Protectors: The Valdronius Kingdom
Chapter 1

Help me to see the path

The path I am on

Help me to replace the path of greatness

She was beautiful, the girl that was plaguing his thoughts, even more so in person. Damien first saw her when he looked into the witches Scrying Mirror. He acquired the witches help through a mutual friend, paying both a handsome fee. He thought it strange when he first saw the girl, since she was not in his world. It took him two weeks to track the state she was in, and another week to track the house she was staying in. With little to go on he was quite proud of himself. The closer he got to her the more magnetic she became, flickering in and out of his visions. The visions were a power he had not quite mastered, and were quickly becoming a nuisance. It was an intrusion on his mind, and they weren’t being very helpful. But they did give him a place to start and lurking gave him a name, Embry. In the shadows he watched the house for any movement or lights, the sun would be up in an hour. He needed to come into contact with her, one way or another. He needed to know what she knew or didn’t know about the Sword of Valdronius. It was his mission to replace the wondering trinket, it was discovered missing when the respective elders went to make their rounds. But first he needed to make sure she was safe. The witch could be trusted to not go blabbing around, but everyone had their price. So far all he could tell was that the girl lived with a man a few years older than her. No immediate family, no relatives, and no Amator…lover. Damien didn’t much care to know who the man was but…who was that man to her? There was movement in the house, time to move.

My eyes open, no alarm clock needed. A twinge of excitement rises in my chest, today I’m twenty. Today I’m no longer a teen, I’m an adult. I lay there thinking about my life, all the things I’m thankful for. It’s a short list, I’m thankful for Jeffery. If it wasn’t for Jeffery replaceing me I’d probably be in another foster home, or worse. I’ve known him for five years now he’s my best friend… my only friend really. But he treats me like I’m normal. I don’t think…no, I know I couldn’t live without him, maybe one day, but for now we are just roommates.

Two roommates in a fairly built, I suppose, two-story house. Jeffery said it was passed down in his family, and since he’s going to college and it’s the closest and cheapest place for him to live, his family just let him take it over. We pay electric, water, internet, and cable, and whatever improvements we want to make on the place. So not a bad deal at all. The house is creaky and at times drafty, but to me its home, its warm and I love it.

I sit up on my bed, feet replace the floor, stand up, right turn, ten steps, right turn, and six steps, hand out, as always the door. Stepping out into the hallway I reach for the banister and follow it right to the stairs. The one thing I really love about this house is the spiral staircase; it makes me feel like I’m in a mansion. Sometimes I imagine that I’m someone important making my way down to a great party thrown in my honor, wearing a beautiful dress. After all, “A girl should be two things: Classy and Fabulous”, Ah Coco Chanel. Now that is a woman I would have liked to meet, if not for conversation then to at least look through her closet. But then I come back to reality as I finish the last step. Left turn, past the hallway, a few steps and voila! I’m in the living room. I know the room is big but I’ve always managed to replace the piano. There is a wall sized window in front of the piano to my right. A couch that lined the wall left to me, a comfy rocking chair in the corner to the upper left. Sitting down I stroke a key. The piano is made with smooth Mahogany wood and is in tune. My mom taught me to play when I was a little girl; I guess it stuck with me all these years, though I’ve always been good at picking up the notes by sound. I loved playing the piano for my mom. I would play and she would sing me her song. I think it was a way to escape our troubles and frustrations. Those were good memories; I am thankful for those memories.

“I’ll let time escape me

And we’ll go home with a battle at our feet

Standing tall with people they can’t defeat

I’ll let the world pass me by and the world will change me

I will whether and I’ll be better

We’ll be brave and their lives we shall save

So help me to replace the light

And help me out of the darkness

Help me to see the path we’re on

The path of greatness”

“I don’t know why you try to sneak around me” I say.

“How is it that you always know when I’m around?” said Jeffery. His feet shuffled towards me.

“You smell funny” I smile at my quip.

“I smell delicious, thank you very much!” He shoves my shoulder with his, sitting next to me; I use his shoulder, which was bare, and the bench to scoot over. I take an exaggerated whiff.

