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Puppet Strings - Chapter 14
By Kudara
Disclaimer: All
the characters appearing in Gargoyles are copyright Buena Vista
Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these
copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright
holder. All original characters are the property of the author.
Warning: none
Rating: Teen
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Revision History: 03/14/08
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Her stomach full of nervous fluttering,
Demona made her decision. “I accept your tasks; I will become
your chosen Ancient One.”
“I will not betray your trust in me,” the
great stag assured her gently.
The stag’s intuition dumfounded Demona
before she remembered an essential characteristic of the spirit
realm, the object of one’s emotions felt them. The Irish Elk
spirit had known of her fear all along and had done what he
could to allay it.
“There are certain preparations I need to
make and I need to visit the human bound to you. Return to the
others and I will join you when I am ready,” the stag said
before turning and walking into the forest where he disappeared
into the mists that swirled everywhere beyond fifty or so feet.
The gargoyle retraced her steps through the
shadowy forest staring musingly into the fog like mist that
coalesced into the shadowy reflection of the living world as she
walked along. Kendra’s words by the stream earlier in the day
came back to her and she paused to reflect upon them. Change,
everything was in a constant state of change, and right now her
life was certainly an example of that. It was unfortunate that
she had not met Kendra and gotten kidnapped and dumped in the
wilds of Canada weeks ago before her plans with the Assassin had
ever been conceived, Demona thought with a sad smile. Given her
daughter’s last angry words, Angela would see anything Demona
told her now as another performance, a lie designed to
manipulate her into forgiving her mother. She could only hope
that with time Angela would see that she had changed, that her
daughter would come to her and ask why and give her a chance to
explain about the Archmage and the Weird Sisters and what they
had done to her. Demona gave a resigned sigh and started
walking towards where she had left the others once again.
“Make the fingers thicker?” Demona heard
Rachael say though she could not yet see the camp.
“I’ll have to, otherwise there’s not room
for the claws to sheath like their supposed to,” the gargoyle
heard her lover say.
Curious as to what they were discussing
Demona picked up her pace, only to halt in surprise as soon as
she entered the clearing. The Eagle Owl spirit, Rachael and
Kendra were all clustered around the shadowy outline of a
humanoid figure. Stepping closer she realized what was
happening; Kendra was creating a new shapeshifting form.
“Ugg,” Kendra complained, “Now the claws
work right, but the hands look deformed.”
Demona walked up to the group examining the
ghostly figure floating in the middle, in many ways it looked
like a mutate, but without wings. She could see the figure was
based on Kendra’s human form, having the same size, shape and
musculature, but the skin was black and covered with a fine coat
of black fur. The face was a mutate-like cross between a jaguar
and Kendra’s features, but closer to human than jaguar and
reminding her somewhat of the mutate named Maggie. Jaguar ears
pricked out through a thick mane of black hair that matched
Kendra’s hair.
“Demona?” Kendra regarded the blue-skinned
gargoyle inquisitively as soon as she saw her.
The flame-haired gargoyle examined the
offending hands of the ghostly figure; the fingers definitely
looked out of proportion. “Maybe if you increased the body size
until the proportions were right?” she suggested.
Kendra turned back to the figure, “that
might work,” she agreed after considering it for a moment. She
looked back at the gargoyle in concern, “you ok?” she asked
quietly.
“He offered me the choice of becoming his
chosen,” Demona responded just as quietly.
Kendra’s blue eyes opened wide, her mouth
opened and then closed without a sound; it was obvious that she
had no idea of the Irish Elk’s plans.
Demona began to chuckle, Kendra’s reaction
was priceless.
Kendra stared for a moment at the laughing
flame-haired gargoyle, and then she smiled. “You can stop
laughing now,” she mock groused, “and tell me whether or not you
accepted!”
The gargoyle glanced at the other’s
present, the Eagle Owl spirit looked…smug she decided. Rachael
on the other hand looked as interested in her answer as Kendra
did. “I accepted,” was as far as she got before Kendra grabbed
her about the waist with a loud whoop and swung her around in a
wild circle. Demona clutched wildly at Kendra’s shoulders, her
wings flaring instinctively at the unexpected movement. When
Kendra lowered her to the ground, she stared in astonishment at
her lover before a smile spread across her face.
“Congratulations and welcome,” Rachael
wished her with a warm smile.
