Guardians Inc.:Thundersword (Guardians Incorporated #2) (12 page)

      “Are these Wraiths?” Thomas asked as he stared wide-eyed at the little monster. It was about a foot tall, it wore a skirt made of leaves, and a necklace of animal bones hung around its neck. Its skin looked like wood, brown with darker grain lines, and one of its eyes occupied what looked like a wood knot. Its dark, green hair looked like grass leaves in a Mohawk style.

The creature was a little plump, with large, green eyes and just slits for a nose on its round head. The mouth was large with small, flat teeth, and the moment he saw Thomas looking at him, it began to shout gibberish and motion with the little spear he carried.

      Thomas thought that the little monsters looked cute in a feral, angry, cannibal kind of way.

      The beast’s hair stood on end as it sneered at Thomas.

      “Alushes—a Mexican type of sprite,” Bolswaithe said, giving the little monster’s hand a flick, which made it let go. It let out a little high-pitched scream. Thomas looked back and saw the Alushe tumbling on the road, and then it stood up, waving menacingly with his spear.     

      “Why are they attacking us?” Thomas asked.

      “I don't know,” Bolswaithe said. “They are basically forest spirits. Pranksters, but not dangerous.” 

The Alushes cheered as they rolled a huge boulder in front of the car, as if trying to set the record straight about their fierceness. Bolswaithe swerved the car and slowed down a bit, just barely missing the boulder. Thomas heard the Alushes letting out a collective moan as their plan failed.

      “The trees!” Thomas yelled, pointing ahead.

      “Hold on!” Bolswaithe stepped on the gas. The Alushes were making the trees bend toward the road, trying to hit the car as they passed under.

      They made it through the first three, but Bolswaithe stepped on the brakes—they didn't have time to cross under the next.

      “Keep going!” Elise shouted as her hands were bathed in blue energy and Bolswaithe accelerated again. Thomas crouched as the tree fell on them, but it struck one of Elise's blue shields before touching the car.

      “Is that the best you got?” Tony yelled, taking shots at the Alushes that were chanting from the treetops. A couple of them fell down with shrill yells from their perches.

      “I'm trying not to hurt them, or the trees,” Elise told him.

      Tony changed his gun's magazine. “But I can try to, right?” He shot a full salvo at a group of Alushes that were concentrated under a huge trunk, and they fell down like bowling pins, fast asleep.

      “Elise!” Thomas yelled, pointing to the road ahead. Six Alushes on each side were pulling on a heavy vine in front of the car, and both ends were tied to a strong tree. What looked like an Alushe shaman touched the vine, and a green tinge ran through it.

      “I see it,” Elise said. “Don't stop, Bolswaithe!”

      Bolswaithe pressed on the gas as Elise stood up on her seat. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and two spheres of red flame rose from her palms. She opened her hands, pointing to each side of the road.

      Behind each group of Alushes the vine turned red hot, then carbonized. Only the last Alushe on the left side realized what was going to happen and let go of the vine. He yelped as the car hit the vine, and instead of stopping cold in its tracks, the car pulled on the vine, taking the Alushe’s friends for a ride. The little beast even waved goodbye at them.

      “Less than a mile to the next town,” Bolswaithe said. “I think we're clear.”

      “Not just yet.” Tony knelt on the seat and placed his elbows on the trunk of the car. The Alushes were screaming wild behind them as the car towed them along. “You wanted to play rough!” Tony yelled at them. “That's what you get!” He took aim, and with each shot one fell from the vine among
ohs
and
ahs
from the other Alushes.

      Elise sat down on again. “Can you stop torturing them already?” she asked.

      “It’s like a game for them!” Tony said, felling two more. The remaining two yelled angry gibberish at him.

      “Come on, Tony,” Thomas said. “It's not cool.”

      Tony looked forward. “Okay, okay, you bleeding hearts. Just remember that they started it.” He looked at the trailing Alushes and yelled in pain as the little beasts smacked his face. They had pulled themselves up the vine and were standing in the trunk of the car playing ping-pong with Tony's cheeks.

      Elise snapped her fingers and the Alushes were thrown from the trunk by a blue flash.

      Tony slumped in his seat. “Could've done that faster!” he told Elise as he rubbed his red cheeks.

      “Of course I could have,” she said with a smirk.

      When they reached the Mansion, the Impala was completely scraped—its windshield cracked and its rooftop nonexistent. The right front wheel wobbled a little bit.

