Gargoyles Timedancer:
Bloodstone
11. 1. 16. 8. 7
The beaked female cleared her throat loudly and then lightly nudged Brooklyn with the butt of her sword-sheathe.
"Oh…Right! Duh!" Brooklyn said. "Zee this is Katana, my mate. Katana, this is Zafira."
"It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Zafira," Katana said, bowing. "Brooklyn has spoken of you and your mate fondly."
"The pleasure is absolutely mine, Katana," I said, holding out my arm. She clasped it with her own. I noticed that she only had three fingers on each talon. Almost the opposite of my Benuthet, who had extra fingers.
"So," I said, turning my attention towards Brooklyn. "I remember the rules from when we had to fight Benuthet's younger self as the Avatar of Apophis. History is immutable, so you can't directly interfere in the events of your own past."
"And really bad things can happen if you try," Brooklyn confirmed, nodding. "Still don't know where that piano came from, but I learned my lesson when it comes to trying to change things, Namely, I don't."
"But you have helped," I said, bending down and petting Fu-Dog. "You sent Fu-Dog to save me from the jaguar, and you fought alongside us against the Eek' Chapaat under the cover of darkness."
"Why did you leave these two again?" Katana demanded of her mate.
"Uh…" Brooklyn stuttered for a moment.
"I understand," I said. "You can't answer while I'm here. What can you tell me?"
"Obsidian's way worse than you think," Brooklyn said.
"That is a neat trick," I commented. "As I consider him beneath a leech."
"You won't make it back Benny and Younger-Me before dawn," Brooklyn said. "But you will be there when we wake up."
"That's not going to be easy," I said.
"Because Cobalt stole your pendant," Katana said. "We know."
"You'll figure it out," Brooklyn said.
"What else do I need to know?" I asked.
"Brooklyn is an idiot," Katana said.
"Hey!"
"I knew this much already," I commented.
"HEY!"
"But he is MY idiot," Katana said possessively. "I know him. I know his heart like my own. He is my everything. And I would know him no matter what his appearance. I assume that you feel the same about Benuthet?"
"Of course," I said, frowning.
"Good," Katana replied.
"Honeybunch," Brooklyn concern in his voice. "That's not what we said we were going to say to her. It's a little vague."
"Trust me, my love," Katana said.
"Always," Brooklyn sighed. "Guess we're going with cryptic and vague today. Sorry Zee."
"Thanks?" I said, cocking my head slightly to the side to stare at Katana. I did not know what Brooklyn's future mate was trying to tell me, but I sensed it was important.
"One last thing," Brooklyn said. "Tell past-me that Puck's Spell will work."
"Obsidian is worse than I think, know my mate, Puck's Spell will work," I said. "Got it."
"We've got a few more fires that we've got to put out," Brooklyn said. "Oh and one last thing. Now that I am mated, I can confirm. Don't keep stuff from your mate."
"Have you been holding onto that comment for the last…what five years?" I demanded, placing my arms on my hips.
"More like the last three hours, when you reminded him of it while we were eavesdropping on you," Katana smirked.
"Katana…I'm supposed to be all futurey and mysterious, don't wreck the mood!" Brooklyn said.
"Brooklyn," Katana said, feigning innocence. "She has met you. She knows better."
"I like you," I commented.
"Come on, Katana," Brooklyn said. "We got to be at the thing for the thing."
"Hai," Katana grunted in affirmation. The three of them darted into the Green. That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach returned. Far from being reassuring, the presence of Brooklyn's future self indicated that the situation in this time period was so bad he was needed here twice.
As if I didn't have enough anxieties.
I scrabbled up a tree, and began leaping from tree to tree like a Howler. Cobalt also had legs, so I imagine that she, like me, found that she was a more agile climber and tree-leaper than serpentine gargoyles such as Obsidian.
If I could just figure out where she went, I could reclaim the pendant before dawn, which was looking less and less likely.
I could already see the light blue of the horizon slowly growing in the east. And Cobalt was nowhere to be seen.
Brooklyn and Katana were aware that Cobalt had my pendant, which meant that I must have told Brooklyn in the future.
