The Missing Guardian

Chapter 1 - Dust and Ash (South)

Twig (South)

I can feel the anger vibrating off my skin as I look over the battlefield. My home is now a barren field of fire.

Smoke hangs thickly in the air, concealing our movements as we crouch on an upper-level branch. I look over to Nightshade, my brother, standing beside me. Hatred spread across his usually composed features, his eyes crimson with rage as he surveys the land below us.

Realization begins to set in, and a deep, guttural panic forcibly latches its claws into me.

“It was a trap?”

I question my own thinking; how did this happen? How did we let this happen?

“A diversion.”

He hasn’t shifted his eyes from overlooking the chaos we have returned to. His blonde hair thrashing against his face as he scans everything against the wishes of the Autumn winds.

His mind formulating the best blueprint for our next move with precision. His mind is processing, and I can see his eyes flutter and swirl as he becomes engulfed in his procedure. I have watched him do this a hundred times before, but this time it is different, his eye colour has not returned to their forest green, and I notice his lip twitch for but just a second. I know he will have the best solution and the comfort in his familiar reaction is calming.

“We must find the others.”

He finally says, turning to face me for the first time since we reached the border.

But before he can lay out his strategy, an arrow whirs below us, catching our attention and redirecting our focus onto the animal in the opposite direction.

The smoke is distorting the view though, and I can’t recognize its features clearly enough. I watch Nightshade launch into the air in slow motion, pulling his Scabbath from its sheath on his back and descending into the smoky abyss below us.

Closing my eyes and taking a breath, I plunge after him, letting my instincts take over as I rush toward the ground below me. I open my eyes to see him dispose of the beast with a swift flick of his Scabbath, setting in motion the termination of the creature, with perfect timing and finesse, he slices the skin open across its throat. One motion and it falls to the ground in a pile at his feet.

I break my descent as I open my wings, propelling me upwards, before I glide along the breeze, desperate to find the source of the arrow. I can see the destruction below more clearly now and the sight of the fallen leaves me with a sense of hopelessness.

Scattered below me are broken bodies, littering the floor where they each breathed their last breath, defending us. I could almost imagine them sleeping if it were not for the blood and broken bones.

Among the bodies of my own are those of our enemies, some humans, some wolves, giant beasts with hundreds of arrows sprouting from their skin.

“How did they find us?..”

Confusion wraps around me like a cloak of disbelief at the devastation that flashes before me. My mind is racing with all the possibilities. I need to focus though, panic will only lead to a mistake. I need to find others, find survivors and help the injured.

Then we can figure out how this happened.

Then we can dispose of those who lay waste to our home. The thought of revenge brings a smile to my face, but it is quickly pulled back as I notice a figure in the distance running. The air is thick with dust from the conflict, though I am certain now that the figure is being chased.

I push forward to see a small boy, with a bow and arrow on his back, racing against a dirty brown wolf almost thrice the size of the person running from it.

Rushing ahead, I catch a gust of wind, propelling myself toward the animal. I pull my own Scabbath from its sheath and lunge at the running beast in front of me. Descending from above, I land on its back. Stopping it instantly, turning its head abruptly in my direction. Opening him up to my attack.

Using his shock of something unknown to my advantage. I swiftly press my blade against his throat and slice through the flesh, releasing a gush of blood and the life that once resided within.

The body crashes to the floor as I jump back in the air, kicking it in the side, landing next to it, poised and ready for retaliation. I wait for further attacks a moment before gently returning my Scabbath to it's rightful place.

Looking up to see a young one, his wings have not even matured enough for him to fly yet. A look of terror in his green eyes. As he sees me, he runs at me at full speed, landing in my arms, tears wetting his cheeks. I wrap my arms around him instinctively and bend down on my knees to face him. Cupping his face in my hands.

“Where is everyone?”

I ask as gently as I can.

He looks up at me with a smile.

“We were told to go with Mother Tulip, which we did, and as we were getting into the hole, my sister was thrown by a wolf who ran by us. Everyone else went in, but I had to look for my sister. I couldn't leave her behind.”

I listened carefully as he explained where the children were. At least most of them would be safe. Once they were in the safe hole, I knew nothing would be able to get them until they opened the seal from the inside.

