The Guardians Crown (The Guardians Book 5) (5 page)

Spread out around the room were mountains of books, or what once had been books. They were now mangled piles of soot and ash.

“Oh God,” the desperate words slipped from her mouth.

The room took a minute for the boys to register. When they realized what they were looking at, they both reached out a comforting hand towards Sophie. “I’m so sorry.” Gabe offered.

Pulling away, Sophie refused to make eye contact with either of them. “They’re just books. They may have gotten into the catacombs, but I doubt they figured out where the false walls were. Come on.”

Not knowing what to say, Gabe and Uri followed in silence, weaving around the piles of destruction all around them. Gabe knew Sophie well enough to know the sight of what the demons had done to her precious library was breaking her heart, but he struggled with how to comfort her. There was already so much confusion in their relationship that any response he thought of seemed inappropriate, so he simply followed her in silence.

Carefully moving down the stone steps at the rear of the room, they saw that the door that led into the catacombs had long ago been destroyed.

“Maybe I should lead,” Uri suggested.

Sophie ignored his offer and continued into the darkness, the boys staying close behind her. Echoing through the halls they could hear various beastly noises. It sounded like they had entered some sort of monster’s den, and it was close to feeding time.

“Be alert,” Uri whispered.

The shadows all around them were in constant movement. Gabe held his breath; the cloaking spell gave him no comfort. Only one of these creatures would need to catch their scent and it wouldn’t take long for them to be ferreted from their invisibility.

Sophie grabbed each of the boys tightly around the wrist, pulling them firmly. She moved quickly, darting around corners, making quick work of the blackened corridors, Gabe wondered how she could see in the darkness, but then realized she must have still had her steps memorized. After all, this place had once been her sanctuary.

She came to a halt. Peering around the darkness, looking for any sign of life, she waited another moment to be sure. Then reaching out with her left hand she ran her fingers over the cold wet stones before her, feeling around in the darkness.

Gabe watched, waiting with intense anticipation. Then it happened, she pressed and turned one of the stones, the result, a false wall shifting and moving to the side.

“Quickly!” she instructed, looking around anxiously.

The two did as they were told, Sophie rushing in behind them and sealing the door closed after.

“Jesus, that was crazy,” Uri commented.

“Just a little,” Gabe agreed, a slight laugh at the end.

“We need to work quickly, it won’t be long until one of them is able to pick up some trace of our scent,” Sophie reminded the group.

“Illuminare,” she spoke softly, a light at the far end of the room igniting in response to her command.

Gabe glanced around the room; there were hundreds of old wooden crates covered in a thick layer of dust. “This is going to take forever,” he remarked.

Sophie, ignoring his comment, crossed straight over to a cluster of boxes. Rubbing away the dust on several of the crates she stopped when she reached the one at the far edge. “Oh ye of little faith,” she commented, stepping to one side to reveal her discovery.

“Huh?” Gabe huffed.

“Really dude? Why do you think Michael suggested Sophie help us. She knows every inch of this place,” Uri answered. But Gabe did know that about Sophie, he wasn’t sure how he could have ever doubted her. He saw her love for these artifacts and books early on in their relationship. Of course she would know where to start searching.

“How do you even know what you’re looking for? I’d think it would be like finding a needle in a haystack,” Gabe inquired.

“Not really. We know the approximate age of this weapon was during the early days of the Guardians. You just look at the time period in which the Guardians were sent to earth, they you search any records within a five hundred year period around that time.” Sophie explained. “There really aren’t that many records from that time frame. I would say the books in this box and that one there would be most likely to contain the information you’re looking for ... well, if it even exists.”

“Gee, thanks sunshine,” Gabe snarled.

“She’s got a point,” Uri noted.

“That’s it. Can everyone shut up and start looking? This is the best shot we’ve got,” Gabe pleaded.

“Find anything?” Gabe asked looking over in the direction of his friends.

“No, and I’m thinking we’re not going to,” Uri replied.

Slamming a book down on a nearby crate Gabe shouted, “Damn it, Uri!”

Jumping to his feet, Uri rushed up into Gabe’s face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you want to bring every demon in a five hundred foot radius coming this way?”

“Why the hell not? According to you, everything is hopeless anyways,” Gabe argued, not attempting to lower his voice.

“I’m serious, you’re not going to put us in danger because you can’t keep it together. I’ll lay you out right here,” Uri warned, pushing his chest into Gabe’s body.

“I’d like to see that,” Gabe taunted.

“Fine,” Uri growled.

“Will you two shut up for a second? I think I found something,” Sophie exclaimed in an excited whisper, hopping up onto one of the closed crates.

“What?” Gabe gasped. “Are you serious?”

Sophie nodded, rapidly skimming the pages with her fingertips.

“Well? What does it say?” Uri asked, quickly forgetting his confrontation with Gabe.

Before Sophie could say a word, a screeching and intolerable sound blasted out all around them.

“What the hell is that?” Gabe cried out, covering his ears.

“If I had to guess, an alarm,” Sophie shouted back.

“Nice Gabe! I told you someone would hear you,” Uri snapped, glaring at his friend.

“We have to get out of here. If the trackers know we’re here it won’t take them long to find us,” Sophie said turning and running towards the rear of the room.

