//------------------------------// // Chapter VI - Over Encumbered. // Story: Gargoyle // by Mr101 //------------------------------//                         Gargoyle           Chapter VI - Over encumbered. “WOT DA FUCK-” Before the Hoboll could even finish, I sliced my claws across it’s chest, eliciting a howl of pain as blood sprayed over my body. I quickly grabbed the sword from his belt and plunged the blade into his throat making him cry out and gurgle, using my tail I swung it as hard as I could into one of the other Hobolls who were still in a state of shock. One of them grunted in pain as my tail collided with him and sent him hurtling into one of the cages and fall onto his front with a whimper, as I turned myself around I cursed seeing the third one trying to make a run for it - obviously trying to alert the others - and I charged after him. “OI LADZ COME QUICK, DER IS- ACK!” Just as he shouted he let out a gasp of air as I tackled him to the ground suddenly, covering his mouth with one hand and my other arm firmly around his throat slowly crushing his windpipe. I growled lowly as I heard his whines and gasps for air as his arms and legs flailed helplessly about, trying to pry me off his neck. With a smirk, I wrapped my arm tighter around his neck and slowly pulled him back into the darkness of the room, a low chuckle escaping my lips as I felt his body go limp. Looking over towards the fire, I saw the one I had hit into the cage slowly get up, shaking its head as it groaned. Grinning like a madman, I slinked my way around the shadows and waited for him to move forward slightly/ As he stumbled forwards, I quickly rushed him and grabbing the back of his head, brought it down hard onto my knee with a loud, sickening crack as he let out a howl of pain before I roughly turned his head to look up at me. “W-wot are you?” He whimpered looking up at me. I answered him by snapping his neck with a loud snap as he went limp, tossing the body aside I stood up and looked down at my body seeing blood over it.. “Wonder if blood can camouflaged...” I muttered. It was then that I noticed the looks I was getting from the cages, slowly turning around I nervously chuckled seeing that the majority of the slaves looking at me, backs to the cage walls, in absolute terror. “Uh... hi?” I said with a small wave. I cringed as several of them screamed loudly, who were quickly shushed by some of the ones who weren’t screaming. “Shut up!” the slender looking bug pony hissed, “you’ll alert the other guards!” “B-but w-what i-is that thing!?” A mare cried. “I’m a he, not a thing,” I replied crossing my arms in mock hurt. “I don’t care!” She shouted back, “what are you?” “My name’s Vault, I’m a Gargoyle,” I replied giving a nod. “Crystal,” the slender bug pony replied. I noticed that Crystal was a lot taller than the other bug pony things, she looked like her head would come up to my chest at least. “Iron Heart,” a minotaur grunted. “Gargoyle eh? Can’t say I’ve heard of your kind before...” “He looks scary...” a little foal whimpered. “He looks SO COOL!” Another one cried, staring at me in awe. “Is not!” “Is to!” “Will you stop arguing?!” A bug pony hissed, “there’s more important matters at hoof here!” “Like how he’s going to eat us?” a pony said from another cage. “What? I’m not going to eat anybody!” I replied turning to look at the one who had spoken. “Lies! You only killed the guards just so you could have us to yourselves!” The pony shouted. “Look, can you just calm down? I don’t want the guards to hear us,” I hissed. “He has a point kid,” the other minotaur said, “we need to keep calm and quiet.” “OI, WOTS WIFF ALL DA SHOUTING?” I froze as we heard the sounds of Hobolls approaching, I quickly dashed to a wall, ready to blend in until a second voice shouted back. “NUFFIN, WE WAS JUS’ MESSIN’ WIFF DA SLAVES IS ALL!” We all looked to see one of the bug pony was now a Hoboll, I blinked in confusion as the disguised Hoboll looked at me and winked. There was a flash of green from the other two bug ponies who transformed into Hobolls as well. “YEAH, WOT ‘E SAID!” “WELL... KEEP IT DOWN THEN!” The Hoboll shouted from the tunnel entrance. I held my breath as the sounds of footsteps faded into the distance, letting out a sigh of relief as the bug ponies flashed green again and reverted to their normal forms. “Ok, it’s official. You now are the coolest creatures in this dream,” I grinned at them. “What dream?” One of them asked. “Not important,” I replied, “but I would like to know what you are, I think calling you bug pony things would be insulting in some way.” “Yes, it would,” one of them glared at me before chuckling, “we’re Changelings.” “And you can turn into anything?” I asked. “That’s right,” Crystal replied, “it helps us acquire love.” “What do you mean love?” “Well... we feed on love.” I opened my mouth and raised my hand, ready to ask just exactly what the hell she meant but nothing came out. I shook my head in confusion and decided to ask about it later. “Look, I need to ask you guys some questions, first... and what’s with the look?” I tilted my head at one of the older ponies, he had an aged face and his old eyes glared at me, like he was examining my every movement. “You’re a strange one ain’t cha?” He chuckled, “you’d think a creature with that deep voice and-” “I have a deep voice?” I interrupted, “it seems normal to me...” “Well son, to me its a very deep, powerful voice.” I saw several others nod in agreement and I stroked my chin, I hadn’t thought about it too much as I hadn't noticed anything change