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 Spacebabie

by: Spacebabie

Email:spacebabie@hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________________

Poachers

_________________________________________________________________________

The hunt had been good recently for the young male leopard. He had caught and killed three different animals that week: two different antelope and a zebra. What he didn’t eat on first night he made the kill he would drag it up into a tree to save for later. He could not remember the last time his belly was that full.

Once he had finished the zebra he had developed an unsatable thirst. He needed to find it’s favorite creek to quench his first. The second his muzzle touch the surface and large rough tongue had begun to lap up the liquid the blood that coated his mouth and chin washed away and became diluted in the water.

He had nearly conquered his thirst when his large ears picked up an alien sound. The large cat raised his head in alarm, just as the explosion was heard and something struck the water, splashing his face. The leopard roared as he ran off, avoiding being shot at the last second again.

"You are a fool," the middle aged man hissed at the other two men clutching onto elephant guns. He brought the flame of his lighter to the cigar clenched between his lips. He and the two hunters he had hired crouched, semi-hidden, around several shrubs.

"Which one of us is a fool?" The pudgier of the two gunmen asked as he readjusted the camaflouge headband, keeping his thick brown curls out of his eyes.

The older man removed the cigar out of his mouth. "Whichever of the two of you can’t seem to hit the leopard. Which I believe would be the both of you."

"Please be a wee bit more kinder," the thinner gunmen said. He had tanned better than the other two men and kept his dark hair cut very short. "We have never hunted leopard before."

The man with the cigar leaned forward and blew smoke into the eyes of the Scotsman. "I thought you said you were both hunters."

"We are," the Scotsman coughed as he waved the smoke away. "But we havnae hunted large predatory beasts before, just deer and rabbits."

"How much harder can it be?"

"A lot harder," Pudgy said.

The Scotsman turned and glared at the older man. "Why don’t you try to see how much harder it is to bring one of those beasts down?"

"Because I am paying you to do the hunting."

"It means ye donae know how ta hunt."

The silver-haired man took another drag from his cigar. "One more word out of you and I’m reducing your pay by half."

"I’m sorry, but if ye want us to hunt ye give us the right pay." He set his gun down and leaned against the nearest tree. "As weather ye bag a leopard or not I donae care."

"I agree," the other poacher set his gun down next to the Scotsman’s and leaned against the tree next to his friend. "Lets see you try to hunt one, or go and hire someone who has more experience in hunting leopards."

Silver glared. "You two are much cheaper than a regular poacher."

"He wants a fancy throw rug, but he doesn’t want to pay top dollar to get it."

"Aye, ye get what ye pay fer."

"I will pay your full price for taking me out today and I’ll slip you some more money if you do manage to bring down a leopard."

The two men stared at each other. The turned one scratched his chin. "I donnae know. That does sound like a better offer, but I want ta know if we should. He might hurt our feelings again."

"You are right I think we have to find some way for him to apologize to us."

Silver rolled his eyes and threw his arms up in frustration. "All right. I’m sorry I called you fools and insulted your skills as hunters. Now will you pick up your guns and join me in the jeep?"

The hunters shook their heads. "Thats not exactly what we want, Mr. Panzer. We want more money."

"How much?"

"Well we are na as greedy as ye may think we are," The Scotsman said. "We want ye to pay us more by a halfway increase."

"Halfway increase," Panzer mumbled as he rubbed the thin mustache under his nose. "Well it’s better than asking for twice what I’m paying them. I’ll do it. Now lets return to the jeep and-" The war cry of a jungle cat cut him off. "Well hello. It sounds like one of them is right near us."

The Scotsman was the first to go for his gun. His hands were about to grab onto the handle when a large black paw beat him to it. He looked up and met the golden gaze of a large panther. The feral roar bought an icy chill sliding down his spine. The Scotsman froze with terror. He didn’t know if it was lack of movement that prevented the beast from attacking, The cat just kept his gaze fixed with the hunters while growling. It was am magnificent creature to behold with only a strange pale marking like four scratch marks on his shoulder. He slowly stepped back from the creature.

At the sight of the panther, the other hunter threw himself back against the tree. Like his partner he did not removed his eyes from the beast. There was something unusual about the creature. It appeared it was wearing something around it’s neck. Growling from above him was enough to wrench his stare from the panther and into the tree. He nearly fell over when he saw the second panther. It was smaller than the first and seemed to be lighter in color. He swore he saw the glint of gold in it’s ears.

"Donae say anything too loud and donae make any sudden movements." The Scottish hunter continued to walk backwards. He waited until the other hunter had joined his side before their steps increased in speed.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Panzer asked. He was not aware his cigar was almost all ash. "Comeback here and help me. Don’t tell me you are afraid of a panther."

"Not one panther, two panthers," the pudgier hunter responded before both men turned around and made a dash for the jeep.

Panzer watched as the one panther that wore a unique necklace smack the one gun away from it. The creature crawled after it and kicked the gun away further. The silver-maned man inched himself toward the other gun and quickly snatched it up. "I don’t really care much for panthers. Their fur is quite bland, but if it means life or death I’ll shoot one of you."

Two roars caused him to nearly drop the gun. it was almost like they were in stereo with one in the tree in from of him and another behind him. He turned around to see a third had joined. Like the first panther it was large and probably a male. It’s fur had taken on the color of burnt cinnamon where the sun had touched it and had a deep blue bandanna wrapped around it’s neck.

The other cat roared from the branches over head and Panzer leaped back, his body colliding with the trunk. The panther in the tree had jumped down joining the third. Her charcoal colored fur was easily distinguished from the males’.

"Stay away from me," he aimed his gun with shaking hands at them. "I will shoot."

"No you will not," the accented voice was heard before the click of the gun near his head. Panzer turned to see two guns pointed at him. They were held by two humans in what appeared to be traditional safari wear. They were dressed in matching Khaki shorts, rugged leather hiking boots, pith helmets and red bandanna’s wrapped around their necks. The collars of their pale yellowish green shirts were folded over the red cloth."Put down your gun and keep your hands where we can see you."

Panzer wondered how could they seem so cool when he was completely covered with sweat. His clothes appeared clear as they stuck to his skin. "The panthers."

"The panthers are the ones who have brought us here," The American woman said. Her long sleek dark hair tied in the ponytail coupled with her Mediterranean features made Panzer wonder if she was of either Italian or Greek decent.

"Brought you to me?" He turned to his left to see three more of the uniformed environmentalists. One of them lowered his gun and approached the female panther. He held his hand out in front of her and to Panzer’s surprise, she placed her paw in his hand. It looked like both panthers were smiling, but that was impossible. Without having much choice Panzer slowly set the rifle down and stood back up with both hands in the air.

___________________________________________________________________________

The main head quarters of The Sanctuary resembled a summer camp with large houses made of dark wood and red brick, providing places for the rangers to sleep and relax. They were even larger houses used as a cafeteria, jailhouse for poachers and illegal tree cutters, a main rec house and buildings used to plan the patrol routes and meetings. A large dirt parking lot in the back was used to store the jeeps and a stone building near the lot was used to shelter the sanctuary’s secret night time helpers. The whole campground was surrouend by a tall brick wall with two large wooden doors.

The team of environmental rangers nearly danced as they approached the steps of the main lodge of the sanctuary. There were not able to catch any of the two illegal hunters but they did manage to arrest the man who hired them. Once Panzer was locked up in their holding cell Fara Maku called it a day.

"If Mr. Aboah wants me tell him I will be in the shower," Fara yawned. He had already slid off the leather vest from his back. He was still wearing his faded shirt with sleeves barely long enough to cover up the claw like marks on his shoulder.

"Are you going to bed already?" Tea asked. She had switched her old city outfit for a pair of shorts the rangers wore as part of their uniform along with a breathable cotton halter top. The top was cut near the midriff giving Fara a pleasant view of his wife’s flat stomache.

"I’m not sleepy, just a little tense." He grabbed onto his shoulders and the back of his neck to point out where his muscles are sore.

Her cocoa brown eyes shone with compassion. "Ah my poor man. Do you need a back rub?" She took his shoulders into his hands and began to rub.

He chuckled and reached for her hands, enjoying the feeling of her fingers in his own "I love to feel your hands in mine, but unfortunately they do not have the power to shoot streams of hot water down my body, and they do nothing to make me clean."

"Ah," her voice had taken on a deeper timber. "Then perhaps it would be best if I joined you. I need to get clean myself and you are excellent at cleaning those hard to reach areas."

"I hate to interrupt," the two werepanthers stepped back from eachother and turned to who had addressed them. The red head stood only a few inches shorter than Fara. He was dressed in a white T-shirt, khaki shorts that was more golden than the pairs the rest of the rangers wore. A navy blue bandanna was tied around his neck. Chak’s creamy skin was dappled with freckles of a copper hue. "Aboah wishes to see us."

Tea sighed and slipped away from her husband. "I have to go."

"He said he wanted to see all three of us."

"I do not wish to stink up his office," Fara shrugged. "I need to shower."

"I’m sure he will under stand," Tea followed behind the other man. Her eyes lingered on her husband for a few seconds before turning around.

___________________________________________________________________________

The office of James Aboa was covered in paneling of a rich dark wood. His large desk, covered with a girafe printed thin synthetic cloth, was made of the same wood as the desk. The floor was lined with a thin burgundy colored carpet. Framed posters advertising Greenpeace, The National Wildlife association and other environmental groups decorated the walls.

