August 10, 1689
Vatican only sighed and placed one hand on Free's damaged body.
"Both of us are damaged beyond the point where we would be effective in a fight," Vatican answered, "You fought bravely to defend your protectorate, as any gargoyle would."
Free struggled but with only her arms, couldn't pull herself with Vatican's weight on her. He wasn't twenty feet tall, but he was easily larger then her and the male leomen back at the witches' manor.
"And if you wish to remain a gargoyle," Vatican spoke, "there are things you MUST learn."
"Like what? Enslaving people?"
"Gargoyles do not enslave anyone," Vatican said firmly, "gargoyles protect."
"And I protect the witches! I will bring their world to reality!" Free growled back.
"I believe you misunderstand that point when you claim a vow to go off and kill those who protect the institution of slavery."
"It is wrong!" Free growled.
"I agree," Vatican nodded.
Free was speechless, "why do you defend a slaver then?"
"Marie is NOT a slaver," Vatican growled angrily, "I will never fully understand the human mind and how they justify such things... but it is not my place to intervene in them."
"But..."
"Intervening in them will not solve the problem," Vatican answered, "if you kill the present slave holders, you'll only frighten them, you won't stop whatever mentality they have to make them want to own slaves. And even if the witches seek to end that, it would not be a willing change. What will happen when the witches eventually grow old and die and their magic is no longer there to enforce the change?"
"They'd go back to the way they were before..." Free rumbled in a low voice.
"Change takes time," Vatican finished, "and it is not OUR responsibility to force it to come. A gargoyle's duty and life is to protect. Not to enforce some change. And I have been ordered to protect you until we can both be healed."
"You're not helping the others?" Mal'akh asked from where she, Rosa, and Monica were seated.
"I am too badly damaged," Vatican said slowly, "Marie ordered me to protect Free and insure that we survive."
"How are they?" Rosa asked.
"Doing well, I think," Vatican answered, "we managed to catch the Leomen males by surprise and outflank them. They should be preparing to assault the manor itself now."
"Assault... but... my sister..." Mal'akh spoke, nervous that her sister would be harmed if the witches sent her after the hunters.
Vatican slowly nodded.
"Aimiliona!" Mal'akh gave a cry, rushed forward, pulled the large string necklace that held the pendant around Vatican's neck and rushed back toward the battle area.
"Mal'akh!" Vatican, Rosa, and Monica all called after her.
"I'm coming Aimiliona..." Mal'akh cried as she ran, "I'm coming to save you."
+++++++++++++
Gomorrah slowly made her way through the lower levels of the manor informing the orders of attack that the Child Familiars were to make on the hunters. It was a quiet and solemn affair as the Lionesses gave a nervous look to her, but accepted the decision. Gomorrah's calmness was broken when she saw the mutated creature that Twilight had become.
"I WILL have REVENGE on them for killing Cain and Seth," Twilight answered, bowing both her heads.
Gomorrah slowly nodded, "The child familiars are to prepare to attack them. They are to be mud within an hour."
Twilight looked down to the children around her. Her plan had been for her to grab each hunter with each set of arms and rip them to shreds through brute force. She didn't want to risk the children.
"I can kill them on my own, Mistress," Twilight answered, "There is no need to risk the children."
"They've defeated the Witch Pride males," Gomorrah answered, "Don't be that arrogant. The dragon is their powerhouse. His flames can even do damage to one with the geass still in effect. And his race is hard to kill. His scales are like chain-mail... and he can BATHE in fire or lava... breathe in the heart of a volcano... the child familiars are needed to insure that the humans and Felman are killed, allowing you and the other lionesses to over power the dragon."
"Felman?" Dawn asked from a different sector of the room.
"The one that looks like a brightly colored runt Leoman female," Gomorrah answered, "They do not live natively on this continent."
"She will DIE!" Twilight roared.
"They are all to die," Gomorrah answered, "for rejecting us. But the familiars are to do most of the work. Their magic is unstoppable."
And with that Gomorrah left, leaving no room for argument. Dawn, however looked nervously on. Twilight's new form frightened her and her rage and absolute willingness to kill the others struck Dawn as "uncivilized"... and to a certain extent, some fear of the hunters crept into Dawn's mind.
++++++++++++
"We can't rush them," Marie spoke as they prepared to deal with the remaining two Leoman males outside the manor, "we need to spread them out. Draco, attack from above. Katherine, attack from the center. Linus, you have the southern flank. I will take the northern flank. Those who they don't shoot at, rush and rush quickly."
