The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga

by Paige Dooling

  When Gumptin looked up, it was as if he just realized the girls were still there, waiting for him to tell them what they were suppose to do next.

  “Oh,” he said, staring at them, “why don’t you girls go on home now. I have much work to do. Plus, you should all get a good night's rest. You have training first thing in the morning tomorrow, and then I’m sending you out on patrol.”

  The girls stood up to leave; grateful they had the rest of the night to themselves.

  “I’m gonna go home and change, then I’ll see you at your house for dinner later.” Jade told Avery, before walking out with Sasha, Skylar, and Bunny.

  Avery stayed seated, staring at Gumptin as he read through the records, “Gumptin.” She said, getting his attention.

  “Oh, my dear girl,” Gumptin said, looking up at her, his little reading glasses hanging off the end of his nose, “you are still here?”

  There were some things Avery had been curious about since she left the castle that she knew would be bugging her all night unless she asked Gumptin.

  “What’s Draven’s story?” Avery asked.

  “Pardon?” Gumptin said, trying to make himself look as if he didn’t understand the question.

  “Well,” Avery began, “he told me that he was raised by his mother, away from other people, and that he disappointed his father in some way. I was just wondering what his story was.”

  Gumptin pulled off the glasses from his face, staring dumbfounded at Avery, “He told you that?” Gumptin asked, shocked.

  Avery nodded.

  “Well,” Gumptin said, clearing his throat and collecting himself, “I suppose, since he opened the door, I shall tell you what is commonly known. For the past seven hundred years, give or take a few, when the King of Nightfell decides it is time to marry and have children, he travels far away, far away to distant kingdoms. He marries a distant princess or queen and has an heir. Then, when his son is of age, he travels back to Nightfell and takes over the kingdom. It is said that Draven’s father traveled to a distant kingdom, married a princess, had a son, and then died shortly there afterward. Draven was raised with his mother, and then came back to Nightfell a little over ten years ago.”

  “Ten years ago?” Avery asked, doing the math in her head, “How old was he when he came here, because he doesn’t look over twenty-five?”

  Gumptin shook his head, “I…I don’t know. He is rarely seen outside the castle, so no one really knows.”

  Gumptin’s explanation still didn’t really answer any of Avery’s initial questions, “But why was he only raised with his mother away from people? And how did he disappoint his dad?” She couldn’t help but be curious.

  “Avery,” Gumptin said, slightly agitated, “I do not know. Perhaps you should ask him, instead of showering me with such nonsensical questions.”

  “Meow,” Avery told Gumptin, giving him an insulted expression, “retract the claws kitty, I’m leaving.”

  Gumptin looked at Avery like he might take off his pointy hat and beat her with it. Instead, he fixed his glasses back on his face and turned his attention back to the records.

  That night, Avery was able to enjoy a satisfying meal of baked fish, roasted corn, and Jade’s favorite, blueberry pie. She and Jade played one hand of Jade’s favorite game, poker, and one round of Avery’s favorite game, chess. She then hugged Jade goodbye, without one mention of King Draven escaping from Jade’s lips. She kissed Cinder, her parents, and four legged family members goodnight. She slipped into her extra comfy Dawn of the Dead nightshirt and curled into her overstuffed bed and thick comforter. It would have been the perfect night for Avery, if she hadn’t stayed up for hours, tossing and turning, the image of Draven and his husky blue eyes piercing into her. She couldn’t help but replay every little moment they had together in her mind. It was well after midnight when she made a final toss under her covers. She fell asleep with the picture of his hand wrapped around her arm, playing across the inside of her eyelids.

  Early the next morning, Avery held onto the railing with a firm grip as she stumbled down the stairs with her eyes half closed. Of course, this was an improvement from her eyes being completely closed, which they mostly had been since her father knocked on her door to wake her up fifteen minutes ago.

  As she sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast, Avery cursed King Draven for allowing her only four hours of sleep. She didn’t care that it wasn’t his fault. If he hadn’t been so damn enticingly mysterious, she wouldn’t have been up half the night thinking about him.

  Her mother set something down in front of her, but Avery was too absorbed with thinking about all the reasons King Draven agitated her, to pay attention to what it was. Avery grabbed a pitcher sitting in front of her and poured its contents into the bowl in front of her.

  “Avery, sweetie” Her mother said, “are you alright?”

  Her mother’s question shook Avery out of her Draven thoughts.

  “What?” Avery asked, blinking her head clear, “I’m fine, why?”

  “Um…” Her mother raised her eyebrows, “because you’re pouring orange juice into your oatmeal.”

  “What?!” Avery gasped and looked down at her soupy, orange, ruined oatmeal.

