"Very well, now you have one,
but do not think that you have won!
Your trials tarry to go on,
because I said to expect three."
"You've proven your time too coarse,
brother. It shall be mine, of course!
See, as your sister shapes to corse
these three simple aviaries."
But Thrall had earned his right to stand before the court of cat and man, because his answer had been planned to free himself. He cried, "Release her!" pointing to the vice of sandstone settled fast into the land; holding his comrade in hand. He worried for her life, at least.
"Tut, tut, tut, you make demands,
but her privileges are banned.
For her own fault we must remand
her. Beg us that we do not squeeze."
"She cannot breathe!" Thrall screamed, running over to her side, and pawing at the earth with his bare hands. It was a fruitless endeavor, as the sand was held in place so firmly that it seemed almost like a solid mass of stone.
The sphinxes just gazed, without pity; smiling wide at their committee. Buried in a coffin gritty, Xantheaa would die this day. No one should dare to break the sky, without a consequent decry!—and worse, she did it within sight of powers that she'd have to pay! Thrall just stood and raised his sword, and hoped with all he could afford his aim would safely strafe toward a strike to breach but not to slay.
He breathed in sharp, and swung it fast, and the clang rung aloud at last, to find the cask had sprung a gash directly over her airway. He leaned in close, and wept to hear the tell-tale sounds of breath appear whistling deftly to his ear. It was so fragile, but it served.
The sphinxes tried to move the sand, but they'd not obey their command. The sword's fire astounded and superceded their paltry oeuvre.
"Now, ask your questions, oh guards of wastes. You so fiercely defend a land that bears no wealth or fertility. Don't you feel such shame for standing in the middle of a desert until the earth reclaims your very silhouette beneath the terrain about you?!" He shouted, tearfully, as his arms were draped over the imprisoned form beneath the stone.
The sister obliged him, blinking slowly, and then began to recite with a snarl.
"In life I was a sunken castle,
In death I become a hassle.
In thereafter, like a vassal,
I serve the heavens above."
"A mighty castle, of spirit and mind is forged by the bonds of friendship and love, and surely the memory of a fallen soul is torturous to someone who may have cared about them. It also extends to the gods, through our worship, but I have a feeling that you wouldn't give me so easy an answer after the display of love that I just showed for my—" and then he paused to look over at 'Aswad; who was still lying on his back, with skinny blackened legs pointing high in the air like a cooked bug.
He was still half-way unconscious, but it seemed the guy was alarmingly lucid for all it was worth; when it counted. It wasn't safe to assume that anything he said would be unheard or remembered when the bird fully awoke, so Thrall had to be careful not to let his true feelings fly, at least, not just yet.
"...my partner." he finished with a cough. Then, he turned back to the sphinxes and bellowed. "I won't fall for your tricks, you stupid cats! The answer is the Pyramids of Giza! Try a little harder next time. Give me a challenge!"
She looked scandalized, agape. That was so simple to mistake! A riddle with a flagrant take was almost flawless to deceive.
"Not so easy, is it, sister?
Though I see that you have missed her
vitals for a second fixture.
Would you like a quick reprieve?"
"I concede, I'd undervalued
the experience he had accrued.
The daemon crafted to beguile you,
but I know this time I'll win.
After all of life was settled,
one Seraph had dared to meddle
in the court to test his mettle.
Who then committed this sin?"
Thrall then balked, and spit and blustered. With all the breath they could muster, they stumbled to readjust their regular response to shame. The sphinx had known somehow about him, and what it meant to hand out nyms. Somehow they had crafted out an epic to expose his name.
"Y-you can't do that!" Thrall shouted, knowing full well that if he gave up his name, he'd have to be a tool of their reckoning until the end of time. He would be less than even a slave to them. Sweat poured down over his brow as he frantically fought for a way to get out of this.
Normally daemons have no need for subtle attachments like affection, and compassion; so he had survived this long without exposing his true name by always having an escape plan. He had earned his own passage first for this very reason. If need be, he could always abandon the bird, if he got one question wrong.
