Gryphon Guild: Journey Into Darkness
Destroy

It was the calm before the storm, and Diana knew that. However it would be a storm only in phrasing, for there was not a cloud in the sky and the forecast was undoubtably clear. The little crimson creator of chaos exited her tent and paced up to the pool. She missed the constant presence of Landder, her Kasic barn owl familiar. They'd had an argument in the days before the Wings had departed -- something that was extremely rare. This journey was dangerous enough without another body to the pile -- even thought Landder's powers would keep him relatively safe.

Diana looked down at her reflection, at the golden eyes set in a deep red face bearing stripes of maroon. She touched the amulet about her neck and lifted it up and over her head, placing it on a small rock. Tucking her crimson wings to her side, she slipped like an eel into the pristine waters, flaring her tailsail to act as a rudder. Kaal had said that she wanted all personnel at ready by ten o'clock, for the siege at the tower would take time to get to. Both Wings would leave together, split, attack and rejoin for the final assault.

How can we possibly take a city? Diana wondered as she paddled about.

"A penny for your thoughts and a silver to get your tongue back in your mouth," quipped Rhan. Diana reached up, treading water and patted her face -- her tongue was indeed prodding from her mouth! She consciously slurped it back in and stroked over to the gryphoness. "You're especially thoughtful today."

"Nothing to do but think," she replied, leaning her forearms on the pool edge.

"I get you. So many things can happen today." The copper gryphoness shook her head, slightly uneasy. "How can we take a city?"

Diana blinked, surprised that Rhan had voiced her own thoughts.

"We're not taking the city," Aeris' voice said. He rounded an elen palm and flopped on his side, a piece of field jerky in his beak. "We're making it look like that's our objective. But we're really going after that Am'salinth person. He's the head of this operation, so we're to take him out."

"Oh," Rhan and Diana chorused. "When was this decided?" Diana wanted to know.

"This morning. I overheard Kaal talking to the others on the Tsurieth."

"That's right," Kaal said, appearing behind them, a four-square statue. "Now, if you would all follow me . . .?" It was more of an order than a request, but they did so. Diana levered herself out of the pool, shook her hide and ambled off with the rest of the Wing.

Crystal passed a talon over her head, feeling the onset of a headache. She stared at the battlemaps with exceedingly-blurring eyes. She'd been at the plans since Tser's call and hadn't stopped except for something to eat and to take care of personal needs. Taking the towers would make the City assume they were going to lay claim to the whole, but the problem was how to make their small group of twenty seem like an army.

Gentle paws touched her shoulders and she leaned into the massage. "You're pushing yourself too hard, my love," Muse whispered in her ear. Lux looked up from the other side of the table and moved another marker.

"Aye, hon. Don't get too involved. We need you."

Crystal blinked. " 'Too involved,' Lux? How can I not? It's in my blood! They're expecting me to pull off a friggin' miracle!"

Acyd tapped the map in front of the Phoenix-turned-gryphon's beak. "You're as fallible as any of us," she said succinctly. "And as young. Don't let them keep piling things you have little experience with on you."

The golden female's eyes narrowed, taking insult at her friend's truth. "I --"

Muse solved the problem by gathering his mate up and saying to Xol, "Take over for now, Xolaris. Crys needs a break," and with Crystal weakly protesting "I do not!" and kicking, carted her off.

Xolaris plunked his haunches down where Crystal had been sitting. He surveyed the board: a complex tactical movement if he'd ever seen one. Lifting a talon, he touched one marker of Lux's, calculating the odds instantaneously. Crystal had laid a strong foundation for this attach, but the problem was getting into the City once the towers were gone. He ran over 50,000 possibilities in five seconds and made some adjustments to the board. Jaws dropped all around -- Aryante's sword that he*d been polishing on the table edge slipped and clattered on the floor.

Lux spread her hands on the table and craned her neck over the map, looking at Xol out of one rainbow-iridescent eye. "That's it!" she exclaimed.

