The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales

by Lawrence Yarham

  “Index,” whispered Raelinn to Orfeo. “At last!” She tried to let go of his hand, but he gripped her more tightly and pulled her towards him.

  She looked up in shock at him for a moment, and he smiled down at her. She smiled back, trying to keep him in the story. She looked along the hall and could see that the other soldiers were homing in on one chamber, where Yas, Sam and other guardians were gathering.

  “Drop the shield,” she suggested strongly. “Send Index to destroy the guardians.”

  He nodded and did as she instructed. The blue shield dropped from the archways and he motioned for Index to join the soldiers.

  Yas was still focussing on the emotion in the mirror. It was difficult because images flashed in her mind from her own memories, triggered by sadness, conflict and anxiety. She had to keep returning her attention to the mirror and the source of the emotion.

  Just behind her, the others were battling the soldiers. The soldiers were all advancing on Yas’s position, pulling past one another to try to get to her. It was a panic, but all the Word Guardians had to do was hold the line. Puddles formed around them as one soldier after another was slain, then the puddles joined and flowed away from the mirror. The water went underneath the feet of the soldiers until it found free space at the back for the soldiers to reform.

  Sam, Akoni and Eddie were splashing around the edges.

  “Eww,” moaned Eddie. “I just got melted soldier on my foot!” He kicked forwards, trying to shake the water of his converse sneaker, inadvertently kicking one of the soldiers and causing a domino effect. The soldiers lost momentum, regained their balance and then surged forwards again.

  “It’s just water,” shouted Akoni. “Stop being so sensitive!”

  “Yeah, that’s helpful!” shot back Eddie.

  “We’ve just got to do this,” urged Akoni. “For Yas.”

  Yas meanwhile could hear water around her. It was like standing in a rain forest, in amongst tall, wet sodden, trees. They towered above her, covered in damp moss. Fungi surrounded her on the ground, and there ahead of her was a small girl in a white dress. She was crying.

  “Are you okay?” Yas asked, her voice echoing gently through the undergrowth.

  “Hmm?” asked the girl, surprised, looking up. “I’m lost.”

  “Who are you looking for?”

  “I don’t know,” the girl replied, starting a fresh round of crying.

  “Hey,” soothed Yas, crouching down next to the girl and grabbing her shoulder gently. “It’s okay. I can help you.”

  “Will you?” asked the girl.

  “Yes,” replied Yas. “You see, the thing is, I’m looking for something too.”

  “What?” asked the girl.

  “I’m not really sure,” replied Yas, honestly. She stopped for a moment, questioning herself. Was this just from a memory or was this the root of the emotion. She checked again. No, it was definitely here. But what?

  “You look sad,” said the girl looking up. The girl had that complete and brutal honesty that young children had.

  The statement took Yas by surprise, but she knew it was true. She felt it. Not just from the emotion that was here, but in her life. She had struggled with being herself. With conflict around her at home and then sadness, she had created a wall to keep people out, a persona to present to the world. She’d even done this with Sam, she remarked to herself. She wanted to fix that. But how?

  “How do you do it?” Yas found herself asking the girl.

  “Do what?”

  “Let people in? Love them fully.”

  The girl looked at Yas for a moment, then smiled. “Give them a hug?”

  Yas smiled. “If only it were that easy.”

  The girl reached out to Yas. Yas, hesitantly, accepted the hug.

  It felt surprisingly good, like coming home somehow even though she was here in the forest. But then, was she? She knew she was standing by a mirror. She checked in again and looked around her at the forest scene in her mind’s eye. In the trunks of the trees, three faces appeared, the Fates.

  “You’re doing it Yas,” they said in unison.

  “Doing what?” she asked, back, still holding onto the girl.

  “Just allow it to flow. No resistance. Let it burst the banks. It will free you and us.”

  Yas wasn’t sure she understood but hugged the girl more firmly and tried to accept the emotion that came with it as fully as possible. The girl felt like someone she knew, but she wasn’t. It was more personal than that. It was as if the girl was somehow part of her. She couldn’t reason it out, but just went with it, as the Fates had said.

