The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales

by Lawrence Yarham

  “Ahh,” Sam replied, going a little red.

  “You had a good point,” she said, touching him on the leg, reassuringly. “It would be interesting to see if your dad could find out who filed the report and who the perpetrators are.”

  “Yeah, I wonder if they’ve been arrested for the wrong crime, or something?” said Sam, thinking aloud.

  “Or worse, they could be innocent!”

  “My dad says that everyone’s generally guilty of something,” added Eddie unhelpfully.

  Sam looked at Yas and raised his eyes to the heavens, indicating that he wasn’t impressed with the comment. He bit back the urge to say, ‘and look where that got him’.

  Eddie noticed. “Sorry, It’s just… I think it’s how he sees the world,” he added. “Or did.”

  Yas nodded and then turned and whispered to Sam. “He’s going through a rough time.”

  Sam nodded. Yas was right. It wasn’t that long ago that he was also missing his dad and wondering if he would see him again.

  “No, it’s okay,” replied Eddie, overhearing and looking back down at his plate.

  Yas thought about her dad. She knew he was a little distant in their relationship at present, but she reflected that she had a lot to be thankful for. He hadn’t been kidnapped or taken off into another realm. She smiled to herself.

  Still thinking about him, she looked around the table. Yas had the sensation of double vision when she looked at the fire-chief. She knew where his real head was, but there was a transparent shadow hovering behind him. It moved to one side and then the other, matching but slightly behind each movement of his head. She saw the same transparent shadow for the lady opposite her, who had mentioned ‘Penn Media’ to Sam’s dad. It made her feel lightheaded and a little nauseous. She put her hand to her head. Eddie noticed and looked at her, making her feel even more self-conscious. She felt the need to go and be by herself for a few seconds, to regain her composure. She pushed back her chair.

  “Yas?” asked Sam.

  “I’m just going to the restroom,” she explained, standing up and feeling lightheaded. “I’m okay.”

  She stumbled off, Eddie appearing next to her, grabbing her by the arm.

  “Mind if I join you,” he asked. “I’m not feeling great, myself.”

  They both walked together. Fortunately, the servers moved about collecting the plates and cutlery for the first course, so they didn’t feel too conspicuous.

  “I think it’s just a migraine coming on,” she offered. “I used to get them quite a bit as a child.”

  “What are you seeing?” asked Eddie. “I feel something really odd coming from the fire chief and the lady opposite us.”

  “Me too,” agreed Yas. “I’m glad it’s not just me.”

  “Yeah, makes me feel sick,” he said, rubbing his stomach.

  “But no-one else seems to have noticed?” she asked, feeling a little better the further away from the hall they went.

  “I don’t think so,” Eddie continued. “It’s just us.”

  They reached the corridor in which the restrooms were located.

  “We need to find out what it is,” suggested Yas.

  “Absolutely,” agreed Eddie. Then he looked puzzled. “How do we do that then, exactly?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Yas. Then she spotted the lady from the table heading towards them. A buzzing sound started to reappear in her head.

  “Do you feel that?” asked Eddie quietly, turning towards Yas so that the lady couldn’t see him talking to her.

  “Yes,” she replied. “I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes?” she said a little louder, for the benefit of the lady approaching.

  “What?” asked Eddie, and then realised. “Sure,” he said and headed into the men’s restroom. Yas entered the women’s, the lady following her.

  Yas made a play of running water and wetting her face as the lady joined her at the next basin. She used the opportunity to re-introduce herself.

  “Hi again,” she said, “I’m Yas?”

  “Oh, yes, hi,” replied the lady. “I’m Kate, remember?”

  “Kate,” replied Yas. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name at the table.”

  “No problem,” replied Kate.

  The conversation felt awkward, but Yas had something she needed to ask.

  “Yeah, it’s a little noisy out there. Difficult to talk.”

  “Absolutely,” replied Kate. “You were in the bookstore, on the evening of the robbery, right?”