"Right," the others answered and moved out. Marie collected one of the "cannons" that they had collected and moved out.
Draco took off and rapidly began to circle overhead while the others moved into their positions. The remaining two Leomen, meanwhile watched on nervously as the hunters began to spread out.
"Which one?" the guarding male.
"The dragon, he's the fastest!" the male with the launch tube answered and turned the weapon skyward.
Draco noticed this and began a wide circling dive while the others slowly approached on foot. He could dodge the rocket easily while he was airborne. The Leoman fired at Draco. Draco easily dodged...
+++++++++
"How could dodging it be easy?" Maddex asked.
"The bazooka was not designed as an anti-aircraft weapon, neither is its "successor" the LAW," Marie-Eliza spoke, "similar weapons like the rocket propelled grenades have been employed against helicopters and even against the American A-10 with some success, but a lot of that is either the result of a helicopter's slower speed or sheer luck. Could Draco have been hit? Yes... but that wasn't likely."
+++++++++++
Katherine rushed forward as the rocket was fired up at Draco. Readying her spear, she dove down swung "ivory" blade across the bicep of the male bending down to hand his partner the other loaded weapon. He roared in pain and went to grab Katherine, only to hear a gun fire, and then searing pain in his knee. He glanced back to see the male human hunter affixing his "ivory" dagger into the barrel of his musket, to use the weapon as a pike.
He tried to turn to face Linus's charge, but the knee that he had been shot in buckled under him, and blood was pouring out of the wound.
The other Leoman male, now devoid of a weapon as his partner was wounded and blocking his route to the tube that his partner was going to hand him. In response, he turned to a more physical attack. He grabbed at Katherine's spear, and was successful, but found himself gripping the "ivory" blade at the end. It cut through the geass and the fur and flesh in his hand, but he ignored the pain. He yanked the spear from Kathrine's grasp and threw it away.
"What pride are you?" the Leoman male questioned as he brought Katherine up to his face, blood from one hand staining and matting Katherine's fur on one arm, "and why have they failed to teach you what is civilized?!"
"God forgive me," Katherine thought to herself, and then screamed, "I AM A FELMAN! NOT LEOMAN!"
She then kicked the Leoman male between his legs with all her might. The blow did exactly what it was supposed to. The male Leoman dropped Katherine and staggered back, his hands between his legs, trying to protect his sensitive and now wounded area. At that time, Draco finished his dive and caught that Leoman while he was recovering. Digging his claws into the Leoman's shoulders, Draco threw him against the wall of the building.
Marie continued her own charge on the Leoman that had been wounded in the knee. He had turned to face Linus, but had collapsed onto one knee as the shattered bones and the musket ball lodged there couldn't support his weight. He was attempting to crawl at Linus and wasn't focused on her. Marie took that to her advantage and and charged hard at him, and then jumped once close enough. Her feet caught the Leoman by side of his eyes, and with one knee shattered, was successful in knocking him down.
The Leoman fell to the ground as Linus caught up to him. He reached out and grabbed Linus by a leg. Linus cringed in pain as he felt claws sink through his boots and into his leg, but managed to bring the butt of his rifle down on the Leoman's head, knocking him out.
"Blast the door!" Linus yelled to Marie as the one eyed hunter readied one of the confiscated weapons.
+++++++++++
Mal'akh ran as hard as she could, tears flowing down her face as she feared her sister would die. As she neared the thorn maze again, she felt something or someone tackle her from behind. To her surprise it was Rosa.
"No, Mal'akh," Rosa spoke as she held, Mal'akh down, "we've done all we can."
"Aimiliona..." Mal'akh argued, "my sister... I have to save her... you'd go if it was your sisters or brothers, wouldn't you?"
"Maybe," Rosa sighed, "but we aren't trained to deal with this. Monica would say you must have faith that all will be right in the world. That the forces of good will triumph over the forces of evil. That is all we can do... If you go in there, you could be killed and Aimiliona will be left without her sister."
Mal'akh only cried and hugged. She desperately wanted to get her sister back, but she knew Rosa was right. She remained there, crying and hugging the copper colored Leoman female. Rosa then began to help her move back toward where Monica, Vatican, and Free were.
++++++++++
Hercules, Earl, and Twilight lead the way toward the back door with the other lionesses taking flanking positions with the host of child familiars forming behind them. Benjamin was close to the rear of the formation.
