The Guardian (The Gifted Book 1) (3 page)

4
Lessons

Randell woke when the sun beaming through his window touched his eye lids. He sprang from his bed and threw on clothes before racing downstairs to find Daen. He had to know if he was still here. A flush of panic flipped his stomach as he rushed to the kitchen door and looked out onto the back porch.

The sun was low in the sky, casting long morning shadows. With his hand on the deadbolt of the kitchen door, Randell froze. There, through the door's window panes
, he saw Daen, shirtless, bootless, eyes closed, sword in hand. The sight before him was one of grace, balance, and precision. Daen moved slowly, easily, in a sword dance ... for lack of anything else to call it.

Randell watched his every move,
fascinated at how the sun reflected off the silver blade and sparkled off the blue stone at the end of the hilt. He knew Daen was a tall man, but the person moving in front of him now wasn't just a man. He was a warrior. Strength and power radiated from him. Scars, long healed, decorated his torso and arms.

The dance ended and Daen sheathed his sword. Randell took this opportunity to twist the deadbolt and open the door. Daen turned to see who was joining him, expecting to see Ander.
Instead the wide-eyed boy stood in front of him, his youthful excitement contagious. Daen bowed to Randell and met his grin with one of his own.

Randell pointed towards the sword as he stood on the porch. "Can you do that again? Can you teach me?"

Daen understood what the boy was asking. It was on his face, in his body language, and in the sound of his voice. He motioned for Randell to join him.

Randell stepped from the porch and pointed at the sword and tried to mimic the moves he'd seen Daen performing. He asked again, "Teach me? Please."

