The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  “Get back!” Everett warned.

  The young mage took a deep breath, using all his concentration and then let a series of powerful magical bolts fly. The glowing blue/black bolts of magical energy rapid fired from Everett’s outstretched hands, slamming into the golem. They blasted through parts of the armor, severing the golem’s left arm and leaving behind smoking, glowing holes on the rest of the golem. Everett stopped, breathing heavy and struggling to stay on his feet.

  The golem groaned, metal creaking and steam hissing from its various joints and seams.

  “Good work,” Elise sighed.

  Everett took a deep breath. “Thanks, I don’t think that I could do that again...”

  Everett was cut off as the golem lurched back into motion, albeit without his left arm.

  “Oh hell,” Tony snapped.

  There were so many bodies littering the floor that it was almost making hard to move.

  “This is insane!” Gabriel yelled, he blocked another blow and then thrust his blade forward, impaling the attacking Unkari before yanking the sword free and spinning it around to take out an approaching Darkling. “We aren’t going to ever get anywhere!”

  “Cody, we need you to thin the herd, like now!”

  “Thor?” Cody asked as his bow cracked across the face of another Darkling, sending it spinning to the floor. “You do realize that I haven’t ever tested the bloody thing!”

  “No time like the present,” Ryan snapped, he spun around, ducking under another attack and coming up behind the Unkari to stab it through the back. “Now get your ass in gear!”

  “What in the hell is he talking about?” Gabriel snapped.

  “We need to move,” Ethan said, backing toward the door way.

  “What in the hell is Thor?” Gabriel asked, yanking his pistol free and firing at several Darklings. “And I thought that we needed to go down the stairs?”

  “We’ll have to find another way around,” Ryan snapped, as they backed out of the doorway. Cody was the last one out, wheeling around on his heel and firing off an arrow into the center of the room.

  “Move your bloody arse!” Cody yelled.

  A few seconds after they took off running a thunderous explosion shook through castle. The tower that they had been fighting to secure shuddered and then the room they were just in ripped apart in a fantastic explosion of flame, light, and noise. The whole top of the tower came apart in a symphony of sound and explosions, raining debris down all over the area. When the dust and smoke settled pretty much everything but the lower level was gone.

  “What in the hell was that?” Gabriel demanded.

  “Might have been a wee bit of a nuclear warhead,” Cody shrugged.

  “You let him fire a nuclear warhead!” Gabriel snapped. “Why in the hell does he even have one of those?”

  “For situations like that,” Ethan grunted, surveying the area. “We have to get moving, Sainte-Pierre totally knows we are here now.”

  “Aye,” Cody nodded. “And I think that I found his ticket out of here.”

  They all looked to were the young Irishmen was pointing, in the center courtyard of the castle, parked among the other vehicles, there was a single helicopter. Ethan smiled as Cody drew another arrow and let it fly, impacting on the tail rotor and blowing it off in a burst of flame. At almost the same time, Sainte-Pierre and a cadre of guards emerged from another entrance.

  Cody didn’t waste any time, pulling out what was his last explosive arrow and letting it fly. It exploded behind Sainte-Pierre and his men, effectively cutting off any chance of escaping back inside. At the same time, the Guardians leapt off the wall and surged forward, covering the distance fairly easily.

  Flashes of silver/blue light lit the night as Cody fired several arrows, downing the remaining Unkari. Ryan, Gabriel, and Ethan took care of mopping up the rest of the Darklings, leaving only Sainte-Pierre standing there.

  “Well bravo,” Sainte-Pierre slow clapped. “I thought that you were supposed to be trained in the art of stealth and guile or did you think that using a micro nuclear device was being sneaky.”

  “Don’t move,” Ethan ordered, his pistol leveled at Sainte-Pierre.

  “Oh please we both know that Heat rounds don’t do anything but sting.”

  Ethan fired once, hitting Sainte-Pierre in the shoulder, causing the demon to scream out in pain.

  “Seems like it does something a little more than sting,” Ethan shrugged. “Now, come along nicely or I’ll sting the hell out of some other places.”