"Remember to stay behind us," Hercules instructed to the children, "don't rush..."
His instruction was cut short as the back doors were suddenly blown inward with a massive explosion. Marie had fired the bazooka she had a point blank range at the doors. Created through the witches' magic, the explosion easily over powered the geass protecting those preparing to join the attack. Earl was thrown backward into the banister of a nearby flight of stairs, taking three Child Familiars with them. All were knocked out by the impact.
Hercules who was the closest had been thrown back through the stairs themselves, taking another two Child Familiars with him. Twilight was forced to stagger backward, but digging all her arms in the wall close to her, she managed to keep her feet, though her enlarged and strengthened claws had done serious structural damage to the house.
"What was that?" Dawn asked nervously as she turned to help most of the Child Familiars get up again. Even those that had been close to Hercules and Earl, and thus thrown back with them, had been knocked down by the shock-wave from the explosion.
"The cannons!" Twilight's right head spoke, while the other watched the now opened door, expecting the hunters to charge in, "they intend to kill the children with the cannons!"
Her right head then surveyed the damage. Earl and Hercules were out cold with five Child Familiars. Hercules's large and muscular body was the only thing that was protecting the two with him from being crushed by the extremely heavy door. Wooden splinters covered both her and Earl, though thanks to her now tougher skin, Twilight didn't feel much pain that resulted from the door she was closest to practically exploding. The Child Familiars that hadn't been knocked out were also disoriented.
"Dawn, Benjamin, take the unconscious familiars to the front lounge," Twilight ordered.
"What about Earl and Hercules?" Benjamin asked, somewhat fearful of the massive and mutated lioness.
"We'll move them to their rooms once the hunters are dead," Twilight answered and then turned to the other lionesses who were recovering from the blast. "Girls, the job of killing the hunters falls to us. We can not allow them to even touch the children!"
"We're with you, Twilight!" they answered.
+++++++++++
"Okay, Draco, it's your turn," Marie spoke as the group began to pull away from the door, "remember, we need to make them spread out so that they can't concentrate their magic... but at the same time, that when they attack, it has to be one at a time..."
"One maze one its way," Draco answered, and put forth enough flame that it formed a near solid line running across yard.
Draco then took to the air again, although staying relatively close to the ground, largely to make sure he didn't burn one of the children. As he circled around, he saw the Child Familiars begin to advance out of the opened back door.
But what gave him the most surprise was what looked a felid creature out of hell. It had two heads, with its upper canines being so long that they protruded outside the mouth, its lower jaw likely now smaller to make it possible for its mouth to even operate well. It had multiple arms, and was absolutely packed with muscle. Although from his vantage point, Draco was privately sure that the creature would be dependent on facing a non-agile foe. A foe that either wouldn't or couldn't dodge.
Draco remembered this from his travels seeing cattle that had a genetic defect that would be called "double muscle" in the future. The animals were larger then normal and more heavily muscled, but the added bulk tended to heavily decrease the animal's speed or maneuverability. Draco had then even wondered if these deformities, which neither he nor anyone he met could explain, could even function in the way they were supposed to as a result of the mutation.
+++++++++++
"He knew what double muscle was?" Lawrence asked, "Myostatin?"
"No," Marie-Eliza said, "but the breeding practices that lead to animals being born with that condition, were nothing knew when the defect was discovered and diagnosed. It was selective breeding for specific traits, not knowing about recessive genes, and can also result from inbreeding to enhance specific traits. But, before scientists diagnosed the condition, the explanation for the mutation was different."
+++++++++++
"Cursed dragon," Twilight growled. She could feel the fire's heat through the geass and guessed that if she stayed in it, it would kill her eventually."
"They want to herd us," a different lioness commented.
"Spread out!" Twilight ordered, "look for any gaps in the fire and escort the children through them. Do not let the hunters escape!"
+++++++++++++
Draco had put down enough fire to start with as he came back down to Marie.
"You and Linus best sneak out and around," Draco advised, "take one of the launch tubes with you and go in from the other side."
"But we already blew a hole in the backyard door," Marie argued as she and Linus began to regroup near their collection of bazookas.
"Yes, but all of the child familiars and the Witch Pride lionesses are coming out of it, including something that looks like a creature out of hell. All coming to fight us here," Draco spoke nervously.
"You and Katherine will hold the line here?" Linus asked.
