The Mystical Knights: The Sword of Dreams

by K. A. Robertson

  "Just a long one," he sighed, looking up at Arthur through the rearview mirror. "The pile of homework I have is longer though."

  Nia froze and pressed her back into the seat, her eyes practically bulging from their sockets. She exhaled slowly and inhaled sharply several times, trying to calm herself. I only have just a few more minutes left, Nia thought. Her fingers anxiously gripped the seat as Arthur turned the corner.

  “So—you're new here right?” Arthur spoke suddenly, looking up to where she sat in the rearview mirror. Nia felt more than saw Rowan freeze as she sucked her breath in with a loud whoosh. No! No, no, no, no! Nia reluctantly raised her anxious eyes to meet the bus driver’s, trying to be inconspicuous. Arthur continued, oblivious to Nia and Rowan’s tense reactions. “I know I have someone new on my route and I've never seen you before. What's your name?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rowan staring at her. Arthur continued to watch her curiously, waiting for her to reply. Nia’s lips had forgotten how to function. Rowan began to move, sliding his bag across the seat, getting ready to share the seat beside her—

  “Here!” Nia’s voice came out in a strangled shout. Arthur jacked on the brakes, sending a few unsuspecting students forward in their seats. It caught Rowan off-guard as well; his head smashed against the front of the seat and he blinked as he looked around, looking a little dazed. “I live here!”

  Nia was on her feet before her brain could register that she was moving. Arthur opened the door, gaping at her. Nia skipped the last step and bounded into the dirt. This road looked just as unfamiliar as the houses surrounding it; the trees that surrounded the road reminded Nia of a haunted forest-the trees were bare, their once bright and colorful leaves now brown and dead at their roots. They creaked eerily as a gust of wind blew through, throwing Nia's hair into disarray behind her.

  “Hey! You don’t get off here!” Nia winced a little at the sudden flare of anger in Arthur’s voice. She turned around to apologize, only to see Rowan in hot pursuit behind her.

  “Rowan Davies! I will give you a bus slip! Get back on this bus!” Arthur shouted from his seat.

  Nia found a small path breaking off into the woods. She glanced over her shoulder, watching as the doors on the bus snapped closed, and pushed through some of the prickly underbrush into the woods. Thankfully, January had been somewhat kind to them and had left very little snow behind. Nia broke into a run, her bag swinging carelessly on her back.

  “Nia! Nia wait!” Rowan called after her as the bus creaked while it rocked forward, speeding off down a little side road.

  “I don’t want to talk to you.” Nia snipped back. Her heart was hammering wildly in her throat, panicked at the idea of speaking with him. She wanted to be left alone to clear her head.

  A few minutes turned to thirty, and thirty minutes all too quickly turned into forty-five. Nia wiped her brow, struggling now to find her way out of the brush. The sun had broken free from the clouds, settling behind the trees as it began its descent into the horizon. And Rowan was still striding in her wake.

  Nia swung her bag in front of her and unzipped the front pocket. “I have pepper spray in my bag! I know how to defend myself!” she called to him, silently thanking her mother for making her take those after school self-defense classes back home. She pulled a small canister of pepper spray out from her bag and waved it in the air to show him.

  Rowan laughed. “I’ll be the least of your worries—trust me.” He then continued to himself, “Jeez, you're worse than Thor was when he came along...and I certainly don’t remember being this difficult... Running from me isn't going to make things change, you know!”

  Nia spun around and stared at him, now holding the pepper spray tightly against her chest. Rowan stared too, his right eyebrow raised slightly higher than the left. “Took you long enough,” he said, a hint of laughter evident in his voice.

  “What is this all about?” Nia stood on the balls of her feet to make herself bit taller and more threatening; she was tall, but Rowan stood a good head taller than her.

  “You already know,” he replied softly. “You sent us the message through your dream last night—”

  “You're delusional!” she said loudly, and the violent tremor in her voice made her uneasy. She swallowed hard, trying to work her heart down from her throat, and carefully continued. "Who's us? What are you talking about?"

