By:
Kimberly T.
All
the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles
are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company.No
infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by
the copyright holder.All original
characters are the property of Christine Morgan, not Kimberly T.
Author's
note:This story begins immediately
after the end of Christine's story "Renewal," which was one part of her
much larger posting, "Not Forgotten."Some
of the events related herein reflect the events of stories further along
in Christine's timeline, right up to the end of "The Second World Tour." ********************************************** May
24th, 2015 Dear
Delilah, The
good news is, I'm feeling much better now.The
disease isn't just in remission anymore; now it's completely gone, and
I'm as healthy as ever. The
bad news is, I'm not going to be able to come home for a while.Not
for a long while... Samson
paused in his writing, his heavy brow furrowed in concentration as he absently
scratched under his furry chin with the cap end of the pen he'd been writing
with.This was undoubtedly the hardest
letter he'd ever had to write... and made even harder by how self-conscious
he was feeling right now.He'd always
disliked being the center of attention, and he was all too aware of how
everyone else in the cave was either openly watching him or very deliberately
trying not to watch him. The
gargoyle Hippolyta was one of those trying not to watch him; she was engaging
the Sasquatch tribe leader Oruulu in conversation, negotiating how often
she would be permitted to come to visit Samson and what she would be allowed
to bring with her.But little Aanuu,
the youngest female in the tribe, was openly gawking at him and slowly
edging closer as well, ignoring her mother Nuura's and the tribal elder
Haeruu's warning mutters to behave herself.But
at least Aanuu's stare seemed to be more from curiosity over the peculiar
thing he was doing with his hands right then; though they had the power
of speech, the Sasquatch had no written language, and writing a letter
was as foreign to their worldview as driving a sports car.Luul,
on the other hand... no doubt about it, she was giving him what Samson's
stepfather had called the once-over-lightly.And
that was by far the most unnerving part; Samson was fairly used to stares
from curiosity, because virtually every newcomer to the Labyrinth had stared
at him at first, second and usually third sight.But
except for his mate Delilah, no one had ever, ever looked at him with even
a hint of lust in their eyes... He
wanted to go home, to go back to Delilah and lose himself in her loving
embrace.He wanted to see Talon and
his family again, even to hear his old friend Amos cracking his usual bad
puns and smell Ruth's latest culinary experiment bubbling and/or burning
on the Labyrinth's communal kitchen stove.He
wanted that with all his heart, and he did not want to stay here in a cave
in the woods and be the stud bull for a bunch of desperate Sasquatch females.He
didn't!Okay, there was that little
voice inside him wondering what it would be like, but really, he didn't... But
he owed these five females, because without their help, he'd probably be
dead by now.They had showed him
how to heal himself of the rare bone disease that had been killing him;
for all their "primitive" ways, these people had an ancient wisdom of their
own bodies and healing ways that modern medicine simply could not compete
with.They could regulate their
own metabolism, control their body temperature, and speed up the healing
process for all but immediately fatal wounds... And they had shown him
how to do that for himself; how to completely drive out the disease that
had been killing him and repair all the damage it had done.In
only one week, he'd gone from being on the very brink of death to perfect
health again, though he still had some weight to put back on. He
put all that (except for the bit about that little prurient voice inside
him) into the letter for Delilah, explaining and probably over-explaining
how the tribe had no other males to sire the next generation, and he owed
them a few years' worth of stud-duty in exchange for saving his life.And
how there were evidently blood-ties to consider as well... From
what the females have told me, I'm pretty sure I have the DNA of Luul's
dead mate Hooroon inside me; years ago, three of the tribe's males were
captured by "evil humans" (which had to be Sevarius' goons) but only Hooroon
escaped alive, and when he returned he had told them of a "sick human"
(undoubtedly the old me) who had been changed into "part-People" and had
helped him escape.I never saw more
than the one captive Sasquatch, so I guess the other two males must have
died as a result of Sevarius' experiments before I was kidnapped and taken
there.Anyway, since it's basically
Hooroon's blood flowing in my veins, in addition to the duty I owe them,
I feel sort of an obligation to him as well. Samson
paused in his letter-writing, wondering if he should go into the details
of that particular biblical tradition, straight out of the Old Testament;
if a man died and his widow was left without sons, it was pretty well expected
that one of the dead man's brothers would marry the widow and sire children
on her until she had a son to support her in her old age.He
finally shook his head; there was really no point in mentioning it.That
tradition may be from the Bible, but it hadn't been enforced in Western
culture for thousands of years, and even if it were, neither he nor Delilah
were exactly avid church-goers.The
only reason he knew of that tradition was because of all the time he'd
spent in the hospital as a kid; there were times when he'd be lying there
in bed with nothing worth watching on TV, and if his parents hadn't brought
a fresh set of library books for him to read, he'd flip through the pages
of the ubiquitous Gideon Bible, found in virtually every hospital room
nightstand.But that was nearly twenty
years ago, and he didn't even know why that tidbit of information had popped
into his head a while back... it was almost as if part of him was trying
to further justify his staying in the forest...He
shook his head almost angrily, and went back to writing the letter. ...The
females are adamant about only Hippolyta being allowed to visit; they won't
allow even other gargoyles to come here, and the first one to try will
be "challenged." And as I understand it, a challenge is serious business;
the fight wouldn't end until somebody's dead.That
poor pilot's accidental death was bad enough; I don't want any more blood
spilled because of me, on either side.Tell
everyone to stifle their instincts to protect family and clan members;
coming to liberate me is not an option. I
promise, Delilah, as soon as the females say my obligation to them is fulfilled,
I'll leave and come back to you, my true mate.In
the meantime, the females already said Hippolyta's allowed to carry letters
and letter-writing supplies back and forth when she visits, which is how