Aboa reached into his top drawer when he heard the knock to the door. "Come in." He pulled out a dark brown bottle of scotch and three glasses carved out of fine crystal. Aboah smiled at Tea and Chak as the entered. "Would you care for some Scotch?"

"I do not drink," Tea replied. "But thank you for the offer."

"Liar," Chak said in a high thin voice while staring at Aboah’s ceiling.

"That is not a lie." She fought to keep from smiling.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire. You enjoy wine and wine coolers."

"It’s only a half lie," she playfully slapped his shoulder. "I do not drink hard liquor."

"Then you should have been a bit more specific."

"You two act like brother and sister," Aboah chuckled. He had twisted the cap of the small bottle nearly full of amber liquid. "And what about you Chak? I know you like a good brandy or bourbon."

"Normally I’d join you but I’m hungry," Chak said. "And if I drink on an empty stomach and then eat I’ll get sick."

"I understand." Aboah removed his large straw hat from his head and set it on the floor. His choice of headware was a bit eccentric and clashed with the rest of his style. The man preferred neatly pressed starch white suits. "I have learned the three of you have caught a poacher who is not a hunter." He removed the lid from his gold plated ice bucket and with the matching tongs placed three of the round cubes in his glass.

"He complied with us on our way back," Chak said. "The man is a bit of a male version of Cruella De Vill. He preferred his skins to have spots, that is why he hired two hunters to bring down a leopard for him.

"He is a bit of a slick one," Tea added. "He didn’t want to waste too much money to get the skin he desired so instead of hiring poachers who have hunted jungle cats he hires two hunters who are used to hunting deer and elk."

"In otherwords non endangered animals?" Aboah asked.

"Exactly," Tea narrowed her eyes. "When I asked he answered he loved the spots. If it didn’t have spots then he wouldn’t have wanted it."

"That was the reason why they were hunted in the first point. It’s the same with the tigers in Asia and the jaguars of South America. The want the fur because it’s pretty and not because they want to stay warm."

"If they wanted spots then why don’t they take the skins of gurney cows?" Chak asked. "At least with the cows the meat is delicious."

"Well I never tried to eat leopard meat, so I can not be quite certain if that belief is solid." He picked up his glass and wriggled the contents, causing the ice to clink against the glass. "However I care not to test that theory."

Chak noticed the way Tea was staring at him. "I’m sorry I’m hungry."

"If you are hungry then you should go, I don’t want to keep your stomachs rumbling. Go and eat and be merry." He held up his glass to toast them. "I merely summoned you weres here so I can congratulate you on a job well done." He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip.

"Thank you," Chak said as he and Tea left the room.

________________________________________________________________________

Chak swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched Cassie take a tray from the stack and slid it down the metal railing. She had switched from her uniform to pair of denim shorts and white peasant blouse. The Dutchman kept his eyes pinned to her toned back and curved bottom, almost wishing he were the shorts.

"Why don’t you talk to her?" Tea asked from behind him. Chak stood rigid. He was too shocked to jump. Feeling his heartbeat return to normal he turned around and gave Tea a questioning glance. "I know you like Cassie. You watch her a lot and when you two are alone and talking about the little things you smile. Why don’t you tell her how you truly feel?"

"Because of this," he peeled up his shirt sleeve, exposing the claw like scratch marks on his shoulder. "She is a tolerant of what we are and a good friend but I don’t think she will date me because of this."

Tea bit her lip. Her first instinct was to say she was sorry for placing the mark of the panther on him but she remembered what he was like before she marked him. He was a poacher for hire who hunted animals illegally. She had no idea she could pass the curse to anyone else.

It was a little over two years ago when she and Fara were recently hired by Aboah to help protect endangered animals in the sanctuary. Both she and Fara were surprised to see The Sanctuar was also home to the last gargoyle lcans in Africa. One of the first assignments was to seek out who were killing Rhinoceroses. The evidence lead to Chak and two other hunters who were being paid by a millionaire to hunt down Rhinos. She had pounced first and landed on the hunter with the red hair. Her claws sank into his shoulder and left a mark. She and Fara learned about Chak’s condition during his first night in the holding cell. They raced into the scene after the guardsmen had called for them. In the small jail they had found two frightened hunters and one confused panther. Fara climbed inside and helped calm Chak long enough for him to return to his human form.

He didn’t immedietly change his ways. He He only began to think differently after he had first saw his first skinned panther. He felt sick. Gradually he became hateful of those who hunt for sport and not for food.

"I know this might sound clinched, but you will never know unless you try."

Chak sighed. "It’s not that simple. If I ask her and she says yes it will be great, but if I ask her and she says no then things will be awkward."

"You feel that the possibility of you being awkward outweighs the possibility of her liking you?"

He nodded. "It’s not just that. I guess I am not truly comfortable with myself. There are still some minor details about being a werepanther that is aggravating too me. I’m afraid she might be comfortable with me as we date, but if it grows more and we wish to take our love to the next level she might be disgusted. There is also the fact I might hurt her or..." His eyes met with Tea’s. "I might pass the curse to her."

She sighed and took his hand. "You do have that possibility and I know what its like to be transformed by a person you believed cared for."

"Fara does care for you greatly."

She held up her hand with her ring. "I know. That is why I married him, but after I became a werepanther I was angry at the one who changed me."

"You understand Why I’m afraid." He grabbed his own tray and slid it while the cooks placed steaming spoons of mixed vegetables and rice onto his tray.

"I also understand regret weighs more on the soul than fear. Ask her out."

"It’s not just I’m afraid she might hate me if she does become a panther. I’m afraid someone would see her panther form and try to kill her for her coat." He shuddered. "I did not want to tell Aboah but everyday we go out as panthers I’m afraid I will end up at someone’s trophy."

"I know it won’t change he fact you were hunted, but they won’t be able to take your fur. If you are killed in your panther form you will change back into a human."

"That was only slightly reassuring." He watched as thin slices of broiled meat were placed on his tray. "May I ask what I’m eating?"

"Beef," The cook behind the counter replied.

"Thank you," for nearly a week they have been eating strange meat from wildebeests, gazelles, ostriches and zebra. He didn’t really mind eating the former. He equated eating them to eating cow, deer, and really big chicken. Zebra was unsettling. After he had finished his meal he imagined himself eating the meat from horses. Whether it was the zebra meat or his psychology of eating a horse like creature he had stayed up the entire night with a severe case of heartburn.

"You look like you have came across an old friend you haven’t seen in years," Tea noticed the way he was staring at his food.

"It’s beef, good old cow meat."

"We haven’t had this in a while."

"I don’t care if it’s wildebeest, as long as it’s not zebra."

"Zebra does not agree with your stomach. Follow me I’ll find a seat. You are afraid of her safety in case she does become a werepanther?"

Chak walked behind her as they wove through the small tables and chairs. "I know its a what if story. What if a frog had wings? It wouldn’t bump it’s ass whenever it hopped. but it’s not just that. There is also the fact I was a poacher."

"She has forgiven you like the rest of us have." She smiled at the table in front of her. Cassie was sitting at the table along with two other coworkers. "Hello Cassie."

"Hi Tea, Hi Chak," the Italian-American smiled back. "Why don’t you sit down with us."

"Why thank you," Tea set her tray down on the table and stared up at Chak. The red head met her gaze with a glare. She gave him a wink.

"That was a bit of a thrilling experience today wasn’t it?"

"Yes it was." Tea reached for the small pepper shaker. She noticed Chak hadn’t said anything. She leaned her leg over his and stomped on his foot.

Chak let out a small grunt. "I almost thought he was going to shoot us. Thank goodness you got him to surrender."

Cassie smiled and shrugged. "I think you were the ones who had him scared."

Tea leaned over and whispered in his ear. "You are going to keep talking to her, Chester Kriegle, and I’m going to make sure you ask her out. If you are quiet for too long or chicken out I will stomp on your foot again."

Chak forced his mouth into a grin. "But it was you and the rest of the rangers who got him to surrender." Tea was going to owe him after tonight.

___________________________________________________________________________

The two ivory jeeps with the symbol of the sanctuary logos on the sides pulled up to the entrance. Several uniformed rangers stepped out of their vehicle and rushed to greet their coworkers. Some of them were armed and approached the second jeep as the rangers within stepped out and pushed two strangers out. Both had their hands handcuffed behind their back.

One man stepped away from the jeep, his eyes fixed on the sky above him. He was tall and carried a lot of weight through out his body. He wasn’t chubby or stocky, he was fat with a stomach that bulged out over his belt. His thighs were thick like tree trunks and ponch clung to his arms. His plump hands ended in sausage like fingers. His cheeks bulged out slightly and had a second chin. His brown hair was styled in a mohawk that was growing out. He was dressed in white suit with fancy dress shorts instead of pants.

"Hey Jared do you want to report to About about out latest catch?" One of the rangers asked the overweight man. He was pointing to the two handcuffed men. Both were dressed differently but the wore matching olive green vests with frayed edges. "I think they are part of an orginization.

