The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (25 page)

“I wasn’t sneaking,” She gasped out, “I was coming to
see if you needed any help.”

The man huffed, “Do I look like I need any…” he
looked up at Avery before he had finished what he was going to say
and stopped mid-sentence.

Now that he was looking at her, Avery could see he
was a man in his sixties, with tufts of graying hair encircling a
small bald spot on top of his head. His skin was tight and
leathery, like he had been working outside in the sun and elements
his entire life. He had thin drawn lips that made his face look
even tauter than it actually was. All in all, he looked quite
unpleasant, except for the kind brown almond shaped eyes that
stared up at her.

“Ms. Avery,” he said, blinking, “I didn’t know it was
you. I’m sorry if I sounded a bit harsh.” His voice was genuine,
and as he talked to her, he hugged the bucket he had picked up
against his chest, like a child clinging onto a stuffed animal for
comfort. It gave Avery the impression she was making him nervous in
some way.

“That’s fine,” Avery told him, faking a smile, “it
really wasn’t that harsh anyway.” Not compared to some of the
things Gumptin had shouted at her during training, “I’m Avery.”
Avery said, holding out her hand. She was aware that the man
obviously knew that, but since she had no idea who she was talking
to, she felt introductions were in order.

The man stared at her for a moment, then at her
outstretched hand, then back at her, looking uncertain. Eventually,
a slow smile began to form on his face.

“Oh, I forgot…ya don’t remember a thing do ya?” He
reached out his hand and grabbed onto Avery’s, shaking it
vigorously, “Well, I’m Thomas, Ms. Avery, Thomas Mullimany. I run
these here stables, have for the past forty years.” Thomas’s chest
puffed out slightly. It was an apparent source of pride for him,
and Avery had to admit, they were the cleanest stables she had ever
seen.

Avery remembered Pip telling her he worked for a man
named Thomas in the stables.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Avery said, this time
with a genuine smile, “The stables look awesome. You and Pip do a
really great job.”

Behind Thomas’s leathery tan skin, Avery could swear
she could almost see him blushing, “That’s might kind of ya.”

Avery pointed outside, to the heavy saddles by the
hitching post, “Did you need help with those?” She asked
Thomas.

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t want ya to strain yourself.”
Thomas joked, laughing heartily at his own humor. He knew Avery was
strong enough to carry all of the saddles with hardly any effort if
she wanted to.

“Are you sure?” Avery persisted, “I’ve supposedly got
the strength of like ten men. It would be no trouble for me.”

To Avery, Thomas looked like he barely had the
strength of a child, let alone one grown man. How he managed to
carry the first saddle in all by himself was a mystery to
Avery.

Thomas shook his head, “No, no, Ms. Avery, it’s me
job. Plus, I’ve still got to clean and polish them.”

Avery accepted Thomas’s refusal without further
argument. After all, she hadn’t really wanted to help carry the
cumbersome saddles in the first place; she just knew how guilty she
would have felt if she hadn’t asked.

“Well, if you ever need any help, you know where I
live.” Avery told him, “Of course, Gumptin keeps us so busy I
probably won’t be there, but you can always try.” Avery turned to
leave, but turned quickly back around, remembering something else
she wanted to tell Thomas, “Oh, by the way, just call me Avery, no
Ms. Avery…just Avery.”

Thomas just stared at Avery for a few seconds, a
small smile on his face, “Ya know, Ms. Avery….oh, sorry, just
Avery. Anyway, ya know, I think this is the longest conversation
we’ve ever had.”

This shocked Avery, “But you said you’ve been here at
these stables for forty years. That means you’ve been like fifteen
feet away from me for my whole life.”

“I watched ya grow up.” He said.

Avery didn’t understand, “So, why didn’t I talk to
you?”

Thomas looked at the ground and then back up to
Avery, as if searching for an answer to her question, “Ya just had
other stuff to do.”

Avery didn’t like that answer at all. She couldn’t
think of anything that she would have to do that would prevent her
from having a short conversation with a perfectly nice man whom she
had known for her entire life.

Then, a thought popped into her head, “Oh, my God,
was I a bitch?!”

