The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga

by Paige Dooling

  Avery pointed outside, to the heavy saddles by the hitching post, “Did you need help with those?” She asked Thomas.

  “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want ya to strain yourself.” Thomas joked, laughing heartily at his own humor. He knew Avery was strong enough to carry all of the saddles with hardly any effort if she wanted to.

  “Are you sure?” Avery persisted, “I’ve supposedly got the strength of like ten men. It would be no trouble for me.”

  To Avery, Thomas looked like he barely had the strength of a child, let alone one grown man. How he managed to carry the first saddle in all by himself was a mystery to Avery.

  Thomas shook his head, “No, no, Ms. Avery, it’s me job. Plus, I’ve still got to clean and polish them.”

  Avery accepted Thomas’s refusal without further argument. After all, she hadn’t really wanted to help carry the cumbersome saddles in the first place; she just knew how guilty she would have felt if she hadn’t asked.

  “Well, if you ever need any help, you know where I live.” Avery told him, “Of course, Gumptin keeps us so busy I probably won’t be there, but you can always try.” Avery turned to leave, but turned quickly back around, remembering something else she wanted to tell Thomas, “Oh, by the way, just call me Avery, no Ms. Avery…just Avery.”

  Thomas just stared at Avery for a few seconds, a small smile on his face, “Ya know, Ms. Avery….oh, sorry, just Avery. Anyway, ya know, I think this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had.”

  This shocked Avery, “But you said you’ve been here at these stables for forty years. That means you’ve been like fifteen feet away from me for my whole life.”

  “I watched ya grow up.” He said.

  Avery didn’t understand, “So, why didn’t I talk to you?”

  Thomas looked at the ground and then back up to Avery, as if searching for an answer to her question, “Ya just had other stuff to do.”

  Avery didn’t like that answer at all. She couldn’t think of anything that she would have to do that would prevent her from having a short conversation with a perfectly nice man whom she had known for her entire life.

  Then, a thought popped into her head, “Oh, my God, was I a bitch?!”

  “What?! No, no,” Thomas said quickly, dropping the bucket he had been holding and raising his palms in the air to stop her current train of thought, “ya were very polite. Ya’d say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ and sometimes ya’d even ask me how I was doing. Ya just were so busy with everything. Ya didn’t have time to think about anything but being a Protector, about doing your job and doing it well. Ya didn’t have time for people like me.”

  Thomas’s words hit Avery like a slap across the face. Avery hoped against hope that whoever she had been, hadn’t given Thomas and the other villagers the impression she didn’t have time for them. No matter what being a Protector had in store for them, she could never imagine isolating herself off from the people she saw every day. As disgusted as it made Avery to think that people could feel as if they weren’t important enough for her to concern herself with, she also knew the person she was now would never give off that sort of perception. Avery walked over to Thomas and picked up the bucket he had dropped twice now.

  Handing the bucket to him, she said, “Thomas, I promise, that’s not me. This time around you’ll get a lot more than just ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. So much so, that you’ll actually probably wish I would just shut up.”

  Thomas took the bucket from Avery’s hands, keeping his eyes on the ground, and even though he wasn’t looking at Avery, she could still see him blush slightly again, a small close lipped smile on his face.

  Thomas cleared his throat and glanced up at Avery, “Thank ya,” he said, “but like I said before, ya were never unkind, just preoccupied. Plus, anytime ya came in the stables before, it was usually for your boy.”

  Avery tried to decipher Thomas’s sentence. She could assume that he wasn’t actually talking about a real boy. To help Avery out, Thomas pointed to his left, and Avery’s eyes followed to what he was pointing at. Straight down the short walkway to Avery’s right, in the very last stall, facing outward, an enormous black horse stuck its head out as far as the stall door would allow him.

  “He’s yours,” Thomas told Avery, “name’s Phantom…good, good horse. Never a day went by that ya didn’t see him, so he’s missed ya quite a lot.”

  Avery had always loved horses. When she was younger, she and Skylar had taken horseback riding lessons at a ranch outside of town. From then on out, she had always wanted her own horse, but knew not to ask since her parents wouldn’t have been able to afford it.

