Gargoyle: Kinswoman

Part 16

"It's not common here to see humans from the other side." The man's voice kept falling lower the less she gave him any attention.

She was mesmerized by the huge gargoyle behind him. She had assumed incorrectly that they'd all look gray. Her information had been limited for one specimen, but her brains still had hard time coping with the idea that they also looked like sandstones. Moment later she hid a snort, when she imagined them coming also in jewel colors or the pigment colors. He was older too and her mind did her no favors imagining Bascun bulk up in time and one day looking similar. They did share the same hight.

The lord's tail snapped loud against the floor while he waited patiently for her attention to move back to him.

"Sorry, I -" She breathed out loud like a toddler. "But he is so..." Second later her brain caught up with her earlier thought of not dragging their nest in the game of thugs. She didn't think the gargoyle behind him belonged to Bascun's nest, but... Her mind began going in rounds and she scolded herself quickly for losing herself that easily. "Sorry."

The man walked around the table and sat on the chair, where he fitted in perfectly, confirming her earlier thought that the chairs were made to accommodate their owners.

"I am Yasri of Lord Counselor of Krodes, gate city of Hatangy."

Veronica straightened on her seat, recognizing him from the tale Bascun had shared with her.

"Excuse me for an odd question, but wouldn't you happen to have a brother?"

His eyebrows quirked upwards. He thought for a long moment, but it seemed it wasn't a secret, so he nodded. "Yes, I do."

She tried to hide the excitement for meeting someone, who could understand at least some of what was going on.

"I am Veronica Brent." She began, bowing her head slightly in sign of respect. "I was asked to come here by a gatekeeper, who is too old to make the journey herself." She started slowly, scanning his face for any change. "She has not spoken to me about this before, but I know her and the sudden surprise we..." She understood she was sounding too much like Dostoevsky's characters, so she stopped and rethought how to say it. "She is old, but she isn't a blabbermouth. The only reason she told me about this place, is she is worried about the gargoyle that came through the gate couple of days ago. She told me he came from here."

Yasri frowned, serious, but listened intently. He stiffened visibly, when she got to the second part.

"When he was sick, he spoke in fever." She wasn't sure she should tell this to him, thinking it would undermine his credibility as trustworthy security guy,but she felt she had to if he would take her serious.

Yasri's eyes flew on the gargoyle supporting the door, but then he turned back to her and nodded for her to continue.

"He was worried about a man here, a counselor, who hired him. I'm guessing that's you."

"Guessing can get you in trouble, miss." Yasri intervened.

"He said the man had hired him to protect his brother. But when he had signed the contract, he suddenly changed the job description and said his task was to kill that brother instead." Her voice grew weaker as she watched Yasri's thinning lips and his eyes going back on the gargoyle, where they stopped for a long time.

"Before he could, others his boss has working for him, attacked him and tossed him through the gate after they..." She remembered Bascun's words how being poisoned meant he allowed them do it to him and she decided Yasri would see it this way too. "I don't know what they did, but when he landed in our world, he wasn't coherent. What I could gather from his feverish mumbling, was that he didn't want to do this, but he has to, because he was contracted to do so."