Gargoyles: Pendragon
Eye of the Tiger Part 2
Tea fired a shot into the air. She no intention of actually shooting the tigers. Tea had spent enough of her life poaching endangered species. She had no intention of continuing.
She fired a warning shot, in hopes that it might scare the beasts off, but to no avail. The big cats circled closer to her.
She put down her rifle, and leaned it up against Griff's stone form. If the gun wouldn't scare the tigers off, then she was going to have to face them on their own terms. Her body glowed and she fell forward onto all fours, her lithe panther form replacing her human shape.
This brought an immediate reaction from the tigers. It angered them. They snarled and surged towards her. Tea bared her fangs, and extended her claws, ready to fight for her life.
It was unnecessary. A large white tiger bounded into the monolith Dance, bigger than all four of the orange tigers. The white tiger roared at them, and they immediately turned and ran.
The tiger looked at Tea meaningfully, and then bolted off into the jungle.
Tea glanced back at Griff's stone form, but felt confident that he'd be safe here by himself. They were in the middle of a jungle, and she could smell no human scents for miles. Unless the tigers started using sledgehammers in the next 8 hours, Griff would be fine.
She bounded into the jungle after the tiger.
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It took little effort to realize that the white tiger wanted Tea to follow her. There was no other reason that a big cat would leave a trail so obvious through the jungle. In fact, Tea felt confident that when Griff awakened, that he'd be able to track their trail with little difficulty.
They came upon a human village. Not a large village, and clearly quite poor, based upon the construction of the houses, but a human village nonetheless.
The tiger shot up a nearby tree, and then bounded across several rooftops before leaping down in front of a small hut on the far end of the village.
Tea quickly and quietly followed suit, noticing a bright green glow flashing from the hut's windows.
Tea landed in front of the hut, and bounded inside. An elderly woman in a sari sat by the fire, cooking some sort of golden liquid. It smelled divine.
A wide-eyed nineteen-year old girl dressed in a pure white sari stood by the window, looking at her. Tea couldn't help but notice her bright blue eyes, contrasted to her deep brown skin…The same color as the brew that the elderly woman was cooking.
"Are you like me, Leopard?" the nineteen-year old girl asked in English. "Are you cursed?"
Tea's body glowed and she resumed her human shape.
"Yes," Tea said. "By Anansi. The spider."
The younger girl nodded tearfully. "Tha. The Elephant. For the crime of hunting one of his children in his temple. I wouldn't have normally…But the drought…I was so hungry…And the elephant looked so good…"
"I hate this form," she said. "Humans are so clumsy, their senses so weak. I begged Tha for mercy, and he granted it. So long as I protected his children from the hunters, I would be allowed to resume my true shape for short periods of time."
Tea's mind reeled for a moment. Trying to process exactly what the girl had said.
Then she remembered the story of the Panther Queen. How the first Were-Panther had been a panther-turned-human, and not the other way around.
"You're…A tiger," she marveled.
"After Tha transformed her," the old woman said, speaking up for the first time. "She came and sought me. I have helped tigers in the past. Freeing them from poacher's traps, feeding them in the dry season."
"But she could not help me with…With this," the younger girl said, glaring at her human hands.
"I…Can sympathize," Tea said cautiously.
"I named the child Parvati Khanata," the elder said.
"I do not want a human name," Parvati spat.
"Parvati is the goddess of love, and connection to all living things," the elder woman said. "It suited her."
"I refuse to accept being human!" Parvati screamed.
"Tell us your story child," the elder said.
"It's…It is a long story," Tea admitted.
"We have time before the Makhini finishes cooking," the elder said.
"My name is Tea Gora," Tea said quietly. "And my story begins long ago, long before I was born, with the tale of the proud panther queen…"
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"You lied!" Parvati screamed as Tea drew her long tale to a close.
"I did not," Tea responded.
"You told me you were a panther curse by Anansi! Not a human—Poacher—cursed by Anansi," Parvati shrieked back at her.
"No," Tea said. "I said I was cursed by Anansi. And I am. Forever more."
"You are not a panther!" Parvati said, recoiling away from the Nigerian woman.
"But I am," Tea said. "I am both. A human and a Panther. I walk in both worlds."
"Are you?" the elder woman asked quietly.
"What?" Tea asked.
"You shun your panther side," the elder said. "You pretend that you aren't both. You carry knives instead of using your claws, you use a gun instead of your teeth. You don't walk both worlds. You pretend to be human. Your Fara Maku—He understands."
Neither Tea nor Parvati spoke.
"Fara spends as much time as a panther as he does a human," Griff said, quietly stepping into the hut.
"You left this behind," the gargoyle said, handing Tea's rifle to her. Tea looked surprised, and glanced outside, surprised by how long her story had taken, and how dark it was.
