The Word Guardians: and the Battle for the Peacekeepers

by Lawrence Yarham

  “Where are we?” whispered Sam.

  “I recognise it,” replied Yas honestly, looking around. “But I’m...” She looked down at the book they had come out of and spotted another on the floor, remembering a thud as they arrived. “Look,” she said. “That’s why the portal was solid. The book must have been on top. The doorway was closed.”

  “Right,” agreed Sam, picking up the book from the floor.

  “I heard a noise!” came a young girl’s voice from upstairs.

  “Crap!” whispered Sam. “I think we need to get out of here.”

  Yas looked to the doorway and upstairs in surprise. Something clicked. ‘Bump in the night,’ she remembered.

  There was silence for a moment, and they both stood still.

  Sam tugged at Yas’s jacket. “Come on. We need to leave!” He put the book back down.

  “No wait!” replied Yas, gesturing to upstairs. “There’s something...”

  “What?” he urged, irritated, throwing his hands in the air. “There could be Controllers arriving any minute! Or,” he said nodding to the sounds from upstairs, “they’re already here!”

  “Its okay, Sam,” she reassured. “I remember this place. I’ve been here before. Besides, we need to work out what Vickers was telling us.”

  “She said we need to get to a meeting place,” whispered Sam.

  “Yes,” agreed Yas, “A meeting place of the realms.” It also matched what the Fates had told her. “Of knowledge.”

  “Like a place of doorways?” asked Sam.

  “I think so,” said Yas. “But I don’t know what it looks like. I need an image.”

  There were footsteps moving from one room to another upstairs. They looked upwards.

  “What is it, little one?” came an elderly voice from above them.

  “I heard a noise,” came the girl’s voice again.

  “We just don’t get a break, do we?” sighed Sam, looking at Yas.

  “No, its okay,” replied Yas, smiling. Sam didn’t understand why.

  A light came on upstairs, which cast down into the hallway. Footsteps moved across the floor again.

  “Yas?” questioned Sam, pressing. “I know I keep saying this, but we really need to leave!”

  “No,” said Yas. Sam looked at her in alarm. “Its okay. Trust me.” she added, smiling, placing her hand on his arm.

  “Stay here petal,” came the elderly voice from upstairs. Then they heard footsteps coming down. Sam looked at Yas and was even more puzzled. Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

  “Yas, what’s wrong?”

  “Sssh!” she replied.

  A shadow moved down the stairs and stopped in the doorway. Then a face Yas recognised appeared and she couldn’t help herself. Tears began to flow. As he stepped into the room, she ran and hugged him.

  “Grandpa!” she said, tears rolling down her face.

  He hugged her back briefly but then pulled back to see her. “Yas?”

  “Yes, its me!”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. But... I’ve missed you.” She hugged him tightly again.

  He stepped more into the room, looking at Sam. Yas realised and released him.

  “This is Sam, a friend. You can trust him.”

  “Just look at you,” said Grandpa in wonder. He looked her up and down and then motioned to upstairs. “What a beautiful young woman you’ve become. You’re from the future?”

  “Yes,” replied Yas, smiling.

  “Am I still around to see all this?” he gestured to her.

  She looked down for the briefest of moments.

  “I see,” he said, understanding. “That explains the tears.”

  She wiped her face quickly. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, its okay. I guess I expect it could happen at any time... but to be told, is another thing.”

  “Maybe it can be changed?” she suggested.

  Sam cleared his throat and stepped forwards. “Yas?” he asked. “Where are we and what’s going on?”

  “Its okay. We’ve come here for a reason,” she replied to Sam.

  Her grandpa looked at her and smiled. “So, why are you here?”

  “To warn you. About the peacekeepers.”

  He turned more serious. “What do you know of them?”

  “Not much,” she said. “Only that Ms. McVale is not to be trusted. She double-crossed us!”

  “McVale?” he said. “But she seems quite nice. I’ve never had an issue with her.”

