The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (6 page)

Azura stifled a giggle and pointed in the other direction. “We’re going this way.”

His face flushed, Kale immediately turned around and said, “I knew that.”

The night came fast and sudden upon the lower world of Lacuna, drowning the land in heavy darkness. The twilight air reverberated with the noise of rumbling rocks. Little and big rocks alike tumbled down a steep incline, bouncing as they went. There was an occasional pause to the rumbling every few minutes, accompanied by the sound of loud breathing.

“I thought you said we’d reach the bottom
before
the sunlight disappeared,” hissed Azura, displeased that it had gotten so dark.

She glanced down at the jagged slope. Sharp rocks jutted from top to bottom; she felt like she was walking across a hill of spikes. The hill was steep and daunting, even for her. Every step of the way caused smaller rocks to slide down in waves. Her only source of comfort lied in the sparse scattering of decayed trees, which she could fittingly use to anchor herself in place.

Kale snapped, “You can’t expect me to know everything!”

“But you’ve lived here for quite a while, haven’t you?”

Kale was silent for a while. Then he replied solemnly, “I’m not exactly sure when I arrived here. It could’ve been yesterday…or it could’ve been five years ago.” He looked rather sad when he thought about it.

Azura didn’t know whether to feel sorry for him or to laugh at how ridiculous it was. But she decided the best course of action was to drop the topic altogether.

“Anyway,” she said, “are we getting close?”

“To the bottom?”

“Yes, the bottom. I can’t see that far. Even my Aenarian sight is having problems here. I guess it’s because there’s no real moon or sun. The light just comes and goes.”

Kale groped along the rocks and picked up a small stone. He tossed it into the darkness ahead and waited for the sound of it hitting the ground. After a minute of listening intently, Kale heard some odd sounds: something out there was howling. But that was all.

“Um…” Kale wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Should I try again?”

A faint silver glow shone from above and bathed the valley in its light. Kale looked back and saw her silhouette standing very still besides a tree.

“Hey, look at that!” said Kale. “Light! I guess we don’t have to worry anymore. The light looks to be getting stronger—”

“What do you think it means?”

“What?”

“The howling. Didn’t you hear it?” said Azura, her brows furrowing. “I don’t think we should go down….”

Kale grinned. “It’s fine. It sounded far away. I don’t think we’ll have to deal with whatever made that howling sound. And what could it possibly be anyway? A dog? A wolf? We can handle something like that.”

She said slowly, “That’s not what I mean. Lacuna’s not normal. And that howling didn’t sound normal either.”

“What are you talking about?”

Azura bit her lip. “I’m not sure, but I really think we shouldn’t go down.”

Kale looked below. His eyes were getting used to the faint light and he could clearly see the end of the slope, where there were many large boulders strewn across a field.

“Look,” said Kale, pointing, “we’re almost at the bottom. What? You want us to go
all
the way back up? Especially after all that time we spent trying to get down here?”

Azura studied the area. It did seem close. She sighed. “You’re right. Let’s head down.” She carefully took several more steps, holding onto any trees as she went.

After their short, steady descent, they reached the grassy field. The sky was uniformly dark with no view of stars. The air was cool and sweet, the mixture of scents pleasing.

Azura sniffed the air. The overwhelming fragrance of flowers brought a medley of delight to her nose. Her eyes fell on their beauty as they bloomed suddenly under the silver moonless light. Thousands of purple bell-shaped flowers littered the field.

She caught a glimpse of flickering lights near the shadows of the boulders. The lights were actually from butterflies…with glowing wings! Flapping their wings, they darted to and fro, moving so fast that they drew swirling green lines over the flowers.

“So what were you worried about?” asked Kale, smirking. “Rocks, flowers and bugs?”

“I guess it was nothing,” said Azura, scratching her head. “But I was sure…” She paused. “Wait a minute…”

Kale crossed his arms and said sternly, “What is it this time?”

“Where’s the mountain?” she asked.

“Mountain? What mountain?” Kale looked confused. “What are you—”

Panicking, Azura shrieked, “Don’t you remember? We were supposed to go to the mountain because that’s where the Court of Verras, the home of the Judges, is located! That’s our only ticket out of Lacuna! That’s the only way I know!”

“Huh.” Kale scanned the horizon. “That’s funny. I don’t see it anymore.”

“Oh my gosh…” Azura gaped at Kale. “You know what? How about this? You stay right here…and I’ll try to find a way back. Then I’ll get the others and we’ll come back for you.”

Kale blinked several times. Then, when the truth finally dawned on him, he glared at her and spat, “Wait, you’re blaming
me
for this? You were with me the whole time! This isn’t my fault!”

“How else can you explain it?” Azura barked back. “We were going in a
straight
line, and now we’re not even visibly on course!”

“It’s not like I magically made us lost!” shouted Kale. “If you knew we were veering off, you could’ve said something!”

“I didn’t know! Somehow, you made me confused about the direction we were going!”

Kale said animatedly, “I’m telling you—we’re not lost! Maybe we’re just not at the right angle to see the mountain!”

“Oh really?” said Azura, unconvinced. “Like a bad angle could make a GIANT MOUNTAIN DISAPPEAR!”

Kale mockingly laughed. “And now you’re planning on making me sit here and wait? Who knows when you’ll ever be back? It’s not like it’ll take a day or two for you to find a way in and out of another dimension! Even if you find a way out, how are you going to find a way back in here again? You’re just going to leave me here forever, aren’t you? I’M GOING TO BE STUCK HERE FOREVER!”

Azura snarled, “It’s all about you now, is it? All about Kale—”

Crack.

