The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (22 page)

They each fell in line silently behind Gumptin,
following him to wherever he desired. Where he desired, as it
turned out, was a large tree house. Avery wasn’t going to count the
trees on either side of it, but she was pretty sure the house was
in the center of the village. The bark of the tree was dark and
there were only two very small square windows in it, both in the
front of the tree. The door leading into it was round and the same
color as the bark of the tree. If it weren’t for the ornate brass
lock and round doorknob, it would look as if there was no door at
all. There was a glass lamp on the right side of the door.

Gumptin waved one of his small hands towards the lamp
and said the words, “Siata Doso Illumia.”

Inside the lamp there was a small red flicker, and
then it burst into an orange glow.

The girls stood, shocked. They had known Gumptin was
a Wizard, but besides seeing him open the gateway, which they were
told anyone could do, hadn’t actually seen him do anything
magical.

“Dude, that was awesome!” Skylar shouted, clapping
Gumptin on the back, “If this was Earth, you could totally own
Vegas!”

Once the lamp was lit, the girls could see that above
the door, a small wooden sign hung from a metal post stuck into the
tree. Written in dark green calligraphic letters, the sign said,
‘The Library‘.

“After everything you’ve put us through today, now
you made us follow you to a library?” Jade blurted out, finished
with biting her tongue, “Unless we need to learn how to fight a
librarian, I’m going home.”

“This is not like the libraries you are use to Jade.”
Gumptin told her.

Avery laughed out loud at that idea and couldn’t stop
herself from saying what came out of her mouth, “I don’t think
Jade’s ever been in a library in her life, so she has no basis for
comparison, Gumptin.” Avery laughed even harder the more she
thought about the idea of Jade in a library. Jade rarely went to
school voluntarily, let alone a library.

Jade reached over and punched Avery on her upper arm,
“Don’t mock me in front of the elf, stupid!” She yelled at
Avery.

Ignoring the fact that Jade had once again
inaccurately called him an elf, Gumptin continued explaining, “This
is not an actual library, per se. This is the Protectors home base.
It is in here that you have your meetings, discuss your course of
actions, and where Avery gives her orders.”

Avery saw Sasha roll her eyes on that last part, and
she wondered if the joy she felt from knowing how much it tormented
Sasha to think of taking orders from her made her a bad person. It
only took a brief second for Avery to come to the conclusion that
she didn’t care, and that she would continue to relish Sasha’s
aggravation.

“Inside are stockpiles of different weapons.” Gumptin
went on, “There are maps of every region and village on Orcatia.
Notes and journals on your battles and exploits are kept in the
library, some written by you, some written by me, and even others
by a third party. Any letters you receive asking for help or
thanking you are also kept in there. Plus, although, it is not an
actual library, in the literal sense, the second floor is entirely
used as a library for the Protectors.” Gumptin’s voice began to
carry a hint of excitement as he talked about this, “There are
hundreds and hundreds of books containing information on different
monsters and spells, Wizards, Demons, and prophecies. There are
history books detailing any and every event that has ever occurred
on Orcatia.” As he spoke, it was obvious how much Gumptin cared for
the books, much more so than any weapon he had showed the girls how
to use that day.

When he finished explaining to the girls exactly what
the library was, he reached into another cloth satchel hanging from
his belt and pulled out six large silver keys. He gave one to each
of the girls, and held on to the sixth one for himself.

“Keep these on you at all times, and whatever you do,
do not lose them.” Gumptin said this, staring directly and intently
at Bunny.

The key was as large as Avery’s hand, and she had no
idea where she was suppose to keep it. It certainly wasn’t going to
fit on any key chain she had ever seen. The key, itself, was
tarnished silver with a fancy letter ‘L’ engraved into it just
below the top ring loop.

Gumptin stuck his oversized key into the oversized
lock and turned it, opening the door.

The girls walked into a dark and narrow entryway.
From just a few feet ahead of them, they heard Gumptin shout,
“Siata Doso Illumia Allea”

A few seconds after he uttered those words, every
lamp inside the tree house burst into light.

