by Oxford, Rain
The small gargoyle fared much better in his attack. He dove under the large griffin as it turned to strike, then latched onto its neck with both heads. The gargoyle dugs its claws into the griffin’s underbelly and with several flaps of its wings, flipped the gargoyle onto its back. Sharp talons scratched at the stone wings but the gargoyle was too small and quick for the griffin’s talons to catch any real stone flesh. Unfortunately for the griffin, the gargoyle’s cat-like claws were perfect for digging at sensitive eyes. With a painful screech, the blinded griffin took off.
I felt sorrow for the beast. Griffins were extremely territorial but mated for life. Because they both attacked together, I had to conclude that they were a mated pair. The griffin had to suffer the loss of his or her mate and its own blindness. However, with their great healing power, the blindness may be temporary; the lost mate was a much worse blow. Still, I had to feel more regret for Cylo. I had no idea where he was, but I would find him.
A soft whimpering warned me that there was more trouble to come. Turning back to the troll king, I saw a young woman huddled on the floor in a fetal position. “Who is that?” I asked the king. He shrugged his massive shoulders.
“When the beast and your friend disappeared, she appeared in their place.”
I crouched down beside her and she slowly looked up at me. The woman was absolutely beautiful, with rich, dark red hair, light green eyes, and perfect skin. “Are you hurt?” I asked in Lilat. When she stared at me blankly, I tried again in Sudo, and then a third time in English. She shook her head. When I held out my hand, she took it and let me help her to her feet. “Do you speak English?” I asked in English.
“Yes. Where am I?”
Since she spoke English, I had to assume she was human and knew nothing about other worlds. “Very far from home.” She was pretty tall for a human woman.
I heard a weird purring sound and felt a nudge against my hand. I looked down to see the little gargoyle, covered in blood, but looking so proud of himself. Unfortunately, the woman didn’t see it that way, and screamed. Hobble scrambled behind me to hide from the loud woman.
It took several tries to shush her, but then I made sure to pet both of Hobble’s heads to tell him I was proud of him.
“What is that thing?” she asked, her voice wobbly.
“Some gargoyle creature, probably from another world,” I answered. I don’t think she liked that answer, but got over her fear of Hobble and joined him behind me when she saw the troll king. I sighed. “The day is never over for the Noquodi,” I said to the confused king.
“Am I still on Dios?” the woman asked. I turned to her and frowned.
“What do you know about Dios? Aren’t you human?”
“I knew you weren’t human!” she declared. “That language isn’t human! I am a human, but my boyfriend is from Dios, and that’s where I was. He left to find someone and then my baby and friends disappeared. Everyone helped me search for them, but there was some sort of attack. One minute I’m talking to a grouchy goblin, and the next I’m here. Sammy’s not even two years old!”
Something felt off about that. “The Dios people are not very friendly with humans. What city were you in?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I can’t pronounce much of their language. All I know is that the king is my boyfriend’s nephew.”
“Which king?”
“How do you know English if we’re not on Earth?”
“I have been there. Which king? What was his name? What did he look like?”
“He was really young; too young to be a king. His name was Nila.”
Nila was the High King of Dios, the one who presided over all the city kings. She said he was her boyfriend’s nephew. The only uncle Nila had was Nano. But there was no way this woman was the Guardian’s companion. As I studied her, it occurred to me that she was exactly Nano’s type. She was Dylan’s too. I never went for the tall, thin women myself. Her relationship with Nano explained why she was on Dios.
“Your boyfriend is Nano?”
“You know him?!”
“And this baby of yours?”
“How do you know Nano?” she asked instead.
It was like pulling teeth to get any answers out of her. I realized at that point that the troll king had lost interest and was no longer in the room. “I am a friend of his. What is your name?”
“Vivian. What world is this?”
Why did Vivian sound so familiar? “We are on Kahún, but I am from Duran.”
“Small universe. My friend lives on Duran. I mean, he’s human, but he’s been living there for three years.”
“Oh, Hell. You’re Vivian.” I groaned, for I remembered why the name was so familiar. I had heard more than I ever wanted about the red-headed woman.
She frowned. “Yes, I told you that.”
“You’re Dylan’s ex-girlfriend.”
Her eyes widened. “You know Dylan?”
I really didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know what she knew. Did she know about the Guardians? That her boyfriend and Dylan are Guardians? Did she know that Dylan was learning magic? Nano may have told her everything or nothing.
“When was the last time you saw Dylan?”
“He disappeared yesterday.”
“And you know that he has…”
She rolled her eyes. “I know he has magic, yeah. My boyfriend is a Guardian.”
“You shouldn’t talk about that to strangers. You can’t be sure that I wouldn’t hunt Nano down and kill him for being a Guardian.” Apparently he had not explained things well enough. On the other hand, things worked differently on Dios and everyone there knew he was the Guardian. “I know Dylan because I was the one who taught him magic.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re the Guardian of Duran, right? That’s how you have been to Earth and know Dylan?”