Welcome, the word stuck in Demona’s head,
she was becoming one of them, a shaman. The reality of her
acceptance hadn’t sunk in; at least it hadn’t in this way. What
were the shamans to each other? Did they know each other? Did
they work together?
“Indeed let me add my welcome to my
chosen’s, and my promise that I will assist you in whatever way
I can with the tasks the Ancient One has given you.” The Eagle
Owl spirit promised. “I strongly suspect that my several of my
chosen will also be interested in assisting as well,” she added
swiveling her head to look at Rachael who was standing beside
her.
“Tasks?” Kendra inquired, looking at
Demona curiously.
Demona’s first reaction was to feel
uncomfortable that they had even been mentioned, the tasks after
all were her atonement for her past actions. Then she
remembered the great stags words, Kendra and Rachael would be
eager to help, he had essentially instructed her to seek their
assistance. Mastering her reluctance, she shared the two tasks
she had agreed to undertake.
“Challenging and interesting,” Kendra
commented her eyes bright with her enthusiasm, “I’d love to help
if you want some. I’ve been following some technologies that
have just come into commercial production the past two years
that might be of interest to you when you start converting
Nightstone into a more environmentally friendly company.”
“I too would be like to be involved if you
wouldn’t mind Demona,” Rachael offered, “I’d have to do it long
distance, but I’d be happy to help especially with any
researching. I also know of a Work Life Effectiveness
consultant that could help you with your second task, her name
is Margaret Jackson and she’s one of Bison’s chosen. We email
each other quite regularly as she is a member of the Comanche
Nation, and I happen to know she’s wanted to visit New York and
go to some of the shows on Broadway.”
“Work life effectiveness?” asked Demona
blankly, she had never even heard of such a field.
“She helps employers develop job benefits
that help their employees balance the demands of their personal
lives,” Rachael paused to frown reprovingly at the gargoyle.
Demona grimaced, she knew she had been
scowling at the idea, she preferred her employees to leave their
personal lives at home. That, however, obviously wouldn’t work
anymore, not if she wanted to fulfill her obligations to the
Irish Elk spirit. “Such as,” she forced herself to ask without
growling the words resentfully.
“As I was saying,” Rachael continued, “To
balance the demands of their personal and work lives while
increasing their work efficiency.”
That caught Demona’s attention, “What types
of benefits?” she asked.
“I don’t know all of them, it’s not my area
but I remember her talking about pre-tax child and elder care
accounts?” Rachael frowned as she tried to remember the
specifics.
Demona nodded to indicate that she
understood, she didn’t exactly, but pre-tax anything was
definitely a benefit.
“Employee discounts at accredited child and
elder care providers, programs to encourage telecommuting, and
flexible work hours and schedules. Those are just the ones I
remember right now from our emails. I know she works with the
companies to determine which benefits will increase employee
efficiency the most while working within the company’s budget.”
Rachael finished.
The gargoyle frowned; she couldn’t
immediately see how such benefits would increase employee
efficiency.
“I know that flexible work schedules do
increase employee efficiency,” Kendra commented, “I was in on
the discussion at Murton Electronics when they implemented it.”
Demona, Rachael and the Owl spirit all focused their attention
upon the Jaguar’s chosen inquiringly.
“Well,” Kendra said, “It does take some
more overhead by management, but take for example a family with
school age children. The children are in school by 8:00 and
then get out at 2:30. If both parents work the standard 9 to 5
then they have to either pay for child care or worry about what
their kids are up to for the three hours they aren’t home to
supervise them. With flexible work scheduling, one parent can
go to work early and get off early enough to be home in the
afternoon when their children are at home. This benefits the
company because the employee is no longer at work worrying about
their children and calling to check up on them etcetera because
they’ve already worked their eight hours and have headed home to
meet the kids at the door. Consequently you have better
employee work efficiency when they are at work because work and
their duties as a parent are no longer trying to compete for the
same slot of time.”
That made sense to Demona she had certainly
scowled at enough people in the afternoons for being on the
phone trying to control their offspring. Before she had felt
that those employees only proved her point about humans breeding
like vermin when they were not able to care adequately for their
children, but right now she felt she was hardly in a position to
judge them. After all, unlike her, at least they were trying to
keep their children safe and secure. These self-accusatory
thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the Irish Elk spirit appeared
out of the mists with the shadowy figure of Macbeth following
behind him.
