Along Didgeri-Trails

The door slammed shut with a frustrated grunt, aided by both muscle and wind, sealing the humble but warmly decorated bedroom. The fresh sea breeze from the window sending the light fabric of the curtains into an airy dance. As light from both the sun, and few, but ornately carved enchanted light gems placed on specifically carved indents in the plastered stonework lit the room.

The rendered orange and pink stone walls were decorated in painted tulips and dragons, sweeping from one wall to the next on golden painted vines.

A painting of a family hung above an inbuilt bookshelf. A Gargoyle matriarch, her Abyssinian husband, and their gargoyle daughter sitting on both their laps, hugging her mother.

A desk sat under an expansive bay window.

The edges of several papers flapped in the aggressive autumn breeze, only thing preventing them from blowing about the room being the hefty glass snowglobe paperweight, The inside of which was occupied by a gold miner standing atop a dirt mound. Pickaxe and hat in one hand, tennisball sized gold nugget in the other, as the human yelled victoriously off into the distance. Surrounding his feat, 'Snow', or in this case. Gold leaf.

The papers read;
The History of the Event.
A Survivors tale.

And half the page had been written upon and erased so many times there was actually a hole.

The sounds of hoof falls out in the hall grew distant as an arriving ship let out a horn blast in the harbour...

A Gargoyle sprinted through the halls of the castle, her young hooves falling upon the polished white and black granite. The clip clopping sounds produced, being muffled by all the expansive woven fabric of the wall brocades hanging on the interior wall. Each six by three meter brocade depicting an event in the fortresses old 'colony' days.

Darting past an Abyssinian guard and almost tripping over his rifle, which clattered to the floor next to him, he was sitting on a carved wood bench eating his lunch. As he put down his sandwich to pick up the weapon, he simply yelled down the hallway for the just turned teen to slow down, the castle guard long since used to the child's shenanigans.

The girl let out a cheerful cooee in response to the horn blast that flowed on the wind, blowing through the castle's open windows. Giggling mirthfully as, the crisp sea breeze from said windows flowed through her hair and fur.

As she launched into a sideways skid into the next hallway, she asked a familiar drake (who was currently donned in a purple cloak) where her mother was. With which he simply pointed in the direction of the day court with a knowing smile. His guard cadre asked him something the teen didn't hear, having already launched into another youth enriched sprint down the next hall.

The sun's rays illuminated the hall in a scattering of prismatic lights, cast from the beautiful stained-glass patterns and coats of arms in this hall's windows.

As she looked out the windows, and into the castle's narrow but sizeable courtyard, she spotted a group of guards and other people, cutting up and loading the remnants of a recently killed Hydra into a wagon, The beast having climbed the closed gatehouse the previous night in an attack on the castle. She was startled, when her body suddenly froze, before being lifted into the air a few moments later.

She locked eyes with the fortresses window glazier. The much more 'experienced' in life unicorn tilted her rigid form in the air to examine her hooves, and after a moment he nodded, setting her down gently back onto her hooves. Releasing the young Gargoyle from his magic, he spoke in his hoarse voice, "You should really be more careful there, Emily! Look at what you nearly ran into!" He said in a calm but serious tone.

The young gargoyle leaned to the right to look in the direction the Unicorn was pointing. Four of the ornate windows in the hall a mere few feet away were reduced to a recently swept up pile of prismatic glass shards. A castle hand moved deftly to mop up the last of a once expansive blood pool. Staring at the pile of glass shards for a few moments, Emily had noted the presence of scales with a metallic sheen to them, wyvern maby?

Looking back to the Unicorn she nodded in his direction, even if he was already pouring all of his concentration into fitting the replacement window back into the frame.

As she started into a jog and transitioned back into a sprint, Emily heard the glazier call her name and warn her not to sprint down the east tower's stairs. Since they didn't exist any more, from the second floor up to the fourth.

Choosing an alternate route through the fourth floor, Emily extended her wings and glided down the three-story cavernous aquaponics chamber. Pausing halfway through to examine a Murray cod swimming in between the roots of a strawberry bush tray.

She sprinted the remainder of the way through the castle. Revelling in the glorious scents of the castle kitchens filling her nose, the cooks each working with the productivity of three others of their profession. Emily indeed did look forward to the banquet tonight!

Upon hearing the voice of the 'no nonsense' garrison commander, she slowed her pace to a walk as she moved through the banquet hall. She watched, as castle hands worked together with the practised teamwork and precision of planning to hurriedly finish prepping the room for the upcoming celebration.

Leaving out of the frankly huge double door to the banquet hall, she felt a gloved hand rest on her shoulder. "DAD!" She squeed with joy as she leaped up onto the Abyssinian and wrapped him in a dual hug. Her arms around his neck and her wings around his torso. "You're back! Mum and I were worried you'd miss the banquet!" She exclaimed after having planted a peck on his cheek. "Where have you been?"

