulder. Turning, the young woman moved till her dark blue eyes
met her own dark ones. "How can you sense my magic? How did you
fight off those guys? How were you able to send Demona away... and where
did you send her?
And why do your eyes flash green
whenever you become upset? Are you fey?"
"No, she is not," Owen said quietly,
interrupting whatever Lisette was about to say. "I have never seen
her before in my life, and she is not one of my sisters."
At this admission, Lisette cast Owen a strange
glance. "Well, you are partly right," she finally broke in with
a small smile. "I am half human and half something else.. I was born
in 979-"
"Nine hundred seventy-nine?" Brooklyn interrupted in obvious disbelief
and confusion.
"To my parents," Lisette continued, as if he hadn't spoken, "Jean-Marc, a human, and Jasmine, who was not quite
human -- or so we think..."
"You think?" Broadway asked in
confusion.
"Well, I never actually met my mother... or
my father for that matter," Lisette admitted sadly. "A few
months after my birth, my mother disappeared. My father quickly traveled
to a nearby village in the province of Bretagne in Gaul, now called
France. There, he was said to have begged the townspeople for help -- help
that he would never get."
"But why wouldn't the villagers help your
father?" Angela asked quietly.
"Because by that time, rumors of my mother
had spread, and her disappearance only fueled the flame," Lisette replied
softly as her head dropped to her chest. "The villagers were afraid
of her and thought her a witch..."
"Why would they think her a witch?"
Elisa prodded quietly.
"Because strange things would happen
whenever there was magic around... like if our village was ever attacked by
magic, a blow that would maim or kill another villager would cause little to no
damage to my mother.. or so it was said. Also, no one knew who she was or
where she came from, including my mother... just one day she was there... and
the next day she was gone... My father, a very poor farmer, began the
search for my mother by himself. While he searched, the gossip spread
until it reached the ears of the wizard to the lord of the land, Craigen.
Intrigued, he traveled far to our village where he talked to the peasants there
and heard the stories first hand. Even more intrigued, he then traveled to
my father's decrepit cottage where he met with my father. It was then that
he saw what would most likely become of me, and then convinced my papa to
release me to his care..."
"Why did your father give you to the
wizard?" Goliath asked in amazement, casting a quick glance in Angela's
direction.
Sighing, Lisette lifted her head and met
Goliath's baffled gaze. "I like to think that he gave me up because
he loved me so much -- that he knew he could never bring me up properly by
himself -- or that he figured that when he found my mother that they would come
for me... I never had the courage to ask Craigen why, and I was told that my
father died just a few years later, still searching for my mother..." Lisette trailed
off, a sad smile on her porcelain face. Shaking her head, she quickly
steeled her emotions. "In any case, it was done. I was raised
by Craigen in the lord's château where I was taught to read, write, and study
many things -- including the study of magic," Lisette finished with a small
smile.
"He knew
you were magical?" Lexington
asked from his perch on a nearby infirmary bed.
"No, but it was a good guess. Strange
things began happening when I was just a child..."
"Like what?" Angela asked, her eyes
eager in curiosity.
"Well, one story that he told me was that
when I was just an infant one of my bottles began to teeter and fall off of the
counter. Rushing forward, he tried to get to it in time to prevent it from
smashing to the ground... when suddenly the toppling glass halted in mid-air and
then floated back up to its place on the counter. The
only people in the room were he and I. After a few more instances like
that, he became convinced that I was no ordinary child!" Lisette laughed,
instantly lightening the mood in the room.
"What else happened to convince him?"
Elisa asked with a small smile, seeing that these memories were good ones for
the woman.
"Well, one time, when I was just a year old,
I apparently learned how to levitate things...
Craigen's room - 980 AD
Smiling, the young wizard sat at his table and
mixed his brews, trying to create a potion that would magically stop the smell
that always seemed to permeate from the young child's diaper. He knew that
the smell meant that she needed to be changed, but he knew that he could figure
that problem out without having to smell that horrid stench. Periodically,
he would stop his mixing to peer over his shoulder and ensure that the child was
still sitting in the crib that he had made for her.. and staying out of
trouble. Suddenly his smile grew as he realized that he had figured out
the potion, and that all he needed to do was mix these last two bottles.
Ever so carefully young Craigen lifted the
bottles close to his face and began to slowly pour the contents of one bottle
into the other. Almost immediately the substance within changed colors
from a forest green to that of the sky. Grinning, he continued to hold the
bottle up to his face as he absently set the empty bottle on the table.. or
where the table should have been. Surprised, Craigen looked up.. and then
down. Crying out, Craigen realized that he was now floating a good eight
feet off of the ground, his stool and table five feet below him. So
surprised was he that both bottles dropped out of his hands and then smashed on
the stone floor so far below.
A sudden girlish laughter caught his
attention. Turning as best as he could while floating in the air, Craigen
looked down and saw his young ward sitting as she was supposed to.. but her eyes
were glowing an eerie green. Laughing again, she clapped her hands, her
eyes focused firmly on Craigen's flying form. It didn't take a genius or a
wizard to figure out why he was suddenly floating in the air.
"Lisette!" he called out, his voice trembling slightly. Why did
he have to be afraid of heights? "Lisette, sweetie, put me
down!" he called out, trying to keep his voice calm.
Not calm enough, apparently. Smiling, this
caused Lisette to laugh all the harder as she began to move her head back and
forth, causing poor Craigen to float back and forth as well.
"Lisette! Put me down!" he yelled
out as his face began to turn green because of the movement.
"Help!"
Present day and time
"So as you can see, it
did not take a wizard
to figure out that there was something special about me.. and because he met my
father, he knew that it wasn't due to him, which just left my mother."
"Well, at least you didn't drop him on his
head!" Brooklyn said, laughing at the thought of a baby causing her
unsuspecting mentor to float in the air.
"Well, I guess that's one thing to be
grateful for!" Lisette said with a warm smile in Brooklyn's direction.
"Yes, but how did you manage all of this
time? Are you immortal?" Elisa asked, getting back to the subject at
hand. After seeing the young woman's expression fall once more, Elisa
wished all the more that she hadn't.
