The Prophecy (The Guardians) (28 page)

“What?” Haim huffed, his face scrunched up in annoyance.

“Nothing, dork,” Uri dismissed his friend’s comment.
 
“You and Gabe take the Wintoks.
 
I’ve got the two snake breaths.”

Gabe smiled at the confirmation of his assumption; Uri would in fact first kill the Krinams.
 
Without another word the creatures charged at the sign of aggression.
 
Haim swung his hammer over his head bringing it down wildly, and with a thunderous crack, the shell of a younger warrior Wintok split, revealing the wrinkly gray flesh beneath.

At the same moment, Uri lifted his sword and with a single swipe, sliced through one of the Krinams, leaving him in two pieces on the ground.
 
The remaining serpent creature hissed in outrage as he saw his friend easily sliced into pieces.

“You’ll pay for thhhhaaaat.” the remaining Krinam warned.

Seeing that Uri was quite capable of handling himself, Gabe stepped forward.
 
Lifting his sword in front of him, he thrust it into the backside of the Wintok Haim’s blow had exposed.
 
With a gurgle, it released its last breath.

“Two down boys!” Haim touted.

“Does anyone else think that was far too easy?” Gabe asked, readying himself to do battle with the three remaining Wintoks.

“Who says mercenaries are any good at what they do?” Haim suggested.

“I suppose.” Gabe answered.

“How about we finish them off before we celebrate?” Uri suggested, deflecting the remaining Krinam’s blade as it lunged towards him.

“Good idea.” Gabe agreed, swinging his sword repeatedly at the battle rich Wintok.

Though the creature was large it moved swiftly and Gabe struggled to plant his blade anywhere in its body.
 
He dipped, then weaved to the right, just as he was about to reach him, he slashed downwards with the sword.
 
The Wintok rolled, ducking cleverly out of the way of Gabe’s sword once again.
 
Behind him, Gabe caught sight of Haim smashing his hammer down between the eyes of one of the younger Wintoks.
 
Its head splattered like a melon and Gabe wished he had not been so ambitious by taking on the battle scarred Wintok.

“Prepare to die, scum.” the Wintok warned.
 
Gabe laughed in his mind, and had he not been so busy vigorously defending himself with his sword, he would have done it aloud to ensure the beast knew how ridiculous he sounded.

Gabe swung his sword again, but his opponent was quick to match his move, their blades clashed and clanged against one another, releasing a spray of sparks into the air.
 
Gabe thought quickly, he could hear Haim and Uri still fighting around him and he knew neither would be coming to his aid.
 
As the Wintok raised his sword for another swing, Gabe saw that the creature raised his head, revealing the soft fleshy part of his throat.
 
Without a moment’s hesitation, Gabe swung with an upper cut, landing his fist squarely in the throat of the beast.

Gabe managed to knock the wind out of the Wintok, stunning him for a brief moment.
 
Taking advantage of his opponent’s temporary state, Gabe leaped forward with a sidekick, planting a foot firmly in the monster’s belly.
 
When the Wintok doubled over, Gabe used the brief second to raise his blue, glowing sword high above his head and plant it firmly between the creature’s eyes.

Pulling his blade free from the Wintok’s skull, Gabe breathed a brief sigh of relief before turning to go to his friend’s aid.
 
His companions were however in no need of such services.
 
Haim was finishing up putting an end to his opponent with a thunderous blow of his hammer while Uri was putting on a foot fancy display.
 
Utilizing the open air around them, Uri did a back flip and as he turned, used his feet to strike the Krinam in the face.
 
The Krinam didn’t even see it coming.
 
He fell back to the ground with a thud.
 
Uri leaped on top of the serpent being, thrusting his sword upward through its skull, a groan escaping his lips.

Uri wasted no time, “We need get them off the road though, in case anyone sees them.
 
We wouldn’t want to alert someone to our presence.” Uri suggested.

“Very true.” Gabe replied.
 
The three made quick work of tossing the bodies down the hill along the roadside and were back at Rachel’s side in no time.

“Wow, my heroes.” Rachel cheered.

“We better hurry before anyone else sees.” Uri urged.

“Agreed,” Gabe said, taking hold of Rachel’s arm and carefully leading her into the thick, dark woods.

“How is she?” Uri asked, looking over Gabe’s shoulder.

Gabe shifted his sleeping wife, resting her weight on his other arm.
 
“She’ll be fine after she sleeps a bit.” Gabe answered.

“Will she ever stop doing that?” Haim asked, not bothering to look at anyone as he asked.

“Shut Up.” Uri instructed quickly.

“What?
 
I just wanted to know.
 
It’s not very safe for us to have an unconscious person on our hands all the time.” Haim defended his question.

“That unconscious person is the reason we’re out here.
 
She is exactly why you are here and the only person you should be worrying about.
 
If you can’t protect her then your mission has been a complete failure, and worse, the war is lost.” Gabe snapped, not taking his eyes off Rachel.

“Alright, sorry I asked.” Haim said in response.

“And by the way, dumb ass, humans do not build up a tolerance to magic, she’ll always pass out from transportation spells.
 
That’s why we don’t use them to travel unless we have to.” Uri added.

“That’s not the only reason. Let’s not say we are stuck because Rachel can’t transport often.” Gabe continued.
 
“What about trackers?
 
Do you really want to go leaving a trace everywhere we go?”

“Look, I said I was sorry, ok already?” Haim said in a final attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Mirada is about two miles east of here.
 
Do we leave Rachel here?
 