But no one was listening: they were all looking at Xolaris, who's eyes had begun to flash their warning sequence. <-Tracking!-> beeped his internal guidance system. <-Incoming at cruising speeds of 50 knots, International regulations.->

The seraph ludrakoni grabbed the cybergryph by the forearm, pressing her equinely face close to his. "What is it?" she hissed, eyes swirling red and orange. "What's coming?"

"I don't know," he said. It was the truth -- the anomaly he'd felt the night before wasn't a glitch. He'd been away from the Federation so long he wouldn't have been able to recognize any new models with his out-dated equipment, not without an upgrade. "Whatever it is, it's coming in -- fast."

There was a scramble to get outside and a grab for warcollars; Guilders leapt over each other and furniture to reach the tent flap. With Crystal indisposed for at the moment, Lux took over. The seraph ludrakoni was familiar with battle tactics, equal to that of the Phoenix, Light Triad-linked as they were.

"What's going on!?" they heard from the inner chamber. Muse's soothing words followed and there was another protest from Crystal. Lux shooed them all out the flap before her sister could hear anymore. Once outside, they took up strategic positions, Lux standing by Xol as he projected a radar screen in the air before them. Numbers streamed on the left side, a graph on the other; the green blip off to the right had an arrow on it and three lines of text and numbers.

"3,000 kilometers and closing," he translated. "Coming from the City of Masks."

"WHAT!?" Makaze exclaimed, her green mane a halo around her head.

"They know about us?" Alan shouted at the same time, nares pale.

Indeed, there was the gryphonic and draconic equivalent of blood draining from the face all around; even Ary was pale under his tan complexion.

"Be quiet," Lux mouthed. She turned to Xol: "What is it?"

"We'll see soon enough."

Energy crackled all around as they waited; how would they warn Third if this proved a fatal encounter? Lux tried to project their condition along the Triad bond, but felt it seized and sliced to pieces. The pain was as real as if someone had taken Ary*s broadsword and hacked off a limb. Crystal's keen of rage and pain echoed Lux's own through the tent walls. At the same time Lux crashed to the sand, Crystal tipped off the bed in writhing agony.

Kaal fell sideways, fire lancing through her brain like a hot poker had been stuck through her ears.

Gonegonegone!!

The space in her mind -- the twin pulses of iridescent and gold -- shut off, snuffed out like a candle flame.

She jerked with the loss, spittle frothing on her lips. Eclipse raised his head, extreme anger in his eyes. "ILLUCIAN!!!" he bellowed, galloping toward the entrance. Kaal reached out through misty eyes and snagged his hind foot, causing him to crash into her. The lioness gained her footing quickly, her mind still reeling with the sudden severance of their link.

"Pack up NOW!" she barked, clamping one strong paw to Eclipse's side, the wolf-sized gryphon no match for her brute strength in this state. "Forget the plan. We move to Fourth!"

Closer. It was nearly there.

Xol switched to a more detailed tracking mechanism.

There!

<-On screen.-> The image of their foe lit up the Hellar sands. Guilders crowded around, all but Acyd, who was propping Lux up and spooning cool water into her mouth. The enemy was large and black, shaped like a dragon but unmistakably cybernetic. Contrail was slightly visible from the twin flux drives under what served as wings.

"Wakchenero!"

An entire side of the tent nearest them collapsed; Crystal's anger radiated as she projected with what little empathy she had her bereavement. As quickly as the Phoenix swear-words rose, they died down to Muse's influence.

Lux rose to her feet, swaying but alert. She hobbled through the Fourth to be back by Xol's side, Acyd supporting her. Alone, save Ary and Muse, the rainbowgryphoness was as close to the ludrakoni and Phoenix in Fourth. As they reached the cybergryph, what they feared came arcing out of the blue. It didn't curve its spine or fan its wings as an organic would have done -- a habit Xol had picked up from his Guild association; instead, great gouts of air blossomed under the wings apertures, no sound audible to their ears. Legs canted slightly, it whirred as it touched down, the pistons in its canons absorbing the force neatly. It resembled a dragon as Xol did a gryphon, but with extra attachments and a black metallic sheen.

