With no immediate solution presenting itself, Hawk and Louis decided to survey the city. Hawk, being able to fly over wall, investigated within the city for another way in. Or, if he was lucky, to find and kill the gargoyle. Louis, meanwhile, explored the market outside the gate. He chose the wolf for this task, since a naked orc or a dragon would definitely stand out and he was worried somebody might try to capture him if he were a horse. And while he had been mobbed the last time he’d taken the form of a wolf in town, he reckoned wolves were rare enough in these parts that people ought not treat him much differently to a stray dog.
This assumption turned out to be true. Furthermore, he discovered his assumption that the city gate required a toll was also correct. He spent much of the day watching the gatehouse, sat dolefully in the shade of a merchant's stall. The gatehouse was manned by two armoured sphinx guards and the great, iron door was kept closed when it wasn’t being used. What’s more, it appeared they only let sphinxes inside. Even when a noble looking elf presented a letter from the Sultan, the guard refused him entry and caused quite a scene. This made Louis’s ears droop. He had entertained the idea of taking the place of a camel, but that didn’t solve the problem of moving around inside the city. He doubted a wolf would be as readily ignored there.
It was not even an hour later when Hawk returned. The bird appeared from nowhere, surprising Louis by landing in front of him. He cawed. Louis was not an expert in avian facial expressions, but he thought Hawk was trying to grin. Then he took off again. Louis had no choice but to follow.
Hawk flew high above the market, to avoid attention, while Louis struggled to keep up, darting between stands and crowds. Then, Hawk swooped and vanished behind the flap of a tall, squarish tent. Louis hesitated, certain it belonged to a merchant, but eventually padded inside.
It was dark, pitch black compared to the harsh light of the desert. As Louis’s eyes adjusted, he saw the tent was being used as a stockroom of sorts for carpets, rolled up and piled in stacks. Upon one of these stacks, Louis was shocked to see a sphinx. He first thought he’d been caught trespassing, until he realised the sphinx was tied up and his mouth was gagged. His second thought was that the sphinx was Hawk, which didn’t account for the restraints, but he couldn’t see where else Hawk had gone. Then he heard a flap of wings and a minotaur erupted into existence next to him, hooves landing on the floor with a thud.
‘Ta dah!’ Hawk cried, gesturing towards the bound sphinx as if it were a birthday surprise.
Louis shook off his fur and stood up, human. If you’d asked him, at that moment, why he’d chosen his human self over the orc, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you. It was the body he was most self-conscious being unclothed in, yet at that moment he didn’t seem to notice.
‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s our ticket inside,’ Hawk beamed. ‘They only let sphinxes in the city. We need to get you inside, so here you go.’
Hawk had finished talking but Louis felt like he hadn’t explained everything. He glanced at the petrified looking sphinx and then it clicked.
‘I can’t take his soul!’
Hawk looked confused. ‘Why not?’
‘Because he’s… well, he’s not an animal.’
‘We’re all animals, Louis.’
‘He can talk!’
‘So can that orc you killed.’
‘That was different. That was self defence.’ Louis faltered a bit at the end of that sentence, recalling how he’d leapt at the surprised orc and ripped out its throat.
‘And this is one death to save thousands of lives from the gargoyle,’ said Hawk. This rankled Louis, since he was pretty certain Hawk was more concerned with taking the gargoyle’s soul than saving lives.
‘It’s not right,’ Louis said firmly. ‘I’m not killing him just to get inside the city.’
‘Fine,’ Hawk huffed. ‘I’ll have it then.’
He raised a fist. The sphinx squealed through his gag.
‘NO!’ Louis grabbed at Hawk’s wrist. As a human, he had hardly the strength to stop it, so he was fortunate Hawk hesitated.
Hawk breathed steam out of his nostrils. Louis feared he might turn the fist onto him. Instead, he spoke in a voice so rough and low that it was more animal than human.
‘You are fighting your nature! We exist to kill! It is what you were made for!’
Then the fist shrunk into a wing and Hawk flew out of the tent.
Louis wasn’t sure what to think. Was this another of those things Hawk simply didn’t understand because he’d spent so long apart from humans? Or did he have a point? Louis must have been given this power for a reason. Did he have the right to take whatever soul he wanted? Was his need greater?
He looked at the sphinx. The sphinx looked back.