"I've seen Fara wandering through the jungles of New Camelot," Griff said. "I've seen him lying asleep on the castle parapets in panther form. He's embraced both halves of his nature. You…on the other hand. You focus on being human. You use human weapons so you don't have to use your natural ones."
"What does that matter?!" Tea snapped.
"It doesn't," Griff said. "You're free to be as human or as not-human as you like. Just as she's free to be as tiger or not-tiger as she likes. Speaking objectively as someone who isn't a member of either species, it doesn't matter to me if you prefer one shape over the other. But you can't pretend that you walk the line between the two shapes when you play-act like one doesn't exist."
"It's not what you are," Griff continued. "Or what gifts you are given that determine your fate. It's how you chose to use those gifts."
"Parvati" turned and looked at Griff.
"You speak wisely, Garuda," the elder said. "Would you join us for dinner? My Mahkini has just finished cooking."
"Well," Griff said grinning. "I do love Indian food, and I am a bit peckish. I'd be honored to join you."
"You like Indian food?" Tea asked, cocking her eyebrow.
"There's an Indian place across the street from Into the Mystic," Griff said. "After we started patrolling Soho, they'd send us free food. It was amazing."
He took a bit of naan, dipped it in the golden liquid. "Mmmm. Just like this. Thank you ma'am. Devine."
"What did you call him?" Tea asked.
"He is a Garuda," the elder woman gestured towards a tapestry on her wall.
"Long ago, this valley was inhabited by three clans of paranaala; the creatures that you know of as gargoyles," the woman continued. Griff and Tea walked over to the tapestry, examining the intricate, exquisite images woven into it.
"The Garuda Clan controlled the land north of the river. They were tall, eagle-like, with wings and beaks, much like your friend. They believed that they were descendants of the god Garuda, which is why they called their clan as such."
"South of the river lay the Naga Clan. Serpentine and savage, they believed themselves descendants of Kadru, the serpentine goddess. They hated the Garuda clan, and so the two clans went to war."
"Gargoyles, at war with other gargoyles?" Griff said, sounding horrified.
"Such was the sentiment of the third clan of the valley," the woman said. They were the smallest, and dwelt within the small temple down the river from us."
"I think that temple is where we arrived," Griff commented.
"It is also where the travelers arrived," the elder said. "Three gargoyles from far away, and their two beasts."
"Brooklyn," Griff said, examining the stylized drawings upon the tapestry. "I'd bet my life on it. I wonder who his friends are, though. Because that's certainly not Katana and Nashville."
"The white one was a sorcerer," the elder continued. "He created a spell to end the Clan-War. He cast a spell upon the Naga and Garuda clans. Forcing them to sleep. Sleep until the river no longer cleaved this land. Both clans became stone upon the battlefield, and the travelers were whisked away—As they say—On the back of the true Garuda himself."
"Sounds like a standard high level spell," Griff said. "Sleep until the river goes away. Sleep until the castle rises above the clouds. Till Kingdom Come, basically."
"Indeed," she said, frowning. "Save for one small problem."
Tea and Griff looked at the elder.
"A damn was built up the river, to provide power to the cities and villages," she said, quietly. "Combined with this drought…The river is almost all dried up. Almost gone. The spell may be broken very soon. The war might be returning."
Griff and Tea exchanged a glance.
"I have been trying to convince Parvati to seek the battlefield where the spell was first cast," to find it and protect us from the war. When the Garudas and Nagas fought, the valley shook, and all suffered, man and beast alike."
"You want me to accept being human," Parvati spat. "By pitting me against the common enemy of men and beasts."
"I do not deny it," the matriarch replied.
"We…might want to check this out," Griff said, quietly.
"Surely it's just a local legend," Tea said, before realizing how stupid that sounded.
"So is King Arthur, Kara Digi, and were-tigers," Griff said.
"So we should definitely check it out," Tea said.
"You wouldn't happen to know where that battlefield is, would you?" Griff asked.
"It is said to be north of here," the old woman said.
"Do you wish to come with us?" Griff asked Parvati.
The were-tiger hissed at him.
"It's your loss, love," Griff said. He turned towards his hostess. "Thank you for the meal. It was lovely."
"The honor was mine, Garuda," she said.
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Griff wondered if the escape clause of the spell was not already in effect. He couldn't see any sign of a river at all. Just a dried, cracking bed snaking its way through the dried up and withered jungle. He supposed that there must be water somewhere though…
"You all right?" Griff asked, holding Tea as they glided over the jungle canopy.
"Yes," Tea replied back. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You can get hostile if you feel you're being attacked," Griff said. "I just wanted to assure you that what I said back there was in no way meant as a slight."
