Song #3

Edward’s eyes snapped open. He shivered as he gazed around the darkened room, trying to get his bearings. Reaching a shaky hand behind his back, he felt the reassuring touch of his feathers and sighed with relief. He still had his wings!

Edward turned over, hoping to go back to sleep and forget the terrible nightmare. But he’d no sooner settled into his pillow than a bloodcurdling scream jolted him awake again. At first he wondered if he were dreaming again, but the scream was followed by a loud crash and then several panicked shouts. Edward crept over to the window, nearly falling on his way out of bed, and cautiously peeked outside.

Tattooed Guardians with green skin hurtled through the sky, diving at what, in the predawn light, looked like a group of four people riding metal horses. Edward heard more crashing sounds as the unusual Guardians’ spears slammed against the horses’ metal flanks.

These Guardians were unlike any that Edward had seen before—a wild bunch that Tabitha had told him lived in the mountains and forests surrounding Cornelius’s Valley.

The valley is under attack!he thought. Edward threw on his clothes, the nightmare of Whiplash Scruggs still fresh in his mind. Was Scruggs behind this? Edward hadn’t seen him when he’d looked out his window, but he’d learned not to underestimate his enemy. Scruggs had a way of showing up whenever Edward was least expecting him.

His pulse racing, Edward made his way out of his room and into a hallway packed with valley Guardians preparing for battle. As he edged past the throng of winged beings, he nearly collided with Bridgette, his closest friend. She seemed to have dressed quickly, and looked as frightened as he felt.

“I don’t know!” Bridgette shouted back. “Something broke through the Song of Warding that protects Cornelius’s Valley. Tabitha’s out there fighting right now. She told me that whatever is attacking us must be really powerful. Ordinary Groundlings wouldn’t be able to break through such strong magic. She thinks we might be up against one or more of the Jackal’s highest ranking servants.”

“Cornelius gave them to me last night,” she said. “He also gave me something to give to you, something he said you’ll need to get into the Jackal’s Lair!”

Edward was about to ask what it was when the front door crashed open and he and Bridgette had to leap out of the way. Several Guardians carrying a stretcher shoved past them. Edward only got a quick look at the female Guardian with a partially severed wing lying on the stretcher before she was whisked away into a back room.

As he and Bridgette shouldered their way to the front door, Edward tried to quell his rising panic. Just what kind of evil beings were they up against?

The area outside the cabin was total chaos. Edward and Bridgette ducked as three low-flying Guardians carrying spears whooshed past them in the cool morning air, rocketing toward the invaders.

Edward searched desperately for any sign of Tabitha in the swarming crowd, but it was impossible to tell where she was.

“Please be okay,” he murmured, thinking about the wounded Guardian he’d just seen. Tabitha was an expert flier, but whatever it was that they were fighting seemed to have an edge over the Guardians.

Spotting a nearby hill, Edward shouted for Bridgette to follow him. Maybe if they stood somewhere above the battle they would be able to find Tabitha.

He and Bridgette reached the top of the hill, huffing and puffing. Edward surveyed the battlefield, searching desperately for any sign of their friend.

Come on, Tabitha. Where are you?Suddenly, through the crowd of attacking Guardians, he glimpsed clearly whom—or what—they were fighting. Seeing the enemy up close, he suppressed a shudder.

Four horrifying, mechanical centaurs struck left and right with clockwork precision, dispatching every Guardian who stood against them. A centaur with an ax easily deflected the forest Guardian spears thrown at him, striking back at the Guardians with tremendous force. A skeletal centaur wielded his scythe as if he were harvesting wheat, shearing wings instead of grain. As each of the Guardians lost their wings, they let out terrible, heart-wrenching screams before vanishing into thin air.

A skinny, female centaur was destroying every inch of land she touched, her glowing hooves causing the ground beneath her foes to turn to swamp and suck them under.

The last centaur—a lumpy, misshapen thing with a single, glowing eye—was scattering what looked like silver seeds on the ground. The seeds swarmed over to the nearest Guardians and engulfed them. Edward watched as more than one Guardian clawed at his face and body in an effort to rid himself of the tiny, silver attackers. Whatever the little things were, they clearly caused the victim immense pain.

Edward had to do something! His stomach churned as he shoved his hand into his pocket, searching for his father’s ring. Tabitha had tried to give him a crash course in ring throwing, but he wasn’t very good at it yet. With a little time, he felt like he could get the hang of it, but he hadn’t expected to have to use his ring so soon in a real battle!

“HROOOOOOMMMMMMBAAAAA!” Edward had just pulled the ring out of his pocket when the sound of loud, rumbling singing filled the air. He and Bridgette turned to see the Buruch, Cornelius’s mammoth blue snails, gathered together at the edge of the field. They were turned toward the attackers, singing a low, booming chord that sounded like the bottom keys of a pipe organ.

The sound was so powerful that it shook the ground beneath Edward’s feet, and he had a hard time keeping his balance. He knew immediately that it was a Song of Power, but it was unlike the ones that Guardians sang.

“Look!” Edward shouted, pointing at the snails. Bridgette followed his gaze. The blue snails’ massive shells crackled and glowed with electric sparks in response to the magical song. Lines of fire burst outward, illuminating the shells in a bright, phosphorescent glow and casting weird, dancing shadows on everyone around them.

As the chord reached an ear-splitting volume, the mammoth blue shells sprouted enormous, deadly-looking spikes. Armed like gargantuan tanks of war, the huge creatures rushed forward to engage the centaurs. Their normally serene, almost human faces were alight with a ferocious glow. As they glided past him on the grassy field, Edward could just make out the words to the Song of Power they sang.

Azru Li, Azru Li,
Hear our song, O enemy.
To battle! To battle! Buruch, the Blessed,
Ancient snails, battle dressed.
To war we go, O enemies flee!
Azru Li, Azru Li.

Edward glanced to where she was pointing. A winged figure was lying on the ground about forty feet away, a little apart from where the fiercest fighting was going on. Fearing the worst, he and Bridgette raced over to help the wounded Guardian.