The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (28 page)

Avery went upstairs and opened her closet. She
grabbed a pair of dark brown leather pants, a tight fitting long
sleeve white tunic that she tucked into her pants, a fitted dark
brown leather vest, and thick black boots. She laced up her black
leather arm gauntlets and stuck one of her daggers in on the inside
of one. She buckled her oversized belt and stuck another petite
dagger through it on one side and a larger sliver knife through it
on the other side. She fastened up the leather bodice contraption
Gumptin had given her to hold her sword and bow and arrows. When
Avery had finished suiting up, she looked herself over in the
mirror. Avery thought she looked ridiculous. She had spent her
entire life striving for comfort and just trying to blend in, but
here she was, staring at herself dressed in tight leather and
loaded down with weapons.

“I’m sure I’d fit right in back home.” She said
aloud, mockingly, doing a slight turn in the mirror.

As quickly as she could, Avery made her way down the
stairs and out of her house, making sure none of her family saw
her.

Jade was already waiting for Avery at the stables.
She was leaning up against one of the hitching posts, dressed
entirely in black leather, which made the silver of her weapons
stand out like lights in the night. Her long black hair was pulled
back in a tight ponytail. To Avery, Jade looked the part of a
warrior. She looked dangerous, and mysterious, and like she might
behead you just for looking at her the wrong way. Of course, the
fact that she was munching down on a chocolate chip cookie and
whistling an Ozzy Osbourne song took away a little of her
mystique.

“You clean up nice.” Jade told Avery as she
approached.

Avery smiled and told Jade, “Minus about ninety
percent of the weapons, and you look like you do almost every
day.”

Thomas and Pip had all of their horses saddled and
ready by the time the girls had arrived. Pip brought Phantom out
front and Avery strolled up to him. Phantom pranced around and
stomped on the ground. He was a war horse, after all, and Avery
could tell he knew something was happening, and he was excited
about it. Phantom had on a black saddle that was just one shade
lighter than the color of his coat. It had a white vine-like
stitching pattern around the edges of it and sliver lightning bolt
decorations on the corners. The bridle was black with the same
white stitching and sliver bolts. Both were a far cry from the
simple brown leather saddle and bridle Avery had been using during
training.

“Thanks for getting him ready, Pip.” Avery told Pip,
taking Phantom’s reins from him.

Pip exhaled sharply and waved his hand at Avery, “Oh,
please,” Pip said, “ya know it’s me job, but even if it weren’t,
I’d do it anyway. Ya do so much for everyone; ya don’t need to
thank me.”

Avery had seen Pip almost every day since she had
arrived on Orcatia. She had liked him right from the beginning, but
after getting to know him more, she truly thought of him as a
friend. He didn’t treat her like she was off limits or special like
the rest of the villagers did, and Avery appreciated that.

“Thanks anyway.” She said, smiling at Pip.

Pip didn’t smile back, instead he said to Avery, “You
be careful.”

Avery nodded and pip walked over to help Skylar who
was having trouble tightening Dancer’s girth.

“Here is the map to Lilydale.” Gumptin spoke from
behind Avery.

Avery turned around and took the map out of Gumptin’s
outstretched hand. The map told Avery to take the Main Road, ride a
mile past the path that led to the Ora Gateway, and then take the
third road to the right, called the Harvest Road. Then, they were
to ride on that road till they reached the first path to the left,
marked with a marker that reads Lilydale. Gumptin had drawn a very
precise map and made sure that it was easy enough to follow, but
still, Avery knew riding on horseback through a forest, looking for
small roads and paths, while heading towards a place they’ve never
been before was not going to be a piece of cake.

Avery stood, waiting for Gumptin to give her some
more instructions on how she should fight, or how she should lead,
or what to do once they got there, but he said nothing. He just
stood in front of her, head down, staring at the ground.

Eventually, right before Avery was about to give up
waiting for him to speak and say something herself, Gumptin said,
“Remember what you learned. You are a Protector. You are stronger
than those trolls. You are stronger than you could even imagine.”
He gave a little cough, “Remember I am proud of you all.”

