Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  Ava was edgy and ready for a battle. It was in her blood, so by the time Jenny pointed out the movement in the forest, she could feel the hair on her arms standing up. A quick and sudden sense of fear rushed over her. She was supposed to be the warrior. She didn’t feel like a warrior. She couldn’t lead them in this battle. Ava shuffled her feet as her anxiety rose. She needed someone else to show up and lead this fight. A guardian, any of them would do.

  As if on cue, Tadhg returned with Mac and a few other guardians. They assembled haphazardly around the trees the brainwashed guardians were tied to. Tadhg had eyes for just one person though, Jenny. Standing behind her, he made a conscious effort not to startle her or anyone else. Tension was so thick they could feel it uncomfortably surrounding them like a thick, wet wool blanket. Sensing his presence, Jenny turned to him. A sweet smile came across her face. Even in the face of battle she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

  Ava made eye contact with Tadhg as he peeled his googly eyes away from Jenny. Releasing a sigh, Ava walked over to Tadhg and placed her hands on his shoulders. “You have to lead this battle.”

  Panic struck his face. “I can’t do that. I’m not a protector, I’m an archivist.”

  Ava had zero time for this bullshit. “You can and you will. Can’t never could, history geek.” She patted him on the shoulders to emphasize her point and turned to walk away.

  “Ava, you can’t just give him orders and turn your back. You are the one who likes control, so quit trying to give it away.” Jenny followed her as she walked off and everyone stopped. A huge feeling of dread washed over the entire forest. They all knew what it meant without even being told: it was happening. “Ava, do you feel that?” Jenny felt Tadhg move up closer behind her.

  “We have to hold this off until the rest of the guardians show up. They have those internal alarms and should be here soon.” Tadhg grabbed her arm and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

  “So what you’re telling me is, in the meantime, I am stuck here with watergirl, historyboy, assorted newbie guardians, and mutant guardians who are tied to trees so they don’t kill us? This is fucking great!” Ava was starting to unravel under the pressure of seeing the odds stacked against her.

  “You are the warrior here, you are the one in charge.” Tadhg was pulling Jenny toward him in a gesture of protection.

  “I have had exactly one, do you understand that? Only one training session with weapons. I’m not ready for this. All Cian told me to do before he ran off was to stay near Jenny.” Ava was just stating the facts, but Jenny and Tadhg were gearing up to have their say when the shadows at the edge of the forest began to move. Ava knew this was it. She had no time left to get her shit together and fight. She had never been so scared in her life. That’s when Ava remembered what fear did; it fueled her. Harnessing it all and putting it to good use was her specialty.

  Taking a deep breath, she bent her knees and put the daggers in her hands like Cian had shown her. She had to make her move now. There was no more procrastinating. Just when she got up enough nerve to charge, the forest opened up. She went running after what came and went face first into Cian’s arms. She’d never been so happy to see someone in her life, though she might never tell him that. She scurried out of his grasp and looked around at all the guardians arriving alongside him, stumbling out of the brush and brambles in this area of the forest.

  Cian’s orders were simple and not far from what Ava’s instincts told her to do anyway. “Circle up. We fight with our backs together, facing out. Mac and Tadhg inside. So, nothing gets through.”

  When the last guardian joined the wide circle, the shadows followed. One by one they turned to the guardians and attacked. At first there were only a few. Some of the shadows turned out to be former guardians who had been turned like the ones tied to the trees. The other ones were like dark clouds of smoke, remnants of warriors darting around in a see-through form. How were they going to kill those things?

  “Ava, this is it. Stay close to Jenny, you guys are stronger when you are close to each other. Don’t forget your training. You can do this.” Cian’s pep talk made Ava look straight ahead at the figures moving in. She walked toward Jenny, but looked over her shoulder at Cian and gave him a small nod.

  Cian returned the nod and tried to control the overwhelming urge to follow her. Everything in his body wanted to be near her and attempt to keep her safe. He shook his head, fighting off that desire, and turned to assess his men for the approaching battle.

