Guns of Legend: Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Adlis shivered as a cold wind hit
her from behind. Her dress may have been
gorgeous, but it did little to protect her from the chills of the desert
night. Za followed behind her, grabbing
his hat with one hand to keep it from blowing away, his coat billowing out
behind him. Kilo brought up the rear. She had long since stopped pointing the gun
at the two friends, but she kept it in her hand at all times. Judging by the way her eyes shifted and her
tail twitched, the fuaro was having second thoughts about journeying out into
the desert this late at night. What
might be out here waiting for them?
Kulgan had mentioned running into sandgoyles the night before. Adlis shivered at the mere thought of running
into those savage beasts.
"Keep moving," Kilo snapped, but
her voice lacked the conviction it had carried before they left town. Adlis decided now might be a good time to try
reasoning with her.
"Ms. Kilo?" she asked tentatively, "Are
you sure it wouldn't be a good idea to go back to Everdry now?"
Before she could move, Adlis felt
Kilo's foot connect with her rear end, sending her sprawling out on the sandy
ground.
"Hey!" Za exclaimed, but found his
path to her blocked by Kilo's gun once again.
"Shut up, the both of you!" she
ordered. "Whatever took my baby is still
out there, and we're going to kill it!
Either that or we'll die trying!"
"But Ms. Kilo!" Adlis
protested. "We're lost out here! We haven't been following any tracks since we
left since we left town! Where do you
think we're going?"
Kilo paused for a moment, indecision
flickering in her black eyes, before she gritted her teeth and thrust the gun
at them once more, "I say we're going to kill that thing, and that means we're
going to kill it! Now move your tails
before I shoot them off! Or at least,"
she added, casting a contemptuous look at Za, "those of you who still HAVE
tails."
Za's eyes went wide with hurt
underneath his mask. Ignoring the pain
in her backside, Adlis glared at the fuaro, her ears turning red with
anger. Za, being shy and quite weak,
wasn't one to stick up for himself, so the task often fell to her. The only thing that held her back from
sending a scathing remark to the fuaro was that Adlis knew she was suffering
from the loss of her son. That, and she
was holding a gun.
Slowly, the zik got back to her
feet, "Very well, Ms. Kilo. We'll keep
going." Turning cautiously, she resumed
walking aimlessly into the desert night.
"What's wrong with your ears,
anyway?" Kilo asked after a few minutes had passed.
Adlis stood up straight in
embarrassment, her ears instantly turning white, and she had to force herself
to keep moving. She quickly contemplated
whether or not to tell her the truth. It
really was none of her business to be asking things like that. Then again, she WAS holding a gun...
Before she could answer, though, an
ear shattering war cry rang out through the night.
"What was that?" Za asked, his
voice high pitched with fright. He ran
forward and grabbed Adlis by the arm.
The shadows around them shifted,
like a mirage in the dead of night, and the travelers suddenly found themselves
surrounded by a band of gargoyles! They
were dressed in primitive clothing, and carried weapons crafted from sticks and
stones. They were not as large as their
sand-bodied brethren, but gargoyles were known to be far more intelligent.
One of the goyles stepped forward,
his slate gray skin dully reflecting the moonlight. Judging by the elaborate headdress he wore,
Adlis guessed he was the leader. He
raised his spear, upon which hung the skull from some unlucky foe, and said
something in the goyles' gravelly language.
"What's he saying?" Za asked,
afraid to speak louder than a whisper.
"I don't know," Adlis responded,
never taking her eyes off of the chief.
"It's a challenge," Kilo answered,
her voice loud and unafraid. "He's
asking us what right we have to cross his land."
"You speak gargoyle?" Adlis asked.
"No, but that's what my pa taught
me. Gargoyles don't take well to folks
trespassing on their territory, but they'll always ask them why they're there
before killing them. They consider it
the honorable way to kill trespassers."
The gargoyle chief began shouting
at them, obviously unhappy with being ignored.
"What do we do?" Za asked, his
knees quivering.
"This," Kilo answered, raising her
gun. The gargoyles immediately darted
forward to stand between their chief and her, but before she could fire a
single bullet her hand was grabbed from behind and yanked upwards over her
head. Another band of gargoyles had
sneaked up behind them, and suddenly all three travelers found weapons at their
throats.
"Oh, they're gonna kill us, they're
gonna kill us, they're gonna kill us," Za stammered in terror.
As the tip of a spear pricked Adlis'
throat, she felt fear wash over her as well, and her ears turned even whiter
than they had been before.
The chief barked a sudden command,
and the gargoyles fell still. He walked
tip to stand before Adlis. Raising his
hand, he rubbed her right ear between two of his claws, making her squirm with
fright. He leaned down and sniffed them
suspiciously. Adlis stared at him with
eyes as wide as dinner plates, but his grim expression refused to reveal what
he was thinking. Suddenly, with another
gruff command and a wave of his arm, the other gargoyles lowered their
weapons. The travellers' wrists were
quickly bound with rope, and they were all tied together in a line by their
necks with another rope. With one final
command, the gargoyle chief set off towards a bluff a few miles in the
distance, his underlings following obediently behind him, their new prisoners
in tow.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, thanks for all the awesome comments! I'm
really enjoying writing this story, and I'm glad you're enjoying it so
much. However, I've been accepted as an author on JukePop.com, where I
will be uploading my new story, "Trevor Dune: Storywalker." I still
plan on working on this story, but since JukePop is paying me, I have to
make them my priority. Updates might be sporadic because of this, but
don't worry- I like this story too much to just give up on it!