"In a bit," Jared waved to them and stepped back as large from landed in front of him. "I want to make sure credit goes where credit is due"

The large being stood to it’s full seven foot height and stepped into the light. The glow of the outside lights shone on his copper hued skin. Large blue wings each with a smaller strut on the top and bottom were folded across his chest and nestled against he armored vest made of thick wooden beads. His black hair started at the top of his head spread out and grew to the middle of neck, forming a thick lion like mane. His long thin tail also ended with the furry tuft of a lion. A row of thick bumps lined the tops of his eyes, three bumps each, and a short spike on each side of the bumps. His long nose was humanoid in appearance as were the shape of his eyes and his jaw with two small scar like markings, markings that earned him his name

"You have done great work Kuvo," Jared congratulated the gargoyle.

The lion-maned gargoyle smiled, his lower fangs protruded over his lips. "We have all on great work." He waved to the six gargoyles who had landed on the fence. I hope the rest of team as the same amount of luck as we had."

"If this organization is hunting closer to headquarters I am sure they will round up many of their members."

"This is true," Kuvo narrowed his brow ridges. "I only wish Sarafina and the others did not join them."

"Do not worry too much. Hopefully she will learn what she accuses Aboah of are false. Come my friend. Let us retreat to your dining hall where the plates are set for us."

The gargoyle turned to the six resting on the wall. "The others will return soon, lets us enjoy the feast Aboah has set out for us." The six forms vanished from the fence. Seconds pass and six more gargoyles land on the lush ground. Their bodies bathed in the sunlight were of a variety of colors: deep green, light blue, silver, orange, pale lemon yellow, and one who was of a vraity colros thanks to the layer of down like feathers covering her body. She was mostly light yellowish green with a white chest that ran all the way down to the top of her black dress. Her long flowing thin feathers that made up her hair was pale blue. Her neck had a stripe of pink, giving the resemblance of a necklace Her legs were a darker green than the rest of her body and shifited to blue as they neared her ankles. Her feathery wings were a mixture of blue and green. Like Kuvo she folder her wings into a feathery cloak about her shoulders.

"Have the hatchlings already eaten?" The female gargoyle parted her rose colored parrot like beak to speak.

"They are just now enjoying their dessert," Jared said with a smile.

Kuvo chuckled. "I believe it would be best if joined them before they have eaten everything."

"You are wise to believe that my love." She held out a hand for him to take.

He placed her hand into his. "Then we shall go, Bitamba."

Jared leaned back against one of the poles holding up the roof awning. "I will wait for the rest of your clan to return," He watched as they walked past him.

"Would you like me to bring you back something to eat?" Kuvo asked. "I will prepare a plate for you."

"I appreciate it," Jared smiled.

__________________________________________________________________________

Cassie Farelli brought a delicate hand to her mouth as she yawned. The post dinner shift was boring that night with nothing behind hunted, nor any sign of illegal deforestation. She tried to look on the upside on the situation. It was good for the trees and animals that there was no illegal activity, but it was dull just driving around the paths without something going on. They could at least stop and stretch their legs. The only reason she agreed to do the post dinner shift was so she could have some exercise to burn off the calories.

"Maybe I shouldn’t think about it like that," she mumbled to herself. She didn’t want to get that way where she counted every calorie that passed through her lips and compulsively exorcised. She never starved herself or forced herself to vomit. Her past habits were still unhealthy to her system.

"Shouldn’t think about it like what?" The other passenger in the back seat asked.

She shrugged and stared out the window. "Nevermind, Rudy. it was all in the past anyways, and I don’t want to get involved with that." She leaned back in the seat and focused on her thoughts. Tomorrow she and Chak were going to the nearest town to pick up some supplies. They were getting low on bug spray and she needed to buy some more toothpaste. She had no idea why Chak kept acting nervous when he asked to go with her, nor why he kept grunting while they were eating.

The vehicles sudden stop jarred her out of her thoughts. She grabbed on to the upholstery and stared ahead. "Why did we stop?"

"I’m not sure," the driver reached over for the keys and turned off the nudging. "but by the jarring I’m pretty sure we have a flat." He exited the vehicle first followed by the other woman and Rudy. Cassie slid out the keep last and approached the small gathering in front of the right wheel.

"What we looking for?" She ran her hands through her long dark ponytail. Well she got what she asked for. They have stopped and gotten out.

The driver stroked the front right tire. It hung around the wheel limply. Part of the rubber bulged out like a popped gum bubble. "Looking for what caused the flat." He slid his fingers down the rubber. Cassie expected him to find a sharp root, or stone, or thick thorn, or possibly even a nail. What he pulled out were two thin pieces of wood hammered together with sharp spokes poking through. "What is this?" The driver held it out carefully for all to see.

"It looks like sloppy craftsmanship," the other woman said. "Someone was too embarked with the turnout of it they just threw it out here and hoped no one would find it?"

"I wouldn’t be so sure," the Rudy shook his head. "I have seen this happen in Columbia. Eco-terrorists would leave them around on the paths woodcutters, the ones who were legally cutting trees, would drive on. They do it in hopes to puncture their tires."

"This is deliberate?"

"I’m sad to say it’s true."

"Do they think they can prevent the wood from being cut by temporary causing damage to their cars?"

"They know it won’t stop people from cutting trees," Cassie said. "The only do it as means to try to get their message across, even though it is a lousy way of protesting."

"Why?" The driver had not let go of the spiked planks. "Why are ecoterrorists trying to stop us? We are the ones protecting the environment."

"Maybe they meant it for the poachers and tree cutters," Cassie suggested. "I’m sure they didn’t want to ruin our tires."

"You are quite mistaken my dear," Cassie turned towards the stranger’s voice. Three men dressed in camaflouge shirts and shorts were on the path behind them. Each one aiming a gun at three heads. Cassie knew the guns were still in the jeep, but she wasn’t sure if she could make it to them in time. More clicking brought her focus to three left and saw two more gunmen and to the right where there was yet two more.

"We surrender," The driver’s voice had and acidic tone, as if he had tasted something foul recently. Cassie and the others raised their arms while the strangers with guns approached them.

The deep lion like roar brought relief to Cassie. Whether it was an actual jungle cat or a gargoyle it was a welcome sight. She stared up and smiled at the sight of the large winged creature making it’s decent to land. Her smile faded when the gargoyle turned out to be one she had never seen before. There were green gargoyles in Kuvo’s clan, but none were a grayish green shade that would help other creatures like it blend in with the botanical surroundings. It’s strange mottled coloring became more clear as it approached her. It wasn’t a mottling of a darker color. They were deep brown path like spots, like the pattern of a giraffe only smaller. A short brush like mane sprouted from behind its short knobby horns and extend to the base of the neck. It was dressed differently from Kuvo’s clan. It wore thin white material for short sleeved shirt on top and olive green camaflogue shorts.

"Help has arrived," the Cassie slwoly lwoered her arms despite the strange gargoyle’s growling.

"I don’t think so," One of the gunmen said. "He’s with us." Two more gargoyles landed, each dressed the same as the first one. They approached the rangers with their eyes illuminated.

"We have surrendered," the other owman said. "Unless you wish to kill us."

"Not all of you, and not all at ones." The first gunmen set his weapon down and pulled out a knife. "I think we just need to pick one of you so we can get ours message across. Now which one?" He pointed the tip of his blade at Cassie. "I’ll guess we just have to do this the old fashion way. Eeni, meeny, miney, moe..."

_________________________________________________________________________

They were taken to a place surrounded by stone walls. The poachers called it an abandoned city but as they drove through the winding walls Cassie felt more like they were being taken through a maze.

Cassie felt herself being shoved into the wooden cage first. It wasn’t so much as a harsh push as it was a nudge. Behind her Rudy and Octavia were shoved in. She waited until she heard the door to the cage close behind before she dropped to her knees and threw up. It was the second time she threw up that night. The first was when the blade of the poacher swung down and the sickening sound of cartilage and skin being sliced through made her double over. None of the others threw up, although she heard a muffled scream from Octavia and Rudy fighting hard to keep from vomiting himself. What made her even more ill was the fact the other poachers were grinning. At least the gargoyles seemed uncomfortable with the display.

"I think I’m about to throw up myself this time." Rudy crouched down beside her.

"Where is Amakye?" Octavia asked "What have you done with him?" The guard didn’t bother to fully turn around to face her. He just turned slightly to gave her a good view of his guns as he rubbed it. "It will take more than that to shut me up." The guard turned around completely and shoved the blunt end of the weapon into her ribs.

"Maybe that will keep your lips from moving," the guardsman growled as he lowered his gun. "The clan leader will speak after your friend has returned."

"All we want to know is where he is," Cassie said weakly. Her color was returning to her face and she felt the strength return to her legs. She wiped the moisture off the corner of her mouth. "And I need some water." The guard who had addressed them whispered into the ear of the woman standing next to him. As soon as she left Rudy placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you feeling better," He asked. The greenish tint to his own skin was slowly fading from his face. His lips no longer seemed pale.

"I think I can stand. What about you?"

"My stomach is telling me I should stay down here a little bit longer."

Cassie nodded before she slowly stood up. She didn’t want to rise too fast less she felt a dizzy spell. "Octavia. how are you holding up?"

"I have been thouh much worse," Octavia stepped away from the entrance to the cage. "How are you two doing?"

"So far Rudy has yet to throw up and I’m no longer feeling any urges. I wish I was strong like you."

