Chapter 13
It was close to sunset and Dominique had still not returned. Kendra stared out into the forest indecisively for a few minutes longer before coming to a decision. Even though the redhead had asked them to leave her alone until she was ready to return, Kendra didn't think Dominique wanted to ruin the new clothes Rachael had brought by transforming in them. The Cree woman looked up but didn't say anything as Kendra rose and walked into the forest headed in the direction Dominique had gone in over two hours ago.
She spotted the flaming red hair immediately as she stepped out of the forest; Dominique was sitting by the stream staring at its rapidly flowing waters. She walked across the winter-browned grass and crouched beside the redhead, and stared with her at the flowing water for a few seconds. "You know you never see the same stream from second to second, its constantly changing as the water continues to flow downstream. In a way a stream or river epitomizes the fact that everything changes, even those things we think are static are constantly changing even if only at the atomic or subatomic level." Kendra quietly commented.
Dominique turned her head to stare at her lover, bemused by her words. She hadn't expected a short lesson in philosophy or perhaps it was quantum physics when her lover had knelt beside her.
"The sun will be going down soon; I thought you might want to change out of your new clothes before then," Kendra added glancing at the orange-red color of the setting sun.
The redhead was startled that so much time had passed while chaotic thoughts whirled about in her head. "Thank you, I would have been upset if I had destroyed them," her face wavered briefly at the word destroyed, right now the slightest thing was enough to bring back memories of holding her rookery brother's broken face in her talons.
"Come on," Kendra rose and offered her hand to Dominique, "let's get back so you can change."
Dominique took the proffered hand and allowed the black-haired woman to pull her to her feet.
"I don't recall seeing much of the Magus in the memories you had of Avalon," Kendra commented as they walked through the forest to the camp.
"He died fighting the Weird Sisters." The redhead snarled, "I would have liked to discuss with him exactly why he cast that spell on all of us, but I'm denied that pleasure. At least he died doing something useful," she finished bitterly.
Kendra was fairly certain that discuss was probably another word for pummel or kill, or more likely pummel and then kill in this case. It was a good thing the man was already dead, that meant she wasn't faced with the task of trying to talk the gargoyle out of going to a fey infested island to dismember him. She understood why Dominique felt that way, but somehow she doubted the Magus had ever meant for the situation at the castle to spin as far out of control as it had, no doubt the sacking of the castle had come as a completely unexpected surprise to him. Then there was the fact that killing him would accomplish nothing except adding to the burden of destruction that the gargoyle carried already and end the life of a man who, given that he had died protecting the clan's children, had probably been trying to atone for his deed ever since the sacking of the castle.
"He could have kept the Grimorium, left Princess Katherine and the gargoyle eggs, and found another lord to serve if he wanted to keep seeking power and influence. Given that he didn't, perhaps his protection of the clan's children on Avalon was his way of trying to atone for the destruction his actions lead to," They had stopped walking and Kendra weathered the redhead's angry glare to finish, "even up to giving his own life for them."
"How can you defend him?" Dominique hissed.
"I'm not," Kendra responded calmly, "What happened was a tragedy Demona. He couldn't have meant for what happened to happen, he wanted more influence with the Princess and instead his actions got the castle sacked and its defenders killed. No one involved in any of the events, except for the Vikings, got what they intended to happen. You, the Captain, the Princess and Magus all ended up losing everything, and the Magus got to live with the knowledge that ultimately it was because of his actions, his greed. I can't think of one reason for a power hungry mage to stay on a deserted island and protect a woman, a child and lots of gargoyle eggs, can you?"
Dominique didn't answer she only stared at Kendra angrily.
Kendra continued, "On the other hand I can think of several reasons for a man suffering from a guilty conscience to do so in an effort to atone for his acts."
The redheads face twisted in anger or pain or perhaps a mixture of both, "I'm not ready to forgive him, not now, not so soon. I can't."
"I'm not asking you to, I'm just asking you to not dwell on thoughts of vengeance against him," Kendra assured her soothingly. She glanced around them realizing with alarm how dark it had gotten. "How close are we to sunset?" she asked hurriedly.