  “She’s playing you, Grandpa. Be careful who you trust.”

  “Okay,” he said nervously. “But you have to give me a little more than that.”

  “She’s been trying to get us to give the peacekeepers to the Controllers. She kidnapped me and tried to hurt Sam, Grandpa.”

  “I don’t know. I believe you, of course. But this is a lot to take on, Yas.”

  “I know. I think Sam and I have to release the peacekeepers, somehow. Someone told us that the first command they are given is key.”

  “Yes,” replied Grandpa. “That much I do know.”

  “We need to get to somewhere else first, though. Do you know anything about the place where knowledge meets?”

  “Grandpa?” called a voice from upstairs. It was her, she knew, younger than now. She couldn’t remember how young.

  “Mom and Dad are out?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Grandpa nodded. “I... look at you! I just can’t believe it!” He paused for a moment. “Remember our story times. I think you already know where you need to go,” he suggested. “Think Yas,” he added gently.

  A memory skipped across her mind and she realised the significance of it.

  “I remember, sometimes just as I was going off to sleep, you’d head through a door. But it wasn’t my door was it? It was a place where stairs and doorways were all mixed up somehow. I thought it was a dream. But it wasn't was it? It was the place where...”

  “...knowledge meets, yes,” added her grandfather, smiling proudly. “You remember!”

  “That’s where we have to go,” Yas said to Sam resolutely. She was certain. “That’s where the battle will happen.”

  “Sense the air in the realm, Yas,” said her grandpa. “Its very powerful. You can create your own army there. I think you’ll both need it.”

  “An army?” asked Yas.

  “Yas,” he said cautiously. “You have to understand that this is the continuation of a war, between those that want to control imagination and those that guard its freedom.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” she said sadly, becoming a little nervous. “I can’t fight in a war, Grandpa!”

  Sam touched her on the arm. “Its okay,” he soothed. “You’ve got me.”

  “Know this, Yas,” added her grandpa. “You’ll have many allies that will come to your aid. You just need to set the intention.”

  “Oh, okay,” replied Yas, nervously. Then she remembered something else. She pulled the journal out of her pocket. Her grandpa looked at it, puzzled.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “From Mom,” she replied. “When you’ve finished it,” she added, remembering her Mom’s words and realising what she needed to tell him, “You need to hide it here, okay?” She pointed to the bookshelves behind her. “In plain sight. Guarded by our family. Until the time is right.” She understood now how it had been her that had told him.

  “Okay,” he said, nodding and smiling, but looking a little puzzled. “I still can’t believe its you, Yas.”

  Yas couldn’t believe she was here either. He was younger than she remembered seeing him last. And happier. Less troubled. She guessed it was well before Akoni and all the difficulties with the Controllers had started.

  “Who is it?” called the younger Yas again from upstairs.

  “Its okay,” Grandpa called back. “I’m just talking to myself.”

  “You were always curious, Yas,” he smiled. “I’m not sure how I’ll explai
n this to her... to you.”

  “You’ll find a way,” she said. “You always did.” She smiled at him. “We need to go.” They hugged again as a portal formed behind her. “I love you, Grandpa.” Tears streamed afresh down her face.

  “I love you always,” he replied.

  Then he let go and headed out of the room. She watched him make his way back upstairs.

  “You okay?” whispered Sam.

  “Yes,” she said, wiping away her tears.

  “Come on,” she smiled as she created a portal and reached for his hand. “We have work to do!”

  Chapter 12

  Realm of knowledge

  Yas and Sam stepped onto an ornately decorated rug, on which two leather reading armchairs sat. The portal closed behind them to reveal a crackling fire in a large fireplace. They took in the scene around them, feeling the warmth from the flames.

