The Complete 8-Book Guardians Adventure Saga

by Summer Lee

  It also helped when his father rappelled down smaller mountains. Sam never really wanted to go mountain climbing with his father, but he went along in case he had to call an ambulance or get in touch with the outside world.

  Craig Godfrey only rappelled once in a while, but when he did, he didn’t do it right. He used climbing equipment, just not the way it was intended to be used.

  Somehow, Sam had to make his belt buckle work for something that people entrusted their lives to. Because his buckle cost around $45, he thought it was sturdy enough. He still wasn’t sure it would improve his first attempt at rappelling.

  He looked down the side of the mountain, after double and triple checking his knots in the rope. His heart raced as he wondered if his rope was long enough.

  Sam knew that he should probably wait for Anthea and Achava to find him. The bitter cold told him otherwise. He didn’t wait when they all came back from the past. Despite the fact that he never liked taking the initiative in his life, he was no longer a wait and see type of person.

  His wife had shown him a different side to life. My wife. He liked the sound of that. He proved that he was no longer a sidekick. He was an integral part of the team and the marriage. It might get him killed, but he was about to prove it again.

  He wrapped the belt strap around one hand, while he gripped the rope with the other. He took several deep breaths and planted his feet firmly on the edge of the plateau.

  Sam remembered how he and Achava had read each other’s minds when in difficult situations. Achava. If you can hear me, I’m going to rappel down this mountain that your sister left me on. I’m sorry, that sounded like she did it on purpose.

  Then a realization hit him. His wife had lost both her golden eyes and her Soul Merge ability. Maybe she lost her telepathic link with him as well. It was at that moment that Sam felt alone for the first time since he started going on missions with Achava.

  Achava, my love, my wife. We are supposed to be on our honeymoon. I love you, dear, and I will find you.

  A tear managed not to freeze as it rolled down his cheek. He forced a grimace and descended down the mountain.

  Chapter the Third

  ACHAVA AND ANTHEA safely landed in the soft sand of a desert. There were small hills. The sand was scattered with various greenery, such as small bushes. The two ladies lay unconscious.

  Achava was the first to recover from their not so soft landing. She brushed herself off and looked around frantically. “Sam! Samuel! Where are you?”

  No answer.

  Sam! Can you hear me? Are you hurt? Please answer me!

  Tears formed in her eyes. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called his name again. “Sam darling, where are you? Please answer me.”

  She was soon in a full panic, as tears streamed down her face. “Oh, Sam. Where are you?” She dropped to her knees and continued to cry. She felt lost. Was he gone forever?

  “Achava, are you okay?” Anthea stood, brushed the sand off her clothing, and approached her cautiously. “Achava. Are you injured?”

  Achava felt angry. She turned in fury toward Anthea. “What have you done with him?”

  “What?” Anthea responded in shock. “Who?”

  “Where is my new husband?” She ran toward Anthea to hit her. “You tell me where you dumped him.”

  Anthea backed away. “Why would you say that? I have no idea what happened to Sam. All I know is...” Anthea had a look of realization, as she placed her hands over her mouth.

  Achava stood, staring to intimidate Anthea, by standing exceptionally close to her. “What did you do to him? You know something!”

  Achava saw that Anthea looked empathetic. She spoke with compassion. “Achava. There was an attack on your home. I rescued you and Sam. It was a strain on my body, transporting three people through the Soul Merge. Even you must admit, taking one other person with you can be strenuous at times. Please, Achava! I really did nothing on purpose to your new husband and my new brother-in-law.” She flinched when she realized that she was now related through marriage to Sam. Even though Achava was a half-sister, they were becoming closer, like sisters.

  “Brother-in-law?” Achava felt a sense of surprise.

  “Yeah!” Anthea looked just as surprised. “Well, that left a bitter taste.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Achava asked, while starting to calm down.

  “I’m saying that I think, somewhere between Dallas and here, he might have inadvertently been dropped off somewhere,” she replied, as she started to show panic.

  “Inadvertently?” Achava exclaimed, as her ire stirred within her. “How does one inadvertently drop someone off?”

  “Okay, don’t be like that,” Anthea replied, with a little anger of her own. “It’s like when a plane is going down, they need to get rid of excess baggage so as not to crash.”

  “Is that what you did?”

  “No,” Anthea said firmly. “I didn’t dump him on purpose!”

  “Explain that, please.”

  “I guess he was ejected in order for us to be successfully Soul Merged.”

  Achava thought about what her sister said for a brief moment. “Why couldn’t you have just stopped us all where Sam is?”

  Anthea sighed. “That’s a really good question. Maybe if I wasn’t still a newbie at Soul Merging, I would have a great answer for you!”

  “Okay. Any suggestions as to what to do now?”

  “All we have to do is back track.” She took a step backward.

  “Wait!” Achava said as she looked around. “I know where we are.”

  “Where are we?”

  “We’re in Israel! This is the Negev Desert!”

  Anthea smiled. “You always were better at geography than I was. So, we’re in the Negev. What about it?”

