Page 8 of The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga

Chapter 8

  The next week was a blur of exhaustion and pain to Avery. Gumptin had them up at dawn training harder and harder each day. It horrified Avery and the other girls to discover Gumptin had actually taken it easy on them the first day.

  Along with their normal training routine, Gumptin had somehow managed to incorporate two hours of study time in the library for the Protectors as well. Gumptin had them learning about different beasts and Demons. They studied maps and were lectured to about the history of Orcatia. Avery and Bunny took to the studying easily, just as they had at school back on Earth. Of course, for Avery it was more of a fear of failure than actual interest in the subject matter. Skylar, due to her flightiness, and Avery suspected, possible ADD, got about a third of what Gumptin taught them. Even though Sasha seemed to spend more time painting her nails and applying balm to her lips than paying attention, she still managed to impress Gumptin with her ability to retain almost everything he told her. Jade, however, was another story. She and Gumptin butted heads more sitting in a library discussing a book than they did when Gumptin was screaming at her to push her body beyond its breaking point. When Jade wasn’t playing around with one of her sharp knives, she was either sleeping, eating, or trying unsuccessfully to get Avery, who was trying to pay attention, to talk to her.

  Mid-week, Gumptin incorporated the Protectors’ horses into their training. They had to learn to use their weapons while on horseback, an exercise that left more than a few injuries. The worst of the injuries having been inflicted on Avery, who was grazed on the arm by a wayward arrow shot from Sasha’s bow. It happened while Sasha was on her horse, Belle, about to release her arrow aimed at a distant target. Belle was at a fast gallop when she jumped over a log, causing Sasha’s body to jerk forward as she shot. Avery, who had been chatting with Jade and not paying attention at the time, heard the slight whistle of the arrow a split second before it reached her. She leaned to the right, the arrow grazing her arm and sailing into a nearby tree, as opposed to landing in Avery’s upper chest. It was all Avery could do to put aside her own rattled nerves and stop Jade from tearing Sasha down off of her horse and throttling her.

  Gumptin, however, found the bright side of the incident by praising Avery for her speed and defensive maneuver. It was the first time since Avery had been told she was a Protector that she was actually grateful for the abilities that came along with the position.

  Even though Gumptin had been quick to praise Avery and call the whole situation a valuable training exercise, he was also quick to make sure that from now on the girls all stood behind anyone who was shooting sharp objects.

  After the weapons training on horseback, Gumptin had them practicing different maneuvers in the saddle. They had to throw their bodies to the side, holding onto the girth of the horse with their legs while picking up items off of the ground. It didn’t start well when Bunny completely slipped off of her horse, Ajax, and rolled hard onto the ground. Skylar ended up swinging around past the side of the horse, down to its underside. She hung there until Gumptin shouted at her to command her horse, Dancer, to stop, an idea that had completely escaped her. Steel, Jade’s horse, whose personality matched her own, decided to stop mid-run when Jade pulled down on his reins a little too aggressively for his liking. This sent Jade flying over his head and landing hard on her butt, still clutching the reins in her hand. Jade cursed aloud, then immediately got up and gave the reins a quick hard tug to let Steel know he better not dare do that again. For Steel’s part, he just snorted and turned his head away from Jade.

  The rest of the day went on pretty much the same, filled with injury and humiliation, and no one performing up to Gumptin’s standards.

  The day after their first training session involving the horses, Avery was convinced that her legs hurt her more than if she had actually broken them falling off of Phantom. She could barely stand, let alone, run, flip, kick, and heaven forbid, squat. Of course, that didn’t stop Gumptin from having them work just as hard as he had them work the previous days.

  It was the morning of the seventh day since they had arrived on Orcatia, and Avery still wasn’t accustomed to the ridiculously early morning schedule Gumptin had them on. Every morning her father would have to come into her room and make sure that she was up and getting ready. Avery hadn’t once been able to get up in time on her own.

  That was why, on the seventh day, when Avery groggily awoke, snuggled under her thick comforter, she was surprised she hadn’t needed her father’s voice to rise her. Avery stayed hidden under her warm comforter for a few minutes, relishing the coziness of her bed. When she finally did muster up the will power to peek her head out from under her comforter, the burst of blinding sunlight that hit Avery’s eyes sent her scurrying back under the covers. Avery cursed the brightness that had left white bursts floating in front of her closed eyes, until a panicking realization popped into Avery’s mind. She realized that it was the sunlight she had seen, and if she had seen the sunlight that meant that it was past dawn, which meant that she was late for training.

  “Gumptin!” Avery shouted in horror, throwing off her comforter.

  She jumped out of bed so fast that her legs hadn’t had a chance to wake up yet, and she collapsed to the ground. She picked herself up quickly, pulled on a pair of lace-less boots over a pair of knee-high socks, snatched a hair tie off of her dresser, and dashed out of her room, still wearing the black boyshorts and ‘Evil Dead’ t-shirt she had slept in.

  Avery was so panicked as she rushed down the stairs and ran towards the door, that she made it half way across her living room before, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Jade sitting on her couch, munching on piece of toast, and playing a game of ‘Go Fish’ with Cinder.

  Now, Avery was really confused. She stood completely still for a few seconds, staring at her front door, trying to figure out what was going on. She quickly abandoned trying to figure it out for herself and turned to Jade.

  “Morning sunshine,” Jade said, lounging back on the couch and trying to suppress a laugh as she looked Avery over, “nice outfit.”

  Avery dismissed Jade comment with a shake of her head, “Jade, what are you doing here?”

  Jade sighed, “Getting my butt handed to me by a seven year old.” Jade threw her cards down on the table, signifying she had had enough of their game, “I know you’re cheating, kid.”

  Cinder shook her head, “I’m not cheating; you just suck.”

  Jade had known Cinder since Avery’s parents had brought her home from the hospital. She considered Cinder family, which meant she could say things to Jade other people wouldn’t dare.

  “Get lost, tater tot.” Jade told Cinder, giving her an affectionate little kick on the bottom as Cinder ran off to the kitchen to join her mother.

  It had always amused Avery, watching Jade’s softer more playful side come out around Cinder, but right now, she wished Jade would focus on her and her question.

  “Jade,” Avery asked again, “what are you doing here?”

  Avery’s father walked out from his study, holding a copy of the village paper, “Hey, sweetheart.” He said to Avery, “Oh, by the way, Gumptin came by early this morning, a few minutes before I was going to wake you up. He said he had an errand to run and to meet him in the library at eleven. I thought I’d let you get some sleep.”

  Although grateful to her father for letting her catch up on some much needed sleep, another part of her wanted to yell at him for putting her through such anxiety, especially when she first woke up. Avery wasn’t sure her heart rate would ever be back to normal.

  “What time is it?” Avery asked.

  “A whopping nine fifteen.” Jade told Avery, sliding over on the couch as Avery walked over and sat down.

  “So, what are you doing here?” Avery asked for a third time, realizing her question had never been answered.

  Jade grabbed another piece of toast off of a platter sitting on the coffee table, “Well,” she said, taking a bite, “unlike yo
ur parents, mine actually woke me up at five a.m. to tell me that Gumptin had stopped by. I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, so what else was I going to do?”

  Avery snatched a piece of toast up for herself. Satisfied with Jade’s answer and happy with the fact that she had been able to sleep in past nine, and the possibility of training being called off, or at least delayed, Avery let herself relax.

  Avery lifted her piece of toast in the air, “Cheers, to tardy Gumptin.” Avery and Jade tapped their pieces of toast together, took a bite, then picked up the cards Jade had thrown down on the table to play a round of Jade’s favorite card game, poker.

  They made it through three hands, Jade winning two of them, before Avery headed upstairs to get dressed properly.

  As they walked to the library together to meet Gumptin, Avery marveled at how lovely Havyn was in the early afternoon. The gigantic trees provided a cool shade, with rays of intermittent sunlight lighting up the village in a gentle glow. All of the shops were open, the blacksmith, the seamstress, the grocer’s. A few children came running out of Mrs. Bott’s shop; all carrying cinnamon rolls the size of their head.

  The village was bustling with life. People were walking in and out of shops. Ladies were standing or strolling together, talking and laughing, some carrying baskets of laundry, some holding satchels of food. In the distance, behind the tree houses, Avery could see a number of men, and a few women working in the fields.

  It struck Avery that, although, she had been on Orcatia for a week, she had never actually experienced much of it, including her own village. Her days had consisted of training, studying, eating, getting what little sleep she could, and the occasional shower if she had enough energy to force herself.

  After walking a few shops and houses down, Avery began to notice how differently the villagers treated each other as opposed to how they treated Jade and Avery. With each other, they were warm and jovial, walking up to one another with sunny smiles, handshakes, and hugs. Whereas, with Jade and Avery, they were more reserved, giving the girls a polite smile, gentle wave, nod of the head, and a ‘hello’. It seemed as if they were hesitant to be too friendly.

  Avery understood that if their previous life on Orcatia had been anything like the past week, then she knew the Protectors would have almost never seen the villagers. Plus, from what Avery had heard from the few villagers she had talked to, the Protectors seemed to be more revered as saviors than accepted as friends.

  Jade didn’t even seem to notice, but it bothered Avery a little. Especially coming from a small town back on Earth where Avery was use to everyone knowing everyone else. She was use to being a part of the town and thought of as just another neighbor. She was use to receiving the hugs, or at least an amiable pat on the back.

