Sentry Rising

by Birkenhead, Naomi

  Copyright (c) 2012-2014 JukePop, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or JukePop, Inc., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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  Fate has called them forth

  Mathias watched as a slender young woman with long, wavy, dark red hair, strolled purposely down the sidewalk opposite his position. Despite her blended genetics there was no mistaking her identity.

  “I’ve found her Professor,” Mathias said from the shadows that concealed him.

  “Are you sure,” The Professor replied.

  “Positive.”

  Mathias remained rooted to the darkness, studying the girl. She’d crossed to his side of the street and up the stairs to the front door of a green and beige trimmed home. She searched for a moment in her brown leather bag for the keys.

  Mathias glanced around taking note of any activity, suspicious or not. He turned his attention back to her just as the women entered the home. Moments later an older woman emerged carrying an arm load of bags which she struggled to pack into the back of a small blue car. With his eyes, Mathias followed her car till it turned onto another street and out of sight.

  “Mathias, you still there?”

  “I’m here Professor,” he replied.

  “Keep an eye on the Woman, I will notify the others.”

  “Of course.”

  Mathias took note of the suns position in the sky. He only had to wait one more hour before an approach on the house could occur unnoticed. Lucky for him the front of the home boasted a large picture window and he could see the girl pacing around from time to time. With every passing minute the light of the day was overtaken by the shadows of the night, but still he waited. He could not risk being seen.

  Finally dusk faded into the night's darkness and as street lamps blinked and buzzed to life he made his move. Straight up the side of the house to where he suspected the bedrooms would be. He hoisted himself up and peeked in the first window he came to and was shocked to see a mobile turning, humming a soft lullaby to the baby sleeping below. Its light casting a soft glow of dancing fish about the ceiling and walls.

  “It’s not possible, this cannot be,” he murmured to himself. “Professor, can you hear me?”

  “I hear you.”

  “There is a child,” Mathias blurted out. “She has a child.”

  “Protect him.”

  With his mind racing, he continued around to the next window. He found the curtains partially drawn, but was able to make out a slender form beneath the purple and blue comforter. He continued on, circling towards the back.

  The house was quiet; exception given to a rather loud cricket who managed to escape death at the hands of the leopard geckos, and now roamed the house chirping contently. But there was something he missed. A small shadow, avoiding the silver rays of the new spring moon, slithered up the spirling staircase. The mysterious darkness stole over the top, gliding soundlessly down the hall pausing briefly before slipping under the nursery door. The shadowy figure concealed itself in the darkest corner beneath the crib…and waited.

  It did not take long before the baby awoke, releasing a desperate cry for his mother. She swiftly entered the room cooing gently, the door closing softly behind her. Before she could nestle her baby into her loving arms, the shadow struck. Not a sound escaped her lips. She was all the baby had. The floor welcomed her motionless body.

  Mathias heard the thud and raced towards the front door and inside the home. The shadow emerged clutching the hungry, screaming, baby tight to his form. Without warning a brilliant light bathed the hall. The shadow recoiled, a scream of terror escaping his lips. He scrambled into the only sliver of darkness remaining. Shielding his eyes with one arm he struggled to see its source when a voice eminated from the brightness.

  “State your business here,” Mathias commanded, quickly studying the situation, forming a plan of action.

  The shadow hissed at his unexpected opponent. “Show me your face and perhaps I will consider answering,” His eyes flickering anxiously as he spoke.

  Mathias stepped forward. The Shadow shrank back in fear, vanishing abruptly into to the night as mysteriously as it appeared.

  The house became quiet. The mobile still played, its lullaby echoing down the empty hall. A solitary light remained, produced by the dancing fish frolicking innocently over the mother’s pale feature as she lay still on the nursery floor.

  Mathias crouched down and scooped the tiny bundle the shadow left behind. The baby whimpered softly grabbing at the blankets around him. “What would a Shadow Breather want with you little one,” Mathias wondered as he let the babe suck on the end of his finger. He stood cradling the child in his arms. A smile forming on his lips as he momentarily became lost in the sparkling innocents of the babe's eyes.

  “Mathias?”

  Mathias’ looked up, tucked the child to his chest, ready to defend him if nessacery.

  “I am Zyphera. The Professor sent us,” The girl standing before him explained, showing her hands as assurance she had no ill intentions

  Mathias nodded his head at the woman and her two companions; a tall, lanky young man and a short older lady. They were strangers, aware only of each other’s names. But now they were called together to fulfill their duties.

  “What’s happened here?” Leath, the young man in the group asked as he peered into the nursery, taking note of the mother's lifeless body.

  Mathias looked at him his eyes puzzled. He was still trying to piece together the event that just occurred.

