slaves?” she asked, turning back to him.
“Exactly,” he said, a grim expression on his face as he finished strapping another flack jacket across his chest. She had witnessed how little of a help his other one had been against that fierce red energy his attacker had wielded against him. But a little bit of help was something else entirely. and the l better than no help at all and it made her feel better to see him somewhat protected.
“That’s horrible,” she said, her stomach feeling sick in sympathy for the creature she’d seen.
“Long ago, however, a large amount of Gargoyles escaped from the Templars’ control.” He looked directly into her eyes. “It was a very brave and risky thing to do. Their masters created them in such a way that each Gargoyle is prevented from attacking their individual creator, and their creators had linked them critically to an object called a touchstone. If a Gargoyle does not return to their touchstone with a certain amount of frequency, they will very quickly lose control of their bodies and their minds. It only takes a matter of days before that happens. So not only did they have to find a way to rise up against their masters, they had to retrieve their heavily guarded touchstones. The Templars knew that to control the touchstone was to control the Gargoyle.”
“If they couldn’t fight their creators, then how were they ever able to escape these horribly powerful Templars?”
“There was only one way. They had to enlist the help of the Politic Bodywalkers. They had to pledge their loyalty to another Bodywalker and ask them to help free them.”
“And … did you? Did your type of Bodywalker fight the Templars to free the Gargoyles?”
“Oh yes. We did. In fact,” he said, so quietly she could feel the deep gravity emanating from him, “the exodus of the Gargoyles and the fight for their freedom was the catalyst that began the war between the Templars and the Politic.” He moved a step closer to her and, like all the other times he put himself into her personal space, her breath caught in her throat. Marissa forced herself to breathe, but all that managed to do was bring the rich scent of potent male onto her suddenly keen senses. “The Templars are ravenous for supremacy. They are also inhumanly callous. They do not respect the exquisite intelligence of the Gargoyles, or the culture of tribes they have created for themselves. Templars don’t even respect the host souls they share a body with.”
“But … that Gargoyle was … is he still a slave?”
“There are several generations of Gargoyles, each different in some way from the last as the Templars tried to improve on their design, along with improving their methods of enslaving a Gargoyle’s loyalty.”
“Oh my god,” she breathed, sickened and disturbed to her very core.
“That is the nature of each Gargoyle tribe, Marissa. Each tribe is a different generation of Gargoyle. So far there are six different tribes. Apparently the Templars have grown another generation, which leaves me to believe that the free Gargoyles will soon find themselves ferrying the seventh tribe-to-be along their underground railroad. Those who are free endanger themselves nightly in order to help liberate the enslaved.”
“You said they pledge loyalty to Politic members. Do you mean they let you hold their touchstones? And if so, how is that different from being enslaved by the Templars?”
Jackson was always impressed by Marissa’s quick and thoughtful intellect. The workings of the Bodywalker world could be very complex. Just as complex as the relationship the Politic had with the Gargoyles.
“The Templars created the Gargoyle touchstones in such a are you talking about?”an better way as to force a Gargoyle to be closely connected to either their creator or another Bodywalker. The energy of our entwined souls revitalizes the power of a touchstone, which then transfers it to the Gargoyle. They are closely attached to us, it’s true, but they are not slaves to those of us who are Politic. We deny them nothing, give them total freedom to the best of our ability, and enjoy and respect them just as they enjoy and respect us. They are our bodyguards, our companions, and our closest friends in some cases.”
“I see. That’s very good of you,” she said softly. Jackson could see the empathy for the Gargoyles’ plight in her eyes, even though she was trying to come off as nothing more than analytical and thoughtful about the situation. It made