  “Don’t you see?” Achava responded. “Now we have an actual destination and a starting point. We’re not just lost. This is a place where we can return. We can now go back until we reach the place where Sam was dropped off and pick him up.”

  “Or you’ll die!”

  The voice came from behind them. As they turned, they saw Kieleg standing about 20 feet away from them.

  “How... how did you find us so quickly?” Anthea asked in shock.

  Lifting his eyebrows, he gave a look, as if they should know. “I’m the man with the power. I am one with the wind and the air, as well as a few other things. With those credentials, I’d say that you have more immediate problems than finding the mortal.”

  “The mortal?” Achava answered, with disdain. “You may think that you’re more important than a mortal right now, but Sam could still outsmart and eventually defeat you!”

  “We’ll see,” Kieleg answered, with smugness. “He’s not high on my priority list right now, but you are. Let’s see what I can do against two seasoned veterans.”

  Anthea walked about five feet away from Achava, so as not to be in the same blast radius.

  Achava didn’t wait for Kieleg to make the first move. She jumped for him with her hands out to strike against his throat. As she approached him, he showed fear. Her karate chop landed on his throat in a way that he disintegrated to dirt and dropped to the ground. A whirlwind appeared. It appeared that his remains were soon mixed in with all of the other millions of sand particles. That was too easy.

  Achava was glad she had not lost all of her powers. But she could not trust her enemy from her past. He represented pure hatred. She looked around. Anthea. I don’t think Kieleg knows that we can communicate telepathically, so let’s not give him a head’s up. I need your help. This battle will be in the technological arena. We need a scientist.”

  Anthea looked around as well. You want me to go get Sam. Don’t you?

  Yes, Anthea, I do. Please do it quickly. I have a feeling we will need all of our wits about us to stop Kieleg from returning. Thank you and be careful.

  You too, Sis. Thank you for trusting me, Achava. I promise I won’t let you down. />
  A small dust devil appeared in front of Achava, as Anthea waved to her, then disappeared.

  The dust devil was the clue that Kieleg was not really gone. Achava backed up and looked around for something to use against her foe. “Why don’t you fight me hand to hand, Kieleg? That is the true test of one’s mettle!”

  The dust devil formed into a humanoid shape and then solidified. Kieleg stood before her again. “Are you calling me out for not being fair? Ha ha! Achava! Why did you not use your abilities when you still had them? Because they were there!”

  “You underestimate me.”

  “I’m not stupid. Marriage weakened you.” He extended his hands out to her and several pillars of sand shot out from the ground, surrounding her. She quickly analyzed the situation as the pillars merged together to form one cylindrical enclosure.

  Achava could feel the air being siphoned out, as she heard the maniacal laughing from Kieleg just a few feet away.

  “You are no warrior, Achava!” he bellowed in triumph. “You are nothing more than a means to an end! Hah! To think I ever needed your assistance.”

  “Sam and I were credit worthy for who you are now, Kieleg!” she yelled back. She started to panic. No more Soul Merge and without the golden glow, she didn’t know what to do. Then it hit her. I succeeded before the Soul Merge and everything else.

  She realized that she had become too dependent upon her newfound abilities. Did God take them away? No. She was just new and improved. She knew it, but she just had not figured it out yet.

  She thought about Jesus. He said that nothing is impossible with God. So she prayed.

  Consecrating on her slow breathing, her thoughts were of her marriage bed. She wanted to be in Sam’s arms, satisfying his marital needs. “Sam, come to me soon.”

  Chapter the Fourth

  SAM STRUGGLED as he tried to maintain his grip on the rope and his belt. He knew it was a bad idea to begin with, but he didn’t really have a choice. He wasn’t going to stay put until Achava found him.

  He had to prove that he could rescue himself on his own. Hanging there on the side of a mountain with the bitter cold wind blowing all around him was not good.

  How many times will I have to prove myself? How many times would I doubt myself again, even though I’ve proven my worth time after time? Sam was tired of his self-doubt and was sick of the feeling that he wasn’t good enough. Achava wasn’t making him feel that way. It was all within him whenever he was out of his comfort zone.

  “This is a heck of a leap of faith, God,” he muttered, attempting to pray. Frightened, he looked down the vertical face. “Just to let you know, I have no intention of leaping.”

  Almost as if on cue, he heard a snapping sound. He looked up in a panic, as he gripped the rope with both hands. One of the strands of his life thread had snapped apart.

  It was at that time, that he understood the irony of people going down in a plane, who grab whatever they can to try to save themselves. If the rest of the rope broke, his holding onto it for dear life would mean nothing.

  His heart raced. “Hey God! I didn’t think you really wanted me to leap from here!” He looked up. “I get it, but I’m still not jumping!”

  Another strand of the rope snapped, as he dropped down about five feet.

  Looking down, he could see how far it was to the bottom. He could tell by the way the mountain was shaped. He believed that he would not survive a fall from the height.

  It will take a miracle to save me.

  Just as he closed his eyes, to make a silent last prayer before death, the last strands of the rope broke and he plummeted downward.

  Chapter the Fifth

  ACHAVA WAS NOW BREATHING IN SAND. She tried to control her breathing, slow it down.