Tea bristled. "I know it wasn't. You said what you saw. Your frankness is one of the things I like about you Sir Griff."
"And I also know that the Tiger's situation hits a little…Close to home."
"If she doesn't want to be helped," Tea said coldly. "We can't force her."
"That's not what I meant," Griff said.
"There!" Tea said, pointing downward. Griff chose not to address the fact that she was avoiding the question. He glided down and landed among the trees.
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Griff wagered that 1,200 years ago this dense area of jungle was a massive field. Now it had been overrun by trees and creeper vines. Moss covered gargoyle statues, or at least pieces of them were scattered around the forest floor.
Griff winced upon looking at some of the statues.
"I think that time has done more to stop this Clan-War than we ever could," Griff said.
Most of the stone figures had indeed crumbled, or broken apart.
"I don't understand," Tea said. "Didn't Goliath's clan sleep for a similar length of time?"
"Yes," Griff said. "But Goliath's clan had minimal maintenance over the centuries. Demona and a time-traveling Brooklyn would check in every so often and fix the place up a bit, clean the ivy off the statues, etc. I think these chaps were pretty much forgotten after they were turned to stone."
"Look!" Tea said pointing.
Griff and Tea approached the only two still-intact statues, both frozen in a fighting stance. A tall Garuda in a loincloth holding a spear, preparing to drive it into a stone Naga lying on his back between the legs of the Garuda.
One of the Garuda's wings had been broken off in a storm or something years before, but in every other respect, he was intact. The horrified looking Naga beneath him, was perfectly intact, save a small patch of moss on his belly.
"Guessing that the river hasn't completely dried up," Griff said. "Or the spell on these two might have been broken."
Suddenly a soft blue glow surrounded the two statues. A web of cracks began to spread across both.
"Or…It just dried up now," Griff said, stepping backwards. "Bugger."
There was a triumphant roar from both gargoyles, sending shards of stone skin across the forest. Then, a scream of agony, as the Garuda staggered back, dropping his spear in pain. Now that he was flesh, his fur and feathers were blend of bright yellow and orange-red.
The stump where the Garuda's wing used to be was now bleeding profusely. The Naga realized his advantage, and grabbed the spear and jabbed it into the Garuda's stomach.
"No!" Griff yelped. The Garuda staggered back, the spear still jammed into his stomach. Griff grabbed his Lightning Gun and aimed it at the Naga. He hissed and said something in a language that Griff and Tea couldn't understand.
"I don't speak whatever that is…," Griff stammered.
The Naga said something else, and his eyes flashed green.
"You understand me now?" he demanded.
"What was that…" Tea started to ask, but Griff silenced her with a hand signal. With a second signal he gestured towards the jungle. Tea suddenly realized that the Naga hadn't taken his eyes off of Griff. She nodded silently, and slipped into the forest, transforming as she did.
"Yes," Griff said. "Clever little translation spell. I suppose that charm around your neck is the conduit?"
"Clever little Garuda," the Naga hissed. "Now where is the rest of my clan? Where are the gargoyles of the sword? The sorcerer who cast his spell on us, and that sthaga female?"
"I…Don't know what you are talking about," Griff said. "I am not one of your Garudas. I'm called Griff, of the London clan. And you've been asleep for 1,200 years. Your war ended centuries ago. Both of you. You've no need to carry on fighting. Look around you. You slept in stone, but the centuries kept passing. The jungle claimed every member of your clans except the two of you. Don't you think that it's time to put this petty grudge aside? Do you even remember what it is about?"
"Of COURSE I remember," Naga hissed angrily. "It's about the Purity of the Naga Clan! You, and your disgusting eagle-like Garudas must never mate with and spoil the purity of the Naga bloodline!"
"I really don't like racists," Griff said, cocking his Lightning Gun and training it on the serpentine gargoyle.
"DIE GARUDA!" the Naga hissed, and lunged at Griff. Griff fired his Lightning Gun, which struck the Naga point blank. He violently shook and collapsed to the ground. Griff took the opportunity to run over to the Garuda, who looked up at Griff helplessly, and then back down to the spear embedded in his belly.
His eyes widened, and he tried to speak.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, mate," Griff said, focusing on the first aid training that he'd received from Dell back at Knight's Spur, and ignoring the Naga slithering up behind him.
The Serpentine gargoyle unsheathed a dagger, and raised it, raising it above Griff's back. He spun around before he would have stabbed Griff, and drove the knife into the shoulder of the panther that had lunged out of the grass.
Tea roared in pain and limped over to Griff's side.
"I saw the human go into the forest," the Naga hissed. "You didn't really think that I wasn't expecting an attack, did you?"
