As Jade was still clutching at her head, Bunny rolled forward on the ground; knocking Jade over. Bunny picked up her sword from where Jade had knocked it away from her, walked over to Jade, stood over her, and placed the tip of her wooden sword on Jade’s neck.
“Too bad for you, but you’re dead.” Bunny said, smirking, looking down at Jade.
The girls stood silent, holding their breath, shocked at what they had just seen. Little Bunny had actually defeated Jade in a one on one fight. Of course, she had pummeled Jade in the head with a rock to win. Avery wasn’t sure if she was more shocked because Bunny had actually won, or because Bunny had done something bordering on dangerously vicious to win.
Jade snatched the sword away from Bunny and stood up in one fluid movement.
“Bunny!” Jade growled savagely, advancing on Bunny, clutching the sword like she was about to strike her with it, “What the hell was that?!”
“I’m sorry.” Bunny said meekly, backing away from Jade. She had transformed back to her usual submissive self. All signs of the formidable warrior Jade had faced were gone, “I really didn’t mean to hit you with the rock. When I landed on the ground I just…”
“You just what?” Jade angrily interrupted her, “You just unwittingly grabbed onto a rock and accidentally knocked me on the side of the head with it?!”
Jade lifted up the wooden sword a little more, and Avery was sure she was going to hit Bunny with it.
“Alright, alright,” Gumptin said, stepping in between them as tears began to form in Bunny’s eyes, “Jade, just calm down. I never said you could not use foreign objects to fight with. In a real battle, if you are weaponless, a rock is a perfectly acceptable means to defend yourself. However,” he looked towards Bunny, “I would discourage from using such tactics against your fellow Protectors.” He gave Bunny an anxiously unsure look.
Bunny nodded in agreeance and assured Gumptin and Jade it would never happen again.
Jade threw the sword down, “Unbelievable.” She said in disgust, walking back over to Avery.
“I guess Bunny was out for blood…literally.” Skylar told Jade, staring at the red stain on her face.
Avery took out a crumpled unused tissue she had stuck in her pocket before she left her house and handed it to Jade to help clean herself up. There was a lot of blooding running down her face, but the wound itself didn’t look too bad.
“Well, since Bunny won,” Gumptin scrunched up his face, “however controversial, that means Avery and Bunny will fight each other.”
Avery stepped into the circle and glanced around the ground, searching for any visible rocks. The last thing she was going to do was let Bunny near any of them. Across from her, Bunny seemed to have gotten over inadvertently slicing Jade’s head open. She looked ready and determined.
Avery and Bunny circled each other for a minute, getting closer and closer. When they were only inches apart, Bunny thrust her sword towards Avery’s stomach. Avery deflected it with a swipe of her own sword. Then, Bunny went on the attack. She struck left with her sword, swiped right, thrust, and swiped left. Avery deflected the blows, but Bunny’s aggression was throwing her off. After watching Bunny defeat Jade, she had known going into the fight that Bunny was a much better fighter than she would have ever given her credit for, but her tenacity was something Avery hadn’t been prepared for.
Bunny brought her sword up and attempted to bring it down on Avery’s shoulder. She struck left, right, left again, and finally straight down on Avery’s head. Avery managed to stop each blow. Getting tired of being on the defensive, she took a step backwards and threw her sword from her right hand to her left. Avery watched as Bunny’s eyes followed her sword from her right to left hand, and in that fraction of a second that Bunny took her eyes off of Avery’s right hand, Avery closed it into a fist and clocked Bunny hard on the left side of her face. The few seconds it took Bunny to collect herself allowed Avery to handspring away from her and into an offensive position. Bunny shook her head, as if she was trying to wipe Avery’s punch away. Bunny charged towards Avery, and Avery let her get within just a few feet before her body made the unconscious decision to fling her sword at Bunny. The sword sailed through the air before striking Bunny directly in her chest, knocking her to the ground.
“Oh, yes!” Jade cheered from the sidelines, “Too bad for you, Bunny, but I think you’re dead!”
Avery walked over to where Bunny was laying on the ground, on her back, and offered Bunny her hand, “You ok?” She asked, hoping her blow hadn’t hurt Bunny.
Bunny smiled and grabbed onto Avery’s hand, pulling herself up, “I’ll live.” She told Avery, “I lost to you, which is a hundred times better than losing to Jade.”
“Very well done, both of you.” Gumptin said, smiling broader than he had all day, “Now, you may put everything away.”