  Walking up to Jenny and Tadhg, Ava was trying to find the confidence she had in the boardroom. Maybe that was the wrong approach. Taking a deep breath, she held on to the promise that her power would not abandon her or let her down, and that Cian has taught her what she needed to know. She grabbed Jenny by the wrist, hoping to feel as psyched up as she needed to be and screamed, “Let’s fucking do this!” Before she entered the skirmish, she added, “Stay with me, Jenny. I’ve got your back.”

  Ava found herself face to face with a dark shadow warrior made of smoke. Not knowing where to strike the thing to actually kill it, she wasn’t quite sure she knew what to do. The warrior had a face of black smoke holding dark red eyes in their place. She looked right into them. “You are one ugly son of a bitch.” Knife up, the way Cian had showed her, she made a move at smoke boy. She swung her knife at his head, he disappeared and reappeared a couple of feet to her left. Turning to Jenny, she asked, “Did you see that shit? This asshole just poofed. How the hell are we supposed to kill a poofing cloud of smoke?”

  Jenny’s eyes got huge and when she opened her mouth to tell Ava she had no fucking clue, smoke boy moved closer. Jenny was able to get out only one word, “Whattha?” as she pointed behind Ava.

  Ava turned to see what and received the scratch of shadowy claws across her face. Before she could register any pain, she felt her skin stitching itself back together. Her eyes narrowed in irritation and she shouted, “That was your last mistake, motherfucker!”

  Jenny stepped beside Ava and their arms touched. Something clicked and they somehow knew what the other would do. Jenny jumped to the left and distracted smoke boy while Ava dipped down low out of sight and did a round turn to bury the blade in the warrior’s back. Upon contact with the cloud it disappeared from in front of them.

  Expecting it to reappear somewhere, they stood back to back and waited for a few seconds for him to reappear. “Do you think he’s gone? Can you see him?” Ava was crouched down in a fighting position, looking all around for her target to resurface.

  Jenny bent her legs and waited, ready for round two. “I don’t see anything, do you?” Just then a smoke warrior attacked them from the side. “Is this the same one or a different one?” Jenny broke around to the back of the warrior and Ava tucked her head and rolled on the ground in an attempt to distract it. Ava reached her feet and spun around enough to toss Jenny a blade. Jenny caught the knife and drove it into the back of the smoke warrior. The girls met face to face as the warrior evaporated and clapped hands in a high five. Jenny gasped at the ugly red streaks marring Ava’s cheek.

  Across the battle circle, Cian was in the strangest battle of his life. He had many battles under his belt; all of them were fought to preserve his way of life, like this one was. But he was also dealing with the way his mind was fighting with his heart. He tried to keep his back to where the girls were fighting the smoke warriors, but he kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure they didn’t need him.

  Sweeping his leg, Cian knocked down the darkling he was currently facing and then landed on top of him. He didn’t recognize this guardian, but there were some he had helped to train. It was one thing to be aggravated at this way of life and complain about it, it was completely different when someone turned against it. Whenever that happened, they lost all of his respect and became an enemy. The darkling rolled and suddenly Cian was the one on the ground with a crunch sound coming from where his left wrist met his hand in what had to be an uncomfortable
position. Leaning over, the dark guardian said, “You think you’re better? You think you can win? You will not win. You are nothing compared to my master.”

  Cian had heard enough and used his whole body to roll them again, while biting back the cry of agony from the pain in his wrist. “Don’t be so sure of that, asshole.” He reached in his boot while the darkling was spitting insults and retrieved a small blade that fit in the palm of his hand. At about the time the darkling finally ran out of things to say, Cian reached out and pushed the blade up under the dark guardian’s chin. The darkling could only make rumbling gurgles as the light drained from his eyes.

  “Nothing to say now?” Cian asked, pissed and in pain. The traitor looked at Cian one last time before his eyes glassed over and his body relaxed. He got back to his feet in time to see Jenny and Ava high five with smiles. Despite his pain, he gave a smirk as the next darkling attacked and his mind returned to the battle.