Dylan told me she was very smart, but I had less than a complete picture yet. She did not wait for me to answer.
“You are one of the Guardians.” She dropped to her knees. “Please take me to Dios. I need to be with Nano.”
“I can’t,” I sighed. It was hard for me to explain to her she was now as trapped here as me.
“Why not?” she demanded.
“My book is missing.”
* * *
The troll king and his wife turned out to be very polite royals, who invited us to eat with their people. While sitting at the table, spread wide with meats, bread, fruit, vegetables, and drinks, the young man sitting to the right of me tried to retain my sole attention. He asked numerous questions about magic. I could feel that he was a naturally powerful wizard and felt sorrow that he spent his entire life unable to use the skill that he was born with. Most likely, he felt like there was something very wrong with him but never knew what it was.
Meanwhile, the queen tried to steer attention away from me and Vivian. I could understand that she wanted us gone. Vivian wanted to leave as well, and seemed very troubled that she couldn’t understand the language.
“What do we do now?” Vivian asked me.
I set down the small berry that I had in my hand. “While I would like to help you get home, there is nothing I can do for the time being. I cannot travel with my book gone. Wizards and Guardians can travel to a world without its book as long as their name is in it. Guardians do not need their book on their person to travel, however; our magic is bonded with our book. My book is not just away from me, there is something blocking my connection with it. With that connection broken, I cannot travel anywhere.”
“That has to be horrible for you,” she said quietly.
“It is, but at least I can use magic again. However, I think it is also the only thing keeping me safe,” I said.
“Your magic is?”
“My book missing is.”
“How is your being trapped and missing a book keeping you safe?” she asked.
I lowered my voice, even though none of the others could understand English. “Because with my book m
issing I am essentially not a Guardian, which makes it much easier to hide from those looking for a Guardian.”
“Who’s looking for you?”
“Do you have a place in mind to sleep tonight?” the king asked. The rest of the table fell silent. “You helped to defend my wife and child against those winged beasts, the least I can do is offer a place to sleep.”
“You are very kind, but I was thinking of hunting down those creatures instead of sleep. That is the job of the Noquodi, and yours is unavailable. However, if the man I came here with returns, he will likely need a rest.”
“I still do not understand how a man could disappear and a woman could appear in his place. Was it magic done by those creatures?”
“No. While they are magical creatures, they cannot perform magic. The displacement of my friend was actually a much darker circumstance. I can tell you that once people learn to use the magic now available here, they will be much better prepared. Until then, I feel it is my responsibility to hunt down the beasts that were displaced here.”
“Especially since he caused us to break tradition,” the wife glared.
“Mother, it was justified,” their daughter interjected gently.
“I warn you to be careful about using magic here.” The queen didn’t acknowledge her daughter. “Word travels slowly in these lands and people will be confused as to why they can suddenly use magic again. Children born since magic was banished will not know how to control it.”
“I understand this world has its own traditions, and I don’t know the reasons you saw fit to block magic, but most worlds rely on magic and live in peace with it. I will not advise you to continue allowing magic to be, but I will ask that consider it. Give the people a few months to figure it out and see what happens. Besides, you rule the trolls. Do you have the right to decide for the entire world whether or not they can use magic?”
“We are not the ones who started this,” the king said.
“Magic has been outlawed by the consensus of all ruling families generations ago. People feared magic and those who used it. However, outlawing it did not stop people from using it; only caused more people to die because of it. Between suspicions, accusations, and false witnesses, more innocent people have been killed in the war against magic than anything else. We made a bargain with the demons to keep magic from being usable to anyone but those Azenoth deemed worthy. This included our Noquodi and my daughter.”
“In that case, I respect your decision. But people change. They grow up. If people are not being killed for their inborn abilities, maybe they will not fear it. For some, magic is not a choice. Let them use it or take it away, it is still a part of who they are.”
“I assume you refer to your nephew again?” the queen asked. I paused. Of course, I hadn’t realized it, but she was right.
“My nephew was born with more magic than he could handle. For that reason, he grew up alone and many wanted him dead. He used it his entire life without understanding what it was or that he was even doing it. Despite that, he learned to use magic as a tool to help people instead of an obstacle to overcome. Some people would use magic as a weapon, but at least as many people would use it to help others.”
“We will consider your advice after you defeat the winged beast. And you will take this very young woman with you on this dangerous trip?” the king asked.
“She just wants to get home. Honestly, I would not want to be standing between her and her mate when he hunts her down. The Noquodi of Dios will be looking for her very soon and I doubt anything can stop him from finding her. He knows me and would make fewer assumptions if he finds her safe with me than hidden away somewhere.”
“You’re talking about me,” Vivian interrupted.
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“I’m a woman; we know when someone is talking about us.”
I thought back over a couple of conversations with Divina and gave up on my argument. “Fair enough. If I asked you to stay here, safe in the castle while I went out to fight mythological monsters, would you?”
“Dylan never said you were stupid,” she answered. I stared at her until she rolled her eyes. “Not a chance in Hell.”
