The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (39 page)

Avery snatched the apple out of her sister’s tiny
hand and hastily said, “I gotta go.”

Once outside of the house, she made a promise to
herself that as much as she might be tempted to, she wouldn’t let
herself think about Draven again. Even if she had an inkling of a
thought about him, she would immediately turn her mind to something
else. Avery figured that was the only way she would end up making
it through the day.

Training was just as exhausting and tedious as it
always was, almost more so since they had gone two whole days
without it. The only saving grace was that Gumptin cut it a few
hours short.

While the sun was still high in the sky, Gumptin
stopped their training.

“Today,” He told them, “you shall go on patrol. It is
one of the duties involved with being a Protector, and I feel you
are all finally ready. You shall each patrol a separate area of
Wildwood forest. Therefore, you shall each be patrolling
alone.”

“Alone?” Bunny asked, wide-eyed, “You mean, we’re
going to be in the forest all by ourselves?”

“That is what alone means, Bunny.” Gumptin said, “If
you run into anything you feel is too much for you to handle, ride
back to the village and wait for the rest of the Protectors.”

“That’s pretty much a guarantee.” Sasha said
snappily.

“Do not worry,” Gumptin told them, “you have done
this over a thousand times in the past. If you remember your
training and trust your natural instincts, you shall be just fine.”
Gumptin stared directly at Bunny when he said, “So, whatever you
do…remember your training.”

Avery flashed back to the maps hanging on her bedroom
wall and all the little incidents her old self had written down on
them. She was sure that more than a few had happened while they
were on patrol. It terrified Avery to think of herself alone in the
forest and running into a troll like the one she had fought in
Lilydale, but it terrified her even more to think of the other
girls alone in the forest, running into one of those trolls,
especially Jade. Avery didn’t know what she would do if anything
happened to Jade.

After going home, changing, and gathering up their
weapons, the girls met up at the stables.

Glancing around at the other girls, Avery could tell
they were all just as nervous as she was. It was one thing to
travel into battle together, it was a completely different story to
go off on your own, without any idea of what to expect. Avery held
onto Phantom’s reins and pulled his large head down to her level.
She rested her forehead against his and took a deep breath, trying
to calm herself slightly before addressing the others.

“Hey,” Avery said loudly, lifting her head off of
Phantom and getting the other girls attention, “I’ll see you guys
soon.”

It was a way not to say, ‘be careful’, and saying
‘goodbye’, which sounded so ominous, and ‘don’t be afraid’, which
just sounded stupid.

Sasha nodded and mounted Belle, “Like Gumptin said,
we’ll meet back at the library at four.”

“See you guys at four.” Bunny said, kicking Ajax into
a trot, towards her designated patrolling area.

Gumptin had given each of them an assigned route.
There were four roads that led off into the forest from the
village. On the far south side of the village, was the small Rumor
Road. Gumptin had assigned Bunny to patrol that road. Then, on the
far north side of the village, next to the stables, was the Thorn
Road, given to Skylar. Behind the village, past the farm houses,
fields, and orchards, was the wild Oran road, which Gumptin had
given to Sasha. Avery and Jade were told to take the Main Road and
all the subsequent roads leading off of it, with Jade patrolling
the half closest to the village.

Before Jade mounted up on Steel, she walked over to
Avery. By the look on her face, Avery could tell she was just as
concerned about her, as she was about Jade, if not more so.

“Avery,” Jade said, her voice a little unsure,
something that was unusual for Jade, “I’ll…I’ll see you later.”

Avery smiled, “You know it.”

Jade’s eyes showed no reassurance of her concern, but
she smiled nonetheless.

What had started out as a nerve-wracking experience
for Avery, after an hour of patrolling, seemed like a quite
uneventful and even pleasant experience. She had been riding in the
forest for over an hour, keeping her eyes open and body prepared
for trouble, but so far, nothing even remotely dangerous had
happened. She had passed a man and his dog walking towards Knighton
to look for work. She met a family from Klover who were headed into
Lilydale, to purchase Everlily flowers for their village.

Wildwood forest was enchanting, lulling Avery into a
state of serenity with its clean floral scents, crisp air, lush
green surroundings, lullabies of animal sounds, and dappled
sunlight. Avery was back out onto the Main Road, trotting up to
Cooper’s Bridge, feeling more at peace than she had in a long time,
when she spotted a dark figure scurry into the forest about a
hundred feet in front of her.

Avery’s heart just about jumped out of her chest. The
thing she had seen looked to be the size of a person, but moved
more like a four legged animal. She fought the part of her that had
been raised on Earth for sixteen years, that was telling her to run
away from the freaky shadow and kicked Phantom into a gallop. When
she reached Cooper’s Bridge, she pulled Phantom up to a stop. She
knew whatever she saw didn’t cross the bridge.

