17: MORE QUESTIONABLE CREDENTIALS AND DANCING WEAPON WIELDERS
The moment Lukas arrived at the meeting place, he was greeted by the sharp end of Solenn’s ginormous sword and the huge barrel of Selina’s gun.
“Lovely morning, ladies,” Lukas greeted as he pushed both weapons away with his pointer finger. “I’m deeply touched. Not five seconds in your presence and I have managed to piss you off already. What did I do this time?”
Gabriel chuckled. “You’re late, dude.”
“Really? But we agreed to leave at first light! It was dark in my room when I went out. I was going to ask you to congratulate me for coming early, actually.”
Solenn raised her weapon again and pushed it against Lukas’s neck. “Your room has black blinds. It’s always dark in your room.”
“There is this wonderful invention,” Joana said from where she stood propped against the tree, examining her nails, “called an alarm clock. Try it some time, Lukas.” She straightened and slung her beloved weapon over her shoulder.
Lukas had to peek over Solenn’s sword to marvel at the beauty that was Joana’s sleek, but powerful bow. The Passover’s long, obsidian limbs flared out like wings sprouting the golden grip. The nocks were pointed at the edges, making it an effective short-range weapon as well. The string was gold as well, like it was spun from sunbeams and stars. Her quiver, black as night with intricate fire etchings at the side, was enchanted to produce limitless arrows.
The arrows were a sight to behold as well. The heads were carved like an eagle’s head, its long beak the sharp point. Golden feathers adorn the fletching, right above the nock shaped like claws.
Magnificent, that. And Lukas was lucky too, that Joana wasn’t joining the two women who were plotting his demise at the moment.
Should he draw his Resurrection, perhaps? After all, he, too, was gifted with a marvelous weapon. The trident wasn’t as flashy as Solenn’s sword, as marvelous as Joana’s bow, or as powerful as Selina’s guns and whips, but with its bronze staff and two outer blades flaring out and then curving towards the longer middle blade, it, too, was a sight to behold as well.
Oh, and it had a special feature, too. It extends. Fantastic, this. But no, it wasn’t likely for him to raise even a single finger at fine women, ill tempered and violent they may be.
“Solenn, lower your weapon,” Solomon warned. “Samson’s not here to police you.”
“No, he’s not, because he and the other flyers had already set out hours ago,” Solenn said. “And without Samson here to police me, I can maim useless Guardians as much as I want.”
“Not if you’re the captain, you can’t,” Solomon said. “Because your men are standing not a few yards away from you.”
And true enough, when Lukas peeked over the sword, there they were. A hundred fine men and women, ready to march to their impeding doom.
I’m such a pessimist, he thought, amused at his private thoughts. Last night’s rally was so awe-inspiring, it moved Lukas. For about an hour after they had dispersed.
This business of being a Guardian was seriously getting more and more troublesome.
Mateo released a loud sigh and clapped his hands to get their attention. “Look, why don’t you focus all those pent-up feelings of spite on our enemies? Let’s try not to kill each other before we’ve had the chance to kill demons and the enemy, shall we?”
Lukas breathed a sigh of relief when the two women finally took their weapons away from him. Solenn called out for everyone to march, but not before she snarled a warning at Lukas. “Next time you pull this crap on us, you won’t go off so easy. You’re lucky we’re traveling by puésto. You lost us precious time.”
“So angry, Solenn. You’re so angry.” Lukas shook his head dramatically. “Don’t you know that too much anger is bad for your health?”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be joking anymore, Lukas,” Solomon said. “Because we only have seven days left before the alignment of the planets. We have to retrieve the sword by then, or we’ll have a bigger problem. We have to infiltrate to the enemy’s base before the riders arrive.”
“Then why spend two weeks training in the Citadel if we have so little time left?” In spite of the mocking tone laced in his voice, it was an honest question. Lukas didn’t really understand.
“Because we’d rather fly hard in the air mobiles and walk harder jumping from one puésto to another, than to send off people, especially non-Guardians,” Solomon pointed at Lukas and Gabriel, “to battle unprepared. You boast of excelling in martial arts, and you’ve pulled your weight during trainings, but I doubt you’ve ever practiced those skills in an actual battlefield. There are no more chances in real life, Lukas. Once a demon manages to strike you down, you’re dead. Now if you don’t have more questions, you heard the captain. Move out.”
Lukas wasn’t a man of confrontation, so he just nodded to Solomon, hoping that the man would drop it. Besides, he would rather talk to the ladies, even though they said nothing to him but threats and nasty remarks.
Oh, well. In spite of his unclear motivations for saying yes to the unsightly old man — sorry, High Priest, Lukas was positive that if anything, this would be quite an adventure.
