Guardian: Protectors of Light (12 page)

Maybe it was his father’s
fault, for reading that story to him and Samira over and over
again.

Maybe his father knew? He
probably didn’t.

How could he
possibly
have, after
all? James’s father was probably just one of the many people who
thought that it was just a fairytale, just another bedtime story to
tell to their kids.

But what if his father
did
know? Even just
the slightest bit?

James kept shaking his
head every time this particular “what if” popped up in his mind.
His father didn’t know. He never did. And secondly, what if he did
know, what did it matter?

He wasn’t there for James
to be able to ask him, anyway. And he never would be
again.

*

James woke up,
discovering that the leather of his gloves had left an imprint on
his cheek due to sleeping on his arm. How long had he been sitting
outside?

Where were his
friends?

He quickly rose to his
feet, and went inside the cabin. His friends were still asleep;
Samira turned around on her bed and looked at James.

“
Hey there,”
she said. “You look like you had a wonderful night’s sleep.” She
got up, putting her boots and gloves back on and retying the cape
around her neck. While running her fingers through her hair,
readying it to braid it, she walked up to her brother. “Morning,
bro-bro,” she said.

“
Morning,
Sam,” James said. “Gosh, do I really look that terrible?” He was
referring to Samira’s first comment.

“
Yeah, you
do,” Samira replied. “What did you do all night? You look like you
ran a marathon and then got a bad haircut.”

James quickly started to
rub over the flaming red mess on his head, trying to make it look
somewhat bearable.

“
The others
should be up soon,” Samira said, while tying her braided hair
together. “We could go fish by the river, if you want.”

“
Sure,” James
said, taking a quick sniff at his armpits and pulling a disgusted
face. “I know what else I’ll be doing there...” Samira
chuckled.

The river was right
behind the cabin; the teenagers had crossed the bridge the previous
night. Samira used James’s sword to fish, which was easier than
she’d expected. When James had finished washing up, Samira had
caught three fish big enough to share between the five of
them.

It was a frugal meal, but
it would do. Especially if they could pluck some fruit to eat
somewhere along the way later that day.

Brother and sister
returned to the cabin. “I’ll see if I can find something to cook
those fish with,” James said, as they entered the small, wooden
building.

“
Why don’t we
roast them on sticks over the fireplace, like marshmallows?” Bella
suggested. She was sitting at the wooden table, cleaning her
knives, which seemed to be a rather unnecessary task, as the blades
were spotlessly clean. “The boys are still asleep,” she said. “We
can wake them up after we’ve finished those fish.” A teasing grin
appeared on her face; Samira and James knew she was just
kidding.

“
We can wake
them up when we’ve got the meal prepared,” Samira said. “Does
either of you know how to skin fish? Since I don’t.”

Bella smirked. “My Dad’s a chef, remember? He’s taught me
pretty much everything he knows, which includes
filleting
a fish.” She made use of the moment to correct Samira’s
mistake.

“
If you say
so,” Samira said. She didn’t sound too confident in her best
friend’s cooking skills. “I’ll go out to the river and fill the
water sacs Gabriel gave us with water. James?”

“
I’ll go get
sticks and firewood,” James said, taking his sword out of his
scabbard before allowing it to slide back in.

“
All right
then, that means each of us has something useful to do,” Samira
said. She handed Bella the fish, and left the cabin again together
with James. While she filled the five water sacs with fresh river
water, James started to chop off tree branches until he had enough
to make a fire. When each their jobs had been finished, they
returned to the cabin, where Bella was still busy trying to fillet
the fish.

“
Not doing so
great now, huh? Samira joked as she saw Bella struggling with the
fish grates.

“
All right,
I’ll admit it,” Bella sighed. “Dad might’ve taught me everything he
knows, but I’m just... not a good cook.”

James and Samira laughed.
“Don’t worry,” James said. “It doesn’t have to be perfect. We’ll
just tell the boys to chew carefully.”

Now Bella couldn’t help
but chuckle. “Yeah, good luck with that,” she said. “Just go get
dressed already!”

James looked down at his
clothes; his trousers were hanging out of his pants. Although it
took him a little longer, he eventually found out his shirt was on
backwards. “Oh. Right.”

Just as he was about to
walk into the bedroom, two figures came walking out, looking almost
just as bad as James.

Thomas was wearing
nothing but the brown sweater that was supposed to go underneath
his chest plate and his grey trousers that were actually too big
for him, and his short hair seemed twice as long. Antonio however
was already fully dressed, but looked more like a dog that had run
through a clothesline and was dragging along underwear and shirts
that were hanging over his back. He’d probably got in trouble while
trying to put on his vest while he still was
half-asleep.

James, Bella and Samira
couldn’t help but chuckle when they saw the two “manly messes”
standing in front of them.

“
Good morning
boys,” James said, while walking past the duo with a broad grin on
his face. Thomas followed James’s movement with his head and
watched as the teenager walked into the other room to get dressed,
staring absently.

“
...Mind to
share where we are?” he mumbled.

“
What, you’ve
forgot already?” Bella said, moving her hands to her hips. “Did
that head wound give you amnesia after all?”

“
I don’t
know...” Thomas groaned, carefully touching his bandaged forehead.
“I was kind of hoping that everything had just been a bizarre
dream.”

“
...And so it
turns out to be reality,” Antonio said, sounding moderately
disappointed. “I should probably apologize to you guys for being
such a jerk last night; I don’t know what came over me. I guess it
was just all the stress and everything building up...” He scratched
his neck in anticipation of an answer; his friends nodded at
him.

