The Guardian

by Quinn Arthurs

  I flinched at the strength of his blows, at the scrape of them against the shields that felt like him digging into my skin. He seemed to ignore the blows I was landing in turn, not noticing when his skin tore or the blood ran into his eyes.

  “Look out!” Terran’s furious call was my only warning before a second set of blows rained down on me from the side. I danced to the side, trying to avoid both series of blows, panting in shock as I tried to figure out how I was being attacked on both sides.

  Birch’s cronies had taken advantage of my distraction, inserting themselves into the fight, I realized. I dropped my attack on him, forcing all my energy into my wall as I searched the area. I was surprised that none of the guys had inserted themselves into the fight now that Birch had broken the rules we had agreed upon.

  Onyx and Terran were at the edge of the circle, pressed against a barrier that hadn’t previously been there. I assumed the pair on the edge of the circle, currently glowing in shades of red and blue, were responsible for the barrier surrounding the circle.

  Onyx had shifted into his armor, his sword in his fist as he battered the line of the circle searching for breaks in the wall. Reed held his water sword in his grasp, standing guard over River as he had promised. Terran radiated fury, and I could hear the ground rumble as he pushed his power into it.

  Silver light flared, the brightest I had ever seen around Onyx, and I wasn’t sure if the light actually came from him or was a reaction to all the spells flying. Birch’s friend was another young fae, his coloring dark to Birch’s fair. Amused panic flowed through me as I pictured the yin and yang symbols trying to kill me.

  “Can’t win the fight fairly, so you bring in your bodyguard?” I called out. I had no idea how to take on more than one opponent, and I wasn’t looking forward to learning on the fly. I fumbled in my pockets, refusing to drop my grip on the onyx that was holding the wall between us, despite the pain now racking my body from two constant sources of attack.

  I knew I had amethyst, garnet, flint, tourmaline, and carnelian for sure. All were powerful, but how to use them on the fly was nerve wracking. Birch’s friends had powers that glowed green, and the muddy brown their power created as they combined their attacks against me was weakening me faster than I would have liked.

  “Fight back, Tori.” Onyx’s voice was furious, and I could hear his sword striking the barrier. He was right, I couldn’t keep hesitating.

  Pouring all my power into my shield wasn’t going to win this fight. I knew this was going to hurt and I steeled myself for the pain as I dropped power from my shield, grasping a stone blindly. The jagged edge of the tourmaline caught my fingertip and I focused on that, pulling its energy through me even as the first blow landed. I hissed as the blades split my skin, ignoring the crows of approval from Birch and his followers as he spilled my blood.

  Just like the kyanite, I wanted this stone’s cutting edge. I hoped my connection to my namesake stone would help to alleviate the fact that I was running out of energy. I pulled my hand from my pocket, both the tourmaline and obsidian clenched tightly, giving me more freedom of movement to dodge the strikes of their whips and blades.

  “You can’t run from us forever, little bug,” Birch taunted, his friend cackling maniacally at his commentary.

  Blood trickled down my arm, pooling in my hand and making the stones slippery in my grasp causing me to swear. If I dropped them I was screwed. The tourmaline heated almost to scorching in my palm, and I couldn’t prevent the shriek that fell from my lips as my powers burned bright, flaring out of me in wave after wave of light, each edge a cutting blade as it slashed and hacked at my attackers almost of its own free will.

  Birch’s cohort fell, blood pouring from him as he dragged himself from the circle. Birch wielded his whips frantically, trying to brush aside my daggers, though more and more struck him, causing blood to flow. I could hear the crackling of the barrier behind me, and I hoped that meant Onyx and Terran were pushing through the shield. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out on my own for much longer, between blood loss and exhaustion.

  “I will not let you win,” Birch snarled, striking me again and again. I cried out at the slice of his blade, the burn sinking deep into me as it tore through skin. He darted between my strikes as I tried to focus through the pain, knocking me flat to the ground as my shield dissolved between us. I heard a roar behind me, though I couldn’t say whose it was as Birch struck again and again. My stones tumbled from my fingers, leaving me helplessly pinned below him.