"If I
were immortal, I would not have this
mess, would I?" Lisette answered with a sad smile as she gazed at the human
detective. Turning slightly, she focused on the warm eyes of Brooklyn
instead. "No, I am definitely not immortal... I spent all of my
time in the château either with Craigen or with the gargoyle clan that
protected the château. They were my friends -- whenever I could, I would
sneak away from my chores and studies so that I could be trained and just be
with the clan.." Lisette said, trailing off as a small smile caused her
full lips to lift slightly at the pleasant memories.
"So the humans and gargoyles lived together
in peace?" Goliath asked, smiling at the thought of his dream of peace
between the two races a reality.
"Well, not exactly... I think that the
humans of the château resented my clan because they were different from
themselves -- which meant that the wizard and I were resented as well,"
Lisette explained slowly, a sad smile filling her face. "In any case,
life went on like that... until the Roman Invasion... It was a time of war --
battles were won and battles were lost, armies advanced and armies
retreated, homes were destroyed.. and friends were killed," Lisette
described as her voice turned hollow and her eyes seemed to focus on
nothing. "One day in the summer, when I was 17 years of age, the
château was attacked by the mighty Roman army..." Lisette whispered as her thoughts traveled back to that time so long ago.
The Lord of Bretagne's Château
-- 996 AD
Yawning, Lisette moved slowly down the stone
hallway of the castle, her long skirts swishing against the floor as the weak
sun filtered through the occasional window. "Oh, these late nights
are killing me!" she said, trying in vain to wipe the sleep from her
eyes. She was late for her lessons with Craigen and she knew it.
From the position of the sun it seemed that it was almost noon. "No, he is going to kill me!" Lisette murmured as she picked up her pace and
quickly began climbing the stone stairs of the tower. Breathless, she
finally reached the top and burst into the cluttered room.
"Craigen?"
"I'm here, just where I said I would be
earlier this morning when it was time for your lessons," an aged voice
replied tersely.
Moving carefully around one cluttered table after
another, Lisette finally found her mentor reading on a stool with a very large
book on his lap. "I'm so sorry, Craigen, but..."
"You were out late with the gargoyle clan
and accidentally slept in," the wizard said as he finally looked up from
the book he was reading to connect his tired brown eyes with her blue.
"It is always the same with you, my child," he sighed, shaking his
white head as he slowly got up from his seat, his brown robes catching the
occasional ray of light.
"But the Romans attacked a nearby village
and I went along to help scare them away..." Lisette argued, trying to
defend her actions.
Waving his hand in the air, Craigen quickly
replied, "And tis good that the gargoyles did so... tis in their very
nature to protect... but you are not a gargoyle."
"But..."
"I know, you can take on the form of a
gargoyle with that magic of yours, but inside you are still a young mage.. my
apprentice and ward... a human being..."
"A halfling," Lisette interrupted
quickly as she watched her mentor begin to mix some concoction.
"Yes, but if the lord or his son ever knew
that at night you changed yourself into a garg..."
"Oh, phooey on the lord, and especially on
his son! I don't like the way he keeps eyeing me!" Lisette said
angrily as she plopped down on the wooden stool, her dress flaring around her.
"The boy likes you..."
"The
boy just wants to own and control me
like he does everyone else in this château!" Lisette argued, her eyes
flashing green at the thought.
"Shh, now child," the aging wizard said
as he knelt in front of his ward. "You know that..."
"Hush, Craigen... did you hear that?"
Lisette cried out suddenly as her large blue eyes grew wider.
"Hear what?" Craigen asked in confusion
as he placed one hand gently on Lisette's shoulder.
"Shh, there it is again!" Lisette cried
as she jumped to her feet and rushed to the nearest window. There she
looked down upon the peaceful château, seeing nothing out of the
ordinary. However, when she looked further, past the château's walls she
saw what caused the noise. "Oh, mon Dieu! Craigen, the Roman's are attacking!"
Lisette cried quickly, willing her eyes to be wrong as man after man began
pouring out from the nearest wood.
"What?!" Craigen called out quickly as
he rushed to stand beside Lisette at the tall tower window, just as the cry of
alarm was sounded throughout the château.
"I just see the watch guards... where is the
lord and his forces?!" Lisette cried out in alarm as she watched the measly
watch guards attempt to defend the château walls.
"They are gone, helping Lord Louis to defend
his lands from the Romans," Craigen replied hollowly as he watched guard
after guard retreat further from their posts under the hollow of spears and
arrows.
"But the Romans are
here!" Lisette
protested weakly.
"And the château shall fall under their
control."
"Then we must stop them!" Lisette cried
out shrilly as she picked up her skirts and rushed for the door.
"Stop, Lisette! Can't you see?
The sun is high and the gargoyles won't awaken for hours... till it's too
late," the old wizard trailed off slowly.
"I know, but
we can stop them! You
can use your book of spells, and I my magic! You said that I was
strong..." Lisette trailed off, one hand resting on the door.
"No, my child. I am an old wizard and
you a young girl. You are strong, but we can't take on an entire
army!" Craigen urged.
"But..."
"And we shall use that to our
advantage. The Romans are fierce, but they are not barbarians and will not
harm us," Craigen said wisely as he stepped beside his ward and pulled her
gently away from the door. "They will take us captive with the rest
of the château and later the lord shall bargain for his people's freedom."
At that exact moment, one of the fore mentioned
Roman warriors charged into the room, sword ready. "Who are
you?" he barked out quickly, eyeing Lisette in her tightly bodiced gown.
"I..." Lisette started, aiming her best
glare at the invader.
"We are nothing more than an aging man and
his granddaughter," Craigen interrupted quickly, placing a firm hand on
Lisette's shoulder.
The guard continued to eye them for a minute
longer before nodding slowly. "Fine. Move it," he ordered,
pointing for them to move ahead of him and down the stairs where they were then
placed in the open courtyard with the other inhabitants of the château.
There they sat and waited for hours on end as the
Romans finished turning the château upside down in search of valuables.
And then the group of scared and hungry captives were told to start moving by
the Roman Captain himself.
Smiling in reassurance
at Lisette, Craigen
reached over and gently squeezed her hand. "See my child? I
told you that everything would be alright."
Lisette herself was about to agree with her aged
mentor when a sudden shout caused everyone to freeze and made Lisette's blood
run cold. "But what about the gargoyle statues, sir?" one young
Roman warrior called out hesitantly as he eyed the many statues that adorned the
château's walls.
"What about them?" was the Captain's
curious reply as he too eyed the fierce statues.
"Why, we must smash them sir, before the sun
goes down and they come to life and after us!"