  Rowan leaned his shoulder against the pine tree he was closest to. He crossed his legs casually, surveying Nia’s hostile body with amusement. Nia couldn’t seem to find her voice; the surrounding darkness made the trees look like towering ominous shadows. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. “Okay...” she trailed off, trying to find the right words, “so you won't tell me what you're talking about, but you want me to talk to you." She took a deep breath and stepped toward him. "What about the dream I had? Tell me about it. I'll talk if that's what you want, but I need to understand what's going on. What message did I send?"

  Rowan lithely pushed himself away from the trunk of the tree, his arms still tightly crossed over his chest. “The message,” he repeated, searching the forest floor absently in thought. “Your dream took place in Hollow Hills Park and you were surrounded by our guardians.”

  Nia perked a little bit. So he had gotten the place right. Lucky guess. “Go on,” she said, giving him a nod.

  “There was a woman—she greets us all—she is always wrapped in dark purple and gold cloth. She came forward with a lion that had eyes the same color as yours. She gave you your amulet—" Rowan stopped, his brow furrowing incredulously as though someone had stepped on his foot. He looked around the wooded area, looking tense.

  “Okay,” Nia said, warily shifting her gaze around the forest, following Rowan's eyes “So we had the same dream. But what was the message—”

  “Where’s your amulet?” Rowan rushed towards her, his face abruptly wild with concern. Nia stumbled, taken back by Rowan’s sudden flash of anxiousness. “Why aren’t you wearing your amulet?”

  “I—” Nia shut her mouth quickly, unsure of what to say. “It's in my pocket!" She pulled it out, dangling the chain between her fingertips.

  “You were told to wear it!” Rowan waved his hands in front of her face as he spoke. “That was the message! It's no good to you if it's kept inside your pocket! We're connected now, all of us, bound together as one-”

  The trees behind Nia rustled; something had moved quickly from behind them. Nia sharply turned her head to look into the shadows. Straining her eyes, Nia couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It must have been an animal. But the tingling feeling in her stomach told her otherwise as did Rowan’s taut shoulders.

  “Great,” he muttered, grabbing Nia’s wrist. “Just wonderful...get behind me,” he told her roughly, yanking her arm. “And stay behind me, no matter what happens.”

  “Why?” Nia demanded. “What is—”

  A loud ear piercing shriek broke through the dusk; something big and scaly sailed through the bushes. Something with huge, razor-like incisors and scarlet red eyes.

  Nia’s eyes bulged and her lips trembled; she gasped, nearly stumbling backwards over a large rock that was at her feet.

  Chapter 4: The Meeting Grounds

  The monster looked like a cross between a crocodile and a serpent. Its scales were like metallic ebony, gleaming in the sun’s weak light and Nia could see bright green ichor dripping from its mouth like drool. It slithered towards Nia and Rowan, snapping its jagged-toothed jaws menacingly. The monster didn’t hiss like a snake, nor did it growl like a crocodile. The sound that rippled from its throat was more like the edgy shriek of a raptor. Its ruby red eyes flashed between Rowan and Nia, it's forked tongue flitting wildly, as if it were deciding which entrée to go after first before dessert.

  Nia tried to scream, in hopes that someone from the road would hear her, but her voice hitched deep within her throat and her tongue was frozen in fear. She gripped Rowan’s
arm tightly, urging him to stay with her, but he easily pulled from her grasp and moved towards the monster, squaring his shoulders.

  “No!” Nia managed to choke out. “Don’t!”

  Rowan ignored her. Nia’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched him inch closer, eyeing it down with deadly precision. Rowan slowly raised his right fist into the air.

  Two things happened.

  First, the serpent sprang from its place and shot at Nia like an arrow, jaws open wide and its eyes dancing like wild fire. Before Nia could force her legs to run, the second thing happened; Rowan, fist still raised high in the air, shouted, “SAPPHIRE WARRIOR!” Noise like thunder cracked as a jet of royal blue light shot down from the heavens, showering Rowan with its rays. And when Rowan turned around, he wasn’t Rowan anymore. Instead, a steel-plated warrior stood before her, holding a sapphire and diamond encrusted great-sword at the ready. He lunged forward—catching the serpent around the middle, but the creature shrieked and thrashed its spiny tail, sending the warrior through the air. The warrior landed to the ground and bounced back to his feet instantly, unaffected.