"If you knew what it took to get strong I think you would change your mind." She stared back at the door and smiled when the female guard had turned. She wasn’t alone. She led the driver who had the left side of his head covered in bandages and two other guards behind him. The one who shoved his gun into Octavia’s chest unlocked the door to the cage and stepped back long enough to allow the driver to step inside. The female guard held out canteens. each one was full of water.

"Are you okay?" Octavia asked the driver.

"You are going to have to speak louder than that," one of the guards bringing up the rear said. He was the one who had cut the driver. "He can’t hear as well as he used to."

"You bastard!" Octavia threw herself against the door. Her arms slipped through the bars and lashed at him.

"Stay back!" The guard who rammed his gun into her before shoved the snub towards her chest again. She jumped back before the metal could come in contact with her skin.

"Such a fierce spirit, you may be next after we are done cutting him up," the cutter sneered.

"You are going to cut more?" Cassie grabbed her mouth the second she asked, but knew it was too late. They had heard her question.

The poacher with the knife turned to the female guard and snatched the canteen’s out of her hands. "You better have something to drink. You may need it." He slid the containers through the bars, letting them drop into a neat little pile on the ground. He watched as both women grabbed onto the containers. The African woman handed one to the man with the bandages while the Italian gave her second one to the man still crouched on the ground. "We have already started with the ear and are going to give your team 24 hours to release their most recent captives or we’ll cut again."

"Both ears?" Cassie whispered.

"His tongue and then his nose, and then his big toe, and then his smallest finger, followed by a foot and then a hand and if they still haven’t met my demands-"

"You are not going to kill him!" Rudy shouted. His strength had returned from sipping the water and he stood up to his full height.

The poacher waggled his finger back and forth while he made clicking sounds with his tongue against his teeth. "Do not jump the gun again. We are not going to kill him, not yet. We are going to cut off his sweets and leave another message. The message will be he only has twenty four hours to live before we cut off his head and mail it to your headquarters."

"You bastard," Octavia hissed.

"I don’t know who the other two we caught are," Cassie stared into the eyes of the poacher and felt a chill down her spin. There was hardly any glint of sanity. "I can’t believe a guy like Panzer would be part of this group."

"Who?" The poacher shook his head. "For all I care you can keep this Panzer. We want our team mates." Another man approached him and whispered into his ear. "The clan leader wishes to speak with you."

"Sarafina?" Rudy asked.

"You remembered," the voice that answered was female. The poachers stepped back to allow two gargoyles to approach. The first one was clearly female with large breasts pushing against the confines of camaflouge halter top. Her large eyes twinkled over a long nose ending with small nostrils. Her rose colored skin was dappled with bright golden cheetah like spots . Smaller spots adorned the back of her hands, on top of her feet. For tiny dots were on her thick brow ridges and three more were under her large eyes. Two tall spiral horns poked through her black plaited hair on the top of her head. Three strands of wooden beads were wrapped around her neck. Large earrings hung from each lobe.

While the female gargoyle was breathtakenly beautiful all four pairs of eyes were instantly drawn to the hulking beast behind her. Standing at nearly eight feet tall and covered with thick gray skin was the biggest gargoyle they had ever seen. His large dinner plate sized ears twitched at every other second. A short patch of thick black tufts was almost like a crown on the top of his head. His brow ridges slouched over his dark liquid like eyes. His lower lip hung slightly with two long ivory tusks protruding from each side of his mouth. The most distinguished feature was a long nose that hung all the way down to his stomach.

The female gargoyle approached the cage first. She placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head side to side while inspecting each one. It made Cassie feel nervous, like she was selecting the winner of a beauty pageant. The gargoyle turned back to the insane poacher and pointed at the driver."Why is this man bleeding?"

Amakye blinked at her question. He thought this gargoyle would have known about his plight. "That man cut off my ear." He pointed at the man with sandy blond and gray hair.

The large male gargoyle’s ears twitched. "Is this true, Baker?"

"I’ll be lying if I say that it I didn’t do it."

"Why?"

The crazy poacher held out his hand at in an almost prayer like pose. "We needed a bargaining chip if Aboah is going to let our men go free."

"And what if he refuses?" The cheetah spotted gargoyle asked.

"Keep cutting him," another poacher said. "and cutting him, and cutting him until-" The man pulled a finger across his throat while making a coughing hiss from the back of his throat.

"We will not kill, and we not torture. We shall not lower ourselves to Aboah’s level."

"Aboah never tortured everyone," Octavia said. "You ccues of him of doing something horrible to your clan, but you won’t say what, nor do you provide any evidense. The gargoyle’s expression shifted from disgust to malice.

"You do not want to know what evil man is capable of doing," The female gargoyle rushed to their cage as she gnashed he fangs. Her talons curled around the wooden bars. "Unless you do know what he does." Crimson flashed across her eyes briefly.

"He is in charge of the sanctuary," Rudy said. "He’s the man who set up our organization."

"And provides your checks."

"He started the organization to protect endangered land," Octavia explained. "He set up base in an area that suffered the most from deforestation and illegal hunting. That land maintains the law of the Nigerian government. Hunting and cutting down trees is illegal there."

"You are naive as Kuvo."

Cassie walked up to her boldly. She had grown to respect gargoyles since she was accepted by Aboah. She would not back down in fear from one, not even a gargoyle who seems to have lost the way. "Kuvo is the leader of the clan. He works with us to protect the land."

"He is not the leader of my clan," the gargoyle raised a fist. "We left because he refused to listen to the truth."

"What he does is protect the endangered animals from poachers." She pointed at the man who cut off the driver’s ear. "Men and women like him. Those who don’t care they are hunting down an endangered species just as long as they can have their skins.

"Don’t you talk down to me like that. Kuvo thinks he is protecting the endangered ones by being with that human, but he is letting those who are truly endangered to die. A species that is not well known as the leopards and black rhino."

"Which species is that?" Octavia asked.

"Us."

Octavia slammed her fist against the bars causing it to rattle an even surprising the gargoyle. "You value your own hides more than those of what you should be protecting?"

"Never say that word in front of me again. Protecting. Kuvo thinks he protecting one kind of creature while he allows his clan to come too close to danger."

"So you sided with this filth?" Octavia pointed at the poachers. "Is it out of spite?"

The spotted gargoyle shook her head. "It is because I need them to help me take down your organization."

"Then why trade us?" Rudy asked. "why not just keep us."

"Because we need our side."

Cassie glanced over to the poachers. The glint in the man who cut the driver sent a chill down her spine. "You don’t mean to let us go. Once you have your men you will just keep us here."

The female gargoyle shook her head. "Do not confuse me with a human, child. We will make sure you are freed once the trade had been made," she glanced to where the poachers watched her. "Even if they won’t allow you to escape." She turned around letting her tail ending in a pointed tip with three short spurs on each side to lash from side to side. The lashing of her tail decreased as she increased the speed of her foot steps.

The large gray gargoyle did not follow after his leader. He turned back to the cage and gave them a sympathetic look. "Please do not judge Sarafina to harshly. This split has taken a toll on her. She is very protective of our clan. We were not big before the split. We only numbered in thirty one. Thirty eight if you count the seven who decided to play gods in the far north."

"The others are more familiar with the divide than I am," Cassie said. "I have only been with the sanctuary for five months, but from what I gather is they don’t know the real reason why you left." The elephant like head nodded. "What is this thing she accuses Aboah of that is so harsh she would take half the clan with her."

"I would tell you, but we do not trust you. We don’t know how loyal you are to Aboah. You may be so loyal to him that you would protect him no matter what I say, or you would not believe my words."

"If you told us we might believe you, Mokae." Octavia said

Mokae shook his head. "I’m sorry but we are not ready, and you are not ready." The large gargoyle lumbered off in the same path Sarafina took minutes earlier.

"So what do we do now?" Rudy asked.

"We can’t do much," Octavia removed the cork from her canteen. "We can’t try to possibly escape, not when we are such under heavy guards and in the middle of this maze. It will be hard to try to find a way out."

"The best we can hope for is they will give us food and water and Chak and the others will find us." She lowered her body to the ground and folded her legs. Why did she say Chak and not Tea, Fara Maku, or one of the other games keepers? Why was the Dutch werepanther on her mind?

__________________________________________________________________________

Several search and rescue groups were formed. They filled the jeeps and drove off into different directions. They also made sure each jeep had a working radio. Tea rode along with a group of nine. They had to use two jeeps to be able to carry everyone.

"We have not found a single one of them," Fara Maku’s voice vibrated over the radio. "I do not know about the rest of you."

"It is the same for us," Aboah said. Even he had gone out to search for the missing four.

"The same here."

"Nothing to find at all."

"Ditto."

"We read you all loud and clear," the woman behind the wheel of Tea’s jeep said. "And hate to report we found nothing." She reattached the speaker to it’s cradle. "How much longer should we search?"

Tea kept her eyes on the dense foliage at the sides of the paths. She did not want to loose hope. She had to find the others. "An hour and we’ll check with the others."

"We may need to check in sooner," the man sitting next to the driver said. "We did not bring anything to refuel our vehicles with."

"We’ll drive until they are half empty and then return. We will have enough to make it home."

The man sitting next to her turned around. His beady blue eyes narrowed. "I do not think that is a good idea. we may have to leave sooner. Something could go wrong and we’d end up walking home."

