While Avery had her eyes closed, Gumptin moved around behind her and began pushing her from behind, towards the Gateway.
Avery moved forward one step, then another; then she opened her eyes and realized what Gumptin was doing.
“What the Hell!” Avery yelled, smacking Gumptin’s hands away from her backside, where he had been pushing her.
“You have to go through the Gateway.” He told her firmly, moving his hands up to start pushing her again.
She dodged out of his way, putting some distance between herself and the gateway. Avery had had enough, she didn’t care that some small part of her knew Gumptin was telling the truth; she was done with all this insanity; it was time to return to reality.
“Listen,” she shouted at Gumptin, to make perfectly clear he understood what she was saying, “there’s no way I’m going down some freaky white rabbit’s hole just because some gnome tells me it’s my destiny!”
Avery turned around and began to walk away from Gumptin and the madness.
She had gone a few steps; then yelled over her shoulder towards him, “Go and scare somebody else!”
“What about your family and friends?” Gumptin yelled back to her.
When Avery spun around, she saw Gumptin hadn’t made any attempt to follow her. He was still standing by the gateway where she had left him. She strode up to him. Bringing her loved ones into this was stepping over a line. Every ounce of confusion, fear, and disbelief Avery had been feeling before was replaced with a hot anger.
“Are you threatening the people I care about little man?!” Avery demanded, shoving her finger hard into Gumptin’s chest.
“Of course not,” Gumptin said softly, soft enough to calm Avery down slightly, “but the Emperor will.”
There it was again, a tinge of recognition that played in Avery’s brain. The Emperor, she could sense she knew that name. She could also sense the chill that name sent throughout her body.
“He is the one responsible for your deaths.” There was a sadness to Gumptin’s voice as he spoke, and it caused Avery to take back her finger with a trace of guilt for having shoved him so roughly with it. “If the Emperor discovers you and the others are still alive, he will move the planets to see you destroyed. He will kill you and everyone close to you. If you come with me, I can prepare you, give you another fighting chance.”
Avery noticed that Gumptin had said ‘another‘. That’s because he supposedly killed you the first time, she told herself sardonically.
“If you do not come with me,” Gumptin continued, “if you walk away from who you are, you are not just condemning yourself and the lives of those you love, but also planets full of people…to a terrible death.”
Avery thought that a bit overdramatic, but his point had hit home. She still wasn’t sure she believed absolutely everything Gumptin was saying, but there was no way she could walk away if it meant there was even the slightest chance she could put her family and friends in danger. Gumptin had used the one card that would make Avery go with him. There was a moment when Avery thought she might either cry or vomit, but she was able to control both reactions.
She couldn’t believe she was actually about to do this, “Fine,” she told Gumptin, “let’s go.”
Avery took tentative steps towards the gateway, until she was just inches away from it. She could feel energy reflecting off of it, like static electricity. Avery lightly grazed her fingers over the watery substance. Tiny ripples formed where her fingers made contact and branched outward. It felt cool to the touch, but to Avery’s surprise, not wet.
Goosebumps broke out all over her body; it was telling her how insane she was for doing this. Avery closed her eyes, took a deep steadying breath, and then walked into the liquid.
For a moment, Avery felt nothing, as if she had simply taken another step in the park, but a second later head-to-toe tingles, similar to tiny little pin pricks, burst across her flesh. Avery’s eyes shot open as she experienced the strongest pulling sensation she had ever felt, like someone had tied a rope around her waist and attached it to a herd of stampeding elephants.
Whatever was happening was happening too fast for Avery to focus and see anything. It was mostly blackness, and small smatterings of light that passed by so quickly, if Avery were to blink she would miss them.
It felt to Avery like she didn’t even have a body anymore, just a brain to absorb what was going on. It was like the craziest roller coaster she had ever been on times a thousand.
In a blink it was over, as quickly as it had began. The entire trip had only taken seconds, but Avery’s head and stomach were doing a good job at convincing her it had taken an eternity.