“I beg to differ.” I can hear him chuckle.

“So reveal your secret. You really can see can’t you?” I laugh a little.

“Oh you caught me! What shall I ever do now” I say in a southern accent and dramatically faint.

“Quickly doctor, place her on the fainting couch.” I shove him lightly.

“I don’t really know how, I can just sense someone around. Perhaps it’s a perk to being blind.” I can hear him scratch his chin, sounds like he hasn’t shaved in a couple days.

“Well in any case, you really do have a nice voice Em’s.

“Yeah, yeah. Is that coffee I smell?” I sniff the air.

“I got the hint. You should sing more often.” He shuffles away, the clicking of flipped switches follows his trail.

“Aye, aye captain” I salute him.

“Uh huh.”

“I can hear you rolling your eyes.”

“Good” he chuckles. I hear faint rattling and tinkering in the kitchen.

I play a few notes from Fur Elise.

“No, no, no!” I look up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Play something fun.”

“Any suggestions captain?” I can hear him hum a song. He can’t sing but he can hold a tune which is sometimes fun to listen to. I pick up the tune, humming myself.

I play a few notes and sing the part.

“. . . and he’s watching us all in the eye, of the tiger.” I struggle with the tune and a few out of tune notes slip.

“Oops sorry” I laugh out. “That one is too hard.”

“Hmmm… ok how about something catchy.”

“Catchy?” I can hear him fumbling with the coffee cups.

“Yes, catchy. What about something from Disney?”

“Disney? You hate Disney songs, every time I…”

“No, I don’t like the girly songs. I have to keep up my manly-ness.” That makes me laugh.

“So you want me to play a manly Disney song?”

“Yes.” I let that sink in. I think about it for a bit. And start to play a little rough at first but then I get it.

“And that’s all I know.” I shrug

“What was that?”

“‘Prince Ali from Aladdin’” Footsteps clap on the wooden floor, and a warm coffee mug was placed into my hands.

“Thank you!” The coffee smells delicious and tastes even better. I can hear him take a seat in the comfy chair.

“You’re welcome.”

“You know you really should put a shirt on. You’ll catch a cold”

“How’d you know I didn’t have a shirt on?”

“You nudged me when you sat down earlier; I put my hand on your shoulder.” He scratches his head.

“…Oh yeah. You have a good memory.”

“Yes I do.” I smile “So go put a shirt on.” He scoffs at my command.

“Fine, catch your death, in this drafty old house. Then I’ll have to call the police, they’ll ask me what happened. On your headstone it will say, R.I.P the boy who didn’t wear a shirt. . .”

“Ok, ok. I give. While I do that, you can play a jolly tune and get this party started!” I just smile as he bounds up the steps, each thud quieter than the next.

I think for a second, before playing “If you’re happy and you know it.” He claps his hands, making me laugh. Jeffery has been with me, taking care of me really for the last five years. He told me he looked like Jensen Ackles only way better. I’m not sure what that guy looks like, but I’m assuming hot, because there’s always a girl around, or it could just be his ego. I know he has short sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes, he’s muscular, and he’s 27. His voice holds a gruffness to it, no accent just heavy. He’s sweet when he wants to be, but he’s cool to. It’s really lucky that we ran into each other when we did. I was running away from a foster home that wasn’t so homey, and he was running away from less than homey people, we became each other’s alibi of sorts. I never did get the whole story on who he was running from or how he was able to become a foster parent of sorts. He told me that he’d handle it and I never asked, never felt the need to know. I was safe, cared for, and happy.

“Hey, what happened to that jolly tune?” His feet padded on the floor, heading back to the comfy chair in the corner. It always makes a squeak when someone leans back in it.

“Sorry, just thinking.” I turn towards him.

“A penny for your thoughts?”

“…Just thinking about what I want to do today.” I smile at him.

“Let’s start with breakfast.”

“Waffles please!”

“Yes ma’am. Here’s your stick.” He places it in my hands.

“White Cane.” I shake my head at him.

