Stone Guard

by Emma Alisyn

  "No, I don’t want either of you to embarrass me by not knowing at least the basics," Niko said, setting his bowl aside.

  Veda folded her arms. "I know the basics."

  "Because I taught you."

  "Prince Malin thinks I'm good enough now to join the training class."

  Niko rolled his eyes. "Malin has a soft heart for females. Come on. I'm anxious to disabuse you of your notions."

  Veda sniffed. "Lets just see if you're a jerk to Bea."

  He paused, glanced at Bea as she stood. His expression darkened, and the slow smile warned her he wasn’t going to go easy on her at all. "I don't think you have to worry about that, sister."

  He was no easy task master. It didn't help that he started off easy, manner friendly if brisk. Deceptive. They stretched, he ran her through a few drills Veda had taught her, correcting her form and giving her much-needed practice against a skilled, heavier foe.

  And then the work began.

  She should have known, when Stacia brought a box of old pots and pans out of the house, that something was up. She eyed the box suspiciously. "Niko . . . seriously?"

  His expression was cool. "You're most likely to have to defend yourself in your home. So, you'll learn to think of everything as a weapon, even your spaghetti pots."

  She scoffed. "That's just ridiculous. How can I hurt someone with a pan?"

  "First of all, you're going to replace all of your pots and pans with cast iron. Go get one out of the box."

  She shrugged, and chose a skillet, hefting it in her hand. It was heavy, as expected, but the rough grip felt secure. She whirled, brandishing it threateningly at Niko, suppressing the smirk on her face. "En garde, villain."

  Veda snorted, while Niko just regarded her. "Laugh now, Bea. You won't be laughing in an hour."

  An hour later, staring up at the deep, night sky, she definitely wasn't laughing. Aeezah poked her head out of the kitchen door. "Mom? Are you alive?"

  "No, baby. I'm definitely not."

  The door opened again, and a tall male walked out, folding his wings behind him as he cleared the door. Niko and Veda glanced over, and went still, waiting. Bea sat up, wary. She recognized their father. She'd assumed he was at work which was why the coast was clear. The male surveyed the scene, lip curling as Bea scrambled to her feet.

  "So," he said. "I knew something was going on here. Your mother is a terrible liar."

  "I'm training the females," Niko said, voice even. "Considering the potential threat, it's prudent."

  Arthur pointed a finger at Veda. "No, you're trying to get her up to snuff, so she can apply for the ranks."

  "Prince Malin invited me himself," Veda replied, stiff. "If he isn’t offended by a female's presence, why should you be?"

  "Females don’t belong in combat." He looked at Bea, then laughed. "And, you think you can teach her anything useful? You're better off teaching her to be obedient, so we can guard her as you asked."

  Niko scowled. "It's not impossible. Surah is a fine warrior."

  "She's half gargoyle. No full-blooded human can learn our techniques. You already have to adapt them for ground work, which makes the majority of our training useless."

  "I disagree." Niko's eyes narrowed. "But I know you’ve never attempted this kind of task, so I understand your disbelief. When she bloods herself, you'll be the first to know."

  "The Prince will be very pleased, Niko," Veda said. "You know how he values Bea. You'll likely get a promotion and special recognition from Prince Geza as well if you can pull this off. It's a hard task since you don't have any help, but you'll have royal gratitude so it's worth it."

  Arthur’s face hardened, eyes narrowing. He looked just like Niko for a moment, though Bea realized with a start, that as cool-eyed as Niko sometimes looked, he lacked the brittle edge of this older male.

  “You’re trying to manipulate me into helping train them,” Arthur growled. “I’m not stupid.”

  Niko watched, silent, while Veda just crossed her arms. “I thought your ambition was greater than your distaste for females fighting. Guess I was wrong.”

  Stacia stepped out of the kitchen. “Help the garlings, Arthur. They’ll do it anyway, but at least if you help you can make sure it’s done right.”

  “This is none of your business,” he snapped at her.

  Niko strode forward. “I’m sick to death of how you talk to my mother, old stone.”