Dominique glanced at the slivers of sky she could see through the pine needles, her green eyes widened, "Too close."
"Get out of your clothes," Kendra ordered her, "I'll get your stuff and bring it back here."
Dominique stripped quickly, realizing she had not a moment to spare. She barely had time to shiver in the cold as she handed the last of her clothing to Kendra before the pain of her change overwhelmed all other sensations. She took a deep breath of the clean, slightly pine scented air and caped her wings around herself as soon as the transformation was complete.
"Can I hug you or are you too angry with me," Kendra asked quietly.
Demona uncapped her wings, and held out her arms, "Please." She responded.
Kendra stepped into them and slipped her arms around the gargoyle, she buried her face into the blue neck as Demona's arms and wings wrapped around her. "I care about you, I care so much about you already that it's somewhat frightening to me. I don't want you to lash out in anger and end up hurting yourself as much or more than the target of that anger and I don't want you to do something out of anger that you would regret later," she murmured against the blue skin.
Demona felt a twinge of pain, for some reason Kendra's words caused her to think of the plans that had so recently gone awry with the Assassin. She had lashed out at Goliath and plotted to have him killed so she could take over the clan and protect them, only to have everything go wrong. Instead of saving her daughter, she had caused what might be an insurmountable rift between Angela and her. She tightened her arms around Kendra, "I don't want that either," she admitted, adding silently to herself,
at least not any more. "And you know I care very much about you too, more than I would have thought possible even three days ago." She added, surprised when she realized it was only too true. So much had changed in just the past few days that it was almost inconceivable to her and she was the one who had lived through it.
Kendra chuckled, "It has been a rollercoaster of a few days hasn't it," she acknowledged lifting her head. She kissed Demona's narrow chin, "I need to go get your halter-top and loincloth."
Reluctantly Demona let her go, watching as the strong, agile figure disappeared through the trees. Kendra was right the last few days had been very chaotic, and there didn't seem to be much of a chance of things calming down very soon for tonight she would find out how the Irish Elk and Owl planned to protect her from the Weird Sisters.
Kendra returned a short time later with Demona's halter-top and loincloth. "Rachael's making food again; she wants us all to eat as much as we can before going into the spirit realm tonight. She says she's expecting it to be a long visit tonight."
Ninety minutes later, all three were ready for the night's journey. They would not be using the sweat lodge this time, as Demona had a fair idea of how to make the transition. With Rachael and Kendra's guidance, only the drumming would be needed for all three of them to travel to the spirit realm.
As soon as they appeared in the shadowy realm, Demona saw the Irish Elk and Eagle Owl spirits already waiting for them.
"Wise One," Rachael greeted the Eagle Owl spirit warmly.
"Rachael," the owl spirit responded, "excellent deductive work earlier," the owl praised. "I have already traveled to Avalon and verified your hypothesis; there are the markings of a similar spell upon the human woman. It will just take me a second now that Demona is here to verify that the spell remains are the same and that they were cast by the same person." The Eagle Owl turned her attention to the gargoyle and examined her in silence for a few seconds before bobbing her head up and down once, "Definitely, the same spell and the same caster," she commented satisfied. "And it has the stench of the Grimorium Arcanorum upon it as well; I didn't think to look for it earlier until Rachael mentioned you believed such a spell was in that book."
Demona was not surprised, "So it was the Magus," she said grimly. Her tail moved restlessly behind her as she received this final verification of the mages responsibility.
"Given the evidence, and the fact that the spell is from the Grimorium Arcanorum, the only other that could have cast it would have been the Archmage," the owl stated, "And you have verified that you did not begin to feel the effects of the spell until after the Grimorium came into the possession of the Magus. Therefore he is almost certainly the one who cast the spells upon you and Princess Katherine."
The immortal gargoyle nodded abruptly and then glared into the spirit realm's misty borders, her tail lashing slowly from side to side.
