GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Love Stories: 3

After Goliath headed off with the Captain to see the Prince, Demona left the castle quietly while the others were still distracted tending to the wounded. As she flew, she thought of her brethren who had been fighting night after night for weeks now. Every wound they had received was an afront to her. She and her kind protected the castle, but the castle's inhabitants, they were a different story. Perhaps, she believed, had the humans shown a shred of honor, if they had displayed an ounce of respect towards her and her clan, things could have been different. But they would never be capable of anything more than what they were—barbarians.

What Demona really wanted to do was find the invaders and kill them all. Then, with them gone, return to the castle and cast the humans out forever, threatening their lives if they refused. But she knew that was a task she could never accomplish alone, and her brothers and sisters, foolish as they were, were more likely to try and stop her than stand behind her. Goliath certainly would. So instead, she had an extraordinarily risky plan.

After a while of gliding alone with her thoughts, Demona saw the yellow flicker of firelight in the forest below. She was nervous, but steeled herself with hate. She circled a couple of times to get a sense of how the camp was laid out. Then, she dropped a bit lower in order to find her mark. It was not difficult. The leader was large, loud, and on his way to being drunk. She found him easily.  Then, eyes narrowing,  she quickly drew her wings in and dove straight down, like a falcon descending on its prey.

The humans had no chance. One second, they were laughing heartily, drinking and slapping each others backs at the days exploits. The next, they were knocked flat against the earth by a great rush of air and the sideways smack of a tail. Demona seemed to have appeared out of thin air. As the men slowly collected themselves and looked up, she was standing behind their leader with one hand grasped firmly around his neck and the other holding his sword.

"Not one false move," Demona said. "Or he'll be separated from his hideous face."

Another group had heard the commotion and come rushing over. Demona tightened her grip and brought the sword up towards his face. She wielded the weapon as if it were a simple butter knife. The leader raised a hand and everyone froze. For a long moment, no one moved, nor said a word. Then, the leader laughed. Demona looked at him inquisitively, then drew her eyebrows together while tightening her grip. He choked.

"What do you find amusing?" Demona asked.

"You are, demon," was the answer. "What did you think, that you could come here, kill me, and then fly away? You'll be in a hundred pieces before I hit the ground."

"Fortunately for both of us, I have not come to kill you," Demona said. Silence once again filled the air. Only the crackle of the fire could be heard. After what she considered a long enough pause to control the energy of the moment, she continued. "I have come to make you an offer."

"An offer!" the leader exclaimed. "What do you have to offer me?"

Demona had envisioned what this moment would be like, but now that it was here, she found herself hesitant. What if they refused? Perhaps she should take advantage of their not yet fully faded surprise to make an escape. The thought only lasted a moment. She knew what she wanted. "It has been weeks since you first attempted to seize castle Wyvern," she said, "and it can be weeks more, still you will never succeed. You cannot lay siege because I and my kind will drive you away and you need more than a day to breech the castle defenses, time which you do not have, once again, because of we Gargoyles. As time goes on your forces only become weaker."

"Your assessment of my forces is of no interest to me," the Leader said. "Besides, even if what you say were true, things have changed. Now we have you. I wonder, would your clan sacrifice you to the cause? Perhaps if we present you we can convince your fellow monsters to back off."