  To make up for the alienation that Avery considered her past self had put her in, Avery waved enthusiastically at every villager she passed and gave each of them a huge smile with a lively, “Hello.”

  Some of the villagers seemed pleasantly taken aback by Avery’s exaggerated friendliness, others seem slightly confused, but all the reactions she received from the villagers were better than the one she received from Jade. Jade looked at Avery like she had just grown another head.

  “What are you doing?” Jade asked her.

  Avery kept smiling and waving, “I’m just being neighborly.”

  “Well, knock it off, Mr. Rogers,” Jade told her, grabbing Avery’s hand and placing it down by her side, “you’re embarrassing me.”

  When Avery and Jade walked inside the library, they saw Bunny sitting at the large round table reading a book on ancient runes. She was the first and only one there. A couple minutes later Sasha and Skylar came walking through the door together.

  “What’s up ladies?” Skylar yelled, did a little turn, then fell into the seat next to where Avery was sitting.

  Avery laughed as Skylar leaned her head onto her shoulder, “You seem in a good mood.” Avery told her.

  “Avery, darling, I got to sleep in till ten.” Skylar said, stretching her arms high up in the air, “I am ecstatic! Nothing could ruin my mood.”

  The door swung open and Gumptin came trotting in, looking more haggard than the girls had ever seen him. He immediately walked up to the front of the room and turned to address the girls. Before he said anything, he rubbed his eyes, which looked blood shot and puffy.

  “Protectors,” He spoke in a professional manner, standing up straight, voice clear and deep, “today is the day you put your training into use.”

  Sasha, who had been standing, now sat down, bracing herself for what Gumptin was going to say next.

  Gumptin continued, “Very early this morning, I received word from a friend of mine, that a small party of trolls was making their way to the village Lilydale. I have confirmed it, and it appears to be true. The village is approximately five miles from here. They are known for their production of Everlily, a flower used in many medicinal balms. It helps keep wounds from becoming infected. Mr. Bott uses it in many of the balms used to treat your wounds. The trolls are most likely being sent by the Emperor to try and destroy the village’s flower crops.” Gumptin sighed and ran his hand through his beard, a maneuver Avery knew he did when he was nervous or upset about something. After a small pause, he said, “The Emperor is becoming bold. This is a test to see how strong you are. It is said that he has sent some of his strongest trolls for this mission. I am afraid this will not be easy for you. I wish we could have had more time for training, but…” Gumptin trailed off.

  The girls sat in silence, not one of them even moving. Avery hadn’t moved since Gumptin had begun talking, her eyes fixed on a small dark imperfection in the wood on the table in front of her, but her mind was far off and lost in Gumptin’s words. She pictured the images of tolls she had seen in the books Gumptin had made them read, big and nasty, with wide slobbering mouths, carrying mallets and axes, anxious to pound her into a pile of broken bones and bloody flesh. Avery knew it was their duty and that they didn’t have a choice but to try and stop them. She knew that if they didn’t do anything now, then the trolls’ next stop would be Havyn and they would end up having to fight them then anyway.

  Sasha was the first one to speak, her voice sounding shaky, “Gumptin, don’t tell me you actually expect the five of us to go out there and face these things on our own.”

  Gumptin shook his head, “I am sorry, but that is your job as a Protector. Lilydale needs your protection.”

  Sasha ran her hand through her perfectly done hair, messing it up slightly, “Do you think we’ll be alright?”

  The look of controlled sadness in Gumptin’s eyes gave the Protectors their answer.

  As Sasha continued to question Gumptin, Avery’s stayed lost in her own head. Gradually, the image of herself being pummeled into an unrecognizable pulp was replaced with an image of the Lilydale. In her head, Avery turned Lilydale into Redemption; she turned all the villagers into the people she had grown up with for her entire life. Then, in a flash, the image of her being beaten turned into an image of Cinder lying under a troll’s club. Avery shook the image free from her mind and stood up in a jolt. All the girls’ eyes turned to her.

  “What’s the plan?” Avery asked Gumptin, “When do we leave?”

  Bunny looked terrified, Skylar kept a blank face, Sasha looked shocked, and Jade stood in a corner, leaning against the wall, swirling her dagger between her fingers, a small smirk on her lips.

  “You can’t be serious?” Sasha said, looking even more shocked than before.

  Avery turned to Sasha, the images of the village being destroyed still tugging at the back of her mind, “We’re Protector’s Sasha, what else are we suppose to do?”

  Sasha opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it, which was rare for Sasha. Avery knew Sasha was well aware that the Protector’s didn’t have a choice. Gumptin had made it quite clear that the Elementals, who had given them a second chance at life, fully intended them to use that
life to fight evil.

  Avery looked around the room at the others. All of them, except for Jade, seemed hesitant about the idea of riding off to face a pack of killer trolls. The last think Avery wanted was for any of them to get hurt; she wanted them strong; she wanted them to believe in themselves.

  “Look,” Avery said, trying to give the girls a little perspective and maybe some fire to go into battle with, “I’ve come to the realization that this planet has Protectors because they need them. They need us. It’s simple…if we don’t go then those villagers die. I’m not telling you to do this because it’s our duty, I’m asking you to do this because it’s the right thing to do.”

  So far, what she was saying seemed to be working. The look of terror was off of Bunny’s face and Skylar was nodding in agreement. Even Sasha had stopped arguing and was intently staring at Avery.

  “Come on,” Avery told them, “we can totally kick those trolls’ asses. Let’s send a message to every evil thing out there, that killing us was the worst thing that they could have done.”

  Avery wasn’t sure that they could really kick any ass, but she knew they had to at least try. It was the one and only thing she was sure about since she had come to Orcatia.

  “Alright,” Jade said, sliding her dagger into her belt and pushing herself off the wall, “since we’re all seeing things clearly now, what’s the plan?”

  Sasha shook her head, she still wasn’t convinced that riding off to possibly get killed was something she wanted to do, but she was done arguing.

  Gumptin nodded at Avery, a wisp of a smile behind his scraggily beard, “Go home, get dressed in your battle gear, and get your weapons ready. I shall draw you a map to Lilydale. Meet at the stable in thirty minutes. I will have Thomas get your horses ready.”

  Skylar stood up, “Well, after Avery’s speech how could I say no.” She laughed, trying to sound light, but failing as the laughter cracked in her dry throat.

  As they were all walking out of the library, Bunny walked up to Avery, “Do you really think we can do this?” She asked Avery, her face a portrait of how nervous she was.

  Avery did her best to make sure she looked confident and calm, the complete opposite of how she felt, as she stared Bunny in the eyes, “Bunny, I’m positive.”

  Bunny nodded, looking very slightly reassured.

  After Bunny left towards her house, Jade, who had been hanging back in the distance, came up to Avery, “That was a good speech in there.” She told Avery, “I knew there was a reason they chose you to be leader.”

  “I thought it was because they knew I was the only one who you’d listen to.” Avery joked, wanting to lighten the unease she was feeling.

  Jade laughed, “You wish!” She gave Avery a light punch on the shoulder.

  Avery laughed with Jade, and for a second her attempt at trying to make herself feel better had worked, but after the laughter died down Avery was left with the same pit in her stomach.

  Jade, who had always been better at reading Avery’s moods and expressions than anyone else, said, “It was all true, you know, everything you said in there.”

  “I know.” Avery said, and unlike what she had told Bunny, she believed what she had just told Jade.

  When Avery reached her house, she was surprised to walk in and find the place empty. She walked into the kitchen and gazed out the back window over the sink. Through it, Avery saw her mother and sister out in the garden. Her mother was pulling up radishes and placing them in a basket, humming a light hearted tune. While three feet away from her, Cinder danced around a large leafy tree, surrounded by a circular patch of short mossy grass. She was playing chase with their two German Shepherds, Justice and King, as their old Great Dane, Bailey, lied down in the grass, sound asleep.

  In the distance, Avery could see her father and another man working in the fields. Her father bent down, picked up a bit of dirt, showed it to the other man, said something to him, and then they both started laughing.

  Avery watched as her family went about with their lives. Each one of them seemingly happy, enjoying their day and their work. They were completely unaware of what Avery was about to have to ride off and do, and Avery didn’t want it any other way. She didn’t want them worrying about her. More than anything, Avery wanted to be out there with them, but since she couldn’t have that, she was going to keep the image of them just as they were at that moment. She was going to keep that image and take it with her to Lilydale. She was going to blame the trolls for taking her away from that image, and she was going to make sure she beat the trolls, so that they wouldn’t be able to come to Havyn and try to kill and destroy that image.

  Avery went upstairs and opened her closet. She grabbed a pair of dark brown leather pants, a tight fitting long sleeve white tunic that she tucked into her pants, a fitted dark brown leather vest, and thick black boots. She laced up her black leather arm gauntlets and stuck one of her daggers in on the inside of one. She buckled her oversized belt and stuck another petite dagger through it on one side and a larger sliver knife through it on the other side. She fastened up the leather bodice contraption Gumptin had given her to hold her sword and bow and arrows. When Avery had finished suiting up, she looked herself over in the mirror. Avery thought she looked ridiculous. She had spent her entire life striving for comfort and just trying to blend in, but here she was, staring at herself dressed in tight leather and loaded down with weapons.

  “I’m sure I’d fit right in back home.” She said aloud, mockingly, doing a slight turn in the mirror.

  As quickly as she could, Avery made her way down the stairs and out of her house, making sure none of her family saw her.