  The girl responded by hugging her back even more tightly and a fresh wave of emotion hit Yas. It rippled outwards across the forest floor. Sadness, grief, acceptance, loss, happiness and love rolled up and down inside her in an emotional ecstasy. She stayed with it as long as she could. It rose and fell over and over in waves. Then when she could no longer contain it, she burst into tears and started crying uncontrollably. Relief poured out of her. It rained down in the forest around her. Water drops, that had previously hung around them in the fog now turned to rain and fell, shafts of sunlight piercing through from above. The water quickly created a puddle. Then, very quickly, the water was up to her ankles. Then, unnoticed behind her, a ledge appeared under a window. Bizarrely, she knew exactly where that window led. It was to the castle. The water started to pour out. As it fell down the other side it wet her feet where the real her was standing. She came out of her vision and found herself gasping for breath. She slid down the wall, frantically reaching for a handhold on the mirror. However, it was no longer there. The reflective surface was pouring away under her hand, like the water in the forest. She stumbled across to the next mirror and touched it. She found solid purchase there, but only for a second. The surface also turned to liquid and started to pour out. She found herself reeling, feeling lightheaded.

  Sam dropped his sword and ran over to her.

  “Yas! Yas! It’s me!” he urged, to try to bring her back to the here and now. Yas’s mom ran over too.

  “Sam!” she gasped, coming round a little more.

  “Yas?” asked her mom, concerned.

  “What happened?” he asked. “What did you do?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Sadness. My tears. It unlocks the custodians somehow.” She thought back to the forest scene she had witnessed, then heard herself saying, “he trapped them by separating them from their emotions. So, they can only reflect stories.”

  She gasped again, as if she had forgotten to breathe.

  Janine ran over to them.

  “What happened?” she asked. “The soldiers are retreating.”

  Sure enough, the soldiers were moving away from the mirrors that Yas had touched. As the liquid surface peeled its way down, a slightly more dull, solid mirror was left behind.

  The soldiers looked concerned now. They were backing up, colliding with each other and keeping their eyes fixed on the reflective water. Akoni and Eddie took full advantage, charging through the water towards them, swords and magical shields at the ready.

  Akoni sliced at one of the soldiers while Eddie charged another. Both collapsed into puddles which then joined with the reflective water. The water bulged as before but then split into three large domed shapes, which continued to increase in size.

  Akoni and Eddie continued through the retreating mass of soldiers, engaging them where they could. Yas’s parents and other guardians also joined in, starting to make inroads from opposite sides.

  The dome shapes in the water split away from the surface and released upwards, transforming into the ethereal forms of the Fates. They moved towards Yas and smiled.

  “That’s it,” Yas said, understanding. “The soldiers are the physical embodiments of the custodians. That’s why they are retreating. Under Orfeo’s control, they know if they mix with the water, they will transform.”

  “Err?” asked Janine. “Catch me-up, plea
se?”

  “I get it now,” she beamed up at Janine. She pushed herself up to standing. “Orfeo trapped the custodians by splitting them apart from their emotions. Clever. If calculated.”

  “Why did he do that?”

  “So that the mirrors could provide a reflection back to him of what was happening in the realms. So, he could funnel that non-feeling raw power to create Index.”

  “Oh my God!” Janine exclaimed. “No wonder it was ripping the realm apart!”

  “Then he used what was left for his army. His soldiers.”

  Janine raised her eyebrows in surprise.

  “So, we’ve been fighting the good guys all this time?”

  “Well, kind of,” agreed Yas.

  “I guess Orfeo has been enjoying the irony of that one,” Janine added. “So, what do we do now?”

  “We need to get the soldiers into the water,” said Yas. “And I need to get to each mirror to release the emotional essence of the custodians.”

  “Okay,” replied Janine. She ran over to Peter and gave him a quick synopsis. Yas’s mom did likewise for Akoni, Eddie and Yas’s dad and then together they made their way across the water to the other guardians to pass on the plan.