  Either side of the fireplace were tall bookshelves. On one side, the top of the bookshelf met a staircase which ran along the ceiling and into an opening at the top corner of the opposite wall. To either side of them, were also walls of books. In one wall, a passage led off, its orientation at ninety degrees to theirs. In the other wall, the top of an upside-down staircase was visible. All around them, books were moving of their own accord and flowed from one shelf to another. They changed direction, from one side of the room to the other, vanishing up the staircase in the ceiling or heading off into the passageways. This realm was extraordinary and defied the laws of physics.

  “This place makes me sick just to look at it,” complained Sam, as a snake of words slid through the air, above him.

  “Yes,” acknowledged Yas as she watched the snake go into a book that opened and then closed, gliding across the room. “I guess it represents the flow, exchange, of information. But I wonder what drives it?”

  “People’s imagination and communication, probably?” offered Sam. “I guess that’s why the Controllers want to find this place.”

  “Yes, and release the peacekeepers,” added Yas.

  “And control them,” continued Sam. “We can’t let that happen. We have to stop them, Yas.”

  “What do you think we should do?” asked Yas.

  “What about stopping them from getting here?” Sam thought aloud, then dismissed that idea. “No, its unlikely,” he added. “Vickers said that we were being tracked.” He reached down inside his T-shirt and pulled out his pendant. As he did so, words moved towards it from above.

  “Woah!” he said, moving away, freaking out a little.

  “No, I think its okay, Sam. Feel the air. It wants to help.”

  Yas held her hands out to sense the energy. She reached for her pendant with one hand and pulled it out. Looking at Sam, she encouraged him to do likewise.

  The words moved closer and there was a brief spark to each of their pendants. It made them jump in surprise.

  “Something’s changed,” said Yas. “I don’t know what that was though.” She looked at the words as they moved away from them. To her surprise, the words reformed in the air.

  “Now the pendants will work as they were intended. To only be trackable by those that love you.”

  “Thank you,” Yas replied to the words. They dissolved away into the air.

  “How did you know to do that?”

  “I didn’t, really. It just felt right.” She paused. “I don’t know what to do next, though.”

  “Your grandfather agreed that the command given to the peacekeepers was key,” said Sam. “Maybe we should release them first? Get a jump on the Controllers?”

  “It’s a good idea,” agreed Yas, fishing in her jacket pocket for the journal. “But I don’t know what the right words would be.” She looked down at the book. “I’m sorry. I feel I should know, but I don’t.”

  “No, its okay,” comforted Sam. “Maybe it isn’t the right time yet.”

  “The Fates told me there would be a battle,” added Yas. “Maybe we can’t change that.” She looked up and again felt the energy in the room. It was restless. “I think the words are anticipating it. Maybe that’s why my grandpa suggested we need an army.”

  “An army? What do you mean? Where are we going to get that from?”

  “I don’t know,” stressed Yas. “I don’t have all the answers.” She looked up for inspiration and noticed the words had become nervous.” She put the book away again and looked at a sentence slithering across the room. It changed its path, curving round, with other words joining to it. Then it moved down next to her, other words combining to form a large dog. A wolf sat there and looked up at her. It nodded. She patted it cautiously.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Sam asked, incredulously.

  “Try it,” she suggested to Sam. “I think we’re going to need quite a few creatures to match those of the Controllers.”

  “How did you choose the creature?” he gulped. “How do we choose the right ones?”

  “I didn’t,” Yas replied. “It sort of chose itself. I guess, based more on our intention and need.”

  “Okay?” he said uncertainly. He looked up at a book flying across the room. It turned upside down, spilling out words which started to form a creature next to him. Very quickly, other books added to the words and a white bear formed next to him. As the book idly flapped away, the bear sat up and looked around itself, then nodded at Sam. Yas did the same again and, a few moments later, a white panther sat behind her.

  Together they influenced other words, creating a collection of creatures, which gathered around them, some up on the ceiling and in the passageways. Yas noticed that the energy in the air had changed. As the creatures sat, breathing and snorting, they became aware of footsteps approaching. There was an inevitability to the feeling around them. They saw Penn and McVale appear at the end of the passageway that was in the top of the wall.

