by Karen Cossey
Kolby, Juxston and Liliana were not far ahead of us when the trees on the side of the road moved and surrounded them without warning. Shadow-Bloods! And these didn’t look friendly like Pearl and Snowdrop had. They seemed ready to strangle all our friends.
Ambush! And we’d walked right into it! These Shadow-Bloods looked just like trees until they moved. Then they looked like fearsome, bloodthirsty trolls.
My legs squeezed Crimson tighter as I reached for my bow.
“It won’t work,” she whispered. “Your arrows will just bounce off them, even from this close. Looks like they’re going to take them somewhere. We should follow. Quietly.”
*****
We followed at a distance as our friends were led to a clearing in the forest. At the far end of the clearing was a group of four or five Shadow-Bloods.
“What have we here?” asked the tallest one.
“We found these humans heading to the castle,” the ugliest Shadow-Blood said. He was short and thick, with moss and twigs growing all over his arms, and a mass of dark green leaves growing out of his head.
“Who are you?” the tall one asked.
Nobody answered.
“They don’t look like Foulbait’s usual followers,” Ugly said. “Maybe I could strangle the girl. That’ll get them to talk.”
He shuffled towards Lilianna.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Squat,” the tall one said. “We stopped strangling humans years ago. They’re only just beginning to trust us. Let’s not help Foulbait make us out to be murderers. It’s going to take us years to undo the damage the Snake has done as it is.”
I sat up straight on Crimson.
Kolby snapped to attention too. “You’re opposed to Snake?” he asked.
The tall Shadow-Blood stared at him. “What if I am?”
Juxston stomped his foot. “Snake is dead,” he said. “He died in battle. And if you’re on his side, we’ll kill you too.”
Kolby reached over and stopped Juxston from pulling out his sword. I saw him mouth the word, “Patience”.
“Well, well, SkyBranch,” Squat, the ugly one, said. “Like I thought, they’re not from around here. They could be useful.”
“Let’s not be too hasty,” SkyBranch said. He strode over to Juxston, took his sword and bent it in half, then lifted him by the front of his tunic so he was dangling in the air.
“Tell me who you are,” he said.
Juxston frowned. “If you insist,” he said, glancing at the ground a long way beneath him. “We’re companions to Sir Eric, and we’ve come to rescue him from Foulbait.”
Kolby groaned and shook his head.
I shook my head in unison. Why couldn’t Juxston just keep quiet? He was such a . . . such a . . . such a dwarf! All bluster, no brains.
SkyBranch dropped Juxston and took a step back.
“Well, well, that is good news. If it’s true,” he said.
He turned towards the Shadow-Bloods to his left. “What do you say, Pearl?”
I couldn’t believe it! Pearl, Snowdrop’s mother, stepped out from behind a large Shadow-Blood.
I would never forget that long, fat nose and how it had dripped snot down my back. I shouted her name.
“Be quiet,” Crimson said, but it was too late. She must have thought I was just as brainless as Juxston when I pulled off my hood, jumped off her back and ran into the clearing.
“Malin!” Pearl shouted and picked me up so she could stare at me face-to-face. “What are you doing here?”
The affectionate way Pearl was looking at me made me think it was okay to take a risk. “I’m with them. Sir Eric is my father, and we’ve come to rescue him.”
Kolby let out another groan and stared at the sky. “I am surrounded by impulsive half-wits!”
“Don’t worry, Ranger,” Pearl said with a frown. “Malin is safe with us, and seeing as you’re his companion, you are too. But I wouldn’t call anyone ‘half-wit’ if you want to stay safe.”
Pearl put me down. “Where is Crimson?” she asked.
Crimson stepped out of the trees, her hood tossed off her head so she was visible again.
“I’m right here, Pearl. It’s good to see a friendly face,” she said.
“We are all friends, aren’t we?” said Pearl, looking around at the other Shadow-Bloods. Her thick cracked lips were pressed firmly together, though one tooth poked its jagged head out between them.
Squat placed his branch arms where his hips would have been if he’d been a person.