      Bolswaithe informed them that if they had traveled in straight lines from place-to-place instead of using the Mansion's transport system they would have covered roughly 151,645 miles. Just little more than going around the Earth six times.

      Another proof of just how powerful and advanced the Guardians’ technology was.

      They heard a loud moan. Babcor, the capybara faun, came running out from behind a bush in the shape of an elephant on the Mansion’s grounds. “Oh my!” he yelled, throwing his gardening pliers and pacing around the car. He put his hands on his forehead and pulled up his red bandanna as he surveyed the damage. “What happened?”

      “A horde of Kachinkos,” Tony said.

      “Alushes” Bolswaithe corrected.

      “Those things…” Tony continued, “They ambushed us.”

      “Alushes are not war-like,” Babcor said. He pronounced the name very softly, with a “sha” sound. “We have them in the Amazon too. They are natural spirits, and most of them even shy away from Fauns.”

      “Not these ones.” Thomas walked around the car, checking the damage. He flinched at the broken taillight and the scratched trunk. What would his dad or grandpa think if they saw this? The family heirloom almost completely wrecked.

      On his first trip.

      Maybe he wouldn’t add all the little details about this trip when he told his grandpa the story. For a second he imagined the future, with him as a grandfather sitting on a chair by a porch and kids around him wide-eyed and giddy with laughter.
“Tell us about the time the fairies almost kicked your butt, grandpa Tom.”

      He shuddered, shrinking the thought away. Maybe this could be one of those stories he kept to himself.

      “They were provoked into attacking us by someone else,” Bolswaithe said, “It was a good thing they attacked us in Mexico.”

      “The good thing was that only Alushes attacked you,” Babcor took out a broken scale from the roof. “Had it been Chaneques, not all of you would have made it through and, those forests are rife with Chaneques.”

      “I've heard about those things.” Tony said. “Chaneques... they seem nasty.”

      “Nasty is an understatement.” Babcor said. “Between a troll and a chaneque I put my money on the chaneque.”

      “Okay, we were lucky, I get it.” Elise said cutting short the nasty creature comparison, “So now what?” she dusted off debris from her clothing.

      “Phase two,” Bolswaithe said. “There were the Alushes, but we didn’t see Morgan or the Guards. I think we are ready to go to our target destination.”

      “Finally!” Tony said mischievously. He walked toward the armored vehicle and placed his hand on a panel. The side of the van opened along the rails toward the back. “This, my friends,” he said, standing in front of the vehicle, “is the latest design for Guardian Fireteams. A titanium, tungsten carbide, and various steel alloys chassis…”

      Elise held up her hand, as if to stop Tony, but he kept talking “…supporting the body, which is composed of bonded carbon nanotubes and—” Elise grunted and sped into the mansion.

      “I'll be back in five! ” she said as she ran away.

      “What is its MPG?” Babcor blurted out.

      “Well,” Tony said, “it has a prototype multi-fuel turbine…”

      Babcor was already on the ground sliding under the vehicle. “Is it a gas guzzler?”

      Tony paused, “Ah, we incorporated an electrical back-up system and hydrogen fuel cell technology to minimize….”

Babcor peeked out from under the car. “Yep! A gas guzzler!” he said accusingly. “And the shocks are insufficient.” He looked at Thomas. “Not a smooth ride; you can probably feel every little rock on the roa—” Tony covered Babcor’s mouth with a hand.

“Can I finish?” Tony asked him. Babcor nodded. “Anyway, you can all read the specs later if you want…” Tony said, the mood for a speech all gone from him now, but he still managed to do a flourish with his arms. “I am proud to present to you our new vehicle, L’invincibile!”

Maybe Tony expected some applause, because he waited for them to react, but instead of the applause, Mrs. Pianova suddenly appeared behind Bolswaithe. “Beautiful vehicle, Mr. Della Francesca,” she said “but why name it ‘the imbecile?’”

Thomas muffled a snort, and Babcor pursed his mouth. Bolswaithe retained a stoic silence, but lifted an eyebrow at Tony waiting for his answer. They all knew that Mrs. Pianova tolerated very little nonsense, and Tony had been the target of her special character in more than many occasions, so they eagerly anticipated how Tony was going to handle her question.

Especially after seeing how Tony cringed.

“Well?” she asked again, this time facing him.

