Chapter 28

After Arrow fled with Reece, the Guardians remained under attack as arrows constantly flew in their direction. Suddenly, the arrows ceased and all grew quiet. Levi peeked around his shield and noticed a black, swirling mist rolling in the sky above their heads.

What is this? Levi thought as the mist thickened. Out of nowhere, dark masses of what appeared to be creatures fell out of the sky. Before Levi and his men could react, they were surrounded by barbaric beasts that stood twice the size of a Guardian. Levi, Harrison, and the rest of the Guardians drew their swords simultaneously.

Levi locked eyes with the largest creature’s deep red ones. Saliva dripped from the numerous fangs that were exposed on its long snout. “We mean you no harm!” Levi spoke out, hoping the scaly beast would let them pass without trouble.

Levi tightened Areion’s reins when the creature shifted into the form of a fully armored man that towered over them. A loud roar boomed, and Levi watched as blades grew from the man’s shoulders and hands. As he transformed, more and more of these creatures fell from the sky and did the same, surrounding the Guardians in every direction.

Instantly, Levi dismounted Areion, needing his horse’s assistance to fight at his side. Areion lunged into the beast, giving Levi the advantage of protecting himself from another creature that was approaching at his side. Levi spun around and thrust his sword into his enemy’s side, with absolutely no result. Nothing! Levi thought in disbelief that the blow had not affected the beast in any way.

Before Levi could charge the barbarian again, Areion aggressively threw his hooves into it, bringing the creature to the ground. Levi spun around swiftly when he felt a stinging sensation on his back. He turned to find the knives on one of a barbarian’s hands swiping aggressively at him. Before Levi could think, Areion trampled the man and trounced him into the ground before he could make another move at Levi.

Levi turned and stood face-to-face with yet another barbarian. He swiped his sword across the creature’s neck, and as the sword sliced completely through, Levi stood in awe that its head did not detach. Again, Areion lunged into the beast, removing Levi from danger. Another sting to his arm alerted him to an attack to his right. Levi spun into the attack, delivering his sword into where he believed the man’s heart was.

“WHY WILL YOU BEASTS NOT DIE?!” Levi shouted in frustration after he removed the sword from the unaffected man without a drop of blood or internal fluid of any kind on it.

The creature lashed out at Levi, shredding the front of his breastplate and penetrating his flesh. Before he could counter, Areion brought the beast to the ground. The heavily-armored horses seemed to be the only saving grace for the Guardians at the moment. Fortunately, the seemingly unbeatable troop of attackers did not seem to have much luck in piercing through the horses’ armor.

Levi ducked under another attack, rolled into the barbarian, and used his legs to bring the being to the ground. Levi grabbed his dagger and buried the blade into the top of its head. “You will not bleed,” Levi said as the barbarian sprung to its feet. Levi rolled to his side as the tips of four large blades nearly pierced through his chest. Areion took the threat of this beast out of Levi’s way as Levi sprung to his feet. There was no time to think. The attack was relentless, and there was no way out of it.

Levi was now using only his blade and shield to protect himself as more creatures dropped out of the sky. As the Guardians’ line began to break, Levi turned and reacted quickly to this new attack. A slice to his cheek was nothing compared to what would have happened had he not reacted so swiftly. “Harrison!” he mentally called out to his cousin, hoping he was still alive. He turned and saw nothing but the shining sharp edge of four blades being thrust forward toward his heart. At that moment, Harrison shoved Levi back against a tree, pinning him to it as the attacker lunged toward them. Before Levi could blink, the barbarian that had come out of nowhere dropped to the ground after Saracen attacked it from its side. Beyond his greatest fear, Harrison fell forward to the ground as well.

“NO!” Levi growled, knowing Harrison had sacrificed his life for his own. Then without fail, Levi was attacked again. He forced himself to maintain his warrior mindset, despite the shock of what had happened to Harrison, knowing that if he hesitated for a moment, he would be dead.

He reached out to slash his blade into his enemy but gasped when a fiery arrow was plunged into the barbarian’s chest from out of nowhere, leaving only a black cloud of dust where the creature once stood. He saw fiery arrows coming from the over the hill behind him, and they were destroying all of the creatures. The dark mist above them thundered loudly, and after a piercing screech the dark mass shattered into black particles that rained down over them.

Levi ran to where Harrison lay on his stomach, face down. “Harrison!” He fell to his knees and turned him over, gripping his lifeless face in an attempt to wake him up. Harrison’s didn’t respond.