“You know these humans?” Skybranch asked, his mouth wide open.
“Yes, Malin here is the one who saved Snowdrop from drowning.”
That surprised them. They were all excited, all at once. Even Squat smiled and took a step forward to shake my hand. My whole arm was wrenched up and down so hard I thought it might break.
“Is it true, Sir Eric is your father?” Pearl asked.
“Yes it is,” I said.
“Well, well, we must move quickly. The hanging is in two hours. We need to move now. We’ll figure out a plan on the way,” Pearl said.
One by one we were picked up by different Shadow-Bloods and put on their shoulders, me on Pearl’s. Crimson followed beside us.
Pearl’s moss-hair tickled my nose so much I sneezed.
“Don’t put snot down my neck, Malin,” she said.
*****
Kolby, Juxston, Liliana and I were separated in the crowd, watching and waiting. Any minute they’d bring out my father. I felt my palms sweat.
The crowd chanted for my father’s death. It made me want to knock them all over with my pendant, which was burning on my skin, but something stopped me. Something was wrong.
Kolby passed me, bent down and fiddled with his boots, then spoke without looking at me.
“The crowd seem nervous. As if they’re scared,” he said and then moved on.
That was it. That was what was holding my anger at bay. I looked around again. There was murmuring amongst the crowd, and I felt their sense of unease creep over me.
Guards encircled the crowd, weapons at their sides. They looked ready to use them.
I walked over so I was standing in front of a cart in the middle of the crowd. I knew Kolby would be on the opposite side of the gallows, but I couldn’t see him. Juxston was near the commander of the guards by the gate.
Then I saw him—my father. Being pushed towards the gallows, his face beaten, his clothes ragged, but his eyes proud. He stood tall, undaunted.
Someone got up on the gallows platform and quietened the crowd. From Pearl’s description, it was Foulbait, Snake’s right-hand man. He was a short, skinny man, with grey, greasy hair to match his grey darting eyes.
“We’re here today to dispatch with our enemy, Eric the Murderer. He came here to cause war and treachery but we have defeated him!” Foulbait shouted.
Lies, all lies. I felt the pendant flare against my skin.
“With his death, I proclaim to our enemies that I am the rightful ruler of Milonderland and they should leave us alone!”
Milonderland had always been under the King’s domain. How could he declare himself ruler? It was treason! Was no one going to stand up against him?
“No, you can’t! You are not our ruler!” yelled a man near me.
The next minute he was bound and gagged by a guard and hurled up onto the platform.
“You’ll die with Eric the Murderer,” Foulbait said with a grin. “Hang another rope!”
I heard a woman cry out, but had no time to look for her voice, for the next moment a loud crashing sound was heard as the Shadow-Bloods charged through the gate, pushing the bricks out of place so the wall crumbled behind them. The noise was deafening.
I jumped on the cart, and pulled out my bow and arrow from beneath my cloak. Oh, no! I wasn’t tall enough to shoot above the panicking crowd!
I looked around and spotted Juxston fighting three guards single-handedly. Liliana was shooting arrows at guards from behi
nd the safety of another cart. Where was Kolby?
When I turned back to look at the gallows, I saw Foulbait staggering from an arrow in his chest. Kolby! Of course he wouldn’t miss. He’d shot Foulbait!
Crimson was suddenly beside me. “Let’s go get your father, shall we?”
“I thought you’d never come!” I said as I jumped on her back.
“Always in a hurry Guardian, always in a hurry,” Crimson said, and then she ducked out of the crowd and cantered around the edges before pushing her way to the gallows.
Squat got there at the same time and stood in between Crimson and the crowd.
I jumped up and cut the ropes on my father’s hands, as well as those of the stranger who’d stood up for him. He thanked me and disappeared into the crowd.
“Kinsey, we need to stop the guards attacking the people,” my father said, looking around at the people fighting as he rubbed his wrists where the ropes had been.
“Let’s go then,” I said. “You ride on Crimson. Squat will carry me.”