From the corner of her eye, Azura saw a nearby boulder crack slightly. Kale froze. He looked to the field, his eyes jumping nervously from boulder to boulder.

“W-what’s going on?” stammered Kale.

“Hush,” Azura whispered. “I don’t know, but let’s walk slowly back to the hill.”

Kale nodded. He copied her and cautiously backed away.

The boulders crumbled. They were not boulders at all; they were eggs—giant eggs! The solid shells fragmented and fell heavily upon the grass with loud thuds. Large turtles poked their heads through the broken remains of the shells and proceeded to sluggishly crawl out.

Relieved, Azura breathed out. “They’re just turtles.”

“Just turtles?” repeated Kale incredulously, staring at the turtles as they ate large chunks of grass and flowers by the mouthful. “They were born right now and they’re already bigger than us! Can you imagine how big they’ll get?”

“That doesn’t matter,” said Azura. “We’re not sticking around to find out.”

All of a sudden, a howl echoed through the night sky. It started off faint but soon became louder. It started with only one howl, but was joined by many others. The varying notes of the howls harmonized. The turtles lifted their heads and fearfully watched the night sky, mechanically glancing around.

“There it is again,” said Azura. “It’s much more desperate this time…”

“How can you tell?” asked Kale.

“I can tell by the tone,” she replied. “It’s a warning.”

A sudden scuffling noise resounded at the far end of the field. The bale of turtles stopped grazing and started crawling toward the hill in a hurry. They crawled as fast as they could, as though they were all participants in a great turtle race.

“Maybe it’s time to leave,” Azura said.

“I think you’re right,” said Kale worriedly, backing into the hill. “Let’s get out of here.”

They clumsily climbed up the steep hill. Nearly every time they grabbed a rock to pull themselves up, it would break off and plummet to the field. The task of scaling the hill became an arduous struggle for them, but for the turtles it was another matter. The turtles seemed to have no trouble crawling up the hill; in fact, they moved faster than Azura had imagined and some were already reaching the halfway point. However, there was still a huge overflowing crowd of them at the base of the hill. They were climbing frantically on top of each other, piling up over one another.

“They look spooked,” said Kale, barely hanging on.

“They
are
spooked,” said Azura.

She climbed up on the shell of a turtle and watched the frenzy below escalate. Something was about to begin. She could sense it.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed a cloud of dust stirring. A wave of dust rolled through the fields, moving like a wave of the ocean. It drew near to the backs of the turtles. Hissing and shrieking filled the air. As the turtles tried to escape, large roots sprang up from the ground and ensnared their feet. Gaping holes opened up in the field, dragging the turtles down into the belly of the earth.

“This is too cruel!” Azura said. “They’re so helpless…”

“Cruel, but that’s life for you,” said Kale. He winced every time a turtle was pulled under.

As Azura watched the turtles disappear one by one, something caught her eye.

“There’s someone down there!”

“No way, why would there be…” Kale tried to see if he could spot anything. Standing among the broken eggshells…was a young boy. “A kid! There’s a kid down there!”

“We have to help him!” Azura descended quickly, leaping from shell to shell.

“Right behind you,” Kale called out, following closely.

Azura slipped on one of the slick shells and tumbled into the heap of turtles.
 
While trying desperately to clamber out, she felt like she was being crushed under their weight.

Kale hopped over to where she was buried and gently thrust the shaft of his spear into the disorderly mess. “Grab on! I’ll pull you out!” He watched carefully to locate her, but could only see a glimpse of her face constantly blocked out of view by the giant shells.

Poking her head out, she gasped, “Save the kid first! Don’t worry about me!”

“Sure.” Kale knew that civilians were always the priority, even if a dying Hero was right beside him, but it was always a difficult decision to accept. He reluctantly pulled himself away from the jumble of turtles and skidded down the hill.

A broad root rose up high and landed near him with a crash that splattered loose soil. Several smaller roots wriggled their way out of the ground and clamped onto his legs. It pulled him down to the dirt. Kale swiftly sliced off the roots with his spear and broke free. More roots sprang up from the ground and began to form fences around him, but Kale cut them down. The more roots he cut, the more they shot out of the ground…until he was completely surrounded.

Vexed, Kale grunted, “There’s no end to them! I need to find the source…but it must be underground. Darn it, how am I supposed to handle this?”

A root lashed out behind him and caught him unaware. It whipped his back, causing him to sway forward. Another root swung at him from the front; he tried to slice it off, but another immediately came from his side and coiled around his spear. He fought back and struggled. A few roots grabbed his neck and limbs. He aggressively tried to break free, but was completely overwhelmed. He felt absolutely powerless.

It was then that Kale noticed something strange. The root felt tight around his neck, yet he was not choking. He didn’t even feel like it was hard to breathe. With this thought in mind, he forcefully moved forward a step. Even though he was constrained, he was actually able to push forward. He strode forward and, upon reaching the boy, all of the vines let go.

The boy was pale in complexion and had unkempt hair. His clothes were nothing more than rags. His round eyes were shut tight, and his breathing was deep and loud, as though he were asleep while standing.

Kale shook him on the shoulder. “Are you all right?”

The boy opened his eyes and stared at Kale. “Who are you?”

“I’m a Hero. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be just fine.”

The boy asked, “A Hero? Do you know of Azura?”

Kale was taken aback by the boy’s response. Azura was an uncommon name; to find a boy in this strange dimension that knew of her was a funny coincidence, he thought. “Azura? Yeah! In fact, she’s right over there in that heap of turtles.”

The boy turned to the massive pile of turtles. His face grew solemn. “She’s in there? We must help her then!”

Kale nodded. “I’ll help her as soon as we get you to a safe place.”

“Move aside!” The boy ran past Kale.