Avery had been catapulted out of the gateway with too much force for her to effectively catch her balance and she ended up falling flat on her face in the grass and dirt.
Avery heard Gumptin come through the gateway behind her, and from the sound of it, he had no problems staying on his feet.
“You could’ve given me a little warning about how much that was gonna suck!” Avery groaned as she lifted herself onto her hands and knees, wiping at the dirt she was sure was smudging her face.
“You will get used to it.” Gumptin said dismissively, walking past Avery.
That gave way to Avery having a horrifying thought; she was going to have to go through the Gateway again. Now, she was surer than ever that following Gumptin was a bad idea.
When Avery picked herself up off of the ground, she looked around and saw that she was in the middle of a tiny clearing in the woods somewhere. The trees surrounding the clearing were massive; Avery had to lift her head almost all the way back to see the tops of them. The thick green carpeting of foliage blocked out most of the sky, but let in enough rays of sunlight to give the entire forest a warm glow. Mossy emerald carpeting covered the forest floor, except for small patches where multi-colored flowers and odd shaped mushrooms sprouted out from.
Avery saw Gumptin disappear into a small patch of the forest, and she trotted to keep up with him. As uneasy as Gumptin made her feel, Avery would still prefer to be with him then on her own in an otherworldly forest.
As Avery approached the spot Gumptin had vanished into, she saw that he had actually gone down a small overgrown dirt path. She spotted movement in the thick undergrowth a few feet ahead. Determined not to lose Gumptin, Avery walked onto the path, grumbling as she pushed wispy hanging branches and low-lying vegetation out of her way. The unruly waves of her hair kept getting caught on protruding tree stems and, she cursed the fact she didn’t have anything to tie her hair up with. Of course, she had no idea when she woke up that morning that she was going to be following a gnome while he traipsed around Sherwood Forest on another planet.
Thinking about the forest, Avery was just about to shout out to Gumptin, asking how much longer she was suppose to endure the onslaught of nature, when the small path they were on exited out onto a much larger road. This looked, to Avery, like a main road of some kind, although she had no idea from where to where. The road was about ten feet wide and was either maintained or used frequently enough to keep the underbrush off of it.
Gumptin was waiting for Avery in the center of the road.
“Where are we going?” Avery asked him, pulling a leaf out of her hair.
“You will see.” Gumptin told her; then turned to the left and started walking down the road.
Avery grumbled under her breath and followed him, knowing that there was most likely nothing she could say to make him tell her.
Avery stayed a few feet behind Gumptin. She kept noticing him glance around the forest, more alert than he had been back on Earth. Whatever he was keeping an eye out for, Avery didn’t want to know. Just being here was scary enough for her; she didn’t want to have something else to worry about. So, Avery decided, that for just this one time, she’d let Gumptin have a secret.
As they walked, Avery could feel the forest pulsing with life around her. The call of multiple birds floated in on
a soft breeze that lightly swayed her hair around her face. She heard the tiny rustling of small creatures scurrying around inside the thick forest, and she thanked her lucky stars that she could tell they were small. The leaves of the trees danced in the wind, giving off a low whistle which sounded almost like a lullaby. Everything around Avery smelled fresh and clean, like nothing she had ever experienced back on Earth, and as they continued walking she found herself being lulled into, what she knew, was a false sense of peace.
After walking for about twenty minutes, Avery began to hear something besides the wind, birds, and animals of the forest. At first, Avery couldn’t make it out, but as they got closer and she strained to listen, she realized she was hearing the voices of people. She could hear men and women talking, the laughter of a child, the high whinny of a horse, some clanging and thumps, and the sound of people working.
“Gumptin!” Avery screeched in an elevated whisper.
“What?” Gumptin asked, turning around, not bothering to whisper.
“I hear people.” Avery said, walking over to him and leaning down to be close to his ear so that she could keep her voice low, “Where are we going?”