“Ah,” Tony said very softly. “I think that you might have heard the name wrong, Mrs. Pianova.” He paused, but continued when she didn't move. “I named it L'invincibile, ‘The Invincible,’ not ‘the imbecile.”

“L'invincibile,” Mrs Pianova repeated, mimicking Tony’s Italian accent. “I see.” She turned toward the vehicle assessing it with her eyes. Tony risked a glance at Thomas. “Well,” she said after a second or two. “I'm sorry I heard wrong, Mr. Della Francesca.”

“Not a problem, ma'am,” he said.

“Let's hope it is a fitting name. Shall we go now?”

“Of course!” Tony motioned for her to enter the vehicle. “Wait till you hear her engine purring, ma'am. You'll fall in love with it.”

“Thank you, but that'll have to wait.” She turned around and walked toward the Mansion. “We've lost enough time already.” Bolswaithe and Thomas fell into step behind her.

“We're not going by car?” Tony said as he caught up with them.

“Not this time,” Mrs. Pianova said as she picked up the pace.

“We've arranged something different,” Bolswaithe said. Thomas just shrugged his shoulders at Tony.

Tony muttered something under his breath, and Babcor extended his paw to him. “I'll put ‘the imbecile’ in the garage,” he said, his eyes all giddy.

Tony sighed as he gave him the keys.

Second Phase

They made their way through the Mansion's left corridor, past the library door.

“Take off your armor and weapons,” Mrs. Pianova told them as they walked through the corridor. “You won't need them where we are going. Take off all technological trinkets too—it is forbidden.”

“What about Gramps?” Thomas asked as he took off the shoulder unit of his armor. Bolswaithe picked up their wristpadds and placed them inside a backpack.

“They probably won't show up,” she said, “but if they do, there'll be no confrontation with them, Thomas. We are going to a hallowed place.”

She opened a door on the left and entered a small room. Oscar was already waiting for them. He was carrying an easel, many canvases and painter’s gear, and he was dressed like an archeologist from an Egyptian movie, with khaki shorts, a white shirt, and a khaki vest covered with pouches. His hat hung loose on his back, and his white sweat socks were rolled down over his boots. He still wore his thick glasses and his dragon belt buckle.

“Hello, Thomas!” Oscar cheerfully said.

“Hello…” Thomas said, refraining from saying his name because Mrs. Pianova was around. “These are my friends,” he said as he motioned to Bolswaithe and Tony. “You probably know Bolswaithe already.”

“I do,” Oscar said, shaking Bolswaithe hand.

“Antonio Della Francesca,” Tony said, extending his hand. He liked introducing himself instead of waiting for others to do it.

“Tony. Right? Nice to meet you...” Oscar told him. Suddenly, the smile wiped off his face, and he froze, his gaze locked on the door behind Tony. Elise had entered the room. She had taken the time to take a quick shower and put on fresh clothes, and a pleasant perfume hung about her.

Oscar knelt in front of her. “Princess Erisham,” he said, requesting her hand, which Elise gave him after exchanging a quizzical look with all of them. “An honor to meet you.” He gently kissed her hand.

“Why, thank you,” Elise said. “Nice to meet you too, Mr…?”

“Oscar,” Mrs. Pianova snapped. “Oscar Winnieh, this is Elise. Elise, this is Oscar. There. Let’s go.” She opened a door and motioned for them to go through. They hurried after she lifted up her right eyebrow.

Hot air buffeted them as they stepped through the door, which opened to the desert. The clock on their wristpadds jumped twelve hours—the sky was clear and the sun was bright and relentless.

“Welcome to Australia,” Bolswaithe said.

Tony was the last to come through the door, and as he closed it, they saw that they had come out of a porta-potty standing in front of a huge wall of red rock.

“Ayers Rock,” Thomas said. He had seen photos of the granite mountain many times; it was one of Australia’s most recognizable landmarks.

“The sacred Uluru,” Mrs. Pianova said. “Lead on, Bolswaithe.”

Bolswaithe led them through the side of the mountain, following an almost invisible trail. A minute or so behind them they heard the sound of the Azure Guards’ Portal opening, but no thunder-flash.

Thomas stopped cold, and so did Tony. “They’re here.” Elise’s hands became sheathed in a blue haze.

“Keep moving,” Mrs. Pianova told them. “I’ll talk with them.”

“But they’ll hurt you,” Tony complained as he picked up a stick from the ground.