Kellan stopped short when Thurron stood in front of me protectively. He looked the demon up and down before making a small bow.
“It’s nice to meet you, Prince Thurron. I’m Councilman Kellan of The Guardianship. We are thankful to have your help.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” my brother said, bowing back. “I’m here to protect my little sister. That’s all. My father said nothing about protecting your guardianship.”
“I know, but by protecting her, you help protect us from these wrath demons.”
My brother snarled in disgust. “Wrath demons are the worst of our kind. They need to be destroyed, but the High King forbids it. The ones that have come to this realm have broken the rules, so they’re fair game. I’ll kill them the minute I see them for touching my sister.”
He shook his head from side to side, and his eyes turned dark red. Kellan looked around, worried. I reached out and grabbed my brother’s arm. He looked down at me, and his expression softened. He put his arm around my shoulders, and his eyes went back to black.
“Sorry, little sister. Dad says I have to control my temper better, but I’m still working on it. I get so mad when I think about what they did. We would’ve protected you if we had known about you.”
“It’s ok. You can protect me now,” I said.
I looked at Ian with wide eyes. I didn’t know how to deal with all these protective men in my life. I never had anyone to worry about me besides Beth. Now I had too many, all wanting to protect me. I needed to clear my head. I told them I was going to sit on the back porch. My brother tried to go with me, but I told him to stay and talk to Kellan and Ian. When he hesitated, I pointed to Molly.
“She’ll be right next to me the whole time. I need a few minutes to wrap my head around everything.”
He nodded, and I went outside. I could hear them talking as I pulled the door closed behind me. They would figure out the best plan and let me know. I was out of my depth here. I sat in one of Ian’s chairs, and Molly put her head in my lap. I stayed like that for a while, looking out into the trees surrounding Ian’s place.
When I finally went inside, Kellan was gone, and Ian was talking with Thurron about our patrol. Thurron would be coming with us. Between him and Molly, I would be well protected.
When we came across the first group of guardians that evening, they stopped and stared at Thurron. He puffed up his chest and growled, making him look even scarier.
“Knock it off,” I told him. “We don’t want them being scared of you. They’re on our side.” Thurron deflated and frowned.
Ian called the guardians over and introduced him. Thurron didn’t shake hands, instead nodding his head to each guardian. When one of the guardians said they were going to destroy the wrath demons, my brother smiled and let out a hell yeah so loud, it scared the guardians.
I laughed and walked away, saying goodbye to the other guardians. We encountered the same thing over and over. Everyone had heard about Thurron, and they were coming to investigate him. Most seemed ok with him after they met him, but a few kept their distance, eyeing him with distrust.
I made a mental note of every person who had a problem with Thurron. I would have to keep them away from him. I didn’t want him to be attacked by our own people. I knew from living with nary’s that some people just couldn’t let go of their prejudices. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen here, but I wasn’t going to count on it.
Nothing eventful happened that night or for the next couple of nights. I was starting to feel safe, thinking maybe they weren’t going to attack us. Thurron told me not to get my hopes up. The wrath demons wouldn’t give me up so easily. They needed to control my father, and the best way to do that would be to take me.
They couldn’t take Thurron because he was protected. If anyone tried to hurt a prince from a different kingdom, it would mean war, and the wrath demons weren’t ready to declare war yet. They could kidnap me because I wasn’t recognized as a princess by the High King since no one had known about me.
Once my father took me to the High King and proved my bloodline, I would have the same protections. I wasn’t sure that would ever happen. I didn’t think I would be going to Vammoriel anytime soon since the wrath demons wanted me so badly that they broke the rules and sent their demons here. I couldn’t imagine how bad it would be if I went to Vammoriel and all the wrath demons came for me.
Staying in this realm was the safest choice for me, so no visiting the High King. Thurron told me I couldn’t go right now anyway. The High King wasn’t seeing anyone. He was grieving the loss of one of his children and wouldn’t come out of his castle for another few months. That explained why the wrath demons were disobeying their High King’s rules. They knew he wasn’t paying as much attention as usual.
I was heading to see Kellan with my brother when we ran into a few guardians on patrol. I had seen them around but didn’t know them very well. They stopped in front of us and sneered. One of them stepped forward and glared.
“Demon filth,” one of them said, spitting at Thurron. “Go back to where you came from.” He looked at me. “And take her with you. We don’t like demon half breeds here. The only reason anyone is nice to you is because you bewitched Ian. We don’t know how you did it, but if we get rid of you, he might come to his senses,” the leader said, taking another step toward us.
Thurron stepped in front of me protectively snarling. The guardian stepped back quickly. “You won’t always be guarded,” he said.
Thurron made a move toward him, and I grabbed his arm. “Let them go,” I said as they walked away laughing to themselves, thinking they had stood up to a demon and won. They didn’t realize Thurron could kill them, probably without breaking a sweat if he wanted. “They aren’t worth it.”
“It’s worth it to me if they threaten you.”
I was surprised and then grateful that I had a brother who really cared about me. I kind of liked having all these new people in my life who wanted to be around me. I glanced the way the guardians had gone. I was learning a lot about the magi world.