  The big black horse whinnied softly, stomping his front foot upon the ground as Avery approached him. She walked past four other horses before she reached him, a medium sized dark brown horse, with a circular nameplate on his stall that said ‘Ajax’, a petite all white horse, whose star shaped nameplate read, ‘Dancer’, a good sized dusky gray horse that had the name, ‘Belle’ written on its nameplate, and an athletic looking buckskin with a square nameplate and the name, ‘Steel’ carved into it.

  When Avery reached Phantom’s stall, he dug his huge head into her torso and started to rub her with it. The initial force knocked Avery back slightly, but she recovered herself quickly, patting him on his large nose. He was the biggest horse Avery had ever seen, a good foot taller than the rest of the horses. He was completely midnight black, except for the shaggy white hair around his massive hooves. His breath was hot against Avery’s stomach, and she giggled as he started to nibble on her dirty shirt.

  “Did you miss me?” Avery asked, brushing Phantom’s long, shaggy, silky mane out of his eyes.

  Phantom reached his head up and lightly brushed Avery’s cheek with his warm nose.

  Avery laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Avery spent another twenty minutes with Phantom, brushing his soft coat, feeding him oats, and basically enjoying his company. Thomas told Avery that Phantom and the rest of the Protectors’ horses had been rigorously trained, due to the fact they were with the Protectors for every battle and every mission and needed to behave accordingly. So, at Avery’s request Thomas showed her all of Phantom’s commands, and Avery haltered up Phantom and took him to the large fenced in pasture behind the stables to practice the commands on him. She practiced getting him to stay, coming to her when she whistled, kneeling down on his two front legs, rearing back on his hind legs, walking, trotting, and running on command. Phantom was so well trained, it didn’t matter if Avery was giving the commands correctly, he still knew what to do, something Avery was thankful for.

  Although Avery could have stayed out there for hours in the cool night air, working with Phantom, it was getting late, and she had promised Jade she would get a good night's sleep. Avery walked Phantom back into his stall and unhaltered him. She gave him one last handful of oats and a pat goodbye. She could see why the old Avery had spent so much time with Phantom. Unlike training with Gumptin, it was actually enjoyable, and she didn’t feel the need to vomit after twenty minutes.

  As Avery was about to leave the stables she saw Pip walk in from the back entrance.

  Pip smiled widely when he saw her, “Thomas told me ya were here. I don’t know what ya said to him, but he’s in an awfully good mood.”

  The thought that something she had said put Thomas in a good mood made Avery feel warm all over, like she had made up for her past transgressions, “We just worked Phantom out for a little bit.” Avery told him.

  Pip might not have been convinced that was all Avery did to put Thomas in a good mood, but he didn’t question Avery, “Well, whatever ya did, ya made him happy.”

  Avery smiled, “I’m glad.”

  Pip stared at Avery intently a small furrow forming between his brows. Then, after giving Avery a quick look up and down his face relaxed into a small sideways smirk, “Ya know, it’s strange,” Pip said to Avery, shaking his head, “I know you’ve had a whole other sixteen years on
another planet, but to everyone here, you’ve only been gone a few days. It’s just weird to see ya so different. It’s almost like you’re a whole new person.”

  “You know, I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Avery wasn’t sure Pip had meant it as one, or if it was just an observation, but after the very few details she had learned about her former self, she was going to take it as a compliment whether it was intended as one or not.

  “Well, ya seem a lot more open now, more…warm.” Pip said, “So, I suppose that’s a compliment, but I always liked who ya were.”

  “Pip…” Avery was about to ask Pip exactly what that girl, who he had always liked, had precisely been like, but she stopped herself, not quite sure she was ready to hear the entire version of her old self. So, instead she finished with, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Pip pursed his lips together, looking slightly disappointed, as if he had known Avery was about to get more personal, but decided to stop herself.

  “Night.” he told Avery, walking away to help Thomas with the nighttime stable duties.

  Avery meandered back to her house. The weapons and sweets were lying on the bench where Avery had left them. She bent down and piled them all back into her arms. They seemed even more difficult to hold onto this time than they had before she set them down.