Kendra waited until it was clear that no one else had anything immediate to say before asking, "What do you mean by the stench of the Grimorium Arcanorum? Do spells have a scent to them?"
"In a manner of speaking," the owl turned her attention to the Jaguar's chosen, "Spell books contain great power, in a way they almost become living entities of their own because of the magical energy contained in their pages. The nature of the spells written on the spell books pages determines the nature of the book, and the Grimorium Arcanorum contained mostly spells to manipulate others such as the spell the Magus used, and spells to destroy things. Therefore, the nature of the Grimorium Arcanorum was both manipulative and destructive. Spell books can tempt those that hold them into using their spells if the person is susceptible to that particular type of temptation and you can guess what the Grimorium Arcanorum tempted its holders to do."
Kendra's blue eyes widened, "Manipulate others and destroy things, was it destroyed when the Archmage was?"
"It was," the Irish Elk answered.
"Good riddance then," Kendra remarked firmly.
"Indeed," agreed the Eagle Owl, "that's why it's much safer to leave spells upon single scrolls, that way you don't run the risk of creating a semi-sentient magical entity."
Demona turned around at this piece of information, her anger briefly eclipsed by her interest in the conversation. She had read speculation that Grimoriums had a magical energy of their own, but no one had been able to verify it. "Sorcerers have speculated that was the case, but I wasn't aware of anyone being able to prove it."
The owl turned toward her, "You now have the ability to see sorcerous energies, if you looked at a Grimorium it would be obvious to you."
The immortal gargoyle nodded, her thoughts went uneasily to the binder of spells she had been collecting over the years. Perhaps it might be a wise idea to separate them into their own scroll cases. "What type of scroll casings would you recommend?" she asked.
"Lead lined, preferably lead lined pine or cedar scroll cases," the owl spirit answered immediately.
Demona nodded, lead lined pine cases at least would not be too difficult to obtain, and while she was going through her spells there were several that she should just destroy.
"Demona," the great stag addressed her, "let us take a walk together you and I, there are things I must ask you before I can determine which of the two possible choices I have decided upon is the best way to proceed."
The flame-haired gargoyle felt a flutter of unease in her stomach at these words. The Eagle Owl's trip to Avalon made it clear that the two spirits were aware of the conversation earlier in the day about what had happened at Wyvern Castle, and Rachael's link with the owl spirit was most likely how the spirits knew. Still the stag had said there were two choices, so learning about her role in the clan's massacre hadn't changed the spirits mind about helping her.
Kendra gave her a warm, encouraging look and Demona felt her spirits rise at seeing it, she smiled in return before following the stag into the forest. Walking beside the giant stag gave Demona more of an appreciation for exactly how huge the spirit animal was, the top of its shoulder was over a foot higher than her head. She felt short next to it. The two of them walked through the forest until they could not see the others.
"You need to know the following information before I ask you my questions." The Irish Elk spirit halted and turned to face the gargoyle. "The members of the young Jaguar's ancestral line that hunted you and that still hunt you have been enchanted by the Weird Sisters. Their hatred is in part their own, but the strength of it and their determination to pursue you is due to the enchantments the Sisters placed upon them."
Demona felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach, all the years of being hunted, all the years of hatred of the Hunters, all the clans the Hunters had wiped out. She didn't say anything for a minute, and then she said, "You must tell Kendra, it hurts her to hate them."
"The Wise One is telling her now, though she thinks that Kendra suspects already. It is not difficult to see how the Hunters served the Weird Sister's purposes," the giant stag responded. "You care for the Jaguar's chosen."
"I do, very much," she acknowledged, she might have said more, but she was still reeling from the information the stag had just given her.
The giant stag flipped its ears at this, and Demona thought she saw satisfaction in the Elks brown eyes before the stags demeanor turned serious once again. "Now that you know about the Hunters enchantment, do you still hate humanity, are you still their enemy trying to destroy them?"
The gargoyle stared at the stag, "How do you know about that?" she asked with wary concern as she caped her wings around herself.
