Guardian: Protectors of Light (34 page)

In a split second,
everything seemed to happen at the same time. The glass shattered,
the path stopped glowing, and James fell down into a deep
hole.

Luckily, his reflexes
were quick enough to grab the glass edge of the path just in
time.
While the glass cut his palms, James looked down at the deep, black
hole he’d almost fallen in.
“Focus, ‘Dale,” he whispered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Focus. You can do it.”

Then, he spoke up. Still
not very loud, but loud enough for anyone nearby to
hear.

“
If this hole
leads to anywhere important, I demand a safe route to appear and
take me there,” he demanded. Strangely enough, the Path seemed to
be responding to James’s demand.

In barely a few seconds,
the redhead was surprised by the feeling of vast ground beneath his
feet.

James let go of the glass
edges and rubbed the sore spots of which some were bleeding. The
Path glowed less bright than it did before; using Magic was taking
up all the energy James had left.

It didn’t matter; he had to keep going. He could sleep
later, when he got back to his friends. But in order to be able to
do that, he had to get there first. And that meant he
absolutely
 
had
 to keep
going.

More reasons to go on
built up inside James’s brain as he kept walking. The secret
awaiting, the underlying truth, Samira, his friends, Anna...
Home.

He’d do anything to be
able to go home. All together, in one piece.

What he didn’t notice,
were the three topazes on his brooch, which were turning paler with
every step he took.

*

“
Look guys, I
think we’re finally there!”

The Bond of Light had
continued to ascend the kilometres of mountain that were left. It
had been a very tiring job, but they had finally arrived at the
foot of the mountain. The last kilometre had to be climbed, due to
the snow melting and the mountain getting steeper again.

“
Indeed!”
Thomas said, as he jumped down, landing steadily in a squat. “Now,
let’s go find James!” 

The others had to follow
the determined eighteen-year-old quickly, careful not to lose him
out of sight.

Both Samira and Thomas
wanted to find James as quick as possible, no matter what it’d
take.

Samira wanted to yell at
him, scold him for being so stupid and careless, and then hold him
closer than she’d ever done.

Her brother was
everything to him. James was stubborn, cocky and naive, yet the
smartest kid of his age you’d ever meet. Unfortunately,
stubbornness in combination with naivety was the one thing for
James to keep getting himself into trouble.

It’d never really been a
problem back when they were younger, but now...

Thomas shook his head,
blinking his sleep-deprived eyes. Sleep was for later concern. For
now, they had to keep moving. Who knew what kind of trap that girl
had set up for James? Unfortunately, he didn’t know. And neither
did James.

*

Sabrina hurried. She
had
to reach that
darned village before James would. She’d have to trick Aubry into
telling James that the Spirits wanted him and his friends
dead.

As soon as she entered
the village, people stopped what they were doing, just to stare at
her. Sabrina’s cape slightly fluttered behind her, making her look
dark and dangerous.

“
AUBRY!”
Sabrina called, as soon as she stood in front of a certain door;
the house it belonged to was particularly bigger than the others.
An old, yet tall lady answered the door, not seeming all that
impressed.

“
Yes?” Aubry
said, as Sabrina stormed into the house.

“
We need to
talk,” the blonde said. “A Guardian will be coming here. He’ll be
arriving any minute. And I need you to do something for
me.”

“
I already told you; I
don’t
do business
with you monsters,” Aubry said strictly. “And I’m not planning on
doing so any time soon, either.”

Samira had turned her
back on Aubry. “I see,” she breathed, trying to stay calm. “Well...
I don’t want to start a fight here. That’ll draw attention to us,”
she said. Instead, she snapped her fingers, and two black,
poisonous snakes came from her sleeves, gliding toward Aubry and
wrapping their slimy, smooth bodies around her.

Sabrina turned back
around toward Aubry, approaching her menacingly. “You either do
what I say,” she said softly, her face creepily close to the old
lady’s, “or I’ll make sure the same happens to this village as what
happened to those that surrounded yours.”

*

James kept walking
through the dark tunnel that had appeared in front of him. The
tunnel that would lead him... somewhere.

To keep up the mood a little, James started to hum the
melody to a song his father had sung for him when he was little.
After a short while, he had hummed the entire song, and decided to
sing it instead.
“When I look into your
eyes,

All I see is
mine

Starry eyes,
colour so blue

telling the
story of me and you

I’m sorry if
I have to go,

Leave you all
alone

Keep your
mother and sister close

Protect the
ones you love most

Don’t worry now, and have no fear

Know I always
will be near

Close your
eyes, rest your head on your pillow

If you listen, you can hear
The song of the silent willow”
James breathed in deeply as he began to sing a little louder as he
got to the chorus.
“Hidden away, deep in
the meadow, stands a silent willow

Birds land
there to sing their song all day

Now it’s time
for me to say

You can find
me there,

Anytime,
anywhere

Just me and
you,

Listening to the song of the silent
willow”
James lowered the volume of his voice again a little, afraid anyone
might have heard his singing, but he decided to continue with the
second verse anyway.
“Don’t you worry now,
and have no fear

Know I always
will be near

Just look up,
at the moon

And know I’ll
be looking too

And I promise
you,

I will be
back soon
Until then, just close your eyes...
Hidden away, deep in the meadow

stands a
silent willow

Birds land
there to sing their song all day

Now it’s time
for me to say

You can find
me there,

Anytime,
anywhere

Just me and
you,

Listening to the song of the silent
willow”
The song was almost over now. James’s father had added an extra
verse when he left for the final time – although he’d spoken it
more rather than he’d sung it. He thought he’d return soon, even
though he wasn’t sure.
“Now listen, my
son,

As long as
that willow is still singing silently in your heart,

I’ll never be too far away”
The final verse had always been the verse that had brought tears to
James’s eyes ever since. But the song also comforted him, reminding
him that his father had a special little place in his
heart.