"Arkhon-12001, serving reconnaissance in Sector Gamma; to report to Base 34-Az021."

If Xol's vocal processors gave him a slight mechanical accent, this Arkhon's allowed no such leeway. It was utterly deadpan and synthesized.

"X-7003, codename Neo-Xolaris, serving reconn in Sector Gamma; dispatched to third planet in the Vaeris system, constellation Arrow." Xol stared up into the new cyber's optics. Five series launched since his dispatch to the Guild world? Had they forgotten about him? In an organic, this would have brought sadness to his heart, but not him. "What are you doing here, Arkhon-12001?"

"That information is classified," the cyberdragon replied.

Xol tried another tactic; if this cyber was what he thought he was, he'd spill if queried with the right words. "Why did you come from the Masked City?"

Bingo. "I was ordered by Am'salinth Ducheikshedar to investigate any suspicious activity. I was told to watch out for a group such as yours, who I was told to be in possession of the illegal substance C-121ii-A. You are to be terminated."

A luminbolt fired weakly from Lux's horn bounced harmlessly off a green opaque shield that suddenly appeared to protect Arkhon.

"What have you done to us!?" she howled, dropping to her knees; at the same time, Xol shouted, "We do not have that! They know nothing of C-121ii-A!"

"My orders are to terminate any sign of carrying C-121ii-A," the mecha-dragon replied. "Your telepathic abilities were cut because of that order." A small laser slid out from a compartment on the top of his head.

<-Targeting. . . ->

"NO!"

As the laser fired at the Wing, Xol leapt in between the two, shields up and at max. The laser bounced off the green field harmlessly and into the air. Immediately, filaments snaked out from plates about Arkhon's neck; the cybergryph reached with those of his own. They met in a shower of sparks, optics blazing with inner combat. Cybers did not fight as organics did -- they battled within, through energy.

Through this close contact, Xol could tap into Arkhon's memory banks. What he saw was astounding: the mecha-dragon was being used as Am'salinth's pawn, with his ship as collateral. "Am'salinth is your enemy," Xol said aloud for the Wing's benefit. A hiss and a pop sounded and a part of his left ear exploded. "He is using you for tasks condemned by the Federation!"

A chunk of Arkhon's tail blew off.

Metal flew through the air; Ary sliced with his swords, knocking the biggest pieces away. Shrapnel whizzed by, cutting a gash in Alan's cheek ruff and nicking Makaze and Orca in the chest and flank.

"It is the Code of the Federation to aid those who help you."

"Not when they use you for evil!"

Steam and fluid pumped in great gouts from one of Arkhon's legs. Wires hung exposed from various places on his body.

<-You will cease to exists if you keep this up.-> Xolaris forced every emotion he'd encountered into the language of cybers. <-See that what you follow is WRONG.->

In a fury of electronic communication, nano-bots within the two began wild activity. The filaments drew both cybers toward each other; they glowed with tiny streams of light in the desert air. Xol seemed to fol in on himself and was consumed.

Wings beat heavily as the entire of Third Wing strove to close the distance between the two oasi. Kaal chose to gallop on her own, as summoning the ethereal pinions of Raan'lath cost more strength than she currently possessed. Golden brown grains flew in spurts under her massive paws, the tailflame that burned steadily on her tip was flared to twice its size in anger. She still had trouble concentrating, so Eclipse chose to keep tabs on her, as Shongshar was leading the rest of the Wing in flight. The mate-bond between the two of them was strong, but not as strong as a Soulbond -- and Eclipse was familiar with it where Shong wasn't.

