Guardian: Protectors of Light (11 page)

“
How’s this
actually possible?” James said, inspecting his sword. “Every time I
pull my sword out of its scabbard, it instantly starts to glow.
How’s that possible?” he asked his friends.

Nobody seemed to really
know the answer, however. Perhaps it was something within the
blade, maybe it was enchanted. Who knew but the smith?

They continued down a
narrow path - or at least, a small dirt road which seemed to be a
path.

“
So, did
Gabriel give any advice on where we should go next?” Bella asked
Thomas, who was still walking in front of the group, carrying the
map. It was slightly easier to read it during the day.

“
He mentioned
a house he’d built to figure as a shelter, beyond the river to the
east,” Thomas replied. “As soon as we cross the bridge, we should
be almost there.”

As he was staring at the
map, Thomas suddenly froze. His hand moved up to stop everyone from
walking.

“
Shh,” Thomas
whispered. “They’re back. They followed us here.”

The question “Who?” was
answered before it was even asked. The Shadow Walkers appeared from
the shadows again, growling loudly and teeth bared.

“
Don’t worry,
guys!” Antonio yelled. “This is what we’ve been practicing for,
right? I’d say it’s time to give these furry freaks a
show!”

His friends agreed with
him; drawing their weapons, they ran forward and engaged in
battle.

The wolves were strong,
fast and agile, and incredibly hard to see when they hid in the
shadows. But the strong glow of their eyes gave them a
disadvantage; their eyes were visible at all times, unless they
kept them closed, forming a moderately easy target to
hit.

James tried using his
fencing skills against one of the wolves, but was quick to learn
that he had to develop his own style. When he noticed the wolf was
about to leap forward, he slid down underneath it, stabbing the
beast in the chest with his sword. As soon as the sword pierced its
flesh, the Shadow Wolf dissolved into black smoke, which seemed to
blend in with the shadows. James looked behind him, looking if any
of his friends needed help.

Antonio was standing his
ground, tricking the wolves into attacking each other; he used
another wolf to knock them out, by piercing the smallest with his
glaive and smacking the wolves with it like a baseball bat. The
three wolves dissolved on impact.

Unfortunately, Thomas was
in less luck. He and Bella were fighting back-to-back, until Thomas
noticed something from the corner of his eye; Samira looked like
she was in trouble.

She managed to keep the
Shadow Walkers at distance, but they came up faster than she could
shoot. James, Bella and Thomas all three rushed in to help her,
while Antonio had their backs.

They fought off the
wolves as a team, until the very last one - or at least, so they
thought they did.

One wolf had been clever
enough to hide itself in the shadows and wait for the right moment
to strike, which turned out to be when everyone had their back
turned toward it.

“
Next time,
we need to fight more as a team,” James said. “We can’t just go
running around on our own; together, we’ll be five times as strong
as on our own.” He noticed something moving in the corner of his
eye, but didn’t think much of it. At least, not enough to instantly
attack it, which was ultimately what he should’ve done; luckily,
Thomas noticed in time that the wolf was about to attack Samira, as
she’d been standing in front of him all the time.

“
SAMIRA!”
Thomas yelled. “WATCH OUT!”

He grabbed Samira and
threw her on the ground in a rather harsh fashion, but only then he
could’ve got her out of the way of the wolf’s jaws in time.
Instead, Thomas himself leapt forward, thrusting his sword into the
wolf’s chest, getting an unfortunate jab at his head from one of
the wolf’s claws in the process. Thomas yelled in pain as the wolf
dissolved and he fell forward on the grass. The sword ended up on
the ground in front of him.

“
Thomas!”
Samira cried as she got on all fours as quick as she could. “Is
everything all right?”

Thomas didn’t reply
immediately; he tried to push himself up on his elbows while
moaning in pain. “I... believe I got hit in the head,” he
groaned.

Samira inspected the
wound on his head, while carefully wiping hair out of the wound
with a delicate finger. She was holding his head up by his chin
with her other hand; Thomas groaned silently whenever she
accidentally touched the wound; he didn’t want to make himself look
vulnerable by showing it hurt.

“
We’ve got to
go back to Gabriel,” James said, who’d knelt down beside his sister
to gauge the severity of Thomas’ wound. “We don’t have anything to
treat this kind of wounds; we should at least ask Gabriel for help.
I’m sure he will know what to do.”

“
It’s – I’m fine,” Thomas grunted. “It doesn’t– hurt
–
that
– much, really. We can –
urgh
– go
on.” He groaned painfully a few times while talking, although it
was obvious that he was trying hard his hardest not to.

Samira tilted her head, looking at Thomas with a worried
shimmer reflecting in her sky blue eyes. “You weren’t expecting us
to actually
believe
that, now were you?” she
said.

Thomas offered her a
faint grin. “I was kind of hoping you would,” he said. “But...
you’re right. You wouldn’t.”

“
Come on, big
guy,” Antonio said, carefully grabbing Thomas’ shoulders. “We’ve
got to get you to Gabriel. James, can you help me get him
up?”

James nodded, and
together the two boys helped their friend to get back on his
feet.

He leaned on both of them
as they walked back to Gabriel’s hideout, while Bella and Samira
kept an eye out for any other attackers.

The teenagers ran into
Gabriel not far from his house; he was hunting for food. As soon as
he saw the teenagers approaching him he dropped his weapons – he’d
just shot a pigeon, but didn’t seem to care enough to go get it
first – and rushed toward the teens to help them.

“
Do you think
you can stay in balance long enough to climb the stairs?” Gabriel
asked Thomas, who responded with a nod. He then proceeded to do so,
with Gabriel providing support behind him and Antonio in front of
him. The others followed closely.

