{"sf1_id":571751,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Guns of Legend: Chapter Six","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":1090,"posted_at":"2013-08-03T04:38:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Fantasy","Guns","Western","cowboy","indian","rifles"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/571751-guns-of-legend-chapter-six","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/571751","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=571751\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter Six\nAdlis shivered as a cold wind hit\nher from behind.  Her dress may have been\ngorgeous, but it did little to protect her from the chills of the desert\nnight.  Za followed behind her, grabbing\nhis hat with one hand to keep it from blowing away, his coat billowing out\nbehind him.  Kilo brought up the rear.  She had long since stopped pointing the gun\nat the two friends, but she kept it in her hand at all times.  Judging by the way her eyes shifted and her\ntail twitched, the fuaro was having second thoughts about journeying out into\nthe desert this late at night.  What\nmight be out here waiting for them? \nKulgan had mentioned running into sandgoyles the night before.  Adlis shivered at the mere thought of running\ninto those savage beasts.\n\"Keep moving,\" Kilo snapped, but\nher voice lacked the conviction it had carried before they left town.  Adlis decided now might be a good time to try\nreasoning with her.\n\"Ms. Kilo?\" she asked tentatively, \"Are\nyou sure it wouldn't be a good idea to go back to Everdry now?\"\nBefore she could move, Adlis felt\nKilo's foot connect with her rear end, sending her sprawling out on the sandy\nground.\n\"Hey!\" Za exclaimed, but found his\npath to her blocked by Kilo's gun once again.\n\"Shut up, the both of you!\" she\nordered.  \"Whatever took my baby is still\nout there, and we're going to kill it! \nEither that or we'll die trying!\"\n\"But Ms. Kilo!\" Adlis\nprotested.  \"We're lost out here!  We haven't been following any tracks since we\nleft since we left town!  Where do you\nthink we're going?\"\nKilo paused for a moment, indecision\nflickering in her black eyes, before she gritted her teeth and thrust the gun\nat them once more, \"I say we're going to kill that thing, and that means we're\ngoing to kill it!  Now move your tails\nbefore I shoot them off!  Or at least,\"\nshe added, casting a contemptuous look at Za, \"those of you who still HAVE\ntails.\"\nZa's eyes went wide with hurt\nunderneath his mask.  Ignoring the pain\nin her backside, Adlis glared at the fuaro, her ears turning red with\nanger.  Za, being shy and quite weak,\nwasn't one to stick up for himself, so the task often fell to her.  The only thing that held her back from\nsending a scathing remark to the fuaro was that Adlis knew she was suffering\nfrom the loss of her son.  That, and she\nwas holding a gun.\nSlowly, the zik got back to her\nfeet, \"Very well, Ms. Kilo.  We'll keep\ngoing.\"  Turning cautiously, she resumed\nwalking aimlessly into the desert night.\n\"What's wrong with your ears,\nanyway?\" Kilo asked after a few minutes had passed.\nAdlis stood up straight in\nembarrassment, her ears instantly turning white, and she had to force herself\nto keep moving.  She quickly contemplated\nwhether or not to tell her the truth.  It\nreally was none of her business to be asking things like that.  Then again, she WAS holding a gun...\nBefore she could answer, though, an\near shattering war cry rang out through the night.\n\"What was that?\" Za asked, his\nvoice high pitched with fright.  He ran\nforward and grabbed Adlis by the arm.\nThe shadows around them shifted,\nlike a mirage in the dead of night, and the travelers suddenly found themselves\nsurrounded by a band of gargoyles!  They\nwere dressed in primitive clothing, and carried weapons crafted from sticks and\nstones.  They were not as large as their\nsand-bodied brethren, but gargoyles were known to be far more intelligent.\nOne of the goyles stepped forward,\nhis slate gray skin dully reflecting the moonlight.  Judging by the elaborate headdress he wore,\nAdlis guessed he was the leader.  He\nraised his spear, upon which hung the skull from some unlucky foe, and said\nsomething in the goyles' gravelly language.\n\"What's he saying?\" Za asked,\nafraid to speak louder than a whisper.\n\"I don't know,\" Adlis responded,\nnever taking her eyes off of the chief.\n\"It's a challenge,\" Kilo answered,\nher voice loud and unafraid.  \"He's\nasking us what right we have to cross his land.\"\n\"You speak gargoyle?\" Adlis asked.\n\"No, but that's what my pa taught\nme.  Gargoyles don't take well to folks\ntrespassing on their territory, but they'll always ask them why they're there\nbefore killing them.  They consider it\nthe honorable way to kill trespassers.\"\nThe gargoyle chief began shouting\nat them, obviously unhappy with being ignored.\n\"What do we do?\" Za asked, his\nknees quivering.\n\"This,\" Kilo answered, raising her\ngun.  The gargoyles immediately darted\nforward to stand between their chief and her, but before she could fire a\nsingle bullet her hand was grabbed from behind and yanked upwards over her\nhead.  Another band of gargoyles had\nsneaked up behind them, and suddenly all three travelers found weapons at their\nthroats.\n\"Oh, they're gonna kill us, they're\ngonna kill us, they're gonna kill us,\" Za stammered in terror.\nAs the tip of a spear pricked Adlis'\nthroat, she felt fear wash over her as well, and her ears turned even whiter\nthan they had been before.\nThe chief barked a sudden command,\nand the gargoyles fell still.  He walked\ntip to stand before Adlis.  Raising his\nhand, he rubbed her right ear between two of his claws, making her squirm with\nfright.  He leaned down and sniffed them\nsuspiciously.  Adlis stared at him with\neyes as wide as dinner plates, but his grim expression refused to reveal what\nhe was thinking.  Suddenly, with another\ngruff command and a wave of his arm, the other gargoyles lowered their\nweapons.  The travellers' wrists were\nquickly bound with rope, and they were all tied together in a line by their\nnecks with another rope.  With one final\ncommand, the gargoyle chief set off towards a bluff a few miles in the\ndistance, his underlings following obediently behind him, their new prisoners\nin tow.\nAUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, thanks for all the awesome comments!  I'm\nreally enjoying writing this story, and I'm glad you're enjoying it so\nmuch.  However, I've been accepted as an author on JukePop.com, where I\nwill be uploading my new story, \"Trevor Dune: Storywalker.\"  I still\nplan on working on this story, but since JukePop is paying me, I have to\nmake them my priority.  Updates might be sporadic because of this, but\ndon't worry- I like this story too much to just give up on it!\n"}