I got the paper and pen to write this letter to you.And
they just finished agreeing on a regular visiting schedule; she'll be coming
by on the full dark of every new moon.Hippolyta
said you can send letters to me sealed inside envelopes addressed to her,
and she'll be mailing this letter out as soon as she returns home.Please
give Talon, and anyone else who wants it, the post office box address written
on the outside of this envelope.I'll
be waiting to hear from you at the dark of the next new moon. I
love you, forever and always, Samson He
carefully tucked the letter into the envelope, sealed it and wrote "Delilah"
on the outside.He couldn't write
any more than that; Delilah had no last name, and he was ashamed to admit
he didn't know the castle's mailing address.Or
even worse, his own mailing address in the Labyrinth!He
knew there was a post office box that everyone used if they needed to send
or receive mail, but he hadn't mailed or received a letter from anybody
in well over a decade.Hippolyta
had already said that finding a mailing address for the Aerie Building
wouldn't be a problem for her; a one of the policemen working for her would
surely be able to glean a suitable address from the Internet.But
it was still embarrassing, having no more idea of the mailing address for
where he lived than the average five-year-old child...With a wry grimace,
he handed the envelope over to Hippolyta and asked her, "Would you write
your mailing address on there, please?" Hippolyta
nodded gravely and wrote the address of her post office box on the envelope,
saying as she did so, "I'll put this inside another envelope for mailing,
so I can include a letter of my own for your mate and her clan."She
gave a wry smile of her own before continuing, "I should have done so years
ago, but never quite managed... But they are the most likely to have heard
what became of the rest of my rookery kin and former companions.I
know that my brother Corwin found happiness at last, for I saw a photo
of him and his companion Griff after they and their King Arthur foiled
that terrorist plot in London, but sometimes I fear the worst for Cassius,
Icarus, Ezekiel and Tourmaline." Samson
nodded sympathetically, and told her, "I know Lexington and Alex Xanatos
have programs and people that constantly search the Internet and major
newspapers for news of gargoyle sightings.If
your friends have been seen anywhere, one of them will know about it." And
all too soon after that, Hippolyta was scaling a nearby tree outside the
cave entrance, preparing to launch and glide back to Trinity Bay.She
said with an encouraging smile, "I'll bring you more paper, pens and suchlike
when I return at the new moon, in three weeks, and surely by then I'll
have a letter or two for you as well!"Then
she grimaced and added, "Indeed, I can virtually guarantee at least one
letter, from Sevarius; she was most wroth at being told she could not visit,
and she'll likely be pestering you to change Oruulu's mind on the subject." Samson
nodded resignedly; he'd been expecting that sort of letter already.And
then there was nothing more to say, and Hippolyta launched and glided off
towards the east and south, and Samson was alone in the night. Well,
not actually alone; he could hear, though faintly, snippets of the conversation
between the females back in the cave.In
the two nights between Hippolyta's first visit--and Samson's discovery
of just what the females expected from him--and her second visit with the
writing supplies, the females hadn't really pushed the issue; they'd done
little more than comb his fur, and include him in the group cuddles that
were their usual sleeping arrangements.But
now that they were guaranteed to be alone with him for the next three weeks...Oruulu
was claiming that as the tribe leader, she had first dibs.And-Haeruu?
Yes, that was Haeruu!-was saying that the eldest should go first!And
he was pretty sure that Nuura had just protested that Haeruu was well past
the age of breeding... to which Haeruu replied that while her breeding
ability had ended, her interest in males hadn't!And
now... oh, Lord.If he'd heard right,
Luul had just suggested that they all just tackle him at once, and see
what developed... Samson
slowly rolled his eyes up to the heavens, shook his head, and muttered
under his breath, "Dear Penthouse..."He
turned around and headed for the cave, mentally continuing, One night
I was just minding my own business, when... ** *** Three
weeks later, Hippolyta returned with the promised supply of writing paper,
envelopes and pens, all thoughtfully packed in a small metal box that would
protect them from the elements.She
also brought all the mail that had accumulated for him in the last three
weeks: five letters, and a package a little larger than a loaf of bread.Sure
enough, one of the letters was from Sevarius, but the other four were from
Delilah, Talon, Dee and Tom, and the return address on the package suggested
it was from the castle.While everyone
gathered around in curiosity, Samson slit the package open with a fingernail
and pulled out the contents: his favorite currycomb from his quarters in
the Labyrinth, a baggie full of Broadway's special-recipe oatmeal-raisin
cookies, and a pair of framed 5x7" photos, hinged together and bound shut
with a rubber band. Oruulu
was not happy; she took one look at the box's contents and growled,
"Horrom meh aan!" [Roughly, 'More human things!']She
gave both Hippolyta and Samson accusing looks, as if to say they should
have known better that to even try to bring such items here.She
reminded them emphatically what 'human things' the tribe had agreed to
allow, strictly for Samson's emotional well-being: the thinner-than-a-leaf
stuff for Samson to make his special markings on, and human marking-twigs
like the one Hippolyta had showed them before.While
she didn't know exactly what those things were for, she was sure that they
were not for making those special markings on or with, and so they were
not allowed!Hippolyta could take
those human things away or Oruulu could drop them into the burial crevice,
but they would not remain in the People's home! Oruulu's
rant was so vehement that at first Samson couldn't get a word in edgewise,
but when the clan leader paused for breath, Luul surprisingly stepped in
first.While Oruulu had pointedly
distanced herself from the box and its contents, Luul had leaned in close
enough for a sniff, and now she snatched up the currycomb and waved it
in Oruulu's face, commanding her to smell it.Surprised
by Luul's sudden defiance, Oruulu automatically inhaled the scent of the
currycomb, while Luul made her own argument: these weren't human things;
they were their new male's things!Having
been used on a regular basis for the last several years, the currycomb
was well saturated with Samson's scent.He
demonstrated its use for them all, running it through the shaggy hair on
his arm; grooming it even more efficiently than the pinecones the tribe
regularly used to groom their fur.Oruulu
frowned, but finally conceded that the currycomb could stay. While
