Seeking a Path

Cailean awoke quietly and slowly, his stone skin cracking, breaking away and falling in piles around his kneeling form. He yawned, where others might roar, his eyes glowing bright red for a moment.

He wiped the dust from his eyes and blinked them a few times. He gazed around the cavern, confused. Waking up in a dark, closed in space held no surprise, but this cavern? Filled with humans?

He rubbed his head, realizing it ached with fatigue. Actually, his entire body ached. Usually he didn't hurt after sleep. What could have caused.... Yes. The magic. Cailean shook his head and rubbed his aching chest. The contact felt painful deep inside of him, but the skin itself seemed to belong to someone else. The stone sleep had healed most of it, but the seams still had rough puckering.

"The Magus would have done better," he muttered to himself with a glance down.

He shook his head. Time to get up. He'd have to find George. And get more food, soon.

His legs held him this time.

He stood up, leaning against the oddly angled overhang.

A low growl stopped him before he stretched. He turned slowly.

"What's that Fluffy?" Cailean could hear George's pleasant voice, but couldn't see him for the monster. A large creature, nearly pitch black, standing as tall as the gargoyle's hip, if not higher. No teeth showing, yet, but his imagination quickly estimated the fangs that could fit into those overhanging lips.

"Fluffy?"

George limped up the packed earth incline that lead to his area. He indicated an unearthly huge beast between them.

"Fluffy's been guarding you in your sleep, kid."

"Fluffy."

"Came with the name, kid."

"It's a hell beast!" Boudicca had less teeth in her.

"She's a Dane."

"She's Danish?"

"She's a mutt, not a pastry."

Cailean blinked and rubbed his head again. He slumped back down to the ground.

The giant beast plodded up to him, long ears pricked up in the middle. The princess'd told stories about the hunting parties that the humans had, the horses and the dogs. The way she described them, though, they weren't nearly so... intimidating.

He felt his eyes go red. The beast's eyes reflected the light.

She paced closer to him, the nose sneaking out, making quiet huffing noises, then a giant, wet tongue snaked up the side of his face.

"Eeuch!"

"Haha! That's our Fluffy! She's quite a love. Keeps the rats down too."

Cailean shoved the great beast away gently, uncertain if he could treat her the way he would treat a gargbeast.

"Come on, kid. Let's get you some breakfast. Fhew, you left a lot of mess."

"I am more than happy to clean it up, where would you like me to put the chips?"

The old man cackled and simply shook out his blankets. "That'll do good enough for me. Come on, kid. And lets get you some clothing to, eh?"

"Why do you keep calling me a goat?"

George laughed again and led the gargoyle to where a couple of the others had foraged some food during the day. They explained some of the language to him while he ate, including such descriptive terms as dumpster diving. He frowned at the food, but couldn't turn it down. They worked hard to feed him, the least he could do was accept it graciously.

"Thank you," he said, with all his heart. "For protecting me, and feeding me. I know I eat a lot."

"We all pull our weight, when we can, and we stick up for each other when we can't. Not like you can panhandle."

"I am strong, though." At least strong compared to a human. "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Actually," one older woman piped up. "There's some pipes that leak, when it rains bad. Could you bend them?"

"Show me."

She took him over to her area, where she'd obviously tried to put up some thin translucent skin to try and hold out the water. He batted at it, then traced the pipes to their source. They were made of stone. What could he do to fix them? Break it some place else, perhaps? So it wouldn't drain in her area? No, all the space here had bedding in it. If not her bed than anothers'.

He thought of the spell he'd cast, how it had worked on Avalon's own. The trees had fought him. The stone here had no life. Could he cast it again?

He fought to remember the spell. It had come to his lips then as if Magus were reciting it to him. Cailean tried out several magical phrases until the one he needed came to mind. He whispered it as quietly as he could while still pronouncing everything clearly. The very tips of his fingers glowed. He dug his talons into the cement and meshed the broken pieces together. Miraculously, it held. He shook the spell free from his skin.

"I'm not certain that will hold."

"What will hold? Oh, wow. What did you do to it?"

"Looks like a damn good patch job to me. Don't know where the pipe runs though."

"Yeah, looks like George will be the next one with a wet bed!"

"That's got nothin' to do with the leaky pipes overhead."

Cailean stood, confused, but caught up in the warm feelings of the humans around him. Others called out for aide. He didn't have to cast the spell again, for which his aching bones were thankful, but he felt proud that he could help. A bit of bent metal here, a small hole opened up to a functional doorway. After a quarter of the night had passed he needed a second meal, and a bit of rest, but nothing could scrape away the grin from his face.

George yawned next to him. "Most of us don't keep your hours, kid. There's a bit of a surprise I have in store for you, but I don't know how to tell you."

"A surprise?"

"Yup. Its going to take a bit to set up, but got a friend with a friend in the Deep."

Cailean shook his head, uncertain what kind of surprise could interest him.

"Could you lead me back to the surface? I think I want to explore this city."

"Soon. I want to get word back first."