Now, with everything lit up, the girls shuffled
farther into the headquarters. The entryway stretched on for a few
feet and was only wide enough for two girls to walk side by side
comfortably.

Avery and Jade were the first two in behind Gumptin,
and they squeezed their way through the entryway, their arms
pressed up against each other.

It was easy enough for them to see over Gumptin, to
the main room of the library. It was a large room, with the walls
painted a dark green, and shaggy brown rugs scattered across the
wooden floor. In the center of the room was a broad, circular, dark
wooden table. There were seven chairs, all different sizes, with
different colored cushions, spread around the table. On top of the
table were several maps, a book entitled, ‘Forces of Great Power
During the Xenic Age’, and multiple scraps of paper with writing on
them.

As Avery moved closer to the items on the table, she
was able to get a better view of the maps. Unlike the maps stuck to
the wall of her room, with past events written upon them, these
maps seemed to have plans for future actions drawn on them. There
were red arrows drawn onto the map, pointing towards a forest
region called Darksin Forest, located around the Emperor’s
fortress. Above the red arrows were written the words, ‘Weak point,
500+ strong needed, Elves from the right, Horses to fortress gate’.
Avery had no idea what it could possibly mean, but she noticed it
was written in her hand writing. Another thing she noticed that was
written in her hand writing were some of the notes on the strewn
pieces of paper. She picked up one of the notes and read it,
‘October 11
^th
- Emperor’s army at Blackmore’s border.
Reports of 800+. King Jeremus’s army holding off invasion on
western front. 200 dead. October 15
^th
- Blackmore still
holding. King Jeremus asking for help (unable to lend aid). King
Draven sending part of his army to help. October 25
^th
-
Led Protectors into Hunthill. Small group of Emperor’s army trying
to advance on the Eastern front (were able to hold them off).
Battle lasted four days. 250+ dead. Sasha received head wound (not
too bad, but keep eye on her). October 27
^th
- Stormfell
Mountain dwarves joined Emperor. Heading to Stormfell to stop
invasion of mountain villages. October 31
^st
- Back from
Stormfell. Village of Gunning lost. Dwarves and Emperor’s army held
back (for now). Injured right shoulder. Body is sore. November
3
^rd
- Emperor’s army regrouping. Pushing harder on
Blackmore. King Draven sent rest of army south to Kellington where
Emperor is trying to invade from southern border. November
5
^th
- Fight in village of Klover. Enemy led by two Were
Demons. One Demon forced to talk - said Emperor will attempt to
take over villages on the coast (better access to ocean ports).
Leaving to port town of Secregorn tomorrow. (Body still sore -
rewrap wounds before journey). November 10
^th
- Back from
Secregorn. Few small battles. Emperor’s army still mainly
congregating near Darksin. 4 more villages have fallen in our
absence. Emperor advancing more heavily on Blackmore. King Jeremus
close to falling. Port villages defended, but weak. More and more
going over to Emperor. Gumptin searching for solution in his old
books. Sasha and Skylar injured. Jade hurting (though she won’t
admit it). Bunny struggling. My body is so sore. November
13
^th
- More fighting. Trying to advance, but not making
any headway. Need the use of the King’s army and the elves, any
others willing to help. Over 1500+ Orcatians confirmed dead.
Protectors are failing’. The last entry was dated November
17
^th
, the day before they had died. It said, ‘Nothing
but more fighting. Can’t hold Emperor back. More people die.
Protectors grow more tired and hurt. Bunny was right, something has
to change’. Below the last line were written words that had been
crossed out. Avery brought the paper up to her face, to try and
make out what was scratched out. The words said, ‘I’m so tired. So
tired. Too tired’.