  Very quickly, the Guardians and Peacekeeper creatures started to herd the soldiers from each side, preventing them from going anywhere but the water.

  Index had other ideas though. He spotted that Sam and Yas had been left relatively unguarded by the mirrors and created rectangular raised tablets on the floor. He motioned to the soldiers to move across.

  “Uh oh!” said Sam, spotting what was happening. He was moving along next to Yas and guarding her as she went from mirror to mirror, chamber to chamber. She touched each and connected back with the feeling of emotion. The experience took her inside the mirror in her mind’s eye and left her emotionally drained.

  “Incoming!” he shouted to Yas. He conjured a protective dome around them, hoping that it would hold.

  Janine had spotted what was happening.

  “Peter!” she shouted. “We need to get to Index!”

  He looked up from battling soldiers and nodded. Together they splashed across the water pushing soldiers down where they could and running others through with their swords.

  Index noticed that Janine, Peter and other guardians were closing in on his position. He motioned to the tablets, and they rose further, bending slightly in the middle and undulating like a hardback book. The soldiers and Index rose upwards and started to move about the hall more quickly. More tablets started to form at the water’s edge and the soldiers gladly moved onto these. They flew through different chambers engaging the Guardians.

  “Damn!” exclaimed Peter in frustration. He looked up at the moth creatures flying around the hall and motioned to them. They dived and engaged with the soldiers that were out of reach for the Guardians, pulling them off balance where they could.

  Akoni and Eddie, still at the water’s edge, cut down two soldiers before they could mount tablets. Then they took their places. While awkward and off-balance, they made the tablets rise and then found that using their centre of gravity, they could make the tablets move. They started to chase the soldiers around the hall.

  Orfeo looked at the unfolding chaos around him. Dai and Kierra had taken advantage of the dropped shield and had advanced, engaging the soldiers that had acted as a guard around him. Other Word Guardians, and Sentinels too, had joined the fight along with the peacekeeping creatures.

  Penn, for the most part, kept himself out of the battle. He occasionally conjured magic at creatures and soldiers that got too close to him, but he gradually moved nearer to Orfeo and Raelinn.

  “Dear me,” he sighed. “What are you doing, Orfeo?”

  He created a mirror and held it up. Orfeo peered at it and saw the reflection of himself and Raelinn together. It was enough to shock him out of his reverie. He grabbed Raelinn by the throat and pulled her up onto tiptoes.

  “What are you doing?” Orfeo demanded.

  “Distracting you!” she said, letting go of the magic leash she had on James. She conjured a knife in her hand and in a blur, stabbed Orfeo in the chest.

  He let go of her neck and half-stumbled backwards. His hand moved to the knife and he pulled it out. Then he stopped, straightened up and smiled.

  “You really thought that was going to work?”

  Raelinn stayed her ground. She hissed at him, baring her fangs and talons. “I want my freedom from you!”

  “No, Raelinn!” shouted James. He could see the storyline that had taken her.

  Raelinn launched herself into the air. Orfeo did likewise and they clashed in a blur, then ricocheted off each other. Orfeo slammed into a mirror behind him, the mirror swallowing him for a second, then he burst back out at speed. Raelinn crashed through the windows and landed on her feet skidding backwards on the gravel next to the lake. Then, they flew towards each other again, stopping about ten feet apart.

  “I gave you your power,” said Orfeo, hovering in the air. “I own you!” he seethed.

  “Bite me,” she hissed, challenging him.

  She collided with him again and they fought, their talons and fangs a blur in the air. Then Raelinn side kicked Orfeo and he smashed into the wall behind him.

  Orfeo rebounded in a blur, crashing into Raelinn and sending her flying backwards, making a larger hole in the window she had gone through previously. She landed and recovered, then flew back into the hall.

  Orfeo was on the ground though with his hand around James’s neck. James fought for breath, as Orfeo lifted him off the ground.