"We are the most agile," Draco answered, "if necessary we can draw them away from the manor. It'd be a running fight, but I doubt they can do that well... especially if the lionesses hold some sort of guarding position around the children."
"Can just you and Katherine hold on?" Marie asked.
"We can try," Draco sighed, "and besides, the point of this is to kill the witches. If you can kill them, whatever fog the rest are in will be lifted."
"We can do it, Marie," Katherine spoke firmly with her spear in hand.
"Alright," Marie sighed, "do it."
Linus collected one of the unused launch tubes and let Draco lift him and Marie into the air. The dragon then flew them over the hedge maze, with his fingers crossed that it wouldn't reach up and grab him. It didn't.
"Good luck, Marie," Draco spoke.
"Good luck, Draco," Marie answered back and ran behind Linus to move to a position where they could get into the manor from the other way, heading along the northern edge of the thorn wall.
Draco then flew to return to Katherine.
"Are you ready?" Draco asked, "we need to draw them to the south."
Katherine nodded as she saw a massive multi armed creature lift up the fallen tree while three normal looking leoman females carried the wounded Leoman males under the tree back toward the manor.
"I am, and I'll head that way," Katherine answered, "lay down the fire to keep them scattered.
Katherine then ran off to the south with one remaining launch tube, just in case. Draco returned into the air. He then flew toward multi armed monster.
Twilight was about to throw the fallen tree, when it and the ground around her caught fire. Her geass protected her from being harmed, but she could feel the heat and she dropped the tree to get out of the fire. As she hopped back, she felt a strong blow land on top of each head. It disoriented her a little, but she quickly recovered to see Draco banking away holding onto two "ivory" daggers. The fire was a distraction for that attack... but he spared her for some reason when he could have used the sharp end of the daggers.
"Cursed dragon," Twilight growled.
"MUD! MUD! MUD! MUD!" the group of child familiars shouted behind her.
Balls of mud appeared in the air and flew through it, but Draco moved fast enough to avoid it. If they were intending to turn him into mud, they had apparently missed and turned the air into mud... or made mud appear.
+++++++++++
"Where are you taking me?" Free growled, "this is kidnapping."
"I'm taking you to a place where our healing can begin," Vatican answered as a depressed Mal'akh followed, clutching Rosa's arm. Monica followed quietly.
"What do you mean healing?" Free asked, "won't we simply regenerate?"
"That is a non-stone concept, to physically heal," Vatican answered, "we are stone. We do not heal at all without help. But you and I have the good fortune to have run into each other, even if on separate sides."
"What do you mean, sir?" Monica asked curiously.
"Since gargoyles can not naturally heal the way non-stone life can, or reproduce the way non-stone life can... since our life is very much magically charged... we live and reproduce in a stone's manner. Male gargoyles such as myself carve from rock the forms for new gargoyles. Female gargoyles like Free here have the power to transfer souls from one host to another. And when two either love each other, or love and protect the same thing with equal love... a new soul is generated inside the female and alongside her own soul. The male in the partnership carves a young baby-like gargoyle for the female to put that soul in. But, given our damage, producing more gargoyles is not the issue. We must have our souls transfered into new bodies."
"You would restore me?" Free asked.
"Because Marie asked me to protect you," Vatican answered, "you fought well, but you lost. And considering what Marie has said the witches are REALLY doing... fighting to the death to defend that is not worth your life."
"And why would you say that?"
"Because the witches do not care for you," Vatican answered, "if they did, they would have come out the instant you were wounded, healed you and ended the fight. But they did not and likely will not. They do not care if you die for them."
"So Free can move herself into a new body?" Monica asked.
"No," Vatican answered, as the conversation returned to the original topic, "we would need another female gargoyle to do that. Free will move me into another male form so I can carve at least one more female form..."
"At least one?" Monica asked, "but who would go in it, if Free can not move herself into it."
"I would go into it," Vatican answered, "gargoyles are not hung up on gender and gender roles the way non-stone life is. We are whichever gender we choose to be. If Free wishes to remain female, I will carve two female statues, if she wishes to become male, once I am in the new female statue, I will transfer her to the male form I had been in..."
Monica glanced to Rosa and both shrugged as they slowly made their way toward the praying town.
