Guardian: Darkness Rising (10 page)

Marco shrugged with a crooked smile. “Guess
that makes sixteen, then,” he said.

“
Seventeen.”

A figure had appeared in the doorway of the
Master’s cell. A slender, small woman, not much taller than Tony.
She had long, silver hair, that peeked out from underneath the
green hood she was wearing.

As she took off the hood, the figure revealed
her face; a golden headpiece with a bright silver stone shimmered
on her forehead, and her hair was tucked back behind her pointy
ears. Her blue eyes were shimmering with mischief. “Long time no
see, Guardians.”

“
Violina!” Antonio shouted
happily, and almost ran over to the Fixie to hug her. “Yes, it’s
been a long time, indeed. Almost... too long.”

“
Antonio,” Violina said, as the
two let go of each other. “You got older.”

Antonio chuckled, nervously rubbing the
white-blond beard that was growing on his chin. “Yeah,” he said.
“And you... didn’t.”

“
I told you, a thousand fairy
years equals one of yours,” she said. “I wasn’t
kidding.”

“
You sure weren’t,” Antonio said.
“Why are you here?”

“
I attended the ball last night,
incognito,” Violina said. “But – not in this dress, of course.
And... I decided to stay, because I believe you lot look like you
could use some help.”

“
We do, Violina,” James said. “We
most certainly do.”

“
Well, luckily, so do I,” Violina
said, taking off her cloak. “I need to free my sister from a spell,
and I most certainly think you guys could help me do
so.”

“
Although we’d
love to help, Violina,” Bella said, “don’t get me wrong, we
really
do – we’re kind
of in a situation here...”

“
Yeah, I heard,”
Violina said. “Guess the Master’s on the loose again and out for
revenge, huh?” She ran her fingers through her silver locks as she
spoke. “That’s most certainly a
sticky situation, indeed. Especially if you consider all
the trouble you guys went through about two and a half a decade ago
to defeat him.”

“
Can you help us,
Violina?” Thomas asked, scratching his neck. “All we really need to
do is to capture the Master so Akilah and the Spirits can destroy
him once and for all.”

Violina shrugged. “I don’t know,
Thomas,” she said, sounding genuinely reluctant. “The nonchalant
tone of your voice makes me slightly worried that you’ve forgot
about all that happened last time.”

Thomas raised his palms in
defence. “Oh, no, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I know that things
are going to be a lot more difficult than I just made them seem to
be. I know how dangerous the Master really is. But what kind of
power could he possibly have left over this world? All of it was
taken from him.”

“
Well, if your long-term memory isn’t broken, then your
short-term
has
to be,” Samira told her husband. She
sounded exasperated. “Did you forget what just happened ten minutes
ago? The Master escaped from a seemingly inescapable prison! He’s
stronger than ever, Thom.

“
We don’t know why or
how, but he is.”

“
I believe that
Thomas meant that we’re in the advantage as long as the Land of
Light remains light,” James said quickly. “A well-plotted plan
could work.”

“
What are you getting
at, James?” Samira said curiously. “Do you have any
ideas?”

“
And
please
make sure that this plan is better
than your last one,” Antonio said. James could tell by the tone of
Antonio’s voice that he was merely joking, but the nasty sting it
left wasn’t lost on James.

“
We... could try to
lure the Master into a trap. There’s still at least seventeen of
us, after all,” he said carefully, part of him already knowing this
plan wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“
But how, then, Dad?”
Luke said. “If the Master can outsmart the Spirits of Light, then
he’ll be able to get rid of us without breaking a
sweat!”

“
You’re right...”
James let out a sigh of defeat. “This is never going to work; the
Master isn’t dumb enough to fall for a trap. We’re done
for.”

“
That’s not what I
meant, Dad!” Luke said, but his father had already turned around
and left the cell. “Dad-!”

Luke sprinted after his father,
closely followed by Samira.

“
Wow,” Antonio
sighed, slightly starting to regret the mean comment he’d made. “I
didn’t know he was taking it so hard on himself.”

“
You know Uncle
James, Dad,” Mari said. “If things go wrong under his supervision,
he takes the blame. He won’t accept anyone else to blame
themselves.”

“
Isn’t that some kind
of victimizing?” Marco said; Mari responded by shaking her
head.

“
No,” Mari said,
“because the last thing he wants is pity.”

“
But how do you
know?” Felicity said, sounding moderately confused. “You two aren’t
even related. How could you possibly know how he feels?”

“
I know,” Mari
breathed, “but I know because I have been doing the same thing ever
since I got here.”

*

“
Dad, please. I
didn’t mean it like that.”

“
I know you didn’t,
Lucas. It’s not your fault.” James didn’t turn to face his son, but
crossed his arms. “It’s just my own problem, I guess.”

Luke felt a tap on his shoulder,
and looked aside to see his aunt standing beside him. She smiled
encouragingly. “Let me handle this.”

Samira walked forward and
carefully approached her brother. “James,” she said on an as calm
and soothing tone as possible. “Please stop blaming yourself.
You’re not to blame for this. Plus, the Spirits already took care
of the situation.”

“
I came up with the
idea,” James said, “so that makes me partially responsible. There’s
no way to change that. But...” He sighed. “I guess I should stop
making a big deal out of it... I just thought things would be a lot
worse.”

“
We don’t know how
bad the situation will be in the end,” Samira said, “but for now,
we’re sorting things out. As long as the barrier stays up, the
Master can’t harm the other Realms.”