Demona wasn’t certain what to think, it was
obvious Macbeth wasn’t really in the spirit realm, at least not
in the same way Rachael, Kendra and she were, they were solid
here like the spirits. Macbeth was here as the land and forest
were here, an image of the living realm, but not actually
present.
She could see the scowl on his face grow as
soon as he saw her, “Demona,” he growled, “Why are you in my
dream and what is this about breaking our bond?”
So that was why he appeared to be a shadow
image, Demona realized, he was dreaming. “I can only guess that
breaking the bond between us requires both of us to be here,”
she replied coolly as she caped her wings protectively about
herself. Macbeth’s angry, hateful look was unsettling enough,
but the anger, hatred and unexpectedly the hurt she was feeling
from him were much more disturbing.
Demona wasn’t certain anymore that he had
intended to betray her clan. Knowing what she did now, she was
willing to consider that perhaps it had been she who reacted too
angrily and hastily. Macbeth after all hadn’t said he was going
to betray them to the English, only that a good king considered
every option. Of course, she wasn’t as certain anymore about
the true causes of anything over the past thousand years, not
after learning that the Weird Sisters controlled not only her
but also the Canmores. It left her wondering what else over the
centuries they had orchestrated to serve their own ends.
The warmth of Kendra’s arm around her
shoulders was unexpected, but very welcome. She looked over at
her lover, expecting to see a reassuring smile only to realize
that Kendra was giving Macbeth a narrow-eyed and rather
unfriendly stare. “Kendra,” she said sadly, “he has reason to
hate me, I treated him very badly not that long ago.” Sapphire
blue eyes turned her way in surprise, “It was after the events
on Avalon when our memories were blocked by the weird sisters.
It’s a long story for another time, but suffice to say he didn’t
know I turned into a human during the day, and I used that to
pretend to be someone I wasn’t.” Demona’s gaze turned back to
Macbeth, “And worse I pretended to love him when I did not.
It’s something I regret doing now, especially since I’m no
longer as certain as I was then that you betrayed me.” Demona
finished, now speaking directly to Macbeth. “I know you may
never forgive me, but I am sorry for what happened in Paris.”
Macbeth stared at her, an angry and
bewildered expression upon his face, “What trickery is this?” he
asked.
Demona stared at him for a second in
confusion before she realized what must have happened, “No
trickery Macbeth, in this place if you feel something about
someone they are able feel it as well.”
The great stag spirit interrupted before
either Macbeth or Demona could say anything else, “Macbeth was
not planning on betraying your clan to the English, but neither
would you have betrayed him to Canmore if it were not for the
interference of the Weird Sisters to ensure that their version
of the future came to pass. However, this is not the night to
search for the truth of those events; it is time to break the
bond that binds you to one another.”
“Yes Ancient One,” Demona readily agreed,
she had heard the promise in the spirit’s words, not tonight,
but another. Kendra’s arm tightened for a moment around her
shoulders and then released her, but Demona still felt the
warmth of her nearby, she didn’t have to turn to know that her
lover was standing protectively behind her.
“Wait!” protested Macbeth, “What do you
mean those three old witches ensured their version of the future
came to pass?”
Demona glanced over at Macbeth, saw the
shock and disbelief on his face. Emotions she was certainly
familiar with lately, but unlike Macbeth, she had at least had a
day or two to get used to the idea that the Weird Sisters had
been more active in her past than she had ever imagined. This
was the first time he had heard of this, and she remembered how
much it had felt like a hard punch to the stomach. “Ancient
One,” she requested, “when we explore those events may Macbeth
come here again as well? He was affected by the Weird Sisters
no less than I was, he should know the truth of their actions as
well.”
The great stag looked from her to Macbeth,
“That is so; however, without a connection between you, such as
the fey enchantments that bind you to one another, I cannot
bring him here.”
“Leave enough between us tonight for him to
return and then after we are done remove the remaining
enchantments?” offered Demona.
The Irish Elk spirit swung his massive head
and regarded Macbeth inquiringly, “Is this acceptable to you?”
Macbeth stared at him suspiciously for a
few seconds, then his face become indifferent and he shrugged
saying, “Very well, it’s not like it matters this is just a
dream.”
The great stag’s ears flipped a few times
at this statement, but the spirit didn’t say anything so Demona
stayed silent as well. Macbeth could think whatever he needed
to think to rationalize what was happening she reasoned.
“I will leave the bond that allows both of
you to feel the other’s pain, that will be sufficient to allow
me to bring you here tomorrow night, and tonight I will replace
the Weird Sisters enchantment that grants you immortality,”
decided the giant stag.
