Revenge on Guardians

by Anabel Bright

  I sighed. When would Luther and his beasts be dead and gone forever? I couldn't wait for that day to come. That was if I was alive long enough to witness it. I shook my head at that thought. It was best I remained positive. I was not going to die in the war. I was going to be alive to see the end of Luther. In fact, I would be happy if I could kill him myself. He was the cause of thousands of deaths.

  "Hey. What's that?"

  I snapped out of my thoughts and followed Alec's finger. He was pointing at a man who had just stepped into the dining room.

  "He bears the royal symbol," Brandon commented.

  True enough, the man's shirt had the royal symbol drawn on it. He was a messenger of the King. The man walked up to the table of the key Guardians and held out a scroll, also bearing the royal symbol on it. The key Guardians stared at each other before Master Philip stretched out his hands to take the scroll. He opened the scroll and read whatever was written on it first before reading it out loud to the rest of us.

  "Fearless Guardians of the land, the King requests your presence today by six p.m."

  Everyone in the dining room became silent as we stared at Master Philip. He turned to the messenger and said to him, "Tell the King we will honor his request."

  The messenger bowed and exited the dining room the same way he had come in. Everyone returned back to their food when the man left. But we were all thinking of the message. The key Guardians bent their heads together and went into discussion.

  After lunch, Mistress Adele walked up to my table. "Brandon, Alec, Arthur, and Rachel prepare yourselves. You guys and Agatha," she pointed at a girl Master Nathan was talking to, "will accompany Master Philip, Master Nathan, and I to the palace within an hour’s time."

  We nodded, and she left.

  Liz sighed. "Another journey. Must you guys always go with them, leaving me alone with no friends?"

  Alec chuckled and kissed her forehead just as Fredrick laughed. "Hey. I'm still here. You have me."

  It took us two hours to arrive at the palace after we left Lupert. We were ushered into the palace by a guard who took us to the throne room of the King. The King sat on his throne with his wife and daughter on either side of him. He stood up when we entered.

  "Most gracious Guardians. You're all welcome," he greeted.

  We all bowed to him, but Master Philip was the one who spoke. "Thank you."

  "Rise. Rise. Thank you for coming. Let's move to the dining hall so we can have dinner."

  The King and his family led the way, and we followed them to the hall. Immediately we sat down; the servants began bringing out different foods and fruits. It was like a banquet. I ate in silence but listened as the King and the key Guardians engaged in small conversation about the Guardians and the journeys we had gone on.

  The Queen was a very beautiful woman dressed in a blue dress. She had gold covering almost every part of her body. The Princess was a replica of her mother. It was the first time I was seeing them both, and I couldn't help but stare a little. They were just so ... shiny.

  When we were all done with eating, the King addressed the Guardians in general. "I heard there's an upcoming war," he began, and a hush fell amongst us. "I want you all to know that you Guardians are the most valuable individuals we have in this kingdom as a whole. What you people do for us is beyond any other thing. You fight and protect us from the beasts at the expense of your own lives. I just want you to know we are forever grateful.”

  "Concerning the upcoming war, we all know some people might die. I am not praying for it to happen, but if it does," he glanced at Master Philip. "I want to let all the Guardians know their sacrifice will never be in vain. Their family will be taken care of by the royal family for life."

  "Thank you," we chorused as one.

  After that, we were each given a room in the palace to rest and sleep. The next morning, we woke early and began preparing ourselves for our journey back to Lupert. The King insisted we have breakfast with him and his family and we did. After breakfast, he offered us his blessings and we went on our way.

  –––––

  Luther watched his children – others called them beasts, but they were his children – chant happily amongst themselves. They were excited, and when they were excited, they fought very well.

  "It is time," he announced. "Time to show the Guardians who rule. Time to show them who is in charge. Time to get our revenge."

  "Time to get our revenge," his children echoed.

  Yes. The Guardians and their stupid leaders needed to know that he, Luther, was in charge of everything and everyone. It was time to make them pay. The Goddess would regret ever going against him. She would regret choosing his brother to rule over him. "We march on. To Lupert."