"I watch the Weird Sisters quite frequently; I followed them to the city where you live. I saw the sorcery you did that night turning its inhabitants into stone and I watched as you destroyed several of them. From the Jaguar spirit, I learned about the illness you planned to use to kill all of the humans." The stag responded calmly.
Demona couldn't respond immediately, the stag had seen what she had done that night and was still willing to help her? "You saw me, you heard me mock them as I smashed them as they have smashed us for centuries…" she stopped unwilling to continue. Most likely, none of the random humans she had killed had ever even tried to harm a gargoyle, and there was only the slightest chance that one of their ancestors had ever killed or tried to kill a gargoyle. She couldn't continue the lie, not after what she had learned yesterday and today. "You know what I did and you are still willing to help me?" she restated staring at the ground. She couldn't meet the stag spirits gaze, not knowing what had happened to his children and what she had attempted to do.
"Yes," answered the Irish Elk spirit, "The Fey have tormented many humans and gargoyles over the course of time, but never has anyone suffered their torment for the length of time that you have. No one has ever been the subject of so much manipulation that not even I can tell which actions are your responsibility and which are not. Everything you have done since the Weird Sisters enchanted you has been tainted by their spells, and today you and we learned that even before the Archmage and Weird Sisters interfered in your life that a sorcery spell had been cast upon you to affect your emotions and judgment." The great stag paused for a moment to let the gargoyle think before continuing, "So I ask you. Now that you are free of two of their manipulation spells, and now that you understand your and other's past actions better, do you still hate humans enough to continue to try and destroy them?"
Was she still the humans enemy? Demona asked herself. As little as a week ago, she would have unhesitatingly answered yes. After becoming involved with Kendra, she probably would have still answered yes, but for Kendra's sake she wouldn't trying to kill them off anymore. Today though…today had shattered all of the reasons, the justifications she had held onto so tightly for ten centuries.
She had hated the humans at Wyvern for the massacre of her clan for almost a millennium. She had blamed the Princess and the Captain for what had happened to her rookery brothers and sisters as much as she silently blamed herself. Only today she had found out that the Magus, seeking more power and influence with the Princess, had played such a central role in all the events, that the Princess, the Captain and she had all been under the effects of a spell he had cast to manipulate their emotions and thoughts to his own ends. The Princess hadn't been as responsible for her hateful words and actions as Demona had always believed her to be. The Captain hadn't betrayed them, but under the influence of the Magus's spell had let his anger goad him into rashly promising something that he could not fulfill. Finally under the spells influence, she had agreed to the Captain's plan to rid the castle of the humans who lived there and had when the Captain had changed the plan at the last minute had failed to realize until too late that the Captain could not possibly protect her clan in their stone sleep during the Vikings attack.
The Hunters had epitomized in her mind the very worst of humanity; they had been in a large part responsible for her hatred of all humans, for her belief that it was impossible for humans not to kill gargoyles. However, they had been pawns of the Weird Sisters, tools for them to bend and use to their own ends just as she had been used by the three fey. There had been so much death and destruction on both sides because of the Sisters enchantments.
"No, I won't try to destroy them anymore," she was finally able to respond.
"Do you still feel that they all deserve your hatred?" the great stag asked.
The gargoyle glanced up at him quickly, her thoughts turning first to Kendra, but she suspected that her relationship with the Jaguar's chosen wasn't what he was after. She sighed, there was always Maza, the clan's human, the human that had always defied her expectation that all humans betrayed given enough time. A memory of a newspaper article niggled at her mind, she remembered sneering at it in disbelief at the time, what had been that groups name? P.I.T? They had become the target of the Quarrymen because they believed humans and gargoyles should live together in peace. The Quarrymen had attacked the groups meeting and put several of them in the hospital from what she remembered of the article, but it hadn't dissuaded the group from their beliefs.
"No," she answered, "Not all of them wish to harm us." Her eyes flashed red briefly, "But that doesn't mean that I will idly stand by and allow those that do to succeed without trying to stop them."