Thurron taught me all demons weren’t bad and some guardians, who should be the best of all the magi, were actually awful. Nothing was ever as black and white as it seemed. There were a couple other guardians that didn’t like Thurron, but most got along with him.
After a few days, Thurron was starting to get to know some of the guardians and would call out to them when they passed. One even stopped to give him a fist bump. It was pretty funny to watch.
Thurron seemed to be enjoying this realm more than I thought he would. We still hadn’t heard from our dad, but Thurron told me he would contact us when he had more information.
Everyone was tired from the extra patrols, but Kellan insisted we keep doing them. Many of the guardians were starting to complain. Lack of sleep and waiting for the attack was getting to some of them. Kellan had a small feast over the weekend to try and keep everyone’s spirits up.
We didn’t go because we had the nighttime patrol and needed to be alert. No one else in my patrol went either. Nothing happened throughout the night. As we headed back to Ian’s cabin to get some rest we passed a group that looked a little worn out from partying too much at the feast.
“Today is going to suck for them,” I told Ian, laughing.
He smiled. “Yeah, but they needed it. Everyone has been really tense, waiting for something to happen.”
“I know. I wish we knew when they were planning their attack on us.”
“We all do,” Ian said, and Thurron agreed.
The alarms went off that evening. We ran to the gates to see what was happening. I climbed the ladder to stand on the wall and almost fell back when I saw the other side. There were magi everywhere.
I could see John and Erica walking through the other magi. I recognized a few other faces from the compound, but many of them were new. There were even some nary’s. They were all trying to get in, but they couldn’t get past the spot where I had stepped on
the vial.
The spell my dad gave me was working. They were stuck out there. I watched as John raised his arms and threw magic toward us. We ducked, but the spell never hit.. Even with all these rogue guardians trying to get in and take over the compound, I felt safe. I took a deep breath. My dad had protected us. I needed to thank him the next time I saw him.
We watched as they continued to waste their magic. Nothing they threw at it made any difference. After a few hours, they turned and left, John in the lead with Erica right beside him. I wondered which one of them had turned the other. My bet was on John. He liked power even more than her.
Everyone felt better after the rogues left. The shield protected us. We knew it wouldn’t last forever, but it gave us a small reprieve. We continued our patrols over the next few days without any alarms. When they finally went off again. We ran to the gates and saw a small handful of magi outside the walls. They were walking close to the shield, occasionally throwing magic at it.
“They’re trying to figure out how to bring it down,” Ian said to me.
“Will they be able to?”
“No,” Thurron said. “They need the demons to bring it down. Even then, it will take a lot of their power. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to waste my power on the shield. The guardians in the compound would be able to take the demons down easier if they used that much power right away. They’ll try to find another way.”
“Is there another way?”
“There’s always another way, nothing can be perfectly secure. Eventually, they’ll find a way in, but we’ll be ready,” Thurron said.
They continuously bombarded the protections on the compound with different spells, never having much effect. They were working in shifts too. There were always a few rogues outside the compound walls. Kellan refused to let us fight them, saying we were protected, so it wasn’t right to fire spells at them. I disagreed since, as soon as they found a way in, they would try to kill us.
Kellan wouldn’t listen to me though. He was a guardian and sworn to protect life. That included the sorry rogues outside our walls. Until they tried to hurt us, we couldn’t touch them. That didn’t keep some of our guardians from taunting them when they ventured too close to the walls.
This went on for more than a week before there was a shift in the guardian’s attitudes. No one had been able to leave the compound for a week, and it was driving a few of the guardians crazy. Even Kellan had trouble calming down a group that demanded to be let out to fight.
They were trained to take down magi like the rogues outside. As much as I thought it would be a good idea, I understood why Kellan wouldn’t allow them to fight after he explained it to me. If he let them fight the rogue guardians that they had spent years training with, it would cause them tremendous guilt after the fight when they saw the dead. As long as the rogues attacked first, it wouldn’t be so bad since they were defending their lives.
Even Thurron was starting to get agitated. We hadn’t heard from our dad since before Thurron came, and he seemed to be taking it as a bad sign. He wanted to leave to go check on him, but he refused to leave me defenseless. I tried to tell him I would be fine since the rogues hadn’t been able to get in, but he wouldn’t listen to me.
The next afternoon Kellan woke us up to go over some disturbing news. There was a rumor going around that more guardians had gone rogue at the other compounds. Over fifty more guardians were unaccounted for. It looked like there would be a bigger fight for The Guardianship than he initially thought.
John seemed to be in charge over here, but Kellan was sure someone was telling him what to do. Kellan discussed a few more things and left. He needed to come up with a different plan in case the protections failed. Too many guardians had gone rogue. If they all joined forces, they would easily overpower us.
I looked at Ian and Thurron. “What will happen if the whole Guardianship starts fighting?”
“We won’t be able to protect this realm. Who knows what would happen then. It would be dangerous for the magi’s and nary’s alike. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Ian said. Thurron grunted but didn’t say anything.