  Arthur sneered. “Yeah? Ready for another walloping, huh?”

  “If I recall, you were the one—”

  “Mom? Are they going to fight?”

  Bea winced as she heard Aeezah’s stage whisper. The girl poked her head out of the door, peering around a serene-faced Stacia. Arthur and Niko stopped immediately.

  “We’re just training, little girl,” Arthur said, stiff.

  Aeezah’s eyes widened. “Are you going to help? Cool. Hey, Niko, did you know Sir Arthur can get to level 5 in thirty minutes? It's friggin' awesome.”

  “Don’t say friggin',” Bea said.

  Veda gave her father an odd look. “You were playing—”

  “No,” Arthur snapped.

  “But she said—”

  “No.”

  Aeezah looked at him, eyes widening, then she winked. “Oh, it’s a secret. Cool, I got it.” She disappeared back inside.

  “I’ll go keep her company,” Stacia said, voice strangled, and followed.

  The three left stood in silence. “Sir Arthur,” Bea said. “I respect your reluctance. It’s just that I don’t want to embarrass Prince Malin by getting myself killed or harmed if I could help prevent it. Niko will be a good instructor, but he doesn’t have your experience.”

  It galled her to butter him up. He was mean to Stacia, ornery to Veda and picked fights with Niko. But they were all adults. When Aeezah came onto the scene, the attitude stopped. Her daughter wouldn’t wink at a man who had treated her poorly or insulted her. If Bea had known Arthur was in the house, she would never had let Aeezah stay inside, but what was done revealed another side to Arthur’s character. Enough of a side that she could swallow her resentment and take instruction from him, especially if it would help him change his mind and stop giving Veda a hard time about joining the guard.

  Arthur grunted, staring at her. “You’re short, and plump. That isn’t a bad thing for a bedmate—”

  “Watch your fucking mouth, Arthur,” Niko snarled.

  “Language!” Bea exclaimed.

  “—but for a warrior, it’ll be a problem.”

  They both ignored Niko. “Niko gave me a menu plan this morning that I’ll follow,” Bea said. “I’m not really plump. Human women are curvier than gargoyle females. I think it’s because we don’t fly, so we don’t have the same muscle composition. Or something.”

  “You’ll work hard, and if Niko lets you slack off, I’m done. As for you—” he turned his glare onto his daughter. “I won’t have you embarrassing the family. You want to be a guard? Prove your worth.” Then he sniffed.

  Bea exhaled, glancing at Niko who looked furious. “One big, happy family,” she said. “Wonderful.”

  13

  They trained each night after. Bea’s muscles were so sore after a session with Arthur—Niko hovering like a mother hen—that even Prince Malin commented.

  “Training,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m fine. I can still do my job.”

  Malin’s brow rose at her short tone. “I didn’t think you couldn’t,” he said after a moment. “Tell Surah you’re training. She might like to join you.”

  “Arthur is an ass.”

  The Prince’s lips curved in a dark, nasty smile. “I know, but he is loyal. She can handle him. It will be her pleasure.”

  That Friday evening, as Bea was settling in to catch up on her favorite TV show with a glass of wine, her phone rang. She looked at the number on the screen and grimaced. It was Ben, and she was heartily grateful Niko was on duty. A conversation earlier that week had nearly det
eriorated into something unfortunate. Niko didn’t like Ben’s tone of voice any more than she did.

  “What do you want?” Bea asked, trying to sound at least a little pleasant. And failing.

  "You’re trying to do everything you can to make sure we're not happy, aren't you?" The angry voice on the other end of the phone was female and entirely unexpected. Melanie. Ugh.

  "I'm not doing anything to stand in the way of your happiness," Bea said. The practice of dealing with ruder, misogynistic gargoyles stood her in good stead. She wasn’t going to curse, or shriek, or lose her cool. She might mentally superimpose either Ben or Melanie’s face over Arthur’s next session, but that was it.

  “Ben told you our financial situation. He is still offering to pay something for child support, but we need every dime we can save up for our infertility treatments."