At this, the contingent of warriors broke
into uneasy laughter. Hearing this, Lisette felt her worry ease... until
she saw the Captain's face as he contemplated his warrior's request.
Brushing away Craigen's restraining arm, Lisette
stepped away from the group and towards the Roman captain until the cold steel
of a sword blocked her way. Straining to keep her face a mask of ease,
Lisette met the captain's eyes and said, "Must your pillaging of our home
be so complete that you must smash the masonry that decorates the very château
itself?"
Turning, the mighty Roman captain stared down
from his tall stead at the brave young woman before him -- brave, but foolish as
well. It was obvious that she hadn't yet learned that it was a woman's
place to be silent. She was beautiful, for a French peasant, that
is. Still, later he would probably take pleasure in putting her in her
proper place himself. Ignoring her objection, the Captain finally turned
his wise eyes back to his young warrior. "And where did you hear of
such superstitions?"
"From another troop, sir. They said
that a band of demons flew outta the night sky last night, screeching and
roaring with glowing eyes, chasing the troop right outta the village they were
inhabiting. I was told that the demons were called gargoyles and that they
came to life when the sun falls below the horizon..." the young man trailed
off slowly, his mind ticking off the short hours to sunset.
Turning, the mighty Roman captain surveyed the
many statues adorning the château walls, as did every other soldier in the
contingent.
"Don't tell me you actually believe that
fairy tale!" Lisette cried out, breaking into a mocking laughter.
Turning, she called out to the rest of her people that were gathered behind
her with shocked expressions on their faces, "Did you hear that? The
mighty Roman army that is out to conquer our country is afraid of
gargoyles! A child's fable!"
"Enough!" the Roman captain yelled out
fiercely, his cold gaze locked on Lisette. "You have quite a tongue..
one that I will have cut out if you don't shut your mouth! The Roman
Empire fears nothing!" he yelled out, meeting Lisette's piercing blue
eyes. "Now move out.. we have much ground to cover!" the captain
barked out as he turned his horse and began leading the troops from the
château.
Sighing in relief, Lisette quickly moved to
Craigen's side. "They're not going to hurt the clan," she
whispered as she began moving beside her mentor.
"Oui, and all thanks to you, my foolish
child," Craigen whispered back in a scolding tone, thinking of how close he
came to losing her, yet also with a slight twinkle in his eyes as he thought of
how she outsmarted the captain and used his pride against him.
"And it was..."
"Captain, sir... what about the
gargoyles?" the same guard broke in, causing Lisette's words to freeze on
her lips.
Pulling his horse to a stop, the Roman captain
looked over his shoulder at the deserted château. "You may take a
small troop back to smash the statues and catch up to us later if it will ease
your worry," he said smoothly as he faced forward once more and urged his
horse on.
Stunned, Lisette could only watch in horror as a
small group of men broke quickly away from the troop and advanced on the stone
gargoyles. Numbly, she felt Craigen yank on her arm, trying in vain to
pull her away as one of the heavy maces broke down upon the first gargoyle form,
reducing it to rubble. "That was the gargoyle that I called Petite...
she was the one who taught me to glide," Lisette whispered, tears
glistening in her blue eyes as she stared at what was left of her friend.
"Lisette, we must go! I'm sorry about
your friends, but there is nothing that we can do!" Craigen
whispered, pity covering his face at the devastated look on his ward.
Gasping, Lisette watched as yet another of the
noble gargoyle clan was reduced to rubble -- this one the second in command's
beautiful young mate that was heavy with egg. "No..." Lisette
whispered as the mace lifted again, this time over one of the clan's
young. "No!" she screamed out, all of her sorrow and disbelief
turning into blinding anger. Surprised at the scream that broke the quiet, everyone turned and the mace paused
in mid-air. "I warn you now, foolish humans, that if you do not stop
in your destruction, there shall be severe consequences!" she screamed once
more, shaking off her mentor's restraining hand.
Surprised, the Roman warrior, now and forever a
barbarian in her mind, turned away from the young woman to throw his captain a
questioning glance, mace at his side.
Staring coldly at the young woman, the captain
quietly uttered one word: "Proceed."
Nodding at his superior, the young man raised his
mace once more.. which was all the prompting Lisette needed.
"Arrêt!"
she screamed as her eyes
began to glow. Startled, the guards and peasants drew back as green energy
shot out of the young woman's hands and hit the young warrior, causing him to
fall quickly to the ground. As she turned and began dealing out similar
blows to the other mace wielders, she began to float a few feet from the
ground.
"A witch!" was the surprised and
fearful word that went up throughout the Roman warriors as they jumped for cover
from her magical attacks.
"A witch indeed," the mighty Roman
captain murmured as he hid behind a nearby boulder, abandoning his horse to fend
for itself. While making sure to keep his body protected from the green
rays of magic, he slowly lifted his head above the rock. There he saw
Lisette, floating in much the same place, her eyes glowing that same eerie green
with her pale blond hair blowing behind her in an unfelt wind. Turning, he
saw that already a third of his mighty army was down, either unconscious or
dead, and that the rest were taking shelter behind boulders or trees, trying
their best to launch a counter attack before they were brought down like
their comrades. Turning further, he saw that their prisoners were hiding
from the onslaught as well. And then his eyes focused upon the old man that was
brought down with the witch. Even now his eyes were riveted to her form,
concern etched upon his wrinkled old face. "Thorne!" he barked
to one of his soldiers that was hiding behind a nearby oak tree.
"Yes sir?"
"I want you to gather all of the men that
you can and then follow me! I have a plan..."
"Sir?" the young man asked, casting a
wary glance back into the battle field.
"Get moving! We need to get over to
our prisoners!" the Captain barked, his face cold as he stared back out at
the beautiful witch. "We shall end this NOW!" he hissed, his
eyes as hard as the granite that his men had been destroying.
Nodding, the young warrior quickly hurried away
and did as he was told, trying to remain shielded from sight at all times.
A few minutes later everything was set and ready to go. Turning, the Roman
leader nodded once at his troops and as one they stood. "Stop your
fighting and surrender to us now, witch, or they shall die!"
Turning quickly, Lisette looked for the source of
the threat, ready for some new targets. What she saw caused her blood to
freeze once more. There stood her people, knives and swords pressed
against their throats with the Roman barbarians standing behind them. Even
worse was that at the front of the group stood the Roman Captain, his own
broadsword held tightly against her mentor's throat. "Craigen?!" Lisette
gasped, her mind spinning.