  “Oh no, I don’t think so,” Sainte-Pierre sighed. “Look, you did a good job of breaching my security, I’ll give you that but you aren’t taking me anywhere. In fact, aside from Gabriel, the rest of you are going to be very dead very soon.”

  “Not likely,” Ethan grunted. “You’re out of time Sainte-Pierre.”

  And then Sainte-Pierre moved blindly fast, using an open palm strike that slammed into Ethan and sent him tumbling on the ground.

  “You see, my dear Ethan,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “You haven’t even a clue as to what I am capable of, I’ve had hundreds of years of practice.”

  Gabriel and Ryan surged forward and both were sent spinning away as Sainte-Pierre countered their attacks.

  “You won’t beat me,” Sainte-Pierre smiled, drawing a weapon from the inside of his coat. The weapon elongated into a spear, the tip was made out of the same metal that crafted the immortal blades that several of the Unkari were using. He whipped the spear around in a series of movements before beckoning Guardians forward.

  “You got any more arrows?” Ethan asked.

  “None that will take him down for long,” Cody responded.

  “Then we do this the old fashioned way,” Ethan growled, drawing his swords.

  “Oh this outta be fun,” Sainte-Pierre smiled.

  Cody dropped his bow and drew his own weapon, which snapped into a glowing silver/blue staff.

  The four Guardians charged in again, sparks igniting when their weapons encountered the Immortal metal but no matter how fast he Guardians were, Sainte-Pierre appeared to be faster, deflecting every attack that they threw at him.

  Gabriel went in slashing with Aequitas, Sainte-Pierre easily pushed the blows away and then launched an assault at the same time, trying to slash Gabriel across the face with the spear. Gabriel took a step back, avoiding a portion of the attack but not all of it. The spear tip slashed his face, sending blood running down his cheek. He attempted to re-engage but caught a kick to the stomach, sending him to the ground.

  Blades, spears, and staffs whistled through the night air, smashing against each other as the four Guardians and the demon danced across the courtyard. Sainte-Pierre was good, although a lifetime of fighting tended to do that to a person. Ryan was sent spinning away as Sainte-Pierre hit him with a roundhouse kick, Cody crumpled as he took a hit right to the gut.

  Ethan came in with his swords, hammering away at Sainte-Pierre with every move in his arsenal. He got in a few hits, leaving behind scorch marks on Sainte-Pierre’s skin. The demon snarled at the wounds, launching into a powerful series of thrusts and jabs that had Ethan back peddling away, weaving a defensive pattern to avoid getting skewered by Sainte-Pierre’s spear.

  “What you fail to understand,” Sainte-Pierre growled, hitting Cody in the face with the blunt end of his spear, “Is that you have already lost.”

  “Go to hell,” Ethan snapped, launching himself back at Sainte-Pierre.

  “I’ve already been there once,” Sainte-Pierre smiled, blocking several strikes by Ryan and then sweeping him off his feet. “And I really don’t think that it was that bad of a place, this whole freaking planet on the other hand could be a lot better off.”

  Tony rolled back to a standing position, loosening another clip at the several more Darklings that had appeared. They had overcome their shyness now and were starting to venture back out onto the battlefield, despite the raging war golem.

  Another burst f
rom Elise’s rifle caused it to momentarily turn its attention away from Tony and back toward her. The golem responded by unleashing another blast of lighting from it still good arm, ripping apart the ground where Elise had been standing. The young Guardian had dodged clear at the last second.

  Marissa’s whip cracked out, lashing against the armor and leaving a deep pitted mark behind, she spun in circle, taking off the heads of several approaching Darklings. Everett leapt into the fray, though he might have been magically drained his skills with his staff were still up to par at least for now. Tony took note that he was sweating a lot more than anyone else and his color wasn’t looking too great.

  “Duck!” Elise shouted.

  Tony hit the deck as Elise unleashed her rifle on full auto, mowing down the rest of the Darklings had the misfortune of wandering into the battle space.

  “We can’t get close enough to actually put a dent in that thing!”

  “Gee, tell us something that we don’t know,” Elise snapped.