  “Yes,” replied Yas, not really believing her luck that the conversation had gone where she had wanted it to. “How’d you know?”

  “I’m a reporter with Penn Media,” Kate replied. “I covered the story.”

  “Oh, wow,” replied Yas. “Did we meet before?”

  “No,” Kate replied, a little confused that Yas was asking her this. She figured that someone like Yas would have remembered if they’d met before. “The police wouldn’t let us talk with you or reveal your names until now. For privacy reasons.”

  “Yeah, I wondered about that,” replied Yas. “So, tell me,” she continued, “Were you at the scene of the crime later that night?”

  Kate looked more confused. The buzzing increased in intensity and Yas gripped the basin harder to steady herself.

  “Err, no,” Kate replied. “I reported from the scene the day after. It went on the news.”

  “Yeah, my parents saw that,” replied Yas, remembering that it had seemed to be key in establishing the version of events that her dad believed.

  “So,” she asked, looking at Kate’s reflection in the mirror. “If you don’t mind me asking… who gave you the details?”

  Kate looked confused again for a moment. “Why do you ask?”

  “I’m just curious how it works,” Yas lied. “I’m kind of interested in going into journalism myself.”

  “Oh, okay,” replied Kate. “Typically, we get reports from sources. In this case, I got lucky, I was able to get the report from the detective.”

  “Who was that?” Yas asked cheekily. She figured it would either work or the conversation would shut down.

  “Detective Wheeler,” Kate said, smiling. That immediately confused Yas.

  “And you met him in person?” asked Yas, gaining confidence with her questioning.

  “Yes,” Kate replied. She looked a little confused herself, knitting her eyebrows into a question.

  “Oh,” replied Yas, in response to the confusion she felt from Kate. “It’s just that I’d heard he’d disappeared. You must have been one of the last people to see him.”

  Kate looked a little more confused. “I don’t know.”

  “No, it’s okay,” said Yas, drying her hands and thinking what else she could say to help ease Kate’s puzzled expression. “Like I said, I’m just interested in how it all works.”

  A buzzing rose again in Yas’s head. She tried to prevent a strained expression from forming on her own face and smiled through it, falsely.

  “Well, I think we should probably make our way back, don’t you,” Kate said, as she finished up drying her hands.

  “Sure,” replied Yas, following Kate out of the restrooms. Kate headed off back towards the main hall and table.

  Eddie was already outside the washrooms.

  “Did you overhear any of that?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “What did she say?”

  “She’s a reporter with Penn Media. She reported the fake news story of the robbery and she claimed that the detective she got the story from was your dad.”

  “So, he’s not missing then?” asked Eddie, in surprise.

  “No… sorry, Eddie, I think he still is,” replied Yas. “But the point is I think she’s spinning more lies, whether she realises it or not.”

  “Oh, I see,” he replied.

  “And the interesting thing is,” she continued. “The buzzing increased whenever I asked her a challenging question.”

  “So
, what do you think it means?” Eddie asked as they headed back into the hall.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Yas, as they both took their seats at the table. “But it was as if there was something else trying to convince her of a storyline that wasn’t true, The buzzing maybe?”

  “What could that possibly be?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Yas.

  The main course had been served and the other guests had already started to eat. Sam looked at Yas.

  “You okay?” he asked. “I wasn’t sure whether to come looking for you?”

  “No, it’s okay,” she replied. “Eddie was with me.”

  “Oh,” he said, a little testily, putting a potato in his mouth.

  Yas shrugged. Sam was being moody, and she could guess why, but she knew he really didn’t need to be jealous, and she wasn’t about to apologise for talking with her friend.

  The wind whistled past Wheeler.

  “Stay with me,” he shouted behind him. Raelinn was becoming distracted by the night air and he needed her to remain focussed. If she jumped off, they’d only loop back around and tumble back onto the station platform. He knew that much.

  “You’re crazy!” she shouted from behind him.

