Guardian: Protectors of Light (14 page)

Although getting to the
Silver Valley wouldn’t secure their safety – there was still plenty
of danger ahead-, the sunlight would help a lot when it came to it.
And while it was important to go and visit the Fairy Queen as soon
as possible, it would probably be even more important to explore
the Valley for a bit more before heading straight down there – just
so they could get more familiar with the environment... For as much
as it was worth.

“
How far
is
it to that stupid
valley?” Bella sighed. “My feet are
killing
me.”

“
Just take a
look at the bright side of this whole experience, Jingle Bells,”
Samira teased her best friend, although fatigue was hinting at her
own face as well, behind her smile. “We get a free, daily eight-our
workout! Every single day! When we get home, we’ll be as light as
feathers!”

Yeah,
if
we get home
, James thought. And that thought, which had suddenly
popped into his head out of nowhere, bothered him. Why would he
think something like that? Of course they’d be going home after all
of this was over.

Were they?

James looked aside and
noticed Samira was inspecting him from a distance, as if she had
read his mind. He decided to swallow his worry and ignore it; after
all, in stories, good always won from evil.

And, after all... this
was some kind of story, right? There had been a whole fairy tale
based on the adventures James and his friends were experiencing
right now, and all the people that went before them.

James was sure of it;
they’d be the first to succeed into doing what the other
Generations couldn’t; reach the Land of Void and free the world
from the Master.

And then they’d be going
home. Unharmed.

Dear
Mother

The past few days had
been awfully quiet back home. Cheyenne hadn’t gone to work ever
since her children had disappeared, and spent the days waiting for
them, checking up on their beds regularly. Yet, they still remained
empty every time she checked.

Worried friends and
family who’d been signed in on the situation had dropped by to help
her go about her day, which seemed to help her a bit. But the man
that kept dropping by the most often was David Hayford. David had
been a childhood friend of Martin and Cheyenne, and was godfather
to Lucy and Andy, Cheyenne’s niece and nephew. Her father, Martin’s
brother-in-law, had died in a similar accident as Martin – or, at
least at the hands of the same man, that was for sure.

David had always been
there to support the two widowed mothers ever since, despite not
knowing how to raise a child. But as he got older, he matured and
learned how to be more of a mentor for the four children instead of
just a fun playmate.

He’d taken a day off from
work to sit down and talk to Cheyenne, hoping to be able to take
some of the weight off her shoulders.

“
So, how are you today?” David said, trying hard not to
sound like a psychologist – which he failed to do, unfortunately.
Cheyenne looked at him; the bags underneath her eyes revealed that
she hadn’t slept in days.

“
Worried,”
she said. “I still am.”

“
I can
understand that,” David said, as he sat down beside Cheyenne. “But
really, there’s nothing you can do for them. Worrying is not going
to help your kids.”

Cheyenne let out a loud sigh of exasperation. “I
know
that,” she said, the tone of her voice rather annoyed. But
the annoyance wasn’t directed at David; it was directed towards
herself. “But I still can’t help it. I mean... all my life, I’ve
been making sure my children would grow up safely, and then
suddenly-”

“
-they get
ripped away from you, without knowing whether they’ll be safe or
not,” David finished her sentence.

“
Exactly,” she agreed with him. “It’s just-
so
stressful
. There’s
nothing I can do to help them, and I can never know where they are
or when – or
if
, even – they’re
coming home. I’m their
mother
, David! And
I’m completely powerless!”

She buried her face in
her hands, while her shoulders started to shock. She was sobbing;
David placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

“
It’s... been
four days now, David,” Cheyenne sobbed. “Four days.”

“
Give them
some time, Chey,” David said softly. “They’ll be back before you
know it. There are five of them, and there’s nothing they can’t
complete together.”

Cheyenne didn’t give him
an answer; she just turned around and buried her face in David’s
chest, who in his turn accepted her hug, and just sat there with
her for hours.

*

David had decided to
spend the night, because he didn’t consider Cheyenne being able to
go around on her own. He cooked for her (which she embarrassingly
admitted she wouldn’t have done if it hadn’t been for him), and
shared dinner with her before helping her catch some
sleep.

While David stayed
downstairs and watched TV until around eleven o’clock, Cheyenne had
decided to go to bed early. But she still couldn’t sleep; the same
thoughts went through her mind over and over again.

David was right. He
always was. She shouldn’t worry as much as she did. But she just
simply couldn’t help it.

Falling asleep hours
later didn’t make things any better, either.

Cheyenne
found herself in the middle of a dark forest. She didn’t know where
she was; all she knew was that there was danger nearby. She made a
small attempt at moving forward to investigate, but as soon as she
heard careful footsteps slightly crunching the dry leaves and
sticks that were covering the forest ground, she froze.

“
Who’s
there!?” she yelled. “Don’t come any closer! I- I’m
armed!”

The voice
that replied sounded rather confused and familiar.
“Mum?”

Cheyenne
turned around and was caught by surprise when she saw her son
standing there, not too far away from her. He instantly approached
her, hugging her tight.

“
James, what
is going on?” Cheyenne said confusedly, as she accepted her son’s
embrace.

“
I don’t
know, Mum,” James said. “I’m just glad to see you again. That’s
all.”

“
Please come
home, James,” Cheyenne said. “Come home. Take your sister and your
friends and come home. I’m begging you.”

James let go
of his mother; his expression was a mix of strictness and sadness.
“You know I can’t, Mum,” he said, sadness and longing lingering in
his voice. “No matter how badly I want to.”