We pushed our way back though the crowd, trying to get to Juxston. Guards barricaded the gate and the hole in the wall, weapons drawn.
“Do you want me to deal with them, Malin?” Squat asked.
My pendant flared against my skin again.
“No, let me.” I reached up and touched the pendant. The blast hurled them backwards through the hole in the wall, landing them fifty yards away.
Everyone, the whole crowd, stopped moving and fell silent. A stranger ran out and bent over one particular guard, checking him for breath.
“He’s dead!” he yelled back.
With that, a cheer erupted from the crowd!
“The Torturer is dead,” I heard people say over and over. Even some of the guards lowered their weapons and shouted with the crowd.
I’d killed him. I hadn’t meant to. The people were happy—he was obviously the worst enemy of them all. I remembered my father mentioning his name.
But I’d killed him. I’d never killed anyone, not even the Snake. I was stunned.
“It wasn’t you,” said Crimson, standing beside me again. “It’s the pendant—it reads hearts. It knew he was evil through and through. None of the other guards will be dead.”
How did she always know what I was thinking?
“Thank you,” I said.
“Well done Kinsey,” my father said, and put his arm around my shoulder. I turned and held onto him, so relieved he was safe that I almost burst into tears.
*****
We rested with the Shadow-Bloods just outside the city wall so as not to frighten the townsfolk with their presence. Father was overjoyed to see us all, and we took plenty of time to listen to his story. He’d been beaten by the Torturer, and in the end I was glad the Torturer had been killed. Apparently he’d been the main cause of the people’s fear, forcing their obedience to the Snake and Foulbait.
It wasn’t long before Father was strong enough to talk to the townsfolk. They were so thankful that Foulbait and the Torturer were gone, that they asked my father to stay and help bring Milonderland back to peaceful rule.
He was only too happy to do this, so we all moved into the castle and started to make a new life for ourselves. Kolby made a home for himself in the nearby forest, but spent most of his days in the castle grounds, supposedly keeping an eye on me. However, his eyes spent most of their time looking at Liliana.
Crimson promised to be nearby, and she was. Especially when I could no longer bear the new life of a nobleman’s daughter. She always knew when I needed to get away. And she loved to throw me in danger’s way.
But that’s another story. . .
The End.
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I hope you enjoyed The Adventures of Crimson and the Guardian as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you would like to, I need to ask you a favour—which is simply that I’d love for you to write a short Amazon review of The Adventures of Crimson and the Guardian. Reviews make such a difference to other readers knowing whether they would like a book or not; so you, the reader have the power to make or break a book. If you have time, here’s a link to my author page, along with all my books on Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/karencossey. Just type in this link in your browser to go to my author’s page, and then select The Adventures of Crimson and the Guardian. Scroll down to the Customer Reviews section and click on the button “Write A Customer Review” and you’ll be taken to a page where you can share your thoughts.
To thank you for reading, and for writing a review if you are so inclined, I would like to offer you my pdf book “Cinderella Sarah: Bedtime Stories for Children, Fun Read Alouds and Short Stories For Kids” for free. Some of the stories are written for younger readers, but I think you’ll find at least one short story to make you smile. If you were brought up on fairy tales (and unicorns!), you’ll probably enjoy my favorite: “Grandma’s Muddled Magic” or “Sarah and the Prince”. There are other modern stories you might appreciate too, like “Rainy Day in Venice”, “Survival Class” or “The Bodyguard.” You can grab your pdf version for free from here: http://www.karencossey.com/childrens-books/short-stories-for-kids/.
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Thanks so much for reading The Adventures of Crimson and the Guardian and for spending time with me.
In gratitude,
Karen Cossey
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I want to thank my family for encouraging me to keep writing this story, particularly my husband, who much prefers mathematics to magic. Thank you for believing in me, and for attempting to understand unicorns.
Iola, thank you for your excellent editing of my story. Your critique and guidance were insightful and helpful.
And finally, a big shout out goes to my friend Marion, whose support, encouragement and proofing skills were a real blessing. Thank you so much.
More from Karen Cossey
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