  “Give me your loyalty again, or I’ll turn him!” he threatened.

  “No!” she shouted and rushed towards him. She collided, pushing James free, but Orfeo grabbed her and used her momentum against her. He threw her towards another mirror, the surface swallowing her for a second. James flew and then rolled out of the way into the reflective water. The water was now a small lake. It had reached the next chamber and was continuing to spread further.

  “It’s working Yas,” encouraged Sam, as he watched other shapes form from the water. They were not soldiers, which he took as being a good thing.

  “That’s Y’in,” he exclaimed, pointing. A familiar Asian man’s upper half was emerging from the lake.

  Yas turned and looked. It felt as though she was watching through a fog, having been in and out of her mind’s eye. Then, she realised, there was a patch of fog in the room, forming, hanging there nearby Y’in. Out of it, an ethereal character appeared next to the man, an Asian woman. She turned and looked at Yas and smiled.

  “Y’an,” Yas smiled, relieved. She remembered the image she had seen of Y’an smiling at her with the hall filled with water. She realised it had been a prophecy of the Fates.

  “I need to keep going,” she said to Sam, turning back to the mirrors and preparing for the next one.

  “Okay,” replied Sam, looking about nervously. They were nearing the chamber where Orfeo’s guards were still strongest in number. These mirrors were likely to be the hardest ones to get to and the water was only just reaching here, so they had less protection. They had some cover, though. Peter and Janine were nearby, doing their best to distract Index and the soldiers. Akoni and Eddie were also continuing to fight their own front.

  Index turned and spotted Y’in, Y’an and other custodians appearing from the lake. He stopped and signalled to the remaining soldiers to halt. He jumped off his tablet and marched forwards into the water, motioning to the soldiers to follow.

  “What are they doing?” asked Janine.

  “Looks like they are committing suicide,” commented Peter, watching.

  The soldiers walked forwards into the water, melting with each step. Very soon they took on a reflective liquid surface look and then shrank back down into the water, where they stayed. There were no fresh bulges, only custodians rising from the water as Yas released more and more of the mirrors.

  The lake grew
as a result, expanding into the chamber where Orfeo was.

  Satisfied with what the soldiers were doing, Index turned and looked at the peacekeeping creatures. Clearly, there was an understanding between them and they landed and started to march back to the portals at either end of the hall.

  “Hang on, where are you all going?” Peter gestured towards the creatures.

  Janine touched him on the arm. “I have a feeling this will be okay,” she reassured.

  “But they’re leaving,” he gesticulated frustratingly with his hands.

  “I think their job here is done,” she replied.

  The hall emptied somewhat. It left the remaining guardians looking on at Index. They in turn watched the emerging custodians from the lake as Yas and Sam moved from mirror to mirror.

  Orfeo and Raelinn continued fighting, unaware of what was happening around them.

  Index opened his hands out to his sides, and he launched himself into the air. He flew to Orfeo and Raelinn, landing on the ground just the other side of them.

  “When were you going to tell me about the custodians?” he shouted up to Orfeo. His voice was a mixture of tones, the result being much deeper than one would have expected.

  Orfeo ignored him and continued fighting.

  “This should be interesting,” remarked Penn, stepping forwards.

  Index shot himself upwards. He grabbed Raelinn from behind and threw her round and behind him. She screamed in surprise and anger, unable to control her flight. She tumbled end over end, crashing into the lake near James.

  “When were you going to tell me?” Index demanded of Orfeo. He started to cast glowing words, then flung them at him.

  Orfeo created shields to deflect the words.

  “Without them, you wouldn’t exist!” he retorted.

  “You have no idea what you’ve done!” shot back Index, firing more words, then moving forwards and following up with punches and kicks. Orfeo defended against the words but wasn’t able to dodge all of the follow up attacks. He was pushed backwards forcefully, crashing part way through the wall.

  “You’re fast,” added Penn, unhelpfully from the ground. “I hadn’t expected you’d be a match for him.”