the adults argued over the currycomb, Aanuu had been poking a curious finger
at the bag of cookies.The double
seal and freezer-grade plastic had sealed in scent as well as freshness,
but one of Aanuu's tough fingernails pierced the plastic, and a second
later she said excitedly that there was some sort of food in there! Samson
opened the baggie so everyone could clearly smell the cookies, and another
argument ensued.Oruulu, Nuura and
Haeruu were all adamant that the cookies had to go; the People were not
bears, to sniff around human dwellings and eat their chemical-laced food
until they sickened, and make themselves easy prey for human traps and
humans' spit-metal!But there are
few things more enticing than the scent of "forbidden fruit"... particularly
when the raisins in the cookies had been rolled in brown sugar before being
added to the dough.Aanuu whined
and pleaded as only a preadolescent child can, while Samson very deliberately
ate one of the cookies right in front of them, silently daring them to
even try to stop him (he was a peaceful man by nature, but some things
are worth fighting for!)And Luul
quietly pointed out that before Samson had come to them, the tribe had
eaten the exotic fresh fruits that Hippolyta had brought to them as peace-offerings;
fruit that they knew had been picked and handled by humans, whether they
wanted to admit it or not. Finally,
Oruulu muttered the equivalent of "just this once wouldn't hurt," and the
cookies were distributed to all.Broadway
had sent them two dozen cookies, so everyone got a few, including one for
Hippolyta.Hippolyta said with a
sparkle in her eyes as she finished her cookie, "Cookies prepared for you
especially by the famous chef of 'Cooking Big'!A
delicious honor indeed... but I think perhaps you should tell your friends
that such 'care packages' should be avoided in the future, lest ill will
develop within the tribe over such 'human things.'" Samson
absently nodded agreement, but his attention was focused on the pair of
framed photos, as he carefully pulled of the rubber band that was binding
them together.The hinge opened,
and he saw the two photos, side by side: One
was of Delilah, perched on one of the battlements at the castle; she was
in a classic "cheesecake" pose, with a wistful smile on her face.She
was as lovely as ever, making his heartstrings tug as he looked at the
photo and wished with all his might that he could reach into it and actually
touch that smile or stroke her silken white hair.He
knew that slightly sad smile was for him, and he tried hard not to think
about who might have been taking the picture at the time. The
other photo was of Talon and his kids, Dee and Tom; all of them deliberately
clowning for the camera, as if in reminder of all the happy times they'd
had together over the last two decades.The
lighting in this photo didn't really show all the gray that had been accumulating
in Talon's fur lately, and his teeth glistened whitely in a wide mutate
grin.Tom, standing to Talon's left,
looked almost like his twin instead of his son.Tom
had the same pantherish features, the same height, and was growing into
the same broad shoulders; near fully adult... except for the mischievous
gleam in his eye, and the hand held up behind his sister's head.Dee,
dressed in a tunic that complimented her amber-and-black spotted fur, was
too busy grinning at the camera to notice, but Samson would have bet money,
if he'd had any, that after the photo had been taken she'd turned around
and gotten into a fight with her brother for his giving her "bunny ears." Dee
and Tom.... He'd been a part of their lives, and they a part of his, since
they were babies only a day old; now eighteen years of age, they were legally
adults, and chafing at living with their father in the same old Labyrinth
they'd grown up in.Come autumn,
they were both going up to the Sterling Academy to begin their college
education, though Tom was already grumbling that he didn't see what good
a college education was going to do for him (though he didn't say it when
his father was around, knowing how hard Talon tried to give his children
as normal a life as possible.)That
would leave Talon alone in the tunnels... and without his closest friends
or children around, he might well sink into a dangerous depression again. Samson
knew that after losing Maggie in that horrible way on Devil's Night, only
the fact that his kids needed him had kept Talon from completely losing
it and slitting his wrists.And despite
that being well over a decade ago, Talon had never really recovered from
the death of his wife; smiles and laughter were still rare indeed.But
in this photo he was being deliberately cheerful; a wordless message to
Samson to keep his spirits up.Samson
nodded at the smile, and silently hoped that Talon would do the same. Nuura
looked silently at the pictures cradled in Samson's hands for a few long
seconds, then asked him, "Oun hmuun?" [Your tribe?]At
Samson's confirmation, she turned to Oruulu and the others and said in
her quiet but absolutely firm way that those things, too, would stay.And
one by one, everyone else gestured agreement. Now
that his "care package" had been dealt with, Samson wanted to tear open
the first envelope and start reading Delilah's letter immediately, but
he held off long enough for some polite conversation with Hippolyta.She
told him that the Manhattan clan had indeed given her news of her missing
rookery kin: Cassius had found a mate in Egypt, and according to the updates
they occasionally received from the Vandemeres (adventuring archeologists
who were investigating the ancient city that Khepri and her ancestors had
faithfully guarded), the gargoyle couple's two eggs were due to hatch in
another three years.And they had
sent a message to London to see what Corwin knew of his rookery kin; the
reply had said that he'd not heard from any of them since 2005, but when
he'd last seen them, Icarus and Ezekiel were happily settled with their
mates in a clan in Alaska, and Tourmaline had fallen in with-gargoyle pirates?!-somewhere
in the Caribbean. Samson
expressed his relief that at least four of her long-lost kin had found
happiness, agreed with Hippolyta's grave doubts about Tourmaline's reported
home, and finally could stand it no longer, excused himself and went outside
to read the letters by the light of the stars.He
was thankful that it was a clear night for once and his night-adapted eyes
could read even by starlight, since there was no moon.He
read Delilah's letter first: Dear
Samson, I
am very happy to learn that you are alive and well.I
was so very worried that you were dead, and I would never see you again!I
am not happy about you staying in California, but I understand why, and
at least I have hope of seeing you again in years to come. When
I showed your letter to the clan, Alex said that the you-know-who people
knew that a tribe of Sasquatch still lived in that area, but they did not
know exactly where and they did not look for the Sasquatch, because of