The stag spirit shook his head, "I would not expect you to, I would only ask that you consider all the possible consequences of your actions."
Demona growled in annoyance, this was twice today, did everyone think she was incapable of responding in a rational controlled manner? "I will," she promised grouchily.
The Irish Elk stared at her searchingly for a long enough time for Demona to feel uneasy under the intense regard. "I am satisfied with your responses," he finally said, "I wish to offer you the choice of becoming my first chosen."
"What?" Demona stammered when she recovered her voice, she had expected lessons not this.
"I wish you to become my chosen," the Irish Elk spirit said calmly, "I wish you to be my link to the living world."
Recalling what Rachael had said of the spirits offering and requiring different things from their chosen the gargoyle inquired, "What exactly would that mean? Would you grant me immortality like Kendra and Rachael? What about my transformation to a human during the day and would I have to transform into an Irish Elk each full moon?"
The stag dipped his head and blew gently into her hair, "It is good to ask these things, you have been unpleasantly surprised in the past by such agreements. I will grant you immortality and dispel the enchantment that the sisters have placed upon you. As for the human you are linked to, I will grant him immortality as well, if he should chose it, for it is not right that he should be negatively affected by your choice here. You will no longer be linked to his pain nor will he be linked to yours."
Demona felt ashamed that she had forgotten about Macbeth in all of this. She knew he was currently enjoying being a professor of history and certainly didn't deserve to lose his immortality just because she was getting the enchantment that bound them together removed.
The stag spirit continued, "I will replace the spell the fey Puck placed upon you to transform you into a human with my own gift, you will have the ability to chose which form you wish to be in at any time, gargoyle or human. Know that if you chose to be a gargoyle during the day and you fall asleep you will immediately go in your stone sleep and not waken until sunset like any other gargoyle. Unless there is an extreme situation, such as you confronting a Fey in battle, you will not have the ability to transform into my shape; such a transformation from a being of your size into one of mine would be extremely difficult and painful for you."
The gargoyle breathed out a sigh of relief, she had seen Kendra change and knew it was painful when mass was lost. She couldn't imagine the agony she would suffer going from something as large as the Irish Elk was to her normal size.
"I will also teach you about the life energies in the living world, how to see them to touch them and use them in beneficial ways to heal, and to protect. In return for these gifts I expect certain things from you." The Irish Elk said sternly.
"Never take life to sustain yourself without respecting the life it gave for you to live. Revere Mother Earth for giving and sustaining all life, in all things seek to protect her and live in harmony with her. Know that each life has inherent worth and never harm a life for harm's sake. Avoid practicing magic on another without their full consent and if possible teach them how instead of doing yourself." Demona repeated what she had learned from Kendra feeling uncertain that she could promise the third. She might have given up her war on the human race, and she definitely felt some of them had inherent worth, but all of them?
The stag dipped his head, "Those are expected of all our chosen, I understand the third one will be difficult for you. Other chosen have their personal reasons for that promise being difficult for them to fulfill as well. The Eagle Owl's primary chosen has many reasons to hate those who came to settle in this land after her people. I expect from you what the Wise One expects from her: strive to honor that promise."
Strive; she could do that, Demona decided, especially considering everything she was gaining in return.
"In addition there are two other tasks I wish for you to willingly take upon yourself," the Irish Elk added.
Demona stared at him warily, "What tasks?" she asked her tail beginning to twitch restlessly behind her.
"Your anger and hatred, though amplified by both the Magus and Weird Sisters were and are still your own emotions. They have caused much harm and destruction to both yourself and others over your long lifetime. I know that your part in the destruction of your clan still weights heavily upon you, and that you bear a burden of hatred toward yourself for your actions and failure to warn your clan." The stags tone was gentle even if his words were not.
The flame-haired gargoyle flinched, coming so soon after this afternoon the stags words were especially painful. "I do," she acknowledged harshly.
"Would you accept a task from me to atone for your actions?" he asked.
