‎Chapter 14: On the road with Gargylen

"I can still hardly believe it. That my watch has a tachyona detector... Are you really sure it's dangerous? Not that the thing will explode or something."

Norman reassured him: "It must have belonged to an astronaut from another planet. It's an incredible coincidence, isn't it?"

Jane sounded completely natural as she continued the lie: "That Norman recognized the logo of the Aldebaran space patrol and knew from university that these things have great sensors. Really unlikely luck."

Horst shook his head, still a little confused: "I've never seen that drawing before..."

The cover story was neither original nor carefully thought out, but WATCH had insisted on not wasting time on "unnecessarily long discussions".

The conversation fell silent as the gargoyles coordinated with shouted commands and began to maneuver. The Lord Mage had acted quickly and sent out a returned search party with his other flying servants along with the students.

The Gargyls had so far ignored the conversation and were concentrating on flying as fast as they could. The students fell silent for a moment as one of the eight free-flying gargoyles in each group glided over to replace one of their colleagues. In mid-flight. The girders barely wobbled as one of them let go and glided downwards, while the Gargoyle that had joined them deftly grabbed the free girder.

Once she was sure that she wouldn't fall to her death this time either, Jane continued: "Does it still show the same value?"

Horst took a look at the small digital display under the clock hand: "Noi, the value is just a little sunga'."

"Sunk?" Norman was confused. "He fled in that direction. Once he was past, the seal's influence begins to weaken. We follow him. If we catch up, the value should go up. Or at least stay the same."

"Maybe he's faster than us. After all, he doesn't have any... luggage with him." He pointed with his thumb at the harness he was hanging from.

"I wonder if this Lord Mage will actually let us go if we get him his amulet."

"The important thing is that we find it and bring it back before this wrath depopulates the Nexus. Otherwise a lot of innocent people will die."

Jane spat snidely downwards: "Slaves. Cowards. Servants of a mad mage."

Her stretcher began to sway. Unimpressed, she turned her head to one of the gargoyles who was transporting her: "Nice to see that you are actually completely incapable of disobeying orders. And since you have orders to transport me safely, I can insult you for as long as I want. Practical, isn't it?"

The Gargoyle didn't make a face, but her flight stabilized again.

"Do you think it's a good idea to insult the Lord Mage in front of people who are sure to report everything word for word afterwards?"

"I do."

The Gargoyl flying at the head of the formation dropped back a little and called out: "Good place to rest in front. Prepare for landing."

Horst turned pale, Norman clung tightly to his carrier. They had already had a few breaks. But he would never get used to this maneuver. Jane didn't let on, but an attentive observer would have noticed that her knuckles turned white on the handrails as she gripped tighter. Then it was already downhill...

*

Horst pulled himself back to the branch of the bush he had just been holding on to a little over the edge of the fog. When he was standing firmly on the ground again, he poured some water from his small drinking tube into his hand and washed the taste of vomit out of his mouth.

Jane was still a little unsteady on her feet, but made a great effort to look unruffled. Norman, on the other hand, was sitting happily with the gargoyles around the rucksack and was enjoying the dried fruit with a big appetite: "Are you sure you don't want any? There's not much left and then it's just turnips, pancakes and dried meat."

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Jane shook her head a little in disbelief: "How can you eat again straight after landing?"

Norman patted the gargoyle next to him on the shoulder in a companionable manner, calmly ignoring his reflexive reach for his weapon: "Don't get so carried away. I've flown twice before and it was nothing compared to the landing in London two years ago. I really thought it was going to go off."

"There's been a bang here!"

"The gargoyles did a great job of catching it. Well, they could have warned us beforehand that they would keep running after landing to reduce the momentum."

"And hanging from the smokehouse with our heads over the ground... I thought I'd plow the field with my nose."

Even Jane had to grin at the idea and nodded to the Gargyls: "Is there actually another way to land with these stretchers?"

The leader of the winged ones thought for a moment and then nodded, "We could fly over the middle of Misty River and drop racks. Most of the time the water is deep enough. You should survive unscathed. However, we would have to retrieve racks quickly before they float away..."

Norman raised an eyebrow: "Then we swim upside down on the braided racks in the water."

The Gargoyle thought seriously for a moment, his face impassive: "You're right. We would have to salvage before you drown. And better not be predators."

"I think I'll leave it at the current technology."

The Gargoyle shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

While two of the winged ones patrolled vigilantly around the camp, the others sat around somewhat indecisively. Norman cheekily sat down between two of them and tried to get a conversation going. It took a while, but then one couldn't manage to remain silent under his onslaught of comments, small talk and curious but polite questions: "Why we didn't escape with others? Living in Nexus safe. Life in Nexus comfortable. Work good. Food always enough. Good, always have to obey. But that's not bad."

"If that's how you describe it, why did the others flee in the first place? By the standards here in Carcerus, life in the Nexus is a dream."

"Some of Stamm believe that dying in freedom is better than living in oppression."

"Could you even fly away? I mean, the Lord Mage always mentioned his powerful mastery magic..."

"Lord always doing spells. After that Gargoyl stupid in the head, not useful for complicated work. Fly patrol, fight, get things, get people. Good. Search escaped gargoyles, don't go into ambush, don't let outwit, not good. We not caught with spell."

Horst tried to change the subject: "What do you think of how far the other gargyla' have gone?"

Jane was silent for a moment, thinking. When she spoke, she didn't sound convinced: "The most logical thing would be to just keep traveling at top speed. The Lord Mage has a fixed position. His henchmen can't move indefinitely. At some point, they will run out of supplies and have to hunt and search for food. The search speed drops to crawling speed, and then they still have to cover all eight exits and all the later dispatches."

The rough, deep voice of a gargoyle surprised them all: "He alone. No large supplies with him. Must search for food along the way. He doesn't get the master's restorative elixirs like we do. We would have to catch up. Every three days, at least one day closer. We can maintain our speed for another four days. After that, our supplies would be exhausted and we would also be hunting. Elixirs also run out. Stretcher heavy. If we don't catch him by then, he'll probably escape."

Norman suddenly stared thoughtfully in front of him. Jane had to tap him several times before he answered her question: "What's wrong?"

"That makes no sense. The Gargoyles have fled, okay. That's clear. But our assassin slash thief who stole the talisman and tried to kill the Lord Mage... Why would he flee at full speed?"

"Well, because he's afraid of the Lord Mage... I understand! He thought his enemy was dead. He had no way of knowing that he had survived. But still, it makes sense to return to his people as soon as he can."

"With what information?"

"I don't understand..."

"Is the Lord Mage dead? Probably. What about the Nexus? Perhaps he has a successor. An heir. Someone who will avenge him. What about the other Gargyls? Has the Nexus really been destroyed as expected?"

"And what do you think he did?" The Gargoyles also listened attentively.

"He ran off as fast as he could. But only until he was far enough away from the Nexus that the talisman could no longer work there. Then he hid. To wait until the wrath in the Nexus becomes active and kills or drives away all the inhabitants in the Nexus. Then he will go back, see what has happened and only then will he try to catch up with his clan. After a certain time, they will slow down considerably so that he can catch up with them. It will take a few weeks, maybe months, but then they will know what happened. Not just believe."