some promise they made, and he would not say any more than that. (Goliath
and everyone else agree that Alex is becoming just as bad as his father
about that sort of thing.) Goliath
says that it would be terrible if the Sasquatch went extinct, just as it
would be terrible if the gargoyle race died out, and he urges you to breed
all the children the tribe can support.I
want you to do that too, and to hurry up about it, so after they have enough
we can be together again. In
the meantime, I will tell you all about what is happening here at the castle,
and Talon says he will tell you about what happens in the Labyrinth.Here
is the latest news from the castle: Just
after you left, Amber finally got Goliath to agree that she is old enough
to join the Guardians on patrol.He
still will not let her take any patrol routes besides the easiest one over
Central Park, and she is always accompanied by an adult, but last night
she was in her first battle, and Brooklyn says she did very well.She
caught two muggers armed with knives, and... The
letter continued on for three pages, with tales of the other hatchlings'
recent hijinks and accomplishments; Kenneth had finally created his first
magical shield, and Aiden and Lexington were proud as peacocks over it.Broadway
was now letting Malcolm help in the kitchen, and one night he had stood
on a stepstool to stir a saucepan of gravy, lost his balance and accidentally
burned his hand on the range burner, but the very next night after stone
sleep had healed his burns, he'd been in the kitchen asking his father
if he could help again.And D'Artagna
was still trying to boss around her brothers, but the Trio were having
none of it, and Delilah and Hudson frequently had to step in to break up
the squabbling... The
letter ended with, Everyone
misses you, and I miss you most of all.Please
ask the other Sasquatch if they will let me visit sometimes; I will promise
not to try to bring you back to Manhattan with me (as if I could carry
you all by myself, ha-ha!)Until
then, I promise to write to you every month, and hope you will do the same. Love, Your
true mate always, Delilah Samson
reread the letter twice, then held it to his face and breathed in deeply.Though
it was faint, the paper still carried her scent. After
just standing there for a while, lost in reverie, he opened Talon's letter. Dear
Samson, Hey,
'Little Brother'!Delilah brought
your letter down here last week, the night after she got it, and gave us
the address for writing to you. We're all glad to know you're okay; I have
to admit, the way you were looking when you left, I was pretty worried.I
always thought that innate self-healing stuff was New Age crap, but if
these other Sasquatch can do it and showed you how, then maybe our ancestors
did have the ability and lost it somehow.But
what's important is that you're doing okay now... even if you won't be
back for a long while. I
doubt Delilah will say this to you in her letters, but I think she's more
than a little jealous of these other Sasquatch females; not only because
you're staying with them, but because they're so sure they can have your
kids and she knows she can't.(BTW,
I still can't believe you guys kept that secret right up until the night
of the hatching!)But don't let
her jealousy stop you from doing your stud duties; she's a sensible girl,
and she knows what needs to be done.She
even put a halt to Dee and Tom's plans before I found out about them; believe
it or not, the kids were planning to hijack a private plane and fly it
out to where you are, and rescue you whether you wanted it or not.Never
mind the fact that the kids have never flown anything other than themselves
before, or even been anywhere further than the Sterling Academy upstate...
I swear I was never this headstrong and foolhardy when I was their age,
no matter what my parents say. Whenever
your stud duties are fulfilled, if you still want to come home to the Labyrinth
I promise you'll find your rooms here ready and waiting for you.Except
for your currycomb, which we gave to Delilah so she could mail it to you,
everything will be just as you left it.In
the meantime, expect a letter from me every month, and I hope to get the
same from you; our P.O. box address is at the bottom of the letter. The
kids are writing letters to you too, although to be frank, I wouldn't expect
those on such a regular basis.Amos
and Ruth wanted to write you a letter too, but you know how shaky Ruth's
hands are these days.And even though
he can read now, Amos' dyslexia still makes him freeze up whenever he tries
to write anything.So I told them
to just dictate to me, and I'd write their words into my letter.So
the next few paragraphs are from Ruth and Amos: Dear
Samson, We're
glad to know that you're okay now.If
you want anything sent to you to spruce up your new home, just say so and
we'll send it.We hope you have
a good time, helping out those lady Sasquatches (Amos said that with a
grin, and Ruth just elbowed him in the ribs for it.)We
hope that you'll come back here one day, and if any of your Sasquatch youngsters
want to come here to see what humans are like, we'll be happy to make room
for them too... Samson
paused for a moment after reading that, considering... wouldn't that be
something, to return to the Labyrinth with a few children of his own at
his side?They could play with the
gargoyle hatchlings on castle visits, and... He finally shook his head,
dispelling the fantasy; he knew the females would never allow it. He
continued reading; Amos and Ruth made sure that Samson was aware of the
latest goings-on in the Labyrinth, which residents had moved out of their
homeless shelter and into regular housing, and how many and what sort of
people had just moved in.And after
they had given him their love and signed off, Talon continued writing: I
agree with what Ruth and Amos said earlier; if any of your kids-to-be want
to see the big city, we'll be more than happy to set up rooms for them
down here.Now that gargoyles are
U.S. citizens, it ought to be fairly easy to get them declared full citizens
too (probably way easier; there's no equivalent of Quarrymen to argue against
them!)But then they'd be asked to
vote and participate in the electoral process and listen to politicians
spouting their crap, and become consumers and take part in surveys and
watch commercials and... Hey, can we join you out there instead?(Just
kidding... maybe) LeRoy
said pretty much the same stuff as Amos and Ruth, when I told him the news,
but he, Ruth, Amos and the kids are the only ones down here that really
know what happened to you.Alex Xanatos
came by just after Delilah's visit, and asked us to keep the news from
spreading if we could.Evidently
the Illuminati have been trying to make sure the public either never hears
about or quickly forgets about the existence of Sasquatch, because of some
pact they made years ago... Alex said even he doesn't have the whole story,
but he wouldn't tell me what little he does know.(That
kid's becoming more and more like his old man every year, and just as aggravating,
