Chereads / Lesser of Two / Chapter 29 - The Guardian

Chapter 29 - The Guardian

"That's impossible. There's no such thing as a mountain guardian." Alf was annoyed at Alcippe's claim, if that was her real name. Guardians guarded the forest to prevent intrusion to the falls. There was nothing sacred of the mountain that required a guardian.

"Call off your wolf and I'll prove it."

Alf was confused by her statement. He couldn't connect with the mountain so he didn't know if maybe some dwelled within it, but there were none in the forest so he wasn't sure what she meant. "What wolf?"

Alcippe stopped her approach a few feet away from the cave and pointed next to him. At Damia.

Turning to look at the direction in which she pointed, Alf realized she was referring to Damia. Just as he was about to laugh at her confusion, he noticed her eyes and jump away from her, falling back against the cave wall, and then sliding down to the floor.

"Wha- wha- what's wrong with your eyes?"

Damia wasn't sure what he meant. Her eyes felt fine to her. In fact, they felt better than fine. She could see better than she normally could at night.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with them, Alf?"

Alf calmed down and regained his composure. "They're glowing amber, Damia. Like the eyes of a wolf."

Damia tried to search for anything that could show her reflection, but there was nothing nearby. "I don't know why that's happening. It's never happened before." She became flustered and covered her eyes, willing them to return to normal. She didn't know if the thought would work, but she opened her eyes slowly and looked at Alf, prompting him to give her a sign of any change.

"They're back to normal now." He said as he came back to a standing position. He wanted to question her, but he figured that would be addressed after confirming their guest's identity. He turned back to face Alcippe. "You said you could prove you were a guardian of the mountain?"

Without further discussion, Alcippe clapped her hands and a thunderous boom radiated toward the cave. She then dropped a knee to the ground placed both hands flat against it, a shockwave of power flowing from her, into the ground. In an instant, two rock golems formed in front of Alcippe and started charging towards Alf and Damia.

"Damia, swords! I should have known it would be a trick!"

Alf and Damia grabbed their swords quickly and fell into defensive positions, waiting for the golems to get in range. They didn't want to leave the cave in case she manifested more golems. At least the mouth of the cave was small and only one would be able to enter at a time. It would be easier for them if they only had to focus on one at a time.

"Perhaps we should have discussed this earlier, but what kind of magic do you wield, Damia? Like I said earlier, mine's useless so I'm hoping yours can help us out."

Damia had been raised to only reveal her shifter magic under extreme duress. While this situation certainly qualified in her book, she didn't want to make such a revelation to Alf in such a condition. They may not have been together long, but his resemblance to Adi made her fear losing him as a companion for this journey. "I... don't have control over my powers. They're very weak. I can only manage minor day to day tasks like conjuring small amounts of water to wet my hair for brushing."

"Water magic, good, we can use that. Even if it's small, if you can guide it through the golem, like you would guide it through your hair, you should be able to weaken its composition and revert it to mud.

As the first golem made it to them, they flanked it and started striking with their swords. Damia attempted to control her magic as Alf had instructed, but she found it to be extremely difficult to focus on her magic while also trying to keep striking with her sword.

She decided that she needed to take a step back from attacking and focus her magic to her hand. She needed a moment to concentrate. Just a moment. But it was a moment too long. The same time that she took the step back, she forgot to watch the golem's moments to make sure it didn't strike while she was focusing and the golem brought its fist down on her, throwing her to the back of the cave.

"Damia" Alf wanted to go to her and check on her, but if he did, the golems would make it inside the cave and then neither of them would be safe. He kept on fighting them off

She bounced off the back wall and fell to the side. Her vision was blurry. She could barely make out what was happening between the golem and Alf, but she could tell that they seemed to be evenly matched.

Damia was so disappointed with herself. After everything Alf had done to help her on this trip, she wasn't able to conjure even a small droplet of water to help him. She continued berating herself for being weak; for lacking control. In the mist of her self-deprecation, another voice spoke in her mind. "You have time now, try again."

The voice sounded like the same one that had whispered to her before in the passage of the castle, but it wasn't carried by the wind this time. She decided to listen to it and closed her eyes to focus. She imagined the moisture in the air gathering, and collecting in the palm of her hand. She imagined droplets forming, and then those droplets gathering to fill her palm, and then it increased to overflow from it. But then she imagined gathering it and rolling it with her mind, to form a snake that she could control.

Opening her eyes and blinking a few times to clear her sight, Damia found that everything she had envisioned had occurred, and now a snake of water was hovering above the palm of her hand. She turned her palm and imagined energy connecting the snake to the tips of her index and middle finger. She curled the other fingers, and using only those two, she guided the snake in the direction of the golem and Alf. Making sure to maintain focus of the connection, she guided the snake throughout the body of the golem, and then pulling the snake out through its head. As she did that, the integrity of the golem's structure had been compromised and it was starting to fall apart, giving Alf the upper hand.

Alf took down the golem, striking through its core in the center of its chest.