Defiant Guardians Anthology

by Jacob Peppers

  The sounds of yelling made me turn my attention straight ahead. I watched as a black armored elf, one I’d seen before in the training grounds, run towards us only to have a pitchfork shoved into his gut by a flying brown demon. The monster’s mouth hung open, screaming as it continuously stuck the pitchfork into the dying elf’s stomach. The wrenching of moving metal was somehow worse than their combined screams.

  Chaos was everywhere I looked. A thick black smoke hung over the Refuge as ancient buildings burned down. Women ran screaming for their children only to be wrestled down by demonic grunts who tore their limbs off with ease.

  My heart crumbled in my chest when I caught sight of Doctor Varok. Only half of him was hanging out of one of the drinking fountains, its water now crimson. Who else would these damned things take from me? I wanted to fall to my knees right then and there but I couldn’t! I had to be strong! I had to force out the thought of losing my new friends and replace it with that of survival!

  The Almighty had a plan! I just knew it. He was here, with us, even in this darkest of moments… but it didn’t feel that way. What prayer could solve this? What could the Almighty possibly do to bring us salvation from an army of darkness?

  As if the Almighty had his ear to my thoughts, the grand entrance to the Refuge began to jiggle. Someone… or something was coming in.

  The radius of the wobbling portion of the wall grew larger, which meant more than one person or thing was entering. I found myself praying hard inside my mind, begging the Almighty for any sign of hope.

  A woman appeared through the wall wearing shiny black armor which was in contrast to her long blonde hair that flowed in the wind of destruction. Followed behind her was a squadron of at least thirty men and women, all wearing the armor of the Black Knights. Her familiar eyes scanned the battleground until they rested on me.

  “Mother?”

  19

  Mother didn’t notice me at first, but the demons sure did. They were bustling over one another just to get at the unravished meat. Samuel had taught me that demons always went after the purest and cleanest of prey and that was why they were so good at what they did. They had a natural tendency to go above and beyond, to strive for new places, to rise above the others towards better things.

  That all sounded good, but what it came down to was: the demons were always more attracted to enemies that weren’t yet harmed. It gave them a sick pleasure to rip through the freshness and deflower the person of their pristine bodies, their holy temples. They craved bodies that were crisp, pure, and ready for destruction.

  I had known all of these lessons to be true because late at night when I couldn’t sleep, I could ask of myself, “Is that what I want? Would it feel good to send my claw through the stomachs and necks of my friends?” The answer was always immediate. I would feel a deep pleasure as my mind daydreamed about these sick ideas. These monsters loved those they could harm from the start.

  And so, screaming like the wild monsters that they were, the demons came at us in a small horde of around fifteen or twenty. They jumped off corpses, halted themselves mid-chew, flung themselves off rooftops as they all began to change their attention to me, Gauss, and Deborah.

  That was when Mother noticed me. Her eyes examined the battlefield with desperate purpose, and that’s when I realized she had been searching for me. What had taken her so long? Hadn’t she noticed that I’d been gone from the church? Hadn’t she heard the stories of a young preacher boy killing an old lady?

  Where had she been?

  “We have to move!” cried Gauss, snapping his fingers in front of my face. “Go! Go!”

  “Not without her!” I replied, “Not without my mother!”

  “You fool! This is her job! Watch!”

  Gauss pointed to Mother as she called out orders to her Black Knights, positioning them in front of the oncoming horde. The Knights moved with agility, order, and efficiency, creating a line to block the demons from getting to us. Mother banged a fist on her chest, the black armor around her breasts clanging loudly, and then she raised her gauntleted fist into the air followed by a battle cry. The Black Knights repeated this salute. A salute to a very probable death.

  “I can help!” I yelled back at Gauss, trying to shove more of Deborah onto him. “Take her and get out of here!”

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Gauss growled, grabbing onto my wrist. “You will not only get yourself killed but most likely some of the Knights as well!”

  The demons hit the line of Black Knights with incredible force, knocking many of them onto their backs. Just when I thought they were gone, the Knights who had fallen grabbed at the legs of the demons that were trying to pass over and shoved their weapon of choice into the demons’ guts. Black and red carnage dropped from their bellies, soiling the faces of the poor Knights.

  Surely, now these Knights would have let go, their mouths probably filled to the brim with demonic blood, but that is not what happened. They turned themselves onto their bellies and dragged themselves up to the head of the beast, each pulling out a dagger and shoving it into the eye of the beast. Each of the fallen Knights did this in synchronization. How they had prepared for something like this, I had no clue.

  “What the…” I said, my mouth hanging open. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  Gauss tugged on my arm, trying to pull me to the wobbling exit Mother had made on her entrance. “They’re the elites, boy. You aren’t ready to fight by their side. You would only bring them dishonor.”

  “Like hell I would!” I cried, my voice cracking at the apex.

  Letting fully go of Deborah which forced Gauss to fall over and grab her before she fell, I ran with all my strength towards the line. None of the Knights paid any attention to the half-demon reinforcement heading their way. I readied my spear, lowering it to stick into the unlucky demon that got in my way.