“What?! No, no,” Thomas said quickly, dropping the
bucket he had been holding and raising his palms in the air to stop
her current train of thought, “ya were very polite. Ya’d say
‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ and sometimes ya’d even ask me how I was
doing. Ya just were so busy with everything. Ya didn’t have time to
think about anything but being a Protector, about doing your job
and doing it well. Ya didn’t have time for people like me.”

Thomas’s words hit Avery like a slap across the face.
Avery hoped against hope that whoever she had been, hadn’t given
Thomas and the other villagers the impression she didn’t have time
for them. No matter what being a Protector had in store for them,
she could never imagine isolating herself off from the people she
saw every day. As disgusted as it made Avery to think that people
could feel as if they weren’t important enough for her to concern
herself with, she also knew the person she was now would never give
off that sort of perception. Avery walked over to Thomas and picked
up the bucket he had dropped twice now.

Handing the bucket to him, she said, “Thomas, I
promise, that’s not me. This time around you’ll get a lot more than
just ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. So much so, that you’ll actually
probably wish I would just shut up.”

Thomas took the bucket from Avery’s hands, keeping
his eyes on the ground, and even though he wasn’t looking at Avery,
she could still see him blush slightly again, a small close lipped
smile on his face.

Thomas cleared his throat and glanced up at Avery,
“Thank ya,” he said, “but like I said before, ya were never unkind,
just preoccupied. Plus, anytime ya came in the stables before, it
was usually for your boy.”

Avery tried to decipher Thomas’s sentence. She could
assume that he wasn’t actually talking about a real boy. To help
Avery out, Thomas pointed to his left, and Avery’s eyes followed to
what he was pointing at. Straight down the short walkway to Avery’s
right, in the very last stall, facing outward, an enormous black
horse stuck its head out as far as the stall door would allow
him.

“He’s yours,” Thomas told Avery, “name’s
Phantom…good, good horse. Never a day went by that ya didn’t see
him, so he’s missed ya quite a lot.”

Avery had always loved horses. When she was younger,
she and Skylar had taken horseback riding lessons at a ranch
outside of town. From then on out, she had always wanted her own
horse, but knew not to ask since her parents wouldn’t have been
able to afford it.

The big black horse whinnied softly, stomping his
front foot upon the ground as Avery approached him. She walked past
four other horses before she reached him, a medium sized dark brown
horse, with a circular nameplate on his stall that said ‘Ajax’, a
petite all white horse, whose star shaped nameplate read, ‘Dancer’,
a good sized dusky gray horse that had the name, ‘Belle’ written on
its nameplate, and an athletic looking buckskin with a square
nameplate and the name, ‘Steel’ carved into it.

When Avery reached Phantom’s stall, he dug his huge
head into her torso and started to rub her with it. The initial
force knocked Avery back slightly, but she recovered herself
quickly, patting him on his large nose. He was the biggest horse
Avery had ever seen, a good foot taller than the rest of the
horses. He was completely midnight black, except for the shaggy
white hair around his massive hooves. His breath was hot against
Avery’s stomach, and she giggled as he started to nibble on her
dirty shirt.

“Did you miss me?” Avery asked, brushing Phantom’s
long, shaggy, silky mane out of his eyes.

Phantom reached his head up and lightly brushed
Avery’s cheek with his warm nose.

Avery laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Avery spent another twenty minutes with Phantom,
brushing his soft coat, feeding him oats, and basically enjoying
his company. Thomas told Avery that Phantom and the rest of the
Protectors’ horses had been rigorously trained, due to the fact
they were with the Protectors for every battle and every mission
and needed to behave accordingly. So, at Avery’s request Thomas
showed her all of Phantom’s commands, and Avery haltered up Phantom
and took him to the large fenced in pasture behind the stables to
practice the commands on him. She practiced getting him to stay,
coming to her when she whistled, kneeling down on his two front
legs, rearing back on his hind legs, walking, trotting, and running
on command. Phantom was so well trained, it didn’t matter if Avery
was giving the commands correctly, he still knew what to do,
something Avery was thankful for.

Although Avery could have stayed out there for hours
in the cool night air, working with Phantom, it was getting late,
and she had promised Jade she would get a good night's sleep. Avery
walked Phantom back into his stall and unhaltered him. She gave him
one last handful of oats and a pat goodbye. She could see why the
old Avery had spent so much time with Phantom. Unlike training with
Gumptin, it was actually enjoyable, and she didn’t feel the need to
vomit after twenty minutes.