Daen laid the sword on the ground and stepped next to Randell, standing with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands at his sides. He nodded to Randell to do the same. Slowly he moved to the next position and indicated that Randell should follow. As he moved from one position to the next, he watched the boy concentrate on his every move, matching Daen's perfectly.

~~~

As Pam walked by Randell's room, she saw the door was open and Randell was nowhere to be found.

"Ander! Randell isn't in his room
," she shouted as she ran down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Before she reached the kitchen, she could see out the door and what was happening on the back lawn.

She'd seen this type of dance before
, although the positions had been a little different. Tai Chi? With their backs to the house, Daen led Randell through the positions, slowly, with care. When they finished, Randell stepped over to pick up the sword but Daen stopped him and gestured for him to return to his starting position.

Ander bound up behind her. "What's going on?"

"Shh."

Ander and Pam watched as Daen
began to guide Randell through the positions once again, moving from one position to the next, gracefully, fluidly. The focus Randell exhibited was more than they'd ever before seen their son display.

"I hate to say it but I think Daen is going to be good for Randell, if he stays."

Pam's eyes grew wide and she looked up into her husband's face. "Stays? You're not thinking of taking him in, are you?"

Ander was quiet. Was he thinking that?

"Ander?"

"I was looking at Raisal's journal and sword last night and the letters and words
this man wrote in his journal. The letters match. The words are different, of course, but they are definitely the same language."

"He could still be up to no good." Pam was becoming flustered as fear started to set in. Her boy was enthralled with this stranger and they were starting to bond. She could tell.

"If he were here to hurt us, I think he would have done that right from the start," Ander said. He watched Daen correct Randell's position. "I just get this feeling he needs to be here." Ander glanced at Pam. "We have the room."

Pam grew silent, thoughts of accepting a total stranger into her home, one who could not speak her language, who could easily overpower anyone of them, overwhelmed her. What kind of mother would do that? She watched Ander watch her son. She knew her husband was different, could see things no one else could see. She thought about Randell's trust in the man, his conviction that Daen meant no harm. She was beginning to realize that her son might have the same gift.

Ander stepped out onto the porch with Pam. The creaky spring drew Randell's attention away from his lesson but Daen brought him back into focus with a stern look, using his fingers to draw Randell's attention, motioning for Randell's eyes to look at him. Daen continued Randell's lesson to the end and then motioned for him to join his parents while he retrieved his shirt.

"Did you see?! Did you see?! He's teaching me. He can do that with his sword. I saw him."

Ander raised a brow. "His sword? Were you out here when he was waving it around?"

"No, I watched from inside. And he wasn't waving it around, not really. I mean, it was slow. It wasn't dangerous or anything
." Randell shrugged, trying to act casual.

"I don't want you around his swords." Pam pulled Randell close to her, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

Randell shrugged away and whined, "Mom," blushing at the protective attention his mother was displaying. He didn't want Daen to think he was a baby who needed his mother.

Pam started to correct Randell's behavior but Ander's gentle grip on her arm quelled her actions. He whispered, "Not now. Please."
Then he turned to Daen. "Can you show me?" he asked, pointing to the sword.

Daen picked up the sword and handed it to him.

Ander shook his head and motioned with his hands, trying to suggest that Daen demonstrate what Randell had seen.

Randell stepped quickly through a couple positions and pointed to the sword.

Daen nodded and stepped back, unsheathing his sword. Randell started to step up next to Daen, like he'd done before, but Daen stopped him, pointing to a place next to his mother. He quickly saw the hurt and embarrassment in Randell's eyes. How could he explain that he didn't think less of the boy; that he would have asked anyone to stand back, he wondered?

Before Randell could return to his mother, Daen stopped him and spoke to him. "You will learn. I will teach you." He glanced down at his sword and then back to Randell, trying to mentally communicate his message. With a slight nod, Daen indicated he was finished and that Randell should step back.

Randell wasn't sure what to make of the exchange he'd just had but he had a feeling it was a good thing.

With that, Daen once again began the intricate movements with the sword.

When Daen finished and sheathed his sword, he stood quietly, waiting for their reactions.

Randell stepped in front of his parents with an anxious expression. "Can I do that? Please? Can I? I promise to be careful. He has two swords. I can learn."

"Oh ... I don't know." Pam looked to her husband for backup but her wishes weren't met.

"Your mother and I will discuss the sword
, but meanwhile, there are two wooden dowels in the garage, you know the ones. Go get them. Let's see if they make reasonable training devices. Then, if you show the right dedication and skill, we can discuss the sword."

Randell ran through the kitchen to the garage and returned in less than a minute with the dowels. He looked anxiously
at Daen, handing him a dowel and mimicking the position he'd seen Daen take with his sword.

Ander watched Daen's reaction to see if he understood. Daen bowed his head slightly and acknowledged the request. He understood and was pleased that Ander had the fine sticks. Daen had trained with branches he'd whittled smooth when he was a boy. They were off to a good start, he thought, building trust. But he couldn't forget the reason he was here. He had to find a way to learn
of Raisal's whereabouts. He was here to help her.

~~~

Daen was invited into the house after he and Randell had completed a couple sets of instruction on how to hold the dowel. He would have to find a way to make Randell understand that he needed to learn the dance without the sword first, but that was a task for tomorrow.

This
was the first time he'd been inside the house. Although the general functionality of the kitchen was not unfamiliar to Daen, the refinement of the cabinetry and stone counters was beyond anything he'd seen outside the palace. The large steel boxes of varying sizes and shapes were a sight to behold. At first he couldn’t be sure what purpose they served but after watching Pam, he saw one was for cooking and the other was for cool storage.

Pam went about the kitchen as she always did when preparing a Sunday breakfast for her family. Most mornings were spent in chaos
, as everyone grabbed something quick to eat before heading out of the house for work or school, but this was Sunday and on Sunday, they slowed down.

Daen sat at the table whe
n Pam beckoned him to do so and watched her retrieve eggs, butter, milk, juice, and sausage from the tall steel cabinet. She proceeded to pull out a large skillet and bowl. Her movements continued as she prepared breakfast, movements he studied in order to learn the purpose of the tools he saw in the kitchen.