"Like I said, surrender to us now or they
all die, starting with the old man!" the Roman captain warned as he
tightened his grip.
As fear choked Lisette, she racked her mind for a
way out -- some way to save them all. She couldn't just cast a spell to send
the Romans to some other place, for all of the places that she knew of and was
capable of sending the army were close by, and that would just eliminate the
problem temporarily -- the Romans would be back. No,
she had to deal with these Romans once and for all. So what to do if she
needed to deal with the enemy but there were innocents in the way?
"Well?!"
Steeling her emotions and forcing her face to be
impassive, Lisette met the evil Roman's dark stare. "No," was
her simple reply. Before anyone could react, Lisette quickly chanted a
simple rhyme as green mist shot out of her fingers to surround the group.
Seconds later the mist dissipated and all that remained were the baffled Romans
with empty hands. You simply have to eliminate the innocents from the equation. Smiling,
she was about to perform the same spell on the remaining gargoyle statues so
that she could deal with her enemy alone when someone tackled her from
behind. Crying out, Lisette and her assailant tumbled to the ground a few
feet below, knocking the wind out of her.
Groaning, Lisette felt a knee
shoved into her back, pinning her to the ground as her arms were yanked roughly
behind her and secured in place with cold metal. Coughing as the soft dirt
entered her lungs and as she tried to regain her breath, Lisette felt rough
hands at her back and shoulders as she was lifted to her feet.
"Now let's see you try your magic with your
hands bound, witch!" the Captain growled, angry that even when her clothes
were torn, her hair messed, and her tan face smudged by dirt she still
managed to look like a goddess.
"You fool! You think that I need my
hands free to use my magic?!" Lisette hissed, preparing herself to launch
another magical attack. Suddenly she realized that something was wrong,
very wrong. Nothing was happening! She couldn't feel her eyes burn
green or the tingle of her magic waiting to be released.
"You can, can you?" the Captain asked
smugly, laughing at her apparent distress. "Did I mention that you
are now being restrained with iron cuffs?"
"So?" Lisette mumbled as she focused on
her magic... or lack of it. "What's iron?"
"What? You don't know about
iron?" the Captain laughed, finally capturing Lisette's full
attention. "It seems as though I get to teach you first hand about
your weakness!"
"Weakness?" Lisette asked in confusion,
a cold trickle of fear running down her back.
"Yes. Long ago, the ancient Romans,
our ancestors, learned that the one weakness to all magic users was to be
restrained by iron. For some, even the touch of the iron caused the skin
to burn and severe pain.. to others it just caused for their magic to become
null and void... as is the case with you," the Captain said with a cold
smile.
"No... this can't be happening!"
Lisette cried, shaking her head as she tried even harder to call upon her magic.
Laughing, the Roman captain turned away from the
witch, now nothing more than a harmless young woman.
"And what do we do now, sir?" one of
the older warriors asked as more and more of the downed soldiers slowly climbed
to their feet, apparently stricken unconscious by the witch's magical blows.
Stopping, the Roman captain turned to face the
young witch. She hardly looked dangerous now as she struggled in the heavy
iron shackles, one of his men on each side holding her arms tightly.
"Destroy the remaining statues," he finally replied coldly, an evil
glint in his eye as he watched the witch jump into action once more.
Quickly, Lisette began to struggle fiercely in
her captors' grip. "No! Oh God no!" Lisette screamed as
she watched a group of men advance on the remaining gargoyles, maces
ready. Slowly, gargoyle after gargoyle was destroyed by the flying
maces. "No, please stop!" Lisette sobbed, twisting weakly in her
captors' grip as her friends were destroyed one by one before her eyes.
Soon it became just too much to bear as Lisette's knees gave way, the warriors
struggling to keep her standing as she turned her head away from the sight as
her tears left trails down her dirty cheeks.
"Oh no, witch, you must watch your demons be
destroyed," the Captain whispered from beside her as he roughly grabbed
Lisette by the hair and forced her to watch the destruction, slapping her hard
across the face whenever she closed her eyes.
Soon the destruction was complete and only one
gargoyle statue remained: the leader of the clan who sat on the highest
tower of the château. Looking up at the sun through a red haze that was
caused from a head wound that was inflicted by the captain, she saw that sunset
was just moments away.
Unfortunately, the Roman captain saw this as
well. "Well, now... I think we should see if this gargoyle story is
just a story or what. Men, I want you to secure as many chains as you can
around the statue!" he called up to his warriors that were standing beside
the statue. Turning, he then motioned to the two that were guarding the witch and
said, "Come on."
Nodding their heads, the two guards half dragged,
half carried the witch between them as they entered the château and climbed the
stairs that led up to the tower that housed the remaining gargoyle.
Feeling more helpless than she ever had before,
Lisette could do nothing but watch with tear filled eyes as the sun slowly
dipped over the horizon. As the cracks spread quickly throughout the stone
form, the Romans stepped back in fear.
Slowly, the stone particles exploded off of his
gargoyle form as the Leader awoke to greet the night... and was stopped by
chains. Surprised, the young leader struggled for a moment to no avail
before looking down and seeing the destruction below him. "No!"
he roared into the dark night sky as his eyes focused on the pile of rubble that
sat where his mate once rested. "No!"
"Leader, I.." Lisette called out as the
tears poured down her cheeks and as her heart broke all over again for her
friend, the guilt at not being able to stop this destruction welling up within
her.
Surprised, he turned quickly to see himself
surrounded by strange men in strange clothing. Suddenly he saw a familiar
face. "Lisette?" the leader called out in confusion.
"What has happened.. why didn't you use your magic to stop this?!" he
cried out. Watching her closely, he saw her flinch visibly at his
words. It was then that he noticed the chains and the blood on her
face. As a growl split the night and his eyes began to glow white, the
young leader called out "Are you..."
"So, the stories are true," the Roman
captain broke in, his face expressionless. "Well then, witch... or
Lisette I suppose, your demons are now dead..."
"You monster!" Lisette screamed, the
tears streaming down her cheeks.
"You are the one who destroyed my
clan?" the leader roared as he prepared to charge the man. The chains
that bound him held his arms and wings tight against his body, but that didn't
restrict his feet or the sharp talons found there.