Samira looked her brother in the
eye; she knew that James would remain troubled about this for a
while, and she’d have to keep an eye on him. “Come here,” she said,
pulling her brother into a hug.

“
It’s going to be
alright, James,” Samira said. “We saved the world last time by
working together. This time, we can do it again. I know we
can.”

“
Samira...” James
said quietly. “Would you be willing to give up whatever it
takes?

Just like last time?”

“
Don’t make any
foolish decisions, James,” Samira said strictly. “You got lucky
last time. Maybe next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

James sighed. “I know,” he said.
“I’m sorry for every last dumb decision I’ve ever made, and every
single one I will make in the future.”

Samira chuckled. “Then you’ve got
a lot to apologise for,” she said. When she looked up and saw her
brother’s face, she burst out laughing. “Just kidding!”

James gave his sister a crooked
smile. “Of course you were,” he said, as he abruptly pulled away
from her, “but I don’t really think this is the moment to make
jokes, Samira.”

Samira crossed her
arms. “James,” she said, “you
are
allowed to have a
little fun, no matter how dire the situation! Where did that
jokester who used to be my brother go?”

James shrugged. “He’ll be back,”
he said, while walking back into the cell where his friends still
waited, “when things have been sorted out.”

Darkest
Night

When evening came, James had made a choice. A
choice he’d been thinking about since he’d released the Master
earlier that day; he had to leave. He had to be the one to find the
Master and bring him to justice – whatever it’d take.

As soon as night had fallen over the Land of
Light and James was sure everyone was asleep, he left. Wearing a
dark cloak to cover his identity from the outside world, he crept
out through an open window on the ground floor.

He didn’t want to leave; oh no. Leaving his
family and friends behind was the last thing he wanted. But there
was no time left, and no other way out. James wouldn’t put his
friends and family at risk again.

James mumbled a few silent apologies as he
looked back into the dark castle, knowing no one would be there to
listen to them, and left.

He knew exactly where to look; the
Master would be most likely to retreat in his castle to prepare for
war. James didn’t expect that the Master would be easy to defeat –
but James believed he
would
be in the advantage.

James wasn’t a kid anymore; he’d be able to
take on the Master if he believed he could do it. Despite not
having used his magic for decades, it felt incredibly familiar;
James felt the light energy that surrounded him fuel his own soul.
There was no way the Master would defeat him – unless the man would
cowardly retreat to trickery, which was the one thing holding James
back.

The Master was known for his
trickery. He was sly and good at lying; a dangerous combination,
which he was well-known to use to his advantage. James had to be
careful if he didn’t want to fall under the Master’s control. But,
on the other hand... the Master couldn’t possibly be as powerful
now as he’d been twenty-five years ago. Things were different now,
and darkness no longer ruled the Realms; he had no source of power
other than whatever he had put inside that stone...

...Hopefully, that wouldn’t
be
too
much for
James to handle. He was familiar with the way his own power worked
now, and he was about to find out how effective they’d be against
the Master.

James was ready for a fight. And
he hoped that the Master wasn’t.

*

When Thomas woke up in the middle
of the night, hoping to be able to get some water somewhere, it
didn’t take long for him to notice that James had gone missing. He
quickly went to alarm his friends and the Spirits, and gathered
them in the Ritual Chamber – they had to send out a search party
for James.

“
So
that’s
why he was acting
so strangely all evening,” Antonio said angrily. “He just wanted to
go off on his own.”

“
I don’t believe that’s it,
Antonio,” Violina said. “This doesn’t sound like James at
all...”

“
Violina’s
right,” Samira said. “James would
never
go off on his own just so he
can be the hero. There’s more behind this.”

“
We’ve got to go out and look for
him,” Bella said. “Akilah, can you watch over our kids while we’re
out there, and keep them safe until we get back?”

“
Who says we’re not coming with
you?”

All adults turned their heads to
the Ritual Chamber’s entrance – Luke had silently entered the room.
Fully-dressed, armed and determined to go along. “We’ve got to
fight, too.”

“
Lucas, I
believe you don’t understand,” Samira said. “We’re not
going
to fight – well,
not
yet.
We just
have to find your father, and then we’ll be coming back to discuss
a plan of action.”

Luke crossed his arms. “I believe we’ve wasted
enough time discussing plans, and I believe that that’s the exact
same reason why Dad went off on his own.”

“
The kid’s got a point,” Aharnish
said. “We’re running out of time here. And as time slips through
our hands – so do our options. We don’t have long until the Master
executes whatever plot he’s planning.”

Violina and Samira exchanged looks. “Look,”
the Fixie said, “I can look after your kids while you’re out there.
You’ve got to find James – and quick. The bigger your search party,
the better.” The Fixie turned her head toward Akilah. “I think you
and your siblings should go along with them. They’re going to need
some backup.”

“
Sounds like a good plan to me,”
Akilah said. “What do you think, Guardians?”

“
Since I am a Guardian, too, I
believe I have a say in this as well,” Luke insisted; the Spirits
couldn’t do anything but nod approvingly.

“
Well then,” Ince said, “what are
your thoughts, Guardian?”

Luke smiled mischievously. “I suggest we form
two search parties,” he said, “a search parties consisting of five
– two Spirits and three humans, and two humans and three Spirits,
to even out our chances.”

Aharnish nodded. “Seems like a
good plan,” he remarked. “So you’re suggesting your friends stay
here?”

“
Yes,” Luke confirmed, “they stay
here with Violina. If we haven’t found Dad by the time they wake up
– which honestly, I highly doubt, they can head out with her to
search, too.”