Forgotten Guardians

The four sat in front of the cave entrance catching their breath. Josan could feel his broken ribs and dislocated shoulder as he slumped against a tree. It would take some time for him to get down the mountain in his weakened condition. Miranda walked over and crouched next to him. She started to tend to his minor wounds. She never looked up at him. He felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He had almost attacked her! He would have killed her easily if Wolf hadn’t jumped in. Josan looked over at Wolf, his faithful companion for many years. Wolf would never judge him, but what of Miranda? The one person he had met who accepted him, and he had almost killed her. He would understand if she went her separate way once they got back to the village. This time he had controlled the demon within, but what of next time? He feared for her safety. He would die if he ever hurt her. He looked back down at her and gazed into her almond eyes.

“I’m sorry for what happened back there,” Josan said in an ashamed voice.

“Sorry for what? Saving my life,” Miranda said as she looked up at him.

“No, about coming after you. I didn’t mean to, but I didn’t have control over myself,” Josan said as he lowered his head.

Miranda lifted his up head, “The point is you didn’t attack me, you controlled it. Everyone has a dark side and if you think yours is bad, then you’ve never seen my granny lose her temper. You look like a new bom pup next to her,” She said with a smile. Josan felt a little better and he smiled back at the woman who accepted him, all of him.

Without warning Miranda suddenly went rigid as her eyes rolled in the back of her head. She started to tremble and jerk back and fourth. Josan caught her before she hit the ground. He lowered her down and waited for the vision to pass. Uuger rushed over to Miranda’s side. He looked down at Miranda then looked up to Josan in worry.

“What wrong with pretty lady?” Uuger frantically asked.

“She’s alright, it will pass,” Josan answered, trying to convince himself more than Uuger. Uuger crouched down and rubbed Miranda’s arm with his clawed hand, as Wolf walked over and sat next to Uuger. They sat there for many moments trying to comfort the person who showed compassion to them all. Josan had to remind himself to breathe as Miranda trembled and screamed.

The vision was brutal. Fire engulfed everything. Buildings burned as smoke poured through the air making a masking fog. She could see lighting coming down and striking the fire, as if they were in combat. Fear overwhelmed her, pain seared through her body as if it was on fire. Then suddenly, it was over. Nothing remained but grief.

Miranda slowly opened her eyes to find the world fuzzy and swirling around. She could hear voices and see motion around her but could not focus. Her head pounded like a mallet hitting an anvil.

“Uuger, get me water skin,” Josan said. Uuger scurried off in a rush and returned a second later with the water skin. Josan gently raised it to Miranda’s mouth as he propped her up. “Are you alright?” Josan asked with concern. After Miranda took a healthy swig, she nodded her head. “What did you see?” he asked, and then felt ashamed for asking her so soon, but they needed to know. Miranda sat for a moment letting the cobwebs clear away, when suddenly she shot to her feet.

“We have to get back to the village now!” Miranda yelled. She quickly started to gather her things before realizing that the others were still siding down. She turned to see confused faces looking back at her. She had no time to explain, “The third beast is heading for the village, remember?”

Josan had completely forgotten about the huge creature the wizard had sent to destroy the village and Weldon. He sprang to his feet and then he suddenly remembered his broken ribs. He grimaced and fell against the tree. Miranda rushed over and felt his chest.

“You’ll never make it down the mountain like this, not in time anyway.” Miranda said as she felt the broken ribs.

“I’ll be fine,” demanded Josan through gritted teeth.

“Magic, magic bottle,” Uuger announced, bouncing up and down.

She pulled open her pouch and rummaged through it looking for the vial. Finally she found it and uncorked it. Its smell was ghastly. Miranda held it up to Josan’s lips and let it slid down his throat. She didn’t know how long it would take, but hoped it would be soon.

Josan could feel the pain start to subside and his ribs starting to knit back together. His breathing became regular again and his shoulder stopped throbbing. He looked over to Miranda and gave a mischievous smile, “That stuff is terrible.”

“Better? Good, then we have to go. We don’t have much time,” she said as she spun around to collect her things. This vision was like her last one, but this time she wouldn’t fail.