The girls weren’t thrilled about having to put away all the weapons and other equipment, but they knew that once they did, they would be that much closer to being able to go home, and that made them ecstatic.
The girls placed all of the weapons away back into the large storage pit, then began trying to un-stake the target dummies from the ground. As Avery was helping Jade loosen one of the heavy metal stakes, her eyes glanced over to the black stone altar in the center of the clearing. She had been practicing around it all day, but now as she stared at it, she began to wonder why it was even there and what purpose it served. With all the misery Gumptin had put them through throughout the day; she hadn’t had a moment of calm to think about it.
When they had un-staked the targets, Avery let the other girls carry them back to the pit. She walked over to the altar in order get a better look at it. The black stones that the altar was made from were smooth, like river rocks. The altar, itself, stood as tall as Avery’s waist, and the broad metal bowl attached to the altar reached her chest.
Gumptin meandered over to Avery, watching Avery examine the altar.
“What exactly is this, Gumptin?” Avery asked, walking around the altar, letting her fingers delicately brush the green moss growing on it.
“That is the Elysianth altar.” Gumptin answered her, “I told you this clearing was powerful, well this is the epicenter of the power. It is where someone with the skill and knowledge of the old magic would perform a spell or ritual to harness or tap into the power of Elysianth.”
Avery tilted her head and looked into the oversized metal bowl connected to the top of it. She didn’t really expect to find anything in it, except maybe a few leaves and some dust. That’s why when she saw the ashy remnants of something having been burnt she was surprised.
“Do people use this to light fires in?” Avery asked Gumptin, wondering if maybe that’s what the Protector’s used the altar for if they were ever out there at night.
“What?!” Gumptin said, a bit more loud and abrupt than Avery thought necessary, “This altar has not been used for at least a century.”
Avery snorted, “Well,” she said, running her index finger through the burnt debris, “somebody used it as a fire pit not too long ago.”
Gumptin rushed over and stood directly next to Avery. Avery took a small step to her left, so that he wouldn’t be plastered against her leg.”
“What is in there?” Gumptin sounded anxious, “What do you see?” He stood on his tip-toes trying to see into the bowl, but barely made it eye level to the top of the altar, let alone, the bowl.
Avery glanced at Gumptin, curious as to why he was acting so paranoid, “Nothing, really,” Avery told him, “just burnt stuff. I have no idea what it was, maybe paper or leaves.”
Avery continued to swish her fingers through the ash in the bowl. All of a sudden, her finger hit something solid.
“Hold on a second,” Avery said, reaching both her thumb and index finger in and pulling out the object, “I think I found something.”
Next to her, Gumptin moved around nervously, impatiently waiting to see what she had found.
Avery pulled it out and dusted it off, still not quite sure of what it was. She continued brushing the gray ash off and turning the thin finger-length object around in her hand. Then, in a flash, she realized what it was. It was a blackened and burned, thin, finger-length bone.
“Ewwww!” Avery exclaimed, dropping the bone on the ground and quickly wiping her hand off on her pants.
Gumptin immediately bent down and snatched up the bone off of the ground. He looked the bone up and down carefully. When he brought it up to his nose and sniffed it, Avery thought she might throw up. Gumptin tucked the bone away securely in one of the tiny fabric pouches he had hanging on his belt.
“Was there anything else in there?” He asked, “Any bits of flesh?”
“Flesh?!” Avery hollered, “Gross….I don’t know, everything’s burnt away except that icky little bone.”
“This is very unusual.” Gumptin said, more to himself than to Avery, “A spell cast here involving a bird bone cannot be a good thing.”
Avery continued wiping the ash off on her pants, “Spells, and bird bones,” Avery griped, “you magical people are just freaky. What do you think happened here?”
Gumptin shook his head, “I am not sure. I will have to consult the Elementals; only they would know.”
Avery didn’t have near enough energy to listen to Gumptin talk about Elementals and spells performed in sacred places. She could tell that Gumptin was concerned about whatever had happened here, but she also knew that Gumptin was one of the most diligent and dogged beings she had ever met. Whatever had happened, she knew Gumptin would figure it out.
“Fine, you’ll talk to the Elementals. Can we please, please just leave now?” Avery walked over to join the other girls finishing up putting everything away.
Avery threw one last wooden sword into the pit, then covered the hole up with the large canvas and helped spread debris on top of it, making sure it was camouflaged, something Gumptin said was very important. By the time they had finished with everything, the sun was beginning to set in the sky, giving a deep purple glow to the now empty clearing.