  "To Lupert," his children screamed.

  He and his children didn't need to walk to places. One of the gifts he had gotten from the devil was the gift of teleporting. He could teleport himself and his children anywhere except for the temple and inside the Guardians building in Lupert. The Goddess had put a seal on these two places. They were hers, she claimed.

  With a flick of his fingers, he and his beasts stood at a field close to Lupert. Luther sighed. Ah, Lupert. It had been long since he had seen the building. The last time was before the Goddess had put a seal on the building preventing him from entering it. The building had just been newly built and then handed over to the Guardians. It was also where Selene had cut him and where he had been caught and caged. He hated the building as much as he hated the Guardians. He would've loved to destroy the building, crumble it to the ground. But that wasn't possible because the Goddess had sealed it.

  But she made a mistake.

  The Goddess sealed the building from him and not from his beasts. She didn't think his beasts would go anywhere without him. Oh, how wrong she had been.

  Luther instructed fifty of his children to go to Lupert and draw the Guardians out to the field. He wanted to see them when they died. He wanted to see the life leave their bodies. And most importantly, he wanted to be the one to kill Frank with his bare hands.

  It was time for him to have his revenge on the Guardians.

  –––––

  We were close to Lupert when a rider stopped us on the way. A Guardian likes us. He was breathing quite heavily like he had been riding for days, but I knew it couldn't be. From where we met him to Lupert was about forty-five minutes.

  "I was sent to get you, people," he rasped out like he was having difficulty speaking.

  "Why? What happened?" Master Philip asked with a frown.

  "It's Lupert. The beasts have attacked."

  We all stiffened. We were not expecting that.

  "When?" Mistress Adele asked.

  "This – " the Guardian didn't complete his words before he fell down from his horse and collapsed to the ground. He fell to his stomach, his back bared to us. I heard a gasp from Agatha as we stared at his back. His shirt was torn at the back to reveal claw marks all over with blood covering each mark.

  Master Nathan stepped down from his horse and walked over to the fallen Guardian. He checked his pulse before looking at the other key Guardians. "He's dead."

  We increased our pace and rode quickly to Lupert. Immediately I saw the place I had considered my home since I arrived. I gasped. There was blood everywhere. Blood covered the walls and floor. Not only blood but bodies too, dead bodies everywhere. Dead bodies of both Guardians and beasts. So many lives lost. All because of Luther.

  "Check for survivors," Master Philip announced.

  We quickly came down from our horses and obeyed Master Philip's instruction. We moved to each body, checking for any sign that they were still alive. Some of the bodies I knew, some I didn't know very well. But not of them was Liz. I needed to find my best friend. I needed to know she was okay.

  I saw a body make a slight movement and ran to the man on the floor. His face was to the floor, so I turned him. I wish I hadn't when I saw who it was.

  Fredric
k.

  The last time I had seen Fredrick, he had been laughing, now he was gasping for breath. He had nasty cuts on his forehead and chest.

  "Hang in there, Fredrick. I'm going to get you help." I stood up to go, but he held me back with his hand.

  "It's already too late for me."

  "What happened?" I asked with teary eyes, not wanting to comment on his words. I knew he was right. His cuts were too deep. There wasn't anything anyone could do to save him. I felt rather than saw Master Philip walk up behind me.

  "The beasts ... they attacked so suddenly. We fought them and killed some, but," he gurgled up blood from his mouth.

  "Stop talking, Fredrick. "

  "No," he forced out. "You must ... know. Too many. They ... they were too many."

  "Where are the others?" Master Philip asked from behind me.

  "At the field close to –," he coughed up blood again. I clenched my fingers around his hand. I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. “Oh, Fredrick – to Lupert."

  "Liz? What about Liz?" I asked.

  "With them." He fell into a fit of coughing.

  I heard running footsteps and looked up to find Arthur running to us. He knelt down beside Fredrick and held his body close to his. "Fredrick, no."

  Fredrick smiled at him. "Kill those ... beasts ... for me, Arthur." His eyes rolled back into his head, and he died.