  Birch’s hands closed around my throat, his powers burning into my skin as he glared at me, his mouth twisted in fury. “You’ll die here, little fool, for what you did to me.” Spittle flew from his lips, landing on me as I shoved back against him. I pulled on his hands, trying to loosen his grip on me as I gasped for air. My powers pressed against his, sparks burning us both as I pushed at his hands. Black dots danced in my vision, shades of grey washing over me, erasing the brilliant colors of magic that had been swallowing me.

  Calm. Center. Focus. The words repeated over and over again in my head, the only thought I could hold onto besides my desperate desire to live. I hadn’t gotten to do any of the things I wanted to yet, hadn’t made the life I had promised myself I would have. I couldn’t give that up yet. I couldn’t let him win.

  “I’ll get you first, then I’ll take down your little friend,” Birch growled into my ear. “She’s the reason you got here in the first place; thinking she’s so much better than me, better than the nothing she is — that you are. This world is for the strongest of the fae. The rest of you are polluting it, draining the power from those of us who deserve it. So I’ll drain you first. I would have liked for you to watch me hurt her too, watch her take the punishment you caused her, but I’ll just have to enjoy knowing you got your punishment and knew what was coming. Now I think it’s time I marked up that pretty skin a little.” He drew back a hand, and I shrieked as his blade sliced into my cheek, tearing through skin and aiming for my throat as he cackled.

  Rage filled me in a blinding flash and I pushed it from me, pushed as hard as I could. This needed to stop, and it needed to stop now. Light flared, the pain nearly drowning me as flames blazed from my hands, just as Reed had taught me. Birch shrieked, the flames scorching him as he fell away, his hair and clothing catching fire as the flames spread. I staggered to my feet as he beat at the flames, dropping to the ground to try and extinguish them.

  “You aren’t going to hurt anyone else again.” The words were a gurgle over the blood that filled my mouth. “I’ll make sure of it.” Birch’s screams were tapering off higher pitched now, the sand not diminishing the magical fire. I gathered the last of my energy, grasping the garnet in my pocket for control, pulling it away from Birch and back into myself. His body was striped with horrendous burns, his hair and clothing burnt mostly away as he gagged on the ground, shaking and seizing.

  I staggered, falling to my knees, the darkness attempting to swallow me as pain and exhaustion drained me. Hard hands caught me, before my ruined face hit the dirt, scooping me up. “I’ve got you. You need to hold on.” The words were urgent, frantic, and I stared up into Onyx’s eyes. I could feel myself slipping away, sliding from my body as I fought to keep my eyes open.

  “Your eyes are pretty, Tinkerbell.” My speech was slurred and garbled, hindered by my injuries, and I slid into the darkness.

  21

  My eyelids were stuck together, and I yawned hard enough to crack my jaw as I tried to pry them open. Memories returned in a flash and I rolled, swiping at my eyes in a frantic attempt to clear them.

  “Easy.” Onyx’s voice was soft, distracting me from my panic with pure shock.

  I didn’t think he’d ever used that tone on me, though I had heard him use it on River. My brain caught up with my eyes, and I realized I was in the room I had claimed. A quick glance down showed me I was clothed, much to my relief, and I settled back onto the bed. It was slightly awkward sitting the
re when Onyx was standing sentry in my doorway, but I wanted to make sure I had my feet solidly underneath me.

  “Everything healed?” I asked cautiously. I didn’t hurt anywhere, and I had seen Reed work his magic on Onyx before, but I was nervous considering Onyx’s gentle handling of me that I had received some serious scars or lasting injury. I was vain enough not to relish the thought.

  “Completely,” he reassured me. He made no move to enter further in the room, merely studying me as he leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed solidly over his chest.

  “You? Terran? River? Reed?” I hadn’t seen River or Reed get involved in the fray, though I knew both Terran and Onyx had been in harm’s way.

  “All fine.”