“
But really,
you shouldn’t apologize to us,” Samira said, crossing her arms.
“James spent the entire night outside because you were being a
jerk.”

Antonio bit his lip. “He
didn’t seem to mind,” he said carefully. “He offered to keep watch
himself. I didn’t force him to.”

“
Oh, come on,
Antonio!” Thomas said. “You know how James thinks. Besides from
that, you’re three and a half a year older than he is. Wouldn’t it
be right for you, the oldest, to be the adult and admit that you
were wrong by apologizing?” Antonio shrugged.

“
Maybe I
don’t want to be the responsible adult...

The kid probably doesn’t
even care,” he quickly decided to add when he saw three pairs of
eyes glaring angrily at him.

“
Whether he
cares or not, he does deserve an apology,” Thomas said. “Now go and
apologize!”

Antonio let out a loud,
dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes, but did turn around and walk
into the other room to talk to James eventually.

When Antonio walked in,
James was just finishing getting dressed; he was tying the hip bag
around his middle. “Hey, Tonio,” the redhead said. “What’s the
matter?”

Antonio seemed rather
hesitant, but did speak up eventually. “So... About last night,” he
said slowly. “I’m sorry.”

James smiled teasingly.
“I know,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Antonio lowered his
eyebrows and crossed his arms. “Really? You know what?”

James’s smirk changed
into a laugh. “I heard you guys talking in the other room,” he
said. “No door, remember?” Antonio snorted.

“
Yeah. I
guess you’re right,” he said. “So... we’re good, right?”

“
Always have
been, always will be,” James said. “Just don’t let your temper get
out of hand like that when it’s directed toward us. Use that energy
on the battlefield, okay?”

He stuck out his hand at
Antonio, who took it. “Agreed.”

“
Come on,
Tonio,” James said with a smile. “We’re having fish for
breakfast.”

Tricks and
strategies

They took their time to
enjoy breakfast, but knew it couldn’t last forever. They had to
hurry and move on. This was their third day in Lunaria, and they
could count on it that the Master had become aware of their
arrival.

That meant the hunt had
officially been opened. Although Samira and Bella trusted
Madeleine’s word that he wouldn’t be coming after them unless they
got too far into the world, but James, Thomas and Antonio didn’t
seem too sure.

The discussion during
breakfast was mainly about discussing strategies; they had to move
quick and as unseen as possible. It was for sure that there was a
price on their heads, and they didn’t know who was on their side
and who wasn’t. Why, they didn’t even know who and what inhabited
this world. What they would be seeing. What they would be
experiencing. But at least they knew one thing; this, everything
altogether, was going to be one hell of an adventure.

After breakfast, the
teenagers prepared to leave the cabin. The water sacs had been
filled with clean water and all five stomachs had been
filled.

Today was the day when
everything would officially begin. Of course the trip had begun two
days earlier when they arrived, but from now on they’d be on their
own for a while. Nobody knew how long, but it would be a while
until they ran into someone who could help them with information
and backup again.

And of course, they had
to be careful who they approached. Anyone could be under the
Master’s control without even knowing. That meant the Guardians had
to be careful who they spoke to.

Thomas had suggested that
they’d continue to rely strongly on their map, but try to get
around on their own as well. They had to get familiar with their
environment. Knowing where to go if they had to flee would become
useful at some point.

The forest was dense, and
the amount of clear paths and quick escape routes was slim. The
chance to trip and fall and get hurt was somewhat
worrisome.

Most of the time, they
walked silently, only talking whenever necessary. The forest was
still a dangerous place, and the Shadow Creatures were out to find
them.

And the Master probably
was too.

The journey was paused
after a while, because Bella had noticed fruit trees along the
route they followed. Antonio, James and Thomas went to pick some
fruit, while Bella and Samira checked their location on the
map.

They were following the
river to the south; according to the map, the river would lead them
to the Silver Valley. While the part of the forest which was
inhabited by the fairy people was a part of the Twilight Forest,
there was a magical barrier around the forest and a part of the
Silver Valley, preventing any unwanted forces from entering the
Fairy Kingdom from the Twilight Forest. This meant that in order to
get in, the Guardians would have to travel around the barrier first
to get to the gates to the ‘kingdom’...

...Which just so happened to be easier said than
done.
Of course
it was.

After the guys had
returned with a bag full of fresh fruit, the five teenagers sat
down to revise their plans for the rest of the day. There was no
way that they’d make it to the Valley before sundown, and they
needed a plan for the night hours.

“
We are
seriously going to have to change our sleeping schedules if we want
to survive out here,” Bella said. “Gabriel said that those Shadow
Creatures feed off the dark and can’t survive in daylight, so we’ve
got to use that to our advantage. That means we’ll have to sleep
during the day!”

“
Bella has a point,” James said, while biting
down on an apple. “I mean- aside from the fact that she just simply
repeated Gabriel’s advice - no offense,” he quickly said to Bella,
who nodded. “Anyway. We should in
deed
sleep
during the day from now on.”

“
So you’re basically implying that we’re going to
keep going
all
through the night?” Thomas said.
James nodded.

“
We’ll have
to,” he said. “Otherwise, we’ll never be able to adjust, and keep
going in a vicious circle.”

Samira stood up as she
threw away her apple core. “Well, I guess that means we’ve got no
time to lose then, huh?”