The Sworn Protector: From Tragedy To Glory

Time to Say Goodbye

      Sadness filled everyone's heart as Guardian troops bore a casket holding Isachars body slowly to a prepared hole in the ground. Everyone knew that this dragon/person didn't have to get involved with this conflict, but he had chosen to. As the troops bore the casket slowly to the hole, rifles fired into the air, and the large guns on the ship's boomed in unison. But no one had spent more time with Isachar than me, and I was crying uncontrollably. Katrina had to keep her composure or we would be facing a terrible hurricane. Walker was already locked in a cell on one of the ships, and he was probably the only person who did not care about the death of Isachar.
   As his casket was slowly lowered in the hole, Oliver stood and read from a paper that Johnathan had written.
   "Here lies a brave and noble just man. A man who didn't back down from tragedy. A man who faced a foe much bigger than himself,and saved the lives of friend and foe alike. May his deed never depart from the memories of those present here."
   Then, with that I shoveled the first clump of dirt on the casket. I laid the shovel down and fled into my uncle's arms, crying like I had lost my only friend in the whole world. As the Guardian troops filled the hole, my Uncle gave the command to pack up to the rest of the troops not shoveling. It was time to leave. The tanks went back into the ocean. Helicopters landed and men began to load up into them. Amphibious vehicles that had carried men from the ship's now carried men back to the ships.
   But I knew I wasn't leaving until I had said goodbye to Johnathan and Alice. They were standing together watching the grave being filled. I began to approach them but my sister beat me to them. She approached Johnathan first.
"Well, I guess this means goodbye, doesn't it?"she asked, standing close to Johnathan.
"I guess so. You've been very great company. You can return for a visit any...." Johnathan said. But he was stopped in mid sentence as Katrina scored a kiss to his lips. A loud cheer exploded from the men covering the grave. The cheer was accompanied by whistling and hats thrown in the air. After the kiss, Johnathans' face had shock and surprise written all over it and he looked at Uncle Gray as if to say,"Are you actually going to allow her to do that? Didn't you see that?"
  But my Uncle just shrugged and smiled back."She ain't my daughter." He said. Then Katrina turned and hugged Alice."I'm gonna miss both of you." She said, holding back her tears. On the horizon I could see a raincloud just wanting to rush over here and vent its sorry. But Katrina kept it together and the cloud never came.
   Then it was my turn.
"Don't expect me to do what she did."I said as I approached Johnathan,"I like you, but not that much!" I reached out my hand to Johnathan to get a hand shake,but he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him and hugged me with a very tight bear hug, almost leaving me breathless. Then I turned to Alice. Tears ran down her face as she embraced me for the last time. As we seperated, she took off her necklace, her mother's necklace, and held it out to me.
"Take it."she said." I want you to always remember us."
"How could I forget!" I said,"I can't take that. That's your mother's."
"That's just the thing. I've dwelt on my past and held on to anger for so long, I just need to learn to let it go. I've learned that you can't change the past, but you can always direct your future. And I want to leave the past, and make my future pleasent and fulfilling. Take it, and you will always remember the good in your past."she insisted. I gratefully took it and put it on. It shone beautifully in the fading sun. With a finally wave, I turned around and walked back to where Katrina and my Uncle waited for me by a white helicopter. Then with a final wave, we boarded the helicopter and the rotors began to spin. We lifted into the air and headed to one of the ships. Johnathan and Alice waved and waved. They got smaller and smaller and finally we couldn't distinguish them anymore. The helicopter landed on the ship's helipad, and we were shown to our rooms. I had a whole room to myself. Just the thought of being able to sleep on a bed made me eager to see my room.
   I eagerly opened my room door and closed the door behind me. It was a small room, with two wide widows that could open to let fresh air come in, a little closet to the left of the doorway when you enter, and to the right tucked in a little corner was a bed!! But none of this held my attention more than the person who stood gazing out the wide opened windows,staring out into the vast ocean.
  She looked like a young, Chinese girl with straight black hair barely touching her shoulders. But there was something different about her, something really strange. And besides, I was to have a room by myself. Whoever she was, she had to go. But before I could say anything, she spoke first.
  "You've made a promise that you must keep."she said,"You gave your word to Daddy, so you can't break it."
  "Um....what? What are you talking about? Who are you anyways?" I demanded. She looked at me with an expression of "You should know who I am, why I'm here, and what I want".
"I'm Kasumi, daughter of Isachar."she said simply. Yeah right! She didn't even look older than me.
"There are only a few of us Dragon people left, and we have been constantly in danger of man. We now reside in the El Draque forest of Africa. If our position is known to any government, we will be in fear of extinction as the people will try to kill us. You must not let them do that." Kasumi said. After she said that she climbed up on the window sill. Then she spread her arms out like she had wings. Her eyes glowed red as she said,"And besides, you promised." With that, she fell backwards off the sill, and I waited to hear the splash of water. But instead I heard wings beating the air and something red flashed by the window. I then heard the roars of many dragons. Katrina barged into my room and dragged me outside to the top deck. I was astonished to see ten different colored dragons, smaller than Isachar but dragons, flying around. I glanced back at the slowly disappearing island.
"Can we say goodbye one more time?" I begged to my Uncle. He smiled.
"One more time." He said. Then with a swift signal with his hands, the great cannons boomed one more time. The dragons roared in response and flew around the ship.
   Johnathan stood watching from the shore. He smiled as he heard the boom of the distant guns. He drew his sword from its sheath and pointed it to the sky. A large bright flash of blue shone from the sword, and the sky gave a loud boom, which shook the earth. Then he resheathed his sword and looked around at the mess around him. It was definitely going to take a while to clean all this mess up.
  We were greatly happy when we heard that huge farewell boom. And soon the dragons did one last circle around our ship and headed home. We went our seperate ways. And yes, this is the part of my life that I will never forget.