“Technically it’s black.” I hear him say walking away.

“Yeah, Yeah. I’m going to go wash up first.”

“Righty-o” he says shuffling about in the kitchen.

I head into the hallway. There is a bathroom across the hall about 10 paces. I flip the switch, no need really but Jeffery doesn’t like being startled. Placing my cane on the sink top I turn the water on and let it flow for a few minutes while it gets warm. I can hear the batter sizzling; the familiar sound brings a smile to my face. Memories flood my mind... I look up; my reflection would be staring back at me; black hair, tan cream colored skin, blue eyes. I wash my face and hands, grab my cane and head back. I stop as a strange feeling passes as fast as it came. I listen carefully to my right, nothing. I shake it off and replace my way back into the middle of the living room, turn left, take 30 steps and I’m in the kitchen. I unfold my cane and use it to replace a chair. There is a bar table in the middle of the room with 4 chairs. Off to the right is a dining room set up that’s never used, on the left there is the fridge, stove, counter tops and cupboards and a pantry. At the back of the kitchen is another set of stairs that I don’t use on account of missing steps.

“Smells delicious!” I replace a chair and lean my cane against the chair to my left.

“Thank you.” Something lands in front of me; my hands replace it and inspect it. It’s a box with ribbon on it. I smile a little bit.

“Well open it.” I tear away the ribbon and open the box; something jingles onto the counter, replaceing it, it feels smooth, it was a small chain, a bracelet. I look up at Jeffery.

“It’s a silver bracelet with an Emerald stone in the middle and 3 diamonds on either side.”

“My birthstone…Jeffery…I…” before I know it, he was clasping it on my left wrist.

“Happy Birthday Embry.”

“Thank you!” I hug him tightly. It was unexpected of him to buy jewelry; to my knowledge he’s never bought jewelry for anyone.

“Yea, yea. Alright enough mushy.” I laugh at that. I can hear him set down a plate, and silverware in front of me. The smell of waffles in front of me makes my stomach grumble and I dig in. POUND. I look up, the sound came from upstairs. Jeffery was already by my side his hand on my arm.

“Jeffery!”

“Stay here.”

“Jeffery, no…I” I start to go with him.

“Stay here Embry. I’ll be right back.” I reach for my cane and clutch it to myself as he walks off, quietly going up the stairs.

I listen hard for a sound, any sound at all. But sound is not what catches my attention, it’s a smell. I can smell something…musty. I swallow and turn towards that smell. I grip my cane tighter, bringing it closer to me. A gasp escapes me as I hear a breathing noise. My hands start to shake around the cane. I can feel…I can feel a presence in front of me. No not feel, sense. I can sense something. Why hasn’t he attacked me yet? Wait, he, it’s a man. I can sense a man.

“What…what do you want?” I whisper quietly. I hear foot steps taken; I follow the sound till it stops. A few more are taken, this time I don’t have to move. He’s so close that I can smell his breath, there was a sweetness to it. I can feel water well up in my eyes and I start to panic.

“What do you ...” I choke out.

“Embry…” the man speaks and I swing my cane, crack. I make contact with his arm, but then my cane is torn from my hands, pulling me forwards. My cane clashes with the floor. His arms curl around me holding my back to him.

“JEFFERY!!!” I scream, trying to struggle out of his grasp.

“Trust the shadows, they may be your only saving.” The man muttered to me. I’m pushed to my right. I hear a crashing sound and running as another pair of arms catch me. I fight against the arms that caught me.

“Embry!” Jeffery is holding me, and I hold him back tighter.

“There’s a man, a man he, he, he…” I choke on my words. Air caught in my throat. Jeffery stood there holding me, rubbing my back and arms.

“You’re alright now, you’re alright. He looked like a homeless man, he was probably just looking for food.” I can remember the crashing sound.

“The crash…” I say in between sobs.

“He broke a plate taking the rest of the waffles. Then he ran out the front door. Did he hurt you?” I shake my head.

“No … no. He . . . no.” Tears start to escape me.