  Noticing Mathias’ inability to focus, the old woman stepped up, and carefully took the baby and handed him to Zyphera. “Quickly now, we must not waste any time. The Professor, and no doubt those nosey Keepers, will want to see him immediately,” Stout old Miss Mirdy yipped to her companions. Wasting no time for their response, she hurried out the front door.

  “You know if you don’t slow down, your tickers going to stop on ya!” laughed Leath, attempting to lighten the mood as they hurried after her.

  The old woman turned heel and marched over to him jabbing her finger into his chest. “You may not fully understand the importance of what we are doing, but I do and I intend to fulfill the task at hand. I have been biding my time in this god forsaken village for the last twenty years waiting for this day and I am not about to skip down the road singing a little diddle prolonging my time here.”

  The young man was taken aback by her reaction. “I am so sorry…..” He began, offering up his apologize “I was only try…….”

  The old woman would hear nothing of it. “Just because my hair is grey and I am a wonderful, full figured woman does not mean that I can’t keep up with you young folk, Mr. Leath durum,” She said standing on her tippy toes to be nose to nose with him.

  “Oh, of course not,” Leath stammered taking a step back. “You could take me any day,” He added hoping to calm the old woman’s mood.

  “That’s right, and don’t you forget it,” She nodded with a satisfied humph.

  Their other two companions chuckled as the old woman scurried away like a mouse with a cat hot on its tail.

  “When picking a fight, I find it best to know your opponent first,” Mathias, whispered in his ear.

  “Thanks,” Leath mumbled. “I’ll remember that for next time.”

  A silence enveloped them as they quickly made their way down side streets and darkened roads leading away from the baby's home. A
s if the child knew, the quiet ruptured as a tiny wail floated into the air.

  “What is wrong with him?” Leath asked, a bout of panic quickening his heart. Never in his life had he ever dealt with a child, let alone a baby.

  “I am sure he’s just scared,” Zyphera replied, gently stroking the baby’s cheek.

  “How can he be scared, he’s just a little thing?” Leath spoke quizzically.

  “Hopefully you never procreate,” The old woman muttered under her breath.

  “I heard that,” Leath replied.

  “Babies are incredibly tuned to their environment,” Zyphera graciously explained, “He may not understand what is going on but he senses something is not right,” She said barely above a whisper.

  “Well can you make him be quiet?” Leath asked, worried the baby’s cries would draw unwanted company.

  “You can’t just turn a baby off, Mr. Durum,” Miss Mirdy interjected in an irritated voice. “So you will just have to deal with it. Besides we are almost at the house and I am sure the professor will have made arrangements for his care.”

  “Well we should move quickly than,” Leath replied shooing the two women along.

  “If the man can’t handle a little squeaking, I have no idea how he is going to survive the next few years,” Mirdy chided in a hushed tone to the young woman.

  Zyphera chuckled lightly, nodding her head in agreement as they continued on.

  Another few miles and the rutted out road they'd been walking deposited them infront of an enormous iron gate. It rose twenty feet with two monstrous gargoyles residing atop the polished marble pillars anchoring either side. Leath stepped forward grasping one of the heavy gates in his hands, anxious to be out of the sinister seeming night. Before his palm felt the cool of the iron in its grasp, he was met with a startling roar.

  “You shall not enter through these gates,” a rumbling voice boomed, echoing across the night.

  “Don’t you tell me what to do?” Mirdy shouted, shaking her fists in the air. “If you wish to boss me around you should do it to my face.”

  "Do you think it is wise to anger something you cannot see Mirdy?” cautioned the beautiful young girl as she tried to pinpoint the voices location.

  Mirdy was about to open her wisdom trap, when two pairs of glowing red eyes leapt down from the pillars.

  “You should heed the young ladies words,” The voice rumbled, “Perhaps my friend here could give you a lesson in manners,” the voice smirked.

  Two giant gargoyles with monstrous wings, stepped out from the shadows.

  “What do you think Goliath? You take two I take two,” The smaller one suggested as they wandered into a thin slice of moonlight.

  “I want the little old lady!” Goliath growled, cracking a menacing grin accented by razor sharp teeth. “I like them feisty.”

  Miss Mirdy shimmied into the shadows, rooting herself beside Mathias as the gargoyles circled the group.

  "Since you think you have business here,” growled the gargoyles in unison, “you should know the procedure to enter these gates.”

  Mathias stepped out of the shadows. He approached the great stone beasts and stood before them, meeting their gaze without fear. Slowly he leaned in. “It’s not the eyes or the hand that see or feels the stone. It is the mind,” He whispered.

  An eerie creak resounded across the blackened sky. Slowly the gate opened granting them entrance to the grounds. The old woman, minding her manners, turned to thank the guardians. She found them perched back atop the marble pillars with eyes of stone.