  “That’s gross!” Cinder giggled through a mouthful of untainted oatmeal.

  “Oh, my God!” Avery shouted, setting down the pitcher of orange juice and standing up, “It’s not enough he ruins my sleep, now he’s even affecting my breakfast!”

  “Who?” Her mother asked, a puzzled look on her face.

  “Who?” Avery repeated, not sure how to answer, since she most definitely didn’t want her family to know that a king was beginning to take over her thoughts, “Um…well, Gumptin, of course. He has us all so busy that we’re just…we’re unable to function properly.”

  Her family just stared at her blankly. Cinder picked up an apple from a bowl in the center of the table and handed it to Avery.

  “Here,” her little sister said, “you can’t ruin this.”

  Avery snatched the apple out of her sister’s tiny hand and hastily said, “I gotta go.”

  Once outside of the house, she made a promise to herself that as much as she might be tempted to, she wouldn’t let herself think about Draven again. Even if she had an inkling of a thought about him, she would immediately turn her mind to something else. Avery figured that was the only way she would end up making it through the day.

  Training was just as exhausting and tedious as it always was, almost more so since they had gone two whole days without it. The only saving grace was that Gumptin cut it a few hours short.

  While the sun was still high in the sky, Gumptin stopped their training.

  “Today,” He told them, “you shall go on patrol. It is one of the duties involved with being a Protector, and I feel you are all finally ready. You shall each patrol a separate area of Wildwood forest. Therefore, you shall each be patrolling alone.”

  “Alone?” Bunny asked, wide-eyed, “You mean, we’re going to be in the forest all by ourselves?”

  “That is what alone means, Bunny.” Gumptin said, “If you run into anything you feel is too much for you to handle, ride back to the village and wait for the rest of the Protectors.”

  “That’s pretty much a guarantee.” Sasha said snappily.

  “Do not worry,” Gumptin told them, “you have done this over a thousand times in the past. If you remember your training and trust your natural instincts, you shall be just fine.” Gumptin stared directly at Bunny when he said, “So, whatever you do…remember your training.”

  Avery flashed back to the maps hanging on her bedroom wall and all the little incidents her old self had written down on them. She was sure that more than a few had happened while they were on patrol. It terrified Avery to think of herself alone in the forest and running into a troll like the one she had fought in Lilydale, but it terrified her even more to think of the other girls alone in the forest, running into one of those trolls, especi
ally Jade. Avery didn’t know what she would do if anything happened to Jade.

  After going home, changing, and gathering up their weapons, the girls met up at the stables.

  Glancing around at the other girls, Avery could tell they were all just as nervous as she was. It was one thing to travel into battle together, it was a completely different story to go off on your own, without any idea of what to expect. Avery held onto Phantom’s reins and pulled his large head down to her level. She rested her forehead against his and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself slightly before addressing the others.

  “Hey,” Avery said loudly, lifting her head off of Phantom and getting the other girls attention, “I’ll see you guys soon.”

  It was a way not to say, ‘be careful’, and saying ‘goodbye’, which sounded so ominous, and ‘don’t be afraid’, which just sounded stupid.

  Sasha nodded and mounted Belle, “Like Gumptin said, we’ll meet back at the library at four.”

  “See you guys at four.” Bunny said, kicking Ajax into a trot, towards her designated patrolling area.

  Gumptin had given each of them an assigned route. There were four roads that led off into the forest from the village. On the far south side of the village, was the small Rumor Road. Gumptin had assigned Bunny to patrol that road. Then, on the far north side of the village, next to the stables, was the Thorn Road, given to Skylar. Behind the village, past the farm houses, fields, and orchards, was the wild Oran road, which Gumptin had given to Sasha. Avery and Jade were told to take the Main Road and all the subsequent roads leading off of it, with Jade patrolling the half closest to the village.

  Before Jade mounted up on Steel, she walked over to Avery. By the look on her face, Avery could tell she was just as concerned about her, as she was about Jade, if not more so.

  “Avery,” Jade said, her voice a little unsure, something that was unusual for Jade, “I’ll…I’ll see you later.”

  Avery smiled, “You know it.”

  Jade’s eyes showed no reassurance of her concern, but she smiled nonetheless.

  What had started out as a nerve-wracking experience for Avery, after an hour of patrolling, seemed like a quite uneventful and even pleasant experience. She had been riding in the forest for over an hour, keeping her eyes open and body prepared for trouble, but so far, nothing even remotely dangerous had happened. She had passed a man and his dog walking towards Knighton to look for work. She met a family from Klover who were headed into Lilydale, to purchase Everlily flowers for their village.