  Jade was already waiting for Avery at the stables. She was leaning up against one of the hitching posts, dressed entirely in black leather, which made the silver of her weapons stand out like lights in the night. Her long black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. To Avery, Jade looked the part of a warrior. She looked dangerous, and mysterious, and like she might behead you just for looking at her the wrong way. Of course, the fact that she was munching down on a chocolate chip cookie and whistling an Ozzy Osbourne song took away a little of her mystique.

  “You clean up nice.” Jade told Avery as she approached.

  Avery smiled and told Jade, “Minus about ninety percent of the weapons, and you look like you do almost every day.”

  Thomas and Pip had all of their horses saddled and ready by the time the girls had arrived. Pip brought Phantom out front and Avery strolled up to him. Phantom pranced around and stomped on the ground. He was a war horse, after all, and Avery could tell he knew something was happening, and he was excited about it. Phantom had on a black saddle that was just one shade lighter than the color of his coat. It had a white vine-like stitching pattern around the edges of it and sliver lightning bolt decorations on the corners. The bridle was black with the same white stitching and sliver bolts. Both were a far cry from the simple brown leather saddle and bridle Avery had been using during training.

  “Thanks for getting him ready, Pip.” Avery told Pip, taking Phantom’s reins from him.

  Pip exhaled sharply and waved his hand at Avery, “Oh, please,” Pip said, “ya know it’s me job, but even if it weren’t, I’d do it anyway. Ya do so much for everyone; ya don’t need to thank me.”

  Avery had seen Pip almost every day since she had arrived on Orcatia. She had liked him right from the beginning, but after getting to know him more, she truly thought of him as a friend. He didn’t treat her like she was off limits or special like the rest of the villagers did, and Avery appreciated that.

  “Thanks anyway.” She said, smiling at Pip.

  Pip didn’t smile back, instead he said to Avery, “You be careful.”

  Avery nodded and pip walked over to help Skylar who was having trouble tightening Dancer’s girth.

  “Here is the map to Lilydale.” Gumptin spoke from behind Avery.

  Avery turned around and took the map out of Gumpti
n’s outstretched hand. The map told Avery to take the Main Road, ride a mile past the path that led to the Ora Gateway, and then take the third road to the right, called the Harvest Road. Then, they were to ride on that road till they reached the first path to the left, marked with a marker that reads Lilydale. Gumptin had drawn a very precise map and made sure that it was easy enough to follow, but still, Avery knew riding on horseback through a forest, looking for small roads and paths, while heading towards a place they’ve never been before was not going to be a piece of cake.

  Avery stood, waiting for Gumptin to give her some more instructions on how she should fight, or how she should lead, or what to do once they got there, but he said nothing. He just stood in front of her, head down, staring at the ground.

  Eventually, right before Avery was about to give up waiting for him to speak and say something herself, Gumptin said, “Remember what you learned. You are a Protector. You are stronger than those trolls. You are stronger than you could even imagine.” He gave a little cough, “Remember I am proud of you all.”

  Avery thought that was one of the nicest things Gumptin had ever said to her. She took a hold of one of Gumptin’s shoulders and said to him, “You’ve trained us like crazy. We’ll be alright.”

  Gumptin reached up and patted her hand, and Avery could swear he looked like he was about to cry. Before he let any more emotion show, he hobbled over to stand next to Thomas near the stable and left Avery to finish getting Phantom ready.

  There were three tie straps on Phantom’s saddle. One was for Avery’s whip, another was for extra arrows, and the third was for gear, such as bedding if they were on an extended ride. Since she didn’t have to worry about being gone overnight, Avery just tied on her whip and a quiver full of twenty extra arrows. When she had finished making sure everything was tied on and in order, Avery grabbed onto Phantom’s saddle and pulled herself up into it. Avery sat on top of Phantom and stroked his mane. She could sense his desire to run, but he stayed still, waiting for his master’s command.

  All of the others were up and mounted, except for Bunny, who was having trouble with an excited Ajax. This wasn’t a surprise for any of them; Bunny always had trouble with Ajax not wanting to be ridden. Jade always joked that it was because Bunny was better with plants than she was with people and animals. Bunny pulled down on Ajax’s reins, laid her hand on his head, and whispered in his ear. Whatever soothing things she whispered worked, because Ajax calmed down and let Bunny mount up.

  When they were all ready with reins in hand, Avery glanced around at the girls she had grown up with and just hoped beyond hope that they were strong enough and lucky enough to make it through today, herself included. She let her eyes rest on Jade, and Jade gave her an ‘it’s now or never’ nod.

  With a light tap of her heel, a click of her tongue, and a turn of the reins, Avery had Phantom galloping down the Main Road, followed closely by the rest of the protectors.

  As Avery had expected, Gumptin’s map proved harder to follow than it looked. None of the girls had any idea how to judge distance while riding on top of a galloping horse. Once they had passed the path that led to the Ora Gateway, they had to slow their horses down to a trot just to make sure they didn’t pass the Harvest Road they had to turn down. While traveling down the Harvest Road, they literally had to slow their horses down to a walk so they wouldn’t miss the next tiny path they needed. Eventually, Avery spotted a small white wood sign, covered with clinging ivy, and the word ‘Lilydale’ carved into it.

  The girls took the path, and since they didn’t have any more turns to watch out for, were now free to run their horses out at a full gallop. Avery knew full well the five mile trip to Lilydale had taken them much longer than it should have. She just hoped they weren’t too late.

  Avery heard the screams before she was able to see the village. The path they were on curved slightly before opening up to the village. Avery pulled Phantom up to a stop before they reached the curve, making sure the trolls couldn’t see them coming. The rest of the protectors followed Avery’s lead and stopped their horses behind her.

  Avery inched Phantom up slightly so that she could get a better view of the village. The end of the path was surrounded by large trees and tall forest growth, so Avery was only able to see straight into the village and not what was going on to the right or left. The village would have looked like a quaint farming village, spattered with straw houses and flower gardens, if it weren’t for the utter chaos engulfing it. A few of the homes and shops were on fire, leaving long trails of puffy gray smoke climbing up into the air. Villagers were running around in every direction. Women were screaming and clutching their children, trying to escape the violence. Men were carrying swords, pitch forks, axes, garden hoes, anything they could use as a weapon.

  The smell of the trolls reached the protectors before they actually saw one of them. It was the most appalling scent Avery had ever come across in her entire life. She had experience dealing with horrible smells, like sick dogs, backed up outhouses during the Rodeo Day Festival, and teenage boys, but nothing could prepare her for this. It smelled like rotten eggs and dog crap being boiled in a large pot of vinegar. Avery had to cover her mouth to stop herself from retching. Behind her, Avery heard Jade gag, and Skylar slap her own hand hard across her nose and mouth.

  “This cannot get any worse.” Sasha whispered in a nasal voice, her nose pinched between her two fingers.

  Before Avery had a chance to tell Sasha that repulsive smells were the least of their problems, a monstrous troll at least ten feet tall and weighing a good thousand pounds, crossed their path three feet in front of them. It was the color of green swamp water with large brown warts dotted across his body. It had a large round bald head with pointy ears that stuck straight up and a large underbite displaying a row of misshapen teeth and two large bottom canines that reached up above his top lip. Its clothes were sweat stained and appeared about two sizes too small, leaving its flabby belly hanging out of its shirt and over its belt. As detestable as Avery had expected trolls to look, this one looked at least ten times worse. The most menacing thing about it was the five foot long blood stained club it was dragging around behind it.

  As it passed in front of them, Phantom moved around on his front feet nervously. Avery pulled back on the reins and patted his neck to calm him. The last thing she wanted was for the troll to spot the five of them huddled together on horseback, three feet to the left of it.

  The troll walked on without seeing them, and every one of the Protectors let out an audible sigh of relief.

  The sight of the troll made Avery’s body clench up with fear, but as the screams of the villagers continued to ring through the air, Avery knew they couldn’t delay any longer. She turned around in her saddle to address the girls.

  Avery tried to ignore the fear in the other’s faces as she told them, “Remember, that thing is nothing compared to what we are. We go in strong and hard. We can do this.” Avery pulled her sword out of the sheath strapped onto her back, “Are you ready?” She asked them.

  The girls unsheathed their swords, and Avery took it as them saying yes.

  Right before Avery turned back around in her saddle, Jade mouthed the words, ‘be careful’ to her. Avery nodded in response.

  With a swift kick, Avery nudged Phantom into a run and straight into the heart of the village. Once there, she was able to get a complete picture of where exactly all the trolls were and what they were doing. Avery tried to close off her mind to the surreal shock and horror of the scenes she was witnessing. She told herself to focus solely on their purpose for being there, to stop the trolls from destroying the village.

  The troll that had passed in front of the protectors was making its way over to the extensive fields of bright yellow Everlily flowers. Already in the fields were two more trolls. One was seven feet tall with muddy brown skin and white tufts of hair sticking out of his saucer sized ears. It was carrying a large torch and attempting to light the
flower fields on fire. A group of villagers were unsuccessfully trying to attack the troll with pitch forks while another group of villagers stood behind them, carrying buckets of water, in case the troll managed to get the torch to the fields.

  Another shorter troll, but twice as fat, stood in front of the troll with the torch, swinging a massive sword at any villager trying to assist the other villagers in stopping the troll with the torch. The troll swung his bulky sword at one man attempting to make a rush past the troll with a wood ax in his hand. The sword hit the man in his midsection, sending him flying backwards twenty feet, blood spurting out of him as he flew backwards, misting the ground in a red rain.