“
Please,
James,” Cheyenne pleaded; her voice sounded heartbreaking; James’s
heart ripped in half inside his chest just by listening to it.
“Please come home.” But James shook his head.

“
I’m sorry,
Mum,” he said. “I truly am... But this world needs our
help.”

“
I know, you
and your sister explained it all before,” Cheyenne said slowly. “If
you can’t come home... James, I beg you to promise to me you’ll be
careful.”

James smiled
warmly at his mother. “Oh, Mum, but of course!” he said, seemingly
delighted that his mother still worried for her sixteen-year-old
son’s safety. It was probably the thought that counted. “Why, of
course I’ll be careful, Mum. And there’s always Samira and my
friends who always look after me.”

Upon seeing
her son’s warm smile, Cheyenne finally seemed to have found the
strength to lift up the corners of her lips into a faint
smile.

The faint
sound of a shouting voice was heard. James looked over his
shoulder, recognizing the voice. It’d been calling for
him.

“
Mum - I’ve
got to go,” he said; the realization that he was going to have to
leave his mother behind once again seemed to tear him up, as the
boy was clearly swallowing his tears as he spoke.

“
I promise
you I’ll be coming back soon, okay?” He was speaking quickly, as if
something was after them; the yelling voice got gradually louder,
but was echoed and still too unclear to hear who or what it was.
“Mum. I promise I’ll be back.”

Cheyenne
didn’t say anything; she just nodded at her son to let him know it
was okay for him to go. This was only a dream, after
all.

She wasn’t
going to see him in real life for a very long time. Her baby boy.
Stuck in some kind of magical world, with its fate on his
shoulders... luckily, he had his friends to help him – they were
all in it together.

Maybe that’s
what made it easier for Cheyenne to say goodbye to her son
again.

Cheyenne woke up, still
fuzzy from sleep. It was strange how clear she could remember her
dream. She’d been talking to James; it was almost as if he’d come
looking for her.

She couldn’t remember to
have ever had a lucid dream before, so this was a first. But,
whether it’d been reality or not, it was nice to see him
again.

To see he was
okay.

*

Somewhere awfully far
away, James had awoken too, and he too could remember the
conversation he’d shared with his mother while he was
dreaming.

He’d dreamt lucidly
before, but this surely was... different. It’d seemed almost real.
It hadn’t been, of course, because he hadn’t any recollection of
feeling anything whenever he touched something inside that dream.
It’d just seemed real, because his mother had been
there.

Was James really able
contact home through his dreams? Could he contact other people,
too? Or just his mother?

Because if he could, he’d surely try to do the same thing
with Anna. And... maybe
finally
tell her what
he should’ve told her so many times before.

He looked aside, at his
sister, who’d caused him to wake up. “Why’d you wake me up,
anyway?” he said. His words were a whisper; the others were still
asleep.

“
You were...
restless,” Samira said. “You kept twisting and turning, as if you
were having some kind of nightmare. I thought it’d be best if I
woke you up.”

“
I saw Mum in
my dream,” James said, running his fingers through the grass, which
had a strange, silverish hue. The teenagers had arrived in the
Silver Valley earlier before falling asleep in the silver
grass.

The extraordinary colour
of the grass was probably what gave the valley its name; the leaves
on the birch trees that grew there was similar to that of the
grass. It looked beautiful.

“
You know,
Samira?” James said. “I think I might be able to reach home through
my dreams.”

“
Really?”
Samira said, itching to know more. “But... how, then?”

James shrugged. “I don’t
know,” he said. “It’s like a lucid dream, but more realistic. As if
there’s another person on the other side of the dream, sharing the
dream with me. And this person happens to be Mum for now. I don’t
really know.”

“
Maybe you
can ask the Fairy Queen about it,” Samira said, running her fingers
through her hair, getting ready to braid it. “Maybe she knows more.
Or maybe she knows someone who can tell you about it.”

James allowed himself to
fall backwards in the grass; he couldn’t help but yawn. “Yeah...”
he said, between the yawn. “Maybe... we should...”

And before he even knew
it, he’d fallen back to sleep. But this time, he wasn’t able to
contact home. No matter how hard he tried; he just couldn’t reach
out, couldn’t find his mother.

He did have another lucid dream, however this time, it was
empty.

The Silver
Valley

The teenagers waited for
sunset before leaving their safe place and setting off into the
valley. They didn’t have the idea that it was autumn; all trees
were still fully-leaved, and even the night was fairly
warm.

It’d been decided that
they wouldn’t be going to visit the Fairy Queen first; Thomas felt
there was something he had to do near one of the caves near the
mountain. They were known as the Ogre Caves to natives (the
Guardians spent some time talking to the occasional gnome whenever
they needed any information).

“
So... what
is so urgent you need to do inside those caves?” James asked
Thomas, who was still carrying the map. He didn’t answer,
however.

“
Do you think
they’re under the Master’s influence? What if they attack us?”
Bella said.

James could clearly hear
by the tone of his voice that she was mildly scared. He didn’t
blame her; ogres weren’t exactly the kind of magical creature that
was famous for its kindness.
“We can’t possibly know, Bella,” he mumbled. “The valley is the
part of the world that’s the least affected by the Master’s Magic,
due to the many open fields...” he mumbled. “But since ogres are
fairly strong and tall, making them good warriors, and they live in
a dark area, I’d say that there is a certain possibility that they
are.”