The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales

by Lawrence Yarham

  “Yes,” Raelinn acknowledged, hesitantly. Clearly, she didn’t like to make public any weakness.

  “Sorry,” James said, noticing Raelinn becoming defensive. “Do you think we could use the same for Orfeo?”

  “Right,” realised Sam. “Sunlight.”

  “It worked on Orfeo in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” Akoni added, from the gallery landing above. “I managed to use a mirror, but only briefly.”

  “Sunlight will harm him, yes,” Raelinn agreed. “But we’d have to keep him in direct light for some time to cause enough damage. He is powerful and fast. It will take some doing.”

  “If we can get him to go to the castle?” suggested Janine, a plan forming in her mind, “maybe we can use the mirrors there to surround him with light?”

  “Maybe,” nodded Raelinn. “It’s worth a try.”

  “What about the custodians?” asked Sam. “How do we free them?”

  “I’m not sure,” replied Janine. “There’s a possibility that destroying Orfeo will also destroy any magic he has cast. It’s supposed to work that way for any loyalties he has forced followers into,” she continued. “At least, from literature.”

  James looked at Raelinn. He knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if killing Orfeo was how she would achieve the freedom that Y’an had foreseen.

  “Now that I remember it,” said James, another thought popping into his head. He looked at Yas. “Y’an said that you needed to play a role to help free the custodians.”

  “Me?” said Yas, surprised. “What role?”

  James smiled. “That, she was not specific on,” he shrugged. “I did ask.”

  There was silence in the room.

  “So, we need to get to the castle, and then summon Orfeo into a trap,” summarised Janine.

  “Yes,” agreed the others.

  “Really does sound like we’ll be unmasking a villain,” quipped Sam to Yas. She smiled. She understood the reference he was making.

  “How do we get him there, though?” asked James.

  Janine looked at Penn.

  “When we were in the castle before, you triggered an alarm. A magical tripwire, you called it,” said Janine. “Can you do it again?”

  “Wait,” interrupted Yas. “What did you do?”

  “I sent Orfeo a signal to let him know where we were,” explained Penn. “It’s a vibration that can be sent into a realm.”

  “So, that’s what that tremor was. We felt it when we were chasing Orfeo,” Sam realised.

  “Yes,” Penn said. “I saw you underground.”

  “That’s why he asked us who we’d sent,” added Yas, looking at Janine. “He called us ‘meddling kids!’ That makes so much more sense now.”

  “At least we know that he got the message,” added Penn.

  They all nodded.

  “So, can you do it again?” repeated Janine.

  “Yes,” replied Penn. “Of course I can.”

  “But won’t he have strengthened his guard? Or alarms?” asked Peter.

  “No, I don’t think so,” dismissed Penn.

  “Why not?” asked Peter. “That’s what I’d do.”

  “While Orfeo is clever,” said Penn, “he’s also arrogant.” He paused to let that sink in. Janine and Peter looked at him with urgency in their faces to hurry him up.

  “He has Index now,” he continued. “He’s thinking that you’ll target him instead.”

  “Should we?” asked Janine, trying to understand more of what Penn was thinking.

  “Oh no,” agreed Penn. “No. I think it’s better to confuse him. Strike the same place twice!”

  “Just like lightning doesn’t,” added Dai. “I like it.”

  Everyone looked at Dai. It took a moment for them all to process what he had said, but then nodded in agreement. It seemed to lighten the mood in the stairway.

  “We need to call for backup,” suggested Janine at last.

  “Yes,” nodded Peter. “I’ll do that.” He started walking in the direction of the main hall that they had been when they met with the other sentinels earlier.

  “I’ll come with you,” said Yas’s dad, catching Peter up. “I guess you’ll be speaking with my wife, Mary?”

  “Yes?” replied Peter, not understanding the connection.

  “She’s not been fully aware of all that I’ve been involved in recently. I think it’s best if I fill her in.”

  “Your call,” shrugged Peter, continuing down the hallway. He called over his shoulder to the others. “See if you can figure out how to create a trap.”