In a few minutes the foursome was headed down Ihe trail at breakneck speed. Going down the mountain was much quicker than going up. The mountain trail was no problem for Wolf and Uuger, with his small size could easily navigate through brush. Josan had lived in the mountains of Tether and was use to traveling over rocky terrain. Miranda had the most trouble, living in a mostly flat region; the fast descent had caused her to fall more than a few times. She didn’t relent however, she stood back up every time and ran on. She couldn’t get the images out of her head, the fire and pain pulsed through her mind. Images of her father and home flashed through her thoughts. She would not fail again. She would not fail Weldon as she failed her father. With that thought, she spurred herself on through the pain of cuts and bruises.

After five hours of running dangerously down me mountain trail they reached the tilled foothill on the outskirts of the village. The four stopped for a few seconds to catch their breath, Josan could still feel his ribs knitting together and his shoulder still throbbed a little. He hoped that it would be healed before they got back to the village. He looked up at Miranda and saw a look of sheer determination on her face. It seemed as though she wasn’t even winded, she just kept her gaze toward the village.

“Smoke!” Miranda cried.

Josan turned, looked in the direction of the village and saw black smoke filling the air. He just hoped that Weldon could hold off until they got there. He looked back at Miranda; he could tell what was going through her mind without asking. She was thinking of her father. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she stared at the billowing smoke. Then, without warning, Miranda set off in a run towards the village. Wolf took off and was fast by her side. Josan turned to Uuger and spoke, “Come on Uuger, Weldon needs our help.” With the mention of Weldon in trouble, Uuger took off like a dart. Josan took a deep breath and ran after his companions.

In few strides, Josan had caught up with Miranda and Wolf. Josan looked back and found Uuger desperately trying to keep up, but his short little legs could not keep pace no matter how hard they pumped. Josan looked at Wolf then back at Uuger. Wolf immediately understood, spun around and headed for Uuger. Wolf circled Uuger and came up next to him. Uuger didn’t know what was happening; he was just concentrating on trying to catch up to Miranda. Wolf leaned over the back of Uuger, grabbed his trousers with his teeth and tossed his head back. Uuger suddenly was on Wolfs back, moving faster then he could ever imagine. He didn’t ask, he just leaned down and grabbed a fistful of Wolf’s fur and held on for dear life. In a matter of moments Uuger and Wolf were right beside Josan and Miranda heading for the village.

In the distance they could still see smoke filling the sky and fire raging from every comer of the village. Then bright flashes went off like lighting, followed by an unearthly roar. Weldon was doing his best to keep the beast at bay. Each flash spurred the group along.

The four reached the edge of the village to find villagers running about trying to put out the flames and help the injured. The heat was intense and buildings crumbed into rubble as flames licked at the dry thatch that covered the roofs. Green bursts of light erupted from behind a building in front of them. They rushed around the building to find Weldon kneeling on one knee, almost completely exhausted. Uuger jumped off Wolf and scurried to the wizard to lend support to his beloved master. Miranda too rushed to Weldon’s side as Josan took a protective position in front of them. In the mist of the village stood Forgate’s last monster. It was nearly fifteen feet tall and almost as wide as the buildings. Its huge corded arms swung about destroying anything nearby. Josan could see that the creature had several black scorch marks and wounds through out its body. Weldon had bombarded the creature with magic, but it still stood enraged and not soon to stop. The creature spotted the four and let out a monstrous roar. Faster than anyone could catch with their eyes, Josan unsheathed his twin blades in his hands. He twirled them around trying to get the monster’s attention, trying to lead it away from everyone else.

Miranda, thankful for the distraction, quickly helped Weldon move out of sight. The wizard was not in good shape, his clothes smoldered in many spots and his breathing was labored. His skin was pale and clamy to the touch, but Weldon assurd them he merely needed to catch his breath. She turned to Uuger and told him to watch over Weldon, then ran around the building to help Josan and Wolf. When she turned the corner she saw that Josan and Wolf had taken positions on eitherside of the monster. One would dodge the monster’s attack, the other came from the other side and scored a hit. The hits were minor compared to the sheer power of the beast, but with three against one they might have a chance to bring the behemoth down. Miranda took a position straight in front of the creature. One thing Miranda hadn’t considered was that the creature had other abilities other than its strength. The monster eyed her and inhaled deeply and leaned forward releasing a ball of flame. Miranda, suddenly realizing her mistake, took a diving roll to the side. The fire ball hit the ground right where she had been standing, but Miranda had reacted quick enough to avoid the attack with only the edge of her cloak catching fire. For Miranda’s sake, the creature’s attention was quickly diverted away as Josan gashed a deep cut on its wrist.

