The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (30 page)

Avery shook her head, “I’m fine.” She told Jade, “It
looks worse than it is.”

Jade lightly touched Avery’s side where the blood
stains were the most prominent, and Avery couldn’t help but flinch.
Her ribs were still screaming at her from the kick she had received
from the troll.

“Really, it’s fine.” Avery told Jade through gritted
teeth.

Whether Jade believed her or not, it didn’t matter.
There was nothing Jade could do about it. They were in the middle
of a destroyed village, miles away from home after doing battle
with a group of nightmarish trolls.

For as worried as Jade was about Avery, Avery noticed
that Jade didn’t look to unscathed, herself. She had a large bruise
forming on her lower jaw. Blood was dripping down her arm from a
deep slice on her shoulder, and a small trickle of blood was coming
out of her nose.

They walked together to join the other girls who were
now standing back at the entrance to the village. Avery stopped a
few feet before she reached the girls. She stood in the smoke
filled sunlight, glancing around at the scene surrounding her. The
air was thick with smoke from the burning houses, lending to the
surrealism of the moment for Avery. It made everything around her
appear as if it was clouded by a thin gray curtain, like in a
dream.

A group of villagers were putting out the flames on a
small section of the Everlily fields that the trolls had managed to
light on fire. Some of the villagers were walking around in a daze.
Some were working to put the fires out in their homes. Others were
holding each other and crying. Avery couldn’t help but stare at a
woman kneeling on the ground, cradling the body of her dead husband
and wailing at the top of her lungs. Avery looked down to the
ground around her feet. She could barely see the green of the grass
or brown of the dirt beneath the blanket of red and blue blood.

Avery slowly lifted her head up as Jade’s voice
languidly seeped into her brain, “Well, well, well,” she heard Jade
say, “look who’s trying to crawl back to his sewer.”

Beetlebat had regained consciousness and was on his
hands and knees, trying to crawl away into the forest. Jade walked
over and picked him up by the scruff of his shirt.

“Unhand me, pathetic mortal!” Beetlebat yelled at
Jade, swiping his small arms at her, trying to land a punch.

“I made you a promise.” Jade said, holding Beetlebat
at arms distance, so he wasn’t able to touch her.

Jade drew her arm back to stab the tiny troll
straight through the chest, when Avery yelled, “Stop!”

Jade looked at Avery, wide eyed, “What?” She asked,
glancing back and forth from Avery to Beetlebat.

“Don’t kill him.” Avery told Jade, walking up to
her.

“You have to be kidding me?” Jade said, still holding
tightly onto Beetlebat.

Avery shook her head, “Let him go.”

Frustration crept over Jade’s face. She looked like a
child being asked to give up their favorite toy, “Avery,” she said,
refusing to let go of the tiny troll, “this little cockroach is not
something you want to let live.” She shook Beetlebat back and
forth, the troll hollering at her the whole time.

“He seems harmless enough.” Bunny said, earning her a
scolding from Jade, telling her to, “Stuff it!”

“He has to live.” Avery told the girls, “He has to go
back and tell the Emperor what went down here today.”

As much as Jade wanted to slaughter Beetlebat, Avery
could see in her conflicted face that Jade understood Avery’s
reasoning.

Avery reached under Beetlebat’s chin and turned his
face towards her, “Listen to me,” Avery said, pulling hard on his
chin, making sure she had his full attention, “You’re going to go
back to your Emperor and tell him exactly what happened here. You
tell him we’re just as strong as we ever were. Tell him he’s just
going to lose more of his soldiers if he sends them our way
again.”

Avery made sure she sounded a lot more confident than
she actually felt. She thought it a good thing to give that
illusion to Beetlebat.

Beetlebat made a bite for Avery’s fingers, and Jade
pulled him back sharply, giving him a hard slap to his head.

Jade gave one last unsure look towards Avery, and
then reluctantly let Beetlebat go.

“I’ll tell him you are all just as stupid and pitiful
as you always were!” Beetlebat spat out.