I stop crying and Jeffery leads me to a chair. I sit down; I can hear him rustling about. He comes back and puts a glass in my hands. I take little sips calming myself down. I can hear 3 beeping sounds and mumbling. The sounds are so far from me now. All I can think about was the man. His scent, his hair, his breath, how strong he was, the urgency in his voice. His voice! What did he say? He said something about… what was it. Think Embry, Think! The next thing I hear is a knock at the door, faint voices talking, heavy footsteps that get louder.

“Excuse me miss, I’m Officer Burk.” He shuffled uneasily as I look towards his voice. He sounded like a heavy man with a deep voice. He cleared his throat and from what I could tell adjusted his belt line.

“Hello officer Burk.”

“Let’s see…” he paused, probably thinking about his word usage, people do that. “Uh, can you tell me what happened?” He fumbled with what sounded like papers. This time I cleared my throat. Everything replayed in my mind picture frame by picture frame.

“I heard a noise from upstairs, Jeffery went to go look. That’s when I smelled a musty scent. I turned towards the smell. I heard a breathing noise. I had asked him what he wanted, then he took a few steps, I followed the sounds of his steps till…” everything I was saying was coming out in a rush, I cleared my throat again.

“It’s alright miss, take your time.” I nodded and took a breath.

“Till I didn’t have to anymore, he was walking towards me. I asked him again what he wanted. That’s when he said my name and I swung my cane at him. It hit his arm and he yanked it away from me and threw it away.” Where did it go I wondered? I faintly remember a dropping sound.

“Over there” I point. I heard shuffling.

“He held me tightly against him, my back was to him. I tried to struggle but he was so strong…he was just so strong.”

“What did he look like?” I looked up. “Sorry miss, I …” he was stammering.

“He had about shoulder length hair, it brushed against my face and his shoulders were a few inches above mine. He had slight facial hair; I felt it on my cheek when he told me something. Then I called for Jeffery.”

“Did you get visual on the man?”

“Not really, I came down the back stairs, he pushed Embry towards me as he turned and ran away. He did have black hair though, kind of shaggy.” I could tell Jeffery was trying to think of anything else.

“Ok. Well I see there was a struggle here.” I suppose he was staring at the mess. Mess!

“..No” I say. “It sounded like he did it on purpose. I didn’t get away, he pushed me away. Then, made the mess.” I suppose I sounded a little crazy.

“Ok. You said he mumbled something?” the officer asked.

“No, he told me. I said he told me something. Mumbling is when someone says something under their breath.” The man cleared his throat and a hand found my shoulder, probably Jeffery’s.

“Sorry…I don’t remember what he said.” This bothered me. I can remember everything except what he said. Think! The man walked around. I followed his footsteps.

“Now, can you see anything missing sir?” obviously talking to Jeffery.

“Not that I can tell. Just some extra waffles.” He sounded confused.

“Well I’ll put this report in, and have patrol car in the area. The best I can tell is that he was indeed a homeless man and looking for some food, got startled when he saw you miss.”

“Homeless people don’t just know my name.” I snap.

“He probably just overheard you talking. Right, here is my name and number, please do not hesitate to call if you remember anything.” He must have handed a paper to Jeffery.

“Thank you Officer. I’ll show you out.” I could hear footsteps coming back towards me, I reach out. Hands replace mine first. I hug him tightly.

“Thank you.”

“What did I do?”

“You were here.”

“Yes well that’s what I do best, rescue damsels in distress.” That made me laugh and all the tension seemed to melt away.

“Just don’t go making it a habit ok?”

“Ok.” I heard him scratch his head.

“Man this place is a mess.”

“I’ll help.”

“No, it’s ok. I’ll clean up. Besides the birthday girl needs to get ready.”

“I don’t really feel like…”

“There will be none of that, so we got off to a bad start this morning. Life happens right?”

“Life…right. Well… ok then. Can you hand me my cane?”

“About that. It’s broke.”

“Great.”

“I can help you.”

“No, I’ll manage.” I replace my way into the living room, then to the stairs. This time I don’t feel like a princess. I feel frustrated, angry, and weak. I feel… damaged.

