Guardian: Protectors of Light by Melanie Houtman

  *

  The teenagers had said goodbye to Sadria and her friends and were heading back to the entrance of the secret passage.

  “Do you think she’ll be all right?” Samira asked Antonio while sitting on his shoulder, referring to the still unconscious Bella whom he was carrying.

  “I hope so,” Antonio replied. “Her leg looks pretty bad, and there’s a huge hole on the back of her head. Her hair is now sticky all the way due to the blood.”

  “Oh,” Samira gasped. “I hope Queen Eloine can find a way to heal her...”

  “Sure she can. It didn’t happen by Magic right? And if she can’t, you’ll perhaps be able to do it,” Antonio commented.

  “Antonio, how many times do I have to repeat myself? I’ve already told you, I have no idea what the Queen meant when she said that I could heal myself! If I don’t know how to heal myself, how can you possibly expect me to be able to do something for Bella? What if I hurt him, or cause his injuries to get worse?”

  “You won’t Samira, trust me,” Thomas commented. He was talking to Samira, but his attention in general was directed toward James, who was walking between Antonio and Thomas. James had clamped his left hand convulsively to his right arm and moaned slightly.

  “James, perhaps if you just let go of your arm, it wouldn’t hurt so much,” Thomas mumbled toward James, but the red-haired sixteen-year-old shook his head.

  “It won’t stop bleeding, so I have to keep my hand against it,” he responded.

  “James, if you just let me see, I might be able to-”

  “Thomas, no, I told you it won’t stop bleeding! It’s not bad enough for me to bleed to death, but I’d like to keep my clothes clean.” The voice of the sixteen-year-old started to become more irritated.

  “Then you should see what this is doing to your gloves,” Thomas muttered.

  “I can clean those any time if I want to,” James said, “but my shirt is already missing half of its sleeve due to the hole the claw made in it-”

  “Just let me see, James.”

  “No.”

  “James, don’t be such a cocky little kid! I’m trying to help you, and that wound has to be cleaned first before we do anything about it!” Thomas was trying to keep his voice soft and gentle, but the irritation in the tone on which he spoke was unmistakable.

  “Thomas, we can clean it at the Queen’s Palace if you want to so badly! Right now it’s safe from harm, underneath my hand,” James said.

  “James, you have washed neither that glove nor your hands in days! Don’t you understand how bad it is for the wound to keep your hand on it?”

  It was Samira. She had fluttered from Antonio’s shoulder to Thomas’s, and saw the awful condition the cut had gotten in. The scabs from earlier were cut open again, following a new cut, that went from James’s shoulder to his elbow. The hand James pushed against the wound was stained red at some spots due to the blood trying to find a way to stream from underneath James’s hand.

  “Do you have a better idea to stop the bleeding then, Samira?” James asked her. 

  The Pixie shook her head.

  “Well, then.”

  The teenagers were too busy arguing to notice they were being watched. By warrior fairies.

  “Are you sure that it’s them?”

  “Unmistakable! Look at their costumes! It has to be them. There’s no other possibility.”

  “They’re coming for the flowers Asura asked us to guard with our lives. The Guardians must not get them! At all costs!”

  “If you say so... Then we should attack!”

  The teenagers didn’t get any time to realise what was going on, because within a matter of seconds, they were under attack of six angry fairies.

  They instinctively pulled out their weapons as the Fairies attacked; Antonio rushed to a tree to make sure Bella was safe first.

  “Antonio! How are you doing?” James shouted as he blocked a magical attack from a blonde-haired Fairy.

  Antonio seemed to have a lot worse time, because he had to take on two Fairies on his own. He threw his glaive at one of them, which appeared to turn out into a shot in the bulls-eye. The Fairy stumbled backwards and disappeared into fog.

  “Great, Jamey! Thanks for asking!” Antonio yelled, as he retrieved his weapon.

  He wanted to push the glaive right into the other fairy, but she caught it and managed to turn the tables. Antonio ran forward, and fought her hand-to-hand until he had his weapon back – and the fairy had disappeared.

  Thomas turned his head as he defeated the Fairy that had been attacking him. “Samira! Look out!” he shouted, as the fifth of the six Fairies aimed for Samira. Thomas swung his sword forward, just in time to block the attack. The curse the fairy had cast out shot away, seeking for a new target.

  James yelped as the beam that represented the curse hit him in the chest and threw him backward against a tree.

  “JAMES!” Thomas shouted, and angrily lashed out to the remaining two Fairies. Stunned by Thomas’s sudden, furious attack, they backed away and took the flight, off into the Forest.

  Samira flew as fast as she could toward Bella, making sure she was still doing okay as well.

  Thomas had already knelt down next to James, who had collapsed against the tree. ”James! James, are you all right?” Thomas exclaimed worried.

  It took a while, but eventually, there came a response from James. “Yeah, I’m fine,” the red-haired teenager said. “Just a little dizzy due to the impact...”

  “Come on, buddy,” Thomas said, while helping James to stand up. “Let’s head back to the Queen’s Palace. She needs to check what kind of Magic has hit you.”