  "No," Arthur screamed. Among all of us, he was the one closest to Fredrick. They were best friends. And now he was dead. I watched Arthur weep over his best friend, and my mind flashed to Liz. God. What was happening in the field now?

  "Any survivors?" Master Philip shouted. There was a series of no from everyone. "Then, we ride to the field and join our brothers and sisters on the field.”

  "I'll come back for you," Arthur whispered to Fredrick's body before standing up. We all climbed our horses and rode to the field.

  The shouts of a war cry were unmistakable as we rode into the field. Everywhere I looked, I saw a Guardian fighting a beast. Whenever a Guardian defeated a beast, he would move on to another. And whenever a beast killed a Guardian, another Guardian replaced the fallen one. The bodies on the ground were both beasts and Guardians. Unlike Lupert, though, the dead bodies in the field were mostly of the beasts.

  We didn't wait for Master Philip's command before jumping down from our horses and joining the battle. I unsheathed my sword and ran to the middle of the field, killing as many beasts as I could. When I killed one, I went to another. I had no mercy for them. They had killed a lot of the people I had come to consider brothers and sisters. They had killed Fredrick, one of my very good friends.

  "Glad you could join us," a voice said to me.

  I turned and found Liz smiling at me. The joy that overtook me then couldn't be measured. If we weren't on a battlefield, I could have hugged her. "Liz, glad you're alive."

  She gestured to my left with her head, and I turned to find a beast sneaking up on me. I used my claws for ripping out its heart.

  Liz laughed. "Focus, Rachel." With that, she ran off, finding more beasts to kill. I did the same too.

  I saw Brandon and Alec fighting side-by-side from my peripheral view. Master Philip was fighting alone, killing the beasts like he was born to do it. Mistress Adele was using her voice expertly, ripping out the beast’s hearts after commanding them still. Master Charles and Master Nathan were fighting together too. I couldn't see Master Frank, but I was sure he was somewhere.

  I hadn't seen Luther. As if my mind had conjured him, he appeared. It didn't think he would join the war. I thought he would've stayed somewhere safe while his beasts did his work for him. Apparently, he wanted to carry out his revenge himself. He was covered with blood and was walking majestically. Like he owned the place and everyone in it.

  Oh, how wrong he was. I took a step towards him but stopped when I saw what he held; it was a head. The head of a person I knew very well. Master Frank's. Oh no.

  I heard Mistress Adele cry out and turned to look at her. She was being attacked by four beasts.

  "Nooooo." I screamed and ran to her. I stabbed the heart of a beast with my knife and ripped the heart of one with my claws. I dropped my sword and inserted my claws into the hearts of the last two, pulling it out. Mistress Adele dropped to the ground, and I ran to her, holding her body to mine.

  "No. No. No. Don't die," I cried to the woman who had treated me as nothing but a daughter since I joined the Guardians. The second mother I had come to have.

  She couldn't say a word. She only stared at me, blinking rapidly. "No," I whispered again. I stared at her stomach. The beasts had cut her stomach open, and I could see the inside of her stomach. "No. Stay with me," I cried. It was like losing my mother all over again. I couldn't bear it.

  "Ra..Ra...Rachel..." She croaked out before going limp in my arms.

  "Mistress?" I shook her body, my tears falling on her cheeks. "Mistress ..." I sobbed. I threw my head back and screamed.

  Enough.

  I laid her body carefully on the ground and stood up. I closed my eyes and used The Voice. I took in a deep breath and felt it, the minds of many beasts, about two hundred of them. Not all of them but still, many of them. I felt them trying to release themselves from my hold but they couldn't. There was no way they were going free. I was using all I had to control them.

  "No, Rachel." I heard Master Charles call to me.

  "Somebody, stop her. That much mind control would kill her," called Master Philip.

  I didn't listen to either of them. I opened my eyes and stared directly at Luther who was staring at me in shock.

  "Kill yourselves," I muttered.

