Bounty of Ash

Chapter 6

4

I landed on my ass in the middle of the forest path that led to my home. A quick flap of my wings brought me to my feet, and I started down the path. I guess this truly was home now. I couldn’t go back to my apartment since it was no longer safe, but I did need to maintain some sort of home base in that time. Maybe Archer knew some protection magic that I could use on the place. The Archer. The thought of him quickened my heart. He said he would be waiting for me when I returned and that reunion couldn’t come soon enough. Now that there was a Bounty on my head I needed him more than ever. I half ran, half flew, along the path.

Three creatures that had permission to enter my home; the Archer, Benyst and Noiryn. They were my three most trusted friends in this strange world. Well, the Archer was more than a friend, but we hadn’t labelled our relationship.

Noiryn is a beautiful, blue scaled siren at home on land and sea, and Benyst is, well honestly I don’t know what Benyst is. His appearance is quite startling at first; his entire body is covered with large fleshy growths that seem to pulse and change from time to time. He’s a little reclusive and grumpy, but underneath the rough exterior is a real softy. Without them, I would never have found my wings.

I passed through the archway of trees that formed the energy gate to my home. To me, it felt like moving through a misty waterfall, to an intruder it would feel like a million electric eels wriggling on their skin. Excellent protection, indeed.

A broad green lawn spread out before me, just as thick and lush as the first time I saw it. The massive stone house I called home was perfectly nestled in the tree framed clearing. Sun glinted off the roof of the massive greenhouse that comprised an entire wing of the home. It felt so good to see the solid stone and glass and green welcoming me to where I was truly safe.

In the openness of the garden, I could fully spread my wings, and I crossed the yard in a few energetic flaps. The two stone gargoyles that sat either side of the entry seemed to welcome me as I stopped before the great wooden doors and threw them open.

“Archer?” I called out. “Archer?”

I ran into the living room; it was empty. Well, it was full of amazing things like dinosaur bones and giant seashells, but no Archer. I went over to the fireplace where we’d been sitting before I’d left. The ashes were cold. “Archer?” I called more loudly now, panic slowly edging its way into my voice. The house was silent.

I crossed to the other side of the home and into the greenhouse. The lush plants reached for the sky, and the humidity clung to my skin. I called for him and again was met by silence. Back in the great hall, I used my wings to my make quick work of the stairs. I ran down the second-floor hallway calling his name over and over. I burst into my room, expecting to see him lying on the bed, but it was empty. My fear was growing as I hurried back down the stairs. I was in danger, and I needed to find him. I ran out the main doors into the garden. I stood on the steps and called his name.

“Archer?”

“He’s not here,” said a gravelly voice behind me. I yelped and spun towards the sound.

A stone gargoyle was smiling at me. It had shifted from its stately perch and sat back on its heels, looking up at me with eyes that were opaque orbs of jet black stone.

“Hello, I’m Grog,” said the gargoyle.

“And I’m Brog.”

A second, slightly higher, gravelly voice had me spinning again. The stone gargoyle on the other side of the entryway was also smiling at me. Of course, I thought to myself, how stupid of me, of course, they would both talk. My life made Alice in Wonderland look normal.

“I’m Phoenix.”

“We know!” said Brog, rather exuberantly.

“Quiet down,” Grog replied, “You’re talking too loud again.”

“Oh! Sorry!” cried Brog, then, realising he was still shouting, his stony ears flattened and he whispered. “Sorry.” As his ears moved, I noticed a sizeable chunk of stone was missing from the top of his skull. Grog saw me looking.

“Yep, dropped on his head when he was just a little pebble.”

“Right,” I said the word slowly, drawing out the vowel, maybe if I didn’t finish it, I wouldn’t have to deal with the fact that two stone gargoyles were talking to me. But really, after everything I’d been through this was pretty low on the weird list. I finished the word with a crisp little ‘t’, shook off the shock and addressed the gargoyles.

“So, Grog, Brog, how come you’ve never talked to me before?”

“This is the first time you’ve been here alone,” Brog replied. Grog explained further.

“Well, miss, what Brog is trying to say is; we are your guardian gargoyles, no one else’s. So we can only appear to you.”

“Okay,” I was getting really good at just going with things. “How did you get here?”

“You saved us!” Brog shouted.

