InsaneJournal

Current mood:	tired
Entry tags:	2008:april, character:demona, character:goliath, genre:au, length:1000-5000 words

[Fic] A Moment, A.D.994 AU
Title: A Moment
Rating: Worksafe
Warnings: character death
Word Count: 1,785
Summary: A moment can make all the difference. Goes AU right at the start.

She settled into a crouch, claws gripping stone, smile curving her lips as she watched the antics of the gargoyles below. They were a credit to the clan, yet still so young, despite their skill in battle; a part of her envied them, that they could play oblivious to the reactions of the humans around them. Then one of the cringing peasants threw something, striking the smallest of the four in the back of the head. He turned, eyes flaring white, and the others stopped their game and took up a new one: advancing slowly on the humans, wings flared, claws making exaggerated swipes at the air, the hound leading them, head low, snarling so that she could hear it even on her lofty perch.

She ought to stop them. Goliath would, and would doubtless scold them for taking advantage of the humans' cowardice. She cocked her head as screams and wails reached her ears. Yes, she ought to, and she would, in a moment - once the humans had learned their lesson well.

Without warning, the hound let out an anguished cry and dropped, thrashing, arrows riddling his body. The other youngsters froze in confusion, and for that same eternal, horrible moment even she was frozen by shock.

Her wings snapped out and she dove, screaming for them to scatter, to fly; too late, already too late, the red down, the small one unmoving, the largest vainly trying to shield his brothers, face a mask of confusion as arrow after arrow pierced his bulk. And still more arrows; she flared her wings, howling rage and pain and frustration as she twisted up into the night, into the shadows, away from the humans and their treachery.

"Goliath!" He was on the outer wall with the Captain of the Guard, too far from the courtyard to have heard any of the commotion, no doubt discussing how best to defend these murderers. "The humans have turned on us!"

"What?" He caught her arm as she landed. "What happened to you?"

She looked down, a jagged line of red running from her hip down her thigh telling her she hadn't been as successful in avoiding the arrows as she'd believed. "That doesn't matter. The archers - his archers," she snarled at the Captain, "have killed four of our warriors."

"You're sure?"

"I watched it happen. They were struck down before I could do anything."

"My men would never..."

"Silence!" Goliath's eyes flared white, rage replacing his initial confusion, and the Captain cringed back. "Show me."

She obeyed, keeping to the shadows as she led him. The humans had not dared to touch the bodies, but the laughter and shouts that reached her made her talons dig into her palms.

Celebrating. They were celebrating.

Goliath landed among the bodies, crouching to inspect each in turn; the humans fell silent, but still she caught the rough stone of the nearest tower, using her vantage to watch the crowd, scan the shadows for threats, anything but look at the still forms on the dirt below. It shouldn't have come to this, she wanted to scream, but the tension in Goliath's back, the restless shifting of his wings, told her he knew already.

"Murderers." The word was little more than a growl; she had never heard him thus, not even in the heat of battle. "They would not have harmed you. They risked their lives protecting you!"

"It wasn't us!" The voice came from the center of the crowd, brave in its anonymity; she bared her teeth and tried to locate the speaker. "It was the guards' choice to put those beasts down."

"Like mad dogs," another chimed in, and other voices, not so bold, but rising...

Goliath lunged into the crowd, snatching a man up by the throat. "You celebrate their deaths, and dare to call them..."

"Goliath, the archers!"

He flung the human away and leapt; she took bitter pleasure in seeing some of the arrows meant for him find the humans instead. She pushed away from the tower and joined him on the rising air currents, and he snarled, "Rouse the clan. Tonight, we will have blood for blood!"

Her vision flashed red at the words she'd hoped to hear, grief and years of pent-up rage finally given release. With a nod she doubted he saw, she twisted away from him, gliding from perch to perch to spread Goliath's message. A few of the more mild-tempered balked; she was shaking with rage at them as well as at the humans by the time she had most of the clan in the air.