Remembering how quickly the spirits could
deal with fey enchantments Demona concentrated as she had been
taught the previous night. Green strands of energy appeared
inside Macbeth and the gargoyle watched as an entwined mass of
them, much larger than either of the one she had removed last
night from herself, separated out from the remainder of the fey
enchantments surrounding them. The single lines that bound the
mass to Macbeth began to disappear as the stag spirit dissolved
them and within a very short time, the entire mass disappeared.
Demona glanced quizzically at the remainder of the enchantments
within Macbeth’s shadowy figure; all of these were required for
them to feel each other’s pain?
“More enchantments are there than just the
ones that transfer their pain between them,” Rachael commented
knowledgably.
The Eagle Owl spirit bobbed her head in
agreement, “Indeed there are,” she commented staring intently at
Macbeth.
“What are you talking about?” demanded
Macbeth irritably, “and what are you looking at?”
Demona felt a grin tug on her lips, at
least someone else was the center of attention this time.
“And what are you smiling about,” he
growled.
“At least no one’s commenting about what a
smorgasbord of enchantments you have on you and look there’s
even some they don’t recognize,” Demona protested.
Rachael looked down at the Eagle Owl spirit
standing beside her, “Wise One you didn’t,” she half protested,
half laughed.
“I did apologize,” the owl complained
ruffling her feathers.
“You did Wise One, I’m just pointing out to
Macbeth that it could be much worse,” the flame-haired gargoyle
explained glibly.
“Enchantments? What enchantments?”
Macbeth demanded, scowling.
Seeing and feeling her old allies
annoyance, Demona’s brief moment of levity fled, “their talking
about the fey enchantments still upon you, hopefully tomorrow
will help identify exactly when they were placed and what they
do. And even if it doesn’t you will still be rid of all of them
tomorrow night,” she reassured him.
He regarded her suspiciously for few
seconds, and then abruptly nodded, “Very well then, if that is
all…” he hesitated for a second staring up at the giant stag,
“Ancient One.”
Demona had the feeling he just wanted to
escape this increasingly confusing situation, and she couldn’t
really blame him. She wondered idly for a moment how he would
interpret all this in the morning when he woke. The Irish Elk
dipped his head and the figure of Macbeth dissipated and drifted
away like smoke upon the wind. Demona stared surprised at where
he had stood for a moment longer before returning her attention
to the great stag.
“Demona,” it was a summons and she stepped
forward to stand in front of the Irish Elk spirit. The majestic
antlered head rose, and the great stag’s gaze shifted from her
to behind her, and she got the impression the spirit was
surprised. Demona turned around and looked, wondering what was
happening that would surprise the spirit.
Kendra was there, her blue eyes warm and
proud, and Rachael and the Eagle Owl, but beyond them out of the
mists, others were appearing. A great lean bodied wolf, the
solidly huge form of a bison, landing among the branches of one
of the pines was a keen-eyed eagle; the more she looked the more
animals she saw, a fox, a crow, the slender form of a deer. Her
gaze was drawn the large black jaguar that padded up beside her
lover and sat down regally. The Jaguar spirit’s green-eyed gaze
examined her and she felt an odd tug of affection for the
magnificent cat, it reminded her of Kendra. Her gaze went from
the seated cat to the woman standing beside it and met the
sapphire gaze, no, as much as she liked the jaguar inside of
Kendra, it was definitely the whole woman that was her lover.
A gusty breath through her hair had Demona
quickly turning back around to face the Irish Elk spirit. She
wasn’t quite certain what to think of the audience that was
forming, Kendra had never mentioned anything like this happening
to her.
“You are the first chosen I have taken, and
the first of your race to be chosen,” the great stag commented.
Demona stared into the spirits brown eyes;
somehow, she hadn’t considered that she might be the first
gargoyle to be chosen.
“Let us begin,” the Irish Elk spirit spoke
pulling Demona out of her thoughts. She had a moment to realize
that the spirits gaze was focused upon her and then…she was
broken into an infinity of pieces and reformed and made whole at
the same time…she was a tree and a bird and the land and grass
and a deer feeding and an ant following a scent trail home and
the swift flow of a stream and the great depths of ocean and the
sleek torpedo shape of a shark and she was a gargoyle leaning
against the great antlered head of the spirit…she was herself,
and yet she was more than she had been only an instant ago.