"You were pretty focused on me," Griff said.
"All you Garudas are treacherous!" the Naga hissed. "I always expect tricks! Now you and the shapeshifter will both die!"
But before the Naga could move another inch, a massive white tiger surged out of the forest, snarling and clawing at the Naga.
The Naga shrieked, and then bolted away, slithering off into the grass.
The white tiger glowed green and resumed the human form of Parvati Khanata. Tea glowed purple and changed back as well.
"Thank you, my friend," Tea said.
"You said something before," Parvati said, looking at Griff. "You said that it is what you do with the gifts that you've been given. You believe that?"
"It's why I do, what I do," Griff replied.
"I would like…" she hesitated. "I would like to know more about using these gifts. I…think that Tha turned me into a human as a gift. I want to know what he wants me to do with the gift. I think I can learn this from you, and your clan."
"The first thing we can do," Griff said. "Is stop the bleeding, and get this bloke to the Megalith Dance in the Temple down the river, hopefully before he loses too much blood."
Parvati nodded, and ran over to help Griff. She tore off bits of her sari, and handed them to Griff to use as bandages.
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The elder matriarch smirked as Parvati, Tea, and Griff hefted the Garuda onto their shoulders and began slowly walking towards the Megalith dance at the temple in the center of the valley.
She smiled to herself, satisfied that this kit had found kindred spirits who would set her off on the right path. After all…This wasn't the first drought that had come to this valley, nor would it be the last. As long as young elephants sought shelter from predators in Tha's temple, then there would always be were-tigers.
A green light surrounded her, and a gnarled old tiger bounded off into the jungle, in the direction of the human village.
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Nick looked up from his laptop. The Antarctic Dance suddenly lit up, energy and electricity flowing between the stones.
Four transparent figures appeared within the Dance, and slowly solidified into flesh. Then, two of them turned grey, transforming to stone.
"That works," Tea said dryly. She and Parvati gently slid out from under the Garuda's stone arm.
"Yeah," Nick said, checking his laptop. "Still daytime here. Griff should wake up in a few hours, barring jetlag. Who is the other guy?"
"His name is Garuda," Tea said. "And this is…Well, she goes by 'Parvati'."
Tea looked at Parvati, who quietly nodded in confirmation.
"I see you got back from Ireland," Tea commented.
"Yeah," Nick said. "Figured out why the return signal wasn't pinging out. Someone built a tomb on top of the cavern with the Dance in it. Cú Chullain's tomb, actually. Kinda weirded Rory out. Me too for that matter, but Arthur called it destiny. I call it a reason to watch all of Merlin's little experiments from now on."
There was a sound like an explosion above them.
"Which is now my job…Apparently," Nick sighed, exasperatedly. He set his laptop down and ran up the stairs. Parvati quietly watched him go.
"Come on, Parvati," Tea said. "You should meet King Arthur."
"Who is that?" Parvati wondered.
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Garuda lay impotently on the Carbonek Infirmary bed. Griff had gone and retrieved 'Doc' a grumpy goat-like gargoyle to look him over. Of course the second, unexpected bout of Stone Sleep had sealed both his wing-wound, as well as the spear-wound. But the fact remained that he was missing his left wing, and he would never get it back.
"That's not true," Griff said, quietly. "My friend Staghart…his mate owns a robotics and cybernetics company. I think that they can arrange for a special prosthetic wing to be constructed for you. You will glide again, I promise you."
Garuda didn't care however, and ignored Griff's attempts to cheer him up. Eventually Griff gave up trying to talk to him, which was fine. The green gargoyle left the room, and then Garuda grabbed the tablet computer that had been left beside his bed table.
"Master Matrix," Garuda said, mimicking Griff's words he had overheard earlier. "Tell me everything about serpentine gargoyles in this century."
An image of the ChacIxchel Pyramid appeared on the screen, along with that of Zafiro and the Mayan Clan's hatchlings.
"Every Naga in the world will pay for what they've done," Garuda said, his eyes flickering white. "Every Naga must die."
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Naga glided up the dry riverbed, attempting to put as much distance between himself and the two Garudas and their were-panther friends as fast as he could. He noticed a small, strange looking craft sitting in the center of the dried bed.
Feeling that he could take any human craft from their owner with little trouble, he glided down and landed on the craft.
It was then that he saw the owner of the craft, lazily reclining on a throne underneath a canopy.
A dark blue gargoyle in armor and shock-white hair.
"Greetings," he said, not sounding particularly surprised, as what looked like a teenaged Persian human casually fed the gargoyle grapes.
"I am called Thailog," he said. "Welcome to my hovercraft. Would you like a tour?"
Naga smiled. "I'd be honored."
Never the End…
