Guns of Legend: Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Adlis could hear Za whimpering
behind her as the gargoyles roughly herded them across the desert. She had lost track of time long ago, but
figured it was getting close to sunrise.
"It's okay, Za," she comforted her
friend. "I don't think they're going to
hurt us."
"They won't even let me put water
on my eyes!" he whined. Adlis felt his
pain. Without eyelids, a simmk could be
put in a lot of pain if they could not flick water on their eyes, especially in
a hot, dry environment like the desert.
"Just hold on a little bit longer,"
she urged him.
"Doesn't matter," Kilo butted
in. "We won't be leaving them any time
soon."
"Don't say that!" Adlis snapped
with more confidence than she really felt.
"They're not going to hurt us!"
"I don't care if they do or not,"
the fuaro snarled. "They're the ones
that did it, and I'm going to make them pay for it!"
"They're the ones who did what?"
Adlis asked.
"They're the ones who stole my
little Vikka," Kilo turned to the nearest gargoyle and demanded, "Where's my
son, rockbrain?"
The gargoyle didn't even acknowledge
that she had spoken. It kept walking,
its eyes never straying left nor right.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Kilo
kicked out, striking the gray monster on his shin. With a savage growl, the gargoyle whipped
around and backhanded the fuaro so hard that she collapsed to the sandy ground.
The chief made an angry sound from
the front of the line, as if berating the gargoyle that had struck Kilo. With an exasperating groan, the gargoyle bent
down and hoisted Kilo to her feet again, setting her roughly down in line once
again before continuing to march.
"Please, Ms. Kilo," Adlis begged,
"don't antagonize them!"
"They're a bunch of rotten, lousy
child murderers!" the angry woman shot back, her cheek already beginning to
swell where it had been struck. "What do
you want me to do? Invite them home for
a few drinks?"
"If you keep acting like this, they
will kill us!" Adlis insisted, eliciting
a frightened moan from Za behind her.
"They're gargoyles, stupid, not
lawmen!" the fuaro replied, her voice curt and spiteful. "They don't know the difference between life
and death. They'll stick a knife in our
chests and then wonder why we don't wake up the next morning!"
Adlis glanced about, frightened
that their stony-faced captors would somehow understand them and take offense
to Kilo's insults. They remained as
impassive as ever, though, and continued marching through the desert.
In the near distance, the bluff
Adlis had noticed earlier rose above them.
As they drew nearer, she began to spot more signs of gargoyle
inhabitation. A group of them stood at
attention before the cliff, parting to allow the chief's scouting party access. Gargoyles of every shape and size were
scattered around the area, going about their nocturnal business. Children played at the base of the cliff
while, and adults did their various appointed jobs. Two females were busy skinning a vallug while
a third boiled water to cook the meat in.
A group of males chatted amongst themselves as they whittled away pieces
of wood and bone to use as weapons.
Towards the far end of the camp, an ancient looking gargoyle spoke to a
group of children in their strange language, waving its hands around
dramatically. The children listened to
the old goyle, their eyes wide with amazement.
There was a hole in the side of the
cliff, about twenty feet above the ground.
As the scouting party approached the stone wall, a rope ladder dropped
out of it, and they began to climb. A
gargoyle came to the back of the line and slashed the ropes that bound the
captives' hands and motioned for them towards the ladder with a grunt.
"I don't want to go up there!" Za
whined, but another gargoyle kicked him roughly in the rear.
"Hey!" Adlis shot at the culprit.
"Save it," Kilo advised her. "I'd say a kick in the backside is the least
of our problems tonight."
Despite her anger, Adlis forced
herself to keep her tongue in check. She
gently took Za's hand and led him towards the ladder.
"It'll be all right," she promised. "I won't let anything happen to you."
The look Za gave her almost broke
her heart. It was one of complete trust
and dedication. He truly believed that
she wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.
Even after getting kidnapped by a mad fuaro, just to be kidnapped again
by a tribe of gargoyles. Then again, if
he could trust her after the incident with his tail, there probably wasn't
anything he wouldn't trust her about...
Without another word, the simmk
began to climb the ladder. Adlis
followed after him, and Kilo came after her.