***
The moon was hiding behind the thick canopy of leaves and branches that stretched out from the ancient trees. Gabriel missed the moon already, but the Guardians traveling by foot had preferred to travel with stealth.
“Using the puéstos would buy us more time,” Solomon said during the briefing earlier. “Cielterra is a huge continent, and even with our airmobiles it would take us a few days to get to the far west. We need to get there before the riders.”
The seven Candidates, along with one hundred heavily armed Guardians were to traverse the heavy forests west of Cielos. They were part of the infiltration team that would enter General Xandros’ base in the dark of the night. They would knock down Astanason soldiers and impersonate them using the holocopiers that Mateo had invented. Small as pins, the device would scan its target from head to foot. The Guardian wearing the pin would be wrapped within the holographic image of one they were impersonating.
Gabriel had scanned Solomon the first time he used the pin. He got quite a nasty bump on his head when Solenn knocked him out from behind. Apparently the two had been quarreling over something petty at the time. He never used it again.
Gabriel shook his head to clear his mind of the memory and reviewed the strategy in his head again. With the infiltration team finally in position, they would wait for the riders, led by Samson and Deborah, who would attack with their guns blazing and their weapons drawn.
Their strategy is to overwhelm the enemy forces with attacks both from inside and out. A team was also assigned to engage with Xandros to retrieve the sword from him. Solenn had wanted to be a part of that team, but Samson forbade her to confront the betrayer. Everyone was surprised when she relented to Samson’s order without a fight.
It had been a hard day’s travel towards the first puésto. Their leap through space had gained them the precious miles they needed, but they had a few more puéstos to go through before they reach the enemy’s base. The Guardians and the Champions could have gone on without rest for at least another day, but they were mindful of Lukas and Gabriel. The two had only been training for two weeks, while the rest of them had been hardened graduates of the Initiative.
Gabriel sighed as he leaned back against the giant trunk of the ancient tree. He had never been this exhausted in his entire life. He was a bit peeved at being the entire troop’s weakest link, but boy, was he ever thankful for the respite.
If traveling by puésto is faster and easier, how comeI feel like dying from exhaustion? Gabriel decided not to voice those thoughts out loud. It’s bad enough that he had been getting funny looks from the other Guardians. He’d bear this quietly to preserve his dignity and honor.
Dignity and honor. Yeah, right. The others didn’t show it, but Gabriel felt as if they looked down on him for being the weakest. At least, Lukas was able to pull his weight as head medic.
Why was he a Champion in the first place, if he didn’t even have anything remotely useful to contribute to the Force? In the beginning, it felt as if he could do something, do more. He even felt all fired up during last night’s rally.
There in the midst of thousands of soldiers fighting for the Light, he finally felt he had found his place. He felt anchored, even without the memories he fought so hard to reclaim. He felt like somebody.
Today, though, he felt like a nobody again, especially after the others had given him one long stare before calling it a day for everyone.
He took out the Guardian pendant that had been with him since childhood.
Who gave you to me? He wondered. It surely wasn’t his. From what Joana told him, Guardians get their pendants during the Investiture, where they graduate from being students of the Initiative to becoming full-fledged soldiers. Afterwards they get dispatched to their assigned posts, where they would watch over Cielterrans and Humans and protect them from demons.
But, whatever. It wasn’t like him to fall prey to pitiful thoughts. Gabriel stood up and took a walk around their makeshift camp to warm himself up. A few of the Guardians were resting, but most were still awake and gathered in small circles, talking in hushed whispers. Solenn had warned them not to draw attention to themselves. Making fire was out of the question, even if the cold evening mist had been steadily descending upon them.
From a distance, he heard the faint sound of metal clashing against metal. It was probably one or two of the Champions going at each other again. So much for being quiet and not attracting attention, Gabriel thought. He followed the sound to make sure that nobody was trying to kill anybody again. For a bunch of chosen heroes, they were sure a bit too… rebellious and hardheaded. As he walked towards the barely-lit path, Gabriel wondered if they would ever learn to team up together, instead of teaming up against each other.
He stopped dead on his tracks when he arrived at the clearing where the sounds were coming from. Solomon and Solenn were at each other again, and the other Champions were just watching. He was about to call out for the two to stop, but Joana appeared at his side and grabbed his arm.
“Don’t,” she warned. “Just watch them.”
“Sure, let’s just watch as they kill each other. It’d make for a great entertainment. Why don’t we have some popcorn while we’re at it?”
“A pop what?” Joana rolled her eyes at Gabriel. “You’re so weird. Anyway, they’re not killing each other, they’re —” She made a sound of impatience and pointed at the two. “Look, just watch,OK? It’s beautiful.”