The only thing preventing her from falling
to her knees was the fact that she was leaning so heavily
against the stag’s head. She stayed there for a few seconds
longer reorienting herself after the…Demona was at a loss she
had no idea how to even define the experience she had just had,
if she didn’t know better she would have thought she had a
drug-induced hallucination, a very intense one. Finally, she
was able to steady herself and pull away from the spirit’s
support.
“It is done,” the great stag sounded rather
pleased with himself.
“Demona,” Kendra’s concerned voice came
from immediately behind her, and then a warm body pressed
against her back and arms wrapped supportively around her
waist. “Are you alright?” she sounded puzzled.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Demona assured her,
placing her hand on the arms wrapped around her midsection and
squeezing them reassuringly, “only not entirely certain what
just happened.”
“I dissolved all the remaining fey
enchantments upon you, linked your life energy to mine to grant
you immortality and the power of transformation between a human
appearing form and your natural gargoyle form, and attuned you
to the energies of nature and life. It was most likely the last
that was disorienting to you,” the Ancient spirit explained.
Attuned to the energies of life and nature,
Demona remembered the strange confusing sensations of being
other life forms and even more bewilderingly of being water and
land. She remembered the moment when she knew she had been
broken and remade as more, now she knew what the more was or at
least she thought she did. For a brief moment she felt a bit
outraged that the spirit had done this to her without explaining
beforehand exactly what the brief comment about giving her the
ability to do nature magic meant, then she remembered that
whenever she chose she could back out of this agreement and be
returned to normal. Something inside her rebelled at the
thought, she didn’t know exactly what being attuned to nature
and life energies meant, but she already knew didn’t want to
give up whatever it was she had gained.
“Jaguar’s chosen,” the Irish Elk requested,
“Would demonstrate transforming to my chosen?”
“Certainly,” Kendra agreed, she briefly
squeezed the trim muscular waist her arms were wrapped around
before releasing the flame-haired gargoyle. Glancing around she
noticed that the assembly of spirits had departed as quickly as
they had arrived except for the Jaguar spirit who was sauntering
over to look at the half-completed form she had been working on
when Demona had returned. “Alright,” Kendra paused to order her
thoughts and decide exactly how to proceed. “Examine the human
and jaguar spirits inside of me; see how the jaguar form is
enclosed within the human form right now.” Kendra waited as the
gargoyle studied her intently for a full minute before Demona
nodded her head. “Now watch as I transform,” Kendra instructed.
Demona concentrated on watching how Kendra
managed the transformation, her lover had told her about this,
but watching was much more instructive than any verbal
description could be. Kendra pushed the Jaguar form out over
her human form and then matched herself to the image. No wonder
she always looked over herself to make sure she had made no
mistakes, Demona thought as she examined Kendra’s jaguar form
and saw how now the human form now rested inside of the jaguar.
“I believe I understand how you are transforming, it doesn’t
appear to be that difficult.” At least Demona hoped it was as
easy as it seemed to be.
Kendra insisted on transforming back and
forth a few more times to make sure Demona understood completely
before she decided it was finally the gargoyle’s turn.
Demona could see within herself the form of
her human persona Dominique Destine currently enclosed inside
her true gargoyle form. She struggled with the two forms using
what Kendra had done for a reference and finally managed to pull
her human form out and over her gargoyle form. Once she did so
she realized that she had done it, there was no need to hold
onto the mental image she had successfully managed the
transformation she now appeared human.
Kendra smiled, “You did it,
congratulations, now to just master the process.”
“Very nicely done, you learned how quicker
than I did,” Rachael added her complements.
Demona nodded, a smile of pleasure at her
accomplishment and praise on her lips, and concentrated on
moving back and forth from human to gargoyle, verifying that she
had everything correct after each change. She transformed one
last time from human to gargoyle and looked inquiringly at the
black-haired woman.
Kendra nodded, “You have it. When we get
back to the living world you should transform back and forth at
least once to make sure there you don’t have any problems with
the actual process.”
“Alright,” Demona agreed, wondering how
painful the process was going to be. Recalling Kendra’s
transformations she guessed that there would be little to none
going from human to gargoyle and then some pain going from
gargoyle to human.
“Chosen,” the great stag spoke.
“Ancient One,” the gargoyle turned around
and looked at the spirit inquiringly.