To the right of the bridge, was the small path that
led to Wildpoint Lookout. On the wet soft dirt, Avery saw two
distinct footprints that led off down the path and into the forest.
She turned Phantom down the path and headed into the forest. The
path to Wildpoint Lookout was narrow and dense. If Avery were to
reach out her hands, she would have been able to grab onto the
trees. Wild mushrooms and tall grasses grew along the edge of path.
It would have been charming, if Avery hadn’t of know that somewhere
out in those wild woods was a creepy moving creature.

After fifteen minutes of walking Phantom down the
path, Avery’s heart began to slow down. She thought maybe the thing
she had seen was long gone, or maybe what she had seen hadn’t even
meant her or anybody else any harm. As Avery was debating turning
Phantom around and heading back to the Main Road, her right ear
zoned in on a slight whistle. The whistling sound came closer, and
closer, and closer, until finally Avery had to lean back in her
saddle far enough that her head was touching Phantom’s back. The
instant she laid her body back, she saw a large bladed ax hurtling
above her face. It flew past her face and struck into a tree to the
left of her.

Avery didn’t even have time to panic. A humanoid
creature leapt out of the woods to her right and tackled her off of
her horse. Avery landed hard on the ground, knocking the wind out
of her lungs. The creature would have landed on top of her if
Phantom hadn’t kicked his hind legs back, knocking the creature to
the left of Avery.

Before the creature had a chance to recover itself,
Avery placed her hands behind her head and flipped up into the air,
onto her feet. She slapped Phantom hard on the hind quarters,
making sure he got himself out of harm’s way. Then, she reached her
arm back behind her and pulled her sword from her back sheath.

The creature couched on all fours, a few feet in
front of Avery on the forest path. It wore a long black cape with a
hood that completely covered its face and body. Very slowly, the
creature unfolded himself, standing straight up. On his two feet,
it stood a good six feet tall. It reached its arms far out in front
of it, revealing a pair of long, slender, humanoid hands. Its skin
was a scaly texture with a yellowish hue to it. The fingers were a
few inches longer than an average man’s, and at the top of them
were long, black, pointed fingernails, that looked as hard as
steel. It brought its long fingers up to his overhanging hood.
Avery watched in horror as the creature pulled back its hood,
uncovering a face that resembled that of a man, but with a few
distinct differences. His face was covered in the same scaly
yellowish skin as his hands, and his forehead protruded out in a
reverse triangle pattern. His eyes were a dark red color, and he
had no nose, just two small slits. Behind his thin lips were a row
of small pointed teeth, which he now showed off as he smiled widely
at her.

He moved his head back side to side, like a snake, as
he stared her down, “Protector,” His voice came out in a high
pitched hiss, “you should not have followed me.”

Avery swallowed hard, trying to control her fear so
the humanoid creature couldn’t see it, “You’re right,” Avery told
him, “you don’t look suspicious at all. I totally should have let
you scurry back underneath your rock.”

The creature clucked his tongue in a scolding manner,
“You hide your fear behind sarcasm, little one, but I can see the
truth. I can see how scared you really are.” He let out a whistling
laugh, “Nothing has changed. You are as pathetic now as you were
before. As pathetic as you were on the day you died.”

Avery was thrown off. The thought that this creature
might have actually been there on the day she died was like a mini
bomb going off inside her brain.

The creature took advantage of Avery’s rattled state.
It released a loud high screech into the air and charged towards
her at full speed.