Josan knew that this was going to take some time and if they weren’t careful, one or all of them would end up dead. Wolf scored a nasty bite on the creature’s calf distracting it enough to give Josan an opening. What Josan and thee rest of them didn’t know was that the creature wasn’t a brainless creation. The creature was slowly learning their tactics. Josan came in ready to add to the monster’s wounds, but was taken off guard when the beast suddenly swung around and back handed him. Before Josan had time to dodge the blow, he was flying back through the air crashing through a wall. He lay barely conscious with pieces of sod scattered about, his newly knitted ribs broken again.

Uuger sat behind the wall with his master as the battle raged on. He patted his master’s hand trying to comfort him as he coughed through the smoke. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to help his new friends, but he didn’t want to leave his master. Weldon, seeing the conflict in his little friend, brought a smile to his face. Uuger had found friendship, something Weldon had always hoped for Uuger. His thoughts where broken as a scream cut through the air. It was Miranda. Weldon steeled his nerves, pushed himself up pushing back the waves of nausea. Weldon rushed around the comer to find Miranda laying on the ground barely conscious, with the beast ready to strike. Wolf had jumped on the creature’s other arm and biting and clawing but to no avail. Weldon raised his hands and unleashed a bazaar of sparks, blinded the creature. Uuger quickly ran over to Miranda and dragged her around anomer building. He shook her gently, “pretty lady, pretty lady okay.” Miranda opened her eyes a little and gave a small grunt as she slowly got her bearings.

The beast shook the sparks away roaring in anger. With a mighty jerk of its arm the creature sent Wolf sailing off into some crates. Then it swung its hand around and caught the wizard in it’s vice like grip. Its long claws dug into the wizard’s flesh, as he squirmed.

Uuger could hear his master’s cries and frantically looked around for something that would help him. His unique sense for magic told him to look in Miranda’s pouch, he open it and found his master’s fire stone.

Josan came out of his daze when he heard Weldon’s screams. He staggered out of the hole in the wall his body had made and saw Weldon being squeezed to death. He rushed in and went through a dozen lighting moves causing cut after cut on the monster’s forearm .The monster dropped its prey and turned towards Josan, swinging across with its other hand, but it never hitting its target. Wolf jumped on the arm again, biting and clawing the monster’s flesh, then sprang off before he was thrown. Josan and Wolf were on either side of the monster again. The creature had dozens and dozens of wounds but still stood. It was starting to slow but so were they.

Miranda’s head stopped spinning just as Uuger was climbing up the building, and she wondered what the little thing was up to. She looked around the corner and saw Weldon lying on the ground covered in blood. Without thinking she jumped up and ran out from behind the building to aid Weldon. She came to his side, only to see the huge beast standing before her. She could feel the pull as the creature took a deep breath, she knew what was about to come. How stupid of her, she just endangered herself and Weldon, she thought to herself. Then a loud cry caught her ear and she looked up at the building that she had been hiding behind, to find Uuger running arcoss the roof. He threw something at the creature. The small stone reached the creature just as it was about to release its killing ball of fire, the monsters face suddenly exploded in flames. The creature howled in pain and clutched at its burning face, only to spread the fire to its arms. This was no ordinary fire, this was wizard’s fire.

Josan saw his opening, he dove into a roll between the creature legs. When he passed, his swords came out and cut deeply into the back of the creature’s calves. When he came to feet, Josan pushed himself into a backwards roll through the creature’s legs again. As he passed, his blades connected right under the knee cap. The creature legs buckled and the monster came crashing down into a building like a living ball of fire. It thrashed about as the wizard’s fire ate away its skin and its life blood flowed from the served arteries in its legs. After a few moments, the creature laid very still as the fire consumed the rest of its body.