  Jenny tried to survey the area to see if anyone needed their help. The sound of clanging metal and grunts of effort were no different than the training room on a normal day. But the cries of agony and screams of pain filling the air were new. It put her on high alert. Just then Deaglan arrived from the castle, leaping right into the fight between where she was standing and a mass of shadow. He unsheathed a weapon from the side of his thigh that looked like a long dagger or a short sword. Was that always in there? Jenny didn’t want to know. Ava jumped into action beside him to help discharge the group of shadowy beings.

  Jenny stood there with nothing but the small knife Ava had tossed her. She wanted something better to fight with, something that wouldn’t require her to stand so close to her enemy before she could inflict a wound. She didn’t have to look very long before she found Tadhg and Mac had set up near some of the brainwashed guardians, whom she was attempting to fix. Tadhg kept busy tossing swords and knives to his fellow guardians when they needed them. Jenny grabbed Ava’s hand and walked toward the historian and healer.

  “Where the hell are we going? There are more of these assholes to fight. We can’t just leave the guys alone to take care of all this.” Ava was being dragged away from a fight and she didn’t like it at all. She looked where Jenny was headed and her instinct was to keep fighting beside Deaglan and ditch her, but then she realized that more weapons was a great idea. “Oh yeah, let’s weapon up and get back at this bitch.”

  Reaching the weapons pile, Jenny paused to look at a few swords. Tadhg walked over and pointed at some daggers he thought would be most practical in this type of battle. “I think ye need something easier to handle.” Just as Jenny opened her mouth to respond to Tadhg, she was pulled in the other direction by Ava. Tadhg rushed over and placed a long dagger in Jenny’s hand. “Try this in your writing hand and the knife in your other.”

  Ava’s strength overpowered hers and they were headed back to the outer circle. Jenny jerked her wrist out of Ava’s grasp. “What did you do that for?”

  “We don’t have time for your flirting right now, there’s a battle to be won. Everyone keeps saying we are stronger together so guess what, you’re stuck with me.” Ava felt the adrenaline flow through her veins and she was ready to get back in the fight. Jenny, however, was scared and unprepared. Looking into Ava’s eyes, she saw the passion and the drive and she tried to emulate it. It was just her words that made her mad.

  “I wasn’t flirting! You said you’ve only had one lesson so I was hoping he could tell me how to use this thing. Also, I thought maybe Mac should take a look at your face. It’s starting to bubble up and look infected, who knows what was under that creature’s fingernails, but whatever.” Her argument died with a shrug. She wasn’t about to admit she was terrified, it wouldn’t help anything at this juncture.

  “What’s to learn? Point, slice, and dice. It’s not rocket science.” Ava had chosen a sword from the pile, but it felt like it had selected her. Not to mention, it was beautiful. The weight of it was just right. She lifted it up and bent her knees as a smoke warrior attacked her. With one flick of her wrist she brought the sword around and made contact with her target. The warrior evaporated instantly and behind where he stood, Ava and Jenny watched Liam, their dancing friend and one of their own guardians, fall to his knees with blood gurgling out of his mouth. The etched wooden handle of an ancient weapon stuck straight out of his chest. His once-beautiful eyes rolled back in his head before his body went completely limp and lifeless.

  “No!” Jenny averted her eyes from the horrendous sight.

  Ava turned to see a dark guardian easing up on the other side of Jenny, who was still in shock from witnessing Liam’s life drain from his eyes and the thought of how quickly he ceased to exist was haunting her. Jenny was slowly losing her grip on the new dagger as the man lifted his ax to gouge her in the back. Ava sprang into action, but she feared it would be too late for her to make it. She cried out, “Jenny!”

  Jenny turned around, dropping the dagger completely, about to be on the receiving end of a deadly ax blow, but Cian was suddenly there. He drove his sword into the darkling’s back with determination. The darkling fell instantly with a loud thunk, but not before the business end of his ax landed on Jenny’s forearm. “Ah!”