Avery thought that was one of the nicest things
Gumptin had ever said to her. She took a hold of one of Gumptin’s
shoulders and said to him, “You’ve trained us like crazy. We’ll be
alright.”

Gumptin reached up and patted her hand, and Avery
could swear he looked like he was about to cry. Before he let any
more emotion show, he hobbled over to stand next to Thomas near the
stable and left Avery to finish getting Phantom ready.

There were three tie straps on Phantom’s saddle. One
was for Avery’s whip, another was for extra arrows, and the third
was for gear, such as bedding if they were on an extended ride.
Since she didn’t have to worry about being gone overnight, Avery
just tied on her whip and a quiver full of twenty extra arrows.
When she had finished making sure everything was tied on and in
order, Avery grabbed onto Phantom’s saddle and pulled herself up
into it. Avery sat on top of Phantom and stroked his mane. She
could sense his desire to run, but he stayed still, waiting for his
master’s command.

All of the others were up and mounted, except for
Bunny, who was having trouble with an excited Ajax. This wasn’t a
surprise for any of them; Bunny always had trouble with Ajax not
wanting to be ridden. Jade always joked that it was because Bunny
was better with plants than she was with people and animals. Bunny
pulled down on Ajax’s reins, laid her hand on his head, and
whispered in his ear. Whatever soothing things she whispered
worked, because Ajax calmed down and let Bunny mount up.

When they were all ready with reins in hand, Avery
glanced around at the girls she had grown up with and just hoped
beyond hope that they were strong enough and lucky enough to make
it through today, herself included. She let her eyes rest on Jade,
and Jade gave her an ‘it’s now or never’ nod.

With a light tap of her heel, a click of her tongue,
and a turn of the reins, Avery had Phantom galloping down the Main
Road, followed closely by the rest of the protectors.

As Avery had expected, Gumptin’s map proved harder to
follow than it looked. None of the girls had any idea how to judge
distance while riding on top of a galloping horse. Once they had
passed the path that led to the Ora Gateway, they had to slow their
horses down to a trot just to make sure they didn’t pass the
Harvest Road they had to turn down. While traveling down the
Harvest Road, they literally had to slow their horses down to a
walk so they wouldn’t miss the next tiny path they needed.
Eventually, Avery spotted a small white wood sign, covered with
clinging ivy, and the word ‘Lilydale’ carved into it.

The girls took the path, and since they didn’t have
any more turns to watch out for, were now free to run their horses
out at a full gallop. Avery knew full well the five mile trip to
Lilydale had taken them much longer than it should have. She just
hoped they weren’t too late.

Avery heard the screams before she was able to see
the village. The path they were on curved slightly before opening
up to the village. Avery pulled Phantom up to a stop before they
reached the curve, making sure the trolls couldn’t see them coming.
The rest of the protectors followed Avery’s lead and stopped their
horses behind her.

Avery inched Phantom up slightly so that she could
get a better view of the village. The end of the path was
surrounded by large trees and tall forest growth, so Avery was only
able to see straight into the village and not what was going on to
the right or left. The village would have looked like a quaint
farming village, spattered with straw houses and flower gardens, if
it weren’t for the utter chaos engulfing it. A few of the homes and
shops were on fire, leaving long trails of puffy gray smoke
climbing up into the air. Villagers were running around in every
direction. Women were screaming and clutching their children,
trying to escape the violence. Men were carrying swords, pitch
forks, axes, garden hoes, anything they could use as a weapon.

The smell of the trolls reached the protectors before
they actually saw one of them. It was the most appalling scent
Avery had ever come across in her entire life. She had experience
dealing with horrible smells, like sick dogs, backed up outhouses
during the Rodeo Day Festival, and teenage boys, but nothing could
prepare her for this. It smelled like rotten eggs and dog crap
being boiled in a large pot of vinegar. Avery had to cover her
mouth to stop herself from retching. Behind her, Avery heard Jade
gag, and Skylar slap her own hand hard across her nose and
mouth.

“This cannot get any worse.” Sasha whispered in a
nasal voice, her nose pinched between her two fingers.