We got ready for our patrol and headed out into the night. Nothing happened, but I had a slight tingling along my spine. Ian felt the same, and we stayed alert. Molly even seemed a little unsettled. She kept barking and huffing to the other hounds. Whatever they responded, didn’t help her feel any better.
I had a feeling that something was stalking us. Ian called someone at the front gate, but they said everything looked fine. When Ian hung up, a chill snaked its way down my spine.
“Something’s wrong,” I said.
“I know,” Ian answered quietly. “I don’t know where the threat is coming from.”
“The demons are here,” Thurron said, lifting his head and inhaling through his nose. “I can smell their scent. We need to move.” He placed himself in front of me ready to fight anything that tried to get to me. “They’re through the protections.”
“How?” I asked.
“They found a way. We knew they would eventually.”
The alarms started blaring before I could ask anything else.
“Hurry to the gates,” Ian yelled.
They kept me between them as we ran toward the gate. Before we were halfway there, we were stopped by the group of guardians that harassed Thurron and me. They grinned at us.
“We were hoping to run into you,” the leader said. He raised his hands, preparing for a battle.
“You’re going to fight us? Why?” I asked. “We’re on the same side.”
“Any side that has demons isn’t our side.”
“So you’re going to keep us from being able to help the other guardians because you’re racist against demons. That doesn’t even make sense,” I yelled at them.
“After we get rid of both of you, we’ll help protect our compound.” He threw a spell at Thurron, but Thurron deflected it easily with his arm and stepped toward the guardians.
“Don’t kill them,” I said. “We’ll need all the guardians working together to win this. They aren’t on the rogue’s side. They just need a lesson on who their enemy really is.”
“Fine.” Thurron hit the first guardian, knocking him backward. I threw my hands up and sent a spell at another guardian causing him to fall asleep. He had been so busy trying to hit Thurron he had forgotten about Ian and me. At the same time Ian took out the other two with a spell that bound their arms and legs together so they couldn’t move. Once they were all down, we ran toward the gate. The closer we got, the more screaming we could hear.
It started to get darker too. There should have been light from the gates streaming across the area. Instead, it was darker than a moonless night. I grabbed Thurron and Ian, stopping them from going any farther.
“This darkness isn’t natural,” I said, looking around. I watched it for a few seconds, and I could see the darkness creeping over the ground, getting closer to us. I took a few steps backward. Molly moved forward, sniffing around the ground. The darkness moved quickly toward her, but she jumped back, letting out a howl that shook my eardrums.
The hounds didn’t respond. Molly started running back and forth, pulling at me to move back with her. I took a few steps back, but the screaming coming from ahead of me forced me to stop. We had to help the other guardians. It sounded like they were losing.
“I’ll go,” Thurron said. “I’ve seen this darkness before. It’s demon magic. It can’t hurt me. Stay away from it until I can kill the ones responsible for this.”
“Are you sure it won’t hurt you?” I asked him.
“Yes. Stay here.”
Thurron took a deep breath before walking into the darkness. I didn’t hear him scream out, so I figured he was telling the truth. It wouldn’t hurt him. I looked at Ian and saw the indecision on his face. He wanted to go into the darkness too.
“You can’t. It will hurt you,” I said.
“I need to help them.”
&nb
sp; “There must be another way,” I said, reaching for my demon magic.
I let it feel the darkness in front of us. We continued backing up as it moved closer, but now I stopped and stood my ground. The darkness was within a foot of me before my magic was able to identify it. It wasn’t only demon magic. It felt like rogue guardians were involved too. I heard screaming getting closer, and three guardians fell out of the darkness.
“Run,” they said. “You can’t fight in it.”
Ian hauled them to their feet. “What’s happening?”
“The demons and summoners are here. They created this black cloud to keep us from fighting. It forces you to relive your worst fears. We’re lucky we managed to find the way out. They’re trying to cover the whole compound. They haven’t even started fighting yet. They’re using the darkness to weaken us first.”
I pushed my demon magic out, hearing enough. We needed to get rid of the darkness so the guardians could fight. We would be sitting ducks like this. My magic latched on to the darkness and tried pushing it back. I only got a few feet before it stopped and began pushing against my magic.
The others using magic to create the darkness must have felt my presence and fought back. I heard the ground shaking. It was the steps of a demon, and I realized my mistake. The demons knew where I was now, and they were coming for me.
“They’re coming,” I told Ian. “Get ready.” The other guardians looked ready to fight too.
I watched as a demon stepped out of the darkness. He caught my eye and smiled cruelly. A blast of magic hit him in the side, and he turned to the guardian that attacked him. He hit the guardian and knocked him backward faster than I could react. The other guardians stepped back and threw spells at the demon. He didn’t flinch as they hit him. I let my magic connect with his to find his weakness.
“Ice,” I shouted. “Use ice spells.”
He was like the first demon I fought. The ice spells started to hit the demon, and he grunted in pain. Molly jumped in and ripped into the demon’s face, tearing a chunk of skin from below his eye. Her claws scratched across his chest, leaving bloody gashes behind, as the demon grabbed her and threw her across the clearing. Icicles slammed into his forearm, effortlessly slicing through skin and muscle to embed itself in the bone.
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