Stopping the gargoyle in his place with his
words, the Roman captain yelled out, "Your clan is dead, and this witch did
nothing to stop the destruction because she preferred to save her own
hide!"
Backing up on his perch, the gargoyle stared at
Lisette in confusion, not wanting to believe what the man was saying. But
the evidence was right in front of him.. sure Lisette was chained, but she
didn't need her hands free to perform her magic.
"No, I.." Lisette broke in weakly, the
tears pouring down her face as she pleaded with the Leader with her eyes.
"Kill him," the Roman captain broke in
quickly.
"NO!" Lisette screamed. Turning
quickly, she kneed one of her guards in his most vulnerable place before
elbowing the other one sharply in the nose, causing them both to go down.
Then she ran as fast as she could across the tower as she watched two of the
Romans run up to the unsuspecting gargoyle and shove him as hard as they could,
sending him over the edge of the tower. "No!" Lisette screamed again
as she elbowed her way to the edge or the tower and looked over, just in time to
watch her friend smash to the ground five stories below. "No,"
she sobbed in denial as she was quickly surrounded by the Romans once
more. Turning her roughly, Lisette found herself staring up into the evil
Captain's eyes. "Why? Why did you lie to him and say
that?" Lisette sobbed brokenly.
"Because now your demon died believing that
you betrayed his clan to save your own life... he died cursing you!" the
Roman answered, laughing at the idea.
As anger consumed Lisette's being, she did the
one thing that she could in her situation.. she spit in the evil man's face.
Quickly she was repaid with a hard slap across
her face, causing her to cry out as she began to fall to the ground.
Moving fast, her guards lifted her arms and forced her to stand once more and
face the captain. "Thanks to your inexperience and blinding anger, we
were able to defeat you today, witch. Because of you, your demon friends
are now dead," he said coldly, loving every minute of the pain that flashed
across Lisette's face as her entire being was filled with sorrow and guilt and
as each word cut her to her very core. Smiling, the Captain moved to the
edge of the tower and looked below at his troop of men milling below in the
courtyard. "Hurry men, we leave immediately!"
"To where, sir?" one of the younger men
called up from below.
"To the city of Reims..."
"But what of the other prisoners, sir?
They're gone!" another of the men called out, looking about in the
darkness.
"Yes, and the witch probably sent them far
away from us," the Captain agreed, sending a cold look at the witch.
Looking at her though, he quickly saw that he would get no more reaction out of
her. She stood with her head tilted down, her long blond hair hiding her
face, and her shoulders sagging down: the perfect picture of defeat.
"It matters not. We have something even better... a witch to be burned at the stake!" he
yelled out, causing a cheer to go up throughout the crowd of men.
"Move out!" he ordered a few minutes later, after everyone and thing
were gathered and ready to head out. Lisette, heavily guarded and
surrounded, was placed somewhere in the middle.
And so they did. The group traveled by
day -- leaving before the sun rose and making camp after night fell -- always
moving. As for Lisette, she ignored everyone and thing, so filled with
guilt and remorse that she didn't even care that she was marching to her own
demise.
That was fine for the Romans though, because they
were so afraid of the 'witch' that they kept their distance -- except for the
Roman captain. Every chance he could he would be at her side, taunting and
tormenting her in hopes of a reaction. In all honesty, he couldn't help
it. She was so beautiful that he couldn't help but want to spend his every
free moment with her -- which infuriated him all the more. He blamed it on
Lisette of course, believing that she had cast some sort of spell that caused
the attraction.
One night, the Roman captain decided that the
witch's temptation was too much to bare and decided to act on it...
The hour was late as the Captain finally gave up
on sleep -- the woman, as always, most on his mind. Throwing his
blanket aside, the Captain slipped on his clothes and then left the stuffy tent
for the cool summer night air. Walking aimlessly, the Captain nodded at
the occasional night watchman before finding himself in front of the heavily
guarded prisoner's tent. Without even knowing what he was doing, the
Captain then waved the guards away -- who left with knowing looks, figuring that
the witch was about to receive another nightly beating.
Moving as though in a dream, the Captain very
slowly pulled back the tent flap, revealing the witch huddled in her chains
within the tent. As like all of the times before, the young woman didn't
even stir as he stepped into the tent. With that same blank look on his
face, the Captain slowly knelt before her. "You did it, didn't
you?" he whispered harshly, his hot breath on her impassive face.
"You cast some sort of spell on me, so that I can't get you out of my mind,
didn't you?!" he rasped, pushing closer still. When he still got no
response, his anger flared to an all time high... and his lust as well.
"Fine then, witch!" the Captain hissed as he shoved Lisette onto her
back. "I give into your damn spell! I'll give you what you
want!" he yelled out as he whipped off his belt and straddled the witch.
It was at this point and time that Lisette
finally broke out of her self-imposed isolation and became aware of her
environment for the first time in days -- she didn't like what she saw.
"Get off of me!" Lisette screamed, instantly bucking her hips, causing
the surprised Captain to roll off of her. Moving quickly, Lisette stumbled
to her feet, her arms still tightly bound behind her as she rushed over to the
unsuspecting Captain, catching his chin with her knee.
Crying out, the Captain backed away and touched
his chin gingerly. "You witch! I was just giving you what
your spell demanded of me!"
"What are you talking about?!" Lisette
yelled, barely able to believe what she just prevented. And here she
thought that things couldn't possibly have gotten any worse.
"You put me under some damn spell so that I
can't get you out of my mind!" the Captain roared before he charged
Lisette.
Unable to move fast enough in the heavy iron
chains, Lisette was easily tackled, causing her to cry out in pain as she landed
on her bound hands. "Get off of me!" Lisette screamed as she
began to twist and squirm violently under the Captain. "Use your
head, I couldn't have cast that spell! I've been bound in iron chains!"
Those words seemed to knock some sense into the
Captain as he backed away quickly. Before he could respond, the tent flap
opened behind him, revealing her guards and a couple of the night watch as
well. "Is everything all right in here, sir?" one of the guards
asked as he eyed the scene: Lisette lying on the ground, her dress even more
torn and the Captain breathing heavily before her, his belt lying on the
ground. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had been going on.
Without saying a word, the Captain looked once
more at Lisette before leaving the tent. That was really the last that she
ever did see of him, for he never again came to taunt and torment her.