too.)I pointed out to him that
we've had a living, breathing mostly-Sasquatch right here in the Labyrinth
for the last two decades, so the secret's already been blown wide open,
but he said that over the years, every mention of you in the news has been
either quietly deleted from the world's databanks or changed to make it
sound like you're a bear-mutate.(Which
I guess explains why the last crack dealer we ran out of here kept calling
you "Bruno.")So now you've been
turned into an urban legend!Alex
said the whole thing was for the protection of the Sasquatch as a race
until they're ready to confront humanity on their own terms, and I guess
I can understand that, considering the shitstorm the gargoyles went through
right after they went public.But
it would've been polite to at least come down here and say, "By the way,
we're erasing all trace of your existence..."! One
other thing: Delilah said that Sevarius is staying in California too.Whatever
he--or she-says to you, do NOT let him/her get within five miles of your
kids-to-be, or the other adults either.I
know you've reached some sort of understanding with Sevarius, and you may
think he/she can be trusted to treat people right these days, but it would
be like inviting a nest of scorpions into your home; sooner or later you're
going to get stung.Elisa told me
that so long as he was at the castle, they always had safeguards in place
to make sure that he'd get caught the instant he tried anything, but you
don't have that sort of protection now.Don't
take ANY chances with him! That's
all I can think of to write about for this letter, so take care of yourself,
have fun (yes, I'm smirking; go for it, stud!) I'll write again next month. Talon Samson's
lip twitched in an almost-smile; he could just picture Talon smirking as
he wrote that last paragraph.But
he was still in a mild state of shock over what Talon had said about the
Illuminati... they'd been quietly erasing all traces of his existence?!He
had to admit that the tribe was nowhere near ready for being discovered
by humanity in general yet; if they were found, they'd be the center of
a huge storm of scientific and political controversy, like the one that
had engulfed the gargoyles for decades.If
not for Xanatos and his protection, the Manhattan clan would likely have
been wiped out entirely; if not by Quarrymen, then by rabid scientists
like his father wanting to study them, political leaders wanting to contain
them and control any possible influence on the population, etc.So
it was probably for the best that the Illuminati was trying to keep the
Sasquatch a secret... but still, it would have been nice for them to at
least let him know what they were doing!...And
how they were doing it, too; he knew darn well that he and Delilah had
once been on the cover of Time magazine, right after Jericho had caused
the Flood that had nearly destroyed the Labyrinth.What
had they done, bought or stole and shredded every copy of that issue they
could find?But other than that one
article, he'd always stayed shyly out of camera range if he could.He
wondered dazedly what they would've done if he'd been the type to really
ham it up for the cameras instead... He
finally shook his head and went on to the next letter, the one from Dee. Dear
Uncle Samson, Hi!Delilah
told us about how you're stuck in California with a bunch of female Bigfeet,
until after they have some kids for the next generation.She
was really unhappy about it, too, and we were ready to come out there and
rescue you, but she and Dad both said no, that you didn't want anyone fighting
over you even for your own good.If
you change your mind and they still won't let you leave, let us know and
we'll get you out of there fast.But
if you decide to stay there for a few years, we'll send you a camera later
so you can sneak pictures of the Bigfoot kids-to-be to send to us.I
bet they'll be cute little versions of you! The
letter went on for another few paragraphs, chatting about their mutual
friends among the Labyrinth residents, and about Dee's plans for when she
went to the Sterling Academy next fall; she had already been assured of
having a place on the Track & Field Team, and had ambitions of being
team captain before her freshman year was finished.She
signed off with a promise to write more letters later, when she had more
interesting stuff to write about. Tom's
letter resembled Dee's in one regard, promising Samson that if he ever
wanted to leave California fast, all he had to do was send word and they'd
take care of the rescue.Tom also
wrote about leaving for the Sterling Academy, but Samson could tell his
heart wasn't really in the idea of going to college, and in the next paragraph
he confided his speculations about the Maza family's were-panther acquaintances
in Africa, who hadn't been heard from since the first encounter 20 years
ago.He did not openly announce
his intentions to go looking for them, but Samson could read between the
lines easily enough; one way or another, whether after college or instead
of college, Tom wanted to go to Africa. The
last letter was from Sevarius, and sure enough, it was all about how Samson
owed it to his father to let her visit the cave and take samples from everyone
there, and give her blanket permission to visit in the future when the
children were born.Sevarius promised
not to experiment on any of them, just to take samples for study.She
pushed every possible guilt-button she could think of: filial duty, the
fact that he wouldn't have made it as far as the tribe's domain if not
for the constant medical care, and on and on ad nauseum.Samson
read it all, but thought of Talon's caution, and of all that Sevarius had
done in the past twenty years, and slowly shook his head. A
soft -ahem- came from behind him, and he turned to find Hippolyta walking
softly towards him."You are troubled,"
she observed quietly."Is all not
well with your mate and friends in New York?" "No,
they're fine; not happy I'm out here instead of back there, but they're
evidently more-or-less okay with it," he replied."It's
not them that's bothering me at the moment; it's Sevarius." Hippolyta
nodded with a rueful twist to her lips."No
doubt she was most eloquent about all the reasons why she deserves to come
out here to visit..." Samson
nodded."And I really do owe him-well,
her-a great deal... But I don't owe her that." Hippolyta's
smile became even more rueful."Considering
how she has vowed to stay in the area until she has seen your children
with her own eyes, I should be disagreeing with you, but I cannot.But
speaking of children," as her smile became warmer, "my congratulations
to you on siring your first!Oruulu
is very sure that the child growing inside her now is quite healthy, though
she could not tell me what sex it will be." Samson
smiled back, though it was a little unsteady; even though the females had
told him about the conception last week, and he'd been able to smell the
change for himself since yesterday, it hadn't completely sunk in yet...