  Wildwood forest was enchanting, lulling Avery into a state of serenity with its clean floral scents, crisp air, lush green surroundings, lullabies of animal sounds, and dappled sunlight. Avery was back out onto the Main Road, trotting up to Cooper’s Bridge, feeling more at peace than she had in a long time, when she spotted a dark figure scurry into the forest about a hundred feet in front of her.

  Avery’s heart just about jumped out of her chest. The thing she had seen looked to be the size of a person, but moved more like a four legged animal. She fought the part of her that had been raised on Earth for sixteen years, that was telling her to run away from the freaky shadow and kicked Phantom into a gallop. When she reached Cooper’s Bridge, she pulled Phantom up to a stop. She knew whatever she saw didn’t cross the bridge.

  To the right of the bridge, was the small path that led to Wildpoint Lookout. On the wet soft dirt, Avery saw two distinct footprints that led off down the path and into the forest. She turned Phantom down the path and headed into the forest. The path to Wildpoint Lookout was narrow and dense. If Avery were to reach out her hands, she would have been able to grab onto the trees. Wild mushrooms and tall grasses grew along the edge of path. It would have been charming, if Avery hadn’t of know that somewhere out in those wild woods was a creepy moving creature.

  After fifteen minutes of walking Phantom down the path, Avery’s heart began to slow down. She thought maybe the thing she had seen was long gone, or maybe what she had seen hadn’t even meant her or anybody else any harm. As Avery was debating turning Phantom around and heading back to the Main Road, her right ear zoned in on a slight whistle. The whistling sound came closer, and closer, and closer, until finally Avery had to lean back in her saddle far enough that her head was touching Phantom’s back. The instant she laid her body back, she saw a large bladed ax hurtling above her face. It flew past her face and struck into a tree to the left of her.

  Avery didn’t even have time to panic. A humanoid creature leapt out of the woods to her right and tackled her off of her horse. Avery landed hard on the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. The creature would have landed on top of her if Phantom hadn’t kicked his hind legs back, knocking the creature to the left of Avery.

  Before the creature had a chance to recover itself, Avery placed her hands behind her head and flipped up into the air, onto her feet. She slapped Phantom hard on the hind quarters, making sure he got himself out of harm’s way. Then, she reached her arm back behind her and pulled her sword from her back sheath.

  The creature couched on all fours, a few feet in front of Avery on the forest path. It wore a long black cape with a hood that completely covered its face and body. Very slowly, the creature unfolded himself, standing straight up. On his two feet, it stood a good six feet tall. It reached its arms far out in front of it, revealing a pair of long, slender, humanoid hands. Its skin was a scaly texture with a yellowish hue to it. The fingers were a few inches longer than an average man’s, and at the top of them were long, black, pointed fingernails, that looked as hard as steel. It brought its long fingers up to his overhanging hood. Avery watched in horror as the creature pulled back its hood, uncovering a face that resembled that of a man, but with a few distinct differences. His face was covered in the same scaly yellowish skin as his hands, and his forehead protruded out in a reverse triangle pattern. His eyes were a dark red color, and he had no nose, just two small slits. Behind his thin lips were a row of small pointed teeth, which he now showed off as he smiled widely at her.

  He moved his head back side to side, like a snake, as he stared her down, “Protector,” His voice came out in a high pitched hiss, “you should not have followed me.”

  Avery swallowed hard, trying to control her fear so the humanoid creature couldn’t see it, “You’re right,” Avery told him, “you don’t look suspicious at all. I totally should have let you scurry back underneath your rock.”

  The creature clucked his tongue in a scolding manner, “You hide your fear behind sarcasm, little one, but I can see the truth. I can see how scared you really are.” He let out a whistling laugh, “Nothing has changed. You are as pathetic now as you were before. As pathetic as you were on the day you died.”

  Avery was thrown off. The thought that this creature might have actually been there on the day she died was like a mini bomb going off inside her brain.

  The creature took advantage of Avery’s rattled state. It released a loud high screech into the air and charged towards her at full speed.