  “Pleasant experience wasn’t it,” Leath said trying to shake the jitters that were still creeping along his spine.

  No one replied. Thier focus seemed intent at hurrying through the gates onto the safety of the grounds. As Mathias stepped over the threshold, something implored him to stop.

  "What is it,” Leath asked halting his ascent up the tree lined lane.

  “Ah nothing,” Mathias replied, “I forgot to check something. Go on, I will catch up,” he gestured for Leath to continue. Mathias returned to the gates. His hand felt the stone at the bottom of the left pillar. His fingers felt the outline of not just one, but two seperate names. “It’s impossible,” he whispered staring towards the lane. “Professor, you better call the keepers, they will be wanting to be here tonight.”

  With his mind still reeling with the progression of the day's events, Mathias caught up with the crew intime to hear Leath let out a low whistle. “You call that a house,” he exclaimed as an imposing white washed facade dotted with giant black storm shutters loomed out of the darkness.

  “Well, what would you call it?” The old woman asked sarcastically as she climbed the steps of the veranda.

  “A small city, half a country even,” Leath replied taking in the enormity of the structure. The old woman snorted as she pushed through the front door without pausing to knock.

  Leath and the young woman gasped as they entered the foyer of the house. Dozens of rainbow reflections sprung from the hundreds of crystals adorning the antique brass chandelier hanging from the center of the soaring ceiling. Their bright colours splayed across an elegant hardwood framing a mosaic of gleaming marble tiles.

  “I can’t make out the design, can you?” Leath asked.

  Zyphera shook her head. “It seems random to me?”

  “You can admire the shiny floor later,” Miss Mirdy said her heavy accent cutting into their thoughts. Leath and Zyphera hastily removed their cloaks and hung them in the closet.

  “I see you have all finally made it here in one piece,” A voice interrupted, drifting down from atop a mahogany staircase. “He is waiting in the second to last room on your left. Better hurry.”

  A regal Gentleman emerged from the darkness. He surveyed the group taking notice of their littlest addition. A flicker of confusion crossed the old man’s face. His questioning eyes drifted to Mathias.

  “A Shadow Breather was at the house,” Mathias answered keeping his deep voice quiet as possible.

  “A Shade!” the gentleman blurted out louder than intended, shocked by the news.

  Mathias nodded his head.

  “What of his mother?” the man whispered, all color draining from his face.

  Mathias shook his head sadly.

  “Thank you,” the gentleman replied placing a hand on Mathias’s broad shoulder. “Thank you.”

  Mathias rejoined his companions who were waiting anxiously in front of a handsomely carved door.

  “Exactly what are we doing?” Leath asked Mathias as he approached. “Shouldn’t we just walk….."

  Miss Mirdy’s voice interrupted them. “Animadverto Expositus.” Her voice barely audible, she gently traced her finger along one of the delicately carved flower stems.

  She cautiously opened the door, produced a small light from her pocket and stepped inside. The others followed close on her heels, venturing deeper into the room.

  Leath tripped, grazing his shoulder on something rough. “What the…is this a tree?” He exclaimed bewildered. He carefully extended his hand. A rough, knotty sensation greeted his skin. “What the he…”

  A hooded figure abruptly appeared out of the darkness. The group immediately went on guard ready to defend the baby at all costs.

  “It is good to see you all again my dear friends, it has been far too long,” The stranger exclaimed, pulling back his hood to reveal his face.

  “Gabriel,” The young woman gasped in relief, “Don’t you know it is impolite to sneak up on people!” smiling she gave Gabriel a hug.

  “It is good to see you Zyphera,” He said returning her embrace, “Ah Mr. Leath Durum, My human friend how has your journey treated you?”

  “Well, my company has proven to be rather interesting,” His gaze directed at Miss Mirdy as he spoke.

  “I would love to catch up on the years we have spent apart, but I am afraid I must reconvene with the other keepers. They are anxious to meet this child,” He said removing t
he baby from Zyphera's protective custody. “I ask you remain until I return.” Without waiting for a reply, he vanished back into the shadows and out of sight.

  It has begun

  Everyone waited in anxious silence; the darkness still clinging to their skin. After thirty minutes Leath could take it no longer.

  “Pardon me, but just…. How did we all… what are we…” He stuttered. “Honestly, I don’t even know what I am asking.” He admitted a little flushed.

  “Can’t you ever just be quiet?” Miss Mirdy asked in annoyance.

  Leath’s face fell. “I only wanted to know….”

  “Take no notice of her,” Mathias said resting his hand on the young man’s shoulder sensing his hurt. “She is long over due for retirement,” He added with a grin.