And never again did Lisette withdraw into herself in order to hide from the
pain of her memories. From that point on, Lisette decided that she would
rather face reality and deal with everything as it happened. And that's
exactly what she did those last few days of the journey to Reims: attempt
to cope and deal with her tremendous guilt and pain at losing everything that
matter in the world to her.. at least Craigen was safe.
After their arrival, there was a quick hearing at
which Lisette was declared a witch. And then it was time to burn...
As Lisette stared out at the mob of people that
laughed and jeered at her, she couldn't help but wonder about the direction her
life had taken as she struggled uselessly against her iron bonds.
"Such is life," she muttered as a masked man stepped forward with a
burning torch in hand. Inside the mask, Lisette knew that the man was
smiling as he bent low and lit the piles of hay that were scattered below her pole that she was
tied to, on fire.
Coughing as the thick black smoke
drifted
up, Lisette began to struggle fiercely against her bonds -- all to no avail.
In a matter of seconds the fire blazed and the hot scorching heat began to sear
her skin. A second later her dress caught on fire and her skin began to
burn under the onslaught. As Lisette began to scream in agony, a fine blue
mist enveloped her burning form. When it dissipated, the crowds, smoke,
sunlight, and pole were gone as Lisette tumbled to a hard, stone floor.
Unfortunately, the fire was still there. Screaming as the fire climbed
higher, Lisette thrashed and rolled on the stone floor, trying to put out her
dress.
"Oh mon Dieu!" a voice called out, as
though heard from far away.
Suddenly a large blanket was thrown over her body
as gentle hands patted out the fire. Crying at the flashes of pain she
felt on her burned skin, Lisette felt a yanking on her arms before a release and
then the cold iron was gone. Confused, but in too much pain to care,
Lisette felt the gentle hands at her back once more as she was turned on
her back. Opening her eyes, Lisette saw that she was lying in some sort of
cavern... and then a familiar face came into sight. "Craigen!?"
Lisette gasped as pain flared around her legs once more, the tears pouring down
her cheeks.
"Yes, child, it is I," Craigen soothed
as he took Lisette's small hand in his.
"Craigen... my legs!" Lisette gasped,
fighting against the pain.
"I know, I know.. you are free from your
bonds, and now you must change your form into that of a gargoyle once more, so
that stone sleep may heal you," Craigen whispered softly as he averted his
eyes from her badly burned legs, the bruises covering her face and arms, and her
thin form as he met his ward's scared blue eyes instead.
"Oh Craigen, the gargoyles..." Lisette
sobbed, remembering all that she had witnessed.
"Hush, I know Lisette. We'll talk
later, but now you must rest," Craigen urged, a tear burning in his eyes at
all of the horrors that his girl must have faced in the last week.
Nodding her head, Lisette weakly gathered all of
the magic she could manage before casting the transformation spell. It was
evident just how weak and wounded she was by how long the transformation took
and by how much she had to struggle to go through with it. Fortunately,
though, she was changed to a gargoyle and then to stone.
As the sun set over the horizon later that day,
the stone skin surrounding Lisette's gargoyle body cracked and then broke
away. Roaring, she awoke on the cold stone floor of a cavern, completely
disoriented and confused. Without even thinking, Lisette shifted back into
her human form and looked down at the stone particles littering the floor.
"I've never slept in stone before..." Lisette whispered in amazement
at her stone skin. "But why..." Lisette trailed off as all of
her memories of the past week or so came crashing back. Gasping, Lisette
quickly lifted the bottom of her skirts, revealing her smooth, unmarked legs.
"Lisette?"
"Craigen?!" Lisette yelled, searching
desperately for her mentor, panic squeezing her heart.
"In here, child!"
Turning, Lisette saw a shaft of flickering light
that seeped out from another chamber. Picking up her skirts, shee ran
across the dark cavern and into the chamber where a strange sight greeted
her. The new chamber was relatively small with hundreds upon hundreds of
brightly lit candles placed about, particularly next to a high slab of stone
that sat in the middle of the room. Cringing at the fire, Lisette saw her
mentor standing beside the slab of stone, spell book in hand. "Oh,
Craigen!" Lisette sobbed, releasing all of the emotions that had been
bottled up as she ran into her mentor's embrace. "They're dead... all
of the clan is dead..."
"I know child..."
"I couldn't stop them, Craigen... it's all
my fault..." Lisette cried, her tears soaking Craigen's long white beard.
"No, it's not..."
"I let my anger blind me and then they used
something called iron on me, which caused my magic to leave me!"
"Shh, I know Lisette," Craigen
comforted as he smoothed her long blond hair. "But it's not your
fault, you did all that you could..."
"But they're dead..."
"And I along with the other château
inhabitants are alive, thanks only to you and your quick thinking."
"But..."
"It was very smart of you to transport us to
the lake like that... although it did take us till morning to get back to the
château," Craigen said with a small smile. In honesty, it was
nothing to smile about. Because of that delay, Craigen was a good day
behind Lisette and the army as they traveled, meaning that he didn't make it to the
crowded square of people in Reims until the hay beneath Lisette was already lit
on fire, causing her to be badly burned.
"Yes, but..."
"Hush now, Lisette, right now I need for you
to get up and lie here on this slab," Craigen interrupted as he helped
Lisette up and then forced her to lie down.
"What?... But why, Craigen?" Lisette
asked in confusion as she began to feel groggy.
"The world is no longer safe for you my
child... the people of Gaul believe you to be a witch.. not even the people that
you saved at the château would come and help me to save you... you're no longer
safe here, and until the world is once more safe, you must sleep," Craigen
said quietly with a sad smile.
"Craigen, I..." Lisette started, the
tears pooling in her eyes as she no longer found the energy to lift her arms or
head. He must have cast the spell before I entered, Lisette thought as
her eyes remained fixated on Craigen's kind old face.
"There are about ten coins in the pot by the
wall, and we're sealed in, so you'll have to use your magic to get you out once
you awaken..."
"No," Lisette whispered as a tear
drifted down her cheek.
"Lisette... be careful and always remember
that I have always loved you as my daughter..."
"Please don't leave me Craigen..."
Lisette whispered one last time as darkness stole over her vision and Craigen's
face disappeared from view.
"I... love you," Craigen gasped as the
spell took hold and Lisette fell into a timeless sleep. At the same time,
Craigen felt his heartbeat slow as he fell to the cold stone floor. He had
used all of his magic and energy to cast the sleep spell, and now was left with
nothing. His dying thoughts were of his adopted daughter, Lisette, for whom
he died to save.