Thomas did stagger a few
times, but managed to stay on his feet until he was
inside.

He sat down on the
makeshift pillow-couch, with Samira beside him. Gabriel cleaned two
pieces of cloth in a bucket of clear water; he used one to clean
the wound and put a green paste he’d got from a small shelf on his
wall on the other. He used the cloth to bandage Thomas’ head wound,
explaining the paste would stimulate the natural healing
process.

“
Just try not
to touch it too much and you should be fine,” Gabriel said. Thomas
nodded.

“
I understand
why you guys came back,” Gabriel said, “but next time someone gets
gravely injured, you might not make it to someone who can help
you.” He paused. “But there is someone who can help you; Eloine,
Queen of the fairies. She lives in the forest of the Silver Valley.
You should go find her; she can teach one of you how to heal with
fairy Magic. This is crucial for your survival.”

James looked at Gabriel.
“Who will she teach how to heal?”

“
Whoever the
Queen thinks is the right person to teach the fairy ways,” Gabriel
said. “I’d advise you to travel during the night; sleeping during
the night is too dangerous, as the Shadow Creatures have free play
in the dark.

You should be able to
make it to the Silver Valley within three to five days.”

Samira looked at Thomas
as they stood up. “Are you sure you can manage?” she
asked.

Thomas looked at her as
if she was crazy. “Of course I can,” he said. “Just... don’t make
me run. Or jump.” Both he and Samira chuckled.

They said goodbye to
Gabriel one more time, promising to head straight to the Silver
Valley.

“
There’ll be a surprise waiting for you when you
get there,” Gabriel had said. “Just you wait; I
promise
it’s a pleasant one.”

But they sure had learned
from this experience; it’d become clear to them that on their own,
the Guardians would never be able to survive. They had to stick
together, which was of course the purpose of being the Bond of
Light. Everything the Keepers had told them was related to
teamwork. The Ritual had to be performed by the five of them; they
had to help each other overcome their fears. Everything they were
going to have to face and go through would be to test the strength
of their friendship and how well they could work together as a
team.

And if they could not
work together as a team, they’d fail, like every other Generation
before them had.

*

The Guardians had proceeded to travel in silence, trying
not to attract any unwanted attention. They’d learned their lesson;
talking carelessly attracted their enemies. Silence wasn’t going to
help them communicate, but until they got out of the dark forest,
they’d
have
to be careful.

Luckily, they made it to
the shelter Gabriel had mentioned to them earlier at sunset,
without too many problems. Of course there were the occasional
Shadow Creatures that could be seen stalking them from the shadows,
but strangely enough, they never attacked anymore; as if someone
was in control of them and had ordered them not to.

It didn’t really seem to
bother anyone of the team though, as nobody had mentioned it aside
from Samira, whose concerns were quickly wiped away from a
sarcastic comment from Antonio.

They entered the shelter,
which was nothing more than a two-roomed cabin; one room had a
fireplace and a table with four chairs, and the other counted five
beds. All built quickly, of simple materials. But it’d suffice for
one night.

“
I’d suggest
we stay here during the night and hunt for food during the morning
before leaving,” Thomas said. The others agreed with
him.

“
It seems
safe enough to sleep inside this cabin,” James said. “There’s an
oil lamp on the table. We should light it.”

“
Yeah, and
the fireplace too,” Antonio said sarcastically. “At least we’ll
make sure we’re nicely roasted when those Shadow Creatures come to
feast upon our flesh.” He then snapped at James. “DO YOU WANT TO
BURN US ALIVE, RIVERDALE!?”

“
No,” James
said, raising his palms in a defensive manner, “but I just figured
that the more light there is around us, the bigger the chance the
Shadow Creatures will leave us alone.”

“
Well, if you
ask me, they’ll attack us whenever they feel like doing so, so I
wouldn’t worry about that,” Antonio said. “We could, of course, let
someone keep watch and switch every three hours or so.” His face
was smug, but not for too long.

“
Great idea,” Bella said with a smirk. “Then why
don’t
you
be the first to keep watch, huh,
Anton?”

Antonio’s expression shifted. He obviously hadn’t been
planning to be the first to keep watch, or probably
ever
. “And why should I? There’s no need to!”

Bella was about to reply,
but James decided to break up the argument by touching Bella’s
shoulder and saying, “never mind, Bella; he’s not worth the effort.
I’ll keep watch.”

Antonio rolled his eyes
as he let out a loud sigh. “There he goes again,” he said. “The
little kid trying to be a man. Give it up, James.”

James didn’t respond,
which was probably the wisest thing to do. He simply walked out the
door, shutting it behind him.

“
Well... I
think we should go to sleep, then?” Thomas said carefully. Everyone
was staring at the door, except for Antonio, who’d already walked
into the shelter’s sleeping area.

“
Maybe we
should...” Samira said silently. “Antonio can be so insensitive
sometimes.”

“
Yeah,”
Thomas said, “but James takes it well. I think we should just leave
him alone with his thoughts for tonight. I think something’s
bothering him.”

“
Then why don’t you ask
what
’s bothering him?” Bella said. “If you’re so sure... we
should help him rest his mind, right?”

“
No, Thom is
right,” Samira said. “We should just leave him alone. He’ll come
get one of us when he’s tired. Don’t worry.”

But James didn’t come.
And it wouldn’t be until Samira would wake up hours later, until
someone would notice.

James just sat outside
the shelter, going through his thoughts. There was something about
everything they’d experienced for the past few days which made him
feel uneasy.

A part of him was still
blaming himself for getting his friends involved into this mess;
but when he thought back of what Rikki had told him about all of
this just being fate, he started to wonder whether or not this
truly was his fault.