Avery read the notes she had written in her previous
life on Orcatia and couldn’t stop the cold knot forming in the pit
of her stomach. Everything was written as simply as if it were a
grocery list. Avery was surprised at the ease and detachment her
previous self could have written about death and fighting. Just
reading the notes made Avery feel like curling up in a little ball
and crying. She wanted to curl the paper up into a little ball and
throw it in the trash, but resisted since she was sure it contained
information they might need sometime in the future. So instead, she
let the laundry list of despair fall back onto the table. There was
a momentary thought she had to try and study the notes more to get
a better idea of what she should expect as a Protector, but Avery
knew full well that her mind wasn’t yet ready to accept the fact,
that at some point in the near future, she too would have to live
through the events she had written about.

Next to the notes with her writing on it, Avery
spotted a piece of paper with what she recognized as Jade’s hand
writing. It read, “November 11
^th
- Patrol with Skylar on
the Selvin Road, encountered small group of trolls, one ugly
bastard escaped (Skylar wouldn’t let me follow it into Darksin -
Per Avery’s orders to keep out of that area), witnessed Emperor’s
army advancing on Blackmore - (Note: inform Avery)’. Avery smiled,
it comforted her that Jade seemed at least slightly similar to her
previous self. For her own part, the more and more she found out
about her Orcatian life, the more tightly she wanted to hold on to
the life she had on Earth.

The other girls walked up to the table to look at the
maps and read the notes.

“Wow,” Skylar said, after picking up Avery’s notes
and reading over them, “this is crazy heavy stuff. I can‘t believe
you wrote this, Av.”

Jade grabbed the paper out of Skylar’s hand and
glanced over it. Once she had gotten the general idea of what Avery
had written, she looked up at Avery, concern written all over her
face. It was obvious she hadn’t liked what she read.

“Skylar’s right, this is pretty heavy stuff.” She
told Avery, setting the piece of paper back on the table and
staring back up at her, “You ok with this?”

Avery shrugged, not quite sure if she was or not, but
not wanting to concern the others with any anxiety the notes had
given her, “Don’t worry about me.” She told Jade and the rest of
the girls, “I remember as much as you guys do, which is nothing. I
don’t remember living through those things, let alone writing about
them.”

“Sure,” Jade said, not wanting to push her any
further, “if you’re fine, than I’m fine. You just don’t really
sound like the Avery I know in these notes.”

Tell me about it, thought Avery. She turned her
attention to the rest of the room to take her mind off of her past
Protector activities. The dark green walls were covered with maps,
just like her room. They were maps of different kingdoms, the
mountainous kingdom of Blackmore, and the kingdom of Espria, which
seemed to consist of mainly grasslands. There was the kingdom of
Greycian, surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water. The
kingdom of Eternel had dark forests and rocky mountains. Then there
was a map of their own kingdom of Nightfell, with their village,
Havyn, located on the map, surrounded by the Wildwood forest. King
Draven’s castle rested in the center of the kingdom, acting as the
focal point of the map. There were a dozen other maps mounted on
the walls, all of different kingdoms, with different mountain
ranges, forests, villages, and oceans. Avery sincerely hoped
Gumptin wasn’t expecting them to learn all of the different
locations and landmarks.

There was an open doorway off to the left side of the
room. It led into a narrow hallway that led off to two separate
smaller rooms. The first of the two rooms was a cramped weapons
storage room. The walls were lined with different weapons, there
were rows of crossbows, swords, axes, knives, whips, bows, and
staffs. The second room was just as cramped, except this room was
filled with three flimsy looking straw beds, each with one pillow
and one blanket. Avery assumed they must have slept over here when
they were busy and needed a quick nap. Although she couldn’t
imagine getting any sort of restful sleep in those awkward beds.
There was one small wooden nightstand in between the first two beds
with a dim lit lamp and a short stack of books. Avery didn’t bother
to look at what the books might be, figuring they were most likely
in the same vein as the book on her bedroom night stand, involving
spells, and creatures, and how to defeat them.

After a quick examination of both rooms, Avery walked
back out to the main room. There was a large spiral staircase off
to the right side that led up to the second floor. Avery grabbed
onto the thick wooden banister and proceeded up to the next floor.
The staircase was wide enough for Avery to lie down straight across
the stairs head to toe, and dark burgundy carpeting covered each
wooden step. It spiraled around twice before leading Avery out onto
the second story landing.