  Two identical looking trolls, both six feet tall, a murky pea soup green color, with matching tattoos of dragon skulls on their shoulders, were walking from house to house, lighting the buildings on fire.

  There was a sixth troll, bigger than all the rest, a good twelve feet tall and built like a truck, its hulking muscles looked like they were about ready to burst through its yellow-green skin. The troll was walking through the village, picking off any villager that got near its gigantic hands or oversized club. After smashing one villager under his horrible weapon, the troll threw his head back in the air and gave a deep throated howl that sent vibrations down the Protectors' bodies.

  Just when Avery thought she had seen all that there was to see, a troll no bigger than Gumptin stepped out from behind a house a few feet in front of her. The troll was the same icky green color as the first troll. He had long pointy ears and a small upturned nose. He wore a tan colored tunic with brown cotton pants and a brown leather belt with a tiny sword sheath attached to it. One of his big toes stuck out from his worn out shoes. He was the only troll out of all of them that seemed to wear clothes that fit him, not to mention the only one that wore shoes. He held a sword the size of Avery’s forearm in front of him and moved his little body into an attack stance.

  “We meet again, Protectors.” The little troll said in a high pitched voice that hardly sounded menacing.

  “Who the hell are you?” Jade asked, from atop her horse, directly behind Avery.

  “Shut your mouth ugly human!” The troll yelled at Jade, “You know exactly who I am. I am Beetlebat, your sworn enemy, leader of the troll armies, and the harbinger of your imminent death.”

  Jade scoffed, “The only way you’re gonna kill me is with your stench, you horrible little maggot bait.”

  They didn’t have time for this. Avery dismissed the diminutive troll in front of her, turning Phantom around to face the other girls, “Bunny, Sasha, Skylar, you three go take care of the trolls by the fields. Jade, you got the ugly twins over there, torching everything. I’ll take Mr. Gigantic.”

  The Protectors nodded, but before they could ride off to follow Avery’s orders, in a loud high pitch shout, Beetlebat screamed, “The Protectors are here!”

  His voice carried farther than any of the protectors would have thought with him being so tiny. Every one of the trolls stopped what they were doing and looked over towards Beetlebat and the protectors.

  “Kill them!” Beetlebat shouted again, “Grind their brains and bones into paste!”

  The ground began to shake slightly as all six trolls began to make their way over to the protectors. Avery quickly shot down the panic aching to take over her entire body. The rest of the protectors froze as well, trying to fight their own panic.

  “Now!” Avery shouted at the girls, “Plan still stands. Let’s go!”

  Smacked back into the reality of the situation by Avery’s words, Sasha, Bunny, and Skylar, turned their horses and took off towards the three trolls making their way out of the flower fields.

  Before Jade rode off to take on the twin trolls, she pointed her sword at Beetlebat, who stood on the ground grinning from ear to ear, “I’m gonna knock every one of those teeth out of your wormy little mouth, and then I’m gonna take my sword and chop off your annoying little head.” She told him.

  Beetlebat countered, “I’d like to see you try it, pathetic weakling!” Although, he talked tough the smile had completely left his face, and what ugly green color he had in his face seemed to drain away.

  “That’s a promise.” Jade said as she rode past him.

  Instead of riding to meet her troll, Avery let him come to her. She got down off of Phantom and slapped him on his hind quarters, making sure he got out of the way.

  “You’re going to die, leader.” Beetlebat spat at her, “You’re going to die…again.”

  Avery still had a few seconds before the enormous monster of a troll reached her. She walked up to Beetlebat, grabbed onto his little hand that held his sword before he could do anything with it, and punched him hard as she could in the nose. Beetlebat uttered a small plaintive cry, and then fell to the ground, unconscious.

  The troll reached Avery and brought his club up high above his head. Avery somersaulted out of the way as he slammed the club into the ground where Avery had been standing. As Avery stared at the crater the club had left in the ground, she knew she had to get that club out of the troll’s hands.

  The troll swung its club towards Avery and she dropped to the ground, feeling the breeze from the swing swirling her hair. Avery rolled onto her back and handsprung onto her feet, flipping out of the way as the troll swung his club back around. Avery was getting tired of being on the defensive. She knew it was only a matter of time before the troll would actually land one of his hits.

  Deciding to take the offensive, Avery sheathed her sword and grabbed her bow from where it was strapped onto her back. She knew from the books Gumptin had made them read that arrows weren’t always effective against the armor-like skin of the trolls, but Avery wasn’t going to aim for its skin. She pulled out an arrow, set up the shot, and took aim, all within a few seconds. Her arrow ripped through the air, past the troll’s gigantic club, and straight into his right eye. The troll howled in pain, but didn’t go down. He dropped his club to the ground, pulled the arrow out of his eye socket with one hand, and covered the wound, now gushing thick blue blood, with his other hand.

  Avery took advantage of the troll dropping his weapon. She threw her bow to the ground, unsheathed her sword and ran towards the troll. Out of his good eye, the troll saw her coming. It angrily grabbed at Avery with its left arm, but Avery spun under it. Then, it made a grab for Avery with his right hand, the hand he had used to hold his club. A second before he would have been able to get a hold of Avery, she back flipped over his hand, swinging her sword as she flipped and chopping off his thumb. The troll let out a bellowing growl as a spray of blue blood stained Avery’s white shirt.

  The moment Avery’s two feet landed on the ground, the toll kicked out with his right leg, kicking Avery square in the chest. Avery was sent flying backwards, landing hard on her back. It took a second for Avery to register what had just happened. She had never remembered being hit so hard in her life. It felt like a charging bull had slammed itself into her chest. Avery tried to catch her breath, her ribs screaming as she inhaled. Her senses still weren’t fully intact when the troll appeared standing over her, blue blood streaming down his face and stomach. The troll looked down at her and roared. It lifted its left leg up and tried to bring it down on top of Avery. Avery rolled right, then left, then right again, trying to avoid his crushing feet. The troll slammed his right leg down and Avery was barely able to roll out of the way in time. She turned her head and saw the troll’s mud and blood stained foot an inch away from her face. Avery quickly reached to her belt and grabbed the dagger she kept there. She took the dagger and stabbed the troll through his foot with it. The troll hollered and staggered back a few feet, allowing Avery to lift herself up off of the ground.

  Avery had just managed to get to her feet when the troll roared a guttural cry and came charging towards her. She tried to cartwheel out of the way, but the troll managed to get a grip on her arm with the four remaining fingers on his right hand. The troll clenched tightly onto Ave
ry’s arm, pulling her in towards him. In the rushed momentum, Avery wasn’t able to free herself from its grasp. Avery struggled to free herself as the troll picked her up with both hands, but his grip was like a vice. Even though the troll had Avery’s arms pinned, she lifted her leg up slightly, so that she would be able to reach the knife she had stuck in her boot, but before she could get her fingers wrapped around the knife’s hilt, the troll threw Avery across the village with both his arms.

  The world went black for a moment then flashed into bright color as Avery tried to blink away the spinning going on inside her brain. The enormous troll had thrown Avery thirty feet through the air. When the world started to gain more focus, Avery realized she was lying on her stomach on the ground. She picked herself up onto her hands and looked around. Behind her, Sasha, Bunny, and Skylar had taken one troll down. It was lying on its back in a field, not moving. Bunny was still on horseback, firing arrows at the two remaining trolls. Sasha and Skylar were on the ground with their swords drawn. Avery saw one troll whack Sasha across her right side with his fist. Sasha went flying, and Skylar went running to her side, helping her up off of the ground before the troll could get to her. To Avery’s left, Jade was still battling with the twin trolls. One was crawling across the ground, blue blood oozing out from its mouth. Avery saw Jade look at her and saw the terror in her eyes as she tried to make her way over to Avery, but was stopped by one of the trolls punching her in the stomach and sending her wobbling backwards.

  Avery felt a humongous hand grab onto the back of her vest and flip her over. The troll clamped his hand down on Avery’s throat and across her chest, successfully cementing her to the ground. As Avery tried to shove the troll’s tree limb of an arm off of her, the troll took a knife out from his belt the size of Avery’s arm. The troll lifted the knife up and for a split second the sickening thought that she was going to die flashed into Avery’s mind. Just as the troll brought his knife down towards Avery’s chest, Avery lifted her leg up and kicked the troll’s arm as hard as she could. His arm lurched to the side and the knife sliced down the side of Avery’s arm. The sharp pain snapped Avery back into action. No way was she going to let this ugly beast carve her up. Avery wrapped both of her legs around the arm the troll was holding onto her with. She jerked to her left as hard as she could, sending the troll rolling away from her. Avery stood up and retrieved her sword that she had lost when the troll had thrown her. She and the troll walked towards each other. The troll swung his left fist at her and Avery lifted up her sword, so that his fist slammed into her sword as opposed to her. He had been swinging his fist with such force that the sword went into his hand and arm all the way up to its hilt. Holding onto the grip of her sword, Avery swung it to the right while it was still stuck in the troll’s hand. This caused the troll to drop to his knees, snarling in pain. In a move that took less than ten seconds, Avery pulled the sword out of the troll’s hand, and then with a quick spin she slit the toll’s throat with the sword. Blue blood sprayed out from the wound, covering Avery’s face and shirt. The blue of the troll’s blood and the red of her own mixed to create a strange purple stain.