“I did?” I had no memory of doing such a thing. I guess this was something else my wings had still to reveal to me.

“My brother is correct. You brought us here from our crumbling cathedral. Although we could not speak to you until you had made this place truly our home, you sensed our true nature and brought us here. We are very grateful and loyal servants.”

At this point, they both bowed to me. Grog was elegant on his powerful stone legs and his tail extended out behind him as he bent forward, nose almost touching the ground. Brog had a bit of trouble keeping his balance. This could have been due to his short stubby tail, but it was more likely caused by the fact that he couldn’t stop smiling at me. It’s hard to bend forward when you’re trying to keep your head up towards the sky. I looked at that goofy stone smile, and my wings twitched as a memory flashed through my mind.

I was in a dark, dusty place; large wooden beams laid haphazardly around me, some angled up, still attached to the roof above. Sharp shafts of sunlight broke through the walls and in their sparkling light, dust moved like diamonds caught in the air. I moved forward, my wings dragging ever so slightly in the dust, picking my way through the debris, not searching for anything in particular, just exploring this old forgotten place. I came across a small turret room that jutted out from the main space. A colossal beam had fallen across the entrance, and I had to flap my wings to rise above it into the alcove beyond.

Once inside I discovered a curving stone staircase that rose into the darkness above. The first few stairs were crumbling rubble, and although the space was too small for flight, I used short flaps of my wings to help me as I scrambled up the rocky incline to the solid stairs above it. I climbed slowly, gingerly, in the near pitch black, running my hands along the walls, taking each step one at a time so I could test its strength. I climbed for some time, always curving to the right, the darkness and motion making me a little ill. Thin shafts of light began to break through and soon the stairs opened up to a small landing and a thick wooden door. I pushed on the door, and it fell forward with a loud bang. The room beyond was now nothing more than a large platform open to the sky and the elements. The remnants of once opulent furniture were strewn about. A threadbare carpet lay mouldering on the floor. A wardrobe lay on its side, wide open and empty. A shredded pile of cotton was all that was left of the bed. A wasted journey, I thought, and with a heavy sigh, I turned to head back downstairs. I had my foot on the first step when I realised I could simply fly from the open room. As I turned back, I saw them. Huddled on either side of the doorway were two small stone gargoyles, I had missed them in the half-light before I opened the door. I went to the first one; a big chunk of stone was missing from its head. I placed my hand on the stone, and it tingled. I gasped and pulled my hand away. I went to the second gargoyle and placed my hand on its head. This time the tingling was much stronger. There was some power in these stone figures. I knelt between the two statues and placed a hand on each carved figure. Power flowed through me from the two statues; it felt good, strong and clean like I had connected a well-designed circuit. I pulled my hands away slowly; I could have sworn I felt the one with the chunk missing move. I looked back and forth between the gargoyles and smiled.

“Well, I can’t leave you here, can I?”

I was back in reality; Grog was lightly touching my hand with his cold stone claws.

“Miss?”

“Sorry, I was having a flashback,” I murmured. “I brought you here one at a time.”

“You brought me here first,” Brog said proudly.

“And we have stood guard for you ever since,” Grog added as he settled back onto his perch.

“And how long is that exactly?” I asked the pair.

“I’m sorry, miss, we have no relationship with Time.”

“No problem, guys.” I had to get moving again. This conversation was eating up a lot of time, time I needed to use getting prepared for Bounty hunters. “Now, a question for you; where is the Archer?”

“Oh-oh-oh!” Brog was waving his hand in the air like a desperate middle school kid that finally had the right answer.

“Yes, Brog?”

“He left!” He shouted and then clapped his hands over his mouth, trying to contain the loud sound. Brog was cute, a little annoying, but still cute.

“Okay, did he say where he was going?” Brog raised his hand again, but Grog jumped in.

“No, miss. He does not know of our true nature so he would not say anything to us.”

“Okay,” I was starting to get ticked, my general fear coping mechanism. “When did he leave?”

“We have no...” Grog began.

“Relationship with time.” I finished.

I stood there thinking. Archer would come back; the question was when. In the meantime did I want to sit here waiting for him? I needed to get some answers to the many questions swirling around my head, and if Archer couldn’t give them to me, I’d have to go to my other sources, Benyst and Noiryn. I needed to figure things out fast; I still had a birthday party to go to.