“Very good,” Gumptin told them when they had finished, “now, follow me.”
It was only because Gumptin started walking in the direction of the village that the girls did as he asked.
The walk back to the village seemed to go on forever. Avery’s body fought her the whole way. After twelve hours of the most grueling work Avery had ever done, her body demanded she lay down and stop using it. She tried to keep her mind on her soft comfy bed and a warm shower, just to give her enough motivation to follow Gumptin back to the village.
When they did finally make it back to the village, the girls began to disperse in their separate ways, not one of them saying or waving goodbye.
Gumptin was still walking ahead of them, and without even turning around to see that they were each on their own paths to go home, he said, “Before you return to your homes, I need the five of you to follow me.” Before any of the girls had a chance to protest, Gumptin added, “You can come with me tonight, or you can come with me tomorrow after you have trained for an extra hour added on for not coming with me tonight.”
Avery groaned. From where she stood she was able to see her house. There was smoke coming out of the side metal chimney and warm yellow lights shining out from the bottom floor windows. She could even see her balcony, protruding out from the large tree trunk in the growing darkness. Avery knew just beyond that balcony was her room, and in that room was a bed that she longed for more than she had ever remembered longing for anything in her life. It was hard for Avery to turn away from the inviting sight in front of her, but there was no way in the world she was going to train for an extra hour tomorrow.
The rest of the girls shared Avery’s mind set, even Jade. Avery could see Jade’s jaw clenched tight, a clear sign she was biting her tongue, fighting the urge to actually say what she was thinking.
They each fell in line silently behind Gumptin, following him to wherever he desired. Where he desired, as it turned out, was a large tree house. Avery wasn’t going to count the trees on either side of it, but she was pretty sure the house was in the center of the village. The bark of the tree was dark and there were only two very small square windows in it, both in the front of the tree. The door leading into it was round and the same color as the bark of the tree. If it weren’t for the ornate brass lock and round doorknob, it would look as if there was no door at all. There was a glass lamp on the right side of the door.
Gumptin waved one of his small hands towards the lamp and said the words, “Siata Doso Illumia.”
Inside the lamp there was a small red flicker, and then it burst into an orange glow.
The girls stood, shocked. They had known Gumptin was a Wizard, but besides seeing him open the gateway, which they were told anyone could do, hadn’t actually seen him do anything magical.
“Dude, that was awesome!” Skylar shouted, clapping Gumptin on the back, “If this was Earth, you could totally own Vegas!”
Once the lamp was lit, the girls could see that above the door, a small wooden sign hung from a metal post stuck into the tree. Written in dark green calligraphic letters, the sign said, ‘The Library‘.
“After everything you’ve put us through today, now you made us follow you to a library?” Jade blurted out, finished with biting her tongue, “Unless we need to learn how to fight a librarian, I’m going home.”
“This is not like the libraries you are use to Jade.” Gumptin told her.
Avery laughed out loud at that idea and couldn’t stop herself from saying what came out of her mouth, “I don’t think Jade’s ever been in a library in her life, so she has no basis for comparison, Gumptin.” Avery laughed even harder the more she thought about the idea of Jade in a library. Jade rarely went to school voluntarily, let alone a library.
Jade reached over and punched Avery on her upper arm, “Don’t mock me in front of the elf, stupid!” She yelled at Avery.
Ignoring the fact that Jade had once again inaccurately called him an elf, Gumptin continued explaining, “This is not an actual library, per se. This is the Protectors home base. It is in here that you have your meetings, discuss your course of actions, and where Avery gives her orders.”
Avery saw Sasha roll her eyes on that last part, and she wondered if the joy she felt from knowing how much it tormented Sasha to think of taking orders from her made her a bad person. It only took a brief second for Avery to come to the conclusion that she didn’t care, and that she would continue to relish Sasha’s aggravation.
“Inside are stockpiles of different weapons.” Gumptin went on, “There are maps of every region and village on Orcatia. Notes and journals on your battles and exploits are kept in the library, some written by you, some written by me, and even others by a third party. Any letters you receive asking for help or thanking you are also kept in there. Plus, although, it is not an actual library, in the literal sense, the second floor is entirely used as a library for the Protectors.” Gumptin’s voice began to carry a hint of excitement as he talked about this, “There are hundreds and hundreds of books containing information on different monsters and spells, Wizards, Demons, and prophecies. There are history books detailing any and every event that has ever occurred on Orcatia.” As he spoke, it was obvious how much Gumptin cared for the books, much more so than any weapon he had showed the girls how to use that day.
