Guardian: Protectors of Light (36 page)

“
If that’s
what keeps you calm,” Samira mumbled and closed her eyes, without
removing his hand. “Sleep well, little brother.”

Unfortunately for Samira,
Sabrina hadn’t disappeared. She’d just covered the stone with her
cloak and kept her eyes closed.

“
So that’s
what you two are up to... Foolish decision, Akilah. Two siblings
getting permanently separated is even worse than two best friends
separated. You’ve seen it happen before...

Just wait for it until it
happens again. Then you’ll see who the ruler of these realms
is.”

The red eyes glowing in
the dark disappeared again, this time really
disappearing.

Off to tell their master
what they had discovered.

*

Morning came early. Too
early.

James and the others had
decided to stick around the village until somewhere around midday,
since it was just about the safest place for the five of them to
recover from the previous rather stressful period.

They had decided to do so
after Thomas had considered what Violina and Queen Eloine had told
them before they left: in the realms beyond the mountains, the
Master’s power only grew stronger.

That meant they had to
shape up before leaving the one place that would be probably one of
the final safe havens they could visit.

Thomas had also figured
it’d be a good idea to have a small conversation with Aubry, the
village elder.

She was the best way to
get more information on what laid ahead of them, in the realms
beyond the mountains.

Also, she’d been so kind
to let them sleep in her house. She also could’ve abandoned them to
their fate, but she decided to help them.

And luckily, Aubry
thought the same way about it as Thomas, even though he didn’t know
it yet.

The parents of the
children which James had saved the day before had invited the Bond
of Light for lunch.

It was a simple, yet
tasty lunch. And by adding some of the food which the five friends
had taken with them from the Fairy Queen’s Palace, it became a true
feast.

“
Thank you
for saving our children,” the woman said to James as they were
eating. “You have no idea what this means to us. We’ve been taking
care of these two for nearly five hundred years. I can’t believe we
might as well finally get the chance to watch them grow up at
last.”

James swallowed the bread
he’d been chewing on while listening to the woman. “Of course,” he
said.

“
Anyone of us
would’ve done the same. It’s- it’s what we’re here for, right?
Saving people.”

The little girl clapped
her hands, her brown bangs dancing around as she bounced up and
down. “Thank you so much, James! You’re my hero!”

James smiled. “And you’re
mine, little girl.”

Right after James had
finished his sentence, he heard a woman clearing her throat behind
him. The eight at the table turned their heads in her direction
simultaneously.

It was Aubry.

“
Guardians?”
she asked, on a serious tone. “Can I speak to you?”

“
Sure,” James
said, standing up. He was about to thank the villagers for the
lunch, when Aubry interrupted him.

“
Sorry,
James, not you. Just your friends,” she said.

“
Why?” James
asked her. “Is- it something I shouldn’t know about?”

“
I’d like to
tell your friends about the history of our village,” Aubry replied.
“You can keep eating those slices of bread you’ve got there.
Nothing you haven’t heard yet.”

James nodded at the elder
as he sat down. Thomas, who sat opposite him, looked at
him.

“
You sure
you’re going to be okay?” he asked.

“
Yeah, it’s
fine,” James said. “Just go. She obviously only wants to talk to
the four of you. I’ve already heard the story.”

Thomas nodded at him as
he and the others stood up. “We’ll be back before you know
it.”

“
I know,”
James said. “I know.”

“
So... what
is this story you wanted to tell us about, actually?” Thomas asked,
as he, Samira, Antonio and Bella walked off with Aubry.

“
Actually, I
wanted to talk about your young friend over there, but I didn’t
want to upset him,” Aubry replied. “I’m pretty sure you
understand.”

“
We do,”
Samira said. “But what exactly is it you want to talk
about?”

“
Well,” Aubry
said, “let’s go to my house. We can talk freely there.”

In a small village like
Aubry’s, it’s easy to get from the one side to the other. It didn’t
take too long before they all sat around the round, wooden table in
Aubry’s house.

“
Young man,”
Aubry said, referring to Thomas. “Yesterday, I heard you say that
James “wasn’t at Death’s door for once.” Has your friend been the
target or victim of any previous actions of Shadow
Creatures?”

“
Well...”
Thomas mumbled. “Yes. He has.”

“
Actions such
as?” Aubry asked, suggesting that Thomas should explain the
situations they’d been in.

“
Well, he’s
been cursed with the Fairy Flu while we were travelling through the
Silver Valley,” Samira said. “He only just made it.”

“
I see,”
Aubry mumbled. “Anything else that happened?”

“
Well,” Bella
said. “They tried to kidnap Thomas on the top of the mountain, but
when that failed, they took James instead. And then they took them
both... kind of.”

“
Ah...” Aubry
mumbled. Her responses didn’t make up a clear image of how she felt
about the things that the teenagers had told her. “I assume there’s
more?” she asked.

“
I’ve noticed
that he’s been having these dreams, well, nightmares,” Samira said.
“Whenever there’s been one of “them” near him. You know, those
spirits. They all seem to involve... one of us getting hurt.” She
wanted to say “me,” but then she was reminded to the fact that
nobody was allowed to know about their particular
connection.

Aubry lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”

When she looked up, she
looked Thomas straight in the eye. “Make sure to keep an eye on the
boy. At all times. Do not leave him alone. Ever. Especially not in
battle. With my Magic, I am able to read personalities if I need to
- and your friend’s personality fits the Guardian of Innocence’s
personality profile perfectly, I must say.”

“
What do you
mean?” Antonio asked. “In what ways can he be more of a dork than
he was before?”