  “A trap may backfire,” criticized Penn, overhearing Peter.

  “What do you mean?” asked Janine.

  “You’re forgetting what Mr. Lion said,” Penn continued, motioning to the statue. The others looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate. “The storylines are twisting?” he added, to answer the question hanging on their faces.

  “Right?” asked Janine, to urge Penn to continue.

  “Yes,” James interjected. “On the boat, Raelinn and I witnessed the story changing. The realm was under stress too. Cracking. Breaking.”

  “Exactly,” confirmed Penn. “And in the publishing offices too. The castle scene.” Penn shook his head for a moment. “I so need to have a chat with Orfeo about what he’s done to my offices.” Then he looked at Kierra and Dai. “The storylines are mutating. They have the ability to get inside your heads, influence your actions. Just as the two of you experienced.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Kierra. “How do we prevent that from happening?”

  Penn thought about that for a moment. “I think the only thing we can do is to be unpredictable. That’s the only way we can be sure it’s not being suggested by the twisting tales.”

  “And how exactly do we do that?” asked Janine.

  “I couldn’t tell the difference,” protested Dai, “back at the castle scene.”

  “Or me,” agreed Kierra. “It’s not going to work!”

  For a moment, multiple people were talking, comparing their experiences and wondering whether the actions they had taken were theirs alone or having been suggested by the twisting storylines.

  “Do you think when Orfeo said ‘meddling kids’ to us?” Sam asked Yas, “He was captured by a storyline too?”

  “Maybe,” agreed Yas. “It did seem odd.”

  “So perhaps Orfeo is not immune from the reaches of the powerful storylines also?” mused Janine. “Maybe that gives us an angle?”

  “James is able to see the storylines,” interrupted Raelinn.

  Everyone stopped talking.

  “Is this true?” asked Janine, looking at James.

  “Yes,” James nodded.

  “Have you always been able to?”

  “It’s something that started to happen in the Void and then on the boat,” James explained.

  “What do they look like?” pressed Janine, eager for more information.

  “Like wisps, waves,” James replied. “They seemed to wash across the scene and intermix.”

  “So, can you see stories here? Now?” continued Janine, looking around at the air.

  James looked up.

  “Not so much,” he said. “The energy here is much quieter, despite the books. It’s like the stories all have a home here.”

  “Like in the realm of knowledge?” Yas added, wondering if the storylines were responsible for the energy she had felt at the Battle for the Peacekeepers.”

  “Yes,” agreed James. “I think so.”

  He paused for a moment. The statue spoke again.

  “The custodians have a means of facilitating the stories. Keeping them flowing between realms.”

  “Right,” agreed Janine. “So, if custodians have been kidnapped, then the stories are becoming stuck. Looking for a way out, maybe?”

  “And we become the way out?” suggested Kierra.

  “That sounds possible, yes,” agreed Dai.

  “So, what do we do?” as
ked Kierra. “How can we stop these ‘twisting tales’ from controlling us again?”

  “James stopped me from being possessed by stories in the Void,” Raelinn replied. “And in the publishing offices, too.” She paused. “He can be our safeguard. Our watcher.” Then she remembered being on the train in the Void with James and couldn’t resist adding, “as long as you promise not to kiss anyone.”

  “What now?” asked Kierra, repulsed by the idea.

  “It’s a long story,” explained James, smiling at Raelinn. “She was being pulled back into her ‘vampire punish all humans act’. So… I kissed her, to distract her.”

  “You were unpredictable!” mused Yas, intrigued.

  “Yeah,” James nodded. “I guess I was. It must have surprised the storyline.”

  “It certainly surprised me,” added Raelinn, smiling at him.

  Suddenly, Janine looked around.

  “Where’s Penn?” she asked.

  Everyone looked about.

  “Did you see him leave?” Janine asked Akoni and Eddie, still on the gallery landing.

  “No! Sorry,” they replied in unison. “He’s not up here.”