  As Avery struggled with the large doorknob on her front door, cursing Gumptin for making her carry home so much bulky junk, she heard her three dogs run up to the door, barking. Once she did finally manage to turn the knob and open the door, her two rambunctious German Shepherds charged her, leaping up on her and knocking everything except the bag of sweets, which she held onto with an iron grip, out of her arms. Avery pushed the fallen weapons to one side of the entryway and proceeded to give each of her slobbering dogs a giant bear hug. She intended to pick up the weapons later when she actually needed to use them. After giving each dog equal amounts of love, Avery looked up and saw her parents and Cinder sitting down at the dining room table.

  “Avery!” Cinder shouted, jumping up from her seat at the table and running towards her big sister with her arms flailing wildly.

  Cinder made her way through the wall of dogs and wrapped her arms around Avery’s waist. Normally, Avery would have bent down to hug Cinder tightly and pick her up into her arms, but today, Avery’s tired body just wouldn’t allow that to happen. So, instead, she remained upright, hugging Cinder around her shoulders.

  “You know what I did today?” Cinder asked, staring up at Avery, resting her chin against Avery’s stomach, “Guess what I did today. You’ll never guess what I did today. Guess what I did today.” Cinder jumped up and down, unable to control her excitement, her blond curls bobbing up and down with her.

  Avery was too exhausted for guessing games, but Cinder seemed so excited, she didn’t want to burst her bubble, “I don’t know, what did you do?” Avery asked, trying to sound eager to hear Cinder’s answer.

  “Well,” Cinder said, grabbing hold of Avery’s hand and walking her over to the dining table, “first, this morning, when I was still tired, mommy and I went out to the garden and planted purple flowers. Then, we picked some tomatoes and lettuce. Then, we picked some apples off a tree. Well, Mommy picked them and handed them to me and told me not to eat them till we got inside. Then, I helped Mommy bake some bread, which made the house smell really really yummy. Then, we walked down to the store and bought more stuff I wasn’t allowed to eat, and I met a really nice girl named Ginger. She’s a year younger than me, but that’s ok, ’cause she’s still nice and likes cats. Then, I came home and colored, and then I helped Mommy with dinner.”

  “Wow," Avery said, rubbing her little sister on top of her blond head, “it sounds like your day was a lot busier than mine.”

  The square dining room table had a purple and green plaid tablecloth strewn over it, and in the center, sat a green ceramic vase with bright bell shaped pink flowers sticking out of it. There was a basket full of warm sliced bread, still slightly steaming, a big pot of what looked like vegetable soup, a pitcher of water, and a leafy green salad sitting on the table.

  Avery sat down across from Cinder where a place for her had already been set. Her mother ladled her a bowl of soup and as the smell of spices and broth hit her nose; Avery could feel her stomach lurch. Avery was too hungry to even bother with a spoon. She picked up her bowl with both hands and slurped down the warm salty broth and chopped vegetables. Cinder giggled as she watched Avery attack the basket full of bread, slamming a large piece into her mouth.

  “Avery, honey, maybe you should slow down.” Her mother told her, holding her own spoon above her untouched soup.

  Avery held up her finger to her mother as she tried to swallow her large mouthful of bread, “Mom,” she swallowed hard, “if you knew what Gumptin had put us through today, you’d be asking me why I only downed my little bowl of soup, instead of the whole pot. To which the answer is…I was trying to be polite.”

  “Speaking of today,” her father said, slurping his own soup up, “how did everything go?”

  There were a hundred different answers running through Avery’s mind, like, ‘horrible’, ‘I hated it’, ‘my life officially sucks’, ‘if the Emperor doesn’t kill me, Gumptin’s training will’, but, “Fine.” Was the answer she decided to go with.

  Her mother looked at her with concern, “Did Gumptin say anything?”

  This question puzzled Avery slightly. She wasn’t quite sure what her mother was asking. After all, Gumptin had said a lot of stuff, most of it insulting, and definitely nothing her mother would be concerned with.

  “About what?” Avery asked.

  “About how your training was going. Does he think you’re at the level you were before Earth? Is he going to make sure you get an adequate amount of training before you’re actually expected to go into battle? Does he know anything about the Emperor’s plans? Do those plans include the Protectors? How does he plan to get you better prepared this time?” Avery’s mother rattled off her laundry list of questions without any pause, looking intently at her daughter, fully expecting an answer for each question.