He was alive, but his breathing was dangerously shallow. Memories of what happened to his father in Armedias ripped through him painfully. I will not lose you! He inhaled deeply as his body began to tremble. As he stood to assess the rest of the Guardians, he saw a group of foreign warriors quickly approaching each one of his men. They were long, lean, and muscular and wore nothing more than loincloths.

Their hair was long, and their dark-skinned faces and bodies were painted with red and black tribal markings. They soared down from the cliffs with huge wings, and when they landed on the ground, their black feathered wings vanished into their bodies. They carried bows and arrows in their hands, but nothing more.

Two of these men rushed swiftly past where Levi stood and approached Harrison. Levi turned to see that they were rubbing a white paste across the open wound in Harrison’s chest.

“What are you doing to him?” Levi growled as he lunged toward them in his cousin’s defense.

He was gripped suddenly at his shoulder by Garrett. “Emperor, they saved our lives.” Garrett looked at Harrison, and then back to Levi. “This paste is serving to prevent the deaths of dozens of our men.” Levi stared at Garrett in disbelief, unable to say anything. He looked past him and saw what appeared to be these winged warriors’ leader.

“Who are you?” Levi asked firmly while shoving his sword back into its sheath at his side.

The face-painted warrior said nothing as he reached for Levi’s wounded arm. Levi tensed, but when he saw how much blood he was losing due to the severity of his wound, he allowed the warrior to rub the paste on it. As Levi glanced around, he saw the horses and the rest of his men having their wounds attended to.

Levi tried to read into the warrior’s mind, but it was empty. The man motioned for Levi to follow him. Levi turned to find the two men that were helping Harrison were now picking him up. Levi ran over to where Harrison remained unconscious in their grips.

“Garrett, help me with Harrison, now,” he ordered as he reached out to take Harrison’s shoulders in his hands.

The man that held Harrison by his shoulders stepped aside and allowed Levi to carry his cousin. Garrett approached soon after, took Harrison by the legs, and walked with Levi over to where Saracen patiently waited. Levi looked down at the white paste covering over Harrison’s exposed chest and saw that Harrison’s wound seemed to be healing. Once Harrison was secured to Saracen, Levi turned and noticed most of his unconscious, wounded men were being helped onto their horses’ backs by these people.

Levi turned to face the warrior’s leader. The man nodded and gave him a pleasant smile as his massive feathered wings appeared. Areion approached from behind and nudged Levi in his back. Levi turned to his stallion. “We must find Reece first,” he mentally ordered. To his surprise Arrow was at his side. He whinnied and aggressively pawed the ground. Is she safe with these people? Arrow nodded and began to lead the horses carrying the wounded men up the hillside. One by one, the warriors darted up into the skies above them and flew off in the direction that Arrow was leading the Guardians.

Areion grunted with impatience. Levi hoisted himself up on Areion’s back and nodded to the man he believed to be the leader of this group. With that, a gust of wind blew into Levi’s face as the winged man shot up into the skies above them. They rode at a slow pace, following Arrow and the men who were casually flying overhead. Levi never took his eyes off Harrison as they rode, desperately hoping that whenever they got to where it was they were going, he would still be alive.

Not long after, a passageway appeared in the side of a mountain. They followed Arrow through as the winged warriors soared above their heads, flying through the entrance. A large wooden door appeared in the trunk of a very wide tree. What is this place? Levi thought as they followed Arrow through the tree. He watched in awe when they entered into a large village. Levi looked back, wondering if they crossed into another dimension inside this strange world.

He looked around, seeing small, primitive stone houses situated amongst the trees of the mystical forest. He looked up to see passageways throughout the large trees where small huts were nestled amongst the strong, heavy branches. He wasn’t able to study his surroundings for long before a large group of women dressed in sack-cloth clothing walked swiftly out to the wounded men. Before Levi could turn to retrieve Harrison, he was stopped by a young woman who approached him with a wooden bowl in her hand. He looked into her deep brown eyes with concern. She peeked up from under long lashes and smiled reassuringly at him. She brushed her long, black braids of hair over her shoulder and dipped her hand into more of the healing white paste. She reached up to his face, and Levi stepped back from her briskly.

“Do not be wary. This will heal your wounds,” she said in a smooth and pleasant voice.

Levi’s brow furrowed. “You understand our language?”

She nodded as she reached for Levi’s face again, but he caught her hand before she could touch him. “I do not require assistance. How is it you can communicate with me, yet your warrior men are silent?” he asked firmly.

