As it turned out, the claw swipe had ripped one of the gargoyle’s leathery wings, leaving it unable to fly very well. As it sailed off the edge of the cliff, it quickly spiraled downwards. Louis lumbered over to the brink to see the monster flapping desperately, shrieking in pain and terror. It landed awkwardly about thirty feet below just as Louis spread his own wings to confront the monster.
“One more soul,” he thought smugly, gliding down to the injured gargoyle. He wondered if there was a limit on the number of souls he could possess. As he neared, the gargoyle shrieked again loudly as he thrust himself against the cliff wall. Like before, its body melded with the rock. Louis landed in a narrow (for a dragon) crevice and roared at the wall, frustrated.
Now that he realized what rock-melding powers gargoyles had, Louis was more determined to get that soul. He took a deep breath and blasted the wall with all the firepower he could manage. The rock began to glow a deep red with heat, but nothing happened. Another deep breath, and Louis shot his flames again; nothing. Getting dizzy, dragon heart pounding in his chest, Louis readied a third blast.
The rock face suddenly rippled behind Louis, and a gargoyle leapt out, long claws aimed for Louis’s throat. Louis’s dragon instincts were enough to let him dodge the surprise attack. As he jumped out of the way, he observed that this was a much larger gargoyle. It had dull gray and muscular skin; it was wearing a dark loincloth with a belt buckle. The gargoyle landed on the ground, rolled, and quickly jumped in the air spreading its wings. It had enveloped Louis’s head, punching, scratching and shrieking. The blows weren’t hurting much, but the combination of being wrapped up and the loud cries into his sensitive ears were confusing the dragon’s brain.
“Get out of here! This is...my mountain!” Louis heard in between punches. Huh? The gargoyle was speaking English? Louis was afraid to blast him with fire while his head was surrounded by the gargoyle’s wings and body, because then Louis would probably get burned as well. But he had to do something.
Louis let off a short blast. He was right, the blowback of the flames off the gargoyle’s body into his face and eyes burned terribly, even for a dragon. The gargoyle, however, got the worst of that attack. It screamed (like a human, Louis later realized) and partially unwrapped itself from Louis.
Louis took that chance to shift into the wolf and go for the gargoyle’s throat. The gargoyle’s eyes went wide as Louis shrank and became furry in the matter of seconds. “Holy--aaaargh!” Louis had latched onto the beast’s arm, which it had held up to protect its own neck. Louis snarled viciously as he drew a thick, rich tasting blood into his mouth.
The gargoyle, stunned up until this moment, wrapped its arms around Louis’s body and dragged the wolf off the ground. With a flap of its large wings, they both shot into the air. Confused, Louis realized far too late what was about to happen. The gargoyle melded into the rock about twenty feet off the ground, leading Louis to slam into the cliff face. The pain was incredible, it was as if he was thrown directly snout-first into the cliff. Stunned, Louis could do nothing else but paw at the air until he landed with a thud.
All the spirits in his body were in pain. His wolf body horribly broken, he slowly transitioned back to human. The fur gradually pulled into his body, leaving naked skin. Shifting deadened most of the physical pain he was in after the fall, but he was still incredibly sore and dirty. Even worse, he didn’t have the energy to shift, which was a troubling feeling, especially as the stone rippled once again and the gargoyle emerged.
Louis scrambled to his feet, painfully. He was desperate to fend off the monster, any way possible. He felt scales growing on his arms, and the beginning of a tail coming out his backside, but the dragon’s spirit flickered away as it tried to manifest itself, and the changes sucked back into Louis’s body. Louis tried the orc, but that had no effect at all. He felt hopeless. However, instead of attacking Louis, only the gargoyle’s upper body and clawed feet emerged from the rock. It’s skin remained stone, and it looked as though it was sitting casually, it’s rear end still melded into the rock, feet dangling downwards. It peered down at Louis, head cocked.
“Well?” Louis asked, standing up straight, attempting to show bravado. “Are you gonna come down and fight?”
The gargoyle shook its head. “Truce.”
“What?” Louis asked, shocked. “Why? And how do you speak my language, anyway?”
The beast smiled. “I’ve already caused enough pain to a fellow Beastblood. Are you all right, brother?”