Goliath spied quietly from a distance as Demona spoke with the three young warriors of her lost clan. He watched her face apprehensively, trying to guess her thoughts and what she might be planning for these three young lives. For the moment, she seemed mostly overwhelmed with the unexpected miracle of their survival and Goliath couldn't help but feel a bit of vicarious joy as he caught an occasional glimpse of a smile in her expression.
This was a rarity for her. The centuries had taught her well to hide her heart from all expressions but rage. Now, having been stripped of most of that rage by Xanatos' implants, her typically blank affect had slowly begun to allow hints of fear, sorrow, outrage, disgust, shame, gratitude, and even affection to come to the surface, but almost never joy. Goliath mourned for the passionate creature she had once been. He remembered a soul that once delighted in beauty, truth, and love. He questioned if centuries of isolation and grief had left her heart unable to perceive those intangible virtues in the world, or if it was her guilt that forbade her from enjoying them. Whatever force it was that deprived her though, it seemed that it could not suppress the happiness these three young ones brought her. Goliath rejoiced with her, from afar, though he was also beginning to dread the complications he saw looming on the horizon.
Lexington and Ophelia crouched beside him, while Luach began to prepare a fire. Ophelia was eagerly asking Luach question after question about his journey with the lost trio of gargoyles, and was probably garnering some important information, but Goliath was too distracted to pay adequate attention to the conversation. Lexington too, crouched on a large rock, looking uncharacteristically sullen as he watched Demona interacting with the new gargoyles.
"Are you alright, Lexington?" Goliath asked him and Lexington looked up at him in surprise.
"Yeah," he sighed, then hesitated as if there was something else he wished to say, but thought the better of it. He gave the distant group a somewhat disapproving look and then added,
"I guess I was just looking forward to heading home. Now we've got another 'situation' to deal with and who knows when we'll see the rest of the clan again?" Lexington glanced up at Goliath a little sheepishly, as if expecting a reprimand, but Goliath looked thoughtful and a bit worried as well.
"If you please, my friend," interrupted King Luach, who had apparently grown weary of answering Ophelia's questions and meant to ask some of his own, "You said before that Demona was born of your clan. How could that be, when nearly a thousand years have passed since I knew her and she had lived over a century before then?"
Goliath explained the history of his clan, how they had been betrayed and slain, and how the few remaining warriors had survived only after centuries of cursed sleep.
"She spoke of your clan," Luach informed him, "She told me the story in confidence. How they were destroyed by humans. I never told my father. Now I wonder if perhaps I should have." He paused, a pained expression in his eyes.
"Do you think he would have trusted her less, had he known her history?" Goliath asked him.
"I know not what he would have done," he admitted mournfully, "All this time later, and still, I can make no sense of her betrayal. She was our friend! Why would she abandon us?"
"She was afraid," Goliath explained to him, "She blamed her trust in the wrong human for the death of our clan. She could not endure the thought of the same happening with her new clan. Whether her fears were justified or merely paranoia, she had come to suspect that the temptation on your father to abandon them to their enemies had become too great for him to resist."
Luach sighed when he heard this.
"My father was a good man. He strove for honesty and loyalty. I do not believe he would ever have betrayed her or intentionally led her clan to harm."
"I don't think so either," Goliath agreed.
"But he was an ambitious man. The contract waged between he and Demona was for the protection of our family from Canmore, not to send her and her warriors on campaigns afar or to use her against her nature to intimidate rivals. Father and I argued about this frequently. Never would he have betrayed her to his enemy, and surely she knew that I would never have allowed such a plot. But I suspect her misapprehensions did not come from thin air. How I wish she would have come to me!"
"Your description of your father matches what I know of him," Goliath commented, and Luach looked up in surprise.
"You mean, you've seen my father? He lives, even in this time?" he asked in surprise.
"Of course," Goliath replied, "You said yourself that the fair folk who brought you here told you that you would be reunited with him once you found Demona."
Luach shook his head in amazement.