When he finished explaining to the girls exactly what the library was, he reached into another cloth satchel hanging from his belt and pulled out six large silver keys. He gave one to each of the girls, and held on to the sixth one for himself.
“Keep these on you at all times, and whatever you do, do not lose them.” Gumptin said this, staring directly and intently at Bunny.
The key was as large as Avery’s hand, and she had no idea where she was suppose to keep it. It certainly wasn’t going to fit on any key chain she had ever seen. The key, itself, was tarnished silver wit
h a fancy letter ‘L’ engraved into it just below the top ring loop.
Gumptin stuck his oversized key into the oversized lock and turned it, opening the door.
The girls walked into a dark and narrow entryway. From just a few feet ahead of them, they heard Gumptin shout, “Siata Doso Illumia Allea”
A few seconds after he uttered those words, every lamp inside the tree house burst into light.
Now, with everything lit up, the girls shuffled farther into the headquarters. The entryway stretched on for a few feet and was only wide enough for two girls to walk side by side comfortably.
Avery and Jade were the first two in behind Gumptin, and they squeezed their way through the entryway, their arms pressed up against each other.
It was easy enough for them to see over Gumptin, to the main room of the library. It was a large room, with the walls painted a dark green, and shaggy brown rugs scattered across the wooden floor. In the center of the room was a broad, circular, dark wooden table. There were seven chairs, all different sizes, with different colored cushions, spread around the table. On top of the table were several maps, a book entitled, ‘Forces of Great Power During the Xenic Age’, and multiple scraps of paper with writing on them.
As Avery moved closer to the items on the table, she was able to get a better view of the maps. Unlike the maps stuck to the wall of her room, with past events written upon them, these maps seemed to have plans for future actions drawn on them. There were red arrows drawn onto the map, pointing towards a forest region called Darksin Forest, located around the Emperor’s fortress. Above the red arrows were written the words, ‘Weak point, 500+ strong needed, Elves from the right, Horses to fortress gate’. Avery had no idea what it could possibly mean, but she noticed it was written in her hand writing. Another thing she noticed that was written in her hand writing were some of the notes on the strewn pieces of paper. She picked up one of the notes and read it, ‘October 11th- Emperor’s army at Blackmore’s border. Reports of 800+. King Jeremus’s army holding off invasion on western front. 200 dead. October 15th- Blackmore still holding. King Jeremus asking for help (unable to lend aid). King Draven sending part of his army to help. October 25th - Led Protectors into Hunthill. Small group of Emperor’s army trying to advance on the Eastern front (were able to hold them off). Battle lasted four days. 250+ dead. Sasha received head wound (not too bad, but keep eye on her). October 27th - Stormfell Mountain dwarves joined Emperor. Heading to Stormfell to stop invasion of mountain villages. October 31st - Back from Stormfell. Village of Gunning lost. Dwarves and Emperor’s army held back (for now). Injured right shoulder. Body is sore. November 3rd - Emperor’s army regrouping. Pushing harder on Blackmore. King Draven sent rest of army south to Kellington where Emperor is trying to invade from southern border. November 5th - Fight in village of Klover. Enemy led by two Were Demons. One Demon forced to talk - said Emperor will attempt to take over villages on the coast (better access to ocean ports). Leaving to port town of Secregorn tomorrow. (Body still sore - rewrap wounds before journey). November 10th - Back from Secregorn. Few small battles. Emperor’s army still mainly congregating near Darksin. 4 more villages have fallen in our absence. Emperor advancing more heavily on Blackmore. King Jeremus close to falling. Port villages defended, but weak. More and more going over to Emperor. Gumptin searching for solution in his old books. Sasha and Skylar injured. Jade hurting (though she won’t admit it). Bunny struggling. My body is so sore. November 13th - More fighting. Trying to advance, but not making any headway. Need the use of the King’s army and the elves, any others willing to help. Over 1500+ Orcatians confirmed dead. Protectors are failing’. The last entry was dated November 17th, the day before they had died. It said, ‘Nothing but more fighting. Can’t hold Emperor back. More people die. Protectors grow more tired and hurt. Bunny was right, something has to change’. Below the last line were written words that had been crossed out. Avery brought the paper up to her face, to try and make out what was scratched out. The words said, ‘I’m so tired. So tired. Too tired’.
The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga Page 16