Present time and day
As the minutes ticked by, Brooklyn finally
gave into his concern and hesitantly laid a hand on her small shoulder.
"Lisette?"
"He used everything he had to cast that final
spell and must have died there by my side.. for when I awoke two years ago, I
found his dusty remains on the floor by my side," Lisette whispered, another tear trailing down her cheek.
"Oh God Lisette.. I.." Elisa trailed
off, her own eyes filling with tears at the thought of this young woman being
put through such horrors.
Holding up her hand to stall the comments,
Lisette continued. "After I awoke, I used the coins that Craigen had
left to me.. now worth a fortune, to reenter this strange new world,"
Lisette said with a small smile, struggling to push what she just relived to the
furthest corners of her mind.
"And what 'ave ye been doin' this last year
then, lass?" Hudson asked as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I've actually spent the last year on a
computer and in front of the television trying to catch up on all that I've
missed these last 1000 years!" Lisette said, laughing at the idea.
"And that's a lot to catch up on!"
Smiling softly, Brooklyn moved closer to the
hospital bed that housed the young woman, who seemed all the more vulnerable
after hearing of her tragic past. After all, many of the experiences that
she faced were similar to the same tragedies that filled Brooklyn's past.
Then again, unlike Lisette, he never had to face these tragedies alone -- and he
didn't have to watch the destruction of his clan either. "Lisette,
I'm sorry," he whispered sadly as he laid one of his brick red hands on her
good shoulder.
"As am I for your loss," Lisette
replied quickly with a sad smile. "I'm not anything special.. you
have gone through this all as well, so don't feel pity for me..."
"If anything, you have to be special because
you're definitely not normal!" Brooklyn interrupted before thinking.
As soon as the words left his mouth though, he blushed fiercely, causing his
brick coloring to turn an even darker shade of red.
"The sun will be rising soon," Goliath
spoke up, saving his second from further embarrassment. "You are
welcome to stay with us as long as you wish," he finished, sending a small
smile in Brooklyn's direction.
Smiling up at the large gargoyle, Lisette
whispered, "Thank you," before redirecting her stare back down at the
hospital bed she was sitting on.
"Ach, let's be goin' then.. tis been a long
night," Hudson muttered as he turned and slowly left the room, headed for
the cool night air.
"Good idea... my shoulder is killing
me!" Lisette agreed, her thick French accent blending the words as she
slowly swung her legs out over the side of the bed.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Elisa asked, instantly by her side in case she needed assistance as she
tentatively stood up on her weakened legs.
"To rest and heal," Lisette answered as
though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
It made sense to Elisa. After all, she
wouldn't want to spend the day in an infirmary when she could be
elsewhere. "Uh, Owen?" Elisa prompted as she looked over at the
manservant.
Picking up on his cue, Owen stepped forward and
said, "If you'll follow me, ma'am, I'll show you to one of the spare rooms
of the castle."
"That would be nice.. but maybe later, I'll
be going with the others right now," Lisette replied as she slowly began
walking towards the door, heading in the direction that Hudson had taken.
The clan exchanged quick glances before Angela
spoke up. "Okay, but let me help you.. that shoulder wound is very
bad and you must be weak from it!" she called out, concern touching her
voice as she stepped forward and supported Lisette on one side.
Smiling her thanks, the two young women slowly
left the room, with the trio talking up a storm behind them. Next went
Owen, who turned off in a different direction.. most likely to inform Xanatos
and company of their latest 'guest.' And then came Elisa and Goliath.
"So what do you make of our new
friend?" Goliath asked quietly, his eyes focused on the five young people
ahead of them.
"She seems
sweet and kind, definitely brave...
but also someone who's seen more than her fair share of pain," Elisa
answered slowly.
"Well, Angela seems to like her,"
Goliath remarked as he watched his daughter tilt her head back in laughter at
something Lisette must have said. It would be good for her to have a
female companion of her own age.. someone to talk with.
"And Brooklyn as well," Elisa replied
with a knowing smile.
"Aye, that he has," Goliath agreed as
he linked his rather large arm with Elisa's. I just hope that this one
doesn't end the same as with the others."
Smiling up at her love, Elisa squeezed his arm
gently before saying, "Don't worry, Big Guy, I have a feeling that it's
mutual this time."
Turning, Goliath looked once more at the trio
plus two and saw the not-so-subtle looks that Lisette and Brooklyn kept giving
each other when they thought that the other wasn't looking. "Well,
what do you make of her mother?"
At this a small frown appeared on Elisa's
face. "I'm not sure... as far as I know, magic for humans is taught,
but this seems to be inherited.."
"Do you think that her mother was fey?
I mean, green magic, no spell book, weakness to iron?"
"I'm not sure.. later I'm going to have Puck
help me test just how powerful she is, but from what I can sense from her, she's
very powerful indeed. Which means that you can bet I'm going to do a
little digging to see who exactly, if anyone, was fooling around with a human
back then!" Elisa murmured as a yell from ahead caught her attention.
"Oh!" Lisette cried out suddenly as her
legs gave out beneath her, leaning heavily on Angela.
Reacting instantly, Brooklyn quickly moved beside
her and easily lifted her up into his arms. "Are you alright?"
he asked, concern covering his features as he looked at his new friend.
Smiling weakly at her savior, Lisette said,
"Yes, I guess I am just not as strong as I thought.."
"I'll just carry you then," Brooklyn
replied with a grin as he set off once more for the parapets where they rested
for the day, the three other gargoyles following behind, large smiles on their
faces.
"I think that Brooklyn likes her,"
Broadway whispered, stepping next to Angela.
"Oh you think so, do you?" Angela asked
with a coy smile. "Well, I for one am very happy for him... Lisette
seems to be very nice!"
"And now maybe he'll finally leave us
alone!" Broadway replied, returning Angela's smile.
Laughing, Angela punched him lightly on the
shoulder as she stepped ahead of him and walked out into the moon lit
night. Feeling the warm breeze on her up turned face, she couldn't help
but wonder at how perfect things were starting to look.. not only did they have
a new friend staying with them, but she was female, her age, nice, and Brooklyn
liked her. Things were definitely beginning to look up. Still
smiling, Angela hopped up onto her perch and turned to watch Brooklyn and their
new friend.