James had always wondered
what had happened to Clarissa, Thomas’s mother – she had to flee
the country short after James’s father had died, but came back a
few years later. He also had believed that Thomas wondered the same
about Martin, James’s own father. Even James didn’t know the full
story.

And he probably never
would, either.
James was surprised to hear someone humming the same song as he’d
just sung. It was a little girl, with big brown puppy-like eyes and
short, frizzy brown hair. She was adorable; she smiled as soon
as she saw James, revealing that one of her front teeth was
missing.

“
Finally,
you’re here!” she squealed. “It’s such an honour to meet you,
Guardian! That was a beautiful song you just sang.”

“
Thank you,”
James replied, a little startled by seeing the little girl at the
end of the tunnel, who had apparently waited there for
him.

How long had she been
standing there? Had she even eaten? She didn’t look underfed, but
by the looks of her bare little feet – James was a little
worried.

The little girl took him
by the hand and pulled him up a second pair of stairs. When James
was above ground, the path stopped glowing instantly.

“
We saw the
stairs appear and immediately knew someone was coming,” the little
girl said, still pulling on James’s hand. James had to bend over to
be able to walk along with her. “Sabrina showed up too, and she
said it was really a Guardian who was visiting us!”

“
Oh,” James
mumbled. “Sabrina.”

He still wasn’t sure what
to think about the girl with the blonde hair. She looked really
nice at first, but then- then she just got really creepy all of a
sudden.

The little girl lead him
to something that seemed to be the town square, where seemingly a
hundred people were waiting for him- perhaps even more. Sabrina was
standing in the middle of the half circle the people
formed.

“
Ladies and
gentlemen, this is one of the five brave men and women who are
going to save your town and world!”

The townspeople started
to cheer and clap for James, as Sabrina walked closer to him. She
wanted to grab his arm, but James shook her off.

“
Don’t touch
me,” he hissed at her, before directing his attention toward the
townspeople. “So- um- yeah,” James said. “Hello. My name is James
Riverdale, and I am the Guardian of Innocence.”
The people started to clap again. James chuckled.

“
Please,” he
said. “No need to clap. It’s a huge honour to be here with you
today. And Sabrina- she’s right.”

“
Really?” the
little girl, who had joined her mother, father and baby brother in
the circle, said. “Are you going to help us, James? Are you here to
fight with us, to free us?”

James looked at her. And
at the woman, who held her daughter close to her side. She smiled
at James. A face of hope. James and his friends were a bulb of hope
for them.

“
Yes,” he
then said, with a surprising amount of determinedness in his voice.
“I am.”

The people started to
cheer even louder. Several women and children walked toward him to
hug him, men shook hands with him.

After a while, the eldest
of the town walked forward. A tall woman, seemingly still strong,
despite of her age.

“
Young
Guardian,” she said. “Can I have a word with you?”

“
Why, yes,
madam,” he said. 

The woman
lead him away from the crowd, to a silent corner of a sandy
street.

“
Very well,”
she said. “I want to tell you a little something about our village.
Sabrina asked me to.”

At that moment, Sabrina
appeared. “Hi, James, I told you you’d make it!” she
said.

“
Yeah, sure,”
James mumbled in response.

“
I assume you
two have met before,” the woman said.

“
We sure
have,” Sabrina grinned.

“
Let me
introduce myself to you, James,” the old lady said. “I am Aubry,
and I am this village’s elder. I have been their leader for about
fifty years now.”

“
You must’ve
been very young when they chose you,” James said. “How did you
become village elder that young?”

“
The cause
began about fifty years ago,” Aubry said, knowing that question
would come. “There was an uprising amongst all the villages. There
were many more beside ours,” Aubry said. “The Master did not like
the unrest in the realms. And that’s why he destroyed over fifty
villages. As a warning for the remaining ones.”

“
What!?”
James exclaimed. Aubry nodded.

“
We were one
of the targets. And luckily, I knew about that. I did what was
necessary to save my village.” She paused for a second, and lowered
her eyes.

“
What did you
do?” James said, eager to know more.

“
I
temporarily managed to stop the time inside the village,” she said.
“I used Magic to create an invisible shield around our village.
When he’d blast our homes to pieces from the sky, it’d look like
our village was destroyed to him. But we’d be able to live on
underneath that fake layer of destruction. We do have to be careful
during the day, however, since there appear to be Shadow Creatures
that can look straight through the shield. It’s happened
before.”

Then, Sabrina came into
the conversation. “See, James? This is what I wanted to show you.
To know this, is crucial for your trip. You need to know that these
people, normal people, defenceless against the Master’s evildoings,
depend on you! You need to help them.”