Brooklyn Meets the Skeksis

The Icon Transport surprise

It was around 11 o'clock at night in New York City. Brooklyn was wandering around the castle, looking for something to do. Everyone else, Broadway and Angela had gone to see a movie; Goliath and Elisa were out on patrol and a joy flight; Hudson and Bronx were in watching TV; and Lexington was in the computer room, playing a game.

Brooklyn was the second in command, but he felt that he wasn't wanted around most of the time. He never had any plans to do much. He really wanted someone special in his life, like what his brother, Broadway had with Goliath's daughter, Angela. He hoped he would find his love someday.

He thought about going into Xanatos' collection museum for something to do when his stomach started to gurgle. Then he remembered that it was almost lunch time. Broadway should be back soon, as he was the cook for the family most often.

He went into the museum and looked around. There was a diamond that caught his attention. Brooklyn decided he wanted a better look at it, so he opened up the case. He picked it up, then, all of a sudden, the moment he touched it, a strange portal opened.

At first, he was awestruck at what it could mean, but the portal began pulling at him with a sucking air feeling, like a vacuum. Brooklyn tried to run but couldn't. He dug his talons into the floor, but it did no good. He was pulled into the portal and into another time, and perhaps, another world...

................

He landed with a thud on the marshy ground. He gave out a grunt. Brooklyn wondered where he had been dropped. He got up and cleaned himself off and looked around. He didn't recognize this place. "Maybe I've been dropped into the time of the dinosaurs," he muttered to himself. His stomach growled again. He was beginning to get really hungry. He would worry about it later. He had to find out where he was.

Brooklyn caped his wings and started looking through the swamp. He wanted to find anyone who might be able to help him find out where he was. As he was going, he also tried to find something to eat, but nothing looked edible as he didn't trust the landscape. He kept on going. There had to be someone who could help him.

Soon, he knew he was lost, not that he knew where he was anyway. His stomach was really annoying him to no end. He had no idea where he was, how to get home, and wasn't even aware he was being watched.

................

Meanwhile, at a castle in a valley that seemed far away from where Brooklyn was, a couple of bird-lizard creatures known as Skeksis, were fighting over who would be the next emperor. Their former one and leader had recently died. The winner would win the throne as the new emperor, while the loser had to pay whatever price the winner wanted for them, even if it meant being a slave, or being banished. It was their law. The names of these two were SkekSil the Chamberlain and SkekUng the General or Garthim Master.

The Great Conjunction was many weeks away yet, but it was coming.

As it turned out, the General won the Trial by Stone fight, as he was the stronger of the two. SkekSil was now scared for his own safety. He tried to sneak out, but was caught, backed into a corner, and stripped of his robes. He was now officially banished. He was leaning against the wall, panting from screaming so much.

Between the two of them, there had always been bitter rivalry between the General and Chamberlain.

General was the one in charge of the soldiers of the castle, the Garthim. He was also the most aggressive and the strongest. He was actually the second General after the former one had died many trines ago.

Chamberlain was meeker than him, but being the chief secretary, meant that he had been the worthiest after the Emperor to be the new leader, but it didn't work that way. He had a wheedling voice that the others all loathed. He was known to be a whiner. He always had a hum in his voice, though everyone called it a whimper, but it wasn't for pain, just to be annoying to the others. He had also always been quite the schemer. He knew how to use his head to think things through compared to the others. He was a master manipulator. Sometimes his plans backfired, like today.

The others had all been so happy to turn on SkekSil, after all the blackmails and betrayals throughout the trines. They had waited for this day for so long to get their revenge. If Ung had not ordered them to stop, they would have been happy to see him killed too, even though that was a strict rule that they weren't to kill one another, even though Sil had secretly broken that rule once with the former General. No one had ever found out.

The Chamberlain now gathered what torn rags that he could in his hands while the others were praising their new Emperor, whimpering sadly, until a humming rang out. Even Chamberlain looked around in surprise.

As quickly as they could, the Skeksis walked to the Crystal Chamber. What they saw in the Crystal's side really shocked them all. There was Brooklyn climbing a cliff. The Skeksis panicked and started talking about a prophecy and how a Gelfling could destroy them. It was too dark out for them to see Brooklyn's true color and looks. Plus, his back was turned to the bat that was watching him.

The General began to call on his soldiers, the Garthim, to come forward so he could give them orders on what to do. "Garthim! Death! To Gelfling!" he commanded. The Garthim then turned and hurriedly walked out of the Castle.

Chamberlain peeked out from a corner. He was now dressed in what rags of robes he had collected. He watched the Garthim walk out of the castle, and he thought, 'Maybe if I catch this Gelfling, I can get my position back.' He smiled at the thought and followed the Garthim towards the so-called Gelfling.

................

The bat watching Brooklyn was one that had been sent out earlier to hunt for food for the Skeksis. Brooklyn could see and hear many strange sounds and creatures. He didn't know when sunrise would come, so he decided to sit down and take a break for a while. He had been walking for a while after all. He also knew he really wanted something to eat. His hunger felt like it could take on a personality of its own. He just wanted to go home.

He had traveled through a swamp and over a rocky area before getting to this forest.

Suddenly, Brooklyn heard a strange clicking noise and he quickly jumped to his feet. In front of him were ten huge beetle-like creatures. The Garthim! "What on Earth?" he exclaimed in shock.

He saw that they were ready for battle, and he began to get ready for a fight. As the Garthim closed in on him, Brooklyn uncaped his wings and his eyes flared white, as he was trying to scare them, but it didn't do any good. They kept on coming.

The Garthim surrounded him, and they started snapping at him. His strength was strong enough that he did manage to scratch some and he pulled the arm out of one, but he realized that he couldn't take on so many of these things.

He tried to dodge their snaps as best he could, but one of them managed to get too close and closed its left claw around Brooklyn's right arm, cutting his skin. Brooklyn cried out in pain and jammed his talons of his other arm into the claw. The Garthim let go, in pain.

Brooklyn clutched the wound but saw that he was too far outnumbered. Even though he was in pain, he turned and ran. One Garthim even tried to block him, but spreading his wings, he jumped over him. Gliding away would have been the best option, but he didn't know where to head to. He landed on the other side of it, then took off on all fours instead. He got away from them quite fast.

He ran deep into the swamp. Once he stopped to catch his breath, he noticed his arm was still bleeding. He applied pressure to the wound. He didn't have any bandages with him. He looked around for anything that would help. Then, he spotted a good-sized leaf on a tree nearby. He went over to it and tore it off the limb and wrapped it around his arm. The wound throbbed, but the leaf would do for now.

The Chamberlain had caught up with the Garthim and had seen him run away. He then knew that all he had to do was follow the footprints to find him. His tracks were easy to see in the dim twilight. He had spent most of the night following and tracking the Garthim. But first, he had to call off the Garthim.

The Skeksis went quickly to the front of them and raised his arm. "Back to Castle, Garthim! Gelfling is mine!" he ordered. The Garthim did as commanded. They would listen to any Skeksis.

Chamberlain whined happily and now turned to follow the tracks in the dark.