  The group of Guardians scattered as the remaining arm came crashing down on the ground, leaving behind a sizable crater. Had anyone of them been standing there, high tech armor or not they would have been crushed completely. Tony darted forward, leaping toward the golem’s arm in an attempt to gain access to it.

  He never made it. The golem’s arm moved incredibly fast for such a large and lumbering looking machine, smacking him down in mid-leap, he hit the ground and popped back up, cartwheeling sideways to avoid another lighting attack.

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Elise growled.

  “I can’t throw another magical attack him like I did before,” Everett panted. “I don’t have the strength...”

  “Then we need a new plan!” Tony shouted.

  Marissa lashed out several times with her whip, leaving burning marks along the metal surface. This got its attention and it promptly turned toward her, firing another lighting attack. Marissa dodged it, although just barely. Elise and Tony rushed in, closing the distance and launching them up onto the golem’s back.

  Tony whirled Stormbringer around before plunging it into the shoulder of the lurching golem. Next to him, Elise started to hack away with her own axes, digging out ragged gashes in the mystical armor. The golem groaned and tried to swat them off with his one good arm.

  When that failed to work, the golem started thrashing about wildly, trying in vain to buck off his attackers. Both Tony and Elise dug in their weapons and held on as the large mystical machine started flailing about; had the thing not been so intent on killing them it might have actually been amusing to watch.

  “Hang on!” Tony shouted.

  “As if I had a choice!” Elise snapped back.

  The golem lurched to a stop, seemingly confused by what was happening. At least until they heard a whine start from deep within the machine. Energy began to crackle across its skin, sending tendrils running over both their armors.

  “Drop!”

  The two Guardians yanked their weapons free and dropped down, sprinting away from the golem as massive energy wave rippled outward. The wave struck Tony in the back, jarring him off his feet and sending a wave of pain pulsing through his body. He hit the ground hard, coughing and sputtering.

  Everett was beside him in an instant, hauling him to his feet. The young mage still looked a little pale but there was more color returning to his face and he was breathing much easier now.

  “On your feet,” he snapped. “I think that you just pissed it off even more.”

  “Oh good,” Tony coughed. “Totally accomplished my goal then.”

  “We need to find a way to slow that thing down, give Ethan and his team enough time to get out of there,” Everett thought aloud. “Do you think that you could get back on that things back?”

  “What in the hell for?” Tony frowned.

  “Because I have a plan,” Everett snapped. “And I need your sword stuck in that thing to make it work.”

  “Somehow I doubt that I’m going to like this plan of yours!”

  “Just move it!”

  Tony saluted and then took off in a dead sprint toward the lumbering golem. He jumped, landing on the back of the golem again. He jammed Stormbringer down, slicing clean through the armor and into the machinery underneath and then flipped off, landing clear just as Elise and Marissa lit it up with Heat rounds.

  “Get clear!” Everett shouted

  Everett took a deep breath, power crackling around his hands. He started to lift off the ground, hovering as storm clouds built above them. The wind increased dramatically, static electricity filled the air and Everett’s eyes started to glow with a bright blue light. He raised his hands and brought down the lighting...literally.

  Lighting exploded from the sky, striking the sword that was sticking out of the golem’s back. But it wasn’t just one strike, it was dozens, causing explosions to erupt all around the golem and scorch the ground. One final massive bolt dropped from the heavens, shattering the golem into hundreds of pieces.

  “Whoa,” Tony said.

  And with that, Everett promptly passed out.

  Gabriel hit the ground hard, pain surging through his side. Sainte-Pierre’s spear had clipped his armor in the side, slicing through the thick material and cutting into the skin underneath. He could still breathe, so he assumed that the blow wasn’t all that bad...of course he could be completely wrong. He rolled back to his feet, regaining his footing just in time to see Ryan go down as Sainte-Pierre caught him with a roundhouse kick.

  “Oh come on,” Sainte-Pierre taunted. “Is that all you really have?”