Randell set the table and Ander made coffee. Daen wasn't sure what Ander was doing until he smelled the familiar scent of the black liquid. The efficiency
and elegance of the tools they had at their fingertips amazed Daen.

"Ander, can you check the weather please?"

Ander picked up a small, odd-shaped device and pointed it over Daen's head. Voices sprung to life behind Daen, sending him out of his chair and spinning to see where they had come from.

Randell pressed his hand to his mouth and tried not to laugh but the look on Daen's face was too much as he watched in amazement at the people in the television. Daen approached the device carefully, leaning from one side to the other as if trying to see behind the TV, trying to ascertain where the people were coming from.

Daen pointed at the television and asked in his language, "What is this?"

They didn't need to understand his words to understand his question. What they didn't know was how to explain.

Randell picked up the remote and handed it to Daen. "It's a television. This is the remote. You push these buttons and the channels change." Randell pushed the up button while the remote was in Daen's hands. "See?" A movie with a war scene came onto the screen and Daen's eyes went wide as he gasped. Randell hit the button again and another movie flashed on showing two people kissing passionately, at which Daen's body tensed.

"They're movies. Maybe you have plays where you come from? You know, where people act out a story." Randell was on a roll and didn't seem to care that his words carried little meaning for Daen.

By this time, Pam had breakfast on the table and was watching her son's excitement. He'd always been brighter than children his age. It was one of the reasons he didn't hang out with his friends from school very much, and now that summer break was well under way, Randell had been keeping to himself. Now Randell bubbled with excitement as he showed Daen things from his world.

Daen could hardly believe his eyes. How was this possible? How c
ould people be so small and appear out of nowhere in a tiny little box? This was definitely a type of magic he would need to learn.

"Okay. Let's put the remote away. Sit. Eat." Pam waved at the table as she retrieved the bottle of orange juice and placed it in front of Ander.

5
Mission

After breakfast was cleared, Daen retrieved Raisal's journal from the counter and placed it in front of Ander. He opened the journal, pointed to Raisal's name, motioned around the room, and asked in Aduraun, "Where is she?"

Ander glanced
at Pam and she suggested, "Maybe he wants to know who she is to you, to us?"

Ander thought about how to answer
, and then it came to him: a family tree. Ander pointed to Daen's journal, lying atop his bag. Daen opened it to the next clear page and handed it to Ander. Ander wrote his name and Pam's, with Randell's underneath, connecting the names with lines. He pointed to each person's name and then the applicable person.

Daen conveyed his understanding by nodding.

Ander added his parents' names and then his grandparents' names, connecting each name with the appropriate line. Next to Raisal's name, he copied the word that Daen had indicated was Raisal.

The family tree confirmed that Daen was indeed talking to Raisal's descendants. He had wondered if this was the case.

Ander then added birth and death years. Not all names had both dates, of course, but next to Raisal's name, he drew two empty lines and shrugged.

Although this information was helpful, it didn't answer
Daen's question. He pointed at Raisal's name and then out the door, adding a quizzical look, hoping to convey his question more clearly than before.

Randell was practically lying across the table to see what was being written. "He wants to know where she is."

Daen pointed out the door again.

This time Ander had to shake his head. "I haven't seen her in years." He shrugged.

Daen ran his hands through his hair and pulled. He needed to be patient. He needed to learn their language.

Ander could read the frustration in Daen's body language but didn't know what to offer.

Pam offered, "Millie, down the road, purchased one of those expensive English language programs, you know, the kind with books and audiotapes to match. Anyway, she actually got two, Spanish and English. It worked wonders for her and her housekeeper. Maybe she would lend us the English set. I'll give her a call." Before anyone could respond, she was already dialing.