Whatever fires Brooklyn needed to put out, he had made a point of not letting me see, which likely meant that there was a bigger plan in place that Brooklyn had to follow. Fowling that up would be bad, but I was still unable to figure out how to deal with the Cobalt problem.
If I turned to stone, I would be out of commission for 12 hours and then whatever plan that Obsidian was going to implement to hurt my mate during the day would occur.
Frustrated, I let out a snarl.
A jaguar on the ground snarled back at me, but kept moving.
Wait, I realized suddenly.
Jaguars did not turn to stone.
I snatched up the jaguar bloodstone pendant from where it hung on my waist. Hanging it around my neck, I took my obsidian blade and sliced the tip of my left foretalon, I pressed the blood against the pendant, which began glowing.
I leapt down from the tree, falling onto all fours. My wings crumpled up and withered on my back. My talons reshaped themselves into the jaguar's cat-like paws. My tail became thin and narrow and actually became slightly number. Gargoyle tails are prehensile, like that of Howlers and Spider monkeys. Jaguar tails are not.
I felt my forehead crest crumple up and disappear into my skull, and my clothes and sword vanished, though I knew from seeing others use the pendant that they would return when I transformed back.
I was and ordinary speckled jaguar, lacking the lustrous black coat that Six-Jaguar had when he used the pendant. Black Jaguars were better night hunters, while the ordinary red-orange spotted jaguars preferred daytime hunting.
The irony of my jaguar form being a daylight hunter was not lost on me.
I had been transformed into another creature before. Once by the gargoyle sorceress-turned-avatar Demona, who transformed me into a Beast like Fu-dog and Kebechet, and once by the Babylonian creature Kingu, who temporarily turned me into beast of burden used by the humans of the Tigris river valley.
Both times the transformation had been forced, and rather unpleasant. Both times Benuthet had to risk his life to transform me back.
But becoming the jaguar of my own volition? It was freeing. Pleasant even. I actually liked it.
The jaguar was built like liquid lightning, I moved through the forest floor with intense grace and poise. No wonder Jaguars were the symbols of Kingship and K'awilil, the god of kingship.
Because I was definitely queen of this jungle. I could smell Cobalt on the wind now, and followed the scent as fast as my jaguar body could take me.
I came to a large clearing.
"Are you certain you understand what you need to do?" Brooklyn asked Cobalt.
"Yes, yes," Cobalt replied, looking around anxiously. "I understand."
"It's a pretty big deal," Brooklyn continued.
"But it will hurt Obsidian," Cobalt replied.
"Correct," Katana said, anxiously looking around.
"Then I will do it," Cobalt replied. She glanced over at me.
"That jaguar is a transformation!" she yelped. "One of Obsidian's servants! The pendant!"
"Crap!" Brooklyn yelped, drawing his sword. Katana drew hers as well, just as the rays of the sun broke the horizon, freezing the mated pair in stone sleep. Despite their blades being drawn, the humility spell touched them and even the swords became stone.
Cobalt and I were the only ones still flesh. She immediately drew a poisoned arrow and notched it into her bow.
I could not transform back and reveal that I was Zafira, or I would become stone too.
Clearly Brooklyn and Katana's bigger plan involved Cobalt, so if I attacked her to take back the pendant, I was endangering that.
My only option was to turn tail and run. Back into the jungle, and as far away and as quickly as I could before Cobalt could catch me.
Unfortunately, she had decided to follow me. I could hear her moving through the trees above me, leaping from branch to branch like a Howler, much like I did when I wanted to move. There was a sharp shooting pain in my shoulder as her poison-tipped arrow struck my shoulder.
Oh this is not good, I realized as I staggered. The poison was now in my blood, and I knew from experience that it worked quickly.
I staggered towards the pyramid where the younger version of Brooklyn, Benuthet, Kebechet, and younger Fu-Dog should all be waiting.
And they were. They mysterious pyramid itself was gone, but I could see Brooklyn's stone form, cradling Benuthet's stone form, with Fu-dog and Kebechet's stone forms standing guard on either side.
Staggering back to them, I allowed the pendant to transform me back. I pulled the arrow from my shoulder, and turned around towards Cobalt defiantly.
She looked absolutely shocked to see me, rather than one of Obsidian's human slaves, like the girl whom I had lifted the pendant from in the first place.