"And we cannot let our friends down."

"What if we end up stranded out here? How will-" he jarred forward in his seat. His sea belt keeping his body from completely falling against the bumper, allowing him to only be rattled slightly. "Why did we stop?"

The driver unbuckled her restraint and turned off the engine. "Look." She pointed at the ground in front of the car. Someone had gathered a handful of small stone and lady them out in an arrangement that was the same shape as an arrow.

"What is it?" The man sitting on Tea’s left asked.

"It is a trap," the man sitting in shotgun said. "It is something used to lead us to a trap."

"If they wanted to lead us into a trap then why would they make it so obvious?" Tea asked. "Would they not want us to see that?"

The man with blue eyes shrugged. "They make it obvious because they want to think it is not a trap because they made it appear so obvious."

"This can go on all day," the lady behind the wheel said.

"I agree," Tea and the man on her right said a the same time.

"We can drive slowly," the female driver said. "Try to proceed with caution." She slowly state back down. Horns beeped at her form behind. She turned to see the other jeep paused behind them. The driver in that vehicle waving his arms frantically.

"Hey! Why did we stop?"

"We may have found a clue!" The female driver shouted before she turned around and slid back into her seat. "Idiot."

The continued along the path driving over the arrows as they appeared and only changing paths when the arrows changed direction. Tea had counted five when one veered in direction and pointed to a small path that was too small for he vehicles.

The driver slowly pulled to a stop. "End of the road."

Tea didn’t even wait until they had fully stopped before she leaped out. She pushed some of the shrubbery a side and noticed a small arrow made from twigs pointing forward. "The path continues."

"I still say it’s a trap," Beady eyes pulled his pith helmet tighter on his head. "You are not going to expect me to go out there."

"I don’t care if you do or not," She stared at him coldly before she concentraited on her form and felt the familiar burning pain. Her cloths seemed to magically melt away to reveal dark charcoal gray fur sprouting on her skin. Her hands changed shape, becoming slight smaller and thicker. Her fingers shifted into round thick toes ending in retractable claws. She fell on the ground whole her transformation continued. Her bones and muscles reformed themselves, becoming a sleek animal shape. Her hers changed form and moved from the side of her head to the top while her jaw and nose grew into a muzzle. Her eyes went from brown to gold while her pupils changed shape from round to oval.

Tea turned her head at the sound of people approaching and noticed a small handful of the rangers had joined her. There were a few from each car including the female driver and the man sitting on her left.

"Can you sniff out potential traps?" One of the rangers asked.

Tea’s tail slowly rose until the tip pointed skyward. Her ears flattened slightly while she made a soft growl in the back of her throat. It was her way of telling people she wasn’t quite sure when she was in her panther form. She lowered her head to the wooden arrow. There was the scent of humans. Unfamiliar humans, and another scent that was slightly familiar. She snapped up her head in surprise. She could have sworn she smelled the scent of gargoyles.

Tea lead the Rangers, sniffing out any possible danger. She could only sniff out the clean scent of the jungle and the familiar odor of humans. She could not smell anything that resembled Cassie, nor Rudy, nor Octavia, or Amakye at first. She paused when she finally began to pick up the faint odor of Amakye. As she continued to follow the arrows the scent grew. There was something odd about the scent. He almost smelled dead. No, She cannot allow her to think that.

The arrows lead to a tall and thick tree with a reddish brown circle painted on it. The center of the circle. there was a strange short branch sticking out of the middle of the circle and had something resembling a piece of paper hanging from it. As Tea neared it she noticed it wasn’t a branch but a knife pinned into the bark and the paper was paper. It was a note of some sort.

Tea shifted back into a human before she approached the tree. There was something that she had missed. Surrounding the blade was a strange roundish piece of brown leather. With one quick pull she slid the sharp blade from the wood and bent down to retrieve the fallen note and scrap of leather. It wasn’t leather. It was a human ear. Parts of the flesh was eaten away by insects. If she were in her panther form she wouldn’t have felt the nausea gripping the interior walls of her stomach.

"What is it?" The driver of her jeep asked. Tea gave her a weak glance and handed her both the ear and the note. The driver took one glance at what was placed in her hands and dropped them.

"Oh my God," One of the men from the other jeep gasped.

With shaking hands the driver picked up the note and ear and handed the slimy piece of flesh to one of the other rangers. "They want their men back. The ones we caught last night. They will give back our people once we have complied. If we don’t" She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "If we don’t do what they ask they will continue cutting off body parts and sending them back to us. The last part they will send us is their heads."

"Not if we find out where they are and free our friends first." Tea gave the handle of the knife to her driver. "Lower it to me after I change. I will need to get their scent." For the second time that day she shifted into her panther form. Only her earrings remained unaffected by the change.

"I hope there is enough of their scent on the blade," the other woman said as she allowed the panther to sniff the knife. Her dark event nose wrinkled she tried to inhale every scent form the blade.

The panther quickly changed back into her human form. "I have the scent. I can lead a team to where the others are, but we need to decide who will come with me and who will return to the compound and inform the others.

__________________________________________________________________________

They were provided with food water and even a type of insect repellent that formed a gel like paste on their skins. The cool and oily gel did the trick. Not a single mosquito had bitten the four prisoners through the night. The only draw back was the drying of the gel combined with their sweat and unwashed clothing made them feel uncomfortable.

Cassie found her spot near the back of the cage and sat down. She had opened the stopper of the canteen when she felt heat at the back of her neck. Warm rapid bursts of heat, like someone or someone breathing on her. She turned around in and facing her wedged between the densely packed rocks and cage was a panther. Her first instinct was to quickly stand up. Her second was to call out for help, but something caught her eye. Bits of gold glinted from each of the panther’s ears. She only knew one wild cat that wore such jewelry.

"Tea?" She breathed the name of her friend and watched as the cat nod her head. "I knew one of you would find us, but you have to to be careful." She glanced at the cage door. One guard yawned while the other one glanced at the prisoners. Cassie quickly sat back down and kept her back in front of the panther. She quickly brought the mouth of the canteen to her lips and drank deeply.

"Who’s winning?" The guard asked, bring relief to Cassie. He didn’t see her. He was too busy watching Rudy and Amakye at their makeshift checkers game. They had drawn a checkerboard in the dirt with a wooden stick and used rocks and leaves as the pieces.

"So far we are tied," Rudy said.

"Tell me who has won when you finished." The guard watched Octavia perform a few more sit ups before he turned around and continued to watch for anyone who might try to break them out.

"You have to be careful," Cassie whispered while keeping her back to the panther. "Are the others here?" She glanced back to see the panther nod. "Find them and tell them where we are. I know you won’t try anything rash."

Tea turned away form the cage and while crouching low to the ground she walked slowly through the sparse patches of grass. She had told her group to stay behind while she went on ahead to search for Cassie and the others.

Their settlement was only a few miles away from the sanctuary land. She could not believe they took up residence in the old city of Anansi. Either something had happened to the large spider or he was called away from his homeland. All she knew was if the trickster was still around the poachers would have found a different place to set up home.

She had slipped through the entrance when the familiar sound of gunshot rang through her ears. Tea leaped forward bounding across the land. Another gun shot was heard and she darted to the side. From the corner of her eye she could make out the small explosion of dirt where the bullet had struck the ground. Their aim was close.

Another bullet whizzed through the air and struck her left rear leg above the paw. She felt the bones shatter and her flesh burn from where the searing lead penetrated. A pain filled cry exited her throat as she collapsed on the ground. She wanted to get just a little bit closer before she let out her battle cry, but considering her situation she could only hope they would hear her. She raised her head and let out a deep thundering roar.

She knew it would cause more pain if she transformed back into a human, but if she didn’t there was a high possibility they would shoot her for her skin. The normal discomfort of shifting back was coupled by the aggravating pain in her leg as she slowly shifted back into a human.

"Well this is interesting," Tea sat up and stared into the eyes of a tanned Caucasian with dust colored hair with grayish tints near his temples. "You must be one of the werepanthers I heard about. A pity clothes magically form on you."

"And you must be one of the poachers who maimed Amakye." Tea narrowed her eyes.

"One of them?" The man chuckled. "I was the one who sliced it off."

Tea lunged for him while keeping most of her with balanced on her healthy ankle. "You bastard!"

"I know I am," He aimed the long end of the barrel at her forehead. "Which would tell you I have no qualms about shooting you."

"Sir no!" One of the henchmen stepped in-between the crazy man and Tea. "She could be worth a lot of money."

Baker lowered hi gun. "You are correct." He bent down to stare into Tea’s eyes. "You see my pretty? Even the promise of wealth can’t keep me form acting irrational."

"You are fool," Tea glared back. She slowly raised her arms. She did not want to tell him the other knew about the location of their hideout. She did not want to take away the element of surprise.

___________________________________________________________________________

Fara Maku stormed through the compound kicking at everything that wasn’t nailed down and slamming his fists against the walls. The network of radios they had subscribed to allowed them to speak with each other and still be able to communicate with the compound. The werepanther had kept by the radio when he heard the new his wife’s team had found and important clue. One team was on it’s way back to lead a larger party down the marked path.

