Things of Legend

Chapter 05: Guardian

"Dixon is the demon?" Chad questioned. "How do you know?"

"Not the best time," Kairos dismissed.

Dixon took a step out of the side street and vomited a cloud of black fog. The thick gas spilled from his mouth to pool at his feet. Dixon raised his head, eyes red as blood, and grinned evilly at them. The fog around his feet surged upward and enveloped Dixon in a column of darkness.

The gargoyle nearby lowered itself into a crouch, ready to attack or defend. Kairos saw the maneuver and put a hand on Father Dane and Chad, silently encouraging them to mimic the creature's stance.

A clawed foot stepped out of the black fog surrounding Dixon. The large and leathery foot reminded Chad of a dinosaur with its three toes and razor sharp talons. As the demon, Mortifer, emerged fully from the cloud, its loathsome appearance became visible. Measuring eight feet in height, the monster had far more mass than Dixon, and its flesh was blackened and cracked similar to meat left too long on a fire.  Spurs of bone protruded from its skin along the forearms and shoulders; identical pieces of jagged bone marked its back down the length of the spine, between its leathery wings from the neck to the start of the long tail. The face was an elongated skull of charred flesh and sharpened teeth. Ribbons of black smoke rose from the glowing maw of its mouth, and the eyes burned in a resemblance of a volcano on the verge of eruption.

The gargoyle sprang forward and tackled Mortifer around its midsection, and the both of them crashed into the stone building closest to the side street where the demon had been standing. Mortifer let loose an ear hurting bellow, but only part of it came from the impact with the gargoyle. When the two of them fell against the building, the demon touched the magical symbol carved on the wall; smoke billowed from the point of contact with the symbol, and the demon's flesh burned bright orange.

A clawed hand smashed the gargoyle over the head before another strike knocked the gargoyle away completely and allowed the demon to remove itself from the magic symbol. The wings on the demon's back had been rendered useless because of the burns, restricting the monster to the ground.

Turning its malevolent gaze toward the humans standing nearby, Mortifer prepared to unleash its fury upon them. Father Dane pushed Kairos and Chad apart, barely stepping back in time before the claws slashed downward and raked the ground where the three humans had been standing a moment earlier.

Father Dane dodged two more attempts on his life, and Chad rolled across the street to avoid being stepped on.

Because the demon was so completely focused on Father Dane and Chad, it didn't notice Kairos until he lunged toward it with the warding stone. Turning quickly to one side, Mortifer swung its heavy tail and caught Kairos across the chest, knocking the wind from him and sending him tumbling down the street.

Chad lunged forward and snatched the ward stone, jumping back to his feet and running as Mortifer tried to smash the stone.

"Give me the stone!" Mortifer screamed in a voice reminding Chad of nails on a chalkboard. Sharp claws reached for Chad's back, but before they could dig in, the gargoyle landed on the demon's back, driving it to the ground.

Chad tried to keep running, but a serpentine tongue flashed out of Mortifer's mouth and wrapped around his ankle, pulling him off balance. Chad landed on his stomach, gripping the ward stone with both hands to avoid accidentally letting go. The tongue wrapped around his ankle started pulling Chad backwards, and he slammed one of the pointed ends of the stone into the dirt road, using it as an anchor to halt his slide.

The gargoyle raised both hands and slammed its fists down on the back of the demon's head. The blow caused the monster to release its hold on Chad's ankle. Chad rolled over and hurled the ward stone toward the gargoyle, who caught it and stabbed the pointed end down into Mortifer's back.