Dragon Aster Trilogy

35: GARGOYLES



Kas walked over to where Sybl lay in the Efereal Mountains. He had her body sent here to be preserved, until it was safe to wake her. He looked up at the ceiling that concealed the gargoyles in its shadows. Some were stone statues, and some were real, as the eyes of the active ones looked back at him with yellow eyes. The winged, monkey-like creatures of grey skin, climbed slowly through the stone. The rectangular rocks hung like upside down forts for them to rest and move about in. He didn’t trust them entirely, mostly because they were simple creatures in nature. If anything entered this cavern that was not Xirel or Kas, it would be quickly swarmed and killed.

Xirel had her body laid on a block of ice, and her life Threads delicately woven about her to keep her in a coma. She was pale, if not almost blue now, and he was left to question himself of whether he had done the right thing. But he couldn’t risk Damek using her against them at this critical time. Once the Sanctus had taken the Atrum, there would be the time and resources to deal with him.

“Master Kas, will you be alright?” Xirel asked as he walked into the cavern. His long, white cloak followed his steps.

“Is she comfortable?”

“Yes, I have overlooked no detail. If she does become restless, it will take her a lot of time to find her way back to consciousness.”

“Just do not leave her anywhere in darkness, she is still scared of it.”

“I understand, Master Kas,” Xirel replied. “The labyrinth I designed is brightly lit in all its passages.” His eyes looked up then, following where Kas’ went. “You are concerned about the gargoyles?”

“The Falls have these creatures as well...”

“Yes, but the ones from the Falls are much more stupid and bulky. I have hand-raised these ones, and they listen very well.” Xirel lifted out his arm, and one fluttered down like a bat to land on it. “My Luna is who makes these gargoyles special.”

Kas looked at the ugly creature, trying to find something about it that set it apart from the rest of the ones in the cavern. When he couldn’t find anything, he stepped closer and took in her scent. It was of sunlight. “It is from Earth.”

“It…! You calls me an it? I am not an ‘it,’ I am insulted!” the gargoyle replied. Its voice was like the scraping of a chalkboard.

“Luna is a very old, and an educated gargoyle from Earth,” Xirel said, trying to calm her back down. “I found her when Nephena sent us to Earth. Well, it was more of her finding me.”

Kas scratched his hair, as he didn’t see the beauty Xirel did in the creature.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...”

Kas stood surprised for a moment, before his mind tried to figure out what Text the gargoyle had quoted. He knew all of them but this one.

Xirel smiled as Luna danced on two legs in one circle of victory on his arm. For she knew a Text that the High Priest did not. “Do you see why she was, in my opinion, the perfect gift?”

Kas furrowed his eyebrows at Luna, as there was one thing that set it apart for sure. It had riddles he couldn’t solve, and that alone would have made it his sister’s most fascinating creature. Both in the past and present time.

“A Priest should attend church more often,” Luna mocked, then jumped into the air to fly back up to her upside-down stone city.

“I thought about giving Luna to Sybl as a present—”

“No!” Kas replied, louder than he had intended. “I mean, no. Please. My sister has already given me a riddle that I might never solve.”

“Oh?”

“Her humanity,” Kas replied, and Xirel smiled in understanding. “Is the evacuation of the Sanctus complete?”

“The last are coming through as we speak.” Xirel lifted his head to confirm by psi.

“I will return then to the fight. Seal the Gate behind me. There will be no one using it afterwards.” Kas turned and left the cavern, heading for where they kept the Gate that connected to the one that Gwa had fixed at the Sanctus. The chimera somnus changed the settings as the last of the civilians stepped through. Kas waited, and then walked back through the clear Rift to his home.