  The troll gurgled and tried to gasp for breath, causing blue bubbles to form at the wound on his neck. He made one final lurch towards Avery; then fell to the ground dead.

  Avery stood still for a moment, trying to push down the reality of what she had just seen, what she had just done, and what had just happened to her. Avery realized she was shaking, and she tried to tell herself that it was just because of the cold breeze and her clothes that were wet from blood.

  A scream from Bunny focused Avery’s attention. Avery looked over in the direction of the scream and saw that Sasha, Bunny and Skylar were down to just one troll left. The troll had just knocked Bunny off of her horse with his bulky club.

  Without hesitating for a second, Avery rushed over and picked up her bow she that had discarded at the beginning of her fight with the troll. Once she had the bow in hand, Avery whistled for Phantom, who came running out of the forest, stopping in front his master. Avery hopped up into the saddle and galloped Phantom over to where three girls were trying to take down their last troll.

  Avery pulled up Phantom at the edge of the Everlily fields. She jumped down and grabbed an arrow out of her back quiver. The last arrow she shot into the other troll’s eye seemed to work pretty well, so she decided to try it again with this troll. Whatever happened, she was not letting herself get tossed another thirty feet. Avery took aim and shot the arrow into the troll’s eye. Before the toll had a chance to reach up and pull the arrow out, Avery shot another arrow. This arrow smashed into the back tip of the first arrow, pushing it deep into the troll’s brain. The troll swayed to the left, then to the right, then fell with a loud thud onto the ground, dead.

  The girls turned around and looked at Avery with shocked expressions on their faces.

  “What?” Avery shrugged, “Apparently, I use to practice with this thing all the time.” Avery fitted her bow back into its back strap.

  “Well, thank God for small favors.” Skylar said, limping over towards Avery. She was holding her side and Avery could see some bruising forming up and down her arm.

  “You look horrible.” Sasha told Avery, looking her over.

  Avery thought this funny considering Avery had never seen Sasha look worse than she did now. The left sleeve of her shirt was ripped off. Her shoulder was bleeding. Her face was smeared with dirt, sweat, and blue blood. She had a gash on her forehead dripping blood down the side of her cheek, and for one of the first times in her life, Sasha’s hair was sticking up in every direction, mangled and frizzy.

  Bunny stood behind Sasha and Skylar. Her clothes were dirtied, and she had a long cut running across her collar bone, but other than that, she appeared to have escaped the combat without any serious injuries.

  After Avery was sure they were all alright, she turned her sights to Jade, who was still fighting. One of the twin trolls Jade had been battling with was lying dead on the ground, Jade’s sword sticking out of the middle of its skull.

  Avery ran towards the village where Jade and the other twin troll were fighting in between two houses. Jade had the troll pinned to the ground with a pitch fork stuck through its shoulder. As Avery rounded the corner to where Jade and the troll were between the two houses, Avery saw Jade jump on top of the back of the troll and place her crossbow directly up to the back of the troll’s head, firing two arrows into his brain. Jade jumped down off of the troll and gave him a hard kick in his side.

  “Are you alright?” asked Avery.

  Jade turned towards Avery, her eyes filled with relief at the sight of her.

  “Thank God.” She said in a whispered voice, more to herself than to Avery.

  Jade walked towards Avery, and Avery opened up her arms to Jade, thinking she was going in for a hug, but instead, Jade placed both of her hands on Avery’s shoulders and looked Avery over.

  “Are you alright?” Jade asked, staring at Avery’s blood stained shirt, “That looks bad.”

  Avery shook her head, “I’m fine.” She told Jade, “It looks worse than it is.”

  Jade lightly touched Avery’s side where the blood stains were the most prominent, and Avery couldn’t help but flinch. Her ribs were still screaming at her from the kick she had received from the troll.

  “Really, it’s fine.” Avery told Jade through gritted teeth.

  Whether Jade believed her or not, it didn’t matter. There was nothing Jade could do about it. They were in the middle of a destroyed village, miles away from home after doing battle with a group of nightmarish trolls.

  For as worried as Jade was about Avery, Avery noticed that Jade didn’t look to unscathed, herself. She had a large bruise forming on her lower jaw. Blood was dripping down her arm from a deep slice on her shoulder, and a small trickle of blood was coming out of her nose.

  They walked together to join the other girls who were now standing back at the entrance to the
village. Avery stopped a few feet before she reached the girls. She stood in the smoke filled sunlight, glancing around at the scene surrounding her. The air was thick with smoke from the burning houses, lending to the surrealism of the moment for Avery. It made everything around her appear as if it was clouded by a thin gray curtain, like in a dream.

  A group of villagers were putting out the flames on a small section of the Everlily fields that the trolls had managed to light on fire. Some of the villagers were walking around in a daze. Some were working to put the fires out in their homes. Others were holding each other and crying. Avery couldn’t help but stare at a woman kneeling on the ground, cradling the body of her dead husband and wailing at the top of her lungs. Avery looked down to the ground around her feet. She could barely see the green of the grass or brown of the dirt beneath the blanket of red and blue blood.

  Avery slowly lifted her head up as Jade’s voice languidly seeped into her brain, “Well, well, well,” she heard Jade say, “look who’s trying to crawl back to his sewer.”

  Beetlebat had regained consciousness and was on his hands and knees, trying to crawl away into the forest. Jade walked over and picked him up by the scruff of his shirt.

  “Unhand me, pathetic mortal!” Beetlebat yelled at Jade, swiping his small arms at her, trying to land a punch.

  “I made you a promise.” Jade said, holding Beetlebat at arms distance, so he wasn’t able to touch her.

  Jade drew her arm back to stab the tiny troll straight through the chest, when Avery yelled, “Stop!”

  Jade looked at Avery, wide eyed, “What?” She asked, glancing back and forth from Avery to Beetlebat.

  “Don’t kill him.” Avery told Jade, walking up to her.

  “You have to be kidding me?” Jade said, still holding tightly onto Beetlebat.

  Avery shook her head, “Let him go.”

  Frustration crept over Jade’s face. She looked like a child being asked to give up their favorite toy, “Avery,” she said, refusing to let go of the tiny troll, “this little cockroach is not something you want to let live.” She shook Beetlebat back and forth, the troll hollering at her the whole time.

  “He seems harmless enough.” Bunny said, earning her a scolding from Jade, telling her to, “Stuff it!”

  “He has to live.” Avery told the girls, “He has to go back and tell the Emperor what went down here today.”

  As much as Jade wanted to slaughter Beetlebat, Avery could see in her conflicted face that Jade understood Avery’s reasoning.

  Avery reached under Beetlebat’s chin and turned his face towards her, “Listen to me,” Avery said, pulling hard on his chin, making sure she had his full attention, “You’re going to go back to your Emperor and tell him exactly what happened here. You tell him we’re just as strong as we ever were. Tell him he’s just going to lose more of his soldiers if he sends them our way again.”

  Avery made sure she sounded a lot more confident than she actually felt. She thought it a good thing to give that illusion to Beetlebat.

  Beetlebat made a bite for Avery’s fingers, and Jade pulled him back sharply, giving him a hard slap to his head.

  Jade gave one last unsure look towards Avery, and then reluctantly let Beetlebat go.

  “I’ll tell him you are all just as stupid and pitiful as you always were!” Beetlebat spat out.

  Avery hadn’t wanted Jade to spare Beetlebat’s life just because she thought it important that the Emperor see the Protector’s as strong, but also because she hadn’t wanted to witness any more killing. She felt she had already seen more than enough for a lifetime. Of course, that didn’t mean she still didn’t want to wring the little troll’s neck.

  With that thought in her mind, Avery told Jade, “Why don’t you give him something to remember you by.”

  Without hesitation, Jade landed a hard punch directly into Beetlebat’s face.

  Beetlebat fell backwards; then sat up slowly, moaning. As he spit a small amount of blood out onto the ground, one of his front teeth came out with it.

  “We’ll work on the rest of your smile another time.” Jade said to him before she, Avery, and the rest of the Protectors turned their backs on him and walked away.

  “This isn’t over!” Beetlebat screeched from behind them, “Next time we meet you will taste my blade! I will make a maggot feast of you!”

  Completely ignoring Beetlebat’s threats, Jade said to Avery, “I don’t know if it was wise to let toad boy live. He’s a vicious little thing.”

  Avery knew that Jade had a point, and that someday she may come to regret her decision, but at the moment, she couldn’t have imagined making a different one.

  “Thank you.” A man’s voice said from behind Avery and Jade.

  The girls turned and saw a man in his late thirties. His clothes were tattered and his face was covered with a mixture of blood and soot. Avery and Jade just stared at him. At first Avery couldn’t understand why some strange man would be thanking them.

  “News of your return has been spreading.” The man said, and as he talked more villagers began to walk over and stand with him, until a large group of about thirty had formed. “We weren’t sure we should believe it, but thank goodness it was true.”

  A woman wearing a brown dress, her hair tangled, with a long scratch down her face, told the girls, “You saved us.” Her eyes began to swell with tears as she said it.

  Throughout the group of villagers that had formed, were words of gratitude and ‘thank you’s’. Avery wasn’t sure what to say. A minute ago she had been thinking about the tragedy of the situation, about what a shame it was they couldn’t have done more. Now, here they were, being thanked by over thirty people for what they had done.

  “You’re welcome,” was all Avery could think to say, “I’m just so sorry we couldn’t have stopped them sooner.”