  The warrior slashed his sword at the serpent as it advanced on him. The scene played out in front of Nia like a fantasy battle scene—the knight in shining armor, slaying the dragon to save the damsel in distress. Her eyes narrowed, watching as the serpent used its tail, wielding it like a blade. She didn’t stop to wonder if she was dreaming, or even to doubt that what she was seeing was real. Instead, her feet stayed rooted to the ground, frozen in shock.

  The warrior thrust the sword forward, but the monster inched out of the way and the sword’s tip just missed its flesh. Caught off guard, the warrior was knocked off balance by the monster’s scaly tail; he grunted as he stumbled frontward, dropping his sword so that he could brace his fall. The serpent laughed (or at least that’s what it sounded like) and arched its neck to strike the warrior in the back of the head.

  Nia’s arms moved mechanically as she watched the horrific fight. Grabbing a baseball sized rock from the forest floor, she hurled it at the serpent’s head. It connected with a loud thunk, leaving the serpent stunned and slightly crossed eyed.

  “Rowan?” Nia whispered shrilly, creeping towards breathless warrior while the serpent blinked rapidly, growling dully in its throat. “Are you okay?”

  The warrior—Rowan—didn’t answer. Nia could hear her blood pulsing loudly in her ears like rushing water splashing through a river. She stopped just inches away from Rowan, arm outstretched while shooting the monster frightful looks. The monster shook its head the way a dog shook water from itself, its menacing growl growing louder.

  Its red, terrible eyes zeroed in on Nia like a shooter marking his target. Nia didn’t need to be told twice. She spun around, dashing the opposite way she had come, her throat closing around her scream. The monster was shrieking now, crying through the trees like some sort of yowling cat. Nia’s feet twisted around each other as she clumsily tried to escape, bringing her down to her knees. She twirled into a sitting position, wide-eyed with terror as she watched the serpent advance, its jaws snapping perilously.

  I’m gonna die, she thought, gripping her backpack against her chest, the amulet clasped tightly between her clammy hands. I’m gonna die, and I don’t even know why or even how I managed—

  The picture of a tiny aerosol can flashed by her Third Eye so quickly she had to strain to see it again. Nia gasped in surprise, swinging her bag onto her lap, the creature closing in with dangerous speed.

  Rowan stirred from his unconscious state on the ground, groaning as he came to, but the serpent ignored him and continued its pursuit. Nia unzipped her backpack, pulled out her pepper spray and just before the monster’s incisors could snap across her face, she pressed the trigger down, releasing the mace straight into the creature’s eyes.

  The serpent’s shriek turned into one of pain as it pulled away; it slapped it's spiny tail against the ground and scarcely caught Nia’s right arm. She staggered back, inattentively rubbing her upper arm, and slumped back against a tree trunk while the serpent lashed away, blinking and rubbing its ugly face into the dirt.

  Rowan, who had fully gotten to his feet, charged over and with one swift slice of his almighty sword, decapitated the creature. Nia gasped and pulled herself to her feet, watching as the monster shriveled around on the ground, emitting the sound of air hissing from a leaky tire. As suddenly as it had appeared, the serpent disappeared with a soft poof, leaving black musky smoke behind in its wake.

  Breathing hard, Nia looked at Rowan, who gripped his amulet tightly in his hand. “Thank you for your aide,” he whispered, and the blue light shot down from the sky again, showering Rowan in the same sparkling light as before, and then soared back up into the clouds. He was no longer a gladiator, but a normal casually dressed teenage boy, who looked as if he’d just run a marathon.

  “What,” Nia breathlessly asked, “was that?”

  Rowan stared hard at her before charging over. He grabbed her upper left arm and forcefully began pulling her through the forest. “C’mon,” he hastily muttered. “We’ve got to get to a safe place, before he sends anything else.”

  “He?” Nia blinked, perplexed. “Who? What do you mean by sends?”