A bright flash lit the sands. Screes and roars shook the air as the Wing was thrown back, some tumbling head over tail, spinning out of control. Eclipse crashed again into Kaal, the two skidding on the harsh sands. Diana hit the ground in front of them hard and bounced several yards on various parts of her body. Ki and Tagia collided in mid-air, sending them cartwheeling amidst the Lupodracan's wild barking into Epyon. They tumbled across his leading edge and over his back, down to the ground, taking Rhan with them. Aeris and Shongshar managed to weather the blast and righted themselves and their companions as best they could.

"Get up!" Ki shouted, standing on her hind and heaving the black dragon to his feet. Rhan was slung on her back, while Tagia assisted Kaal and Eclipse.

Straining, the Wing rose and continued on. The sight that awaited them was shocking indeed:

Rising out of the cloud of steam and fumes was a towering black construct, veined with gold. Mantled on either side of the sleek torso were two wing-like appendages, one shaped like that of a dragon, the other resembling a gryphon's eagle wing. From the debris rose a sinuous head, arcing horns bursting from the back of the metallic skull and discharging electricity. Right below it curved a raptor's head melded onto a similar sinuous neck. The disturbing thing part of it was that this head was Xol's!

"Where did you get this?"

Both Wings sat under the cloaking shield of the cyber just outside the towers that surveyed the border. While there was no bridge or way of crossing the river, there was a large gate leading into the City. Armed guards patrolled the towers, geared to the teeth.

Arkhris turned his Xol-head to analyze. He spoke in a double-voice: "That? I do not know. My sensors did not pick it up."

Ary swore and was about to chuck the offending lump when Eclipse staid his hand. "I wouldn't," the bibliophile warned. "It was put on him for a reason."

"If you say so, Lips." The elf handed it over, digging his toe into the earth, gazing over the river. "It's worthless."

"Not necessarily," Eclipse told him, running the lump of silver over in his yellow talons. Interest piqued, Tagia hung her head over his shoulder, for once calm.

"That doesn't look like it was burned," she observed, pointing to a side of the lump that was flat.

"No . . .," Eclipse muttered, holding it up for a different view.

Disgruntled by their obsession, Ary got up and wandered over to where Muse and Crystal were sitting with some others. While he was a warrior, the elf got bored without something to entertain him -- and his partner and his mate were his favorite cures for such.

". . . Once everyone's rested, we can move out," Crystal was saying.

Kaal peered out into the distance. "Those combo levin-firebolts should get them and then the others can rush in while they're distracted."

"There's got to be a way to get the towers without alerting those down below." Lux scratched idly at the dirt. "I remember what we were going to do before this --" She gestured to Arkhris. " -- but now that's totaled."

"Our main objective is still the lord, right?" Aeris said, shuffling his green-tipped pinions. When they stared, he added, "Then why should we concern ourselves with the rest of the City? We want to get this guy as quick as we can -- screw the rest of the place!"

"That would work beautifully, only we don't know where that place is!" Lux passed a hand over her poll and ears, running it along her pearlescent spiral that was her horn.

"I agree," Acyd said, and Diana nodded.

Kaal and Crystal exchanged glances; Lux flicked her feathered tail in silent acknowledgment. Kaal spoke first: "We'll go with the attack as planned and ask questions later."

"If this Opposition is in control as the letter stated, then there should be some information on how to access them in the towers."

Muse tapped his dexterous paws together thoughtfully. Trained in scouting, his opinion counted strongly. "From what I can tell," he began, "we have two choices: head on or guerilla warfare. Points have been made to both sides, but either is risky considering what we're up against. Our best course of action would be to do both."

"How?" they chorused.

"When Ary and I took that flight under Arkhris' cloak, we noticed that there were only five guards per tower. We hit the gate under the cloak and then when they come out, we drop the shield and go head-on."

"But they should be well-trained to hold this post," Aeris countered, leaning forward. "Won't they send for help?"

"Yes, but we'll be gone by then."

"You're playing thin, Moos," Ary commented dryly.