After a short conversation, she hung up. "Randell, please ride your bike over to Millie's and pick up the box she will give you. Take your backpack so you can carry it."

~~~

While they waited for Randell to return, Pam got out a small cassette player and headphones and showed Daen how to use them. Ander thought the shocked look on Daen's face, when the music burst into his ears, was priceless.

It didn't take Daen long to realize how entertaining the little device could be. The way he could play and replay the parts of a song he liked or simply wanted to hear again was fascinating.

An hour later, Pam and Daen were moving along in his English lessons. He was doing quite well and was anxious to test what he was learning by pointing to items around the kitchen. Randell waited patiently, watching Daen learn, joining in when he could. Ander decided his family was safe with their new friend and went to the living room to read the paper.

~~~

The days that followed were much the same. Daen chose to sleep outside on the porch but quickly learned how to use the amenities in the house to freshen up each day. Randell joined Daen for his lessons each morning. The lessons included martial arts, handling the dowel as if it were a sword, and language. While Daen learned English, Randell learned Aduraun.

Daen learned how to participate in family chores such as meal preparation and cleanup, laundry, and light cleaning, especially the bathroom. A week into his stay, Ander and Randell took Daen shopping for a pair of jeans and a couple shirts. Some of Ander's athletic wear had helped fill in the gaps but Daen needed clothes from this world.

The more Daen learned, the more he was able to communicate and understand his surroundings. It wasn't long before he opened his journal
, pointed to Raisal's name, and asked again in a language his host understood, "Where is she?"

Ander shook his head. "We don't know. She disappeared when I was just a boy. I don't recall much about her."

"Where are Mary and Caille?" Daen pointed to the names of Ander's parents, Raisal's son and his wife.

"They're traveling. Wait here." Ander left the room for a moment and returned with a large book. He opened it to the world map. "We are here and they are traveling here." Ander first pointed near the eastern edge of a great land mass labeled North America and then pointed to the western edge of another giant land mass called Europe.

Daen gripped the edge of the table as he leaned over the book, mesmerized by what he saw. "Your world is much larger than mine."

Ander added, "They try to call every couple weeks. I can ask them what they remember about her disappearance
the next time they call."

Daen was confused. He looked at the atlas and the great mass of water that divided them. Then he looked at the phone, trying to imagine the magic that flowed in this new world. The idea of talking into a phone had been amazing when he first learned
of it, but the idea of talking across such a huge body of water ... that was hard to believe. This, along with what he saw on the television, showed the people of this world to be a powerful force. The guns and bombs were especially disconcerting.

