Owen came to retrieve the Chamberlain a little while later. He knocked on his door.
"Who is?" came the reply.
"Owen. Sil, there's still more work to do." Owen reminded him.
"Be right there." Sil replied.
Sil listened and heard the man walk away. He didn't want to leave his room right now after his talk with David. But, when duty called, sometimes you just had to tough it out.
He went and worked for Owen through the mid-afternoon, and he was allowed to go to bed around three pm. He wanted to get some rest so he could be active when his friends were. He would talk to them tonight.
................
Later, Sil was up around seven thirty. It was getting close to sunset. At least he had gotten some sleep. He got up and went to go greet the gargoyles. He was already wearing the robes he wanted to after switching from the ones the night before after falling in the water. At least it had been in the summer instead of winter, and here at home.
He got up to the tower just as the sun set. Cracks on the statues started appearing, along with glowing eyes. Sil kept his distance. Goliath had made it back before sunrise.
After the roaring, yawning and stretching, they hopped down on the ground.
"Hi, Chamberlain." Angela greeted.
"Hi."
"Good to see you're feeling better." Brooklyn smiled at him.
"Am grateful to Brooklyn. Now, have something to discuss with clan." Sil proclaimed.
"What?" Broadway asked.
"This morning after you all sleeping, Xanatos bring up to me about something about blood collection you do." Sil explained.
"Oh, we do that every four months, to replenish our blood supply in storage should we ever need blood transfusions if we ever have life threatening injuries." Lex explained.
"That's what he said. But he also say that he thinks I need get done too." Sil said.
"It actually might be a good idea, Sil. If something happened to you, really big, it could save your life."
"That what he also say. But just not ever have done before." Sil confessed. "Not even when Hunter come back wounded many trines ago."
"You had one called Hunter?" Angela asked.
"Yes. He very vicious Skeksis. I see how you gargoyles move about and such. Hunter, or SkekMal capable of moving around much like you. He even kept second pair of arms working when most other Skeksis second pair of arms stop working."
"What happened to him?" Lex asked.
"He died in battle with Gelflings."
"It happens in wars sometimes." Goliath said.
"But back to what we were talking about, it might seem scary the first time, but it's worth it. There are no other Skeksis here to give blood to you should you get hurt really bad, Sil." Brooklyn admitted.
Sil knew he had a point.
"I see what happen when doctor comes to do yours, first." Sil replied.
"Fair enough." Goliath said. "Would you want to go on patrol with one of us tonight?"
Sil's eye ridges raised in surprise. "Really?"
"If you feel well enough that is." the leader said.
"I feel fine." Sil confirmed.
"Good. We'll go after we get our breakfast." Goliath stated.
The clan went to go prepare themselves for the nightly patrol.
Owen had cooked dinner. Sil joined the clan at the table tonight. The food smelled great.
Despite his sharp teeth, Sil still would eat some fruits and veggies, just as the gargoyles did. And there was plenty of meat.
..............
Later, the clan was ready for patrol.
Brooklyn and Lex were going out to the east. Broadway and Angela were going west. Goliath and Sil were going to do the north. Hudson and Bronx would stay home. Everyone had their communicators with them. Then it was time to go.
Brooklyn gave Sil a nod before he and Lex left on their task.
Sil was a little perplexed about the communicator that he was given. Because he didn't exactly have external ears like his friends, he just had visible earholes, he was given a different kind of communicator. It was one that he would put over his head but wear over his ears. There was a clasping snap that wouldn't let it go flying off his head so easily.
Goliath let the Skeksis climb onto his back before he too took off to the air. Sil didn't look when they took off from the battlements. He had his sword on himself again, tucked under his clothing. Sil wasn't going on patrol without it. It was his only weapon, other than his own teeth and talons, and tail.
Chamberlain felt comfortable in the air now, once he was used to the feeling of gliding. Goliath tried to be careful with him just as any other new person that he would respect.
There wasn't much happening on this night, at least not in the northern part of Manhattan.