Once the news of an actual clue had hit the waves the other search teams kept silent only listening along with Fara and the rest of the group to the radio. Tea’s group kept radioing their coordinates as they followed his wife as she tracked down the scent. He couldn’t imagine his surprise when he heard the trail was leading them closer and closer to the forbidden city. He felt pride when Tea announced she was going inside to search for Cassie and the others and felt fear grip his heart when he heard the first gunshot.

When the team announced they were going to head back Fara immediately volunteered. Aboah told him to wait until a team becomes organized. The order did not sit well with the werepanther.

"Destroying the building is not going to bring Tea back any faster," Jared said softly. He and Chak decided they both should follow their friend around, to make sure he wouldn’t do anything rash.

"Go away," he entered not the other rooms and strode right up to the armoire in the back. His fingers had unlatched the doors when he heard the footsteps of his friends behind him.

"What are you doing?" Chak asked. He should know what Fara was doing. He knew what was contained with in the storage case.

"I’m going to rescue my wife," he said the words with utter calm as he selected one of the double barrel shotguns. A pudgy hand clapped down on his wrist and held fast. Fara glanced at the hand and stared up at Jared.

"We cannot allow you to leave." Jared said.

"You do not understand."

"I understand," Chak said. "I think I may be in love with Cassie and they have her. I need to find her before they hurt her and her ask her out for a real date. I care about Tea almost as much as you do. She is like a sister to me."

"Then let me go," Fara said.

Chak shook his head. "I’m sorry my friend, but we cannot allow that. Aboah is organizing a rescue party. He thinks I should be part of the team."

"And what of me?" The other two men stared at each other.

"He wants you to stay with me," Jared said. "At least until the clan has awaken."

"No!" Fara shoved the men aside.

"Fara you are too angry to leave the compound," Chak said. "You cannot think rationally and Aboah knows it."

"I do not care."

"I do, we both do," Chak said. "I know what you are going through and I think that is why Tea didn’t want me to leave this morning and search for Cassie and the others. I needed to cool off and think about the right course of action."

"I cannot sit back and allow Tea to be harmed."

"They won’t harm her because they are giving us twenty four hours before the cut out Amakye’s tongue. They are going to torture him for a while before they move onto their next victim. That was what the note instructed. We will be there before they even begin to torture Amakye for a second time."

"And if she is pushed around?"

"She will push back," Jared smiled. "Tea is a tough woman. She can take care of herself until the others rescue her."

Fara knew the others wouldn’t stop unitil the either gives them the gun or sets it down on the floor. Part of him knew they were right. "Jared how much longer does the clan awake?" He knew the answer was within fifteen minutes, but his question was the answer they were looking for. In a way he felt a slight bit better when he turned around and placed the gun back in the storage.

__________________________________________________________________________

Each of the prison cells were large enough to hold a small padded bed, a chair, a table and a shelf and even an adjacent toilet and sink. The bed was much more comfortable than what Panzer expected. He stretched out on the single and picked up one of the magazines from the stack on the floor. He had already made his phone call and some of his employees had wired the money to the organization. In a few days he would be out of the prison and in a hotel. He would have to stay a little longer to take care of a bit of official business with the courts and stacks of forms, but when that was over he will be on the first flight to England.

He had opened the magazine to where he last left off when something small sharp, and a bit gummy landed on his forehead. He picked it off and examined it. It was a grape seed. Another one landed in the middle of his magazine. He lowered his reading material and stared through the bars to the cell across the room. The two rugged hunters brought in after him were throwing food at him again.

"Must you do this?" Panzer asked. "I thought we have moved on"

"Never going to move on rich man," the taller of the two men hissed.

Panzer rolled his eyes. "We have already established the fact I am not a hunter and I have admitted as such. Are your really this immature as to want to continue this game?"

"Yes," both men answered at once and threw three more seeds at him

"I might as well as read the same way you do," he rolled up his magazine and carried it with him to the bathroom.

"Awww we scared him away," the shorter man said. His companion held a smug grin on his face. "How much longer do you think we are going to be kept here?"

"For a long time," Fara Maku answered them. He entered the jail area with both fist’s clenched. His eyes shifted to Panzer’s cell. "I see you sent him to a more private place again."

"He deserved it," the shorter man laughed. "Acting so high and mighty."

"You two clowns better knock it off. We already know where your base of operations are."

The taller hunter’s eyes widened with worry, but the shorter one shook his head. "You are bluffing."

"I know about the forbidden city made of stone. The city in the shape of a spider web." He locked his eyes with each of them individually. He knew he had them. "Aboah is launching a rescue team as we speak."

"They won’t have chance. The gargoyles will awaken soon and they will attack your people."

"I know half the clan abandoned the mission of protecting endangered animals because they did not like one of Aboah’s hobbies?" He shook his head. "I still cannot believe they would help you in hunting down animals that are on the protection list."

"If only you knew what he did you would understand."

The tall man glanced at his friend. "Are you sure? The one Sarafina complains about was told the truth and he along with the other half don’t believe her. Why would he?"

"Because I will seek out the truth." Fara Maku grabbed onto the bars. "Now please tell me."

___________________________________________________________________________

The taller man was right. What they accused Aboah of doing did sound blatantly unbelievable to Fara. There was only one way to find out the truth. Fara would have to search through Aboah’s office and search for the evidence, but he man always kept everything locked up, not even Jared had a key and he was Aboah’s second in command. He was going to have to break in.

Once he had approached Aboah’s door he extracted a few things out of his pocket that would help him. Several were items to pick the lock with: a broken pen, tiny screwdriver used for the minuscule screws in pairs of glasses. He also had a plastic card, a paint remover tool, and an awl for in case the locks couldn’t be picked. He also brought a flashlight. He did not wish to bring attention on to him by turning on the light switch.

After several minutes and failed attempts the door was no longer locked. He wasn’t sure what he was going to find, or where to look. Aboah’s desk was neat and well organized. The man had left his lap top behind and Fara tried too see if he could find any information. It was futile since Aboah had left a lock on it as well. He thumbed through the folder and stacks of papers and could not find anything incriminating him of the acts the prisoners accused him off. None of the books held any information either. He went through al the drawers and found the same.

He tore through the cabinets and anything else that could hold any information. The last thing Fara tried was the heavily locked closet. "It has to be here, if anything." He sat on his knees as he went through the locks. His legs tired when he was only half done and had to drag the chair to it and sat down to complete the job. Beads of sweat formed on his head trickled down his face as he worked. He kept glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone had entered.

The closet contained nothing except for a few extra clothes, a small safe and several rolled up rugs tied with string. His flashlight beam centered on the clothes. They were women’s cloths. Satiny gowns trimmed in sequins, pale pink blouses and frilly silk skirts. He thumbed through the outfits until the reached the back and nearly dropped his light. He bit his lip to keep from laughing at the sight of a red lace teddy. "Aboah please tell me these are from your sexual conquests," Fara fought hard to keep from chuckling. Aboah was a slick one unless he secretly liked to wear women’s clothing. That could be the real secret the man was trying to hide. No wonder the man kept it triple locked. He studied the safe next. It was not big enough to store the evidence the poachers had against his employer. Unless it was in a diary. He shrugged. The lock box was probably what he used to store his own personal funds and the gold cuff links he wore to fancy ceremonial dinners.

The last thing he examined were the rolled up rugs. He suddenly felt a sick feeling form at the bottom of his stomach. What if this was the evidence? The rug his flashlight had touched was white with golden brown spots rimmed with smaller black blotches, the rosette spots of a leopard. It wasn’t the skin of a leopard. It wasn’t furry. It looked smooth, almost like leather. Fara closed his yes as he ran the tips of his fingers over the surface. Almost smooth enough to be human skin, but it wasn’t.

He would have wretched if the light switch hadn’t turned on. Far spun around and faced four of the rangers, three men and a woman. They were all in uniform except they were not wearing their weapons and their eyes were open wide in suprise at the sight of the werepanther in their oss’s office.

"Fara Maku?" One of them asked. "What are you doing?"

"Finding out the truth about our leader," Fara’s voice cracked. He pointed into the closet. "Look at what he does."

The rangers peeked into the closet. Several of them blinked, their jaws dropped. "Oh my god!" One of them staggered back as he gasped. He was shaking his head in disbelief. "I didn’t know he was a cross dresser."

Fara Maku blinked. They were appaled by the women’s clothes? Maybe they didn’t see the skins."You don’t see the skins?"

"Yeah we see the skins," Another one shrugged.

The werepanther couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stared into gaze after non chalant gaze with shock. "You knew about this?"

All of them nodded. "Some of us have even helped him clean the skins."

"But these are the skins of gargoyles, those who help us against the poachers. How could you help this hypocrite? Do the others know? Are they on it too?"

"Not everyone, and you are not going to tell them." The one who pointed out Aboah’s crossdressing voice became deep and cold.

Fara glanced at each of them. Not a single one carried a weapon. "None of you are armed." He already felt the thick hairs forming on his skin. His own voice had a trace of a growl.

"But it’s just four against one."

"And you are all human." The words hissed out as his transformation continued. He released a small roar before he pounced on the nearest ranger. The ranger fell backward from the weight and landed on the ground. His helmet flew off.

"Get off, get him off!" The pinned ranger grunted. It was hard to speak and the weight on his chest made it hard for him to breath.