"Go wherever Brooklyn and Katana told you to be," I said. "Trust me, they know more than we do!"
She nodded curtly and turned to leave.
I never saw her departure, as that was when stone sleep overtook me.
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11. 16. 6. 8. 1
Not having the serpentine form of my rookery siblings was both a blessing and a curse. Mostly a curse. Moving through the thick canopy was far more difficult for me than them. But my legs did come with one small advantage. I was a far better climber. I could scrabble up and down trees like a howler, while they had to glide or use their arms to hoist their whole weight up the tree.
As such I spent much of my youth in the trees, leaping from tree to tree, to stay away from my more irritating rookery siblings.
As I leapt past a very surprised Howler, I noticed my bat-like green-skinned rookery brother down below, following my Balanced Mother out into the forest.
Curious and with little else to do at the time, I followed, leaping from tree to tree like a Howler. At the edge of the Clan Territory I saw my balanced mother stop near a human.
The human wore a green cloak, and behind him was a very large stone structure that I was certain had not been there before.
"My leader," Balanced Mother said.
"I hope you enjoyed your little vacation," the human said.
"It was a nice lifetime, but I am eager to get back to the work," Balanced Mother said.
"Mother?" my bat-like rookery brother said. "Are you leaving us?"
My Balanced mother turned around, and crouched down. "I'm afraid so my son. My love has passed away, and I feel I must go too. Do not weep for me, just remember what I and my other rookery mothers taught you, and I will never be far from your heart."
My rookery brother hugged my balanced mother who embraced him back. "Run along now child,"
My brother slithered away, but I leapt closer, wanting to know more about this human who was stealing my rookery mother away. Neither looked up or noticed me in the trees.
"You're a good mother," the human said.
"Pity you and your mate never had children, Leader," she replied. "It is a rewarding experience every time I do it."
"I can't help but notice that red one with the blue wings looks an awful lot like-,"
"The gargoyle from Cairo we met in Ten-Seventy-Eight?" my mother interrupted. "Yes. I noticed that too. I do believe they are the same. Part of why I wish to leave now. He's coming. Soon. And he hasn't met me yet. And Cairo proved that attempting to change things is a catastrophe waiting to happen."
"Actually I was going to say she looks a lot like your mate," the human replied. "Same coloring and distinctive forehead crest."
"So?" my mother replied.
The human chuckled and shook his head. "Gargoyles and your rookeries. You never notice it, do you? What about the rumors that this clan has magic pendants that let them avoid stone sleep."
"That is true," my mother said. "And their sister clan to the north. Two each, four total."
"And?"
"And they should keep them," she replied. "They're far more useful to them then us."
"Always your call."
"Shall we?" my mother said. I watched her and the human step into the stone structure, which then vanished into the mists. I leapt down from my tree, flaring my wings as an airfoil and landing nimbly upon the ground. I scampered over to where the stone structure had stood.
There was no sign that it was ever there.
11. 1. 16. 8. 7
Dreaming old dreams about my Balanced Mother was nothing new. I thought of her often. Especially the bizarre way she had vanished, and the odd conversation that she'd had with the human before it had happened.
I'd wondered as of late, if the conversation had something to do with my current travels with Brooklyn and Benuthet. It was beginning to seem likely.
With a triumphant roar I burst free from my stone sleep, sucking in a deep breath of air as I did.
There was a groaning sound behind me as Brooklyn helped Benuthet up.
"How you feeling buddy?" Brooklyn asked.
"Healed but not whole," Benuthet said. Alarm bells went off in my head. There was something wrong with the way Benuthet was speaking.
"My beloved beauty!" Benuthet said turning towards me. That's when I knew what was wrong. It was the words. The words were wrong. In an instant, I slammed him to the ground with my foot.
Benuthet was the better swordsman than I was, but we had determined very early on that I was more skilled in hand to hand combat, and he could not beat me. Particularly since he was caught quite off guard, and was...well…
"Who in the Xibulba are you?" I demanded pressing the poisoned arrow that Cobalt had shot me with up to his neck.
"Jesus, Zee!" Brooklyn yelped. "What the hell?"
"Who are you," I demanded again. "And where is my Sak Chakmool, Where is my Benuthet!?"
To be concluded…