and his heart still insisted that the baby, his first child, was in the
wrong mother.But he replied,"No,
there aren't any distinctive shell patterns for us mammals to use to tell
boys from girls... and no ultrasounds out here in the wilderness.Guess
we'll find out in another nine months..." *** January
17th, 2016 Samson
leaned back against a wall in the cave and sighed, before reaching for
the steel box that he kept other people's letters and his letter-writing
supplies in.Everything was peaceful
for the moment, and he was determined to take advantage of the brief respite
and reread the last letter from Delilah. Haeruu
came to sit down and lean against the opposite wall of the cavern, and
she just gave him a brief glance of acknowledgment before closing her eyes;
Samson wondered if the elder female was about to go to sleep still sitting
up.But if she did, who could blame
her?Everybody was running ragged
these days. Nuura
and Luul had become pregnant the month after Oruulu, and now all three
females were experiencing frequent hunger, back pains, and irritability;
full knowledge of a body's inner workings and advanced self-healing compensated
only so much for what pregnancy did to a female's body.Samson,
Aanuu and Haeruu were all exhausted from trying to keep all three pregnant
females fed and placated, and the squabbling to a minimum.Haeruu
had said more than once that this must be why the People had a tradition
of having only one child at a time in any tribe; so that the task of minding
the pregnant female or the child could be spread among many, instead of
all the burden being shouldered by a weary few!(Samson
privately agreed with her, but even more privately thought that this tradition
was one reason why there were so very few Sasquatch tribes in existence;
with only one child born in a tribe every ten or twelve years, even if
they weren't susceptible to a lot of diseases like humans and other animals,
the birth rate must have frequently dropped below the death rate.) But
that tradition had been broken when Samson had arrived; the females knew
that they couldn't keep him forever, and so they had resolved to let as
many get pregnant as were able, just this once.If
luck was with them and two out of the three of the new children were males,
then Samson would be allowed to leave whenever he liked.If
not... well, perhaps they'd let one female--just one, Haeruu insisted!--get
pregnant again in a few more years, after this batch was weaned.But
everyone agreed that this would be the first and last mass birthing for
the tribe; some experiences weren't worth repeating. Samson
thought about the letter he'd written to Delilah last month; among other
things, he'd asked her to relay to Alexander that Samson needed to know
what the Illuminati knew, about the locations of some other Sasquatch tribes.The
females were absolutely positive that other tribes were out there, but
the directions that had been handed down from generation to generation
were full of phrases like "seven night's walking north to a great river,
then nine night's walking northeast along the river to a cliff bluff, then
east-southeast for six nights to..." Samson was positive that sometime
in the last few hundred years, some human settlements had been built in
the way of those directions, and he wouldn't be a bit surprised to find
out that some of those rivers and other landmarks had been diverted, dammed
or blasted out of existence by road construction crews.But
they needed to find at least one other tribe, for Samson's children to
find mates from.It just wouldn't
do for half-sisters and half-brothers to mate... "[Pine
nuts!I must have pine nuts!]" "[Fine,
get your pine nuts!I want another
banana!]" Samson
sighed as he reluctantly got to his feet again.He
couldn't do a damn thing about Luul's craving until Hippolyta came by again,
but at least he could find some pine nuts for Oruulu... *** March
8th, 2016 Dear
Talon, Well,
I'm now officially a sire, and the tribe has its first child of the next
generation.A female; they've named
her Noola (it means "fresh water," to symbolize the new blood in the tribe.)She's
covered in such soft downy fur, as soft as the twins' fur was when they
were born, and her eyes are already open, a light gold like mine.Oruulu
is proud as can be, and declared that she's the most beautiful child to
be born in generations.(Nuura and
Luul don't say anything in response, but I can almost hear them thinking
to themselves, 'Just wait another month, until the next child is born!'(They're
both due next month, and joking that they'll go into labor at the same
time, just to drive me twice as frantic as I was when Oruulu went into
labor.At least, I think they're
joking, but considering how gargoyles lay their eggs...) I have to agree
with Oruulu, though; Noola's really beautiful. I
didn't put anything about the baby in this moon's letter to Delilah; I'm
a little worried about how she'll react... if she'll be even more jealous,
or hurt, or impatient for me to come home right now.But
I can't come home yet; the agreement was that I sire at least two males
before leaving, though the females are welcome too. March
25th, 2016 Dear
Samson, Well,
the cat's out of the bag (pardon the pun).Delilah
came down to visit last week, and overheard Dee and Tom talking about Noola.She
was hurt, but more over your not telling her than over the fact that the
kid was born and others are on the way.I
expect her letter to you, to be brought by Hippolyta at the same time as
this one, will be taking you to task for keeping secrets from her, but
she told me that the Sasquatch children change nothing between the two
of you; you and she are still true mates, and always will be. By
the time you're reading this, the other two kids should be born; which
are they, boys or girls or one of each?What
are they named?And do you think
it's possible by now to sneak a camera past Oruulu? *** April
5th, 2016 Dear
Talon, The
other two babies have been born now, and all three are females.Noola's
two half-sisters are named Maar and Ahllo.They
all have the same color eyes, but where Noola's fur is russet-colored,
Maar's is a very dark brown while Ahllo's is a much lighter brown, nearly
blonde.The tribe has a blonde,
a brunette and a redhead!And all
three are adorable... *** May
2nd, 2016 Sevarius, I've
written the name of each tribe member beneath the combings of fur taped
to the next page, so you'll be able to tell which is from whom.And
that's all you're going to get of them to study; Oruulu stomped on and
broke the hypodermic syringes you'd sent along via Hippolyta for getting
blood samples.And all the females
are agreed that if you ever come anywhere near the lair, as peaceful as