The smokey-blue scout startled them all with a cocked head and a grin. "I learned that from you, my elvish friend!"

Everyone groaned and Crystal shoved him.

**I'm going to initiate the Final Fire.**

**Why? What's going on Kalaki?**

**They have these monsters, Ythe, it's the only thing I can do to save them. You know as well as I do -- **

**This isn't the time to play heroics!**

** -- I'm not! You would do the same -- admit it! To save your friends and Soulsibs -- hell, you'd do it just to save Muse!**

**Don*t bring them into this, 'Laki!**

**You don't have a monopoly on friends, Ythé. These Guilders are my friends too! If I live, I live. If I don't, I shall join Father in Nefari'raesonex.**

**Ikcherie, 'Laki -- **

**Don't you DARE baby me, Ythé! Volkchudar, do I have your support or not?**

**Yes, my sister. You do. Am'nelii Berinshah, then. May golden Solarius guide you and God keep you.**

**Same to you, my sister. Al'kchoktal Semir Tourn'dae . . .**

Ashtoka and Seldin eyed each other over the table. The brindle slapped down a card and crowed, much to the chagrin of his partner.

"You owe me two double-duties now, Sel!"

"Screw it," muttered the grey, curling his lip in a snarl. He shoved the chit towards his colleague. "You've had strange luck these days, Ashtoka."

Ashtoka barked a laugh and pocketed the chit. "Tell me that the next time Ducheikshedar calls rounds on the invasion. You're only lucky so long Sel."

"Ha!" Seldin scooped up the cards and tucked them away, reaching for his mug of ale. "I'll stand twenty double-duties if that'd keep me outta his line of sight! S'not like I'm getting any at home."

"Shut up, you two!" growled Efran, their captain. "The way you two slack off is going to get me demoted!"

Ashtoka had a retort on the tip of his tongue when the very foundations of the tower shook. Bodies, tables, chairs and anything not bolted to the floor or walls were thrown sideways. Bricks and mortar fell from the wall and ceiling, dropping as friendly fire.

"What the hell just happened?" Efran bellowed, picking himself up from under an overturned table littered with dust.

Eysil leaned out the window with Seldin; his tail went rigid with shock. "Something's exploding from the back!" he shouted, and was thrown against the sill as another shockwave was sent through the building. Seldin bounced along the floor and ended up sprawled over furniture.

Both towers were connected to the barrier walls of the City as well as to the great gate that hung between them. Whatever was hitting them would affect the others.

Fire blossomed from the ivy carelessly left to grow on the gate's structure. It fed hungrily, licking upwards and out, fast approaching the tower windows. A bolt of lightning struck the gate itself, wracking and warping the metal. Efran flung a bundle at Seldin just as a contingent of creatures suddenly appeared on the opposite back. "Get downstairs and warn Lord Ducheikshedar!"

The grey caught the small package, tied it to his swordbelt and pelted down the back stairs.

Arkhris cut the power that held the shield in place. All at once, the Wings were revealed to the small group on the opposite side of the river. Standing in formation, they were equally-matched, perhaps better than the Darkhounds. Eclipse, Tagia, Alan and Makaze stood firstrank; Ki, Aeris, Orca and Acyd secondrank; Shongshar, Muse, Kaal and Diana thirdrank; Epyon with Ary aboard, Lux, Rhan and Crystal stood in the fourthrank. They allowed the Darkhounds one glance and the opportunity to come down before dispersing into the air.

Kaal leapt the bank with a roar; Epyon and Diana coasted over, maws wide. Ary had one sword in hand, the other gripping the black's neck ridges with the other. Gryphons winged in and out, grabbing for pikes, halberds, axes and swords. One group of Darkhounds advanced on the dragons and Kaal. With a swipe of his tail, Epyon took the legs out from under the closest. He careened into Diana and struck out with a dagger. The vicious tailblade that in peaceful times was used to launch pies scythed into his arm, severing it -- but not before the bit of steel clipped her shoulder, slicing up and nicking her collar. The globe rattled and sparks flew out along the band. The Darkhound howled as dark red blood spurted in a fountain from his stump -- one moment before his life was snuffed with a blow to the spine by the rebound of the chaos dragoness' tail.