None of them saw the creature die. They were all huddled around Weldon. Josan tried to stem the bleeding but to no avail. Weldon eyes opened slightly as he coughed blood trying to speak. He looked over to Uuger and smiled, a smile of a approving father would give to a child. He looked up to the stars as he passed into the afterlife.

The four sat there as Weldon died. Uuger’s black as night eyes burst into tears and Miranda pulled him into an embrace and rocked him. Josan found a piece of canvas and laid it over Weldon’s body. They sat next to Weldon as the townspeople hurried to put out the fires.

The next day the town folk had extinguished all the fires and buried their loved ones. Weldon’s funeral was held last. Everyone who had survived the fire gathered around to say farewell to their beloved wizard. Josan, Miranda and Wolf stood in the back respectfully as Weldon’s body was laid to rest. Josan never knew what an impact Weldon had had on the village. Weldon would be missed. Most of the people had grown up with Weldon around and couldn’t imagine the village without him. He was their healer, protector, teacher and, above all else, a good friend. The priest gave the religious rites as many grieved. Uuger stood next to the priest as he spoke, trying to be brave as he sniffed away tears.

After the funeral the people departed, thanking Josan and Miranda for their help. Josan and Miranda picked up their packs and started to head back to the road, when they heard sniffling from behind. There sat Uuger, crouched next to Weldon’s grave.

“Uuger all alone, all alone,” Uuger mumbled to himself through his tears, “Master dead, Uuger all alone.”

Miranda walked over and knelt beside him. He clung to her tunic and buried his bald greenish head into her shoulder, sobbing and mumbling to himself. Miranda sat there for a while as Uuger cried into her shoulder. She looked down to Uuger and then looked to Josan. Miranda didn’t need to ask, for Josan already knew what she was thinking. He looked at Wolf to see what he thought. Last time it was Wolf who had persuaded Josan to let Miranda come along. Wolf just looked back up with a passive face. He truly felt sorry for the little guy, none of the villagers would take him in and he couldn’t survive on his own. He looked back at Miranda and could see in her beautiful almond eyes that she had already made up her mind. How could he deny those beautiful eyes? He nodded and Miranda’s face brightened as she smiled at him. Miranda pulled back from Uuger, keeping eye level with him. He rubbed his oversized black eyes, trying to wipe away the tears.

“Uuger, would you like to come with me, Josan and Wolf?” Miranda asked kindly. Uuger looked at Miranda then at Josan, who nodded his approval, then back to Miranda. A grin spread across his face from ear to ear and his eyes brightened. He jumped up and wrapped his skinny greenish arms around Miranda. Miranda returned the hug. She pulled away and reached into her pack retrieving a thin strip of leather, then she reached into her pouch and pulled out the fairy stone Uuger was so intrigued by. The stone turned a pink hue as it did before as she wrapped the leather strip around the fairy stone, and tied it around Uuger’s neck. As soon as the stone touched Uuger it fumed to a soft blue. Uuger rolled the stone around in his tiny clawed hand, looking at it with awe. He broke away from the stone and smiled deeply at Miranda.

“This will always remind you of Weldon,” Miranda said in a soft loving voice. Josan walked up to the two and knelt down beside Uuger, “Well, if you’re coming with us you need a weapon,” Uuger let go of Miranda and turned to Josan as he searched his arsenal of weapons. A blade, no, Uuger would need to be trained to use a blade, then it came to him. He reached around and pulled out the small mace that he had taken from the halfling. It was light and easy for Uuger to carry. Josan handed the mace over Uuger, who stood looking over every inch of the weapon.

“Magic in there,” Uuger mumbled not looking away from the weapon.

“Yes it is an enchanted weapon,” Josan explained, making it seem more impressive. Then before he could blink, Uuger had his arms wrapped around Josan’s neck.

“Well, now the four of us should be off then,” Josan said as he looked at Uuger, who nodded in return. Josan looked over at Miranda who was smiling deeply at him.

Josan turned and quickly walked away before she could see him blush. Miranda stood up, slung her pack back onto her shoulders and started after Josan and Wolf. Uuger picked up his salchel, placed his mace on his belt and started walking. After a few strides he turned back around and looked at Weldon’s grave.

“Good bye.” Uuger said as a tear rolled down his cheek. He turned and ran to catch up. Miranda leaned down and took his hand as the four headed down the endless road.