Before Avery had a chance to tell Sasha that
repulsive smells were the least of their problems, a monstrous
troll at least ten feet tall and weighing a good thousand pounds,
crossed their path three feet in front of them. It was the color of
green swamp water with large brown warts dotted across his body. It
had a large round bald head with pointy ears that stuck straight up
and a large underbite displaying a row of misshapen teeth and two
large bottom canines that reached up above his top lip. Its clothes
were sweat stained and appeared about two sizes too small, leaving
its flabby belly hanging out of its shirt and over its belt. As
detestable as Avery had expected trolls to look, this one looked at
least ten times worse. The most menacing thing about it was the
five foot long blood stained club it was dragging around behind
it.

As it passed in front of them, Phantom moved around
on his front feet nervously. Avery pulled back on the reins and
patted his neck to calm him. The last thing she wanted was for the
troll to spot the five of them huddled together on horseback, three
feet to the left of it.

The troll walked on without seeing them, and every
one of the Protectors let out an audible sigh of relief.

The sight of the troll made Avery’s body clench up
with fear, but as the screams of the villagers continued to ring
through the air, Avery knew they couldn’t delay any longer. She
turned around in her saddle to address the girls.

Avery tried to ignore the fear in the other’s faces
as she told them, “Remember, that thing is nothing compared to what
we are. We go in strong and hard. We can do this.” Avery pulled her
sword out of the sheath strapped onto her back, “Are you ready?”
She asked them.

The girls unsheathed their swords, and Avery took it
as them saying yes.

Right before Avery turned back around in her saddle,
Jade mouthed the words, ‘be careful’ to her. Avery nodded in
response.

With a swift kick, Avery nudged Phantom into a run
and straight into the heart of the village. Once there, she was
able to get a complete picture of where exactly all the trolls were
and what they were doing. Avery tried to close off her mind to the
surreal shock and horror of the scenes she was witnessing. She told
herself to focus solely on their purpose for being there, to stop
the trolls from destroying the village.

The troll that had passed in front of the protectors
was making its way over to the extensive fields of bright yellow
Everlily flowers. Already in the fields were two more trolls. One
was seven feet tall with muddy brown skin and white tufts of hair
sticking out of his saucer sized ears. It was carrying a large
torch and attempting to light the flower fields on fire. A group of
villagers were unsuccessfully trying to attack the troll with pitch
forks while another group of villagers stood behind them, carrying
buckets of water, in case the troll managed to get the torch to the
fields.

Another shorter troll, but twice as fat, stood in
front of the troll with the torch, swinging a massive sword at any
villager trying to assist the other villagers in stopping the troll
with the torch. The troll swung his bulky sword at one man
attempting to make a rush past the troll with a wood ax in his
hand. The sword hit the man in his midsection, sending him flying
backwards twenty feet, blood spurting out of him as he flew
backwards, misting the ground in a red rain.

Two identical looking trolls, both six feet tall, a
murky pea soup green color, with matching tattoos of dragon skulls
on their shoulders, were walking from house to house, lighting the
buildings on fire.

There was a sixth troll, bigger than all the rest, a
good twelve feet tall and built like a truck, its hulking muscles
looked like they were about ready to burst through its yellow-green
skin. The troll was walking through the village, picking off any
villager that got near its gigantic hands or oversized club. After
smashing one villager under his horrible weapon, the troll threw
his head back in the air and gave a deep throated howl that sent
vibrations down the Protectors' bodies.

Just when Avery thought she had seen all that there
was to see, a troll no bigger than Gumptin stepped out from behind
a house a few feet in front of her. The troll was the same icky
green color as the first troll. He had long pointy ears and a small
upturned nose. He wore a tan colored tunic with brown cotton pants
and a brown leather belt with a tiny sword sheath attached to it.
One of his big toes stuck out from his worn out shoes. He was the
only troll out of all of them that seemed to wear clothes that fit
him, not to mention the only one that wore shoes. He held a sword
the size of Avery’s forearm in front of him and moved his little
body into an attack stance.