  The man who had first thanked them, said to Avery, “Without the five of you, we wouldn’t have a village left to live in. Most likely, we would all be dead.”

  Hearing him say that gave Avery a new perspective on what had happened. There was no way she was ever going to get the image of the human bodies lying dead around her out of her mind, but now, she thought, maybe she could try and focus on the ones they had saved.

  “You’re very welcome.” Avery said again.

  “I’m Markin,” the man said, sticking out his hand, “the mayor of Lilydale, and you have our undying gratitude.”

  Avery took Markin’s hand and shook it, “Thank you.” She said, “I’m Avery, and this is Jade.” She nodded towards Jade who was standing next to her. Jade shook her head and smiled. She was terrible with thank you’s and was never quite sure how to handle them. Probably, because she never received many back home, “That’s Skylar, Sasha, and Bunny.” Avery pointed behind her to where they were standing. They each waved and said their individual hellos.

  After accepting Markin’s and the rest of the village’s thanks, Avery whistled for Phantom, and he came trotting up to her. She mounted, thankful to be able to go home. They had only been there for about an hour, but to Avery it felt like an eternity. She had Phantom walk the path home, unsure if her ribs would be able to handle a faster pace. The ride home was a silent one. Each of the girls was lost in their own thoughts, unsure of what to say to each other after living through an ordeal like that.

  When they finally reached Havyn, the sun was just beginning to set in the sky, covering the village in hues of purple and orange. It made the village look like it was on fire, which Avery thought was ironic, considering the village they had just left had actually been on fire. As they entered the village, dirty, disheveled, and bloody, a few of the villagers stopped and stared, but then quickly got back to whatever they were in process of dong before the Protectors had entered the village. It occurred to Avery, that it must be no new thing for the villagers to see them returning, looking like hell.

  Thomas and Pip came running out of the stables when the Protectors approached.
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  Avery jumped down off of Phantom. She gave him a hug, scratching his neck, and telling him what a good job he had done today.

  Pip walked up to Avery, carrying Steel’s reins in one hand. Avery handed him Phantom’s reins in his other hand.

  “Ya look terrible.” Pip said, looking over Avery.

  Avery laughed weakly, “Thanks.”

  Pip shrugged and looked towards the ground, as if he was ashamed for what he said, “What I meant was, are ya alright?”

  “Oh, come on,” Avery said, “don’t tell me you haven’t seen us looking worse than this, before.” With everything Gumptin had told them, and after reading old Avery’s notes and journal entries, Avery found it hard to believe that they had ever gone more than a few days without looking as they did now.

  “I ain’t sayin I ain’t use to ya lookin like you’ve gone three rounds with a boulder.” Pip told Avery, and Avery cringed at the analogy, “I’m just sayin, that was the old you. I was askin about the you…you.”

  As ineloquently as he put it, Pip had hit the nail on the head for Avery. For what was just a normal occurrence for almost everyone else, having the Protectors go off and do battle, had been, up to this point, one of the most significant for the girls. They could no longer pretend they were just five girls from Earth, playing the part of a warrior. Today had made everything real.

  Avery smiled, appreciative of Pip’s perceptiveness, “I’ll be fine.” She told him, reaching over and squeezing his arm.

  She gave Phantom one last pat on his withers, before Pip walked the horses inside the stables. Avery turned around and gasped as she saw Gumptin standing almost directly in front of her.

  “Well done, ladies.” He said, smiling slightly beneath his bushy beard, “Well done, indeed.”

  The last thing Avery needed at this moment was another possible heart attack inducing bushwhack entrance by Gumptin, “Gumptin,” Avery shouted, “you really need to start making some noise before just popping up around us. Especially after today, my heart can seriously not take your little surprise appearance act. Shuffle your feet, or something.”

  Ignoring Avery’s mini rant, he asked her, “How did everything go?”

  Avery had to think about how to answer that. On one hand, they had just lived through one of the most horrible experiences of their lives. On the other hand, they had saved a lot of lives and kicked the asses of the most monstrous creatures Avery had ever seen.

  Avery decided it was probably best to keep her emotions out of her answer and just give Gumptin the facts, “Well, we saved most of the village and most of the villagers. Ninety eight percent of the flower fields were untouched. We killed the trolls, and we didn’t die. So, all in all, I think it was a pretty successful day.”

  “Yes, yes, this is very good.” Gumptin nodded energetically, “The Emperor will realize you are not as weak as he had thought. Did anything else happen?”

  “Actually, yes,” Avery said, “Jade met a tiny troll that infuriates her more than you do.”

  “Beetlebat,” Gumptin replied, without having to be told, “you have had encounters with him before. He has worked for the Emperor for a long while. He is from a clan of ancient valley trolls. They are very old and very rare. They are also the only breed of troll that can actually speak other languages besides that of troll grunts. That is why they are usually used as commanders for troll armies.”

  “See,” Jade said, walking up to Avery and Gumptin, “I told you we should have killed him.”

  Avery rolled her eyes. She knew Jade wasn’t going to let her live that down anytime soon.

  “You did not?” Gumptin asked, looking slightly surprised.

  Jade looked at Avery, slight annoyance in her eyes, “Nope, our moral leader told us to spare him.”

  Gumptin looked towards Avery, waiting for an explanation.

  “I thought it would be a good idea if he went back and told the Emperor how we had beaten the trolls and saved the village.” Avery said loudly, feeling herself getting somewhat heated. She didn’t want to have to explain her actions, especially considering she had the feeling Jade might actually be right.

  “Actually, that is not a bad idea.” Gumptin told her, “The sooner word of the Emperor’s troll army failing reaches him, the better.”

  Jade threw her hands into the air out of frustration. “You know it wouldn’t kill you to agree with me, just once.” She said to Gumptin.

  “What does it matter?” Sasha snapped, from behind Avery and Jade, “Who gives a crap that one little ugly troll was let go…not me. So, just shut up and get over it, Jade. I want to go home, already.”

  Avery realized Sasha wasn’t exactly taking her side, and that she just wanted Jade to stop arguing so they could all go home, but having Sasha Seraphina actually help her out in an argument was something Avery thought she would never live to see. It was now official; this day could not get any weirder for Avery.

  Jade, never one to be talked to in a way she didn’t like grabbed onto the hilt of her sword and said to Sasha, “You know, Sasha, I was already stopped once today from killing something that I really wanted to. I’d watch that mouth of yours; ’cause I ain’t gonna let it happen again.”

  Sasha just folded her arms, completely unaffected by Jade’s threat, “You’re all talk, Kai. After what we’ve seen today, do you really think you scare me one little bit?”

  “Alright, I think it’s time we all head home.” Avery said, deciding to stop things before they got any more heated, “We’ve had a really hard day.” She placed her hand on Jade’s bicep, squeezing it slightly, making sure Jade stayed put next to her.

  Avery didn’t need to say it twice. Sasha took off; limping towards home the second Avery finished her sentence. Bunny waved goodbye, telling them she would see them tomorrow.

  Before Skylar headed home, she strolled up to Avery. In a rare moment of seriousness from her, she told Avery, “You did a real good job today, you know. I’m glad you’re our leader.” She said goodbye to Jade and Gumptin and meandered towards her house.

  Jade and Avery were about to walk off together, when Gumptin called out, “Avery, could you stay behind for a minute? I need to talk to you about something.”

  Jade looked unsure about leaving Avery and Gumptin alone to talk without her there to lend her opinion, but Avery motioned for her to keep walking.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Avery told Jade as a goodbye.

  “Avery,” Jade said, before Avery turned around towards Gumptin, “Skylar was right. I just want you to know, that no matter what I say, you’re probably the only person I would ever actually follow.”

  “I know.” Avery said, and she did know.

  After a few seconds, Jade turned and strode towards her house, while Avery waited for Gumptin to tell her why he had her stay behind.

  Gumptin cleared his throat, “I thought you should know that I talked to the Elementals. They told me that they could not give me any information about the spell that had been cast.”

  Avery stared at Gumptin blankly. She had no idea what he was talking about or why he felt it was important enough to bring up to her.

  Gumptin, sensing Avery’s confusion, cried out, “Oh, for Wizarding sake, you have forgotten, haven’t you?!”

  “No!” Avery yelled, bristling. Of course, she had no clue as to what he was referring to, but she wasn’t about to let Gumptin think of her as an airhead. There would be too many instances where he could use that against her.

  The look in Gumptin’s eyes told Avery he didn’t believe her for a second.

  Gumptin pursed his lips before he spoke, “Well, then of course, I do not need to remind you of the spell that was cast at the Elysianth altar in the clearing…the one where you were so disgusted by the charred bird bone.”

  The scene burst into Avery’s brain, “Oh, that spell!” She gasped, excited to remember, “Ewwww, that was disgusting.”

  “So nice to see you did not forget.” Gumptin said condes
cendingly, “Anyway, the spell in the clearing had something to do with a spell that was cast before your deaths. Whatever it is, it is a very powerful spell, well beyond my knowledge, and that scares me. There are very few beings who would be able to cast a spell that I do not recognize.”

  The way Gumptin was talking about the spell was beginning to concern Avery. It seemed to be causing Gumptin anxiety, which meant there was probably more involved with the spell than just Gumptin’s ignorance of its purpose.

  “Why does this spell worry you so much?” Avery asked, “We’ve got a crazy Emperor with troll and Demon armies to worry about. What affect could this spell possibly have on us?”