The young woman seemed somewhat intimidated as she looked at Levi. “The woman from your tribe has helped us learn your methods of communicating.”

Reece! Adrenaline coursed through Levi, and he sighed in utter relief when he saw Reece running out to where he stood. Levi quickly walked past the young woman to meet Reece. She wore a sackcloth robe, and her hair was braided to look like this clan of people. Reece’s face was grief-stricken, and her eyes filled with tears as she approached.

“Harrison—” was all she managed through her sobs as she tightly embraced him.

Levi’s heart sank. He stepped back from Reece and looked around to see that all of his wounded had been removed from their horses. He gripped Reece’s hand while marching forward. “Harrison—” He looked back at Reece. “Where is he? Did you see him?”

“Yes.” She sniffed as they walked hurriedly toward a large building. “He’s in here,” she said as she led Levi into the building.

“Is he alive?”

She nodded. “But I’m not sure if they can save him.”

Levi swallowed hard. “He saved my life, Reece,” he said in a grave tone.

They walked down a large hallway as people in sack-cloth clothing bustled all around them. They turned a corner and found a room with wooden beds placed everywhere. There were roughly two dozen wounded men, and Levi quickly scanned the room for his cousin. He saw Harrison lying in the farthest corner of the room as three women attended to him.

He rushed across the room to his cousin. Harrison was lying on a bed, with only a blanket covering him up to his waist. The wound in the center of his chest was almost entirely healed. He gazed at his cousin, who appeared to be in a peaceful slumber, and he exhaled in relief as he listened to the sound of Harrison’s steady heartbeat.

Reece slowly wound her fingers through Levi’s, holding his hand tenderly. “He will be fine, Reece.”

The women caring for Harrison did not turn to address Levi as he stood at the foot of Harrison’s bed. Suddenly, Levi’s mind became fuzzy, and he became extremely dizzy. His vision began to blur, and he started to sweat profusely. He shook his head, trying to figure out what was going wrong with him. He tried to walk and nearly stumbled backward to the ground. He reached out for Harrison’s bed to steady him, and Reece tightly gripped him at his waist, barely holding him up.

He started gasping for air, and Reece’s voice echoed, “Levi!”

***

“Bring him to lie down over here at once,” a woman said as she darted over to them.

Reece and the women who were attending Harrison shuffled a stumbling Levi over to the empty bed next to his cousin. Reece’s heart raced as she tried to figure out why Levi went from being seemingly healthy to violently ill so suddenly. Tears filled her eyes as she watched his body tremble and listened to him as he moaned painfully.

A woman approached him and raised his head up. Levi jerked his head away as she brought a wooden cup to his mouth. “If you can hear me, you must drink this,” she told Levi. “The poison has spread throughout your body,” the woman said calmly.

Levi tightened his lips as the woman tried numerous times to encourage him to drink from the cup. Reece could bear no more of his fighting. “Levi! DRINK IT!” she yelled as she rushed to the head of the bed. She laced her hands through his hair, cradling the back of his head. Reece reached for the cup that the woman held to Levi’s lips, taking it from her. She steadied the cup to his lips and tried not to spill anything as his body’s violent trembling shook the bed.

“Drink it, Levi,” she said in a calmer tone.

He mumbled something before his eyes rolled back in his head and his body continued to spasm. His eyes closed and lips tightened further as Reece fought to keep the wooden cup to his lips. Stop fighting me, or I’m going to lose you, she thought in frustration.

Reece glanced down at his tightened fists and knew she had to find a way to get him to listen to her. “My love,” she said warmly. His eyes flicked open, and she stared deeply into his dull blue irises. “You must drink the medicine.”

Levi’s panting breath slowed, and his lips loosened some. It was just enough for Reece to put the rim of the cup to rest on the inside of his lips. Fighting Levi’s constant trembling, she managed to tip the cup, and the fluid was able to seep through his lips. His lips parted more, and his strong hands gripped each side of the cup, pinching her hand between it.

Levi swiftly downed the fluid like a man who was dying of thirst. His grip on her loosened, and he collapsed onto the bed. His eyes remained closed, and his body stopped trembling.

The woman to her right gently placed her hand on Reece’s arm. “He will be fine,” she said with a reassuring smile, “but we must address his wounds immediately. If we do not rub this paste over every wound, the poison will begin to decay his flesh. Hurry, I will help you to remove his clothing.”

Levi suffered wounds to his abdomen, arms, back, and legs. The woman looked at her. “We will attend to the wounds on his back first, and I will leave you to attend to the remaining ones.”

