GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Re-Awakening: 3

Goliath was looking down from his perch, waiting for the moment. Two nights had passed since his conversation with Demona. He was worried she may have been right. Perhaps they should have sought the invaders outside the castle, before it could come to this. But now was not the time for second guessing. He squatted down, placed one hand on the stone platform and spread his wings. The attackers had been streaming over the walls for the last sixty seconds or so and were now fighting hand to hand. He was waiting until just a few more made it over.

Now.

With a growl, Goliath launched himself off the tower and down towards the wall. His decent was at first vertical in order to pick up speed. Then, just before impact, he leveled off quickly and glided across the wall at high speed. The unsuspecting invaders had no time to duck. As Goliath swept past them with tremendous energy they were toppled backward. A few hit the side of the walls and had the wind knocked out of them. Wyvern's defenders took advantage, thrusting wildly with their swords and ending the night for these attackers. Others stumbled back into their comrades who were just making it off the ladders. In several cases they were pushed off the top rung and, as they began falling backward, their arms grasped desperately at anything to hang on to, the result being that they grabbed their own fellow maurauders and pulled them back over the side with them, falling together towards the rocky ground below. A few others bounced off one another and stumbled forward off the wall and down into the inner courtyard, where they met more of Wyvern's defenders' swords.

Goliath came to rest at the far end with one attacker's neck firmly in his grasp. He lifted him off the ground as if he were weightless, then pivoted, drawing a huge arc overhead and sending the assailant up into the air and head first over the wall, back from whence he came. As he finished this maneuver, he came face to face with another invader who had just arrived at the top of the ladder. His arm was raised over-head, a split second from bringing a heavy mace down onto Goliath's forehead. Before it could happen though, an arrow pierced the man's chest plate. He dropped the mace and crumpled downward, smashing into every climber below him on the way down. Goliath looked to his right toward the archers at the far inner wall, but they were not facing him. His eyes drifted upward and he saw Demona, who was lowering the empty crossbow in her hands. Most Gargoyles shunned the use of weapons, because killing was not their prefered method of defense. They favored fear and intimidation, which could usually be accomplished with a good thrashing. Demona though, had a penchant for the violent, which made Goliath uneasy, not for himself, but for her. She dropped the crossbow and glided across the courtyard into the next fray.

Close to an hour passed. Goliath and the clan did their job. The invaders were repelled, but it had come at a cost. Several of the castles defenders were dead. A great deal of arrows had been used. Some of the Gargoyles had been injured. It had been going on like this for two weeks now and with these new casualties defenses were beginning to fray. Castle Wyvern still had its Gargoyles, but with each subsequent attack the invaders seemed to be less intimidated by them. In a sense, the Gargoyles weapons were depleting as well.

Goliath knelt down next to a fallen defender. He was unconscious, with labored breathing and an arrow protruding from his chest. Goliath was about to pick him up when Demona landed next to him.

"We have our own casualties to tend to Goliath. This one won't survive. Come and help your own kind," Demona said.

Goliath looked up at her as anger welled inside him. She was still riled from the battle, he could see. Her aggression was at a high, nevertheless, her callousness was a bridge too far, even in this moment. He was about to admonish her when the soldier next to him coughed and heaved. Goliath turned to him just in time to see him draw his final breath. When he turned back, Demona had already left. He rose quickly. He would not let this go, but before he could start off after her the Captain of the Guard came jogging over.