Avery hadn’t wanted Jade to spare Beetlebat’s life
just because she thought it important that the Emperor see the
Protector’s as strong, but also because she hadn’t wanted to
witness any more killing. She felt she had already seen more than
enough for a lifetime. Of course, that didn’t mean she still didn’t
want to wring the little troll’s neck.

With that thought in her mind, Avery told Jade, “Why
don’t you give him something to remember you by.”

Without hesitation, Jade landed a hard punch directly
into Beetlebat’s face.

Beetlebat fell backwards; then sat up slowly,
moaning. As he spit a small amount of blood out onto the ground,
one of his front teeth came out with it.

“We’ll work on the rest of your smile another time.”
Jade said to him before she, Avery, and the rest of the Protectors
turned their backs on him and walked away.

“This isn’t over!” Beetlebat screeched from behind
them, “Next time we meet you will taste my blade! I will make a
maggot feast of you!”

Completely ignoring Beetlebat’s threats, Jade said to
Avery, “I don’t know if it was wise to let toad boy live. He’s a
vicious little thing.”

Avery knew that Jade had a point, and that someday
she may come to regret her decision, but at the moment, she
couldn’t have imagined making a different one.

“Thank you.” A man’s voice said from behind Avery and
Jade.

The girls turned and saw a man in his late thirties.
His clothes were tattered and his face was covered with a mixture
of blood and soot. Avery and Jade just stared at him. At first
Avery couldn’t understand why some strange man would be thanking
them.

“News of your return has been spreading.” The man
said, and as he talked more villagers began to walk over and stand
with him, until a large group of about thirty had formed. “We
weren’t sure we should believe it, but thank goodness it was
true.”

A woman wearing a brown dress, her hair tangled, with
a long scratch down her face, told the girls, “You saved us.” Her
eyes began to swell with tears as she said it.

Throughout the group of villagers that had formed,
were words of gratitude and ‘thank you’s’. Avery wasn’t sure what
to say. A minute ago she had been thinking about the tragedy of the
situation, about what a shame it was they couldn’t have done more.
Now, here they were, being thanked by over thirty people for what
they had done.

“You’re welcome,” was all Avery could think to say,
“I’m just so sorry we couldn’t have stopped them sooner.”

The man who had first thanked them, said to Avery,
“Without the five of you, we wouldn’t have a village left to live
in. Most likely, we would all be dead.”

Hearing him say that gave Avery a new perspective on
what had happened. There was no way she was ever going to get the
image of the human bodies lying dead around her out of her mind,
but now, she thought, maybe she could try and focus on the ones
they had saved.

“You’re very welcome.” Avery said again.

“I’m Markin,” the man said, sticking out his hand,
“the mayor of Lilydale, and you have our undying gratitude.”

Avery took Markin’s hand and shook it, “Thank you.”
She said, “I’m Avery, and this is Jade.” She nodded towards Jade
who was standing next to her. Jade shook her head and smiled. She
was terrible with thank you’s and was never quite sure how to
handle them. Probably, because she never received many back home,
“That’s Skylar, Sasha, and Bunny.” Avery pointed behind her to
where they were standing. They each waved and said their individual
hellos.

After accepting Markin’s and the rest of the
village’s thanks, Avery whistled for Phantom, and he came trotting
up to her. She mounted, thankful to be able to go home. They had
only been there for about an hour, but to Avery it felt like an
eternity. She had Phantom walk the path home, unsure if her ribs
would be able to handle a faster pace. The ride home was a silent
one. Each of the girls was lost in their own thoughts, unsure of
what to say to each other after living through an ordeal like
that.

When they finally reached Havyn, the sun was just
beginning to set in the sky, covering the village in hues of purple
and orange. It made the village look like it was on fire, which
Avery thought was ironic, considering the village they had just
left had actually been on fire. As they entered the village, dirty,
disheveled, and bloody, a few of the villagers stopped and stared,
but then quickly got back to whatever they were in process of dong
before the Protectors had entered the village. It occurred to
Avery, that it must be no new thing for the villagers to see them
returning, looking like hell.

Thomas and Pip came running out of the stables when
the Protectors approached.

Avery jumped down off of Phantom. She gave him a hug,
scratching his neck, and telling him what a good job he had done
today.