  Ethan didn’t respond but instead charged right back into battle, swords slashing wildly. Gabriel came at him from the side, joining back in the battle. Swords whirled through the air, sparking as they encountered the mythical metal. Gabriel dropped low, stroking his sword across Sainte-Pierre’s thigh, causing the demon to cry out in alarm and pain. He responded by slamming a snap kick into Ethan, sending him tumbling away.

  “You!” Sainte-Pierre hissed, pointing at Gabriel. “The only reason that I am going to let you live is I am pretty sure that my partner wants you alive still...otherwise you would be as dead as the rest of them!”

  “I’m kind of a pain in the ass like that,” Gabriel grunted, whirling around his blade to block the next series of attacks. Sainte-Pierre thrust toward him, Gabriel pushed the blow aside, striking at Sainte-Pierre’s face with left hook that sent blood flying from the demon’s nose and mouth.

  “You’re good,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. “But I’m better.”

  Sainte-Pierre exploded into action, hitting Gabriel with everything that he had. Gabriel worked hard to keep the spear at bay, blocking each attack as best he could. Several strikes got through piercing through parts of the armor and stabbing into his flesh. He grunted with each hit, but Sainte-Pierre was driving the battle now, pushing Gabriel across the courtyard.

  Gabriel miscalculated slightly, allowing Sainte-Pierre to pounce on an opening, knocking his blade away and leaving him open for attack. Sainte-Pierre reached inside, grabbing Gabriel’s right arm and clenching down with an iron grip. Gabriel cried out in pain, dropping Aequitas and falling to his knees. Sainte-Pierre continued to squeeze, compressing the armor and the flesh and bone underneath.

  “You see my dear friend, you are obsolete, in fact all of you are nothing more than relics from a bygone age,” Sainte-Pierre said, continuing to squeeze. “I will drag your secrets out into the light and make sure that every person on the planet knows what you have been hiding.”

  “You do that you’ll incite a panic,” Gabriel growled, through clenched teeth.

  “You’re right,” Sainte-Pierre smiled. The pressure on his arm continued to mount, sending waves of pain coursing up through his arm. “But that’s the thing, with all of you so called Guardians dead and gone; they won’t have any idea how to stop us. We’ll be invincible.”

  Sainte-Pierre gave one final squeeze and Gabriel felt both
bones in that arm go, snapping under the pressure. Spikes of pain ripped through his arm, causing him to scream out in pain. Gabriel took kick to the face, sending him to the ground.

  By this time the rest of his team had regrouped and slammed into Sainte-Pierre with furious intent, driving him away from the wounded Gabriel. Gabriel slowly got back to his knees, watching as the rest of his team engaged Sainte-Pierre, who was already starting to force them back across the courtyard, despite the fact that there were three of them.

  He struggled forward, cradling his broken arm and looking for where Aequitas had landed. He knew that he could call on the blade but doing so would send it on a direct path toward him, which meant that he could possibly injure his own team. He turned his mind back to the battle at hand, wishing that there was a way that he could help.

  And that’s when Ryan’s scream pierced the night. Gabriel’s head whipped around to see Sainte-Pierre withdraw the spear from Ryan’s abdomen, the glowing black/white metal coated in blood. He spun around, knocking both Ethan and Cody to the ground. Ryan crumpled, he tried ot get back up but the blunt end of Sainte-Pierre’s spear slammed across his face, knocking him out cold.

  Rage started to build up within Gabriel, at first nothing more than a spark but then it grew into all-consuming fire. He knew that they needed Sainte-Pierre alive but if he didn’t do something fast then there was a good chance that he would kill the rest of his team...his friends. His mind worked desperately for a solution but he couldn’t even see his weapon and with his arm broken he didn’t have a very good chance at using it either.

  Ethan and Cody were growing more desperate in their strikes, being worn down by Sainte-Pierre and no doubt distracted by their wounded comrades. But he had to do something...anything to save his friends...his teammates.

  Cody was down now, just leaving Ethan standing against the onslaught of a very annoyed and furious looking Sainte-Pierre. He struggled to keep himself away from the lighting fast movements of Sainte-Pierre. Gabriel looked around, his eyes finally falling on Aequitas. It was lying right behind where Sainte-Pierre was backing Ethan up into a corner.