Ever so slowly, Brooklyn moved forward across the
hard stone until he stood before his daily perch, throwing occasional glances at
Lisette's large blue eyes every so often.
Noticing Brooklyn's attention, Lisette couldn't
help but smile softly to herself. This wasn't the first nor the last time
that she would receive such attention; still, the knowledge that the attention
would be short lived stopped her from taking the thought any further. She
had dreamed of love before with both human and gargoyle suitors -- but always her
heart was broken when the poor fools who thought they were in love learned of
the true nature of her heritage -- she never expected anything different any
more... although Brooklyn did already know of that heritage and he was an
extremely handsome gargoyle that did seem to be a nice guy. Shaking her
head, Lisette decided to stop both their thoughts at once. "The sun
is almost up.. you can probably put me down now," she whispered
confidentially in her soft French accent.
Blushing, Brooklyn quickly complied and put
Lisette gently on her feet. "Uh.. see you tonight?" he asked as
he quickly jumped up onto his own perch, conscious of his clan's eyes on his
back.
"Yes, tonight" Lisette agreed as she
glanced at the rising sun -- she had better hurry! Closing her eyes, Lisette
quietly mumbled a quick spell to herself as a green mist surrounded her form.
Surprised, Brooklyn watched as the green
dissipated, leaving a gargoyle in Lisette's place.. a very beautiful
gargoyle. As she turned those same deep blue eyes on him, a large smile
covered her face as she jumped up onto the parapet beside him. Before he
could utter a word, the sun came up over the horizon, freezing the look of shock
on his face.
Smiling, Elisa turned away from her love's stone
statue and moved closer to the two gargoyles that caught her eye. So, the
new friend to the clan could change forms into that of a gargoyle..
interesting. Yes, things were sure to change around the castle now, but
change was not always bad. It was true that things would be more complex
with another magic wielder around, more difficult to contain her secret if Lisette got
curious. Then again, the situation just became 100% better for
Brooklyn. As her smile widened, Elisa looked at the look of utter and
complete shock that covered Brooklyn's stone form as he looked at the stone
statue of the new gargoyle.. shock and something else. And then she turned
to face the new gargoyle.. she was beautiful and when one looked closer, it
quickly became evident that the gargoyle in fact was none other than Lisette,
with the same facial structure, bone structure, only with added inches, wings,
tail, talons, and a loin cloth and halter top, similar to Demona's.
"Things are definitely looking up for my little clan," Elisa finally
whispered as she turned away from the stone statues and began walking towards
the door to the Great Hall; she needed to get some sleep.
Just as she reached the large door, it suddenly
came open and banged against the side wall. Surprised, Elisa stepped back
quickly, relieved when she saw who it was. "Xanatos, Owen,"
Elisa greeted as she moved around them and continued on her way.
"Detective," Xanatos greeted as he
allowed her to pass by and then continued walking with Owen. "So, my
friend, where is the young woman, Lisette, that you were just telling me so much
about?"
"Try the parapets!" Elisa called back
over her shoulder, overhearing Xanatos' question as the elevator dinged open
and she stepped inside.
"The parapets?" Xanatos questioned,
quirking his eyebrows at his manservant.
Shrugging his shoulders in response, Owen
replied, "She stated that she was going with the gargoyles.. perhaps Miss
Lisette wanted to see the gargoyles turn to stone?"
"Perhaps," Xanatos replied, a
calculating frown appearing on his face as they continued walking towards the
stone forms of the gargoyles. "So I ask once again," Xanatos
continued as they walked up onto the stone battlements where their gargoyle
friends were sleeping, "where is this new friend to the gargoyles?"
"I don't know sir," Owen replied with a
frown. "I doubt that young Lisette would be wandering around the
castle with her arm hurt as it was."
"Well, she has to be somewhere!"
Xanatos said in exasperation as he backed up till he was leaning against the
stone parapets. Turning his head, Xanatos looked first off to the right at
the towering form of Brooklyn. "I wonder what was on his mind as the
sun caught him," Xanatos murmured as he took in the frozen look of shock on
the young second's face. Smiling, he then turned around and looked to his
left... and then jumped away from the parapets in shock. "I thought
that you said that she was human!" he accused as he looked at the
unfamiliar gargoyle that was frozen next to Brooklyn, a large smile on her face.
"Part sir. It seems as though her
father was human and her mother was something else... something magical but
definitely not gargoyle," Owen answered, a frown covering his features as he
studied the statue. It was definitely Lisette, even with the changes, that
much was evident. "She
was human when I left her side."
"Well, she's definitely not human now,"
Xanatos muttered, stating the obvious as he moved closer to study his
guest. She was a beautiful gargoyle, meaning that she would most likely be
just as beautiful as a human.. but young as well. From the lineless planes
of her face, he wouldn't place her age over that of twenty-two years old.
"How old did you say she was again?"
"Nineteen, sir," Owen answered as he
stepped beside his boss and stared up at the young gargess.
"And about how old would you guess Brooklyn
and Lexington's ages to be in human years?" Xanatos asked, a small smile
forming on his face as he stared up at the looks that the two statues were
directing at each other.
"I would guess about her age to a little
older.. no more than 22 years old for Brooklyn, and probably about 17 years of
age for Lexington."
"I see," Xanatos answered, the smile
growing.
"And as you can see, Mr. Xanatos, Brooklyn
and our new guest have hit it off quite well."
"Very interesting.. not only do we have a
new addition to our little 'family,' but also a magic wielder that is strong
enough to shift her form to that of a gargoyle. Not to mention that things
should be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of the attraction between
these two.. speaking of her magic though, she must be pretty powerful in order
to change her form like she has.. correct?" Xanatos asked, another
calculating gleam in his eyes.
"Pretty powerful," Owen agreed.
"At what point would you put her power
level? She's not stronger than you, is she?" Xanatos questioned as he
finally turned away from the statues and started heading back towards the Great
Hall.
"I can't say for certain without testing her
magical ability, first, but from what I can sense, her power level is definitely
close to that of the Puck's... but without any training besides that from a
human wizard, I imagine that she is further behind than what she should be and
is incapable of reaching her full potential at this point and time."
"Hmm... and do you think that you will get
an opportunity to test this?" Xanatos questioned as he began heading
towards his office.
Smiling a hidden smile that Xanatos couldn't see,
Owen replied slowly, "I believe that Detective Maza will be requesting my
assistance in such a test shortly."
To
be Continued