  Insistent squealing drew my attention, and Onyx huffed out an irritated breath before kicking open the door. Opal padded her way in, her claws clicking on the hard wood of the floors. Her wings flicked in irritation and she hissed at Onyx before flapping her iridescent wings to land on the bed beside me.

  “Hey, girl,” I murmured, stroking her lightly. She squealed and chirped, apparently filling me in on what had been going on since I had passed out. She shot a narrowed eye glance at Onyx, hissing loudly again before curling up next to me to lay her head on my knee.

  “She isn’t too fond of me at the moment,” Onyx drawled, glaring right back at the little dragon. “She didn’t appreciate me carrying you injured and unconscious back here or barricading her from your room so that she didn’t wake you. It was quite a job for Reed and River to keep her contained, you know. She wanted to come to your aid as soon as your blood scented the air.” His grey eyes were hard as steel, matching the ice that formed in his voice. I half expected icicles to form when he spoke.

  “Birch? The — other guys?” I trailed off lamely. I had no idea what any of their other names were.

  Opal muttered to herself as if she understood the question and didn’t like the answer. “Birch and Orien are healing, albeit slowly. You did quite a number on them.” I thought I detected pride in his voice, though his face didn’t change. “Solstice and Lark are also healing.”

  “Seriously?” I muttered, pausing a moment as I considered. “Solstice and Lark are healing? I assume they’re the ones who created the barrier. Why would they need healing, unless they were drained or something?”

  Onyx arched a brow at me. “You really think that we’d let them walk away? They interfered in a sanctioned match. The twins had to be taught a lesson; we merely beat the Ancients to it.”

  “Yeah, this is a really fucked up world.” I shrugged as I thought about it. “Not like the human one was that much better, we just liked to tell ourselves we were.”

  “You’ve never been human,” Onyx pointed out.

  “I didn’t have powers,” I retorted. “I believed myself to be human, and it’s still what I consider myself to be. Those are the traditions, the beliefs, the lifestyles that I know. I don’t understand being a witch or a fae or a hybrid or… whatever.”

  “It doesn’t change what you are, no matter what you consider yourself, your opinion on it isn’t relevant.”

  “Why?”

  His eyebrows scrunched together, as if he didn’t understand my question. “What do you mean why?”

  “Why doesn’t it matter what I consider myself? Just because you have theories about what it means to be a human, it doesn’t mean I can’t still consider myself one. It’s how I see myself. I think it just depends more on how I act, and what I believe rather than the, I don’t know, the shape of my ears or the color of my magic.”

  Onyx sighed. “I’m not going to argue with you while you’re healing.”

  “I thought I already was healed. Though I’d enjoy you not arguing with me for a change.”

  Onyx growled to himself, pressing his fingers into his forehead. I wondered if fae could get headaches? “I was simply watching out for you until you woke up. I will get out of your way. I will send River in, if you’d like to see her.”

  I nodded, and he turned to leave, to the approving mutter of Opal, still content on my lap, her purrs vibrating through me. He paused with his hand on the door, his back stiff, before turning back to face me.

  “I am sorry, Tourmaline.” The words were stiff and formal, as he laid his fist over his heart, bowing slightly at the waist.

  I blinked. “Sorry? For what?”

  “We —” He cut himself off with a shake of his head, approaching where I sat. “I...” He stressed the word. “...told you I would keep you safe. I offered my sword, and I was unable to use it to defend you. For a Guardian, that’s unacceptable. For that, I am sorry.” He clenched his hands into fists at his sides.

  I considered for a moment and decided he needed blunt rather than sympathetic. “You didn’t go back on your word.” I forestalled his objections with a wave of my hand. “You warned me from the very beginning that being a Guardian-in-training was dangerous. That Birch would do his best to kill me and may possibly succeed. You told me it would be hard, painful, uncomfortable, dangerous. You were correct. I don’t see how that’s failing to keep me safe when I’m the one who choose to put myself into that position, knowing the risks.”