  “I know,” he replied. “But please, just stay focussed on what we’re doing.”

  He could sense the storylines now. They were like coiled loops, spinning to their left and right. If they were not absolutely focussed on their own intentions, the coils would unravel and pull them in, then they would find it difficult to do anything other than follow the story line that the Void wanted them to play out. Something was different though now, he knew it, and the evidence was building. First, he was able to convince Raelinn to just get on the train. Then he was able to increase the size of the holes in the train carriage walls so they could climb out more easily. Now they were walking their way along the roof of the train so he could detach the carriage and bring themselves to a halt.

  “Where will we go?” Raelinn asked. “Assuming you’re able to stop the carriage, that is!”

  “I don’t know,” shouted Wheeler back, honestly. It was a good point. “Just one step at a time, okay?”

  “Uggh!” shouted Wheeler abruptly, as a thin branch whipped him in the ribs. He dropped down onto the roof of the carriage. Raelinn dropped down also to avoid more branches.

  “It’s trying to stop you,” shouted Raelinn. “Like with the doors.”

  “Yes,” Wheeler agreed, getting back to his feet cautiously. “It’s like it tries to change things to bring us back into the story lines, if we don’t bite.”

  “Why does it do that?” asked Raelinn.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Wheeler, moving forwards cautiously again. “It’s trying to distract us. Keep us away from something, maybe.”

  “What?”

  “I intend to find out,” he shouted.

  He turned his head and saw more branches snaking their way towards the train.

  “Get down!” he shouted, dropping down to all fours to avoid them. The wind was picking up as the train climbed towards the mountain, which inevitably led towards the cliff. They had to disconnect the carriage before they got too close. He had a feeling that there was something nearby and that it would do its best to distract them. He had to think of ways to surprise it, buy them some time, before it caught them off-guard again.

  “Come on,” he shouted, getting back up and running towards the front end of the carriage. He had almost reached there, when the train lurched to the left, closer to the mountain. He slipped sideways and then over the side of the train, grabbing at the edge of the roof with his hands desperately. Raelinn grabbed hold of his hand and prevented his fall. He looked up, in surprise.

  More slender branches whipped at him as he twisted and turned to try to find a foothold.

  “Hold still!” Raelinn shouted. She pulled him up with one arm. Wheeler was amazed. He knew she was strong, but it looked effortless. She dropped him unceremoniously on the carriage roof.

  “You idiot,” she said. “I should have let you fall!”

  “No,” Wheeler said, getting himself onto all fours. He realised a storyline had grabbed hold of her. “It’s the storyline, Raelinn.” He could see it twisting around and through her. It looked triumphant.

  “You brought me here!” she continued. “You tricked me!”

  “No,” Wheeler pleaded. “We’ve made it this far. Please focus!”

  “Focus on what? Your deception? You need me here for something don’t you? Well, I’ve got news for you. It’s not happening.” She looked around as if she was about to make a leap for it. The terrain wasn’t ideal, the track moving closer to a mountain on the left and the tops of trees along the right.

  “Raelinn, you’ve got to believe me,” he said, getting to his feet, and grabbing her arm. She shook him off and he somersaulted, landing on his back. Momentarily winded, he didn’t react fast enough. Raelinn dropped down on top of him and punched him in the face. He was dazed.

  “You’re coming with me,” she said, under her breath. She hit him again. He lost consciousness. “Then when you’ve shown me the exit, I’ll trap you here forever!”

  She launched herself upwards off the train carriage, carrying Wheeler and veered to the right over the treetops.

  A dragon opened one eye from its sleep. It was in a large chamber of a cave which was perched on the edge of a mountain. The dragon was exhausted after scouring the surrounding lands for a specific treasure, one that would give it back its freedom. For now, it lay in front of the pile of treasure it had accumulated, glittering in what little moonlight came in through gaps in the rock, high-up in the walls.

  Distant horse hooves started to drift into the dragon’s slumbering consciousness. It lifted its head and opened an eye sleepily.