"Wouldn't miss my pavlova for the world!" he said as Emily playfully swatted him over the head with a wing. "Also." He reached into the satchel that hung on his hip, and pulled out two wrapped boxes. "I didn't forget." He stated.

"Of course you didn't!" She said as she hopped down and accepted the gifts graciously. Opening the smallest one first, she went wide-eyed at the silver necklace inside. Every second ring was holding a small pure sapphire that matched her eyes. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed whilst putting it on.

"Thats sterling silver. So you never have to take it off, even to bathe, the silver won't tarnish. And all those sapphires are enchanted, they're mana stones."

"No! This must have cost you a fortune!" she mumbled whilst fiddling with the chain.

"Anything for my daughter, I have one for your mother too. I know how you both have issues with using magic." he said with a wink. "Now for the second one." he said with an encouraging, knowing grin.

The moment the paper was ripped Emily shredded the rest of it, opening the light weight wooden box she laughed and looked up at her father. "Dad, your going to kill and bury my diet damn it" she remarked as she popped a Turkish delight in her mouth and placed the lid back on the box.

"The confectioner wanted to thank the both of us. So he gifted me those to gift to you. Also. If you do something that reckless with a manticore again, I will tell your mother. You really should've been indoors, sweetie, We don't want you hurt or worse." he cautioned as she hopped into his arms.

As she climbed up and happily received a piggyback from her father, Emily simply replied with an honest, "But It's what you would have done. Mr. Petrovskys daughter was about to be eaten, besides, it's not like using a portal's micron thick edge to cut the thing's head off was actually dangerous you know, I'm not a little kid anymore!" she stated.

"Indeed. But you still do love your Piggybacks and bedtime stories dont you?" he asked.

The gargoyle on his back simply crossed her arms. "Low blow" she mumbled with a stern pout.

As the pair arrived at the iron banded double doors that lead into the day court, the guards on the inside pushed the doors open to allow those inside to exit into the castle's polished granite foyer.

Looking around, Emily spotted her target, "MUM!" She shouted across the din of conversation in the room.

Her father locked eyes with a particularly pregnant gargoyle of sand coloured fur and rather odd naturally blue hair. The matron made her way across the room to the pair before giving the Abyssinian a death grip of a hug. "I heard your train derailed! I was so worried about you, Jericho!"

"Sorry to have made you worry, Liam. We expected them to board us. Not to derail us... It was like the Kelly gang's last stand all over again, but this time it went to plan. If Desmond didn't think fast with that teleport." Jericho shuddered.

"Oh shut you! You are alive and healthy! That's all that matters!" She mumbled into his shirt. She kissed him and said, "But seriously though, if you get yourself killed, I will make a spell to bring you back, just to kill your goofy ass myself." She said with a playful punch to his gut. After pecking, hugging and complimenting Emilie's new necklace, Liam asked the teen had been dreading, "And how's your homework going young lady?"

With a groan of annoyance, Emily replied with a noncommittal, "It's getting there. I'm just not very happy with it... It's just. So conventional... How many times have the same things been read and copied from the history books. With such a broad topic as, "History of the event", you would think it's easy to make something original!" she griped.

Liam nodded along whilst thinking about her daughter's complaint. Her mind latched onto an idea that could both give her Daughter the information from a fresh perspective she wanted. And also get her hubby and her some alone time for the few hours before the banquet was to begin.

With a practised wave of her hand, Liam opened a dinner-tray sized portal to the secret vault in her room. Reaching into the void she fished around, after a few moments she 'Ahah'ed and pulled a thick hard covered book from the magical void. "This is my Diary from the event. It covers the time from when I first returned, to the beginning of the building of this castle." She entailed, Before promptly being cut off by a,

"Yoink! Thanks mum!"

"Huh," Liam mumbled. "That went to plan." She commented.

"Went to plan?-" Jericho began to question, before spotting a particularly well acquainted expression on his wife's face. "Righto then. Bedroom? or vault?"

"The vault, don't have to worry about her coming in asking questions." Liam commented.

"Yes my little Satyr.-" His joke was cut off by a friendly swat over his head by a leathery wing. "Yes M'lady."

As the two begun walking back to their room, a Dreake in a purple robe walked over and greeted them. They chatted for a time, simply old friends catching up. Before long the drake took his leave, wanting to return home before night fell.

Walking up the stairs hugging one wall to a balcony. He, and his cadre of winged guards of various species took flight. Higher and higher they flew, before turning towards the setting sun. They could see they're home, a Citadel in the mountians a roughtly ten to fifteen minute flight from this mountaintop in the distance, silhouetted in the setting sun.

Looking over his shoulder, under the flapping wings of the armoured Griffon carrying him. The drake saw the castle atop the lone mountain range shrinking with distance. Across the seemlingly perfectly level, flat terrain of Melbourne. The city that gave the surrounding area its name sat, breaking up the horizons line with its many man made lines. There it sat. Crumbling away at the hands of time and mother nature...

Patchworks of orange and pink light reflecting off the scattered windows that still remined in the still standing skyscrapers...