“Alright guys, if Archer comes back, tell him...” Grog interrupted me.

“We are unable to reveal ourselves to him, miss,” he looked crestfallen, “I wish that we could.”

“Sorry, Grog, I forgot. It’s no problem, I’ll catch up with him eventually, but I have to say bye for now because I have to get going.” I started walking down the steps.

“In your pyjamas?” Brog asked.

I looked down at myself. I was indeed in my pyjamas and not much pyjama at that. A simple pair of cotton shorts, well, short-shorts really, and a tank top were the only things keeping me from naked. I then realised I hadn’t brushed my teeth or my hair that morning either. Energy battles with big bad yetis can preoccupy a girl.

“Good question, Brog. I think I’ll go change.” I dashed back into the house, using my wings to get me to my bedroom in record time.

I burst into my room and headed straight for the three big oak closets that lined an entire wall of the space. I pulled open the doors on each closet and surveyed my options.

The clothing here was all from my Traveller life, and in that life, I’d had a major penchant for catsuits. Although, I imagined I called them bird-suits, you know, ‘cause of the wings. I also liked black. A lot of black. Ninety-eight percent of the jumpsuits here were black, and the other two percent were crazy bright colours like lime green and fuchsia. No way was I going out in one of those. I pulled off my shorts since the tank wouldn’t go over my wings I had to rip it off, which took a while. This is what happens when you don’t plan ahead, Phoenix, I said to myself as the last bit of fabric tore free. I moved to the first wardrobe and pulled out a bra and panties. I hadn’t been able to wear a bra with the suit I’d worn when I’d first found my wings, but I’d since found a few catsuits in this closet that I could wear one with. Not a regular bra, mind you. It had to be strapless to accommodate the other set of girls at my back.

I went to the second wardrobe and pulled out one of the many, many, many black catsuits. This one had panels that went over my shoulders, crossed in the back and then wrapped around my torso to tie in the front. The trick was getting the cross right between my wings, but I managed it okay. There was a full-length mirror on the inside of the closet door, and I checked myself out, everything seemed to be in place. I reached into the bottom of the wardrobe and pulled out my favourite pair of black leather boots. I’d gotten them when I was a straight up human, but they worked great with the wardrobe I’d found here.

I then moved to the third closet. This is the one I’d spent the least amount of time exploring. When I’d first arrived at the house, I’d opened every cabinet in the place excited by the possibilities of this new wardrobe. This one had appeared to be just outerwear, so I’d moved on, but now I needed to find something to keep me warm and tone things down when I got back on human time. I didn’t want to be walking around in just a catsuit. It’s a hard look to pull off in day to day life.

I ran my hands over the pieces of clothing stuffed into the closet. Fur, felt, and wool touched my hands. There were many different colours; black, of course, and various shades of green, purple and blue. My eyes caught something shimmering and my hands stopped. I pulled the shimmering wonder from the mass of coats and looked at closely. It was a beautiful swing coat the colour of the night sky. Literally, the night sky. The shimmering was a smattering of stars that covered the garment in groupings like the Milky Way, hints of pink and green running through them. I had to try this on.

I stepped back from the wardrobe so I could see myself better in the glass, and I swung the coat over my head. The stars shifted slightly as the light fabric dropped down around me. My wings seemed to remember the garment, and they compressed themselves into long lines that slipped through slits that fit perfectly around their bases, leaving them unencumbered. My arms found themselves draped with long open sleeves; they could move freely, uncovered, in front of me or slip into the fabric panels at my sides. It was more cape than coat, hitting me at mid-thigh with an interior drawstring that cinched and defined my waist. It had a slight cowl neckline that fastened with a large pewter button. The dark navy galaxy made my multicoloured wings appear to float in infinity. It looked fabulous.

“Wow,” I whispered. The old me had great taste.

I shook myself from my reverie and dashed into the bathroom. I quickly brushed everything, teeth, hair, the usual, and rushed back outside.

Grog and Brog were waiting for me. I called out my goodbyes as I flew across the garden.

“See you soon, boys!”

“Be safe, miss.” Grog called. Brog was waving enthusiastically.

“Bye! I like your coat!”

I turned and smiled at him as I dropped down to pass through the gate. I ran down the path to the spot I could Travel from and thinking furiously of Benyst’s jungle hideaway; I jumped into Time itself.