  "I can appreciate your situation, and I understand it’s painful to have a difficult time conceiving, but my focus is my daughter. That should be Ben’s as well. He has a daughter already that he needs to provide for. I would love her to have a sibling, and I hope that happens for you, but not at Aeezah’s expense.”

  "We offered to take her full-time. I would think that would be enough of a concession to help you. You're the one who's blocking us at every turn! I can't believe that you are still so wrapped up in getting revenge against Ben that you would do this to us. I thought that you had gotten over him."

  The idea that Bea had any feelings left at all for Ben was funny. She laughed. “Oh, honey, if you could see how my man looks the way nature made him, you would never even think that.”

  Melanie sniffed. “A gargoyle isn’t a real man. He’s a freak. I always knew you would sink low after Ben left you.”

  “Excuse me?” She took a second, throttled her temper. She wouldn’t get into an argument over who had left whom. “You know what? I’m not having this conversation with you. Aeezah is my business, and Ben’s. Not yours.”

  “Fine!"

  Bea heard a shuffling on the other end, and then Ben’s voice replaced Melanie’s. "Bea, we received papers in the mail today. I'm assuming you know something about that considering they are from the court."

  “That would be a correct assumption.”

  ”So you're threatening that if I don’t pay it, you’ll take me back to court, even though you know neither of us can afford that right now. Why can't you just be happy with what I can give you? You're never happy. You are an evil, spiteful person, Bea. There's nothing but ugliness inside of you.”

  Bea sighed. Even a few weeks ago those words would have hurt her. But so much had changed since then. She’d changed. “It's taken me a long time, I harbor you no ill will for what happened in our marriage. I can't let you push me around when it comes to what's right for our daughter. That's all I'm doing here, Ben. I'm trying to do what is right for our daughter."

  "Then let her come and live with me full-time. If you can't afford it, at least there's more stability here."

  Distantly, Bea knew Ben was expecting her to cave. She’d always been the peacemaker, for Aeezah’s sake. All he had to do was use that tone of voice, and she began backing away, worrying about presenting a stable, unified front for her daughter. Aeezah wasn’t that fragile. Bea wasn’t that fragile. Ben could take his demands and stuff them.

  “I don’t agree,” she said. “I guess we’ll hash this out in court. That’s probably the most mature way to handle this since we can’t come to an agreement on our own.”

  "Fine. This is your choice, Bea. If you want to go back to court, I have no problem with it, and I will go for full custody this time, and I’ll bet that I’ll win. This is going to blow up in your face. Don't say I didn't try and warn you." Then the line went silent. Ben had hung up.

  Bea put the phone down on the cushion next to her. Her hands were shaking, jaw tense from holding back words. He could threaten, but no reasonable judge would take Aeezah away from her. She repeated these words over and over to herself.

  Aeezah emerged from the back of the apartment. She saw Bea's distress and immediately ran to her. She wrapped her arms around Bea's neck. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

  She gave her daughter a hard squeeze. "It's nothing, darling. It's just a sad part of this show on TV. There's nothing for you to worry about."

  She stroked her daughter's hair and pulled her up into her lap. Soon, they were both laughing as Bea initiated a tickle session. It made her feel better for a moment, anyway. But, she knew the true fight was yet to come.

  That Saturday, Bea was unable to find anyone to sit for Aeezah, freshly reminding her that if she had a partner, it wouldn’t be an issue. Ben’s words about taking Aeezah away from her kept ringing in her ears.

  Finding Veda’s icon on her comm unit, she made the call. “Veda? It’s Bea. I don’t think I can come today.”

  Veda blinked, a little startled before her face headed into something more neutral. “Okay. Are you feeling sore?”

  “No, no. It’s not that. I don’t have a sitter for Aeezah.”

  The gargoyle’s expression brightened immediately. Bea wondered if Veda had thought she was trying to avoid her for some reason. “Oh, thank the sky god’s. I thought my father had finally run you off. Just bring her. We aren’t doing anything unsafe for garlings. She might like it.”

  Bea considered. She wanted Aeezah to understand and appreciate more grown-up tasks that Bea enjoyed. Perhaps it was time to share her love of gardening.