The image of the snake man charging towards her, his
body moving more in a slither than a run, would have made Avery
scream at the top of her lungs, except she didn’t have time for
that. He was almost on her in a manner of seconds. Avery jumped
back and swiped her sword out in front of her, towards his head,
but before her eyes could even adjust to his speed, he flipped up
and spun through the air, landing behind her. Avery kicked back
with her left foot, kicking him in his stomach. He doubled over,
and Avery spun around to backhand him with her left hand. He stood
up and grabbed Avery’s left fist inside his own, before she could
land a blow. He took Avery’s arm and used it to turn Avery,
twisting it behind her back. Avery brought her right shoulder down
hard into the creature’s soft side, once, twice. The creature
hissed and tossed Avery away from him, throwing her face first down
onto the ground. As the creature approached her, Avery rolled
herself over, stood up, and scissor kicked in front of her,
slamming her foot into the creatures elbow. The creature hollered
and grabbed onto Avery by her upper arms. He pushed her backwards,
slamming her up against a large tree. He pinned Avery down with the
right side of his body and held onto Avery’s wrist with his left
hand. He pounded Avery’s right wrist and hand up against the hard
trunk of the tree, over and over again, until she dropped her sword
out of her right hand. Once the sword was out of Avery’s hand, the
creature placed his right hand over Avery’s chest, holding her
against the tree. He spread his left hand into a wide claw, his
long sharp nails made ready to swipe at her face. Avery knocked the
creature’s right hand away from her chest and ducked just as the
creature’s nails sliced into the bark of the tree, leaving four
deep claw marks where her face would have been. Avery drew back her
fist and punched the Demon with all the force she could muster in
the middle of his stomach. The creature exhaled sharply and
staggered backwards. Avery advanced on him, punching him right in
the jaw, and then slamming the base of her hand into his
collarbone. She felt a snap and heard a loud crack, followed by the
creature’s ear piercing scream. She had snapped his collarbone in
two. The creature fell to the ground, near the edge of the forest.
Avery pulled the long dagger out of her boot and walked towards
him. She twirled the dagger around in her hand, to get ready for a
killing blow. When she reached him, she grabbed onto a clump of
long, scraggily, black hair, pulling his head back and exposing his
throat. Before she could run her blade across his exposed throat,
the creature had grabbed onto a heavy log of wood. He looked up at
her, laughed once, and then hammered the large piece of wood into
Avery’s chest, shoulder, and upper arm. A white hot pain
immediately shot through Avery’s shoulder. She cried out and flung
herself backwards, away from the creature. When she looked down at
her shoulder she saw that it was hanging at a disgustingly
unnatural angle. Avery steeled her throat to stop herself from
vomiting. She knew the creature had dislocated it. The creature
stood up and charged at Avery once again, his dangerous wooden club
held high above his head. Avery stood her ground, face scrunched up
in pain as her shoulder screamed at her. The second the creature
reached her, Avery grabbed a hold of his club arm, with her good
arm, and turned the good side of her body into him, flipping him up
and over her back. The creature landed on the ground, on his back,
with his arm still firmly held in Avery’s grip. While still holding
onto the creature’s arm, Avery lifted up her right leg and brought
her foot down in the creature’s face over and over. He spit up a
large gulp of blood and one of his pointy teeth. The last time she
brought her foot down, the creature lifted up his free arm and
grabbed onto Avery’s ankle. With all his might, he pushed back on
her leg, driving her knee up into her stomach and causing her to
falter backwards. While the creature was still on the ground,
spitting up blood, Avery staggered over to the closest tree. She
knew what she had to do. She couldn’t fight with a dislocated
shoulder, not if she wanted to live. Avery rested her shoulder up
against the tree, a flame of terror rose up inside of her, but she
pushed it down as she saw the creature begin to slowly try and get
to his feet. She leaned her shoulder back, and then slammed it into
the sturdy tree as hard and fast as she could. A popping sound
exploded throughout Avery’s body, along with the worst pain she had
ever felt in her life. The pain caused her to cry out at the top of
her lungs, she couldn’t help herself. A warm tear slid down her
cheek as she collapsed her body into the tree. The pain began to
dull slightly turning more into a dull throbbing. Avery didn’t have
long to rest her wounded body, the creature was up and facing her,
claws spread out in front of him. Avery stared him down, all terror
of the creature gone; now she was pissed. They charged each other.
The instant before they would have collided, Avery pulled out her
knife from the cuff on her wrist, spun under one of the creatures
swiping claws, and plunged the knife into the creature’s back the
moment he ran past her. It would have been a killing blow, severing
his spinal cord, if he hadn’t moved a fraction of an inch at the
last second. Instead of grasping for the knife, stuck to the hilt
deep in his back, the creature immediately spun around, swiping
Avery across the right side of her neck with his sharp claws. There
was a stinging pain and a large spray of blood spurt out in front
of her, staining the creature’s yellow hand, but Avery could
immediately tell that it hadn’t punctured her jugular. She reached
up to her neck and felt a stream of wet sticky blood, pouring out
from four long claw marks, running across her neck and down to her
chest. While her hand was at her throat, the creature leapt on her,
pinning her to the ground. He brought the arm at her neck, across
her chest and over to her other wrist, so that he was able to pin
both of her hands down with just one of his hands. The creature
stared down at her, his eyes flickering over to the wound at her
neck. He brought his face down close to her face. Unhurriedly, he
moved his mouth over to her wound, which was still bleeding. He
stuck out a long, forked, pink tongue and dragged it across one of
the claw marks. Avery thought she may vomit from the grotesqueness
of the situation and die choking on her own bile. It would be
better than laying here, watching him feed on her.