We can retrieve her after talking to Mirada.” Uri asked.

“Not an option, I’m not leaving her.” Gabe informed the men flatly.

“Ok— ok—, I’m not saying you have to.
 
I’m simply trying to figure out a way where we won’t be losing so much time, that’s all.” Uri offered.

“If Mirada is as sought after as you say, it’s not wise of us to head straight to her anyways.
 
Use your head Uri!
 
What if a tracker picks up our trace before it fades?” Gabe inquired.

“Really?
 
Because there are trackers in the middle of the woods, just waiting to catch a read on us.
 
Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, Gabe.
 
I have had a lot more experience with this stuff than you have.” Uri snarled.

“We left a trail of dead bodies behind us!” Gabe added in an irritated tone.
 
“I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to think they could find our trace.”

“Fine, whatever.
 
I’m not going to argue with you.
 
If you want to stay and wait, then that’s what we’ll do.” Uri replied.

“That’s what we’re doing.
 
Haim, can you start a fire?
 
We can rest here until nightfall, maybe by then Rachel will be awake and we can set out for the witch’s home.”

“Really, Gabe?
 
You know she’s not a witch, what is with your attitude?” Uri protested.

“Oh, sorry, Oracle, whatever.” Gabe grinned as he responded.

“What if someone sees our fire?” Haim inquired.

“Are you scared or something?” Gabe mocked his friend.

“Ok, you need to tell me what is going on with you.
 
I’m not kidding around anymore.
 
Haim didn’t do anything to you, for that matter, none of us has, but you’ve been a real ass since the transport.” Uri demanded.

“No I haven’t.” Gabe insisted.

“I think Uri’s right.
 
You’re kind of being a jerk,” Haim added nervously as he went about building the fire.

“I don’t know what—” Gabe started before Uri cut him off abruptly.

“Don’t give me that crap, Gabe!
 
You know exactly what we are talking about, now what is going on?”

Gabe hesitated for a moment.
 
He looked back down at Rachel, who still slept peacefully in his arms.
 
Brushing her hair away from her face, he at last broke his silence.
 
“We’ve been gone from Iron Gate all of what?
 
Two days?
 
Did you guys not see what happened back there?
 
What if we hadn’t gotten out of that?
 
What would have happened to Rachel?
 
I’m her husband, she trusts me to keep her safe.
 
Now I’m going to go to an Oracle, one of the most untrustworthy beings I have ever encountered, and put my faith in them.
 
I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Man, I’m sorry, I didn’t think about what this must be like for you.” Uri offered.

“Yeah, but we’ll keep her safe, don’t worry.” Haim added innocently.

“And how’s that going to happen, Haim?
 
Back there on the street we were able to kill a handful of mercenaries, but what happens when it’s an army?
 
What then?” Gabe argued.

“We’ll find a way, we always do.” Haim said.

“Like you found a way when Raimie died?
 
Or like the Guardians found a way when Rampart was destroyed?
 
I don’t have an option to fail.” Gabe’s words trailed off as the fire grew, the soft glow warmed his cheeks.
 
He leaned in close to the flames with Rachel, allowing the warmth to envelop her.

Nobody else spoke after that.
 
Gabe wasn’t sure if it was because he was right or because they were busy thinking of their fallen comrades.
 
Either way, all he was concerned about was Rachel.
 
He would look after her until she awoke, and then they would go and see this Oracle together.
 
He wasn’t sure if it was the right move, but she was right, he couldn’t simply be idle.

Rachel shifted, realizing she was lying on someone’s shoulder.
 
Pushing her weight up onto her elbow, she glanced up, where she saw her husband smiling back at her.

“Good morning.” Gabe said.

“What happened?” Rachel asked puzzled.

“You set a new record for transportation recovery.” Uri growled from across the campfire.

“Huh?” Rachel moaned.

“Don’t listen to him.” Gabe answered softly, shifting to sit up next to her.
 
“He’s just not a morning person.”

“Wait,” Rachel said, contemplating the time that had passed.
 
“I passed out again from the transportation?
 
How long was I out?”

“Long enough, do you feel rested?” Gabe questioned, still smiling.

Realizing she was not going to get a straight answer out of Gabe, Rachel looked to Uri.
 
“How long was I out?”

Purposefully avoiding the disapproving glare of his friend, Uri responded quickly, “Two days!”

“What?
 
I don’t understand.
 
I thought I was only supposed to be out for a few hours.
 
I should be getting better at this, not worse.” Rachel argued.

“Actually, darling, you’re human, we really have no idea how magic will affect you.
 
It can be different every time.
 
Also, the further distance we transport, the harder it is on your body.
 
It’s not that big of a deal though, don’t worry about it.”

Uri huffed in response to Gabe’s statement, clearly he did not agree about the delay not being an issue.

“What about the Oracle?
 
What did she say?” Rachel asked.

“Your husband insisted on not going to see her until you woke up.” Uri added in a snarky tone.

“Gabe?
 
Why would you do that?” Rachel squealed.

“What do you mean?
 
It was your idea for me to go and see the Oracle, I wasn’t about to see her without you.
 
Besides that, what was I supposed to do?
 
Just leave you here with Haim?” Gabe argued.

“Yes!” Rachel snapped.
 
“I’m not some delicate flower you have to always be worried about.”

“Well, actually, you are kind of delicate,” Uri corrected her, scrunching his face as he did so.

 
“Oh will you shut up?” Rachel quipped.
 
“I’m serious, how are we ever going to be safe if you don’t trust your friends to be able to take care of me?”