  “I can help, Mom. I’m good with plants.” Aeezah said. She had carefully put a new sprout into a larger pot. Then she packed new soil around it ever so delicately. Bea tilted her wrist so Veda could see what Aeezah was up to.

  Her friend laughed. “See? Free child labor. Yass.”

  Bea wandered to the front of the greenhouse, where Veda was checking out a customer. She waited for the customer to leave before leaning on the counter to address her friend. "Thanks again for letting me bring Aeezah today. It's such a load off my mind not having to find a sitter." She hesitated, a little uncomfortable. “Actually, it’s Ben. I want to pull back on sending Aeezah over there all the time. You know he’s having a fit about Niko?”

  Veda’s expression darkened. “Ass. My brother isn’t good enough?”

  “I don’t even think that it’s because he’s a gargoyle. Not really. I think Ben would have reacted badly to any man in my life because it means he can’t get away with his passive-aggressive bullshit anymore.”

  “You cussed!” Veda stared at her, then lifted a hand for a high five. “Go, girl. I knew Niko would loosen you up. Have you let him get to second base yet?”

  Bea snorted.

  “Didn’t think so. And he’s living with you. Must be driving him insane.” Veda smiled like a cat in cream. “Give him hell. Gargoyles like to hunt, it’s biological, you know. Releases all kinds of bonding hormones. These easy groupie chicks are too stupid to figure that out.”

  “I am not giving him hell. I’m just being responsible. Besides, he’s very respectful.”

  Veda’s eyes narrowed. “Respectful? Ah . . . .I see. Nikolau is more crafty than I gave him credit for. He’s stalking.”

  Bea rolled her eyes. “Or maybe he just has a lot on his mind. Anyway, thanks for letting Aeezah come. It’s a good experience for her.”

  "It doesn't make sense to pay a sitter. Having a kid around here is nice."

  “Is Stacia coming?”

  “No.”

  The silence strained for a moment, and then a customer called out for help. Bea swatted absently at a bee—she’d gotten used to them over the days—and thought. After she’d completed a few small tasks and let Veda have some space, she took a deep breath, and pushed the issue.

  Veda glanced over as Bea approached. “Is having me train at Stacia’s causing a problem with your Dad?” Bea asked. “Look, my parents are difficult as all get out. I’ll understand. I’ll just tell Niko—”

  Veda shook her head. “No, Arthur’s fine with help
ing to train us. My parent’s issues are years in the making. My mom is going to have to learn to stand up for herself.”

  “Being married for so long . . . it must take a lot of work.” It was the most diplomatic thing she could say.

  “”My father is an ass who’s let his ambition sour his personality. He wasn’t as douchey when I was growing up.” Her mouth thinned. “But if she doesn’t put her foot down, we’ll have to do something about it.”

  Bea touched her shoulder. “I really like Stacia. If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”

  Veda’s look was droll. “Marry Niko and push out a few garlings. That would make her ecstatic.”

  Bea realized she'd been listening for the subtle swoosh of wings and slight thump of feet, followed by muttering, on her little balcony. She emerged from the kitchen as Aeezah ran down the stairs. "I saw Niko in the sky!"

  Bea smiled, watching as her daughter ran to the doors and waved her hand until they slid open. Her smile faded a bit. Was it healthy that Aeezah was becoming so friendly with Niko? She didn't know where this whole relationship was going to go and she wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Aeezah to develop feelings. What could she do, though? If she tried to keep Niko and Aeezah away from each other, both he and Veda would pick up on it and call her out. It might ruin her friendship.

  Niko rubbed Aeezah’s head, glancing at Bea. “Good evening.” His good evening sounded like her good morning.

  “Didn’t sleep well?”

  “I haven’t been to sleep yet.”

  Bea frowned, opened her mouth to lecture him, and then closed it. He was a big boy, even though her instincts were to mother him. “Well, come have some dinner.”

  “I went to the Garden today,” Aeezah said, skipping ahead of them to the open dining room attached to the kitchen. “Veda was there.”

  “Veda? I guess she couldn’t sleep either.”