  “Damn it!” seethed Janine. “What’s he playing at?”

  “Being unpredictable?” suggested Sam, glibly.

  Janine thought furiously for a moment.

  “How much did he hear? Does anyone know when they last saw him?”

  “The last thing he said was about being unpredictable,” Sam said, not really helping. “So, he knows about the plan to go to the castle.”

  “I don’t remember seeing him after that,” added Yas, trying to remember. “I think we would have noticed though, if he’d conjured a doorway or something?”

  “So how did he do it?” asked Kierra, looking about her.

  “I don’t know,” acknowledged Janine. “But the more important question is, where did he go? And why?”

  “You think he’s gone to meet with Orfeo?” suggested Sam. “To tip him off?”

  “If I was him?” Janine replied. “Maybe. He knows something that Orfeo doesn’t. He could play it as a bargaining chip.” She paced back and forth a little. “I don’t know though. There seems to be no love lost between the two of them, that’s for sure.”

  “The Great Oak told us that they are from two competing factions of Controllers,” added Akoni, from the gallery, remembering when he had met Yas in the Forest Realm.

  “Yes,” agreed Yas and Sam.

  “And we know he wants Orfeo out of his organisation,” added Janine. “At least that’s what he told us at the castle.”

  “I knew we couldn’t trust him,” interjected Dai, unhelpfully. “And he’s seen this place.” He gestured around him. “Maybe he’s gone to summon an army and bring the battle to us?”

  Janine held up her finger for silence.

  “No, I don’t think that’s it,” she said, thinking aloud. “He doesn’t gain anything that way. He wants Orfeo out the way and his organisation back in his control. It’s all about power, not the victory.”

  “So, where’s he gone?” asked Dai, not really expecting an answer.

  “Maybe he wants the castle for himself?” suggested Eddie. “Power, right?”

  Akoni nodded and smiled at Eddie.

  “Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” acknowledged Janine. “Get there before us and Orfeo. Take control. It’s being unpredictable and he gets what he wants.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Sam.

  “Well,” suggested Janine. “Sometimes, the course of action that’s too obvious is the most unpredictable to others.”

  “You mean go there anyway?” suggested James.

  “Yes,” nodded Janine. “And we have one thing in our favour.”

  “What’s that?” asked Yas.

  “We have you, James,” Janine replied. “Hopefully you can keep us from getting caught up in the storylines and maybe there’s a way we can get Orfeo and Penn caught up in theirs?”

  “And,” said James, looking at Yas. “I think it will give you an opportunity to figure out how to free the custodians.”

  “Why is it always me?” asked Yas, looking around for support.

  “Sounds like a plan then,” agreed Dai. “It’s time we played them at their own game!”

  Chapter 10

  The Castle

  A doorway opened in the endmost chamber of the castle. Janine and Peter stepped through. By the way the light was casting itself into the hall, it was evening. The sun had set over the trees and a dull orange glow filled the room.

  “Ahh, hello,” welcomed Orfeo, who was standing in the middle of the hall, a few chambers away. “What a nice surprise!”

  “Is it?” asked Peter. He looked at Janine questioningly, and hoped that their plans had not been communicated.

  “No, not really,” replied Penn, moving into sight from the side of an archway, further down the hall.

  “What are you doing here?” challenged Janine, closing the doorway behind her.

  “Being unpredictable,” replied Penn, innocently. “Didn’t I tell you? Your plan might backfire?”

  “So, you fulfilled the prophecy then, by coming here and blabbing to your… pal?” shot back Janine.

  Penn and Orfeo turned and regarded each other for a moment, mutually expressing their dislike of each other.

  “I was merely creating a distraction,” Penn replied. “You’re welcome, by the way!”

  “Yeah, well,” said Peter. “I’ll provide a distraction for you”. He started to move towards Penn, but Janine grabbed his arm and held him back.

  “Not now,” she said, under her breath.

  Peter relented.

  “You misunderstand me,” said Penn. “Orfeo and I have merely come to an agreement on certain matters.”