they normally are, they will kill you.They've
never forgiven you for capturing and experimenting on some of their tribe
members over 20 years ago. (You never told me you'd captured three
Sasquatches between 1990 and 1996, and only the last one survived long
enough to help me escape!Not that
I imagine you care, but I'll tell you anyway: their names were Aamaan,
Nuum and Hooroon...) The only reason you weren't killed upon arrival last
spring was that they'd made no connection between the 'metal-wrapped old
female' and the 'evil human male' from back then.But
now that they know the connection, they are very unhappy that you're
still alive at all... *** January
10th, 2017 Dear
Samson, Tom
left for Nigeria two days ago, to try to find the were-panthers that my
Mom and Elisa met back in 1996.I'm
still not happy that he's stopped going to college, but I have to admit
he wasn't happy up there like Dee is.Hopefully
after he finds the were-panthers and spends some time with them, he'll
come back and start working on a college degree again... *** June
17th, 2017 Dear
Samson, Before
I tell you what has been happening here lately, Alexander wanted me to
pass on some news to you.I fear
it is not good news... Samson
read the letter, twice through, then went back inside with a slow tread
and troubled features.Hippolyta
looked up from where she was visiting with Oruulu, and gave him a concerned
look."Is something wrong in Manhattan?" Samson
slowly shook his head."No, they're
all fine... but there's other bad news.Not
long after I came here, I asked Delilah to pass on a request to Alexander
Xanatos, to ask the Illuminati about other Sasquatch tribes.Alexander
said before that they've been looking, and he's been doing what he could
to ferret out the information, but... He says the Illuminati has searched
for five different tribes at their last known locations, and they're all
gone.Completely gone; they couldn't
find any traces more recent than twenty years ago.This
tribe may be the last one left in existence..." Hippolyta
expressed her dismay and sympathy, while the other females looked on in
concern; none of them knew English, but they knew the word "Sasquatch"
referred to them, and they knew expressions and facial features well enough.After
Hippolyta left, they cornered him and asked what exactly was wrong.And
he told them, before going over to the nursery corner to play with his
three little children... the last remnants of a dying race.Children
who would likely not have mates when they grew up... What was he going
to do?! As
he played with Noola, Maar and Ahllo, he was vaguely aware that the other
females had gone outside and were having a heated discussion in the glen.But
in his depression, he didn't much care what they said... Until
the next week, when Oruulu dragged him over to the bed of grasses, where
Noora and Luul were already waiting."[But...
but... what about future generations?I
told you of the hazards!The children
will become sickly, as the...um, hidden things inside...]" Dammit, how
could he explain inbreeding and recessive genes to people
when their language didn't have enough words to encompass such concepts? Oruulu
told him quite firmly that they would handle that problem when the children
were old enough to want mates; she was still sure there were other tribes
out there, just not in the old locations anymore.In
the meantime, Samson would supply them with enough children that they could
supply mates for every tribe that had ever been heard of, so get to work,
stud!And Samson had a hard time
arguing, especially with Luul licking his ear like that... Yes, a hard
time, indeed... *** October
25th, 2017 Dear
Samson, You'll
never believe who just showed up on our doorstep: Claw!And
his wife!Yes, Claw's back in the
Labyrinth and he's married!And it
turns out his real name is Beau Ellis, but his wife Raylene says he's okay
with us still calling him Claw. It
turns out that Claw/Beau is originally from the backwoods of the Appalachians,
and he never could talk, even as a regular human; it wasn't from the shock
of becoming a mutate after all.So
when he was still a kid they had him institutionalized in some backwater
mental hospital that was apparently more interested in experimenting on
people than actually helping them, which is where Sevarius found him.When
he left back in 2005, he went back to the hills he'd grown up in, where
his mother was still alive and well.Apparently
his mom had some psychic powers of her own (Raylene calls it her "witchy
gift"), and she could hear what her son was thinking, as well as have visions
of the future from time to time.Once
he returned home, he met Raylene, and they were married in 2007.And
don't ask me how it was done, but Raylene says that as a dowry, Claw's
mom gave Raylene some of her "witchy gift," so now she can mentally "hear"
whatever Claw is deliberately thinking at her (though not what anyone else
is thinking... or at least, so she says.) Raylene
says they were happy living up in the hills, and they'd still be there
now, but they want to have kids together and the only child they conceived
in the last ten years was stillborn.Frankly,
I'm amazed that they conceived at all, considering all the differences
in mutate genes; Raylene said her mother-in-law had a hand in it, but her
"witchy powers" weren't strong enough to ensure the child would survive
outside the womb.Claw's mother died
six months ago, and before she did she had a vision that said Claw and
Raylene would have kids someday, but not in the hills.They
finally decided that meant they should return here to New York, in hopes
that someone here could help them, and so they did.Elisa
and Goliath are down in New Mexico right now, chasing after the latest
rumor of Demona. (I don't want to believe that she's back all these years
after Devil's Night, but if anyone could claw her way out of Hell itself,
it would be that bitch!)Anyway,
once they get back I'll ask Elisa if Raylene can borrow her magical amber
pendant; if it worked once for conceiving a gargoyle hybrid, maybe it'll
work again for creating a mutate hybrid. *** March
4th, 2018 Delilah
sat at the kitchen table with her pen and paper, glad that Old-Mother was
minding the hatchlings at the moment; it gave her time to write her monthly
letter to Samson.And there was so
much to write about this time!The
clan's battle with Demona at Mount Rainier; Goliath's brush with death
by devastating illness; Amber taking a new Phoenix Gate on a trip through
time, to bring Goliath's own mother forward to their time in order to cure
her son; how much happier everyone has become since Old-Mother's arrival.Even