“Wait, isn’t the exit this way?” Gabe called after her.

“We need to split up. You guys go that way and I’ll take another way out. We’ll meet back at Iron Gate,” Sophie replied, clutching the book tight to her body, wrapping her sweater over top of it.

“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up,” Gabe argued, but Sophie didn’t stick around for the discussion.

“She’s right man, the more targets the trackers have the harder it will be for them to find us. Come on, we’ll go out this way and then we should split up, too,” Uri instructed, grabbing his friends arm.

Gabe hesitated for a moment, before at last complying with the request, his voice shook as he stated, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Is there anything we ever do you should have a good feeling about?” Uri asked, approaching the exit.

“True,” Gabe agreed.

“Cloak again, and as soon as I open the door stay close to the wall until we make our way out into the open. I’ll head to the south and transport to a safe zone from there. You get to the beach and transport from there.” Uri laid out the plan, and before Gabe could prepare himself the door was open and he was running.

The colors passed by in a blur, the growls and snarls that surrounded him felt like a chaotic tornado he was caught in and he was trying to fight his way out of it. He couldn’t tell if something sensed his presence, or if they were just the normal sounds of this strange place. Darting up the stone steps through the library, and down the corridors, Gabe clutched his stomach. The auguries were intense; they felt as if he were being repeatedly stabbed.

Emerging into the clearing, Gabe watched as Uri darted off in the direction of the south gate. Without hesitation he made his way back, the same way they had arrived. Looking over his shoulder, hoping to see any sign of Sophie, his body felt heavy when he saw nothing.
Where could she have gone?
He wondered.

Looking back in the direction he was running, his body came to a hard stop, his feet skidding and kicking up dust as he did so. A tracker was directly in his path. He froze, uncertain if the beast could see him or noticed the disturbance to the earth from his presence.

Due to its responsiveness, it wasn’t long before Gabe was certain the monster could sense his presence. He needed to get around it and flee before the tracker honed in on his exact location. Carefully stepping to the left, Gabe attempted to maneuver around the beast. It matched his steps, fluttering its leathery wings.

Moving backwards, he attempted to step to the right, careful not to reveal his steps in the earth. Once again, the beast matched his movements, sniffing the air as it did so. Leaning low, it was as if the monster was staring him directly in the eyes with its hollow black gaze. Gabe widened his stance, preparing for the moment the creature would attack.

“Hey, this way creep!” a voice called out from behind Gabe. By the exit of the main building stood Sophie, uncloaked and wildly waving her arms.

Before Gabe could react, the demon took off in her direction.

“Go!” she shouted before disappearing beneath a cloaking spell. Gabe knew that would not throw the creature off for long. He wanted to help her, but she had already disappeared. With a deep breath he hoped she knew what she was doing and took off at full speed in the direction of the cliff side, avoiding low-level demons who were out on patrol due to the alarms as he did so.

Gabe moved swiftly, weaving around the boulders, making his way down the trail and to the beach. The sooner he got back, the sooner he could meet up with the others. He knew Sophie had the book that would help put an end to all of this. He had doubted her once on this quest, he wasn’t about to again. She knew what she was doing, and he was certain she’d be waiting there for him.

Clenching his eyes closed tightly, he pictured the clerics’ temple about fifty miles south of Iron Gate. When he reopened them he was surrounded by a number of priests, mumbling confused statements.

“Please, someone,” Gabe began. “I’m a Guardian, I need help.”

He searched their faces frantically, seeking a connection, an understanding of what he was saying. “I need to find transportation to Iron Gate,” he added.

“Of course, this way.” A young boy, barely sixteen said from the sea of unfamiliar faces. Gabe made his way through the cluster of men and to the boy’s side. “Forgive them, we don’t see many Guardians these days. They all seem to be on the front lines.”

Gabe thanked him, and though his head was still fuzzy from the transportation spell, he was on his way within minutes. The dirt bike he had been given had a heavy smell of gasoline. He pulled his shirt up to cover his mouth as he rode off, dust kicking out all around him.

Gabe could see the long and narrow drive ahead of him that led to Iron Gate. Slowing, he signaled to one of the guards. Locking up his wheels, he skidded to a stop. He recognized the guard as he approached; it was Peter, the man who once had his heart broken by Sophie. He had not seen him in some time and he noticed how much he had changed. His body was a visible map of battles he had seen over the years, the dark and hollow eyes that stared back at Gabe told the story of a hardened man.

Nobody could blame Peter for what he had become
, Gabe thought. In a way, they had all been broken in some way.

“Can you phone ahead to Michael and the others and tell them I’ve returned?” Gabe asked.

“Yes of course,” Peter answered flatly, turning away and heading towards the nearby guard tower.

Gabe shouted across the drive, “How long have Sophie and Uri been waiting for me?”

Peter turned and flashed a puzzled look. “Uri has been back for a few hours, but Sophie hasn’t returned yet.”

“What?” Gabe muttered, too low for Peter to hear. Peter made his way in to the small building, upon Gabe’s request.

Without hesitation, Gabe kicked his bike back into gear and flew up the remainder of the driveway, pushing the bike as fast as it would go. When he made it through the front gates he barely slowed, only enough to allow himself to leap from the bike, causing it to spin out across the gravel behind him.