There was a swatch of smokey-blue and green-tipped grey on the right-most tower. Muse and Aeris had set their claws into the ill-kept mortar and stone and begun to scale it. Backs pressed against the rotund edifice, Crystal and Lux fought four Darkhounds at once, while the others that lived were being surrounded by the other Guilders. Outnumbered and outclassed, the guards were prepared and willing to die in combat.

Slipping around Lux's defense, a halberd-toting guard launched his deadly weapon at Muse's unprotected back. With a roar, Lux arched forward, hunching, at a great speed; with both arms outstretched, she both pierced and crushed the Darkhound with hands and horn.

Time slowed, and a wild thought coursed through Crystal's mind: Muse still did not have the full recognition of the Council and Lord Grawn'fay as her mate and thus did not warrant a full warcollar. The basic one he wore would not prevent the killing blow -- it would "soften" it, but it would still sever his spine.

--Muse turned his head, gold eyes wide --

-- Aeris shouted --

-- Crystal's scree of rage --

-- A blur of red. . .

Kaal leapt in the path of the halberd, at nearly a 60-degree angle from the ground. She grabbed the shaft in one great paw, twirled it with a whirl of deadly air and landed.

There was a great explosion of fire and energy from two throats as Lux and Crystal ignited the remaining Darkhounds. The seraph ludrakoni raised a hand and wiped the gore from her horn and poll. The golden Phoenix whipped her head up, mouth agape in panting as she and Muse locked gazes; the gryph blinked once and turned his attentions back to climbing. In seconds, he and Aeris slithered up the wall and disappeared into an open window.

Kaal thudded the halberd pike-blade first into the charred and bloodied grass. She turned to her Sisters: "We're done."

Lux and Crystal exchanged glances. "So soon?" the iridescent dragoness asked, confounded.

Kaal nodded sharply, pointing.

Alan, Makaze, Shongshar, Orca and Rhan were binding the two remaining Darkhounds: Ashtoka and Efran. Beyond them, Ki, Acyd, Ary and Diana were taking care of the more gory remains by disposing of the carcasses into the river. Further off were Eclipse and Tagia, perched upon Epyon's broad back, leaning up against the gate.

"Look here, Tagia," the black gryphon was saying, pointing to a motif on the gate. Epyon obligingly shouldered over, placing his hands on the bronze doors and raising his quarters. Eclipse indicated a new molding in the old metalwork, a circlelike depression, nearly an oval. He traced it thoughtfully, noting bumps along the edges and runes carved about the rim and center. Tagia thrust her head over his own and licked it experimentally.

"Silver."

"What!?" Eclipse tottered momentarily and had to grab Epyon's ridge with a yellow-taloned hand. The other was reaching for the pouch about his neck. He drew forth the small lump of metal and held it up.

That action elicited a jolt from the gate.

Red lines raced across the surface of the depression, tiny sparks danced along the lump and died. The gate stopped humming and the lights faded. At that moment, a door in the base of the right-hand tower swung open to display Muse's white beak.

"You'd best get everyone in here," he said without preamble, ducking back in again.

The lump threaded red lines along its surface and died -- the same effect as with the gates. The strongest of them all tried battering at the door, but to no avail. Magic in such close quarters was unthinkable.

"Let's get some rest, people," Crystal advised. "Clear minds find ways of doing things."

Heads nodded all around, and some Guilders filed out to take the other tower for quarters.

Eclipse sat and played with the lump until gentle paws took it away and an iridescent wing covered him.

© 2002 Crystal Shekeira. All Guilders are copyright themselves; the Gryphon's Guild is trademarked to Tserisa Supalla. All other names, places and events are copyright to MH. Do not copy, alter or distribute