The remainder of the day was spent exploring Daen's temporary world via the atlas.

~~~

That night, Daen retired to the porch after
assuring his host family once again he preferred to sleep there. This wasn't a total lie; he felt closer to home being outside. But he also still wasn't sure he belonged here and still wasn't convinced they weren't just being polite when they offered him a place in the house.

As on
every evening before this one, he formed an energy ball as a source of light, although tonight he wouldn't need as much light as he had in the past. The clouds that had plagued the afternoons and evenings since his arrival had cleared earlier that day, and the night promised to be much brighter.

After making an entry in his journal, he extinguished the light and enjoyed the view in front of him. The moon was high and full, lighting the yard as if it w
ere the sun on a cloudy day. It was so bright he could discern a shadow from the shed positioned near the back of the yard.

As he enjoyed the evening, his eyes kept being drawn to the shadow by the shed. Something was in the shadow. It looked like a bird. It seemed to glide across the grass
, but when it should have come into the light of the moon, it disappeared.

Daen rubbed his eyes and looked again at the shadow as he stood from the porch steps and slowly approached the place
where the bird had disappeared. Halfway across the yard he saw it appear again as it glided to the other side of the shadow, still failing to appear in the moon's light.

Now he stood at the edge of the shadow, not believing what he was seeing. It was water
, and the bird was two birds, floating on the water. How was this possible?

As Daen stood there watching, he failed to notice Ander approaching until he was standing a few feet to his left. "Amazing, isn't it?" Ander asked.

Daen started slightly. "You can see it too?" His voice was strained as he welcomed the return of his sanity, having thought he was hallucinating or dreaming of home. "I don't understand."

"On nights like this, I see it the best. It isn't very clear for me
, but I imagine you can see it more clearly." Ander had always been able to see into Luxatra, but he hadn't admitted it for a very long time.

"Is that what I think it is?"
Daen asked.

Ander
pondered carefully before he spoke. "I've spent my life trying not to see it, convinced that if I were to admit to seeing into the shadows, I would be considered mad. Since your arrival, I've had to re-examine my beliefs ... or lack thereof."

Daen didn't follow everything Ander said
, but he got the gist. Still, what he hadn't heard was an answer to his question.

Ander continued, "Do you recognize the birds?"

Daen looked at the birds, thinking this was an odd question. "Yes."

"We don't have birds like that here." Ander watched the birds floating and occasionally dipping their heads below the water to pull up something to eat.

It took Daen a moment to catch on. "You think this is Luxatra?"

"I wasn't sure until now but it makes sense. You can see it. I
’m a descendant of a Luxatran, so it makes sense that I might see it too. Randell hasn't shown any sign of the ability to see into the shadows, but maybe distance through the generations has weakened our connection."

Again, Daen wasn’t sure he understood everything Ander had said.
He picked up that Ander thought they were seeing Luxatra. Then there was something about Randell. Ander’s voice inflexion had changed when he mentioned Randell’s name. He sounded disappointed. Maybe Randell couldn’t see what they were seeing. Daen thought about the family tree Ander had drawn and suspected the connection could weaken over time.

Daen
dropped to one knee and reached for the water, wondering if what they were seeing was an actual opening into his world. He hoped he would feel cool water on his fingers but instead, he felt damp grass. A twinge of disappointment pushed on his chest.

Ander shook his head when Daen looked over his shoulder wearing a question on his face. “I can’t feel it either.” He knelt next to Daen and pressed his hand on the ground just as one of the birds approached.

Daen watched as the bird appeared to float over Ander’s hand. He nodded his understanding.

They stood together in the moonlight and watched
the world, so close yet so unattainable.

~~~

Their routine continued for the next few weeks. Daen trained Randell to handle a sword. He helped Pam with her chores while she gave him language lessons.  Conversations started to become much easier for Daen. His host family struggled a little with Aduraun and was thankful Daen had a knack for picking up their language quickly.

One evening at dinner, Ander broached the subject of Daen's visit to this world. "Now that we can communicate better, can we talk about why you're here in this world? You've asked about Raisal. Does she have something to do with why you're here?"

Daen nodded. "I was told of my mission. I was told I was to help her." Daen's use of the English language was cryptic at times but the message was clear.

Pam asked, "Help who?"

"I do not know. I think it is Raisal, but I do not know. Why was I sent here, if not for Raisal?"

"Now that you know she's not here, what will you do?" Randell
asked. He didn't like where this conversation was going. If Daen's mission wasn't here, would he leave to find whomever he was to help?

Daen answered in Aduraun. "I'm not a tracker. I have to believe that if I were meant to hunt for someone, I would have been accompanied by a tracker."

Three voices hummed in unison: "Umm ... "

Daen scanned the confused faces and realized what he'd done. "Ah. I am
not a ... What is it called? ... I cannot feel others. It is not my ... gift."

"Does that mean you'll stay?" Randell
asked. He was trying to contain his hopes but his parents could see his fear.

Daen glanced between Ander and Pam
, trying to read their faces, trying to determine if he would be welcome. "I ..."

It was Pam who made the offer, shocking everyone in the room. "Stay; under one condition. You move into the guest room." She pointed to the ceiling.

"Yes! Thanks, Mom." Randell said, jumping from his chair at the kitchen table and hugging her.

Ander looked at Pam from the corner of his eye and grinned. "Yes
, Daen. We would welcome you here as long as you need."

Daen knew this arrangement was temporary.
Yet he also knew that leaving here and wandering around a world like this would be risky and likely unproductive. Where would he go? How would he live? How would he know when he'd found her? He decided to be patient. He would learn to survive in this world and then he would venture out and see what he could find.