in it. “Never really noticed it...” I muttered to myself. “Anywho, what do you plan on doing with us?” The stallion questioned. “Well...” I paused to think on what I really should tell them, deciding it was best for the time being, like with Snow Wing, to not actually yell them the full truth. “I came from the south of here to free you, I promised a pegasus called Snow Wing I’d help after-” “Did you say Snow Wing?” I looked over to see who had interrupted me, it was a white male pegasus who looked strikingly like Snow Wing. “Yeah, I rescued them from a small group of Hobolls the other day, why?” “What did she look like?” He asked, his eyes glowing with interest. “White mane with matching and fur, two snowflakes on a wing tattoo thing on her butt and ice blue eyes.” “Don’t listen to him!” A stallion hissed, “he’s trying to trick you!” “I’m not!” I protested. “He isn’t lying...” the pegasus said softly, “he knows my sister.” “She’s your sister?” I asked. “Twin,” he replied with pride, “best fliers this side of New Port!” I nodded as the slaves began to murmur between one another, I caught whispers such as ‘Can we trust him?’ and ‘Why hasn’t he eaten us yet?’ “Look, I’m going to get you all out of here. I promise.” I said with a reassuring smile. “And how, pray tell, do you intend to do that?” The stallion who accused me of wanting to eat them asked with a sneer. “I’m... working on it.” I replied “In other words, you have no idea,” he smirked. “Jackass...” I whispered. ‘Well he is right, you NEVER know what the hell you’re doing.,’ my mind replied. Ignoring it, I stroked my chin as I tried to think of an idea. I fell back into the original idea of getting the slaves to arm themselves and nodded to myself. “Right... do any of you know if the Hobolls have an armory?” I asked, looking to each of the cages. There was a small pause before one of them spoke up. “I... think I heard them say that they have one, but nopony has seen it as far as I’m aware.” “Bugger... means I need to try and find it myself...” I muttered. “I’ll help you.” I looked up to see Crystal smile at me, determination in her eyes. “How?” I stupidly asked. “Really...?”  She replied, raising her eyebrow before changing into a Hoboll. “Oh yeah... forgot about that,” I chuckled sheepishly. “How could you forget?!” The stallion spluttered, “You only just got told.” I scowled at him before shaking my head and returning my attention to the others. “Right... this is my plan...”                                                                   ??? POV “What will you have me do, my master?”  I spoke in my mind. My hand firmly grasped a staff with an orb on top that swirled with golden flames, illuminating the room I was residing in, all around me heavy whispers of my kinds language softly filled the air, audible only to those who could understand the ancient words. “Patience my loyal friend... your powers are still weak, you must focus on the task at hand and resurrect your brother from his prison,” a booming voice echoed in my mind. “And what of the Gargoyle? He’ll soon be here,” I asked. There was a silent pause as the voices suddenly vanished leaving the room deadly silent, just as soon as they vanished, they returned as a booming, dark laugh filled the room and my mind. “Burn him... burn him in my glorious hellfire...” “It will be done... my master...” The orb slowly extinguished as the voices faded away leaving me holding the staff with the now black orb residing on top, I let go of it and it vanished in a blast of golden fire as I left the room and headed back towards the Alpha’s throne room, changing back into a serpent to conserve my energy. As usual, no one dared stop or get in my way which elicited a soft chuckle from my mouth as I slithered my way to the door and was once again let in by the same guards. Unlike earlier, the Alpha was sitting quietly on his throne, his eyes wide and was visibly shaking softly. His whores were still there but they whimpered the second they saw me and backed up against the wall as much as their collars and chains would allow them to. “W-what do you want?” The Alpha growled. “We have work to do...” I chuckled with a flick of my tongue.                                                                Vault/Scott’s POV “This plan... is going to get us all killed...” “Shut it Crystal.” I grumbled as I carefully made my way along the walls of the tunnels, beside the disguised Crystal who was walking along as a Hoboll armed with twin swords. “I still think this is a bad idea...” she said in her normal tone. “Look, unless you have a better idea, we’re doing this. There’s no way everyone can get out without some of us fighting to give them the chance.” I didn’t like the plan I had come up with, it wasn’t foolproof and everyone knew it. However, everyone had agreed upon it. The minotaurs, changelings, the three diamond dogs and a few of the ponies along with myself were going to arm up and buy some time for the others to break free, guarded by a few of the other captives. This plan would result in some of the captives dying and I was dreading it, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time. So far, we had successfully made our way throughout the vast tunnel system without being detected by any of the Hobolls, they were quite stupid creatures indeed. All Crystal had to do to fool them was to put on a growl like voice and speak in bad english, very bad english. She had also managed to get the location of the armory from one of the Hobolls, when she had been questioned by one of them, she simply