  Gauss was screaming obscenities at me from behind but I didn’t listen. My full intent was on helping my mother save what was left of the Refuge and it looked like my opportunity had just slit the throat of one of the poor Black Knights who had been overtaken by four crawlies. Three remained on the body to continue the feast while the other pulled itself out of the commotion to continue the stampede forward.

  I targeted the thing with one eye closed, my muscles tensing for the plunge. I could practically feel the cold blood shoot all over my face, hear the dying screeches as I hoisted the demon overhead as a symbol that the Refuge would not be taken.

  Two claws landed on each side of my shoulder, sinking through my skin and muscle easily and poking out the other end. It was like the Refuge’s butcher had loaned out his meat hooks and I was this demon’s flank ready to be salted and persevered for winter. I prayed to the Almighty that my sinful blood would cease the pain, that was my first thought, but no… pain came and it brought tears to my eyes. I screamed like a child as I was hoisted off the ground.

  And just like when a lioness plucks her cub from the hungry maws of the hyena, Mother was there for me. Only… the way she saved me was less than ideal.

  With one hard front kick to my gut, my shoulder muscles were ripped from the hungry demon. I fell onto my ass, dust instantly flaking over my open wounds. I couldn’t move my arms but flipped and flopped like a fish as my body went through a state of confusion.

  What do I do? How do I cope with this? Please, Almighty, save me from this pain and allow the dark blood, the blood I did not wish for, to heal these wounds of mine.

  Mother scooped me up like a babe and blew the dirt particles out of the holes in my torso. She smiled down at me and brushed the hair out of my face and placed it behind my horns, all the while people, good people, died around us. I could feel the ripped skin start to reform and the pain subsided just a little.

  Gauss was here now, a limp Deborah in his hands. He was speaking something to Mother that I couldn’t hear. She replied to him. But all my ears let in was that damned buzzing noise again. When, Almighty, would I
be free from the buzzing?

  “Take him,” my mother’s words finally entered my head. “Take him. I’ll follow after.”

  Mother pulled out a green orb and crushed it into her hands. She then rubbed the glowing lime green ooze onto both palms and shoved them onto my half-healed shoulders. She squeezed tightly, forcing me out of my painless allusion and pulling a childlike scream from my throat.

  Oh, Almighty, how I wish you would take me away rather than let me suffer. Please… no more… Be my savior. I no longer want any more to do with thine plan for me.

  And then I was awake. Full with energy thanks to the green orb’s magic. I got up and took half of Deborah’s weight from Gauss. Something snapped in me and my months of training kicked in. I may have failed at the beginning of this battle but I would be damned if I didn’t see it end with a strong finish.

  Gauss beat his chest with a fist and raised it into the air. Mother did the same.

  “Take these two to safety, Commander. Leave the Refuge under my care.”

  That gesture of his, the one repeated by my mother… that meant… Gauss was a part of the elites! My mother was his leader!

  There was a scream from the top of the library and everyone looked up to see what the source of it was. Gauss and Mother both gasped but it took me a while to recognize the man who now wore a rope around his neck. It was Lord Nagheed. I hadn’t seen him in months, hearing only that he’d locked himself in his chambers to profusely study the demonic army that was now attacking the Refuge. It seemed that his studies had not been fruitful or else he would have seen this coming.

  Lord Nagheed was calling out something but it was impossible to tell what he was saying over all the commotion. An unseen demon kicked him from behind, sending him to his death. His fall was not dramatic and came so unexpectedly that it was hard to believe that he was the man swinging lifelessly from a rope.

  Mother turned around, her eyes wide with anger. She looked up to Gauss with this ferocious gaze and yelled, “GET THEM OUT OF HERE!”

  Gauss started moving and I followed after him, my head still facing towards Mother who turned away from me. The last thing I saw before exiting through the wobbly wall was her throwing two red orbs into the fray, followed by the unsheathing of two medium-sized blades from her back.

  Suddenly, a golden radiance burst from around the steel, encompassing the entirety of both swords. Somehow, this woman, my mother, was in control of the amazing power that was the grace of the Almighty.

  And I… held the power of his worst enemy.

  20

  I’d never seen so many people stare at us.

  We must have looked absolutely crazy. An unconscious girl in full armor being held up by a large black man and another younger man with horns. How we made it safely and without attracting the attention of the guards of Auracle was beyond me.

  Thankfully, the Refuge had a plan for everything. Although they hadn’t seen the attack coming and had so far done a poor job of combating against it, they were prepared for it nonetheless.

  As I stood in the basement of the bookstore we were hiding in, Gauss explained to me that the owners of these Refuge friendly businesses were called Keepers and their jobs were to protect refugees if and when something like this ever happened.

  “But how does one become a Keeper?” I had asked.

  “It’s generational. It’s passed down from father to son. It is a great honor to protect those who fight against the king of darkness.”