  Gumptin shifted around on his feet, as if he didn’t want to have to tell Avery the next part, “When you died and the Elementals brought you back, there was a bigger price than just the loss of your memories.” Gumptin told her.

  Avery wasn’t so sure the loss of her memory should be considered a price. With everything she knew about her old self and life, she believed it to be a blessing.

  Gumptin went on, “Before you died, there was a very dark and very powerful spell that was cast. They told me it was a spell that could possibly shift the balance of good and evil. They could only right that balance one of two ways; either they reverse the spell, or they bring you back to life. I pleaded with them to choose the latter. I suppose you know which one they chose, but as a consequence, they cannot interfere with the spell that was cast. They cannot even give me clues or ideas as to what the nature of the spell was, or who may have cast it.”

  All the talk of spells and Elementals was starting to give Avery a headache. She understood the importance of Gumptin’s concern, but also knew very well there was no way they were going to figure anything out anytime soon. Avery wanted to keep her focus on the Emperor. If there was one rule she was going to enact as leader of the Protectors, it was going to be to focus on just one bad guy at a time. Avery rubbed at her throbbing head, trying to think of a way to make it sound to Gumptin like she cared more than she actually did.

  “Gumptin, I have faith you’ll figure it out eventually.” Avery decided that sounded like the best answer, “Like you said, a spell this powerful can’t go completely unnoticed. I’m sure someone will know something.”

  Gumptin scoffed, “Unlikely, this is a bone from a Hellrise Raven.”

  Gumptin reached into one of the pouches attached to his belt and pulled out the charred bird bone Avery had found in the bowl on top of the altar. He shoved it as close to Avery’s face as he could, waving it around in front of her. Avery scrunched her nose and turned away. The sight of it still repulsed her.

  Gumptin continued waving the bone around as he said, “Hellrise Ravens are very, very rare. They are only found in one place in all the universe, the Hellrise Mountains to the far east, across the Wasted Desert. They are magical and evil creatures. The application of their bones in spells is for the perversion of memory. It could have been used to erase memories, implant memories, change memories, or anything else involving memories.” Gumptin began to get worked up as he carried on, “I do not know who the spell affected or to what end, and that is extremely frustrating. I also do not know what other elements were used in the spell, everything was burnt too badly. Depending on how powerful the being was who cast the spell, it could have very far reaching affects.”

  Obviously, Avery’s first tactic at ending the conversation hadn’t worked. So, she decided to try a new one, “Listen,” Avery said sternly, “I understand that this is a big deal, but I just can’t deal with it right now. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Spells and Wizards are your department. I just want to focus on what you’ve been training us for…to kill the Emperor. So, can we just focus on that?”

  While listening to what Avery had to say, Gumptin seemed to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and placed his raven bone back in his pouch.

  “You are right.” He said, “One thing at a time. We will fine tune our efforts on simply defeating the Emperor.”

  Thank goodness, Avery thought to herself. The conversation had only taken around five minutes, which was five minutes too long for Avery.

  Before Avery and Gumptin walked their separate ways, Avery towards her home, and Gumptin towards the library, Avery said to him, trying to lighten the mood, “You know, Gumptin, none of the Protectors have any of our old memories anyway. They were taken away by the Elementals. So, if that spell was designed for any of us, then the spell caster is out of luck. They can’t mess around with something we don’t have.”

  Instead of agreeing or arguing with Avery, Gumptin simply told her, “I was very proud of the five of you today. Today, you were truly Protectors.”

  It was so unexpected and genuine that Avery was lost for words. So, instead, she simply nodded and smiled, before turning to leave.

  In her head, Avery counted the steps to her house. With every step she took, she realized she was becoming more and more nervous. Avery wondered how her family would react to her battle worn appearance. She wondered if they would seem different to her after what she had been through today. The thought that she might have left a piece of herself back in Lilydale, among the corpses and destruction, teased at her insides. Avery had counted up to step forty-two from the stable to her house, when she reached her front door. Before she entered, Avery rubbed at her face with her sleeve, trying to wipe off as much of the blood, sweat, and dirt as possible. She tucked in as much of her blood stained shirt as possible. She didn’t want Cinder to have to see her looking like a victim from some cheesy horror movie.

  One deep breath, two deep breaths, and she turned the doorknob and entered into her home.

  The crippling thoughts Avery had of being too damaged to think of her family as she had thought of them just hours before were dashed away in a fraction of a second as Cinder, along with their three dogs, came hurtling towards her, just as they did every other time she had come home.

  Avery kneeled onto the ground and swooped Cinder up into a crushing hug when the little girl reached her. She let the three dogs jump all over them, covering Avery’s already dirty clothes and face with saliva and fur.

  Cinder wrapped her little arms around Avery’s neck and held on tightly, “Why are you all dirty?” Cinder asked, speaking into Avery’s ear, “Mommy and daddy were worried about you. They wouldn’t tell me why, though. Why were they worried? Where did you go? Why are you so dirty?”

  Avery let Cinder keep asking her questions, without answering a single one. Avery just held on to Cinder like she was the last life vest on a sinking ship. She buried her head in Cinder’s shoulder and tried to fight back the tears that were begging to come.

  When Avery spotted her mom and dad coming out from the kitchen and walking over to her, she let Cinder go and rushed over to her parents, falling into both of their arms. Her parents clung to her, holding her tighter than she had ever remembered them holding her.

  “Oh, thank God.” She heard her mother whisper into her hair.

  Avery had never been so happy to be home and with her family in her whole life.

  When she felt like everything was getting a bit much, like she would burst into tears at any minute if she stayed around her family any longer, Avery excused herself. She told her parents that she would be fine, that she wasn’t hungry, and that she just needed to rest. She told Cinder to be good and that she would see her in the morning. Then, she rushed up the stairs to the second floor.

  The first thing Avery did when she got upstairs was to go into the bathroom. As she closed the bathroom door she caught sight of herself in the mirror above the sink. She didn’t think it possible, but she actually looked worse than she had expected. As she removed her vest, she saw that her entire shirt was covered in blood and dirt, so that she could barely see any of its original white color. Her wild curls stuck out in every direction and had bit of grass and debris tangled up in it. She shivered at the thought of having to try and brush it. Even after
rubbing off her face before she had entered the house, her face was still a mess. There was a small cut above her eyebrow that had matted her eyebrow in dried blood. There was another scrape tracing her lower jaw line. Beneath the dirt, she could see a circular bruise forming on her right temple.

  She took off her tunic extremely painstakingly. Any little movement caused her chest to ache, and the wound she had received on her arm, from the troll’s knife, was still throbbing. She felt the skin on the wound separate slightly as she lifted her arms to take off her shirt. When she finished undressing she looked over her injuries in the mirror. Both sides of her chest were covered in deep purple bruises. The bruises on her right side ran all the way up to her collar bone, over to her shoulder, up her arm, and to her elbow. The slice on her arm had started bleeding again, leaving streaks of bright red trickling down her arm, over the dark red of already dried blood.

  Avery just kept telling herself over and over that Gumptin had said Protectors healed quickly, healing about ten times faster than the average human being. Giving herself one last look in the mirror, Avery hoped he was right, because if he wasn’t, the only thing she would be doing for the next week would be laying in bed, nursing the pain.

  The shower felt like heaven to Avery. The warm water rushed over her body, soothing her tired muscles. Avery leaned her head against the blue tiled shower wall and looked down. The water running off of her and pooling around her feet had been turned a murky brown color from all the crud being washed off of her body. Avery stood in the shower, head leaning against the shower wall, eyes closed, until the water began to turn cold.

  Finally clean and wrapped in a towel, Avery stood in front of the large silver dresser in her room. She had shut and locked the door, insuring her privacy. The wound on her arm was still continuing to bleed, and she knew it was too deep to be able to close and heal on its own. Gumptin had prepared them for injuries like this. He had devoted an entire day of library studies to the treatment and care of battle wounds. He taught them basic stitching, bandaging, and bracing of bones.

  Avery sat down in her dresser chair and tied her hair back, so it wouldn’t get in the way. She reached down and opened the one dresser drawer she had hoped she would never have to use. The bandages, needles, thread, and scissors looked just as they had on the first day Avery arrived on Orcatia and was exploring her room. She remembered thinking how unpleasantly crazy her life must have been to of had the need for a drawer like that.

  The thread Avery chose was sturdy and black. She tied it around a thin medium length needle and brought the tip of the needle up to her wound. Avery hesitated and took a deep breath. She told herself that this would all be over soon, that after doing this one last thing, she could go to bed and forget about this entire day.

  In one quick move, Avery pushed the needle through one side of her torn flesh. Avery slammed her fist onto her dresser. She wanted to scream out from the sharp pain, but clenched her jaw tightly, making sure she kept silent. It took Avery a moment before she could will herself to go on. She kept the stitches close and tight, to make sure there would be less scarring. The blood began to flow more heavily as Avery continued to close the wound, so Avery tied one of her white shirts around her elbow to catch the blood from falling onto the floor. It took Avery a good twenty minutes to effectively stitch up the wound, mostly because she kept stopping and starting when the pain got too intense.

