Things of Legend

Chapter 04: The Demon

"The Order made the Maledictus Carcerem, so even if it's been destroyed, we should be able to either put it back together or make a new one," Kairos told them. "I read the procedure in one of these books, but I'll need to get a refresher, the fragments of the original stone, and something for this headache."

Kairos held a hand to his forehead, still suffering from the aftereffects of his drinking habit.

"Are you going to be alright?" Chad asked.

"Yeah," Kairos replied. "Never better."

"Even so, why don't you stay here and find the book needed to repair the warding stone while Dixon and I recover the pieces," Chad offered.

"Perhaps that may be best," Kairos agreed. He took a seat and began looking at the books on the shelf nearest him, examining their titles one by one. Father Dane remained behind as well to help Kairos while Chad and Dixon headed out.

"Do you think this is legit?" Dixon asked Chad when they'd left the confines of Kairos' secret room and exited the cottage onto the dirt road.

"That gargoyle did come to life and break out of the chapel," Chad answered. "It burned down the town archives, and Malcolm shattered the stone with his words. If it's bogus, how did those things happen?"

Dixon was about to answer when the gargoyle swooped down and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him off the ground. Dixon struggled and managed to break free. The gargoyle dropped him, but the forward momentum imparted by the winged creature sent him tumbling across the dirt to crash into a pile of wicker baskets beside a house.

Chad spun around, his eyes searching the dark sky for any sign of the gargoyle. He couldn't see where it had gone after releasing Dixon. Abandoning his attempt to locate the monster, Chad hurried over to Dixon and helped him up.

"We need to get inside, behind one of the protection wards," Chad suggested.

"Too late," Dixon countered, nodding behind Chad as the gargoyle landed in the street. "Split up."

Before Chad could argue, Dixon pushed him away and ran in the opposing direction. The gargoyle's claws tore into the dirt road as it charged after Dixon with a roar. Chad attempted to follow with the idea of helping if he could, but he quickly lost track of both of them. With nothing else to do, Chad went to the chapel and collected the fragments of the shattered ward stone.

***

Chad burst through the door of Kairos' house. He held both hands in front of him where he'd piled as many of the pieces of the warding stone as he could carry.

"Dixon is under attack!" Chad shouted. "We've got to help him!"

"We need to put the ward stone back together," Kairos disagreed. He took the fragments and spread them out on the floor before sorting through a stack of books on a nearby table.

"What about Dixon?" Chad demanded. "He's out there right now with a demonic monster on his tail!"

"What do you suggest?" Kairos asked, looking up from his books for the first time. "Do you want to fight a demon with our bare hands? There's no point in giving chase now as we couldn't do anything even if we managed to catch the demon. We must repair the warding stone."

When Kairos found the book he needed, he knelt down on one knee and began whispering under his breath after covering the fragments with a white handkerchief.

Even though the doors were shut and locked, a sudden wind filled the house, ruffling pages of the open books on the tables and causing the banners hanging from the walls to whip around wildly. The room began to shake, threatening to vibrate the books off the shelves. The suits of armor rattled loudly as if about to come apart, but as quickly as it had begun, everything stopped and the room was still.

Kairos pulled away the cloth to reveal the ward stone whole once again. He looked toward Chad.

"Now, we are ready to face the demon," he said firmly.

"If Dixon is still alive," Chad countered grimly.

"I'm certain he is," Kairos assured him. "Let's put the monster back in its cage."

***

Chad, Kairos, and Father Dane walked slowly through town, their eyes searching everywhere for possible ambush. The wind was gone, seemingly having fled in fear of the demon loose in the area.

"What makes you think it's still around?" Father Dane questioned in a cautious whisper.

"It knows our plans to put it back in the stone," Kairos answered. "It won't leave until we're dead. Once everyone who is a threat is gone, it'll burn the town down and move on."

"How does it know what we're planning?" Chad asked. "It thought we needed the archives and set the building on fire. Now, it knows we have the stone and what we plan to do with it. How?"

Kairos didn't answer, instead holding up a hand to halt Chad and Father Dane in the street. Holding motionless except for his eyes, Kairos quickly scanned his surroundings.

While waiting for Kairos to do or say something, the hairs on the back of Chad's neck jumped to attention and he got the unmistakable feeling of being watched. Something was out there in the darkness, something evil. Chad swallowed hard. Dread coiled in his stomach as he realized whatever was out there was drawing closer, silently stalking its prey. Chad wanted to run because he knew they weren't hunting a demon anymore; it was hunting them.

"Hold," Kairos said in a firm whisper without looking in his direction.

"It's coming for us," Chad whispered back. He silently wondered if Kairos was still too hungover to care.

Kairos said nothing, but his eyes suddenly flicked toward a side street, and he shifted his position to face the darkness there.

Chad's mouth was dry and he couldn't look away from the side street and whatever might have been crouched in the concealing shadows, waiting to spring out at them.

A bloody hand gripped the edge of the stone building, and a ragged figure stepped out into view.

"Dixon!" Chad exclaimed in relief both for himself and his friend. He started to take a step toward Dixon, but Kairos grabbed Chad's arm and held him firm.

Chad was about to ask the reason when he saw the gargoyle swoop down from the sky and land a few feet away.

"There it is!" Chad shouted, excitement raising his voice needlessly as Kairos was standing beside him.

"That's not the demon," Kairos dismissed. "Don't you know your ancient legends? Gargoyles were placed on buildings to drive away demons, to make the creatures of the underworld think something far more fearsome had already laid claim to the building and the demons had best move on."

"If the gargoyle isn't the demon," Chad said in puzzlement. "Where is it?"

"There," Kairos said with an unwavering gaze.

Chad looked but couldn't believe it since Kairos was staring directly at Dixon.