My room is cold, and it makes my fingertips tingle. Fifteen paces in and 5 paces to my right I walk into my bathroom. No need to turn the light on. My fingers trace against the countertop as I make my way to the shower. Turning the nobs, water rushes out. Steam starts to fill my nose, and I step in. I let the water run over my face and hair as I just stand there. Frustration and anger creeping out, I hit the wall with the underneath my right fist. Again, Again, AGAIN. Each time harder than the last, sobs start to quiver on my lips and I let the tears fall. I let them fall till I’m dried clear out, as if I could cry the blindness out. There’s a knock.

“Em’s?”

“Yes?” I say quietly.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” I say to quickly for my taste. I heard him shuffle.

“Ok. I laid your clothes on the bed.”

“You picked out my clothes?” I say with a half laugh.

“Yes, well I can be helpful.” He seemed uncomfortable.

“…Thank you.” He leaves closing the bedroom door behind him.

I replace my clothes and inspect them; my favorite jeans with the cut out holes, a longish t-shirt, and a jean jacket; the short one with the frayed edges and cut off sleeves. I replace my combat boots; they have a silver chain on the side. I put my glasses on and I’m done. My new bracelet rests loosely on my left wrist. I make my way down stairs and head into the living room and sit down by the piano. Jeffery will replace me when he is ready. I try not to think. I don’t want to think. But that’s all I seem to be able to do. How can I not? I hate the feeling of being so . . . useless. Always needing help. Always… Anger seeps back in. I slam my fist on the piano keys.

“Whoa, what did that piano ever do to you?” I was startled and stood up. A first.

“Sorry, I was just…”

“I get it.” That was all that was said on the matter. I took a deep breath.

“Alright, where to first?” he asked. Great more thinking. I remembered my cane being broken.

“I guess Griffens.” Griffens was this neat little place downtown. He had a bunch of old knickknacks. He also had a bunch of canes of all types. He was a smallish man with a slight squeak in his voice. I always pictured him with glasses that made his eyes to big and white hair. He was also the only person, except Jeffery, that treated me like a normal girl.

“Nope.” I looked up at Jeffery.

“I can’t get around without …”

“I’m here, I’ll be your eyes. We’ll get one tomorrow. Today we are doing fun stuff.” He said matter-of-factly. I sigh and agree. He takes my left arm in his right, locking the door as we go.

“Your chariot madam.” Laughing I replace the door has been opened and I sit down into his car. I remember him telling me it was an old school mustang, the best car in the world. I just remember thinking boys and their toys.

That was a stupid idea, what was he thinking. Her eyes are what caught him off guard. They were striking and reminded him of the past. He had a plan, tell her everything. Why not? Being truthful got answers, most of the time. He didn’t mean to startle the girl, only to warn her that she could be in danger. Then she went and hit him with that stick, leaving a welt in all. He should have waited but time was not on his side, especially in this dimension. The way she reacted told him she knew nothing or she was very good at acting. He needed more information, he needed more time. He waited in the shadows waiting to see what she would do. Men came buy in uniforms then left. After an hour or so the girl left with the man, perfect. Now he could look in the house, it wasn’t hard picking the lock to the back door. The first thing he learned in this dimension is that it’s magic free, for the most part. Lock picking came in handy for him to do what he needed to get done without interruptions. There were a few covens all over the place, but the ones that held real power were out of the way. He closed the door behind him and kept the lights off, not that he needed light. He was accustomed to the dark. He followed the stairs from the kitchen, this place needed a serious rebuilding, and missing steps forced him to have to jump. Her room was the one in the front, it was clean and smelt like raspberry. It wafted from the bathroom. The most he could tell from the room was that she didn’t surround herself with clutter. No pictures, no art, no flowers, no real jewelry, even the paint on the walls were white. The only thing that distinguished this room belonged to a girl was the clothes in the closet and the bed of black sheets; it held numerous pillows. There was nothing here that was useful. He would have to wait till he could talk to her, if that’s what you could call that little episode, again.