  The cut was deep and oozing blood. Metallic odors permeated the air all around them, but this scent was fresh. Ava was quick to react, pushing Jenny back into the safety of the circle where Mac was at the ready to clean and wrap the wound. Jenny’s face went pale and then her knees went weak. Tadhg was there to help her sit and recline before she lost consciousness for the second time today.

  Cian was out of breath from running so fast. He had watched Ava round the sword and take out the smoke warrior. He already knew the sword would be her weapon of choice. That would be the next thing they trained with. She was a natural. As he finished his observation, he noticed a dark guardian was making her way to Jenny. He took off in a run so fast his feet could hardly keep up. He drove his blade home and looked up at Ava. Their eyes locked and she smiled. She fucking smiled at him and his heart stopped. He was so completely screwed.

  Jenny’s cry brought him back to the task at hand. Seeing Ava was handling the injury, he turned to watch a small fleet of the remaining dark guardians start to retreat as soon as the last of the smoke warriors was slashed. Cian realized they were leaving and ran after one who appeared to be in quite a hurry. Just a short distance away from the circle, the darkling turned around and looked Cian in the eyes.

  “This isn’t over. We will be back with an endless army.” He hissed loud enough for all to hear. With that warning, the darkling ran away so fast there was no way he wasn’t being driven by some type of magic. Dark magic.

  Sheridan sat in her chair before the fireplace in the library, wrapped in her blanket. Staring at the fire blazing before her, she tried to ignore the pull she felt to go and fight alongside her friends. Grog had brought her chocolate chip cookies a few minutes ago to try to make her feel better, but they sat untouched.

  Sensing she wasn’t alone anymore, she felt him enter the library behind her. She didn’t turn to look at him, because she knew what he was going to say and she had no interest in having this discussion. Her decision was made, she needed to leave this place as soon as possible and she knew that talking with him about it would only end in an argument. She didn’t need an argument, she needed to begin packing and get a ride to the airport.

  He knew she was ignoring him. His fear started talking, because he knew in his heart what she was going to tell him and he didn’t want to—couldn’t hear it. He walked slowly toward her and felt as if he was walking to his own death. Trying to convince her to stay was his only hope but he didn’t feel it was a battle he was going to win. He didn’t see her as a coward and he didn’t understand what was going on inside her head. He needed her to talk to him. Before he lost her.

  Deaglan sat on the ottoman in front of her chair. She physically pulled farther into herself, refusing to look at him, instead looking rig
ht through him. He felt as if she was already gone, but that wouldn’t work for him.

  “Sheridan, I am not letting you do this.” He knew this kind of attack on her was risky, but he had nothing to lose.

  She looked at him with the fiercest eyes he’d ever faced. He had stood before many foes in his many years. None had ever made him feel as afraid as this woman did.

  Sheridan didn’t speak. How dare this man, who she barely knew, tell her she what she was and wasn’t going to do. She wasn’t even going to argue this. She didn’t need to. She didn’t need him.

  “Sheridan, they need you fighting with them. You know that. You can deny it all you want, to yourself at least, but it is the truth. I need you. The forest needs you. You don’t even know what’s at stake here and you’re just gonna walk away? You’re that much of a coward?” Oh, he knew he was stepping over the line, but fear of losing her must have given him courage he didn’t even know he possessed.

  She felt her chest catch on fire and she couldn’t not respond. A roar erupted in her head and heart at what he had just said to her.

  “You don’t even know me. Don’t you dare try to even pretend you do. I am just a job to you. I didn’t ask for this and I don’t want it. I don’t want any of this!” She wanted to get up and run from the room. The only thing holding her back was her pride.

  “Ye may not want it. It, however, has chosen ye.” So have I, he thought.

  “It chose wrong,” she replied calmly. He saw a pain in her eyes that he didn’t understand. It broke his heart to see her in so much pain but he had to keep pushing.

  “It didn’t choose wrong. You just need to fight for what you want, what you need. If you don’t, everyone loses. Do you not care? Is that it?” He knew she did. He just needed her to see it.