Gargoyles: Clan Manhattan -- Volume #13: "The Innocent Warrior"

Volume #13: "The Innocent Warrior"

It seemed so dull around the halls of the great structure. She wandered aimlessly, waiting for something to happen, anything. And ultimately, nothing did happen.

She sat down on a convenient bench in the hallway. Looking back toward the war rooms, she suddenly saw her mother coming down the hallway. Eagerly, she stood up, rushing into the older gargoyle's arms.

The blue gargess only smiled, relieved that her daughter was as she always was. Slowly, she released her embrace.

"It's good to be home."

The daughter looked to her mother. "How went the battle tonight?"

"Not at all well. The troops are whipping into shape, but they're a long ways away from being perfect. A few more attacks and they should be adjusted well enough."

The daughter turned away from her mother. "Mother, I wish to go out tonight."

The blue gargess gave a sidewise glance to her daughter. "Why? I handle the combat here."

"Yes, but I want to try something ... different than a frontal attack."

The mother finally relented. "All right. But be back before it gets too light."

The daughter nodded. "I will, mother." She leaped out the window, into the late-summer air. The mother only stood at her window, a smile crossing her face. A smile of pride.

"She turned into a fine warrior." The mother sighed. "Good hunting, Angela."

There wasn't much in the old castle for a young gargess to do, Cadillac had quickly learned. Within days of arriving with her parents in New York, after an interesting tour of the place, she had been left to her own devices, as the business of fighting the invasion took precedence. Resignedly, she had taken to wandering the halls, occasionally giving moral support to those warriors who came in looking down.

This evening, however, she felt a strange pull to a room she had not seen on the tour. She remembered what Graeme had told her, when they were on the tour.

"What's in there, Graeme?"

"That ... that's a storage space. You wouldn't be interested."

"Why not? It looks interesting ... for that matter it smells interesting, too."

"Let's move on."

The smell wasn't anything she would associate with storage. Rather, the space smelled a lot like Buick back home.

Slowly, she opened the door, creeping slowly down into a dark space, a space that felt very warm and comforting. Her eyes adjusted to the light, and suddenly vague outlines in the middle of the room came into focus.

A doggoyle. A sleeping doggoyle ... guarding an egg.

A gargoyle egg.

The purple gargess glided quietly to the lower reaches of the castle courtyard. Her eyes scanned every corner, but nobody seemed to be there. A good thing, as well: her Rokkan militia uniform made her stand out in the gloom.

She crept further into the castle, hoping to find some useful information that could be handy for the war effort. She was nearing the rookery when she suddenly heard it.

A child. Screaming.

The doggoyle had suddenly awakened, seeing Cadillac standing there in his rookery. A violation that he felt was uncalled for. He leveled his gaze at the young gargess, growling.

Out of pure fright, Cadillac had screamed, mostly from the surprise of the dog turning toward her. When she finally focused her eyesight, she saw the doggoyle for what he was, a watchdog over the lone egg in the rookery.

Yes, she decided, this must be the rookery.

"Who are you?"

The unknown woman's voice startled Cadillac once again. She whirled around to see a purple gargess standing behind her. Cadillac didn't recognize the uniform, but she was more scared of being found out.

"I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to hurt anything ..."

The purple one seemed to calm down, crouching down to eye level with Cadillac. "I didn't mean to frighten you, little one. I was just wondering who was bothering Nudnik."

Cadillac turned back to the dog, then to the female. "That's his name? Nudnik?"

"Yes." The older female motioned to Nudnik. "Come here, boy. It's me."

Nudnik eyed the purple one warily, then acquiesced, trotting toward her and licking her hand. The female responded to this affection by patting him on the head. "That's right, Nudnik, you love me, don't you? Even after all these years."

Cadillac approached the newcomer slowly. "Who are you? I didn't see you with the clan before."

She looked up. "My name is Angela, little one. Do you have a name? I don't recognize you, either." But she looked so familiar ...

Cadillac decided to practice her formal introductions. She stood straight up, proudly. "I am Cadillac, of Clan Detroit. I greet you, Angela of Clan ..."

"... Manhattan," Angela lied. True, she may have been a member of the clan at one time ... lived and loved among them, bore her child with them ... but she could no longer call herself one with her family. "Clan Detroit ... by any chance do you know Lexington?"

Cadillac nodded eagerly. "He's my daddy."

Angela smiled inwardly. "He finally found someone, what d'you know."

The clan's attack parties reconvened at the Castle, after they had finally made their way back from where they had wound up that morning. Quickly, they huddled up in the center of the courtyard, where Rosanna stood in their midst.

"What's our current status?"

Samson answered first. "All present and accounted for. Minimal injuries were suffered during the battle, but they were healed during our stone sleep."

A female Quarryman came forward. "I took the liberty of putting up a force shield around Samson's party so that they would be protected during the day. Quarrymen numbers are still at status quo from last night ... Jason and Robyn are in the medlab getting treatment for their injuries."

"And I seem to be none the worse for wear." She turned to Rain, giving him a wordless, thankful look. "That leaves only Alexander and Lina, who I am assuming are still at Xanadu."

Lexington suddenly looked around, soon joined by Pontiac. "Uh, guys ... anybody seen our daughter?"

Cadillac and Angela had found places to sit in the rookery, and had talked now for nearly an hour, talked about Angela's memories of the clan and Cadillac's adventures with the Detroit clan. During their conversation, Nudnik had passed between them, soaking up affection from the two females.

"Why aren't you with the clan now, Angela?"

"I don't really know ... I just went to be with my mother, and as far as I can remember, I've been with her since. But for some reason, I don't think I can come back."

"Why?"

"My mother ... Demona ... is an enemy of the clan. I don't think Rosanna will let me come back, even if I asked to."

"Are you certain of that, sister?"

Angela's eyes widened in surprise. She turned around to see Rosanna standing there, with a lot of the clan around her. Immediately, Lexington and Pontiac rushed into the rookery, crowding around Cadillac.

"Rosanna ... how long have you been there?"

"Long enough." She entered the room, followed closely by Samson and Ariana. "Long enough to hear you say you wanted to come back."

Angela sighed, sadly. Rosanna continued.

"What ever gave you the idea that we didn't want you back? You would always be welcome here, you know that. Just because Dad got a little obsessive ..."

"You don't understand, Rosanna. For the longest time, all I had was Goliath ... and your mother. When he turned away from us ... I had nowhere to go ..."

Angela started sobbing. Rosanna came over to her side, placing an arm around her shoulders. Samson came to her other side, embracing her as well.

"Welcome back, mother. We missed you."

Angela let herself go further, grasping her sister and son to her as closely as she could. When she released them a bit, Rosanna started giggling a little.

"What's so funny?"

Rosanna looked toward the egg, where Nudnik had gone back to sleep wrapped around it. "I see you already met your grandson."

Angela looked over at Samson. "Is this true?"

He simply nodded. Ariana came toward her.

"And you, Ariana?"

"We missed you, Angela. We all did. But especially myself and Samson. After all ... we wouldn't want our son not to know his grandmother."

Angela smiled finally. She pulled her extended family into another embrace. Distanced from the family reunion, Lexington and Pontiac crouched down to Cadillac.

"I don't know how .. I don't know why ... but you've done something incredible here, Cadillac."

Cadillac smiled. "I know, daddy."

Pontiac could only smile, as they embraced their daughter with pride. She had proven to them the good that even an innocent warrior could do.

To Be Continued ...

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