Guardian: Book One

by A.L. Crouch

  Chapter 13

  I struggled and shoved against the seat that pinned me, but it would not budge. The footsteps approached, crunching and snapping the dead leaves with merciless persistence. I tried to scream, but the weight on my chest crushed my lungs. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought against the pain. I attempted to sink into my seat in order to hide, but I couldn’t move. Then I heard a voice smooth and deep, and a gentle strumming beside me.

  “Alexandra, come with me.”

  I opened my eyes and saw the dark figure beside me reach for me through the open door. The seat that had pinned me was gone and my lungs gasped, unobstructed, the wet night air. I leapt up and grasped his hand, which he held out to me and he helped me to my feet. We ran though the darkened woods, my legs snagging on the dead branches and prickly shrubs. I could barely see, but followed his dark frame as we delved deeper and deeper into the darkness.

  Tripping on a fallen tree branch, I screamed out and lost my grip on his hand. When I looked up I could not distinguish his figure from the surrounding shadows. The strumming was too faint. I couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from. I searched the woods frantically with my eyes, my ears heard the strumming slow and fade into nothingness. Before I could cry out to him, I caught a glimpse of his figure standing in a clearing before me.

  Relieved, I ran to him, arms outstretched. But when I reached him, his image evaporated and my arms embraced nothing but rain and smoke. When the haze dissipated I stared in horror at the huge white fangs in front of me that glistened in the dim moonlight. The massive red eyes of the great beast glowed and burned into my flesh as it snarled and barked at me sending shrieking echoes throughout the sinister night. The last thing I saw before it charged was the glint from the amulet which adorned its neck; a twisting metallic serpent, dripping with blood.

 

  I stifled a cry when I woke up to total darkness. My breathing came in shallow pants as I struggled to remember where I was.

  “It’s okay,” Donovan whispered from beside me.

  I could still feel his warmth around me and I remembered with trepidation that we were still in the hunting platform fifty feet in the air. The night was still ruling the sky and I scolded myself for waking before the relief of dawn. But then I heard what had woken me.

  Barking. In the distance, interrupting the constant sway of the breeze through the trees came the low, guttural wails of several large dogs. I shot up, feeling the assault of the frigid night air on my bare skin and reeling against the dizziness that followed.

  “Dogs,” I whispered. “Is it a search party?”

  “I think . . . it may be,” Donovan answered weakly.

  I got to my feet, clinging to the base of the tree for support.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up? We have to call to them!”

  When he didn’t answer I searched the platform for his figure. Still unable to see him, I listened for the strumming. It was still there, faint and slow.

  “ . . . was waiting for them . . . to get closer,” he half whispered, half groaned.

  “You made yourself weak keeping me warm. You used too much energy,” I gasped.

  I hesitated, concerned, and then strained to see out into the wilderness. The barking dogs were getting closer; I could hear the leaves crunching beneath their prancing paws. I cupped my hands around my mouth to call out.

  “Wait!” Donovan strained to yell.

  I dropped my hands.

  “Let’s just wait . . . see who it is. To be sure.”

  Heeding Donovan’s caution, I crouched down and waited, all my senses searching the night for sounds of movement. The dogs barked excitedly as they charged forward with precision upon the debris covered earth. I heard footsteps stomping and plodding behind them, hurrying to keep up. My heart rose into my throat and my eyes fixed in the direction of the barking. When they got closer still, I could see a single stream of light darting and bobbing as it approached.

  “Alex!” I heard the familiar voice call into the dark.

  “It’s Sulley,” I sighed with relief and started for the edge of the platform.

  Before I reached the edge to climb down I felt Donovan’s hand on my shoulder.

  “Let’s see . . . if anyone is with him,” he panted, “before we give away your position.”

  Before I could argue I saw a second beam of light trailing behind Sulley. It moved slower, the lighter footsteps straining to keep up.

  “Maybe that’s Will,” I said, excitement and relief urging me forward. I began to climb down on shaky limbs using all my strength to steady myself.

  “Alexandra, please . . . be careful. I haven’t got all my strength. If he’s still out there . . .” Donovan cautioned from the platform.

  I was too relieved to heed his warning, too exhausted to consider any possibility but a return to safety. I was almost down from the tree but I paused to look up to where I heard his voice.

  “Thank you Donovan . . . for my life,” I said and then climbed the rest of the way down.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” I heard him breathe before I ran in the direction of the flashlights in the near distance.

  “Alex!” Sulley shouted into the woods again and again, desperation thick in his voice.

  “Uncle Sulley!! Over here!” I cried back, my throat hoarse.

  Sulley’s voice was excited and frantic and yelled over the barking dogs.

  “Over here! I found her! Get on the radio now!”

  I fought past the downed limbs and brush, my legs sore and unsteady, and rounded a final tree towards the lights. I came to a sudden stop at the sight of three frenzied hounds, which snarled and lunged at me, their teeth glistening in the moonlight.

  “Down now! Down!” Sulley yelled and the dogs halted obediently and sat where they were, tails wagging.

  I squinted as the beam of Sulley’s flashlight washed over my face.

  “Alex!” he shouted in relief and with a few tremendous crunching steps, I was in his arms. He hugged me tightly to him and petted my head.

  “Oh thank God. I’ve been looking for you all night. I found your sweater and thought . . .” he said. “My God, you’re freezing.”

  Sulley removed his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. I sunk into its warmth, its enormity engulfing me like a blanket. My mind fractured, broke into a million shards each rambling thought trying to escape at once.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “It’s all my fault . . . I’m so sorry . . .”

  “Sshh.” Sulley kept an arm around me as we turned back towards the other flashlight.

  I was lit with hope when the footsteps approached. Officer Jones caught up with us. He panted, trying to catch his breath and tucked his radio back into his belt.

  “The others are headed back to the road to flag down the ambulance to have it ready,” he said.

  My heart sank and I turned, panicked, to Sulley.

  “Wait . . . ambulance? Where is Will? Is he hurt?”

  Sulley hugged me close. “The ambulance is for you, so we can get you checked out. Will’s car is back up on the road, but we haven’t located him yet. When was the last time you saw him?”

  My legs suddenly lost all their strength and I found myself leaning into Sulley for support.

  “Hours ago. We were just going to take a look around the site . . . see if I could remember anything. Then he said that someone was coming. He told me to run. There were gunshots. He was there Uncle Sulley! It was the same man, the man with the knife. What if he hurt Will? What if Will’s out there somewhere . . . what if he’s dead?” I cried and my legs finally buckled from under me and I sank to the ground.

  Sulley bent down and lifted me into his arms and handed the dog leashes to Jones who took them and lead Sulley back up the road.

  “Don’t you worry about any of that right now. We found you, we’ll find him too. Let’s just get you checked out, get something in your stomach.”

  “The dogs,
” I breathed, my head fuzzy as my body bobbed with every heavy step that Sulley took, “can use them to find Will.”

  “We must have swept a five mile radius between me and Mr. Henley who has the rest of the dogs. I was just about to call it in for the night when I found you. It’s black as pitch out here. He couldn’t have gone far. We’ll find him.”

  “It’s Brightman . . . has to be.”

  “If it is, it’s the last mistake he’s ever going to make,” Sulley said behind gritted teeth.

  I closed my eyes, the swaying movement of Sulley’s arms as he carried me proved too much for my weary head. I searched with my ears for the strumming and found it faint and slow among the panting of the dogs and the loud footfalls over a multitude of branches and dead leaves.