The sphinxes seemed to have planned for this, though! They put Xantheaa in a cage for a reason that had nothing to do with the standard practice of earning sanctuary through passing their test. If it came down to it, they retained all the power to give that right of passage to only the males in their group. It was a catch-22!
It was then that the realization snapped into place. "The game had been rigged from the start. The game had been rigged from the start. The game had been rigged from the start."
He began repeating this to himself over and over, as the two horrible countenances peered down on his distress in glee. He had no good choices left! It was either abandon Xantheaa to her death, and continue on this useless journey, or give up the one thing that he had found so invaluable to his own survival for all six-thousand years of his life, on Earth.
He was clutching his face in one hand, pulling his hair with the other, and screaming in agony as the smiling lion on his right burst out in a fit of laughter. Even the eternal scowl of the woman on his left seemed bathed in a sense of morbid satisfaction at the cruel magnitude of the pain she had wrought. Then, he collapsed to the burning sand beneath, as tears grew within his eyes.
He had never been put in a position where he had something to lose before. He couldn't bear the thought of abandoning her, after she had brought him so far. What was even the point?
No, he could not let such a thing happen. He had to make up his mind, and sell his life away in order to ensure that at least she, alone, would be set free. That was all that he deserved, after all he'd done.
So, as he gathered the courage to stand and say those final words, he looked up to find the dark silhouette of Ghurab 'Aswad peering down, inches from his face. "What's the matter, my friend?"
"What?" Thrall blinked, tears slowly clearing from his vision. "H-how are you moving? I thought you were-" and then it occurred to him immediately. The crow was no longer affected, as the contract had settled into effect for the two of them already. The test was over.
Xantheaa had accepted she would be abandoned, in hopes that Thrall would take the hint and value himself. She could no longer be saved without an answer. He turned his head over to the harpy-shaped mound against the earth. She was their meal.
His eyes filled with renewed desperation in flooding with tears. "No! No! No! I won't accept it!" He cried, crawling over to her side. "Xantheaa, do not give up hope! I won't let you die. Believe that you can come out of this alive, so that I can save you!"
His hands pounded against the solid unyielding mass repeatedly, while the crow watched. "I don't understand what the problem is... Can't you just give them the answer? You clearly seem to know what these two are talking about. Why is she willing to die over a little riddle?"
"I- I can't. It's not that simple. What they are asking is a secret that I have been guarding for thousands of years."
"Isn't it just the name of some guy?" 'Aswad asked, tilting his head curiously to the right. Thrall just stared back at him, sheepishly. It seemed so small, when he described the stakes so calmly. Maybe this wouldn't be such a terrible thing to do. Right! He just had to say it quickly, and it would all be over. "Wait, what- is it you?"
The crow snorted and cawed loudly at the expression that the angel was wearing to build up to this supposed "great reveal." "Are you kidding me? Is that all? I thought it was something important. I mean, you told me your name already! It's Thrall Xantheaa, isn't that right?"
Suddenly the laughter ceased, and rumbling in the earth increased. The sand on Theaa's body least of all refused to stay in place. The sphinxes looked into their eyes, and rage and anguish passed them by. How could this answer satisfy the stakes that they had dared to trace?!
Xantheaa looked up, dazed and shuddered. So, Thrall threw himself upon her. Wrapped her in his arms asunder, and searched deep into her face. "You scared me, dummy! Why would you go ahead and make a decision to die, all on your own?! To protect a sinful wretch like me?"
As she was still weak from the experience, her wings hung limply by her sides in a most delicate manner, as the sphinxes raged and argued behind them. She could barely venture a whisper. "If you have to ask... then you are the dummy, not me."
She raised a feathered limb to his face, and slowly wiped the tears from his cheeks. His shadowy mask had finally pulled back and revealed all of his features in the glory of God's impeccable design. She smiled. "Do you even realize how beautiful you are?"
"Hah! That's my line..." Thrall sighed, sniffing his nose. He was holding her body so close. She could feel his heartbeat rushing through his chest... All she had to do was lean forward, and—
"Caw!" the crow cleared his throat behind them. "I'd hate to interrupt the two lovebirds, but if you remember, we were on the hunt for someone!"
They looked around at each other, stunned. "Right."