“Nano is probably looking for you, and he can track you better if you stay in one place. Besides, do you want him to find you dead?”
She made a rude and disbelieving sound that I hoped Dylan never learned to do. “Nano would eat your entrails if you let anything happen to me under your watch. Besides, Dylan told me about you. You wouldn’t let me be injured. You are probably the most powerful person on this planet, how could I be safer than being glued to your side?”
“I really do not expect to make it off this planet unscathed if at all.”
She seemed stunned silent. Unfortunately, that only lasted a moment. “You are nothing how Dylan described you. He was going on and on about how brave and strong and smart you are, the things you’ve taught him, especially that there is always a way. A way to win, a way to save the world, and a way to stay alive… He talks about you like you’re Doctor Who. He’s so worried that you’re missing and he can’t do anything, and here you are like you don’t even care if you die!” The last few sentences got louder as she ranted. She stood quickly, knocking over her chair. “Well he cares!”
She stomped out of the room, forcing people to dive out of her way to avoid getting run over. I got up and picked up the chair. “It was nice meeting you,” I said to the royal family. I found Vivian standing on the beach, looking out over the ocean, and was reminded why I rarely took females as my apprentices.
“When Dylan disappeared three years ago, I didn’t know what to think. I thought he would never leave me. Then I met Nano and he explained that the universe was bigger than I ever knew. But he left me, too. He said that he couldn’t be around when Sammy was born for safety reasons. Sammy was all I had until I answered the door one day to see Dylan standing there. Dylan used to be like me; disappointed in everyone. He never knew his father, his mother was neglectful, and the people that were supposed to love and protect him were abusive. We had a bond over that loneliness.
“The Dylan at my door was not the same one who left. He has friends and loved ones now that mean something to him. You are family to him. I can see it and hear it when he talks about you. Then you act like you dying is inevitable and unimportant.” She then did something I was not prepared for; she turned around and punched me in the face. “Your life is important to him and you have no right to throw it away!”
She tried to punch me again but I caught her fist. As small as her hands were, I was going to have a bruised eye. “I get it. I understand. It’s not like I don’t want to live, I do,” I explained. “I will fight to live, but there are more important lives at stake, particularly Dylan’s.”
“You taught him to survive.”
“I taught him something, I hope. Anyway, we should not be at sea after dark.” I turned my attention to Hobble, who had followed me outside like a faithful puppy. “Hey, little guy.” I pet both heads. “Can you find the griffin that you injured? Can you hunt it down?” I asked. At first I thought he didn’t understand, but then he started flapping his wings and lifted a little ways off the ground. I easily found the boat we had left abandoned and once we were in the water, Hobble flew a little ahead, leading the way.
* * *
It was hours before we came to a populated city. By then, the sun was getting very low in the sky, which made the gloomy place look even more desolate. Built in the water, this city was shaped like the first one; it was colorful with tall buildings and a distinct lack of a walkway. Unlike the other city, however, this one was in ruins. Upon seeing the damaged buildings, downed bridges, and confused people, I concluded that they had recently been attacked.
“Looks like Italy after a tsunami,” Vivian said. “Is this water damage?”
“In a city built in the ocean, I would think that they were better prepared for water damage. I think this is the result of
the griffin that got away. Griffins were protectors and guards of magical and powerful people, but a griffin without a master was often irrational. This one lost its mate; it’s probably feral.”
“But they attacked you. How can it be angry that you defended yourself?”
“I’m not sure attacking me was their intention. They actually ignored me and the troll king and went after the queen and the little girl. Perhaps they do have a master, who sent them after those the king cared about. I am not sure of the politics on this world.”
“That sounds too far-fetched for me.”
“We’re talking about creatures that are extinct on Earth and never even existed on this world. The thing I wonder is, if there was no nominal energy to use, which I can attest to, how could there be a wizard with a mated pair of griffins?”
“Could he have been a wizard with no magic?”
“Yes, but griffins are only loyal to the most powerful.”
After Hobble led us to a working dock, I told him to fly off and hide in case the people were not friendly to the little gargoyle. While the damage was extensive and wide-spread, there was a definite path of destruction. People were milling about in their buildings, some trying to call for help over crumbled bridges and blocked pathways. Alarms blared, warning of fire or other destruction. The crying of children was the worse sound.
One in particular could be heard above all else. On a ledge pathway, just a foot above the water, Vivian and I were across the canal from the wail. “Stay here,” I told Vivian. With a wave of my hands, I calmed the water enough to freeze the surface. In the middle of the ocean, I knew it would be easier to rebuild the bridge, but freezing water used less energy and I wasn’t sure what I would soon face.
I gingerly crossed the frozen walkway, intensely aware that many people were watching. Stepping up on the ledge of solid stone, I came to a doorway. Instead of the glass door that should have been there, shattered glass littered the floor and stone debris blocked the way. In between the cries I could hear the whispered voice of another child trying to give comfort.