  When she had finished with the stitching, she wiped the remaining blood off of her arm with the white shirt she had tied around her elbow. Then, Avery took out a small vile of yellow liquid. She had had Mr. Bott come over to her house a few days before and explain to her exactly what every one of the salves and concoctions she had in her drawers were used for. So, she knew the yellow liquid, which smelled like a mixture of alcohol and Everlily flowers, was used to disinfect wounds. Avery rubbed some of the liquid over her stitches. There was a slight sting, but it went away quickly. Next, Avery bandaged up the wound, tying it tight

  After Avery had finished with everything, she got into her nightshirt and delicately slipped into her bed. As she laid there, all the thoughts she had been trying to hold back the entire day started playing out in her mind. Images of the dead villagers and burning village were seared into her brain. Avery tried to fight back the tears as she thought about all the pain she had experienced. She began to remember the terror she had felt in the moment where she thought the troll was going to kill her. Avery had never come that close to dying before, at least, not that she could remember. She couldn’t even begin to imagine never being able to see Jade, or her family and friends again. The harder she tried not to think about it, the more the idea of dying and losing everything was the only thought she could focus on. Avery felt one single hot tear roll out of her eye, and then another one, followed by another. She allowed herself to cry herself to sleep, making sure to keep her face buried in her pillow, so her family wouldn’t be able to hear her sobs.

  In the morning, Avery was awakened by knocking on her bedroom door. She heard the knocking, but didn’t respond to it, hoping whoever it was would get tired and give up, leaving her to sleep.

  “Avery.” She heard her father call out.

  “No!” Avery shouted from under the covers, refusing to get out of bed, “If Gumptin wants me for anything, he can go screw himself!”

  There was no way Avery was going to be forced into any sort of training exercises after what her body had gone through yesterday.

  Avery peeked her head out above her covers, keeping her eyes closed to the sunlight flooding in. She told her father, “There’s no way I’m getting out of bed before ten. Gumptin’s going to have to walk his old butt up here and drag me out of bed!”

  “Avery.” Her father said again.

  “No!” Avery yelled and buried herself back under the covers.

  Her father knocked twice more, then said, “Sweetie, it’s already like nine forty-five, and Gumptin’s waiting for you downstairs.”

  Crap, Avery thought. She wanted to kick herself for saying ten instead of noon.

  “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” Avery shouted, kicking the covers off of her and hopping out of bed.

  The first thing Avery realized when she stood up, besides the fact that her tears from crying the night before had glued her eyelashes shut, making it even harder for her to open her eyes, was that her body didn’t feel nearly as sore as it had before she went to sleep. Avery stretched her arms high up into the air, a move that would have caused her to keel over last night, now just caused a slight ache.

  Avery walked over to her dresser mirror and lifted her oversized Batman nightshirt up over her ribcage. The bruises covering her torso were already starting to dissipate. Now, instead of the dark purple they were last night, the bruises had turned into a yellowish brown color. Avery was tempted to undo her bandage and check to see how the slice on her arm was healing, but decided it was best to let it wait a few days.

  After slipping on a pair of socks, Avery walked downstairs to see what Gumptin wanted with her. Halfway down the staircase, she heard her father and Gumptin talking. From the sound of it, she had come into the middle of a conversation.

  “They are doing extremely well.” Avery heard Gumptin say, “They still retain some of their cruder Earth habits, and they are lazier than a mountain ogre, but they are doing far better than I would have expected.”

  Avery’s father’s voice followed, “We just worry about them and not just about their safety. Of course, that’s our first concern, but these past years, the girls have been happier than we’ve ever seen them. We just don’t want them to lose their spirit.”

  “Well,” Gumptin said, “it has been my experience training with them over this last week, that for better or worse, their spirit is not going anywhere. It makes training them severely agitating, but I must admit, I think I may miss their new zeal for life if they lost it. Although, I would ask you not to let Avery know that I feel that way.”

  “Gump
tin,” Avery said loudly, causing Gumptin to jump, “what are you doing here?”

  Gumptin coughed and straightened his belt, hanging lopsided on his waist. He seemed befuddled and lost for words. So, instead of saying anything, he lifted his arm and pointed towards the study, motioning for Avery to go in.

  The dark green walls and brown leather furniture were doing nothing to help Avery feel more awake. Gumptin shut the door behind them and Avery curled herself up into an overstuffed leather chair, covered with a hand sewn patchwork quilt.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” Gumptin asked her.

  Avery just shrugged. She didn’t think Gumptin’s question required an answer. Besides the fact that she thought it was a pointless question, Avery wasn’t quite sure how she was feeling. A good cry and a long night's sleep had wiped away some of the more nightmarish elements of yesterday’s events, for Avery. Looking back, she found her perception changing. She was beginning to focus on the people they had saved and their grateful ‘thank you’s’. Plus, she had to admit, that being able to kick major ass, felt really good. Of course, her new, more optimistic outlook was helped by the fact that she was in far less pain than she was yesterday. Even though, Avery was beginning to feel more positive about the endeavors involved with being a Protector, she wasn’t about to let Gumptin know this. She could see a bright side, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be sent out to do battle with more trolls anytime soon, at least, not until she was completely healed.

  “So, why are you here?” Avery asked Gumptin, intrigued by the fact he had come to her house to talk to her in private. It was out of the usual for Gumptin, which meant it was probably for something big.

  Gumptin sat down in a chair across from her, his little legs sticking out in front of him. If it weren’t for his long gray beard and hair, Avery was sure he could have been mistaken for a child.

  “Before you died,” he told Avery, “you had a tentative plan on how to defeat the Emperor.”

  So far, Avery wasn’t exactly thrilled with what Gumptin had to say. She figured if she had a plan, the fact that she died meant it probably sucked.

  “You see,” Gumptin said, “the problem with killing the Emperor, is actually getting to him. His fortress is surrounded by mountains, a large wall, and his armies, so even if you are able to reach him, his minions would surround you in a matter of minutes. I believe that is how you died in the first place.”

  “But you don’t actually know how we died, right?” Avery interrupted Gumptin, “For all you know, the Emperor could have killed us himself.”

  Gumptin gave a cynical snort, “That is very unlikely.” He leaned forward, continuing on with what he was saying before Avery interrupted him, “At first, your plan was to gather large armies and attack the wall surrounding the fortress from all sides. The Emperor’s armies would be kept busy. Then, once you broke through the gates, you and the other Protectors could hopefully take on the Emperor without having to deal with his followers.”

  “Well, that obviously didn’t happen.” Avery said, sarcastically.

  Gumptin shook his head, “No, no it did not. There were a few problems that ended up discouraging you. You felt that you were running out of time, so you abandoned that plan and tried to find another way. Weighing all of our options, I feel that your first plan is still our best course of action. So, firstly…”

  “Wait, wait,” Avery said, cutting Gumptin off again, “before you tell me what you want me to do, you better tell me why I ended up so discouraged.”

  Gumptin began wringing his hands. He stared at the ground for a few moments, trying to think about how to word his next sentences, “Well,” he began, “the obvious and most powerful army, not to mention, the only army that could spare their resources and were in close enough proximity, would be King Draven’s. However, you were more than hesitant to ask for his help.”

  Avery waited for Gumptin to explain, but if like Gumptin said, she had been more than hesitant to ask for King Draven’s help then Gumptin was more than hesitant to explain why.

  “Why?!” Avery exclaimed, demanding he continue.

  Eventually, Gumptin reluctantly said, “Your opinion of him was not very high.”

  Avery just stared at Gumptin for a moment. She couldn’t believe she wouldn’t have asked for help, just because her opinion of him wasn’t great. Avery knew there was something Gumptin was reluctant to share. She chose not to push him any further, thinking he might have been trying to be polite and spare her feelings by not calling her a judgmental bitch. After all, that’s what Avery was thinking of her old self. For all she knew, maybe Gumptin was too.

  “Whatever.” Avery said, not forcing Gumptin to elaborate on his crappy little explanation.

  Gumptin looked relieved to be off of that subject, “Plus, there was an incident with the Fairies, and they refused to aid the Protectors in any way, but you will not need to worry about that till later in the week when you go meet with them.”

  Avery couldn’t stop herself from laughing. She wondered how her life had gotten to the point when the mention of meeting actual fairies was considered a normal topic of conversation.

  “Are you quite alright?” Gumptin asked, as Avery placed her face in her hands and shook her head, continuing to laugh.

  “I’m fine,” Avery said, keeping her face in her hands, “keep going.”

  “Anyway,” Gumptin went on, sounding slightly annoyed, “with the loss of those two armies and time running out, you decided the plan was not worth it.”

  Avery got that Gumptin wanted to go back to the original plan, she just wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted her to do today, “So, you want me to…” Avery said, trying to prompt Gumptin.

  “Today, I want you and the other Protectors to travel to Knighton Castle, to meet with King Draven. I have sent word to him that you will be coming.” Gumptin stood up from his chair, “I will go and tell the other girls. You will meet them at the stables in an hour.”

  Traveling to Knighton Castle meant no training for the day and no bloody battles. To Avery, it was like Gumptin giving them a vacation.

  Avery stood up out of the chair and stretched, “I’ll go get ready.” She told Gumptin, feeling giddy at the thought of getting to travel to an actual castle.

  “Avery,” Gumptin said, stopping Avery before she got to the study door, “just remember we need the use of Draven’s army. So, however he may act towards you, just be the charming girl that I know you have buried somewhere deep, deep, very deep down inside of you.”

  Turning back around towards the door, Avery tried to ignore Gumptin’s words, especially since she had the notion that he might not have been joking.

  As she walked up the stairs to her room, Avery heard Gumptin shout from the study, “And for Wizarding sake, try and look like a Protector. This is a professional visit.”

  Avery took Gumptin’s words to mean, add weapons to the outfit and loose the shirt with the giant yellow bat.