I remember having to hide there myself as a child once, terrified and silent, we sat there for hours, waiting for the signal. I shake the memory away, concentrating on what the youngster is telling me.

“I found her and took her to as close to the hole as I could, but she’s hurt really badly.”

His eyes search mine, desperately looking for mercy.

“Where is she?”

I answer and relief floods his features.

He leads me back over the battlefield, toward the Tree.

Careful not to trip over the bodies as we wade through the smoke and dust. He stops near the entrance of the hole. I can see from here that the seal is still intact, camouflaged by the sand.

I look back at him and he is now kneeling next to a small girl, about five, sitting with her arms around her knees. Her hair is the same sunflower blonde as her brothers. I can hear her silent sobs as she clutches herself. Her arm has been lacerated and it looks like her wing may be bent.

“What’s your name?”

I ask the boy, lacing my words with as much comfort and support as I can muster.

“Pine, and this is my sister plum.”

He says confidently. I cannot help but smile at his bravery.

As I am about to introduce myself, I hear growls in the distance, close enough for worry to settle inside me. My eyes drift upward and connect with a dirty brown wolf, his fur knotted and brittle from what looks like layers of dried mud, tangled in the animals coat.

How long had he been in wolf form for him to get so dirty?

His teeth bared in aggression, but the eyes staring back at me are black and dead.

Something is wrong, this beast is unlike any werewolf I have met. I have seen their eyes go black in fury, but these seem lifeless, emotionless and possessed almost.

Black slime drips from his fangs, mixed with blood from his last victim.

“I need you two to shrink down, so I can handle our visitor.”

I whisper to the children.

“Plum can’t shrink, her wing is bent and won’t allow her to,”

Pine whispers back.

The wolf growls again, taking a step toward us. I quickly step forward myself, trying to put as much space between the fight and the children as possible.

As I do, another wolf steps forward next to the first. The same black, dead eyes. I take another step forward, now protecting the little ones behind me.

The wolves are growling at us, their eyes narrowing in on their prey.

I reach for my Scabbath and a third comes out the dust around us. I can feel nothing from them, no emotions or desires, just death.

Their growls do not have life in them, just an echo-less noise. This thought sends a cold dread through me.

I prepare myself for the fight ahead of me, I need to keep them away from the children long enough that reinforcements can find us. I am strong, but I have already been in battle most of the day.

And I know If we become surrounded, I may not be able to get us out of this situation, I must prevent them from coordinating themselves around us.

I can feel myself begin to overheat at the thought, sweat breaking out from my pores.

The first of the three, runs at me, snarling and snapping. His muzzle searching for my weakest point, I watch his eyes linger on my jugular and I catch his mouth in my Scabbath as he bites down near my chest.

I fling him back with everything left inside me. He falls to the earth beneath him, on his side in a cloud of dust.

The others begin to growl loudly and inch forward. I can see in my peripheral view that Pine has picked Plum up gently and is carrying her further away, I signal behind me for him to step directly behind me with my hand and he does as I motion.

The two wolves prepare to pounce as I slip my hands to the center of my broad Scabbath, my palms fluidly tracing the carved wood, preparing to use the blades on either end. I take a deep breath in and unlock my jaw from the tension as I release the air, preparing for the onslaught.

I know I am faster than them, using this to my advantage I launch at them, praying my calculations are correct.

My weapon held out in front of me, I slice a line down the side of each of them as I glide between them. Using the smoothness of the dust like a layer of ice, almost like skating.

My wings bending the pockets in the air, popping them and propelling me forward. I can hear their howls as they snap back at me, feeling the sting of the silver blade against their skin, I grin in satisfaction at their anguish.

It takes them a second to realize I am behind them now and they swivel to find me. I take note of their delayed response and search for any indication as to who they are and why they are here?

They stalk towards me, hoping their size intimidates me. I play into their ideology and step back, feigning fear.

I make eye contact with Pine, his sister draped in his arms in front of me. The wolves now have their backs to them, their focus on me, as I lead them further away from the children. The boy seems to understand what I am trying to tell him silently, as he himself begins to back up away from the sight in front of him. I nod in approval and set my eyes back on the wolves in front of me.

Their eyes never changing, drained of any emotion, ego or humanity. Devoid of life. I let them inch closer to me to get a better view of them, details I can report back, if I survive this.

