Guardian (Part I): Last Winter

Chapter 21: Finn

Mom shook me by my shoulder, and my eyes shot open. I rose to my feet so we could keep moving.

"So, you've made some friends in your time away, haven't you?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," I answered. "Ruth, Morgan, Connor."

"Well, a Connor Brown tried to reach out to you through a telepathic communication link," said Mom. "I intercepted it, and he told me that there's apparently a threat on your life from Camnora. The King wants you dead, I suppose."

"What?" I gasped. "That makes no sense. I've never even been to Camnora, let alone met the King. Why would he want me dead?"

"I'm not sure," Mom answered. "But if we run into anyone he could have sent after you, I'll handle it." I began to think about the bandits on our way to Logres. It was nothing other than bad luck that we ran into them, but now, Connor has told Mom that there were people looking for me to try and kill me? If I was alone when I ran into them, I would have no other choice than to kill them all. I would make sure I never left Mom's side on the rest of the way to Soareus Peak.

"Okay," I sighed. I found myself scratching my head as we went further along the path of Ice Serpent Canyon. We managed to find our way back up to the path that the draconians dug out of the canyon walls, but I imagined that we were barely halfway through the canyon itself. We must have had hundreds of more miles to go. I still sensed Eiloculera's darkness from what must have been miles away. As soon as he came close I may very well have to blind his other eye, but I was hoping I would never see him again. That was only a hope I had, though. I knew that another encounter with the serpent was inevitable in a place named after him.

"You know, is it possible that it was another Guardian that angered the King of Camnora?" I wondered.

"That would make a King want every Guardian's head," Mom denied. "And believe me, I would know. This King just wants yours, for some reason. Also, it's Camnora's relationship with Chardan that's heated, not their relationship with the Guardians."

"Well, that may change if Commander Jonas knows about this," I guessed. "He doesn't like it when someone's boot is on one of our throats."

"Well, you're also my son," Mom reminded. "They'll answer to me if they hurt you." I wanted to argue that I could handle soldiers from another country just fine on my own, but again, I found myself thinking about the bandits in the forests to the north. Even though I was ambushed and surrounded, and even though I had a knife at my throat, I was terrified of taking another person's life as a Guardian. I killed monsters, not people. I was sure Mom knew exactly what I was thinking, and I knew what she would say for it. She seemed to think that I was thinking that, though. I stayed quiet about it.

"Thanks, Mom," I said.

"You're welcome, Finn."

It was noon before we arrived in what could only have been the center of the canyon. A stone plaza was connecting the various paths of the canyon dwelling. Several stands were lining the center, all with boxes that were filled with rotten and spoiled food behind them, along with more frozen bodies of draconians.

"I never thought I would be in a place like this," I blurted.

"You never saw this kind of thing while you were deployed around Chardan?" asked Mom.

"I was sent wherever I was needed, not wherever I wanted," I reminded. "I had to focus on either killing a monster or stopping some kind of ritual from a Shadow or a Tuatha."

"You've fought Tuatha, then?"

"Only one, but I nearly died."

Suddenly, there was a gunshot. It carried an echo throughout the canyon, which bounced off its walls to reach our ears. I drew my bow from my back and rushed to the source of the noise as fast as I could. It could have come all the way from the southern end of the canyon, but I still had to know what it was before I dismissed it. It hardly mattered if Mom was behind me or not. I kept rushing forward, towards where the gunshot came from. I heard another one, followed by a familiar roar, as I came closer. I knew what awaited me. I sensed Eiloculera's dark aura as I neared where the shot came from. Both the aura and the noises of the gunshots led me through a tunnel, and on the other side was the serpent himself, but he wasn't focused on me. Eiloculera was attacking someone, but they seemed to be fighting him off with blasts of fire that came from the same source of the gunshots. It must have been an enchanted firearm of some kind. I couldn't see who was firing, since he was behind a rocky ridge, so I climbed onto a tall rock for a better view, and I saw Jerome with his rifle, firing flaming shots at the demon to fend him off. Mom eventually caught up to me, and she saw Jerome, too.

"Jerome," she whispered.

"We have to help him," I begged. "I can draw the serpent's attention."

"Not yet," Mom denied. "Let me get Jerome out of the way, first."

"When will I know to fire?" I asked.

"You'll know," Mom promised. She drew her sword and rushed down the cliff, towards Jerome and Eiloculera. She ignited her lightshield as she lept from the ridge above Jerome and slashed her short blade across the tip of the serpent's snout. Eiloculera recoiled as black blood shed from the cut Mom made with her sword. Now it was my turn.

"Foria!" I shouted, and I loosed an arrow of fire while I was aiming at the demon. Mom warped to Jerome to cover him with her shield as an explosion erupted from where my fire arrow struck the serpent's hide. The fur between his scales ignited with flames, and its body thrashed endlessly from side to side. The demon went down below the cliff, and I rushed to Mom and Jerome.

"Hey!" I called. "Jerome, are you alright?"

"Thanks to you and your mother, yes," Jerome answered. "You have my thanks, Guardian."

"He's only wounded," Mom warned. "I'd be willing to bet that stabbing through his other eye will finish him."

"I noticed his right eye wasn't glowing," Jerome recalled. "That was you?"

While he was talking, I noticed that Eiloculera's aura suddenly began to grow closer to us again.

"Guys!" I shouted. The son of Apteth rose above the cliff of the canyon to face the three of us. I could sense a feeling of anger from the demon. I stabbed out his eye, Mom cut his head, and now, I set him on fire. It was no wonder he was angry, but now, he would have to die. It stared right at me with its remaining eye, which gave me no chance to draw my bowstring back, since he would easily see it. Instead, Jerome fired a bolt of lightning from his rifle at it, but the serpent ducked his head and lunged forward before the projectile could strike him.

"Fo!" I shouted, firing an arrow of light at Eiloculera's head. I hoped to draw him towards me, away from Mom and Jerome for one of them to have a chance at it again, but my arrow missed. The projectile barely missed, just grazing the top of the serpent's head. While its head was on the ground, Mom warped to the side that had its remaining eye with her sword as a spear, and sank the shaft of her weapon into the serpent's red, glowing eye. As she pulled it out, Eiloculera rose above the ground again, thrashing wildly through the depths of the canyon while his black blood sprayed from the eye that was just stabbed. I slowly felt the demon's darkness fade, and was gone completely by the time his giant body was below the cliffs, to lay at the bottom of the Ice Serpent Canyon. The three of us looked over the edge of the cliff to see what had become of the serpent. There it was, lifeless and frozen. The monster that the draconians of the Ice Serpent Canyon had been hiding from for thousands of years was dead. A loud sigh of relief came from Mom. She was glad it was dead more than me and Jerome.

"You both just saved my life," Jerome blurted. "Thank you. I had no idea the two of you would also be going through this canyon."

"You won't have to fight Eiloculera in your world when you return to it, will you?" I asked.

"No," Jerome promised. "If it dies while both of our worlds are merged, then it stays dead when they come apart."

"Well, there's still plenty of the canyon before Soareus Peak," I warned. "We could stick together the rest of the way."

"Sounds good," Jerome accepted. "We're stronger together, anyway."