Demona stared at him, what could he require that would make up for what she had done? "What task would be enough to make up for the destruction of my clan?"
"Become a true protector to the worlds remaining gargoyles," the great stag responded.
The immortal gargoyle's green eyes widened as the scope of the task the spirit was asking of her sunk in. Still she had wondered what task would be difficult enough to atone for what she had done, and if she could save even a few, it would in some way make up for what she had done so long ago. "Where would I start? I know of a few surviving clans, but am not certain that I know of them all, and how will I know which ones need my help?"
"You will not be left without guidance in this task, I and the Eagle Owl will help you determine where the most immediate need is and our thoughts on what the most beneficial course of action might be," the Irish Elk assured her.
Hearing these words, Demona felt more optimistic about the task. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she began to feel a certain anticipation to begin, "I accept, and the second task?"
The Irish Elk spirit said, "You become a wise steward and guardian of your domain."
Demona frowned, "I don't understand, what domain?"
"Your domain is Nightstone, you are responsible for land and for the people who work for you are you not?" the stag inquired.
The flame haired gargoyle eyed the spirit uncertainly, "I'm responsible for maintaining the building, but I'm not responsible for my employees. I pay them and offer them competitive benefits, but that's all," she finished warily.
"It is my understanding you provide for their medical care, is it sufficient? Are they healthy? Are they cared for properly when they are wounded or taken ill? Do you treat them fairly and justly as their leader? Do you treat them in such a way that you acknowledge they have inherent worth and not harm them for harm's sake? Does the way you manage your domain show your respect for Mother Earth and your attempt to live in harmony with her? Do you protect the environment?" The stag reeled off the long string of questions while Demona stared. "The Wise One assured me this would be a challenging task for you while remaining competitive and growing your business," the gargoyle swore the spirit actually sounded slyly amused as he added the last sentence.
Demona grimaced at the list; at least some of the requirements were ones she would have had to fulfill anyway. The owl spirit was right it would be difficult to do all those things and remain competitive. "The Wise One is correct it will be very difficult because those will require me to assume expenses that other companies do not have, I'm not certain that it's possible to do all those things and remain competitive." She had to admit.
"You are not required to meet all of the requirements immediately, remember the tasks are ongoing challenges, you will never fully complete them. You are only required to strive toward accomplishing them, to become a wise steward and guardian of your domain." The Irish Elk reassured her. "Also I believe you will find the Jaguar's chosen and several of the Wise One's chosen will be eager to assist you with this task."
Demona stared at great stag, all she had to do was agree to the last task and the spirit would free her from the Weird Sisters and Puck's enchantments, replacing them with his own. Did she want to trade their control over her life for his? "What would happen if I did not want to become your chosen?" she asked hesitantly.
The great stag's ears flickered briefly, "Then I would give you two choices. I could leave the transformation and immortality enchantments and remove the remaining manipulation enchantments and teach you some basic methods of protecting yourself. However, your chances of preventing the Weird Sisters from enthralling you once again would be low given the hold they have on you with the immortality spell. The other choice would be for me to remove all the fey spells upon you, leaving you mortal, and as any other gargoyle you would stone sleep during the day. Your chances of protecting yourself from the Fey re-enchanting would be better if you took that option for they would have to trick you anew into accepting their aid."
The flame-haired gargoyle let out the breath she had been holding, now she knew all of her options the question was which one did she want to take? She stared searchingly into the great stag's eyes. Could she trust him or as with the three fey would there be hidden requirements revealed later once she had accepted his aid?
"As with all chosen," the great stag interrupted her thoughts, "You will have the choice of ending your role as my chosen at any time. We do not force any to remain bound to us if they no longer desire it. If you ever wish to be released from your role as my chosen I will withdraw my gifts and you will be mortal and you will be as any other gargoyle."
She now remembered Rachael saying something about that to Kendra and the black-haired woman vehemently denying that she would ever give up the Jaguar's gifts. Her stomach full of nervous fluttering, Demona made her decision. "I accept your tasks; I will become your chosen Ancient One."
Continued...