Pip walked up to Avery, carrying Steel’s reins in one
hand. Avery handed him Phantom’s reins in his other hand.

“Ya look terrible.” Pip said, looking over Avery.

Avery laughed weakly, “Thanks.”

Pip shrugged and looked towards the ground, as if he
was ashamed for what he said, “What I meant was, are ya
alright?”

“Oh, come on,” Avery said, “don’t tell me you haven’t
seen us looking worse than this, before.” With everything Gumptin
had told them, and after reading old Avery’s notes and journal
entries, Avery found it hard to believe that they had ever gone
more than a few days without looking as they did now.

“I ain’t sayin I ain’t use to ya lookin like you’ve
gone three rounds with a boulder.” Pip told Avery, and Avery
cringed at the analogy, “I’m just sayin, that was the old you. I
was askin about the you…you.”

As ineloquently as he put it, Pip had hit the nail on
the head for Avery. For what was just a normal occurrence for
almost everyone else, having the Protectors go off and do battle,
had been, up to this point, one of the most significant for the
girls. They could no longer pretend they were just five girls from
Earth, playing the part of a warrior. Today had made everything
real.

Avery smiled, appreciative of Pip’s perceptiveness,
“I’ll be fine.” She told him, reaching over and squeezing his
arm.

She gave Phantom one last pat on his withers, before
Pip walked the horses inside the stables. Avery turned around and
gasped as she saw Gumptin standing almost directly in front of
her.

“Well done, ladies.” He said, smiling slightly
beneath his bushy beard, “Well done, indeed.”

The last thing Avery needed at this moment was
another possible heart attack inducing bushwhack entrance by
Gumptin, “Gumptin,” Avery shouted, “you really need to start making
some noise before just popping up around us. Especially after
today, my heart can seriously not take your little surprise
appearance act. Shuffle your feet, or something.”

Ignoring Avery’s mini rant, he asked her, “How did
everything go?”

Avery had to think about how to answer that. On one
hand, they had just lived through one of the most horrible
experiences of their lives. On the other hand, they had saved a lot
of lives and kicked the asses of the most monstrous creatures Avery
had ever seen.

Avery decided it was probably best to keep her
emotions out of her answer and just give Gumptin the facts, “Well,
we saved most of the village and most of the villagers. Ninety
eight percent of the flower fields were untouched. We killed the
trolls, and we didn’t die. So, all in all, I think it was a pretty
successful day.”

“Yes, yes, this is very good.” Gumptin nodded
energetically, “The Emperor will realize you are not as weak as he
had thought. Did anything else happen?”

“Actually, yes,” Avery said, “Jade met a tiny troll
that infuriates her more than you do.”

“Beetlebat,” Gumptin replied, without having to be
told, “you have had encounters with him before. He has worked for
the Emperor for a long while. He is from a clan of ancient valley
trolls. They are very old and very rare. They are also the only
breed of troll that can actually speak other languages besides that
of troll grunts. That is why they are usually used as commanders
for troll armies.”

“See,” Jade said, walking up to Avery and Gumptin, “I
told you we should have killed him.”

Avery rolled her eyes. She knew Jade wasn’t going to
let her live that down anytime soon.

“You did not?” Gumptin asked, looking slightly
surprised.

Jade looked at Avery, slight annoyance in her eyes,
“Nope, our moral leader told us to spare him.”

Gumptin looked towards Avery, waiting for an
explanation.

“I thought it would be a good idea if he went back
and told the Emperor how we had beaten the trolls and saved the
village.” Avery said loudly, feeling herself getting somewhat
heated. She didn’t want to have to explain her actions, especially
considering she had the feeling Jade might actually be right.

“Actually, that is not a bad idea.” Gumptin told her,
“The sooner word of the Emperor’s troll army failing reaches him,
the better.”

Jade threw her hands into the air out of frustration.
“You know it wouldn’t kill you to agree with me, just once.” She
said to Gumptin.

“What does it matter?” Sasha snapped, from behind
Avery and Jade, “Who gives a crap that one little ugly troll was
let go…not me. So, just shut up and get over it, Jade. I want to go
home, already.”