As Avery was about to leave the stables she saw Pip
walk in from the back entrance.

Pip smiled widely when he saw her, “Thomas told me ya
were here. I don’t know what ya said to him, but he’s in an awfully
good mood.”

The thought that something she had said put Thomas in
a good mood made Avery feel warm all over, like she had made up for
her past transgressions, “We just worked Phantom out for a little
bit.” Avery told him.

Pip might not have been convinced that was all Avery
did to put Thomas in a good mood, but he didn’t question Avery,
“Well, whatever ya did, ya made him happy.”

Avery smiled, “I’m glad.”

Pip stared at Avery intently a small furrow forming
between his brows. Then, after giving Avery a quick look up and
down his face relaxed into a small sideways smirk, “Ya know, it’s
strange,” Pip said to Avery, shaking his head, “I know you’ve had a
whole other sixteen years on another planet, but to everyone here,
you’ve only been gone a few days. It’s just weird to see ya so
different. It’s almost like you’re a whole new person.”

“You know, I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
Avery wasn’t sure Pip had meant it as one, or if it was just an
observation, but after the very few details she had learned about
her former self, she was going to take it as a compliment whether
it was intended as one or not.

“Well, ya seem a lot more open now, more…warm.” Pip
said, “So, I suppose that’s a compliment, but I always liked who ya
were.”

“Pip…” Avery was about to ask Pip exactly what that
girl, who he had always liked, had precisely been like, but she
stopped herself, not quite sure she was ready to hear the entire
version of her old self. So, instead she finished with, “I’ll see
you tomorrow.”

Pip pursed his lips together, looking slightly
disappointed, as if he had known Avery was about to get more
personal, but decided to stop herself.

“Night.” he told Avery, walking away to help Thomas
with the nighttime stable duties.

Avery meandered back to her house. The weapons and
sweets were lying on the bench where Avery had left them. She bent
down and piled them all back into her arms. They seemed even more
difficult to hold onto this time than they had before she set them
down.

As Avery struggled with the large doorknob on her
front door, cursing Gumptin for making her carry home so much bulky
junk, she heard her three dogs run up to the door, barking. Once
she did finally manage to turn the knob and open the door, her two
rambunctious German Shepherds charged her, leaping up on her and
knocking everything except the bag of sweets, which she held onto
with an iron grip, out of her arms. Avery pushed the fallen weapons
to one side of the entryway and proceeded to give each of her
slobbering dogs a giant bear hug. She intended to pick up the
weapons later when she actually needed to use them. After giving
each dog equal amounts of love, Avery looked up and saw her parents
and Cinder sitting down at the dining room table.

“Avery!” Cinder shouted, jumping up from her seat at
the table and running towards her big sister with her arms flailing
wildly.

Cinder made her way through the wall of dogs and
wrapped her arms around Avery’s waist. Normally, Avery would have
bent down to hug Cinder tightly and pick her up into her arms, but
today, Avery’s tired body just wouldn’t allow that to happen. So,
instead, she remained upright, hugging Cinder around her
shoulders.

“You know what I did today?” Cinder asked, staring up
at Avery, resting her chin against Avery’s stomach, “Guess what I
did today. You’ll never guess what I did today. Guess what I did
today.” Cinder jumped up and down, unable to control her
excitement, her blond curls bobbing up and down with her.

Avery was too exhausted for guessing games, but
Cinder seemed so excited, she didn’t want to burst her bubble, “I
don’t know, what did you do?” Avery asked, trying to sound eager to
hear Cinder’s answer.

“Well,” Cinder said, grabbing hold of Avery’s hand
and walking her over to the dining table, “first, this morning,
when I was still tired, mommy and I went out to the garden and
planted purple flowers. Then, we picked some tomatoes and lettuce.
Then, we picked some apples off a tree. Well, Mommy picked them and
handed them to me and told me not to eat them till we got inside.
Then, I helped Mommy bake some bread, which made the house smell
really really yummy. Then, we walked down to the store and bought
more stuff I wasn’t allowed to eat, and I met a really nice girl
named Ginger. She’s a year younger than me, but that’s ok, ’cause
she’s still nice and likes cats. Then, I came home and colored, and
then I helped Mommy with dinner.”