++++++++++++
Linus and Marie ran hard along the outer wall of the property. So far, it appeared that no one had noticed their departure, although neither knew if that was true, or how long it would last. It would probably be broken when they blasted a hole in the second door. They made their way back to the hole that Linus and Katherine had made in the thorn wall to see the chaos that the back yard was becoming. Draco was swooping down and giving bursts of flame to herd the child familiars and the escorting Leoman females along. Their roars could be heard for miles.
"Looks like they aren't looking," Marie spoke.
"Yes, let's hurry," Linus answered and rushed around the corner and headed toward the front door, "if we take too long, Draco and Katherine will get killed. We have to move fast while the bulk of their forces are elsewhere.
+++++++++++
Dawn looked quietly at the five wounded "children". Julianna had her long hair held out above her head, and Dawn did her best not to stand on it. Aimiliona lay beside Julianna, clutching at the female Lupman's shoulder. Jimmy and Rosalie were next, with Violet being the last in the row of unconscious Child Familiars.
"Why would anyone do this to children?" Dawn thought of the hunters, not knowing that the hunters had no intention of harming the children.
"We have company," Benjamin said from the window.
Dawn looked up and moved over to the window. The two human hunters were approaching the back door.
"Get Twilight and the others," Dawn ordered, "the ones in the back are a deception! They do have an army! The rest of it is attacking through the front!"
Dawn then turned and ran toward the front door. And again, just like at the back door, she was met by an explosion and the massive doors coming in at her. The bazookas, generated by the witches' magic overpowered the geass, and Dawn was left unconscious at he base of the front stairs with the remains of the front door on top of her.
++++++++++++
"Julianna!" Francis howled back as he stopped with one Lioness beside him. Both had heard a massive explosion hit the other side of the witches manor.
Both were certain everyone had heard the explosion, but the battle in the backyard was becoming to chaotic for an organized response. Much of he lawn was on fire, and while the witches' geass around the house itself kept the flames from approaching it, it did have nearly everyone scattered in small groups throughout the lawn trying to get around the flames. The earth practically shook again when the flames reached one of the munitions piles of rockets near where the hunters had moved the bazookas that they had stolen caught fire and exploded, blowing another hole in the thorn maze, but first explosion clearly came from the other side of the house.
"Julianna's in trouble!" Francis said urgently.
"Come on," the lioness spoke, "Twilight's too far ahead trying to catch the dragon. We'll have to take care of the rest."
"Right," Francis answered.
+++++++++++
Linus was the first to enter the house and was greeted by the sound of a musket going off. The ball hit his breastplate in the shoulder area and spun him completely around as a result. He turned to see a human male frantically trying to reload a weapon.
Marie rushed around him with a sweeping kick knocked the musket out of the man's hands. Taking one "ivory" dagger she swung it at a downward angle, tearing the cloth of his shirt. The move left Marie open, however, and Benjamin landed a punch to the back of Marie's head knocking her down. But by this time Linus had recovered and managed to hit Benjamin in the face with he butt of his musket. The man was soon out cold.
"You alright?" Linus asked as he moved to help Marie up with his good arm.
"As well as I can be," Marie sighed, "though I should be asking you that. You've been shot!"
"Just a scratch," Linus gave a pained response, "I'll be fine for now."
He then looked to see the unconscious child familiars and sighed, wondering how insane or evil... or both the witches had to be to put such innocent creatures in a position where they would be in danger.
"We need to move," Linus spoke quickly, "we need to get to the witches and kill them. I don't think we'll have time for any sort of trial."
Marie only sighed. Part of her planning had been for that, but the witches had made things progress to the point where their hostages and prisoners were fighting to protect their captors. They didn't have the strength to give them a proper trial... unless there was some possibility that once the "ivory" daggers broke the geass around the witches themselves, their hold on their followers was broken... but Marie didn't know if that was possible. She decided to try and knock them out first. If the broken geass and the unconsciousness of the witches freed their prisoners, they'd go ahead with the original plan of the trial... if not... they'd do what they would have to do...
++++++++++
"You said before that the witches were drugged before the trial," Betty commented, "evidently that option had to happen... Marie would break the geass protecting the witches and that freed their followers."
"Only the death of the witches would undo most of what the witches did," Marie-Eliza answered, "the destruction of the geass around the witches, however, broke the geass around all the others as well. And in doing so, it was actually painful for the witches followers that they passed out, including Free."
"And they would remain unconscious for the trial and the burning of the witches," Eliza answered, "though the only audience would Monica, Rosa, and Mal'akh... but that is getting a bit ahead of things..."