Gabriel frowned at Joana before he glanced at the pair. It took him a while before he saw what Joana and the others were marveling at. The duel was breathtaking. Their weapons were both huge, and yet they wielded it with grace he had only seen dancers possess.
Yes, that was it.The Two Suns looked like they were dancing. It was a lethal, deadly dance that involved a lot of pounding, piercing and slashing with movements so precise and fluid.
When Solenn leapt in the air and slashed at Solomon with her sword, Gabriel forgot how to breathe. Solomon blocked the attack with his mace and countered with his hammer. Solenn leapt away before the Second Coming pounded her arm to dust. She landed a few feet away from Solomon, but she was charging at him again before Gabriel could even blink.
Metal clashed against metal. Every slash, every parry, every block seemed like it was a part of a grand, spectacular choreography that only those two could execute with such intensity and perfection.
“Beautiful, yeah?” Lukas said, appearing on his other side. Gabriel could only nod. “I’m not a Guardian and I don’t live near the Citadel, but I see them around. They’re all over Cielos, even when they were just students in the Initiative. Sometimes, they’re out on patrols. Most of the time, though, they’re just being thorns in their commanders’ hides.”
“They’re that famous, huh?”
Lukas chuckled. “Infamous, is more like it. Every time I see them, they’re involved in a fight. But I’m telling you, I’ve seen many brawls in my life, but no one can make a fight seem like a beautiful dance other than those two.”
“If they were such headaches, how come it seems like they’re the youngest leaders in the entire Force?”
“Because they’re the best,” Selina said. Gabriel looked at her, expecting her to explain more, but she remained quiet afterwards. Always the woman of few words.
“Selina.” Solenn’s voice was quiet and firm as she called out to their friend.
“Yes.”
Gabriel had hardly blinked when Solenn suddenly pulled out of the fight, quickly replaced by the taciturn Zeta.
“What just happened?”he asked as Solenn landed near him. “Do you have some sort of telepathic link between the three of you?” It wasn’t the first time it happened. He had caught the three of them communicating with just a single word in the past. If anything, the three of them were the ones that got along with each other the most.
“Nah, we’re just cool like that,” Solenn said with a manic grin. Her eyes were still alight with adrenaline.
“Why did you pull out?” Lukas asked. “We’re having a grand time watching. Were you losing?”
“In your dreams,” Solenn shot back, still smiling. “Brilliant or not, Solomon would never win against me. You might not notice it, but Selina’s fidgeting from where she was standing. She wanted in on the action. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it already, but a fidgety Selina is never good. Or safe.”
Mateo nodded gravely as he watched Selina wield the Exodus, two seven-foot whips that split in three sharp falls at the end. Each fall was further split into three poppers. When Mateo found out that Selina’s holy weapon were whips, instead of the guns she loved toting around, he thought she would have a hard time using them. He was wrong. The whips danced in the air like dangerous snakes as she flailed and flashed them around. Solomon was at a disadvantage with his short-ranged weapons.
“I do know that,” Mateo said. He cringed as Selina managed to get a hit on Solomon’s side. “We were in the same mission once, back in the Initiative. She’s… terrifying when she’s not happy.”
“You have no idea how ‘unhappy’ she was during our short stint on Earth.” Solenn suddenly laughed as she poked at Gabriel. “Which reminds me. You used to follow her around like a lost puppy! Are you still in wuv with Selina, wittle Gabwiel?” she teased.
“What? No!” Gabriel swatted Solenn’s hand away as he hid his blush. He couldn’t believe he was even remotely in like with the dangerous girl. But to his defense, she had been an entirely different person back then.
“Who’re you in love with now, I wonder?” Joana teased, nudging Gabriel. She pushed a bit too hard, which sent him stumbling towards Solenn.
“Hey, watch it!” Solenn snapped as she pushed Gabriel away.
“I’m really not a ping pong, girls,” Gabriel muttered as he straightened himself up.
Lukas and Mateo chuckled as they patted him on the back. “You wanna be popular with the ladies? Chill with us some time,” Lukas said.
“Hey, I’ll have you know. I was the top dog in our college. The ladies fall over themselves to get to me.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Solenn said with a raised eyebrow. “You were a goof.”
“An adorable goof,” Gabriel insisted.
Anything Solenn was about to say was cut off when they heard the hauntingly familiar sounds of demons approaching. Gabriel’s blood turned cold in his veins as he heard the terrifying wails and screeches coming from the demons. Solomon and Selina halted, their weapons a few inches from each other.
One of the Guardians came barreling into the clearing, his face a mask of terror.
“Captain! Demons! We’ve been attacked!”
The seven were out of the clearing and into the battle before the Guardian could say another word.