“There is still time tonight for you to
have your first lesson in nature magic. Let us move away from
the others so that they may concentrate on the form the young
jaguar is building,” the Irish Elk suggested. He strode away
from the others and Demona followed, they did not go far just
far enough for Kendra and the others to disappear in the mists.
The stag stopped and turned to face the
gargoyle with surprising grace for his size, “Everything upon
this planet possesses nature energy, even those made by man
because they too are made from natural materials. The energy
that grants you, the young Jaguar and Owl’s chosen immortality
and the ability to change forms is nature magic. Your first
lesson tonight will be in how to see this type of magic.”
A short time later, Demona was examining
what had replaced the Weird Sister’s enchantments. The first
thing she noticed was that nature magic was colored differently,
fey magic was almost florescent green in color. Nature magic
was golden with motes of forest green, brown and stone grey
dancing through it. The next thing she noticed was how
different the spirit’s enchantments looked from the previous
ones. The Weird Sisters enchantments had looked just as they
were -constricting, immobilizing, almost like parasitic vines
wrapped around her. The stag’s enchantments looked completely
different; the lines of the magic were open, branching reaching
outward and upward.
“Life magic flows through every living
thing, from the simplest to the largest and is a closely related
to nature magic,” the Irish Elk continued, “To see life magic
specifically you must shift your focus so…”
In a moment Demona was staring at herself
in wonder, she had noticed almost a haze of energy around
herself when she had been looking at nature energies, now it was
as if that haze had been cleared away. Life magic was
brilliantly golden, like a beam of sunlight, with motes of a
deeper gold color and the same forest green motes she had
noticed in nature magic dancing and swirling through it. There
was so much of it, lines and lines of it, all interconnected and
branching. The only thing remotely like what she was currently
seeing was a picture in an anatomy book showing the blood
vessels and veins in the human body.
“You can study life and nature magic for a
thousand years and still not know but a fraction of all there is
to know about it. I have studied both for over a hundred
thousand years and I still have much to learn,” the stag spirit
commented to her. “Now for the last lesson, examine one of the
trees around us, these are but shadows of the living realm,
however, if you concentrate upon one of them you will be able to
see its life energy.”
Demona turned to the nearest pine tree,
focusing on the shadowy outline of it, concentrating on seeing
the life energy within. She started back for a moment when it
the trunk in front of her seemingly burst into brilliant lines
of energy. Her eyes followed the thick bands of energy upward,
looked in awe as they branched out along every branch, every
twig, every needle. She stared for a moment at the tree’s crown
lit in fine lines of brilliant gold, then looked down at the
ground. She could see the trees root structure outlined by the
life energy in each root, from the thick roots that anchored the
tree to the earth to the finest feeder roots.
“Demona,” the stag’s voice cut through her
fascination with what she was seeing, and she had the impression
that perhaps the spirit had tried to get her attention more than
once. “It is time for you to leave this realm.”
She did feel tired and hungry, Demona
realized with surprise, she had been so interested in what she
was seeing that she hadn’t realized. They returned to the
clearing, the Owl and Jaguar spirits along with Kendra and
Rachael were still clustered around the were-jaguar form Kendra
was making. Demona noticed that the figure was now taller and
bulkier than Kendra’s human form, and that the fingers and hands
were now properly proportioned in relation to the rest of the
body. Everyone turned at their entrance and Demona got the
distinct impression that they had been waiting for them to
return.
Kendra and the Jaguar spirit exchanged a
long silent glance before the black-haired woman nodded and
reached out and touched the were-jaguar form. The form wavered
and flowed into Kendra, “Thank you,” she said to the Jaguar
spirit.
“You are welcome my chosen,” the Jaguar
spirit replied.
The three women glanced at each other, it
wasn’t necessary to say anything they were all feeling the
strain of too much time spent out of their bodies. In the next
instant Demona was back in her body sitting next to Kendra with
a sleeping bag wrapped around them both. Rachael was across the
fire from then, wrapped within her own sleeping bag, the older
Cree woman rose and checked the cooking pot resting by the fire,
which had the leftover stew in it, that they had left warming
for now. Demona forced herself out of the warm cocoon, rising
and going to assist Rachael in putting together a simple meal
for them.
A warm bowl of stew and a thick slice of
bread improved the three women’s energy levels and mood
immensely.
“Are you feeling up to changing?” Kendra
asked.