“
Well, I’ve
seen there’s a lot of goodness and kindness inside his heart. A lot
of affection towards the ones he loves.”

Samira bit her lip,
praying she hadn’t found out they were related. If evil ears picked
up they were, they’d be done for.

“
But with his
innocence comes also great naivety. Which means he’s quite
gullible,” Aubry continued her story.

“
Old news,”
Antonio muttered, rolling his eyes. “Naivety caused him to end up
here in the first place.”

“
What I am
trying to say,” Aubry said, “is that the Master feeds off
innocence. That’s how he lures his victims into his traps. With
smooth lies. Empty promises. He tries to lure them in and get them
under his control...

That’s what you shouldn’t
let happen. Never. The Master can turn only the most innocent souls
into his minions, turning them into Cursed Spirits. Though they
maintain their human form, they conceive a completely different
personality, by getting their memories altered. This causes them to
view their friends as their enemies. They often forget who they
really are, or once were. It is almost impossible to reverse a
curse like that.”

Thomas plucked at his lips. “You’re saying it’s
almost
irreversible,” he said. “Does that mean there is a
slight chance of reversing it?”

Aubry sighed. “I was
afraid you’d ask that,” she said. “If you want to reverse it, you
should do it while the curse is in its early casting stages; the
possession stage.”

“
And if that
fails?” Samira asked.

“
If you fail
to break the spell in the possession stage, you have to release the
Curse from its vessel. With any luck, it’ll separate from the
original host’s spirit it merged with. But the chances of someone
surviving that are near to zero.”

“
Why?” Bella
asked, almost feeling sorry for asking.

“
You’ll have
to kill the vessel to release the Cursed Spirit,” Aubry said. “So
far, only the first Generation had a possession.”

Samira gasped. “That must
be the fifth Guardian! We’ve met only three so far, but... one is
missing.”

Aubry nodded. “They
managed to get the poor girl here while she was possessed. I
thought I had managed to break the curse, until the sun started to
set...”

She lowered her eyes
again. “It turned out I had failed. And that’s why I wanted to warn
you.”

Thomas swallowed. “But
why isn’t James allowed to know this?”

“
Because he’s
already enough of an easy target without him knowing this,” Aubry
said. “Once he’s aware he’s the main target, he’ll only get more
nervous and easier to catch.

I believe you’re aware
you need him to get all the way to the end.”

“
Yes, we do,”
Samira said. “Without James, we can’t perform the
Ritual.”

“
Indeed,”
Aubry said. “But you also need each other, because each of you has
a flaw which is fulfilled by someone else’s character traits and
skills. If one of you drops out, there’s a break in the chain
link.”

She smiled shortly. “And
a broken chain can’t hold up a drawbridge.”

“
No, indeed,
it can’t,” Bella said.

*

As soon as they returned
to the house where the five had lunch earlier that afternoon, they
found James there.

He was talking to a
familiar... someone.

Sabrina.

As soon as they got
within hearing distance, Thomas could hear what they were
saying.

“
...You
should be more frugal when it comes to your Magic. That trick with
the glowing path? Really cute, but it drained your
energy.”

“
You were the
one who sent me on there.”

“
But I didn’t
tell you to let it glow, did I?”

“
No, you
didn’t... But still.”

“
Shape up.
You’re going to need that Magic once you’re getting closer to the
Lands of Void, kiddo.”

And in a flash, she was
gone. Disappeared into thin air, as if she’d never even been
there.

James sighed. But his
face cleared up as soon as he heard his friends calling his
name.

“
I told you
we’d be back in a minute!” Thomas shouted, as they approached
James.

“
Yeah, you
did,” James said. “And? Anything interesting?”

“
Kind of,”
Thomas said. “What she told you, bla bla bla, back story
stuff.”

“
All right
then,” James said. “So, what’s next?”

“
Next stop,
Imber Lake!” Thomas said, pulling out the map in all its magical
glory.

“
But...”
Antonio mumbled. “We don’t have a boat. How are we ever going to
cross that lake? Swimming?” He sounded rather
sarcastically.

Aubry smiled. “There’s a
fisherman in our village. He can help you get a boat which will
make it to your destination,” she said.

“
Thank you so
much, Miss Aubry!” James said. “We can’t ever thank you enough for
all you guys have done for us.”

“
You can
thank me – and the rest of this world, too – by saving our world
and returning home to your own safely, young Guardian,” Aubry
replied, still with a smile on her face.

“
That’s all
we really need, after all.”

Don’t Go
Swimming

It was around midday when
the Bond of Light was finally ready to leave Linmor village – the
town’s official name, which Bella had been able to inform her
friends about after seeing it on the map – Aubry told them it’d be
only visible while they were inside the village, though.

Neither of the five
really knew what it meant, nor did it actually matter.

“
Thank you so
much for helping us out by letting us stay here,” Samira said,
while thanking Aubry. “But I think it’s about time we’d set
sailing. Literally.” She smiled at her own pun.

Aubry nodded. “Take care
of yourself, children. You’ve got a long way to go; don’t be fooled
by anything others might tell you.”

“
About
sailing, lads; have you seen yer fine new ship yet?”

The Bond was surprised by
hearing the sound of a man’s voice. Overpowered by curiosity, they
turned around, watching a strong-looking man approach
them.

The man had a black beard
and short hair. And despite the muscles, due to his facial
appearance, he seemed to be in his mid-forties. His toned muscles
were well-visible, due to the fact that neither his leather vest
nor linen tunic had any sleeves. You could guess from the way he
spoke that he was a man from the sea- a sailor, perhaps even a
pirate.