  The image of the snake man charging towards her, his body moving more in a slither than a run, would have made Avery scream at the top of her lungs, except she didn’t have time for that. He was almost on her in a manner of seconds. Avery jumped back and swiped her sword out in front of her, towards his head, but before her eyes could even adjust to his speed, he flipped up and spun through the air, landing behind her. Avery kicked back with her left foot, kicking him in his stomach. He doubled over, and Avery spun around to backhand him with her left hand. He stood up and grabbed Avery’s left fist inside his own, before she could land a blow. He took Avery’s arm and used it to turn Avery, twisting it behind her back. Avery brought her right shoulder down hard into the creature’s soft side, once, twice. The creature hissed and tossed Avery away from him, throwing her face first down onto the ground. As the creature approached her, Avery rolled herself over, stood up, and scissor kicked in front of her, slamming her foot into the creatures
elbow. The creature hollered and grabbed onto Avery by her upper arms. He pushed her backwards, slamming her up against a large tree. He pinned Avery down with the right side of his body and held onto Avery’s wrist with his left hand. He pounded Avery’s right wrist and hand up against the hard trunk of the tree, over and over again, until she dropped her sword out of her right hand. Once the sword was out of Avery’s hand, the creature placed his right hand over Avery’s chest, holding her against the tree. He spread his left hand into a wide claw, his long sharp nails made ready to swipe at her face. Avery knocked the creature’s right hand away from her chest and ducked just as the creature’s nails sliced into the bark of the tree, leaving four deep claw marks where her face would have been. Avery drew back her fist and punched the Demon with all the force she could muster in the middle of his stomach. The creature exhaled sharply and staggered backwards. Avery advanced on him, punching him right in the jaw, and then slamming the base of her hand into his collarbone. She felt a snap and heard a loud crack, followed by the creature’s ear piercing scream. She had snapped his collarbone in two. The creature fell to the ground, near the edge of the forest. Avery pulled the long dagger out of her boot and walked towards him. She twirled the dagger around in her hand, to get ready for a killing blow. When she reached him, she grabbed onto a clump of long, scraggily, black hair, pulling his head back and exposing his throat. Before she could run her blade across his exposed throat, the creature had grabbed onto a heavy log of wood. He looked up at her, laughed once, and then hammered the large piece of wood into Avery’s chest, shoulder, and upper arm. A white hot pain immediately shot through Avery’s shoulder. She cried out and flung herself backwards, away from the creature. When she looked down at her shoulder she saw that it was hanging at a disgustingly unnatural angle. Avery steeled her throat to stop herself from vomiting. She knew the creature had dislocated it. The creature stood up and charged at Avery once again, his dangerous wooden club held high above his head. Avery stood her ground, face scrunched up in pain as her shoulder screamed at her. The second the creature reached her, Avery grabbed a hold of his club arm, with her good arm, and turned the good side of her body into him, flipping him up and over her back. The creature landed on the ground, on his back, with his arm still firmly held in Avery’s grip. While still holding onto the creature’s arm, Avery lifted up her right leg and brought her foot down in the creature’s face over and over. He spit up a large gulp of blood and one of his pointy teeth. The last time she brought her foot down, the creature lifted up his free arm and grabbed onto Avery’s ankle. With all his might, he pushed back on her leg, driving her knee up into her stomach and causing her to falter backwards. While the creature was still on the ground, spitting up blood, Avery staggered over to the closest tree. She knew what she had to do. She couldn’t fight with a dislocated shoulder, not if she wanted to live. Avery rested her shoulder up against the tree, a flame of terror rose up inside of her, but she pushed it down as she saw the creature begin to slowly try and get to his feet. She leaned her shoulder back, and then slammed it into the sturdy tree as hard and fast as she could. A popping sound exploded throughout Avery’s body, along with the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. The pain caused her to cry out at the top of her lungs, she couldn’t help herself. A warm tear slid down her cheek as she collapsed her body into the tree. The pain began to dull slightly turning more into a dull throbbing. Avery didn’t have long to rest her wounded body, the creature was up and facing her, claws spread out in front of him. Avery stared him down, all terror of the creature gone; now she was pissed. They charged each other. The instant before they would have collided, Avery pulled out her knife from the cuff on her wrist, spun under one of the creatures swiping claws, and plunged the knife into the creature’s back the moment he ran past her. It would have been a killing blow, severing his spinal cord, if he hadn’t moved a fraction of an inch at the last second. Instead of grasping for the knife, stuck to the hilt deep in his back, the creature immediately spun around, swiping Avery across the right side of her neck with his sharp claws. There was a stinging pain and a large spray of blood spurt out in front of her, staining the creature’s yellow hand, but Avery could immediately tell that it hadn’t punctured her jugular. She reached up to her neck and felt a stream of wet sticky blood, pouring out from four long claw marks, running across her neck and down to her chest. While her hand was at her throat, the creature leapt on her, pinning her to the ground. He brought the arm at her neck, across her chest and over to her other wrist, so that he was able to pin both of her hands down with just one of his hands. The creature stared down at her, his eyes flickering over to the wound at her neck. He brought his face down close to her face. Unhurriedly, he moved his mouth over to her wound, which was still bleeding. He stuck out a long, forked, pink tongue and dragged it across one of the claw marks. Avery thought she may vomit from the grotesqueness of the situation and die choking on her own bile. It would be better than laying here, watching him feed on her.