  All at once, every beast’s mind that I held began ripping out their own heart with their claws. They couldn't help it. Their minds were no longer theirs to do as they pleased. It was mine. When they were all dead, I took a step towards Luther. The bastard whose fault Mistress Adele, Master Frank, and Fredrick were now dead.

  "Oh no, sweetheart," he said to me with a shake of his head and a smile. "Till we meet next time."

  Before I could comprehend his words, he disappeared. What the ... I looked around, but there were no more beasts to fight. They had all disappeared with their master. I turned back to look at Mistress Adele's body. I took a step towards her but stumbled and felt myself falling. Just before I hit the ground, someone caught me in their arms and I inhaled the scent of Brandon. I blacked out after that.

  Chapter Five

  I woke up feeling disoriented. My mind was fuzzy, and my head was in serious pain. I held my head with my right hand and groaned. Why did my head hurt so much?

  "Thank the Goddess, you're awake."

  I opened my eyes and found Brandon sitting on a seat beside my bed. Wait, not my bed. I glanced around and found out I was in the medical room in Lupert.

  What happened?

  And then it all came crashing down to me. Mistress Adele, Master Frank, Fredrick. Who else had died in that battle?

  I wrapped my hands around Brandon's neck and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're alive, Brandon." If he died, I wouldn't know what to do. I don't know why, but I think I needed him more than I needed anyone.

  He hugged me back and kissed my forehead. "You don't know how happy I am that you're okay, Rachel. I thought I'd lost you too." He didn't have to say it, but I knew he was thinking of his mother and sister. He had thought I'd been killed by the beasts like them.

  "Where's Liz? Shouldn't she be beside her best friend?"

  Brandon's hands turned cold around me. He dropped his hands from my shoulders. He looked anywhere but at me. His eyes wouldn't meet mine. I stiffened. Something was wrong.

  "What happened? Where's Liz?" I repeated.

  He sighed and finally answered me. "She was injured in the battle."

  "Is she dead?" I was ready to go seek out Luther wherever he was just to kill him if Liz was gone.

  Seeing the look on my face, Brandon immediately shook his head. "She's he
re, in another room. She's been unconscious for three days now. Since the battle."

  Which meant I too had been unconscious for three days too. I didn't stop to process that fact. I only stood up from my bed and asked Brandon to take me to Liz's room. I stood up too fast and nearly fell back down on the bed. Brandon steadied me with his hands.

  "Easy," he mumbled.

  He led me to the room Liz was in, and I found Alec lying down beside her unconscious body. His eyes were bloodshot and I knew he had been crying. His lips were on her knuckles like he was silently praying for her to wake up. She looked so fragile and broken.

  I couldn't handle seeing my strong Liz like that. I ran out of her room, crying, and Brandon followed me, shouting my name. I ran to the tree at the back of Lupert and cried my eyes out. I cried for those who had lost their lives during the battle. I cried for their families who would be mourning them by now. I cried for Liz and Alec. I cried for myself.

  I felt a hand wrapped around me from behind and turned to face Brandon. I buried my face in his chest and cried, wetting his clothes in the process. He didn't complain; he only held me tighter.

  Whenever I would stop crying, I'd remember Mistress Adele smiling at me or telling me how proud of me she was, and my crying would begin anew. Or I'd remember Master Frank’s face and Fredrick's laughter and sobbed harder.

  "What about the bodies?" I asked when I had been able to stop myself from crying. The bodies of Mistress Adele, Master Frank, Fredrick, and other Guardians who had lost their lives during the battle; I recalled all the bodies we had seen in Lupert when we had come back from the palace, plus the other bodies on the field too.

  Even though I had stopped crying, Brandon didn't release his hold on me. I didn't mind because I loved the feel of his hands around me. It made me feel safe and secure.

  "They've been buried. The beasts were burned. Come on, let's go inside." Brandon said. "We need to tell the others you're awake. They've all been worried about you."

  I nodded, and together, we walked back into Lupert. We had just stepped into the building when we saw Master Philip. "Glad you're back with us, Rachel." Then he pointed at Brandon and I. "Both of you, we need you in the meeting room now."