Disclaimer: The characters within are used without permission for the sheer non profit enjoyment of fans of the Gabriel Knight genre.
Part 7
"Wait!" Kail cried, dashing after Alia as quickly as his stiff legs would allow him. He plunged into the trees after her though lacking her grace several branches slapped his face and arms, leaves splattering dew across his skin. Something of desperation and fear welled within him-- Desperate to catch up to her, afraid he'd never see her again.
She paused a brief moment and looked at him through sorrow filled eyes and a tear etched its way down her nearly white skin. "Kail..." Her voice broke and she cleared her throat before continuing. "I don't want to see you hurt. You must return to your home. You must."
"But why!" He took a few more steps toward her, closing their distance to within twenty feet. " Alia, what do you know that you aren't telling me?"
"There's nothing." She sighed. "Just listen to me when I ask you to leave here and don't turn back."
"I'll need some better incentive than your word."
"That's unfortunate."
"Just tell me why! Tell me what's going on here Alia! I can put a stop to it!"
"You don't know anything!" Her calm voice erupted into anger and her eyes flared forcing him to take several steps back. "If you did you would realize that there are things much larger than yourself! Much more powerful. You're pathetic gifts aren't anything in comparison to that which you blindly stalk."
"Let me be the judge of that." He spoke softly, hoping to calm her. "My family has overcome odds in the past. This is no different."
"Arrogance does not suit a savior." She was approaching him slowly and he smiled.
"Don't confuse arrogance with confidence." They stood within reach of each other eyes locked in silence.
"I don't want you to be hurt." She whispered, closing the last few feet. Their faces were inches from each other and Kail looked at her lips then back to her eyes.
"I had a different concern in mind." He leaned forward locking her in a passionate kiss their arms folding around each other. Time lost meaning, proportion... He felt a strange sensation build within his chest-- his heart pounding madly with the sensational joy of satisfaction. He knew at that moment, he was in love.
As they finally pulled slowly away their gleaming eyes locked again a smile playing on both sets of lips. "This doesn't change my opinion." Her tone was playful now, accentuated with the smile. "I still want you to go home."
"But if I go home, whoever killed my uncle won't be brought to justice."
"Kail, the people who killed your uncle were enacting justice. Your uncle was not like you. He was a part of the old ways...."
"Are you saying my uncle was killed because--"
"Because he murdered innocent people with his accusations." She said plainly, touching his cheek to soften the blow. "I'm sorry Kail. I didn't want for you to have to hear that but it's true. He was killed for murdering... and while he may have thought he was doing right..." She stopped as Kail looked down. He pulled away and paced to a tree to lean against it.
"I told him, Alia. I expressed to him that we couldn't act the same any longer-- That we couldn't continue to throw out accusations without proof. That we needed more education and less superstition." He took a deep breath.
"That's why you'll make a superb man. Perhaps you won't follow in his footsteps."
Kail shook his head, laughing humorlessly. "Unfortunately..."
"Kail, if you continue along the lines of your ancestors, you will be killed too. Eventually, it will happen. All of your line that chooses to continue that legacy will be killed. It's inevitable."
"We're a bit more resilient than you give us credit for." He glanced back at her. "Alia, who are these people who killed him? What right do they have to--"
"The same right you have, dear." She spoke softly-- almost not an interruption at all. "Kail..." She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Perhaps it's not time to discuss this matter..." She pressed her lips against his again hand caressed his cheek her eyes tightly closed. The sun broke the clouds showering down with its warm rays-- Kail took her in his arms and they set out for the solitude of their camp, practically stumbling along with the rising passion that was quickly overwhelming them....
"What in God's name is this, Frank?" Markus was standing at the head of the operating table, motioning to the lump in front of him obscured by a white sheet. His normally calm face was drawn with curiosity and revulsion-- his face drawn in a sneer.
"That's what we came here for, Markus. So you could help us determine the answer to that very question."
Markus ran a hand through his curly hair and blinked several times, as though he were trying to fend off some horrible vision he was forced to view. "Well, I'm afraid that the tests are strange. I mean, it's not like anything I've ever seen. Ever. There's nothing about it that's usual or easy to explain."
"Can you be a little more specific?" Gabriel asked, already tensing up with the unease of his usually composed old friend.
"Hardly." He glanced at the body. "The only thing that is organic in that thing is what was in its stomach. It had... eaten someone recently." He sighed. "Otherwise, what would normally count as blood comes out as a combination of oil, earth and something that our labs weren't able to classify. The 'eyes' if you can call them that are glass with an amber rock beneath-- I don't know how to account for the glowing. There was nothing in the cranium. There are no internal organs save what I suppose I would consider a heart. That's what you put your shots in, Mosely and that's probably what stopped it.
"It has some pretty nasty teeth... however, they aren't made of bone. They have alloy in them with rock. The claws and skeleton are of the same design." He sighed and thought a moment. "The thing has no muscles per se, instead it has what could only be classified as gears, though nothing we've ever seen before."
"Are you saying that this thing is a machine?" Mosely looked at him in disbelief.
"Not really... I mean, it has more in common with rocks than machines..."
"How the hell did it make those sounds then?"
"It's throat is comprised of a... 'device' that is vaguely equivalent to our own vocal chords." He glanced it over again. "It has no reproductive organs either... which lends to a theory of it either being grown or produced."
"Was he a relative of yours, Mose?" Gabriel glanced at Mosely with a smile, finally being able to take the situation a little lighter.
"That's not funny Gabe." Markus glared at him. "If this thing doesn't reproduce, then someone is making things like this.... Who knows what that means?"
"What would be entailed in making a creature like this?" Mosely asked.
"I have absolutely no idea." Markus shrugged. "I didn't believe that humanity had the technology to create something this complex..."
"I know." Gabriel said solemnly, glancing at Mosely. "We need to go."
"Where to? We have no idea where to start--"
"Germany, Mosely." Gabriel pursed his lips. "We start where it began."
Kail was ill at ease. Wide eyes stared into the clear sky, counting the stars absently. His thoughts drifted from his father to his uncle to the 'crimes' he may have been punished for. Regardless of his arguing, his demand for change, he had always respected Reinhold. Now he was hunted just as surly as his uncle was... and not because of someone else's definition of crimes committed or personal views but because of his name.
He just didn't really see the reality of some kind of secret society that hunted those who hunted evil. Perhaps it was family arrogance but why would they be so stupid? And what was there to really stop him from extracting vengeance for what they did to Reinhold...
Kail had never been impulsive. He considered himself something more of a scholar than most of his relatives. Now, circumstance pushed him and he fell right into the trap, taking up the sword for vengeance then compounding his recklessness with Alia.
Alia... She was resting quietly head on his chest, arms curled about him in slumber. Her body heat felt wonderful against his own bare skin-- the soft texture was almost intoxicating the more he thought about it. Her touch was like nothing he'd ever experienced. He wasn't one to carouse and his experience with the fair had always been more formal than emotional. With Alia, it was different in so many ways.
She was another enigma to deal with. While he couldn't deny the growing affection for her, there was something about her that he couldn't place his finger on... a lack of trust perhaps? More than likely his suspicious nature just trying to make sure everything was okay but still... something about her concerned him. What would be her motivation to lie?
As if in response to his thoughts, she stirred slightly looking up at him with her exotic eyes lips parted in a sleepy smile. He returned the smile and reaffirmed his hug, closing his eyes. To question her so was to question his very heart....