By the time she was finished, every group of archers on the walls had a band of gargoyles swooping toward them, and they were finding adults on the wing far harder to strike than the young ones had been. She turned toward the group Goliath led, taking her rightful place at his side; he acknowledged her with a brief sideways glance, and then they were upon the humans and there was just the battle lust, claws sinking through armor and into flesh, choked off screams, the strain of muscles as she tore and lifted and dodged until there was nothing left to strike. Breathing hard, she raised her head, eager for the next threat, but the other walls were also clear, and no booted feet pounded up the stairs toward them. In the yards and through open doorways, she could see fires beginning to spread, torches and cookfires scattered by terrified humans and furious gargoyles alike.

A rustle in the air at her back made her turn, but it was only the clan's former leader, his scarred face creased with worry and something like regret. "There's no sign of the princess," he said, landing heavily at Goliath's side. "She's not in her rooms, and that pet magician of hers isn't in his."

A growl vibrated low in Goliath's throat. "They may have gone to ground in the secret passageways beneath the castle. We should find them before the Magus can bring his magic to bear. You check this section of the castle." He turned to her, bloodstained hands capturing hers. "Check the passageways nearest the dining hall; they may have been caught there. I'll secure the rookery, and the passages near the princess's rooms. Meet me there if you don't find them."

"Are you certain we should separate?"

"The princess is no threat, nor is the Magus if we can keep him from his book of spells." He pulled her close, wrapping his wings around her briefly. "I will be careful, my love. I expect the same of you."

"Always. And by sunrise, the castle will be ours."

They parted, each taking to the air. She smiled bitterly as she glided toward her goal; as leaders of the clan, they three knew all the castle's secrets, to better protect the humans. There was nowhere, nowhere  the humans could hide from them for long, and they had hours yet until sunrise.

The dining hall stood open and empty except for the dogs, and those had no interest in her, their attention held by the food abandoned on the long tables. She guessed the servants had fled to the kitchen, where they would be easy enough to dispose of later.

She shoved aside a tapestry near the head table, claws digging into a recess in the stone until there was a click, and a section of wall shifted back. She pushed the concealed door open and stepped through; the air was dank and musty, undisturbed by torch smoke, but it was entirely possible the Magus had lit the way with his magic, and the heavy air wouldn't have been thinned in the time it took two humans to slip through the door and close it again.

She dropped to all fours and began the hunt.

When she emerged, the yard was nearly silent, a few gargoyles gliding overhead, seeking stragglers. She called to them, reminding them to check the kitchens, the stables, even the chicken coops, then took to the air herself. She could hear fighting, but after the slaughter on the walls she doubted there were enough guards to pose a serious threat, and Goliath had ordered them to meet him if they failed to find their prey; she tipped her wings and turned toward the tower that held the princess's rooms.

The wreckage of the room told her that Goliath had been no more successful than she. "Where can they be?" he demanded the moment she glided in the window. "I will not have them escape!"

"Could they have fled the castle?"

"Someone would have noticed the gates..."

"There's still one place we haven't looked, lad."

Goliath bared his teeth and looked to the window where his predecessor perched. "Where?"

"I'll show ye."

They followed him back into the night sky, toward the oldest parts of the castle. "There's a tunnel, not much more than a rabbit hole really, dates back to when humans first started building here," he explained. "My teacher barely remembered to tell me about it, and I admit I forgot it when I was showin' you the ins and outs of the castle." He scratched his beard, leaving dark flakes of blood in the white hair. "I'm not sure the humans remember it at all, but a man like the Magus, he's likely t' know all manner of things he shouldn't."

Animal pens had been built when this part of the castle fell out of regular use; she curled her lip at the smell, trying and failing to imagine the haughty Princess Katherine allowing herself to be brought to such a place. They were running out of places to look, though, and if the princess would not come here, the Magus still might have; they couldn't risk overlooking him, couldn't allow him the luxury of a full day to bring his magics against them.

The entrance to the tunnel was a simple trap door concealed behind a wooden wall, nothing as elaborate as the hiding places in the newer areas of the castle, but once they were down in the darkness it was more a maze than a rabbit hole, branching and twisting back on itself. She stifled a growl; down here, even they might be separated and ambushed.

She was so intent on their surroundings that she didn't notice the wrongness in herself, not until a wave of vertigo made her falter. She threw out her hand to catch herself, and it was slow, like moving through water, like turning...

"It can't be," the elder gasped. "It's not sunrise yet!"

"The Magus!" Goliath roared. "No!"

A moment later, all three were stone.