said that she had drunk then location out of her head and, like the stupid creatures they are, they bought it hook line and sinker. “So... why are you a different size to the other changelings?” I asked out of nowhere. “Uhm... I just am?” She replied, “and besides, it’s rude to ask a lady a question such as that!” “Alright alright, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” “My what now?” “Nevermind.” We remained in silence as we continued to make our way through the tunnels and began to hear the increase of chattering and other various sounds such as metal being banged together, roaring laughter and what I think must of been some form of songs. We came out into a large open area, all around us were several basic buildings made of wood. In the dead centre wa sa large roaring camp fire with the smoke rising up and exiting out of a small hole I could just about see in the ceiling, all around the fire and buildings were dozens of Hobolls, all oblivious to us. It looked like a small village, there were cooks and blacksmiths, even what appeared to be a trader of sorts. I crept down slightly and motioned Crystal to come closer before whispering to her. “So which way from here?” “Well.. it’s right down that tunnel,” she replied, nodding to the furthest tunnel directly in front of us. “Ok... well I’m going to have to go along the walls so I’ll have to meet you there in a moment, you going to be ok?” I asked in concern. “I’ll be fine... just... take care of yourself,” she replied. I nodded before making my way carefully out of the tunnel and up along the wall, high enough so it would be harder for any of the Hobolls to notice me.                                                                 Crystal’s POV I gulped nervously as I looked over at the large area and bit my lip, I had pretended that I was ok to Vault in order not to show how scared I actually was. If I was caught then it wouldn’t end well, they’d wonder how I got out and they’d soon find the guards all dead and not only would I suffer but so would the others, several whom I had befriended during my travel from where I was captured a week ago to here. Swallowing my nervousness, I strode into the clearing figuring that if I looked confident I wouldn’t attract attention. As much as I despised - no loathed- the Hobolls, it was fairly interesting to see their society in this way. When I was brought here, I only saw them as bumblin, sadistic, moronic beasts with no good bone in their body. My opinion on them still remains the same but it was interesting nonetheless to see they did have some form of a culture. “So I saids ‘DATS NOT ‘OW YOU DO IT!’ and I smacked the bitch to the ground!” I looked at a group of Hobolls sitting in a circle, drinking from their filthy tankards as they continued to talk about their disgusting past exploits to one another. As I walked past I felt something roughly yank on my arm, nearly forcing the disguise off me as I was caught off guard. “Sit yur furry arse down brother!” The Hoboll cackled, “here, ‘ave a drink and tells us a story ‘bout that bitch you fucked da otha night!” The Hoboll was clearly drunk and didn’t know who I was, as I fell to my rump I began to panic slightly as I had a tankard thrust roughly into one of my hands and I looked down at the vile liquid inside it. “Go on, drink!” I looked up to see the other Hobolls looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to take my first drink. I knew that if I refused, it would raise suspicions but I didn’t want to drink a lot as I knew from the week long travel that the Hoboll’s drank a very, very strong ale which would happily get a minotaur, one of the races with the best fortitudes, to get drunk quite quickly. I slowly raised the tankard to my lips, smelling the ale properly and holding back the urge to void the contents of my stomach. Just as I was about to take my first sip, a Hoboll walking past bumped into me, spilling the entire tankard and its contents down my front. “Oi, watch it!” One of the Hobolls sitting down with me barked. The Hoboll that had walked into me stopped and turned around glaring at the other. “Wot was dat, you little prick?” He growled. I nervously glanced between them as a circle formed around them as they squared off at one another, I started to back into the ring as the chants of ‘fight! fight!’ rang throughout the area. I glanced up to try and spot Vault but I couldn’t see him anyway. ‘Damn his camouflaging ability...’  “I’LL KICK YUR ARSE FOR DAT!” “TRY IT, YOU FURRY LITTLE BITCH!” I looked down just in time as the Hoboll who had bumped into me received a fist to his nose, causing him to howl and stumble backwards before being pushed back into the fray by the others in the circle. As he was pushed back in, the other Hobolls who had been sitting down and were on the inside of the ring watch decided to join in and gang up on the other. “Dat’s not fair!” The Hoboll growled,” boyz!” Several Hobolls barged their way into the circle and stood beside the Hoboll that had called them, grinning at the others as they cracked their knuckles. There was a long pause and a deathly silence as the chanting stopped and everyone just looked at each other, then all of a sudden, one of the Hobolls roared out and the two sides slammed into each other, fists, legs and whatever they could grab from the floor were swung about violently as the crowd cheered on the two sides. I began to panic again as I could see no clear way out of this situation, trying my best to keep my back to the circle and not get involved with the fight. “WOTS ALL DIS?! BREAK IT UP YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!” The crowd stopped cheering and shouting as they looked to see a large Hoboll make his way onto a nearby rock and glare down at the spectacle. “I LEAVE FER ONE FUCKIN’ MINUTE AND YOU DUMB MORONS START FIGHTIN’? WOT DA FUCK DID DA ALPHA TELL YOU GITS?!” There was several murmurs as they grunted and looked away, annoyed. I gathered that they had been forbidden to start fighting with one another for the sake that, a wounded Hoboll was a useless Hoboll. “Now... get back to doing whatever it was you woz...” The large Hoboll stopped as his eyes fell upon me, I froze up as he glared at me with his eyes and I could feel them staring into my very soul. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he leapt down from the rock, heading towards me. He knew. Quickly, I shoved the nearest Hoboll into another one with all my strength, sending them both to the ground, within seconds they had begun fighting each other unaware I was the one who had pushed them into each other. As they rumbled, the two Hobolls from earlier locked eyes and growled before tackling each other and crashing into another bunch of the Hobolls. Like a moth to a candle, the whole room erupted into a massive free-for-all, seeing the large Hoboll being slowed down as he violently made his way through the fight, I quickly ducked down and made my way to the far side of the room behind some of the wooden shacks. “I SAID, BREAK IT UP YOU MORONS!” I could heard the large Hoboll roaring over the sounds of the fight as I quickly darted and made my way over to the tunnel and slipped into it, leaning against the wall and panting heavily as I waited to see if I had been followed or not. Thankfully I hadn’t and I let out a sigh of relief and slid down the wall slightly. “So... did ya have fun?” I jumped up and forced myself to stifle a surprised scream, my disguise dropping, as Vault’s deep voice whispered into my ear and I turned around and glared at him. “Not. Funny.” I growled. “I beg to differ,” Vault grinned at me, “nice distraction by the way.” “Thank you,” I huffed, once again donning the disguise.                                                              Vault/Scott’s POV As Crystal and I made our way down the tunnel the sounds of the brilliant fight she had started began to die down, once again I was crawling along the walls as she walked beside me in her Hoboll disguise and soon the only sounds we could hear were the sounds of her footsteps on the earth below her feet. “How much further?” I whispered to her. “Just be patient,” she hissed at me, “we’re nearly there.” I let out a huff of annoyance as we made our way down the tunnel, my arms -and generally my whole body- was starting to get tired from the wall climbing and crawling I had to do. We soon came to a new open area that oddly enough had no guards or anyone in it, instead what we saw made me let out an impressed whistle. Unlike the small blacksmith set up in the main area, this whole area was just one great big smithy, complete with row upon row weapons hanging from hooks that were fixed into the walls. There were long swords, short swords, daggers, great swords, a couple of one handed warhammers and a few dozen crossbows. It was a classic looking dungeons and dragons treasure room, minus the actual treasure. “It’s... it’s so beautiful...” I whispered. I walked over to the walls and examined the weapons, it was clear from some of the designs that several of these weapons hadn’t been crafted by the Hobolls by judging from what I had already seen of their weaponry. It kind of reminded me of goblins from some of the dungeons and dragons quests I used to do with my friends, finding a race with inferior weapons hoarding the weapons of other races most likely for the high ranking Hobolls to use. I gripped a hand axe in my hand firmly and I felt utterly giddy, giggling slightly as I swung it around me to see how it felt. Crystal was watching me with an expression of annoyance, curiosity and concern. “What?” I asked innocently. “Nothing...” she sighed as she came over to join me. We began to select weapons from the racks judging by who was actually going to be fighting, we took two warhammers and a greatsword for the minotaurs, several swords to give to the ponies, some hand axes for the diamond dogs and Crystal selected several daggers and short swords for the changelings. Placing them in a pile on the ground carefully, I rested my hands on my hips as I looked down at our collection with a big grin. “Wish I had a bag of holding...” I muttered. “A what now?” Crystal asked. “Magical bag that can hold a large amount of items, I’ll explain later.” Crystal went to say something but sighed and shook her head at me, as I giggled again over the collection of weapons, I felt something poke my side and I noticed Crystal was beside me with a slightly concerned look on her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. “Vault... I’ve been meaning to ask you something...” Crystal began. “And that is?” “Well... it’s just that...” “What?” “How do you plan on getting these weapons back to the others?” I blinked as I looked at her, then at the weapons, then back to her. I opened my mouth to reply but stopped, then opened it again as a low gasp left my lips before closing it again and looking at the pile of weapons. There was a long silence as I tired to think of something, I saw Crystal’s eyebrow raise out of the corner of my eye and slowly looked back to her. “Hang on, Crystal... I’ve got a great idea.”