................
Lexington saw the look on Brooklyn's face, and he landed. It made his red bro do the same. Their wings needed a break.
"Is something wrong, Brooklyn?" Lex asked.
"I just don't get to hang out with Sil quite as much as I thought I would." he said.
"Sure, you do. We just all have our duties is all. He has his now too. And you know how Goliath tries to keep us evenly spread out. And this is Sil's first patrol, so he wanted him to be with him." Lex stated.
"I know. I just wish I could have gone with them." Brook said.
"I'm sure there'll be another time for that. Depending on what Goliath wants to do."
Brooklyn knew Lex had a point. But he still wondered if Sil was ever going to have to go back home to Thra? What if things got too dangerous for him here?
.................
Most of the patrol was peaceful.
Sil marveled at the sights from above. He also wondered what information he could gain from Goliath, to learn from him what he thought made a great leader. He had hung out with all of the clan but Goliath yet.
"So, how you become leader of your clan?" Sil asked him.
"I was Hudson's second-in-command for a long time back when he used to be the leader of our clan. The night that the Archmage attacked Prince Malcolm with a poison dart, and we had to retrieve the book, the Grimorum Arcanorum, was the same night that Hudson was blinded in his left eye. We got the book back in time to save Malcolm, and my mate at the time, Demona, was telling me that I should be the leader. Hudson kept on hearing us and knew she was right. That was when he gave me the job. But I still had much to learn from him. It was having Hudson around to help guide me that I became the leader that I am now, but I have my own ways of dealing with issues as they come along. And then there's Elisa. She helps me too." Goliath explained.
"What make you and Demona not mates anymore?" Sil asked.
"Just our whole view of the world. Protecting our home and the humans is our job. It gives us our purpose here. Demona fell out of that view a long time ago. She wants to destroy humanity completely. She wants to get rid of me entirely, if she could, just because I don't see things the way she does."
"And yet, both of you find time to mate and have Angela."
"That was before our clan was massacred, Chamberlain. If the clan hadn't been murdered, all of Angela's kin would have been raised communally by the clan. She never would have known I was her father, or that Demona was her mother. We had no favorite hatchlings. We treated them all the same. They wouldn't have been trained to read or write mostly, though some might have. When old enough, they would have been trained to glide and how to use weapons. How to fight in the air. Many things. Even how to hunt game."
"How old are hatchlings when learn to glide?" Sil asked.
"Gargoyles age one half the speed of humans. We age slower than they do. Our eggs take a decade to incubate in the rookery. It's an underground nest that keeps them warm and safe, usually. Hatchlings are at least ten years old before we teach them to glide. They are only five in human years. It takes a while for their wing muscles to have enough strength in them."
"Hmm." Sil hummed. It was interesting. Gargoyles sure had LONG childhoods. "How old is Brooklyn?"
"With this being the year 1996, well, he's almost thirty-eight. He's almost nineteen and a half in human terms. I'm twenty years older than him." Goliath stated.
"How old is Hudson?"
"I can't really say. It's hard to say."
"Old, huh?"
"Old enough. That's enough of that." Goliath ordered.
Suddenly, there were some noises from below. "Do you hear that?" Goliath asked Sil.
"What?"
"Screaming down below. I'm going to check it out." The lavender leader declared, and he headed for ground.
He landed on a building first. Sil got off. "Stay here. I'm going to deal with the humans." Goliath ordered. Then he leapt off the building. He wanted Sil safe and to stay out of trouble.
There were some men trying to mug a woman of her purse and trying to get more. That was something none of the gargoyles would stand for.
Goliath roared and sent some fear ridden men running while some others tried to charge him with their weapons. He easily caught their arms and threw them into walls, knocking some unconscious or they would get up and run off.
Sil noticed a fire escape close by and he began to go down it, to get a closer look. But he saw that Goliath didn't kill the muggers.
Once the men were dealt with, the big gargoyle turned to the lady. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern.
"I uh... yeah." she replied shakily. She began backing up. She was still scared.