“We are going to Havyn.” Gumptin told her.
Havyn…that word hit Avery hard in the chest, like a brick falling on it. It was another word she knew she was familiar with, a word that brought her comfort. Avery felt a flood of memories wanting to pound into her brain, but stopping short before she could actually remember anything.
Avery straightened up and looked into the distance. She could almost see what lay at the end of the road, a small village filled with people.
“Havyn’s where we lived.” Avery told Gumptin.
“Do you remember?” Gumptin asked her, and Avery could see a small glimmer of hope flicker across his face.
Avery laughed dismissively, “No…no way,” she told him, “I just had a feeling.”
“That is good!” Gumptin shook his head up and down, “Feelings are good, sometimes even better than memories.”
Avery wasn’t sure if Gumptin was just trying to cheer her up or not. What she decided not to tell Gumptin, was that if he was right and she had actually been killed by some evil Emperor, then she was more than happy not to have any memories of this place.
After Avery nudged Gumptin onward with her knee, he flashed her a look of contempt that brought Avery a surge of mischievous joy. He might not have liked being pushed around, but he did as Avery’s knee instructed and walked forward.
Just a few steps later, Avery could begin to see small glimpses of the village through the trees. She could see a woman in a green tattered cotton dress throwing something on the ground for the chickens surrounding her to munch on, a wheelbarrow leaning up against an old stump, and the tops of a few other people’s heads. She knew the villagers weren’t yet able to spot her and Gumptin, not behind the large trees and thick shrubs of the forest.
Where the road ended and the village began, there were two wide bushes with tiny purple flowers decorating them located on opposite sides of the road.
Avery ambled up and stood behind one of the overgrown bushes. Out of sight, she was able to view the village in full for the first time.
As she took in the village, she saw that there were no conventional homes, the kind made out of mortar or brick, or wood. Instead, all of the homes were actually built into enormous trees; the size of ten large Sequoias fused together. Avery lifted her head up to try and see the tops of the trees, but they seemed to go on forever and all she could manage to see was the greenish hue color of the distant leaves and some rays of light. It was easy to tell these trees were being used as homes, since every one of them had a doorway and multiple windows built into the trunks. Avery couldn’t tell how far down the tree homes went, but she guessed there were at least fifty or sixty of them rooted in a crescent moon shape, outlining the center of the town. Some of the trees had signs attached near and above their doors. Avery could make out one sign that said, ‘Blacksmith & Ferrier’ and another one that read, ‘Bott’s Apothecary & Sweets’. Avery thought that an odd combination, but considering she was on another planet didn’t figure she had much to compare it with.
Beyond the trees, scattered in the background amongst wide farming fields, Avery could see a few normal homes that appeared to be made out of wood and clay.
The center of town didn’t have much. There were no roads running through it, just a generous sized area of cleared land covered with grass and dried leaves. In the middle, there was a large water well made out of dark colored stones and covered with a wooden roof supported by four stone posts. Towards the outlying right end of the village, Avery could barely make out what looked like three large tables and six benches. They looked as if they could easily fit at least fifty people each.
Avery was still absorbing some of the sights of the village, like the extensive vegetable gardens that lay beyond the tree houses, a few farm animals in small pastures, and the swords lying against the trunk of the Blacksmith’s tree house, when she realized something was tugging at the pocket of her jeans. She glanced down and saw Gumptin trying to pull her towards the entrance.
“Lay off!” Avery hissed at him, smacking his hand away.
That was the second time in an hour Avery had to smack Gumptin away from pushing her around, Avery hoped this was a habit they weren’t going to keep.
“We do not have time for you to stand here and try to build up some nerve.” Gumptin scolded her, “Going back to your village is the easy part, Avery.”