  “I see you’ve had a head start on me,” said Penn, stepping forwards with McVale. It was strange to see them sideways on.

  “Quite the collection of creatures you have there,” he continued, admiring the white stone like wolves, leopards, and other hunting animals that lined up around the room. Yas and Sam looked around themselves too. They felt better defended.

  “It’s a shame you won’t be able to use them,” said McVale, sneering. It was the first time that Yas had seen McVale portray hatred towards her. She felt sad and betrayed. All this time she had thought of McVale as someone she could trust.

  Yas held her head high. “What do you mean?” she retorted, getting angry. She was irritated by the woman, while still angry at herself for not having seen past the careful veneer that had been presented for so long.

  McVale bent her arm and pulled it towards her. Like Wesley earlier, one of her arms had elongated and become tentacle like. As she pulled it closer, Yas’s mom came into view in the corner of the passageway. McVale’s arm was around her throat, in a choking hold. It seemed to be a favourite move of the Controllers, Yas reflected.

  “Mom!” cried out Yas, going towards her.

  “Don’t listen...” said her mom, trying to warn Yas, “... he wo urrck.” McVale tightened the grip so she could not finish.

  “Anyway,” said Penn. “I have an army of my own, if you’re interested?” He nodded around him and Yas and Sam spotted the heads of other creatures appearing in the gaps in the walls and staircases. The creatures of the Controllers were not as clean looking as theirs. They were inky grey, dirty, in nature and much more menacing. They consisted of the tricksters, the smaller, meaner creatures. Hyenas flashed their teeth, alongside coyotes and vultures. There were also werewolves and other stone creatures that fulfilled the nightmares of children’s stories.

  “What do we do now?” whispered Yas.

  “Wait,” said Sam. “I feel like we’re not going to be alone in this.” He looked around. “At least, I hope so,” he added, uncertainly. “That’s how it usually happens in stories, right?”

  A rush of air behind and slightly above the
m pulled them back. They looked around quickly to see a doorway appear and Peter, Vickers and some other guardians that Yas had never met leapt through, firing magic as they did so. A shot from Vickers caught McVale in the arm and enabled Yas’s mom to wrench herself free. Peter emerged firing word arrows at Penn. Vickers leapt sideways from the doorway onto the stairs above them and then again towards the passageway, continuing to fire. Yas’s mom leapt forwards, down and away from McVale. Peter dropped down to the floor where Yas and Sam was.

  “You okay?” he asked, breathlessly.

  “Yes,” they both replied. “Are you?”

  Peter nodded.

  “Ahh, the battle,” said Penn from above them, revelling in the moment. “Let it begin!”

  He started firing word arrows, rounds of them from his palm, while a sentence of ammunition formed below his wrist. The inky grey creatures snarled and advanced from their positions. The white creatures of the Guardians turned and charged, bounding up walls and leaping sideways into other orientations to engage with the inky grey creatures.

  As shots started to come in their direction, Sam grabbed Yas to him and reached up to call down a book that was crossing the room. He used it to create a word net protecting him and Yas. McVale jumped down sideways from above onto a bookshelf, grabbed a book and then started to scoop words off the page and throw them at the dome. They dented the word net and threatened to create holes. Sam knew that the protection that he had created wouldn’t last long.

  McVale moved towards them slowly and commanded creatures to rush at them. She supported their charge by throwing more words taken from the book, then discarded it and grabbed another from the air. The word net started to become pierced at the front and Yas and Sam instinctively backed away and down a passageway, that ran at ninety degrees to them. Yas formed and fired word bombs through the hole in the front of the word net while McVale threw up protective shields to ward them off. Yas and Sam backed further up the passageway, pushing themselves closer to more grey creatures behind them.

  Suddenly, in the wall just behind them, a portal appeared and opened. The rush of air pulled them in, where they collided with Sleight who was emerging. They all fell through.