Another ranger dove for the panther. Fara growled and lashed out at her. His claws slicing through her wrist. She jumped back and withdrew her arm to her chest. Another ranger had attempted to grab him from behind. Fara spun around and brought his claws down on their face. He ignored his screams and turned to face the fourth ranger. A fist struck him in the center of his nose. He felt his nose fill with warm fluid and felt blood trickle out of his nostrils. He never knew panthers could receive nose bleeds. Before his assailant could strike again he pounced on him. His claws dug deep into his shoulders.

"Fara what is it?" Jared had heard his friends cries and came racing into the room flagged by two rangers Kuvo and Bitamba. All three of the humans were armed with shot guns. Jared had took one look of the state of Aboah’s office before his eyes fell on the panther and four rangers. "What’s going on?"

"He’s become mad with rabies!" the female ranger Fara had scratched said. Her hand was covering the scratches, but blood oozed out form between his fingers.

The panther shook his head and lapped toward the closet. With one bat of his paw he tossed out a couple of the gargoyle skins. He noticed the fear in the eyes of the scratched woman and the second man he pounced on.

"What are those?" Bitamba asked. "Is that a leopard skin?"

Jared slowly approached it. "It’s not fur. I think it might be stained leather." he reached out and touched it. "It feels familiar, kind of soft." He blinked . The skin was way too familiar. "It feels like the skin of a-" He couldn’t finish. He turned around and stared into the eyes of his gargoyle friends. "Oh God."

Kuvo noticed how pale the plump man had become and took a step closer to the rugs. He did not have to feel them. Their resemblance to some of his clan members were too familiar. "They cannot be."

"They are gargoyle skins," Fara Maku confirmed, his eyes never left Jared, the gargoyles and the two rangers who accompanied him. The other two rangers seemed as pale and sick as Jared was. Tears slowly tricked out of the corners of Bitamba’s large round eyes. It almost appeared as if all of the colors of her down covered body had turned green. "All the kins in his closet have come form a gargoyle." He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the four rangers he had attacked. "And they knew about it."

"But how could?" The woman that accompanied Jared asked. "How could they help him when they knew what he was doing?"

"Money," Fara Maku sadly shook his head. "They hunt for money and they don’t hunt the jungle cats and other animals but they skin the gargoyles, why?"

"Because they are even more expensive than animal fur." The first pounced man spat.

Jared grabbed his head and slammed him against the wall. "Fara and I will accompany Kuvo’s clan, but first we need to round up who knew about Aboah and-" his hand clamped across his mouth. His skin had taken on a slight green tint. He closed his eyes and tried to take a few deep breaths, but his stomach couldn’t handle it. With his hand still on his mouth he raced from the room.

Kuvo took over for him. His talons sank through the cloth of the corrupt ranger’s shirt. "You are going to make it easier for us. You are going to give us names of thos who knew." His lips curled back into a snarl. The man took one glance of the female gargoyle and the guns the other rangers held and back into the glowing eyes of Kuvo before nodding.

___________________________________________________________________________

Tea adjusted the pith helmet and shirt supporting her ankle. The had medicated her wound and wrapped her ankle in a roller bandage. She had tried to get some sleep but the throbbing pain kept her awake. She watched as Cassie paced around their cell while Rudy took a nap and Octavia and Amakye played several rounds of hangman. "Is anyone else getting hungry?"

"Someone is coming," Cassie said as she stepped back from the door. "Oh god it’s Baker."

The middle aged poacher approached their cage with a smirk, his eyes opened wide. "What’s wrong poppit? you don’t like me anymore?"

"You are sick ," Cassie hissed. "Why are you here?"

"Can’t a man just visit his prisoners?"

"You are not here for a visit poacher," Tea hissed.

"That is true my pretty panther lady." He ran his tongue against the bottom of his top teeth. "I’m here to remind all of you Sarafina’s clan has awaken. That means the time is getting close for the one eared man to become a mute."

"You are insane," Tea gasped

"I’m a businessman my dear."

"You won’t cut him," Cassie stood in front of the man with the bandaged head. "I won’t let you."

"Neither shall we," Octavia took her place next to Cassie and kicked Rudy. "We need you."

"Uh," Rudy grunted and stared up at her. "What’s going on?" He rolled over and saw Baker smiling at them. "Shit. It’s too early."

"You are correct it is too early. I will be back in three hours."

"And our people will be here before then," Tea spoke. "There was a jeep with me. They relied the information through the radio’s and they have the information of where we are. My husband knows of this city. He will be back with our people."

"And you forget our clan has awaken," Sarafina approached their cage. "Even if you humans are great in power there are sixteen of us able warriors along with the twenty humans we have aligned with." She stared down at the panther. "You will loose and our friends will be freed."

"You forgot about Kuvo’s clan," Cassie said. "They have awaken and are along their way here."

"The real clan will defeat yours," Tea tried to rise to her feet, but only managed to make it halfway before she sat down

Scarlet light filled the spotted gargoyle’s eyes. "My clan is the true clan."

"Your clan allies itself with criminals. They are hunting in your protectorate."

The gargoyle spread her arms. "This is my protectorate."

"A true gargoyle protects the innocent," Tea remembered the words Goliath had told her before they left he area. "These people are not innocent. The animals they illegally hunt are."

"That is what that hypocrite, Aboah believe in."

"You don’t care if you help further endanger species to extinction."

Sarafina locked her eyes with Tea’s. "No I don’t. Kuvo cares so much about the precious leopards and elephants. He does not care about our species. We are closer to extinction than they are."

"You know your clan is not the only one left. I told you there are others in America, London and Japan. I recieved another letter from my friends in Manhattan. They want to make arrangments for all the clans to meet someday. You are not the last, why are you allowing these men to kill those species that are endangered."

The cheetah spotted gargoyle turned around, her back facing the cage. "It is the only way he will listen." She wiped the crystal moisture leaking from her eyes and saw a large gray shape in the sky.

"Sarafina!" the large gray gargoyle, Mokae called out to her. "The rangers are coming. I think they sent every human."

"Rally the clan. We must defend our home. If Aboah is with them I will take his skin." Sarafina dropped to the ground and raced off followed by Mokae. The elephant like gargoyle raced after her in a surprisingly smooth and flowing gait

________________________________________________________________________

"Stop!" Aboah held up a hand. The sanctuary jeeps have stopped several yards away from the stone city of Anansi "We will wait here until Kuvo’s clan arrives. The traitors are on their side. We may have to fight fire with fire." The order seemed to sit well with nearly everyone. Only Chak shook his head in protest.

"Let me go in there," he begged. "It’s not because the woman I may be in love with is in there. It’s not because another werepanther is their prisoner. It’s because the deadline is within an hour and if we don’t go in there before they are going to cut out Amakye’s tongue."

"We will go in there in the next forty five minutes, and you will stay by our side." He raised the binoculars to his eyes and stared at the structure. His mouth curled down into a frown. "Damn, they must have seen us." He set the binoculars down and stood up. "Ready your tranquilizer guns!"

Chak glanced at his boss before he stared at the city. He could see nothing except for a group of bats. He brought the binoculars to his eyes. They were not bats. "The other clan." He slid his long knife into the sheath strapped to his thigh and grabbed the nearest tranquilizer gun.

"Don’t shoot until you see the glowing whites and reds of their eyes." Aboah ordered.

Chak kept his eye on the clan as they neared them. Their eyes were like pairs of fireflies that seemed to become brighter as they neared them. Chak didn’t waste another second and pulled the trigger. He heard more darts being fired at the same time.

"Now!" Aboah ordered and several more tranquilizers were fired. He steadied his arms and pulled the trigger, shooting another gargoyle and meeting his mark. "Beat them and try to knock them out. Do not kill them."

Chak placed another dart into his gun ready to shoot again. A gargoyle landed on the hood of the jeep. A rosy pink gargoyle covered with gold spots. Two spiral shaped horns crowned the top her head, peeking through several black plaits.

"Aboah," the name was hissed out. "Skin stealer."

"You are the skin stealer, traitor." Chak snarled. He aimed the gun at her. His finger was just touching the trigger when something curled around it and pulled it out of his arms. Chak turned around and saw a hulking gargoyle with the head like an elephant. The end of his trunk was wrapped around the gun. He had a dart sticking out of his left side, and his right shoulder. The large gargoyle would not be on his feet much longer. He was already staggering around his tree trunk thick legs.

"Give it back Mokae," Chak tried to stay calm. "You know we don’t want to hurt you. We just want to keep you from attacking us." From Aboah’s side he could here struggling of a man moving about wildly. A strange clacking sound was intermixed with Sarafina’s growls and Aboa and gargoyle cursing in their native tongue. His boss was knocked out of the jeep.

Mokae's lids drooped down over his eyes. "I know you wont, but not some of your men."

Chak blinked at his words. Was he trying to be reasonable because he was drugged or because he wanted to tell him some thing important. "What do you mean? Kuvo mentioned you left the clan because of a misunderstanding. What is it?"

Mokae pointed at Aboah. The man was fending off Sarafina with a long knife. "He has killed our kind..." The elephant like gargoyle lowered himself to his knees. "He kills us and takes our..." His eyes closed completely as fell on his side.

"Takes your what?" The only answer he received was gunfire coming form the stone city and the clang of a knife being knocked out of a man’s hands. He grabbed the gun Mokae had pulled from him. Chak knew Aboah could handle himself. He had to seek out Cassie and the others.

