Will walked up the path until he reached the sprawling palace steps, but he did not ascend them. Instead, he stared first to his left, focusing, it seemed, on the gargoyle that guarded this grand entrance. He held his gaze for a few seconds before turning to his right, and staring at the gargoyle's twin on the other side. Emmeline watched over his left shoulder through scrunched eyes, unsure of his intentions. Surely, there was no time for this random inspection of castle decorations.
Then, suddenly, she felt her breath catch in her throat. Her eyes widened. She even saw Calder take a step forward out of the corner of her eye. The stone monsters had begun to move. Not without much grinding and crunching, their heads leaned forward, then backward. Their faces contorted and slowly small wrinkles formed on their foreheads, unique to either creature. With a harsh crack, their wings became animated, and the one on the right lunged his paws outward and let out an exasperated yawn.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Will said almost pleasantly, looking from creature to creature. Emmeline hadn't blinked in minutes. The yawning gargoyle crouched down on his perch and leaned forward off of its edge, meeting her stare. His lips stretched into a smile to reveal a two rows of blackish teeth, and Emmeline could only stare more.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"I suspect you very well know," Calder spoke sharply from Emmeline's left. Any hope of friendly conversation had vanished. The right gargoyle's smile melted into a scowl. The gargoyle on the left simply stared down at his paws.
"There was a disturbance among some humans on the edge of the woods last night. Just there," Will pointed to a clearing beyond the fountains to his right. "There was a younger boy involved, in plain clothes. What do you know of him?" The creature on the right curled his mouth into a mischievous smile once more.
“It seems he’s been abducted, sir,” laughed the gargoyle, the sound of stone against stone echoing across the hall as he did. Upon hearing his cackling, the other gargoyle fell into laughter too, and so Will grew tired of their flippancy.
“Enough!” Will shouted, lunging up two steps and glaring into the first gargoyle’s shining black eyes as if he could see the irises that the figure lacked. “Have you any idea of the victim’s identity?”
“A naïve deceived!” roared the gargoyle, and he and his partner only laughed more at the condescending rhyme of an answer. Will’s frustration then reached a new level, and though he did not yell, the extent of his anger was even more evident in his voice than before.
“Ralitia,” he said, still holding his stare. The gargoyles, almost as if transformed back to their original form, fell silent and still. In fact, it came to Emmeline’s attention, the entire group had fallen silent at the utterance of the strange word. The first gargoyle made a low sound before he spoke again.
“Sir…” he addressed Will, his voice now contained. “Surely not…a survivor?” He posed the question with an awe that suggested a most terrible devastation was derived from the incident to which he referred. There was a pause.
“A Royale,” Will responded finally. While the gargoyles exchanged expressions of shock, Emmeline became immediately more confused.
“What do you mean roy—“ Emmeline began to interject, stepping forward, but she was cut off. Will and the gargoyle were not yet finished with their conversation.
“It was the Ignus boy,” said the gargoyle, his tone suddenly completely serious. “He and a few flamechasers. They used iter flame, I think. Your brother was fighting one of them, but they’re a tricky bunch. After they went up, though, the last chaser took off into the woods. It looked as though he was running east. Rhett chased after him.”
“When?” Will asked immediately, not even pausing for a moment to process the information he had just received.
“I am a creature of stone, sir,” the figure said, his tone more sly than humble. “You know as well as I that no golem can so much as move without first being approached. How should I know what time?”
“Maybe you could really put yourself out there,” Calder suggested sarcastically, “and take a guess.” But this only encouraged the gargoyle’s game.
“Guessing is more a specialty of man,” the creature sighed. “If only I could be restored—“
“KLIPPE!” Will roared, his anger turning violent once more as he held his fist in front of the gargoyle, his knuckles whitening with his menacing grasp of frustration. The monster of rock merely snarled back at him. Will began to slowly unclench his fist, stretching his fingers far and wide apart from one another, his palm facing outward, when the other gargoyle chimed in.
“About twenty minutes ago!” shouted the other in his timid voice, his onyx eyes widened with worry. Will stepped towards him, now, his hand still outstretched. “Now please sir, stand down! I mean... Oh sir, please do not take from me my only companion.” Everyone watched for Will’s reaction, half expecting him to threaten the meeker of the two next. Instead, he inhaled deeply—once, twice—and lowered his hand.
“Rupert,” he addressed the second gargoyle in an unfamiliar, almost sympathetic tone. “You of all souls should know that I would never doom a man— or golem— to loneliness.” Rupert’s stone shoulders seemed to droop slightly with relief. Klippe merely scoffed. Realizing he was content with the information he acquired, Will stepped down and ran a hand through the dark blonde mess atop his head. He looked from Rupert to Klippe (whose eyebrows of rock were still crunched in bitterness) while the others prepared to follow him into the castle.
“Besides,” Will said, his eyes lingering on the grumpy gargoyle. “I have a feeling my father has somehow grown fond of the beast.” Then he looked away, diverting his focus to the steps before him, and he passed either figure, and as he did their eyes flashed from the shining black to stone, and they were still.