When she reached the top, she was roughly herded further into the cave. All three of them were seated on an
outcropping of rock in the cave wall and their hands were bound once more. The chief came by briefly to make sure they
were tied up good and tight, as well as give Adlis' ears one final inspection,
before going back to the mouth of the cave.
He leaned his head back and let out a howl that chilled Adlis'
bones. Before she had time to wonder
what that had meant, the gargoyles outside began to climb into the cave.
Once the entire tribe was inside,
the chief selected nine males from the tribe and gave them a gruff
command. With a solemn nod, they moved to
the mouth of the cave. Three of them got
down on their knees and hunched over, and three more climbed on top of them and
did the same, followed by the final three. When they were all in position, they formed a
wall of gargoyles, three wide and three tall.
"What are they doing?" Adlis asked
in genuine curiousity.
"No idea," Kilo huffed.
Her question was answered, though,
when the sun began to peak over the horizon.
Though Adlis could only glimpse peaks of it between the gargoyles, it
slowly began to creep through the opening and into the cave. The chief barked a command, and the tribe
backed away from the entrance until they were clear of where the light touched
the cave floor. A strange crackling
filled the air, and Adlis turned to look.
To her horror, the gargoyles at the
entrance were slowly turning to stone!
Their skin lightened from their dark scaly gray to that of weathered and
beaten rock, and then hardened until there were nine statues stacked on top of
each other at the mouth of the cave. She
stifled a gasp, trying not to further frighten Za.
"What just happened?" she asked,
her voice timid.
"They are protecting the cave," an
old raspy voice answered.
As one, all three of the captives
turned to see the old gargoyle from before shambling towards them. His body was haggard, but he was clothed in a
shawl that wrapped around his entire body like a blanket. Behind him stood a far younger gargoyle.
"Who are you?" Kilo demanded.
"The Great Fire is the enemy to the
Stone Children," the old gargoyle went on.
"A single touch of its light will return us to our elemental forms until
the gentle touch of the Stone Mother finds us once again."
"What's he talking about?" Za
asked, trying to scoot further away from the ancient goyle.
"He means that if a gargoyle gets
touched by sunlight, they turn to stone," Kilo answered. "And they stay that way until night falls."
"But why would they do that?" Adlis
asked, looking back towards the nine statues that blocked the entrance to the
cave.
"To protect us, just as I said,"
the old gargoyle repeated. "During the
day, we are unprotected. We cannot
venture forth into the world until the Great Fire sinks, but we have many
enemies who can. By blocking the
entrance to our cave, they are preventing these enemies from reaching us until
we are able to defend ourselves once more."
With a groan, the old gargoyle sat
down across from them and smiled, "My name is Gukkalunk. This is Fusk," he motioned towards the young
gargoyle. "I am storyteller to the In
Mountain Gargoyles."
"What do you want with us?" Kilo
demanded.
"We want nothing to do with you nor
the masked one," Gukkalunk answered. "We
only have business with the Magic Ears."
Adlis' eyes widened in horror and
her ears turned white. Gukkalunk smiled
and pointed at them, "It is as Chief Hakka said!" he declared. "You have magic in your ears!"
Adlis remained silent, and tried
not to look at the old gargoyle.
"Leave her alone!" Za
demanded. "She doesn't like it when you
talk about them!"
A perplexed look came over
Gukkalunk's face, "But why?" he asked. "Such
a gift must be told about in stories!
You do not keep something like this silent!"
"It's not a gift," Adlis
whispered. "It's a curse."
"Curse?" Gukkalunk asked, "I do not
know this word,"
"It means that I didn't ask for it,"
Adlis explained. "It was given to me
against my will."
"Of course you did not ask for it,"
Gukkalunk declared. "One does not ask
for gifts! They are given by others out
of kindness!"
"This wasn't given to me out of
kindness," Adlis insisted. "She gave me
this curse so that she could escape justice."
Gukkalunk's eyes narrowed, "What do
you mean by this?"
"The woman who gave me these ears
was a Cursecaster. She cursed my ears to
avoid being tried for her crimes. And
now my family has turned their backs on me unless I can get rid of it!"
Adlis clenched her eyes shut and
tears poured down her cheeks in humiliation.
Sobs threatened to burst out of her chest. When she finally looked back at the storyteller,
several minutes later, he was looking at her with a solemn expression.
"Tell me this story," he said
softly.