Gargoyle: Kinswoman

Part 14

Veronica pulled the blanket aside and breathed out. The blanket had kept the sun from reaching him, but she knew they weren't out of danger yet. The clouds weren't thick enough to keep the rest of the day foggy and Bascun hadn't moved a muscle since she tossed him into the heap. Even his finger was still poking in the wrong direction as it had fell on his stomach. The wound on his shoulder was still wet, and she felt tears running down on her cheeks, when she realized she had to move him and somehow get help, because she didn't even know if the wound was a simple gun or had it been a tranquilizer. She suspected the latter, because she doubted Bascun would go out like that on a simple wound. Which made the whole situation worse, because he was freakishly heavy.

She tried anyway and after an hour of labor managed to get him back to the shed – she still doubted she'd get him to the house without running out of steam – and brought more blankets and tarps to cover him up from head to toe. She did a quick clean-up on the wound, but it clearly needed stitches, which she was not prepared to do at all. She did manage to get the syringe type bullet out. It had liquid stuck in it, but the capsule was nearly empty. Which meant most of its content was inside him.

She pressed her forehead against his for a long moment before she let the sheet fall over his face and hoped like hell the shed would be dark enough and nobody else would come to investigate.

"You have to get help!" Isilia pushed, when she saw the dart bullet. "Take it with you." She pulled her silver locket over her head and pressed it into her hand. "If they came through, that means the gate is still working, so you have to hurry. If they realize they aren't coming back, they'll definitely close it!"

Veronica stared at the locket tangling between her fingers with confusion. Isilia sounded nothing like confused old lady, who couldn't put two and two together. Not that she'd taken her for a demented person, but she realized there was a lot she had no idea about and today was gonna be one of those days she was dowsed in a lot of it.

"You know about the gates." Veronica huffed, running after the woman. She had started towards the house the moment she'd given her the necklace. Veronica squeezed the thing tighter in her fist, not trusting to let it go. She wasn't sure, why she'd given it to her, but she guessed it was some kind of a key. She'd seen inside of it, there was nothing aside her mother and father's images. Then again, she'd never held it in her hand before and it did feel heavier than some silver and few images.

"The locket carries my DNA, so it will let you through without problem. But you won't get through without it, so make sure you don't lose it, humans don't have their own key!" She went on with the instructions. "Make sure you show the dart to Thorwald. I don't know, where they live right now, but I doubt Bascun would live apart from them, so he must have used the gate from the same city, thank god they are smaller than ours!"

She kept talking, but Veronica's eyes were fixing on the small piece of jewelry. Humans didn't have their own key, she repeated in her head. Did that mean as species or was she referring to her specifically? Why did she have the key in the first place?

Her eyes rose and she scanned the woman with renewed understanding. Now that she knew what to look for, she immediately noticed the small humps on her back she'd taken for some old injury from falling back. Nor could she ignore the way her neck had always looked smaller compared to her head and body. And her ears looked pointier too.

"Come on then!" She shouted, beckoning her in. "We have to check the maps, I'm not sure, but I think the one in the barn is still open. They came on foot, so it can't be far."

"Barn..." she echoed and her thoughts immediately went on the huge building on the back end of the property where they used to keep hay for the animals on the field. It was close to collapsing when she wondered there once. She'd been too afraid to go in, because the doors were ready to fall off and she'd feared one of them would give in while she was in there. The place gave her chills.

She didn't let her dwell on the memory lane for long before pushing a watch similar to Bascun's into her hand. "You'll need to keep time how long he's been out. You can't take your mobile with you, it doesn't have any support system there, so – are you listening me, young lady?"

"U-uhuh, maybe." She babbled, more than little confused.

Her hands came around her neck and she squeezed it gently before taking her earlobe between her fingers and massaging it like she'd done when she'd told her to sign the divorce papers.

"You have already done so much for us and I'm sorry you have to do more, but we don't have a choice. I'd be only keeping you down, you're way faster than I am and you can move faster without me. Besides, somebody has to watch over the gargoyle while you are searching for his nest."

She pat her neck one last time and let her go, dug out few more odd looking items and pressed them all into her lap.

"Ditch them after you find Thorwald. Most of them are tracked and I can't tell which ones, so make sure you don't lead the punch to the nest. Although they keep their nests public these days, some of them still carry the old instinct to hide their family, especially if they have young ones."

Had she been listening when Bascun told her about them in the kitchen?

"Veronica, you have to move." She coached and hopped over to the table. "Bring my chair here." She instructed and waited while she tucked everything she'd received into her pockets and began moving on autopilot.

"How do I recognize him?" She asked while the old woman pulled up the maps and began searching them through with knowing eye. Now that she knew what she was looking for, it was easy for her to find it on the map and she nodded, confirming it was the old barn.

"The Bishop?" She asked. "He has the same skin color as he does." She sighed. "I don't think he had any tattoos, at least where you could see them and I think he might have been taller."

It had been a while, she concluded from her words and sighed, suddenly feeling weary.

"You'll recognize a Bishop if you happen on one, they all have the same skin color. Actually – any gargoyle you see will do. There aren't many left in Hatangy after the wars and most likely they know of each other at least. So just ask somebody, who..." she waved in general direction of Bascun, "looks like him." She paused, looking out the window where the shed door was. "Oh! How is your Latin?"