  After a few moments, she realized that she was breathing easier. In fact, she could breathe almost as easily as she could before she got cocooned in sand. She felt the prison walls around her, as she moved her hands around the embankment. While she regarded her sandy situation, the unexpected happened. She discovered that she was able to move the sand with her thoughts. She smiled in her heart, as she lowered both hands and balled up her fists.

  The sand cocoon slowly dissipated until she was free. She stood free, much to the dismay of Kieleg. “What? That’s impossible! You were at my mercy!”

  “Not for long.” Achava lowered her head and extended her arms. Moving her hands, a breeze came up. A swirling wind soon surrounded her. Her eyes were now fire red.

  “I didn’t summon the winds!” Kieleg exclaimed in utter shock.

  “I know,” she said, calmly. “I did.” She extended her hands toward him, as fire spiraled out from her fingertips.

  “Don’t get cocky.” He waved his open palm in front of him and created a wind shield, which stopped the burning assault.

  “You don’t scare me.” She prayed silently to penetrate the shield.

  He countered as he raised his hands. Water and earth mixed in a macabre dance of supernatural force. The resulting mud was shot like rapid fire at Achava, like tiny little earthen bullets. She made no attempt to move away or block the barrage. She grasped the pieces that hit her, and then shot them back as she created extra heat within her body.

  The burning mud bullets shot back at Kieleg, as fast as he had shot them out toward her.

  He emulated her stance and absorbed them as she did. “I don’t know how you copied my abilities, but it appears that we’re at a standstill. I would then assume that whoever is the most creative, will be the victor.”

  She realized that it was a standstill. That battle could go on as long as they both endured it. She hated to admit it, but Kieleg was right. She needed to be creative.

  She needed Sam.

  Chapter the Sixth

  THE COLD WIND WOKE SAM UP. He felt the chill and smiled. That meant he was still alive.

  His body ached, but he didn’t feel the pain of broken bones. He still hadn’t opened his eyes yet. He was apprehensive, because he wasn’t sure where he landed. Visions of hungry wolves surrounding him, baring their teeth with empty stomachs, made him nauseous.

  He opened one eye and saw Anthea standing over him, with her arms crossed in front of her. She had an ‘I’m here to save you and you should be thankful’ look in her eyes.

  It wasn’t the wolves, but it was close enough.

  “So am I not dead?” he asked, as she helped him to his feet.

  “Apparently not, Sam,” she replied, with condescension in her tone.

  His eyes widened in horror. “Oh no! I landed on my backpack!” He pulled the heavy pack off and unzipped it. He rapidly looked through it as if his life depended on it.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, impatiently. “We don’t have time for your shenanigans!”

  Sam stopped digging and looked up at her. “Did you just say, shenanigans? That’s funny.” He then returned to looking through the pack. “Yes!” He pulled out something wrapped in cloth. After unwrapping it, he held it up. “Do you know what this is?”

  “Old leather,”

  “It is the Sling of David.” He looked it over carefully. “It’s not broken!”

  “Oh my gosh. Look at it.” The sling started to emit a white glow.

  He dropped it in the snow, but the glow grew stronger. “What’s going on? Why is it doing that?”

  “I don’t know.” Anthea looked around at the area as to where they were.

  After a few moments, Sam said, “Try to figure out where we are.”

  “I know,” she said. “Look below you, Sam. Look at the narrow mountain path that broke your fall. It winds around this mountain which was once used by shepherds to bring their sheep to higher ground for greener pastures.”

  Sam looked over the edge of the path. He hadn’t even stopped to see where he landed, only that he did. “Yeah. So?”

  “This is a Biblical mountain,” she replied as she pointed down. “There is a vast valley that the path leads through. A path t
hat David himself led his sheep down.”

  He had a puzzled look. “David was a shepherd? I didn’t know that.”

  Anthea had forgotten about Achava, because of where they stood. “David wrote many things, but the most repeated starts, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me, all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.’”

  Sam got chills as she finished. “I knew David wrote Psalm 23, but why is the sling glowing?”

  “Don’t you know where you are?” she asked calmly. “It was a treacherous path to take sheep over such a narrow path. Sheep being sheep, they would occasionally wander off the edge and fall to their death. That’s why this place is called the Valley of the Shadow of Death.”

  Sam’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped. The chill went right up his spine and stayed there. “I... had no idea... it was a real place. I just assumed that it meant us going through the most traumatic times in our life. I... wow.”

  He looked at Anthea with renewed respect. When she talked about the valley, it reminded him of Achava. “Where is my wife?”

  “Oh my.” She looked beyond the valley, and then at Sam. “This place. It made me forget why I came for you. We need to go to her. We will come back here, after we save Achava.”

  “Save her?” he asked, nervously. “Take me to her! Now!” He didn’t realize that he gave her a command. All he cared about was helping his wife. “Ugh.”

  Anthea grinned, as if she understood the meaning behind the grunt. She seemed glad that her sister had someone that looked out for her. He thought that maybe someday, she would find the same thing.