He pushed her hard in the small of her back, towards the village, causing Avery to jerk forward, run into something, and tumble over it. As she spun around and was falling backwards, Avery was able to see what Gumptin had pushed her into. It was a wooden post, a foot taller than Avery, with a sign on the top of it that read. ‘Welcome to Havyn, Pop. 236’.
Avery tried to make a grab for the sign, but only managed to graze it with her finger tips, which spun her body back around so that she landed on the ground flat on her face instead of on her butt.
“Son of a bitch!” Avery yelled at the top of her lungs, picking herself off the ground and rubbing her throbbing elbow that had landed on a small rock. She spun around to face Gumptin, her mind set on killing the little man, “What the Hell did you do that for?!” Avery shouted at him.
She felt sure she just might throttle him. Avery noticed that as she was yelling at Gumptin, he was looking past her. That only pissed Avery off more. He could at least have the decency to look at her after what he had just done; so she could properly scold him.
“Avery?” The voice came from behind Avery, and she froze as it began to dawn on her what Gumptin was most likely staring at.
Avery turned around slowly, still holding her wounded elbow. She saw that the voice had come from a boy, not much older than her. He had shaggy brown hair, and tanned skin smudged with dirt. The clothes he wore, brown cotton pants and a blue tunic with a belt cinched around it looked well worn. Just by looking at him Avery could tell he definitely worked hard for a living.
The boy wasn’t the only one staring at her; he was surrounded by five other villagers, and Avery noticed a multitude of other people stopping what they were doing, coming out of their houses, and making their way over to where she stood.
Oh, my God, she thought, the whole freaking village is on their way to come see me.
Gumptin had come up to stand beside Avery, “I told you I would bring her home.” He addressed the villagers, “She is just as she was.”
Gumptin looked Avery up and down, scrutinizing, and Avery had a strong suspicion he didn’t believe what he had just said.
The boy who had said her name ran up and gave her a tight hug, “Thank God, you’re back.” He said into her ear.
Avery gasped, not knowing how to deal with this reaction. She lightly hugged him back.
When she pulled back from the boy the rest of the villagers were waiting to follow suit, some hugged
her, some patted her on the back, and a few even shook her hand. There were a small amount of them crying, but the rest looked as happy as if they were receiving presents on their birthday.
Avery heard people say things to her like, ‘We were so scared the Protectors wouldn’t return to us’ and ‘I knew you were too strong a warrior to stay dead’ or ‘Without you, the Emperor would surely take over Orcatia’. Then, there was Avery’s favorite, ‘How could you be so stupid to go and get yourself killed’.
Avery looked pleadingly at Gumptin. She had no idea what to say to these people. They were all acting like they knew her, like they needed her, and she had no idea who any of them were.
“That is enough! That is enough!” Gumptin said, pushing the villagers away from Avery. He had seen her distress and decided it would be best not to freak her out any more than she already was, “You must keep in mind, as I told you,” Gumptin told the villagers, “Avery has no memory of who she was, of this place, or of you.”
Avery saw the recollection dawn on all of their faces and most of them looked as if they had just been hit by a falling tree.
“I am sorry.” One of the village men said to Avery, “It was awfully terrifying not having you here to protect the village anymore. We saw you again, and I guess we just…forgot.”
Avery smirked slightly; she found it humorous that the man was apologizing for them forgetting that she had forgot everything.
“It’s really not a problem.” Avery told them.
Gumptin, who was still trying to push some of the villagers away, spoke up, “I need to speak with Avery alone now. You all go back to what you were doing.” At the villagers’ reluctance to leave, Gumptin told them, “I need to speak with her before we can go back and get the others. Do not worry; she is here to stay.”
Avery startled at Gumptin’s words. Everything had happened so fast. Her mind was still struggling to keep up, but even with everything she had already discovered, this was the first time she realized Gumptin had meant for her to stay here on this other world permanently. Avery threw that thought quickly out of her brain before it caused her panic. She had enough to deal with in the now to think about the future.
The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga Page 5