Reece’s heart ached to see him in this condition, and she wondered what had happened to all of them. As she continued to administer the cream to Levi’s arms, she glanced up and shivered with remorse as she took in the images of the other wounded men.

The men looked as though they had been attacked by something with large claws. Their clothing was slashed and ripped nearly to shreds. Levi’s left cheek had a long laceration, starting from his temple and extending down to his chin. It looked like a large claw went through his cheek; fortunately, the bleeding stopped once the cream was spread over it.

Once she was finished, Reece glanced around the room to see that all of the warriors were being well cared for. The woman who previously helped her with Levi returned and gathered Levi’s warrior attire. “I will have these repaired and will send for clothing to cover him when he wakes.”

Reece smiled. “Thank you—all of you.” She looked around at the other women who continued working with Harrison. “You and your people saved all of their lives.” Her voice cracked.

The woman smiled. “Your men are brave people.” She looked at Levi. “He should be waking soon,” she said and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Reece called out. “What about my cousin?” She looked back at Harrison, who was alone now. “What about him? Will he be okay?”

The woman nodded. “Your cousin’s wounds were extremely severe, and he was very near death; it will take his body longer to recover. We will continually offer him treatment, with the hope that he will regain consciousness.”

“Hope?” Reece snapped out of fear of losing Harrison. “Are you saying that he may not survive?”

The woman walked over to Harrison and placed her hands on his forehead. “His mind remains in a healing state. I am unsure at this time.”

Reece felt tears well up in her eyes, and she nodded numbly in response to the woman before she left the area.

Reece continued to smear the paste over Levi’s wounds, distraught by the reality of their situation. Levi, what happened to all of you? she thought. After she tended to all of his wounds, she stood and placed a tender kiss to his lips before she turned to check on Harrison. His breathing was normal, and his flesh a normal temperature. Still unsure if he would pull through this, she leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Don’t you die on us, Harrison,” she scolded him through her tears.

She turned to leave when another, much older woman approached Harrison. She ran red paste over his forehead that instantly blended in with his skin tone. The next thing Reece noticed, Harrison’s skin color was its usual hue, and his expression more peaceful.

“Will he make it?” she asked the older woman.

The woman smiled. “Rest assured, he will survive. However, do not despair if he does not wake soon. His body is healing rapidly, but until it has conquered the poison entirely, he will remain in a sleeping state.”

Reece impulsively hugged the woman. “Thank you.”

She turned, walked over to Levi, and ran her hands through his hair, wondering when he would wake up as well.

“Reece!” a familiar voice boomed from the doorway, startling her.

She looked up to see that it was King Hamilton who entered. She stood in relief and nearly ran to him. When she reached him, he held his arms open to embrace her.

“King Hamilton, I thought you were with the other Guardian troops? How did you find us here?”

He gently pulled away. “Garrett sent for the rest of us. All of the Guardians are here now.” He walked over to Levi. “Garrett informed me about the medicines that are healing our men, but do you know if Levi and Harrison will be okay?” he asked her while looking over at Harrison, and then back to her.

She nodded. “Levi should be waking up soon, but we’re not sure when Harrison will wake,” she answered him. “Harrison almost didn’t make it.”

Hamilton gazed somberly at Reece, and then quickly recovered his expression. “Have no fear,” he nodded at Harrison, “that boy is as resilient as they come. Although, I am grateful to hear that after Garrett informed me of the wound he suffered.” He glanced at the women attending the other wounded men in the room. “Our men are most fortunate that these villagers came to their rescue. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we might never be able to repay.”

“I agree.” She cleared her throat and stared intensely at King Hamilton. “I have a feeling that Mordegrin may have been behind this attack.” She looked over at Levi, hoping to see his eyes had opened, yet he remained in a peaceful slumber.

King Hamilton stared at Levi, and then over to Harrison, and Reece watched his expression go from concerned to determined. He ran his fingers through his auburn, curly hair and exhaled. The formidable man looked at Reece, and his bronze eyes penetrated through her. “We cannot lose any men on this mission. We must learn more about the beings that ambushed the company of men you were in,” he commanded in a deep, authoritative tone.

Reece returned his gaze with the same determination. “I haven’t had much time to talk to anyone here. As soon as I started feeling better, the wounded began to arrive.”

King Hamilton nodded. “It appears that we are safe in this cloaked village—or dimension, perhaps—that we have been brought to. We shall endeavor to learn as much as we can from these people when Levi has recovered.”

Reece sighed. “I’m hoping that is very soon.”