  The bookkeeper, an elderly white-haired man named Pom-Pos, fed us while we tried our best to carefully tend to Deborah. I found that I couldn’t eat. My stomach was in knots for fear that I may never see my mother again. I knew she must have still been fighting because my horns were still itching even though we were a pretty good distance from the entrance to the Refuge.

  Luckily, fixing up Deborah took my mind off things. She was in really bad shape. Her breathing was very shallow and her leg bone was snapped completely in half. Her leg armor had dented inward, keeping us from being able to get it off. We had to send Pom-Pos out to fetch some blacksmithing tools just so we could bend the heavy metal away from the leg.

  After a couple hours of prying, we were able to remove the legging. The skin below Deborah’s knee was almost as black as the armor we laid to the side. Gauss crushed three green orbs, rubbing the contents in his palms like my mother had done for me, and gently caressed the green goo onto the worst looking areas.

  The muscles, ligaments, and bones tried their best to move back into place, but according to Gauss, the green alchemical spheres could only heal to a certain extent. Deborah would have to let time do the rest.

  The waiting after that felt like an eternity. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t out there with Mother fighting by her side, but then again, did I really want to be? I was scared. Very scared. It felt as though any minute now demons would be scratching at the cellar door, waiting to plunge into the darkness and disembowel us.

  And what had those golden swords been about? How had Mother done that? Why was she the one that got to have such a brilliant golden power and I was stuck with horns, a pencil-thin arm made of black rough skin and two dagger-like fingers? Was she just more acceptable in the eyes of the Almighty? Had I not prayed intently enough? Had I subconsciously pissed off the Creator of this universe? Something just wasn’t making sense.

  More than a few times I wanted to cry down there in the cellar. It was dark and depressing and reminded me of the cell when Gauss had stuck me with a white-hot brand. I would never forget the pain that had brought me. And here I was, stuck once again in a dark room with that same man. And, of course, he didn’t like to speak which made it all that much worse.

  After what seemed like hours, quite possibly even a day, there was loud banging going on upstairs making Gauss and I both jump to our feet. Deborah was still unconscious at this point and we were unsure when she would wake. She needed to see a doctor and soon.

  After a few seconds, we heard the bolts to the cellar open and Gauss and I had to shield our eyes from the light that shone through. A shadowed figure appeared and started to walk down the stairs in a very tired stupor.

  “Mother?” I asked, my voice sounding weird after hours of no talking.

  “I’m here, son,” she said, her voice as tired as her walk.

  “Please, Ruth, tell me,” said Gauss. “How does Refuge fare?”

  There was a pause. “Not good, Commander Gauss. Not good at all.”

  “What happened to your men?” I asked her.

  “Half of them perished at the hands of the darkness.” More silence. “They will be remembered.”

  “And what of Judge Samuel I asked?” my fists clenching by my side.

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure, son.”

  Mother was placed in a makeshift bed by Pom-Pos much like the one Deborah was in. She was fed milk, honey, and some buttered bread. I tried my best to let her rest for the longest time before I finally burst open from the questions that had been in my head for the past year.

  “Why do I have horns, Mother?”

  Mother let out a big breath of air.

  “The boy deserves to know, Leader Ruth. He has been as patient as any man his age can be.”

  “Very well,” Mother said. “If you were I, Commander Gauss, where would you begin?”

  “From the beginning, I presume.”

  “Such a difficult story,” she said, “For one to hear and for me to tell. But, you are right, Commander Gauss. It must be done.”

  I saw Mother’s head move in the shadows towards me. I felt her hand brush and move my hair once again behind my horns. Then, she let her fingers caress the hard outer shell of it. They were sensitive now, more sensitive than usual and I could tell exactly where her fingers were.

  “Ira. My son. Light of my world. I was never going to have children. I’ve never even taken a husband. I gave my life fully and ultimately to the Almighty. I was and have always been a warrior for t
he Refuge. Then, after a day’s training with my squadron and an evening at the church, I returned home and…”

  Mother sniffled and I wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to continue. Gauss, for the first time since I met him, did something kind. He rested his hand on my mother’s shoulder.

  “That is where I found your father. Waiting for me.”

  21

  The room became colder all of a sudden. I could see my breath escape my mouth as a thick white fog. The only noise that was made was the slow shuddering breaths that Deborah was taking. Gauss had his eyes shut as we all waited for the difficult story Mother was about to tell.

  “When I opened the door to my bedroom I knew something was wrong,” said Mother, finally breaking the silence. “I should have shut the door right that instant and left, but I just couldn’t do it. Someone or something had taken full control of my body. The power forced one foot after the other until I was full into the room. It was chilly… much like it is now.”

  Mother looked at me and we both knew that it was I who had suddenly shifted the temperature in the room. I could feel the anger rising within me. As for what I was angry about I wasn’t quite sure. Was I upset she’d never told me the truth? Or was I furious about what I was about to hear?

  “The power shut the door for me with my own hand. I remember feeling something warm brush the side of my cheek like a gentle breeze and with it came these emotions of dread and fear. I didn’t want to look at the source that was radiating this energy. But again, my face was turned for me. It kept my jaw clamped shut so there was no way I could scream for help.”