  The horse hooves stopped, and someone dismounted. The landing of their feet on the ground echoed deep into the cave. The dragon rose to its hind legs, ready for battle. It recognised the storyline, a hero no doubt heading to slay said dragon and claim the treasure. The dragon moved quietly behind large rock pillars to the left of the cavern. Better to keep the element of surprise, it figured.

  It listened intently. There was the occasional clank of metal on metal. It didn’t sound like armour, as that would create too much noise if an ambush was what an attacker intended. It puzzled the dragon. How would it be defeated if it could simply fry its assailants with fire? It checked its snout. It felt hot enough to be able to unleash flames when needed. It flicked its tail, impatiently. Whoever was coming, they were in for a surprise.

  There were more sounds, from different directions, now. That was strange, there were footsteps moving through the cave that it could track. Whoever that was must have been using some form of invisibility spell. No matter. It was the other sounds that bothered the dragon. There were pinging noises coming from different directions. They were too far apart, it seemed, for just one creature to be moving between them. Could they jump perhaps? They didn’t sound heavy enough for the distance that was being travelled.

  The dragon focussed on the footsteps and flicked its tail across the cave. It connected with whoever was invisible and destroyed their spell. It caught sight of a muscle-bound albino man, getting himself to his feet. He was by a large rock on the opposite side of the cavern, wielding a bow and arrow and baring fangs ready for combat.

  “Come out, Penn,” he called. “We have you surrounded.”

  Penn, the dragon, leaned around the stone pillar a little more and smiled. The vampire’s arrows were unlikely to penetrate his scales, even at this close range. This was going to be too easy.

  Penn charged across the cavern, surprising the man. The vampire fired arrows at Penn, but they bounced off, as predicted.

  Penn had just about reached halfway across when he was stopped in his tracks. Something pulled at him, sticky. His hind legs and tail were ensnared in something. He tugged at whatever was holding him. It wouldn’t budge.
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  The vampire laughed. “You weren’t expecting that now, were you?”

  Penn looked back down and breathed fire, melting the bonds around his legs. As he did so, something swung down from the roof of the cave and wrapped around Penn’s snout, clamping it shut. It was a huge spider. The threads were what Penn had heard pinging, earlier.

  The vampire stepped forwards. “Now,” he said. “We can either make this quick, or…” he let the words hang in the air.

  “Who sent you?” Penn muffled angrily through his clamped snout. “Orfeo?”

  “It’s not important,” dismissed the vampire. “Let’s just say that my master has determined that you’d betrayed him. And sent me to make sure you’re not a threat.”

  The heat was building inside Penn’s mouth and helped loosen the threads. He couldn’t quite breathe fire yet, but he could at least talk. A spider hung overhead, just visible from the corner of Penn’s right eye. He spotted others also. He wasn’t sure what they were waiting for. He stretched upwards.

  “Betrayed him,” Penn repeated. “Not a threat? I’m sorry. I thought vampires had superior intelligence.”

  He breathed slowly again, taking time to test the bonds.

  “In fact, Orfeo and his men disappeared from the battle,” he continued, buying time. “It was a setup! I didn’t betray him. He betrayed me! Something I plan to bring up with him the next time we meet.”

  The vampire paused. Penn recognised the change in his demeanour. He’d made him question his own beliefs. Penn knew how to play people, or at least, so he’d thought up until Orfeo had betrayed his trust. Combining forces had been the agreement. Gain control of the Peacekeepers. Well, that had gone south and he’d been split across the realms by that girl, Yasmine and her grandfather’s magic. Forced to drift through the realms, gradually pulling together pieces of his consciousness, he had recovered enough to take form as this dragon.

  He was cursed. Something was still preventing him from becoming human again. Until he did, he couldn’t return back to the outer world. He was trapped here, trying to find the artefact that would restore him. It felt like he had spent an eternity searching the local lands for treasure and had accumulated a huge glistening pile, a makeshift throne.