  “There's no time to explain.” Rowan weaved easily through the trees, holding branches away for Nia so that they wouldn’t recoil back at her face. “We have to get to the Meeting Grounds now. Trust me, that thing was easy to kill compared to whatever he’ll send next. We'll explain everything when we're safe.”

  “The Meeting Grounds?” Nia asked, staggering almost drunkenly to keep up with him. Although her legs appeared to be longer than his, he walked pretty fast. “I want to know what just happened back there! Why aren't we safe—Argghh!”

  The top of her foot caught an unforeseen log and she tumbled to the ground. Rowan took no time at all to drag her back to her feet, barely glancing back over his shoulder at her.

  "Look—I’d tell you everything, but there isn’t time. We're about to be outnumbered—"

  “I think I deserve some sort of explanation!” Nia cried in a strangled voice. She insolently dug both her heels into the dirt, and forced him to a stop. “I—I just saw a...mutated anaconda come out of nowhere, I watched you...I dunno, transform into a plate-clad warrior and try to take on the snake. And—correct me if I'm wrong, but I totally just saved your butt back there.” As Nia spoke, her voice began to rise with heightened uncertainty, until it was shrill and almost unrecognizable to her own ears. "I deserve an answer, something other than the procrastinating replies you've been giving me. You wanted to talk with me. Now I'm talking."

  “Nia,” Rowan slowly began, awkwardly shifting his weight from left to right. He played with the sleeve of his shirt, twisting it with his thumb and forefinger as he phrased what he wanted to say. “I know how bewildered you feel right now. I know how crazy this all must seem...” Rowan trailed off, his face screwing into an expression of frustration.

  "Tell me." Nia bit her lip and stared back at him. "What are you?" What am I?

  “I really can't tell you much more than that. I wish I could, but it's not my responsibility. That's why we have to get to the Meeting Grounds. It's the safest place for us right now, and I promise...everything will be explained."

  "Tell me what that thing was," she begged. "Just tell me that one thing and I'll follow you to where ever these Meeting Grounds are. Please."

  Rowan let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “She's not going to like this...but that thing was a type of basilisk—Serpencaeca." The unfamiliar word danced off of Rowan's tongue like music and fire. "Did you see the eyes?” Nia remembered the red, merciless pits embedded within the basilisk’s head and nodded. “The reason why you didn't drop dead the moment it laid eyes on you is because it was a blind basilisk—the ancients cut the eyes right out of its head, and—” Rowan stopped abruptly and stared at Nia. "I can't say anymore. Put your amulet on and come on."


  The winding path became dense and thick until there was no longer a path at all. The coarse bushes and hazardous tree limbs poked and scratched Nia as she stumbled through the wilderness. Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Nia gazed up into the sky just as a crow cawed darkly from a distance away. She wrapped her arms tightly around her middle and quickened her step. The sun was sinking behind the tippity tops of the sweet-scented pines, casting dark and lingering shadows all around the now silent forest. In the distance, she could make out wisps of light shining down from behind the long tree branches.

  Apprehensiveness bubbled through Nia’s veins like venom—quick and nearly lethal.

  They reached the forest’s edge; the white light from beyond the trees caught her amulet that was resting peacefully against her chest. Rowan reached out and pushed away some stray tree limbs. “It’s right through here.”

  Though uncertain of what it was, Nia took a deep breath and slipped through the brush without a second thought, Rowan just behind her.

  They were standing inside a small enclosure; the sun’s light embraced the circle, casting pools of light and warmth across the nearly frozen forest ground. A small pond sat in the center, surrounded by large rocks and an old tree house sat crookedly on a thick tree limb just above it.

  “What is this place...?” Nia gazed around tentatively, watching as a sky bird took flight from its resting spot high within a nearby tree.

  “The Meeting Grounds,” Rowan finished, nodding his head. “This is the safest place for us to meet. We can't be harmed here. Fiona made sure of that." He stared towards the west, patiently waiting for something to break through the many tree limbs. Biting her bottom lip, Nia curiously followed Rowan’s intent gaze. She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to see beyond the minutes, but blackness wrapped itself tight around her Third Eye, making it nearly impossible to see any bit of what was to come. As Nia blinked open her eyes, she felt her heart rate increase with a surge of apprehension.