  “Oh, I think we understand just fine,” retorted Peter, moving towards the chamber that Orfeo and Penn were now both in. “Let me guess. The Guardians delivered on a plate in return for him handing back your organisation to you?”

  “Well done,” complimented Penn, greasily. “It seems we do have an understanding.”

  There was an awkward silence in the room.

  “The question is,” asked Janine. “What threat do the Word Guardians pose to you, Orfeo?” She paused, to choose her words carefully. “Surely now that you have Index, you have more than enough power?”

  “Ahh, yes,” answered Penn, for Orfeo, who had returned to scrying in the mirror. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Penn looked at Orfeo. “When you have power, you become a magnet for everyone else that doesn’t.” Penn changed the look on his face to one of sympathy. “Poor Orfeo. Always having to look over his shoulder to see if someone is coming to stick a knife in.”

  Orfeo let go of the mirror.

  “Enough!” he commanded, the shout echoing through the chambers.

  A silence descended on the hall again.

  “Where are the others?” he asked Janine and Peter.

  “What others?” replied Peter, playing dumb.

  “Oh, come now, Detective,” said Orfeo. “The other Word Guardians.”

  Peter made a play of checking his watch.

  “Well,” he said, as deliberately as he could. “Right about now, they should be engaging with Index.”

  Orfeo smiled cruelly.

  “No, they’re not!”

  “Oh yes they are,” shot back Peter, enjoying the pantomime moment.

  “No,” retorted Orfeo more firmly, ending the charade. “They are not, because you have no idea where he is, do you?”

  “Actually, we do,” piped up Janine.

  Orfeo regarded her cautiously. Penn smiled, moving level to Orfeo but much closer to the windows.

  “Do tell,” Orfeo said.

  “He’s trying to hold together the rips you’ve created in the realms!”

  “That’s ridiculous!” retorted Orfeo.

  “Stands to reason really”, said Janine, stepping in front of Peter and
moving towards Orfeo. “Without realms, Index has no power. He’ll be coming here shortly, once our colleagues have explained to him what you’ve done.”

  “What I’ve done?” shot back Orfeo.

  “Yes, capturing the custodians and trapping them in the mirrors,” Janine continued, matter-of-factly.

  Orfeo gestured to the mirrors. “Without the custodians, these mirrors could not show me my bidding. I control Index. Not the other way around!”

  Out of sight behind Janine, Peter pulled out his phone and quickly typed something.

  “Yeah well, we’ll see about that,” said Janine. “I mean, if I was Index and someone summoned me, I’d be like, well, I’ll decide when and where I go. That’s the thing with ultimate power really, isn’t it?”

  In the furthest chamber, at the end of the hall, there was the sound of a gentle ‘whoomph’. Peter heard it because he had expected to, but he was relieved that Orfeo and Penn had not. He’d messaged the other Word Guardians, and with any luck, that would be them appearing at either end of the hall.

  “You have no idea,” Orfeo seethed. In his anger, he turned to Janine. She’d managed to attract his full attention.

  “I command Index. He’s my creation.”

  “Yeah, well Frankenstein’s monster may be one thing, but as Penn has probably told you, the storylines are all twisting because you’ve trapped the custodians here.”

  She tapped her hand on one of the mirrors, casually. For a split second, her hand sunk into the surface and she felt a cry out to her from the custodian inside. She felt dizzy and she shook her head to stay in the here and now.

  Orfeo took advantage. “Get away from that!” he spat at her, raising his hand and pushing outwards. A wall of force hit Janine. She managed to conjure a small word shield in reply, but she skidded backwards along the floor into Peter. Fortunately, he saw what was happening and caught her.

  “How am I doing?” she whispered.

  “Great,” he replied, propping her back up onto her feet.

  Orfeo started advancing towards Janine and Peter.

  “You think you’re important,” he said angrily. “You’re insignificant! Like flies around dung!” He raised his hands to conjure further magic but was interrupted.