"I thought for certain that Demona would return me back to my own time through the gate of fire! I never expected that my father would be living now. How is it possible?"
"She is the one to tell that story," Goliath explained, "Or your father. I know, she knows how to contact him. We will see you soon reunited."
"My deepest thanks to you," Luach replied earnestly, a great deal of weariness having been swept from his countenance by this unexpected news.
The fire was burning brightly now and Lexington and Ophelia had busied themselves preparing food for the group, from the provisions in the skiff. Ophelia looked with disdain on some of the packages she had opened.
"It's boat food! What did you expect?" Lexington asked.
"Goliath?" Luach asked a short time later, "When I saw her at first, she appeared as a woman. When I recognized her, she fled me as if I were the very devil! But I saw her from a distance, transforming into her own form as the sun set."
"Yes," Goliath replied, "That is the work of the trickster, Puck. He set that spell on her so she must take a human form from sunrise to sunset and is only allowed her true form at night."
"Why would he do such a thing?" he asked sadly and Goliath shrugged.
"As I understand it, she asked to be delivered from the obligation to turn into stone during the day, and this is how he saw fit to do it. He called it a 'gift', though as far as I can tell, she has gained no benefit or insight from it."
"What a cruel joke!" Luach replied disdainfully.
Goliath looked quizzically at this sympathetic young man, wondering if he was this compassionate toward everyone who deserted and betrayed him, or if there was something particular about Demona that inspired such inexplicable fondness. It occurred to him that the man might be something of a fool. He worried about his reaction when the time came to explain Demona's lethal vendetta against humanity, which for his own safety needed to happen before sunup.
"If I may be so bold," Luach continued hesitantly, "She also spoke of a lover, who was among her murdered clan. One who was once her greatest happiness and guiding star. I admit, at the time, it was hard for me to imagine any warrior who could make an acceptable mate for our Demona, much less meet the description of strength, virtue, intelligence, and courage that she so proudly told of. Such a warrior could only be yourself."
"That is quite bold!" Goliath retorted irritably, "Even with the gratuitous flattery."
"Forgive me, then," he pleaded, "I only seek to understand the complicated situation I walk into."
Goliath sighed. If only he knew how complicated it was!
"Demona and I are estranged," he explained reluctantly, "I do not wish to speak anymore of it. As leader of the clan, I am responsible for her. I care for her and wish the best for her, as I do for all my charges."
"When we spoke before, you said you held her prisoner," Luach pointed out in confusion.
"I did," he admitted, "And so we do. It is a regrettable necessity."
"I don't understand," Luach told him, and so Goliath was compelled to explain in far greater detail than he would have liked, the many crimes Demona had committed in her insanity, while Luach looked on in horror. By the time Goliath had finished, Luach looked fully agonized and had long since ceased asking questions.
"Oh, my dear one," he whispered softly, as if in mourning.
"Luach, you must understand," Goliath continued, "Demona is still very dangerous. The care we have given her has brought her out of darkness. I am fairly confident that she would not attack the clan again, but we still keep her restrained by day, and when it comes to humans, all bets are off. And that is her condition in the best of times! The events of the last few nights might have brought the strongest of souls to the brink of madness. You are not safe in her presence. You must not turn your back on her, especially during the day, when the rest of us sleep. Do you understand?"
"I understand what you have told me, Goliath," Luach replied, "But, still, I do not fear her. I gave my word that I would protect her, and her warriors. I will keep my word."
Luach glanced over at Demona and her three young warriors. They had risen from where they had assembled to talk, and were coming to join them around the fire. A look of recognition and great worry came over Luach and he said to Goliath in a hushed voice, "My friend...In the state she is in, she can no longer be their leader."
"No. She most certainly cannot," Goliath agreed.
Even more troubled, Luach added, "But those three love her and are fiercely loyal. They will never betray her and never willingly accept another leader!"
"So I feared," Goliath replied with a sigh of frustration.
"But what can be done?" Luach asked anxiously.
"I have no idea," Goliath admitted forlornly, standing to greet them as they approached.