Their smell hits me first though and I am caught off guard by the stench. My body physically reacting and pulling back, away from the putrid scent of rotting flesh.

I have encountered Rogues before, many times, as they stumbled through the lands, sometimes only one, other times a dozen or so.

But these were different, Rogues still had an essence, they may become deranged and infected but until their last breath, there was an essence.

These wolves had nothing. Their scent thicker than the Rogues I had encountered. A revolting aroma that lingered in the air.

Then I noticed their fangs, coagulated blood coated the white canines, black goo dripped from their mouths as they panted or snarled.

I take note that the wolf I threw onto the ground a moment ago has vanished. Taking a proactive approach, I push off the earth and somersault in the air.

Tucking my wings away and using my Scabbath to lead my direction. I land behind them again and waste no time to begin slashing at them with one side of my Scabbath like a sword, their howls sound hollow, but echo over the landscape.

The wolf to my right turns around the fastest, thrusting himself at me, but before he can pounce, I duck underneath him, using my flexibility to easily slip below him, leaving his front vulnerable to the razor-sharp sting of my silver coated blade.

Sending him crashing to the ground faster than I expected, with a desperate attempt to not get trapped. I step out of the way of his fall, tripping over a dead body behind me and tumble backwards.

The other wolf does not even flinch at his comrade’s descent and attacks me as my body makes contact with the ground. Sweat dripping from my brow, burning my eyes as it makes its way down my face, I watch in slow motion as it easily overpowers me with its brute size.

Pinning me to the ground with its large paws, snapping at my face as its snout gets closer to my skin with every snap of its jaw, the stench overpowering me as my stomach begins to heave. Its canines a hairs breath from touching me and all I can focus on is the black slime dripping onto my tunic.

I remember my Scabbath has fallen to my side with the impact, and I desperately search for it with my hand, but I feel nothing but sand in my fingertips. Trepidation rises inside of me as I realize, I miscalculated.

My miscalculation could cost these children their lives. Guilt rips through me immediately, mingling with my own fear.

The wolf suddenly looks up, releasing a hiss as something hits the wolf on its side.

It snaps back, giving me a second to focus and shrink. The wolf looks back, as its paws hit the ground where my arms were pinned only a few seconds ago.

I am now a harder target to capture when I am the size of a bumblebee.

Shooting away from the wolf I see my tiny hero, Pine is throwing rocks at the wolf, shouting at it to let me go. Plum behind him, holding onto his shirt, sucking her thumb as she cowers behind him. My heart swells at his bravery before dropping when I see the wolf launch toward him.

Using every inch of my being I fly for my Scabbath lying next to the dead wolf I tripped over. Descending and grabbing it, I concentrate in expanding myself. Allowing a shiver of tingles to spread over me, ensuring I am at my full six-foot height before I fling it over my shoulder with as much force as I can, my eyes never leave my target as I watch my Scabbath fly through the air and sink into the wolfs side. The beast collapses inches from Pine and I drop to my knees with relief.

But before I can relax, a howl is heard behind me and I immediately jump to my feet in a defensive stance, glancing over at my Scabbath still embedded into the dead animal in front of Pine. Looking back to the direction of the howl.My mind reeling through escape tactics.

I cannot make out where the animal is through the dust encrusted breeze that wafts passed us.

I can see a fight approaching from the distance, but the air is heavy and I can only gauge its incoming distance by the ever increasing, thunderous sound of a stampede.

As I try to focus, I recognize an outline that suddenly appears, The figure of someone coming toward us. I push out my Fae senses for second to determine whether they intending to harm us. I immediately realize that its my brother running toward us.

Before relief can filter it's way through my entire body, I also notice a cloud behind him. A dark shadow that begins to growl. Thankfully I recognize these growls, these growls have a burning rage behind them.

Nightshade lands in front of me, his eyes still crimson with rage, matching my own now, though his gaze brushes up and down me as he checks for injuries before looking over me, finding Pine and Plum behind me.

A look of shock and grief creeps across his face, slowly returning his eyes back to their true colour. Looking down at me, he smiles and embraces me in a hug. The stiffness in my muscles ease slightly in his embrace, His warmth engulfing me.

“Reinforcements arrived,”

he says with a grin, as he releases the hug and squeezes my arm reassuringly.