  Avery just stared at her mother, one dark eyebrow raised. She stuffed another piece of bread in her mouth, stalling for a little time. There was no way Avery wanted to discuss any of that with her family. She wanted to keep all the conversations involving her previous and possibly future death between herself, the other Protectors, and Gumptin. She wanted to keep her family, especially Cinder, removed from that worry, both for their sake and her own sanity.

  “We just trained, Mom.” Avery told her mother, knowing full well it wasn’t the answer her mother wanted, “I don’t think Gumptin feels there’s really too much to worry about right now.” Avery lied.

  The look on her mother’s face showed Avery she really didn’t believe her lie.

  Avery’s father reached over and rested his hand on Avery’s arm, “Are you alright, sweetheart?” He asked.

  Again, Avery didn’t know how she was supposed to answer. Of course, she wasn’t alright; she had just spent the entire day going through Gumptin’s boot camp from hell; she was going to spend tomorrow doing the same thing and all for the purpose of getting her and the other girls prepared to face the psycho who had already killed them once.

  “Why wouldn’t I be alright?” Avery asked, then chugged a giant gulp of water to stop herself from showing any emotion.

  “Well, your mother and I were just worried that maybe this all might be a little overwhelming for you.” Her father told her, “That, maybe you might not be able to handle it as well as you did before.”

  Her father’s words caused Avery to prickle slightly. It annoyed her that her father would suggest that her old self, who had died, by the way, was more capable of handling anything better than she could now.

  “I’m fine.” Avery said in a clipped tone, not trying to hide her irritation.

  Avery saw her mother glance at her father, then back at Avery, then bac
k at her father, and then both of them glanced back at Avery, concern written all over their faces.

  That was enough for Avery. It had been far too long of a day for her to sit there and deal with this.

  After one more chug of water, Avery informed her parents, “I’m going to bed.”

  She stood up out of her seat, walked over and gave Cinder a kiss on the top of her head, “Night, Cin. Goodnight Mom and Dad.” Avery told them.

  As Avery clumped slowly up the stairs, she heard her sister chanting, “Goodnight…sleep tight…don’t let the bedbugs bite!”

  The moment Avery entered her room; she ambled over to her bed and collapsed on top of it, not even bothering to get undressed.

  The last thoughts that passed through Avery’s mind as she lay on her stomach, face buried in her puffy pillows, were of her parents questions and concerns. She thought they were reasonable fears and didn’t totally blame her parents for bringing them up; she just couldn’t share them. Avery was sure that deep down inside of herself somewhere she had to be scared; it just hadn’t become a real thing for her yet. She wondered if she was foolish, or just really dumb for not being scared of the Emperor. Then, she thought that maybe it was a good thing she was either foolish or dumb, because if she allowed herself to fully comprehend what she was going to have to face, she would run screaming into the nearest hole.

  Avery sighed heavily, turning her face towards the night sky, framed by her balcony doors, before mumbling to herself, “I can’t believe it’s only been one damn day.”

  Then, she quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 8

  The next week was a blur of exhaustion and pain to Avery. Gumptin had them up at dawn training harder and harder each day. It horrified Avery and the other girls to discover Gumptin had actually taken it easy on them the first day.

  Along with their normal training routine, Gumptin had somehow managed to incorporate two hours of study time in the library for the Protectors as well. Gumptin had them learning about different beasts and Demons. They studied maps and were lectured to about the history of Orcatia. Avery and Bunny took to the studying easily, just as they had at school back on Earth. Of course, for Avery it was more of a fear of failure than actual interest in the subject matter. Skylar, due to her flightiness, and Avery suspected, possible ADD, got about a third of what Gumptin taught them. Even though Sasha seemed to spend more time painting her nails and applying balm to her lips than paying attention, she still managed to impress Gumptin with her ability to retain almost everything he told her. Jade, however, was another story. She and Gumptin butted heads more sitting in a library discussing a book than they did when Gumptin was screaming at her to push her body beyond its breaking point. When Jade wasn’t playing around with one of her sharp knives, she was either sleeping, eating, or trying unsuccessfully to get Avery, who was trying to pay attention, to talk to her.