Sil got down to just the right spot and the lady looked up at him. Goliath looked up too. "Chamberlain, I told you to stay up there."
"Just want to have closer look." Sil admitted.
The lady was confused but didn't want to stick around. "I uh... gotta go!" she cried out and ran away from them both.
Goliath shook his head in defeat. He was glad that she was safe anyway. He jumped onto the wall and began to climb to the top again. "Go on back up the fire escape, Chamberlain." he ordered.
Sil did as he was told. Once on the building, Goliath got up there. "We'll go home now. It's been an otherwise quiet night." he said.
Sil got onto Goliath's back again. He took off into the night.
From a distance away, there were a group of Quarrymen who were watching the big gargoyle and his passenger fly off. It was ever curious about this new creature that the gargoyle carried on his back. To them, it might be just a wingless gargoyle. But then, a strange creature had killed one of their own not long ago on the night when they had the female cornered and down.
It was only a matter of time before this strange creature paid for what he had done.
...............
They were soon back at the castle.
Goliath headed to the library to read a book he had been reading lately.
Sil went to see if Brooklyn was back yet. He looked all over the castle, but no sign of him. He had Lex obviously weren't back yet. He called him on his new communicator. Brooklyn said they would be home soon.
He headed toward the nursery to see if there was anything he could do.
Alex was asleep and the parents had gone to bed for the night too. He left the room.
It sure could suck to not have a full job like he did in Thra. He went to the TV room to hang with Hudson and Bronx for the time being.
................
Brooklyn, Lex, Broadway and Angela all soon returned finally from their patrols. They had all foiled some muggings and burglars tonight. Now that they were home again, they were ready to relax and do their own things.
Broadway and Angela went for some dinner. Lex went to go work on an invention. Brooklyn went to look for Sil.
He found him with Hudson in the TV room. They were watching some of the news.
"Hey, Sil. We made it back." Brooklyn said.
Sil looked over at him. "Yes. Know." he replied, then turned back to the news.
Brooklyn looked what was going on. They were talking about how some muggers had been found in some of those other places where the gargoyles had been tonight.
"Yeah, those were some of our breakups." Brooklyn chuckled. "They were all no match for us."
"Good going, Laddie." Hudson praised him.
"Did you and Goliath run into trouble at all, Sil?"
"Yes. Goliath stop men from harming woman. I not do anything, just watch from above." Sil replied.
"He's just trying to keep you safe." Hudson said.
"Get it. Just wanted to see action." Sil stated.
"Well, now that I'm back, what do you want to do?"
"Reading sound good or going for food." Sil replied.
"We can grab some sandwiches and go to the library then." Brooklyn insisted.
Sil got up off the couch and went with him. They went to the kitchen too.
Brooklyn made them some lunch meat sandwiches and cheese. Then they went to the library for another reading session for Sil.
...............
It was nearing the end of August and the temperatures during the day were pure scorchers.
Chamberlain found that it was so hot that he had to take all his clothes off just to sleep. He just used a basic sheet now for a blanket. Xanatos gave him a fan to use to help keep cooler, and there was also the air conditioning. It felt so good. He had never experienced anything like this on Thra.
Sure, it got warm there, but not as hot as it was here. Maybe in the Swamp of Sog or something, or maybe in the Crystal Desert, but not otherwise. He just wasn't used to this sort of humidity. When he would leave his room, he would only keep the lightest clothes on.
Sil would sometimes find himself panting to just stay cool. He had never thought he would have to use it. He was also drinking a lot more water when he was up and working too. That was perfectly fine. It sometimes meant more trips to the bathroom, but worth it to keep hydrated in this heat wave.
Nighttime was definitely the better time to be active because it was cooler, but still very warm out. Even the gargoyles felt it. Going out gliding was a good way to get cooled off, other than going swimming or taking showers. Then there was patrolling on rainy nights. Sil wasn't going to go out on rainy nights. To his friends, getting wet in the rain felt so good on a hot summer night.