“Now I am,” Demona commented, she was glad
Rachael had thought of making enough stew for two full meals
tonight. The gargoyle made a mental note to remember how
draining it was to go into the spirit realm for any length of
time; once Rachael left, she would need to make sure they had a
meal ready for afterward. The gargoyle closed her eyes and
relaxed into the trance like state that Kendra had taught her
and imagined her gargoyle form shrinking until her human form
covered it then willed herself to match the image of her human
form. The pain of the transformation was far less than what she
was used to from Puck’s spell and when Demona opened her eyes
she glanced at herself. She had succeeded she was in her human
form. She immediately began shivering as the night was very
cold and she was wearing her gargoyle clothing.
“Very good, and very quick too,” Kendra
noted approvingly.
“Very cold,” Demona complained, she hated
this aspect of being human, she didn’t notice it so much in New
York, but here, with it being so much further north she
definitely noticed the cold when she was human. She hurriedly
examined herself to verify that everything was in the right
place and without waiting closed her eyes and focused on
transforming back into her true form. She was right; the
transformation in from human to gargoyle didn’t hurt at all,
Demona thought, as she shook out her wings and verified that she
had the proper gargoyle parts.
As soon as she settled back underneath the
sleeping bag with Kendra, Rachael pulled out the bottle of
scotch and three small glasses. She poured out three shots
worth, and then passed the glasses around. “To our newest and
first gargoyle shaman,” Rachael proposed her toast.
“To our newest and first gargoyle shaman,”
Kendra seconded, raising her shot glass in Demona’s direction.
The gargoyle raised her own glass to them,
taking a moment to admire the amber color of the scotch before
taking a sip and letting the smooth fiery liquid burn down her
throat.
After recovering from the fiery burn of the
amber liquid, Kendra stared into her glass meditatively
searching for the right words. Finally, she raised her head and
looked at Demona, “The last few days have brought about many
changes in your life. May you look back in the years ahead and
be as thankful for them as I have been with mine.”
“Indeed,” Rachael agreed softly. She
looked across the fire at the flame-haired gargoyle, “May you be
as thankful for them as I have been with mine.”
Demona felt her throat tighten with
emotion; she knew both Kendra and Rachael would not trade their
shamanism and their relationship with their respective spirits
for anything. Thinking back to earlier in the evening when she
had become the Ancient One’s chosen and what he had shown her
afterward she replied, “I believe I shall.”
***************************************
Macbeth splashed cold water on his face and
stared into the mirror bleary eyed. Usually he didn’t remember
his dreams and he was thankful for that, but the strange dream
he had last night was stubbornly remaining in his memory. Every
detail of the dream was as sharp and fresh in his memory as his
memory of waking up fifteen minutes ago. The gigantic stag had
come to him and asked if he wanted to be free of his bond with
Demona, he hadn’t even needed to think about it before
vehemently agreeing. They had traveled through mists to arrive
in a forest clearing; he remembered how odd everything had
looked, as if he were seeing shadowy images.
Demona had been there, along with the woman
he had seen on the television reports of the kidnapping, Kendra
Canmore. There had been another woman there and beside her had
been a Eurasian Eagle Owl. He remembered glaring at Demona, and
he remembered Kendra Canmore stepping up behind her and
unmistakably giving him a clear warning look that promised
painful retribution if he did anything against the gargoyle.
Then, as if the idea of a Canmore protecting Demona wasn’t
shocking enough, the gargoyle had apologized to him for her
deception in Paris. Apologized and meant it, he could still
remember the sorrow, the regret, and shame he had felt from her.
“Impossible,” he growled to his reflection
in the mirror, Demona hadn’t changed in a thousand years why
would she change now.
Still…he thought uneasily about what the
stag had said that tonight he and Demona would learn about what
the three old witches had done to ensure that their vision of
the future came to pass. He remembered their words on that day
when he had saved Duncan. He had rejected their prophecy
promising Duncan that he had no wish to become King, but he
could see that his cousin didn’t believe him. And then
everything had come to pass as the three old witches had
prophesied, he had been King after Duncan and then his son for a
tragically short time before Canmore had killed Luach to become
King after him.
“I’m no longer as certain as I was then
that you betrayed me,” Demona had said to him, what was it that
she suspected, why had she negotiated for him to come again
tonight, and who was the stag to her that she spoke to him with
such respect.
“Damn it,” he complained to his reflection,
“I’m acting as if talking giant stags are real, it was just a
dream is all.”
Still he felt uneasy as he turned toward
the shower to begin his day.
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