He raced towards the city while keeping out of sight of the gargoyles who had avoided the sharp prick of the tranquilizer darts. None of them seemed to notice him. They were too busy focused on the rangers and trying to glide closer to their enemy without being shot.

Chak continued to stay in the shadows as he felt his transformation beginning, racing on all fours during mid transformation. Once he was in his full panther form he bounded forward and froze. Black jeeps and other all terrain vehicles were exiting the compound. He had to increase his stealthy moves if he wanted to avoid being seen.

_________________________________________________________________________

The prisoners were practically alone in the city. All of the poachers, save for the two guarding the cage had gone off to fight the rangers.

Octavia glared at the man with the gun. If she could wrench the weapon away from him and the others could grab onto the woman then Tea could limp over and take the keys from her. The man kept his eyes on them while the woman kept watching for anything that might approach them.

The guards never thought of looking up at the tops of the stone walls. They were hard for people to walk across but not for a wildcat. A sleek panther crawled across the top of the wall while staring at the cage on the ground. He couldn’t believe his luck on being able to get inside the city without being detected by the enemy and couldn’t believe the double luck he had that night. Not only was he able to get into the city but the village was also empty.

Octavia needed the right moment to attack. She glared into the male guard’s eyes trying to fathom what was going through is mind. She was sure he was thinking the same about her.

A roar followed by a mass of black velvet fur tumbled onto the male guard. His arms flew akimbo. The gun flew out of his hand. The female guard backed into the wooden bars from the surprise of the attack.

"Now!" Octavia reached through the bars and grabbed the woman by her arms. "Don’t move." Cassie and Rudy were holding onto her legs. "Amakye can you get the keys?"

"I have them," The injured man removed the ring from the female guards belt. He reached through the bars and slid the key into the lock and turned.

________________________________________________________________________

The six of them raced forward with Tea in panther form and limping along on three limbs. They had placed the ones who guarded them in the cage and raced through the spider web like city.

"Holy shit," Cassie gasped when she and the others exited the city. Jeeps of diferent colors were parked several yards ahead and gunfire filled their ears. The humans breathed in deeply.

Chak roared and bounded forward followed by Tea. Cassie ran after them. She paused and turned back to stare at the others before she continued after the werepanthers. The glare was enough to break Octavia free of the terror that gripped her. She grabbed the wrists of both men and pulled them along with her. By the time she had caught up with Cassie they were no longer being dragged.

There were injured bodies lying across the ground of the battlefield. Most of them were lying from the tranquilizer darts. Some of them were gargoyles. A Few were human poachers. There were a few injured rangers. They were barely moving from their injuries. Most of them suffered from a gunshot wound in the leg and a few were clawed up.

There were a few gargoyles in the air, gliding around in wide circles similar to vultures hovering over animals while they are about to die from starvation.

One web winged gargoyle with the scaled face of a snake had its tail--nearly twice as long as the average gargoyle--wrapped around the thighs of a ranger. One paw gripped his skull through his hair. The other hand had clawed deep through the face, extracting an eyeball. Chak pounced on the webbing, the force of his panther body was enough to removed the gargoyle off the ranger.

"Chak!" Cassie called out. Her fists clenched as so did her jaw. "We can’t just let him do it alone." She picked up one of the guns lying next to one of the tranqued poachers. She raced up to one of the nearest poacher who was fighting knife to knife with one the rangers. She grabbed the gun in the middle and swung down, the blunt end striking the back of the skull knocking him out.

Amakye raced through the battle knocking a few skulls the same way Cassie had done. He was searching for one man. The same person who had caused him so much pain. He had hoped Baker did not meet the end of a tranquilizer.

The sound of gunshot was near him and a ranger who ran by immediately stopped and fell over. A pool of dark liquid formed at his side. Amakye stared up at the man who fired the gun. A man with insanity dancing across his clear blue eyes.

"Oh dear," the smirk had melted from his face as he snapped the gun open and released the spent shells.

Amakye did not waist any time and raced forward. He swung his gun down on top of Bakers, sending the weapon flying out of his hands. "This is for the man you just killed!" He raised the gun and brought the handled down onto Baker’s chest. "This is for all the animals." He struck down again. "And this is for me!" He brought the blunt end against the man’s face.

The multiple roars of gargoyles battle cries filled the air. Tea and the others stared up at the sky and saw several winged forms heading towards them. The copper hued male in the lead had a dark mane like a lion. The multi colored female had feathered wings and a beak shaped like a parrot. They have won.

Aboah waved to his friends as they neared for a landing before he grabbed Sarafina by her hair. "You see one who pokes her nose where it don’t belong? The others are here. We have won and you have lost." He bent down to glare in her eyes. "This will teach you to go snooping around and helping those men kill innocent animals."

"Won’t...let you...destroy...us." Sarafina moaned before slumber took control over her. A single dart sturck out of her shoulder

"Your clan will not be harmed. Except for you. You have such pretty skin." He stroked her cheek, unaware Kuvo was right behind him. Aboah turned around and stared in the frosty glow of Kuvos eyes. "Kuvo?"

"Murderer!" Kuvo swiped Aboah in the face with his huge hand. The strike of his talons across the man’s face was enough to send him sprawling. "You killed some of my clan. For their skin!"

"Kuvo?" Sarafina’s eyelids fluttered.

Aboah grunted as he struggled to stand up. He felt liquid heat trickle down his stinging face. He didn’t even have a chance to wipe away the blood. He felt claws digging through the back of his neck and a strong arm livting him up to his feet.

"I should kill you right now," Kuvo growled. "But I refuse to lower myself to your level."

Aboah felt his right eye starting to swell shut as he tried to stared the gargoyle in the eye. "How?"

"We found the skins in your closet."

"What?" Cassie asked. "What did he say?" She had staggered closer to her boss and the leader of the clan as soon as the few rangers who stayed behind and the clan had arrived.

"I don’t know if you heard him clearly or not," Rudy looked as shocked as she and most of the other rangers. "Kuvo accused Aboah of killing and skinning gargoyles."

"But he’s against poaching," Cassie felt her body tremble. It wasn’t just the fact about could be a hypocrite. It was because she viewed the gargoyles as near human beings. Skinning a gargoyle was like skinning a human. She looked up when strong arms pulled her close to a warm chest. Chak pulled her into to an embrace. She glanced at Tea and saw the female werepanther was being held by Fara Maku.

"It can’t be real," Octavia shook her head. "He cannot be the same as Baker and his ilk."

"He is," Fara said while stroking Tea’s back. "You shouldn’t have been shot. I wish I could have been here earlier."

"You knew why you had to stay behind," Jared said to his friend before he stormed up to Aboah. "And I’m glad you did. You found the proof we were looking for." Jared walked right up to his boss and struck him the nose with his fat fist. "You bastard. You were corrupted to the point where you decided to take their lives? You knew what the clan meant to me. They are my friends and family and you do this?" He grabbed Aboah by the collar of his shirt, wrenching him out of Kuvo’s clutches. "How many here knew? I want names."

He did not see Kuvo as he picked up the fallen leader of the Poachers clan. "I’m sorry I did not believe you."

"Kuvo?" Sarafina opened her eyes. "Maybe...I should...have...been..."

"Maybe we were both wrong. You sleep it off sister and we’ll try to speak before sunrise. The clans can come together. The only missing now are those changed their names and traveled to the desert lands." He looked up from gold speckled rose bundle in his arms and at the battle field. The gargoyles and rangers who were just as shocked as Cassie and her fellow prisoners were rounding up those who knew.

___________________________________________________________________________

The had to store the extra prisoners in Aboa’s office. The jails we full of both poachers and those who knew about Aboah’s secret and had aided him. Both enviromentalists and gargoyles agreed to take turns for shifts to watch over the prisoners. The humans would watch during the day while the clan would watch at night.

The Sanctuary medical team were prepared to treat the injured when they had returned and had vehicles and a helicopter ready for those who were more seriously injured.

The former captives took long relaxing baths and ate large platters of food from the kitchen. Chak, Jared and Fara Maku sat down with them. "I notified the Wukarian government. They will send several authorities over to take the prisoners back with them."

"What about the clans?" Octavia asked as she shook the pepper shaker like a maraca over her salad.

"You mean clan," Jared raised his fork. "Both Kuvo and Sarafina agreed to mend fences the clan has become one once more and they will help us defend the sanctuary from poachers and cutters."

"Who’s in charge now?"

"If you mean of the clan I believe it’s Kuvo andSsarafina is now the second in command. The former seconds do not mind."

"I meant who’s in charge of the sanctuary now?" Octavia asked.

"I’m not really sure," Jared said.

"Well you were the second?" Cassie asked. "Or at least you were the second and now that Aboah is no long in charge, then you should be in charge."

The soul’s of Jared’s shoes rubbed against the ground. "I don’t know. Maybe if everyone was allowed to vote on the subject."

"I am pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say we are all going to vote for you," Fara waved his fork at him before he stabbed a piece of potato.

"I hear by propose a toast," Tea raised he water glass. "To Jared, and the Sanctuary." The others riased their glasses and clinked them gently against hers. She watched as Cassie and Chak brought theirs against her glass at the same time. After they set them down Chak grabbed the American’s hand. She smiled as she squeezed back.