  Onyx stared at me, his grey eyes tracking my face as if he was trying to read my true thoughts. Too bad for him, that was actually what I was thinking. I didn’t see that he had failed in any way. “I was not expecting a barrier, nor was I able to focus enough to get through it.” He hesitated, grimacing as though the rest of the words were being forced from him against his will. “I was too worried you would be killed before I could get to you.”

  “I was a little worried about that too,” I admitted. “Part of me knew you would come though. I knew I just had to hold them off long enough for you and Terran to break the barrier, that you would come to help.”

  Onyx growled, tossing his hands in the air as he paced the room erratically. I slid Opal aside, despite her chirp of irritation, and stood to face him. His muscles were so tight I expected him to break apart at any moment.

  “You don’t understand.” He seemed to be speaking more to himself than me as he continued to tug at his short, inky strands of hair. “It is the worst dishonor imaginable, worse than any death, for a Guardian to allow their charge to be hurt, let alone nearly killed.”

  “Well it’s a good thing you don’t believe I’m your true charge then,” I pointed out, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him. I wondered if I should call for Reed, or Terran even. I hadn’t seen Onyx agitated like this, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the past that Terran had hinted at.

  Onyx whirled, his hands clamping onto my waist and hauling me against him in one frantic tug. His mouth crashed down hard on mine, and I gasped, my hands gripping the steely muscles of his forearms as his tongue swept into my mouth, the kiss desperate as he tasted me. As quickly as he grabbed me he pushed away, nearly jumping backwards from me, panting hard.

  “I’m sorry for that as well,” he muttered. “I just — I felt you dying. I felt you slipping away from me, and I felt you taking part of me with you and I can’t —” He looked haunted and desperate, the confidence and armor I had seen from him in the past fallen away so that I could see the shadows twined into him. “I’ll send in River.”

  He darted from the room, leaving me shocked and aching, my mouth still swollen from the stolen kiss as I stared at the door. I wasn’t sure what happened, but apparently almost dying was enough to earn me a kiss from the cranky fae. He had been right though — he knew how to kiss, and I could have happily drowned in the taste of him. He was more dangerous than I had ever expected, and I wasn’t sure how to handle that.

  Frazzled, I flopped back onto the bed, trying to regain the breath that his kiss had stolen. Opal muttered darkly, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I hadn’t expected a dragon to be so observant of human thought or emotion, but she seemed to have no trouble understanding what was going on around her; she simply couldn’t speak to me
in return. I had been surprised she hadn’t clawed Onyx as much as she hated him. I would have suspected it was due to his being fae, but she seemed to have no issue at all with River.

  A knock sounded at the door, and River stuck her head in, her eyes bright with unshed tears as she threw herself at me. “What’s wrong?” I gasped, trying to pat her back and figure out what danger we were facing at the same time.

  “You did it, you nearly died, but you did it,” River sobbed. “No one is listening to him now. They’re all waiting to see what you will do, and since you’ve marked me as one of yours no one will chance bothering me until they find out more about you.” Tears soaked into my shirt and I patted her back faster, desperate for the outburst to end. I had no idea how to handle a weeping female, despite occasionally being one myself.

  “I’m all good,” I reassured her. “Reed patched me right up.” At least I assumed it had been Reed. “I’m more worried about everyone else.”

  “When you hit the ground, I thought those three would lose their minds.” River continued, her sobs not abating. “Reed stayed with me the whole time, just like you asked, but he got so pale I thought I could see right through him. I thought Terran was going to finish the job and kill Birch entirely, and when the three of them got ahold of Solstice and Orien and Lark...” She trailed off with a shudder. “Thank goodness the Ancients stepped in.”

  I grimaced, though I knew she couldn’t see me. Of course, they wouldn’t step in to stop the fight, but they stepped in to save their precious fake Guardians. “You were all covered in blood and Onyx was going to tear them all to the ground until Reed said you were still alive. It took him so long to heal you that he slept nearly as long as you did. I thought Terran would end up punished by the Ancients for the threats he was throwing at them.” She continued to ramble to me, her words as frantic as Onyx’s pacing had been.