Angela had been heard to laugh at an antic that Porthos had done yesterday,
after nearly everyone had given up hope of ever hearing her laugh again!In
fact, the only one who didn't seem happier these days was Hudson; he'd
gone rather quiet and moody after her arrival.Delilah
wondered if it was because seeing Old-Mother reminded Hudson of all the
other dead clansmen, killed in that terrible massacre over a thousand years
ago.She'd tried to talk to him
about it last night, but he'd just brushed her gentle queries away, before
engaging the Four Musketeers in more mock-fighting to improve their skills.Delilah
had been a little hurt by that, but tried not to take it personally.After
all, while Hudson had sired her children, and they'd had a few more trysts
in the intervening years since Samson had gone to California, they weren't
true mates.No, Delilah's true mate
was in California... Delilah decided to remind Samson to ask again about
letting her come visit.Surely by
now, their honorable behavior in respecting the Sasquatch tribe's rules
had taught the females that the gargoyles were trustworthy... *** April
2nd, 2018 Dear
Samson, It
has been another very eventful month here in Manhattan!Old-Mother
has gone back to her own time now, and I will miss her, but Goliath has
assured us all that she had a long life back in her own time and died in
comfort, surrounded by family, and she would not want us to grieve. Amber
took Old-Mother back to her own time, using the Phoenix Gate.And
it was not until after she'd left that Hudson told us all why he'd been
so sad lately... Samson
read the letter through, and shook his head in amazement.The
things that clan got into!Never
a dull moment with them, not with traveling across dimensions, fighting
a war on Avalon, and bringing back far more people than they'd left with... Delilah
wrote that she was bothered by how cool Angela and Kathe behaved towards
the new youngster, named Jake, who had been fathered by Brooklyn--or rather,
another dimension's version of Brooklyn--with another female, instead of
that dimension's version of Angela."I
fear that they are not as great-hearted as you, who always treated my hatchlings
with much affection despite Hudson fathering them..." Samson
paused in his reading and looked off to the horizon, thinking about how
he'd always been affectionate towards Delilah's hatchlings... but his stepfather
would still have been disappointed in his going back to Labyrinth after
they had hatched, instead of staying in the castle and being a full-time
father.He'd tried to be their father
at first... but with the whole clan deferring to Hudson after the truth
was known, and after seeing the hatchlings go crawling to Hudson instead
of him two times out of three... he'd gone back to living in the Labyrinth
and just visiting once in a while.More
of a fond uncle instead of a father, despite still being their mother's
mate... Well, perhaps that had been for the best, since if he'd been a
true father figure to them, more than just Delilah and the mutates would
be missing him now. Delilah
ended the letter with another reminder that she wanted to visit, and Samson
resolved to ask Oruulu yet again for permission.After
all, he had provided them with a son now; newborn Haaroll (named after
his stepfather, Harold Blake, and hadn't that annoyed Sevarius to no end!)
was nursing at his mother Nuura's breast.He
was halfway towards fulfilling his end of the bargain, and surely they
could grant him this favor... *** May
30th, 2018 Dear
Delilah, I'm
sorry to report that Oruulu is still adamant about only Hippolyta visiting...
But I think she's beginning to wear down.Nuura,
Luul and Aanuu have actually expressed interest in meeting you, and Haeruu
seems to be softening as well.I
bring out the pictures you've sent of the clan at least once every moon,
and I'll keep it up until I can convince them that you can be trusted and
can come out here.I'm pretty sure
that once I can get Haeruu to agree to it too, all three of the adults
will be able to convince Oruulu... *** December
10th, 2018 Dear
Talon, It's
so great to know that Maggie is alive and well! Samson
paused in his writing, looking again at the letter from Talon that had
just arrived.His old friend had
been so excited when he'd written it, his sentences were missing words
and occasionally whole phrases, but the basic meaning had come through:
Maggie had been found, alive after all these years... and if she was missing
her wings now, well, there wasn't much use for wings in the Labyrinth anyway. There
were parts of the letter that were just a bit too incoherent, however...
what was this about a mutate named Feral?Another
mutate without wings, or so Samson gathered; where had he come from?In
addition to asking Talon for clarification, Samson decided to write to
Sevarius, and ask his father if there were any other little secrets that
he'd been keeping. *** April
23rd, 2019 Delilah
sat at the table, staring at a blank piece of paper and absently chewing
on the tip of her pen, wondering what she would put in her next letter
to Samson.A great deal had happened
around the castle lately... but not all of it was fit to be put into a
letter. Ten
days ago, a few days after Goliath and Elisa had left for Africa to find
Tom Reed Maza and let him know his mother was alive, Lexington's constantly-running
search engine had uncovered a news item about gargoyles... specifically,
about some recently-discovered gargoyle eggs.According
to the AP report, a janitor was "blowing the whistle" on a government laboratory
in Ohio, that was secretly holding a half-dozen gargoyle eggs.The
photo that the janitor had sneaked out of the lab showed the eggs in a
giant incubator, with a label reading "Mexico November 2018."And
the janitor reported a conversation he'd overheard between two scientists
at that laboratory; that the eggs were going to be dissected, one at a
time at one-year intervals, so the scientists could study the embryos at
various stages in their gestation. Brooklyn
had said at the time that this might be another hoax; there had certainly
been enough of them concerning gargoyles over the years.But
not all such reports were hoaxes, as Coldstone and his family could certainly
attest to; on the strength of just such a news report, they had gone north
to the Yukon back in 2005... And discovered a clan of human-hating, human-eating
gargoyles that had been living in the wilds for millennia, that probably
had been the source behind the Indian legends of the Wendigo.As
Gabriel had written to the clan later, this 'Wendigo Clan' was so primitive
that, even with Aiden's language-acquisition spell, Gabriel and Angus had
had trouble talking to them; their langua