Out of the tree line in the distance, wolves start to appear by the masses. Each a different shade of colour ranging from sandy brown to grey and black, each clean and sleek. A welcome contrast to the dirty brown Rogues.

Relief fills my body at the sight. They step forward, led by a massive steel grey wolf that I instantly recognize as Alpha Blake.

I am pulled back when a scream erupts from the direction of Pine and his sister. As my eyes fall in their direction, I see the wolf I had thrown earlier, inches from Pine who is standing over his little sister, protecting her from its teeth, dangerously close to his face. Plums screams pierce through me.

Before I can react, the man beside me has already retrieved his Scabbath and leapt across the distance between us and the youngsters.

I watch in awe as he elegantly exterminates the animal with only a few swift turns of his wrists, manipulating his Scabbath to create lethal strikes against the creature, until it eventually crumples onto the earth.

Nightshade picks up the children, scooping each into an arm. I can see his fear at them being out on the battlefield, open to the violence that is soaked in the dirt under our feet.

The wolves run forward to us but slow as they approach, trying to not frighten the little ones.

One steps closer, her hair a speckled black and grey. She nuzzles my brother’s legs and looks up at him with brown eyes, he gently places the two children onto her back.

I can see their trepidation, but he is assuring them they will be alright with kindness. Holding onto her fur, the children glance at me, so I smile at them and nod my approval.

The Wolf looks up at Nightshade one last time before running back in the direction they appeared. He looks longingly in her direction for second longer than usual.

He drags his eyes away and begins to walk over to me, stopping at the dead wolf and pulling my Scabbath from it. I smile as he hands it over and squeezes my shoulder affectionately.

“Aliya will take them to the pack doctor. Once it’s safe I can send a Fae healer to help them.”

I nod, understanding, but I notice something different in their exchange. A softness I have not seen before. I make a note to ask him about it later, letting it go to for now in order to focus.

I pick up a noise coming from the East of us, toward the river, I set my gaze in that direction, searching for the source. The wolves have heard it too. We all c**k our heads in attention to find the disturbance.

The distant tree line, blurry in the murky dust and smoke that engulfs the area around us, gives us no clue to the direction until I detect movement in the sway of the bare branches of the tree line.

Instinctively, my brother’s protective nature betrays him, and he steps in front of me.

The sound is growing, descending upon us. A howling and whimpering, intermingling and becoming one sound.

A stampede of Rogue wolves’ cascade toward us, through the muck that clogs the air, hundreds of dirty brown wolves snapping and snarling at top speed.

Never backing down, Nightshade barrels toward them, facing them head on. As he begins charging the oncoming attack, Alpha Blake's wolves attack as if on cue. Like synchronized dancers of war.

I scan the line of wolves descending on us and begin to run, trying to catch up with the assassin in front of me, calving rogues like weeds in his path with both ends of his Scabbath.

I realize the wolves are running from something, and the further I scour passed the mass of wolves and dust, I recognize my people. I can pick out our sky-blue insignia, their medals shooting rays of sunshine as the light flickers off them.

The knot in my gut, unwinding slightly at the sight of them.

My energy renewed, I target my first victim and set my plan into motion in my mind.

As I am running toward the larger of the four rogues coming my way, there is a loud cracking noise coming from below, I look down to see the ground splinter apart in front of me, the earth bursts open, a growing hole appearing before my eyes.

I desperately try to avoid it but have no time to find another footing as it stretches out, becoming a pit and I tumble into the chasm that has broken open. I scream frantically as I grasp onto air, unable to grab anything. As I fall backwards, I look up to see the ground closing over me like a wave. Yet not cascading down over me, no one else has fallen either. At least I can be grateful for that.

My body is free falling into an unknown abyss below. I can no longer hear the fight above me and the depth of this cavern concerns me, I will eventually crash to the earth. Unless I can time my descent with my wings, but I can only do that if I can see the ground, but all I can see is a black, never-ending drop. I could rip my wings if I did it incorrectly, panic rising in my stomach, like hot bile.

I continue to fall into the depths. What is going on, how could the earth swallow me whole? The duration of the fall seems to be never ending. The air is thinning, and I can feel my breathing get shallower. The burn from lack of oxygen begins to ache in my chest until I slowly start to lose consciousness as I plummet to my ultimate demise.