Senshi (Guardians)
Chapter 10: A Brave Young Warrior

Rocknash and his men joined the fight. It was over in forty minutes.

The Guardians hovered over the carnage. Thael saluted the bodies of the fallen. His sword and shield vanished. Surveying the massive piles of body parts and goo, he slowly shook his head. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer.

Suddenly, a small Shnark hit him in the chest with a wooden sword. He opened his eyes and looked at it curiously. It kept slashing at him with its crude sword. Finally, Thael spoke up: “Excuse me.” It didn’t act like it heard him so he spoke louder, “Hey!”

The small Shnark stopped for a moment and said, “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m killing you,” for emphasis he started hacking away again.

“Stop for a minute, will you?”

“Why? I’m a warrior and it’s my duty to kill Guardians.”

“How old are you, warrior?”

“Twelve cycles. After twelve cycles we become warriors.”

The Flapping of wings indicated something had landed on a nearby building. Thael managed to catch a glimpse of a fully grown female Shnark looking down on them.

Probably this broodling’s mother, Thael thought.

“So you’re a full grown warrior?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, wait here a moment.” Thael dropped to the ground and picked up a Shnark sword. He flew back up to the broodling. He handed it to the young Shnark hilt first. “This is a proper sword for a warrior. Try it on for size.”

Its hand couldn’t fit around the entire hilt, so it took the sword with two hands. When Thael released his hold on the blade, the broodling was dragged straight down to the street. The sword stuck in the pavement.

Thael flew down to where the broodling landed. The others gently floated down to where Thael and the broodling were hovering. “There’s something they forgot to tell you.”

“What’s that?” Its eyes were full of tears.

“It takes two Earth cycles to make one Shnark cycle. So, you see, you’ve only completed half of your growing cycle. In a few more Earth cycles you will be able to handle a sword like that with ease.”

“Really?”

“I give you my word. As you know, Guardians can’t lie. So, all you need to do is go back to your mother and complete your growing cycle.”

“Okay.”

One of the Guardians said, “We should kill it now before it becomes a warrior…” As he said that, he raised his sword over his head and swung it straight down at the Shnark.

Thael grabbed the broodling from the path of the blade. He raised his arm. His shield appeared just as the Guardians sword hit it full force.

“Stop!” Thael commanded. “We are guardians. We don’t kill children no matter where they are from. No one will harm this broodling.”

The Shnark child had buried its face and claws in Thael’s chest when Sparks flew off the shield. He held it as if it were his own child. Without thinking, Thael began scratching it behind the ears and stroking its fur. It began purring and nuzzling his chest.

“We are not murderers. We fight as warrior against warrior when we are attacked. Our way is the way of peace. We only fight when we have to. This broodling goes back to its mother.”

“How do we replace her, Thael sama?” Shinto began, “…and when we replace her, how do we keep her from killing us?”

Thael smiled, “She won’t attack us.”

“How do you know that?” Rocknash asked.

Thael pointed up to the building where the lone Shnark sat watching and listening to everything that was happening below.

“Is she your mother?”

“Yes!” It sounded happy.

“Then,” Thael said as he prepared to toss the broodling into the air, “I think it’s time to go home. What do you think?”

He tossed it into the air and the young Shnark flew up to his mother. She took it into her arms, nuzzled and purred. She looked back at the Prince she was taught to hate. He bowed. The rest of his team took his cue and bowed too.

She bowed her head slightly and flew off into the night. Having seen and heard everything the Prince had said, she was a bit puzzled. He was not at all like the evil person their leader said he was.

“If anyone doesn’t like my decision to spare a mother and child, you shouldn’t follow me anymore. I won’t have Guardians that act like barbarians. You should quit and follow a different path. I’ll understand. Anyone want to quit?”

Rocknash was standing knee deep in Shnark remains. Thael and the others were hovering high enough to have a face to face talk with him. After a pause, he spoke: “We Bagneroth remain loyal, Your Highness. We, too, don’t stomach the killing of women and children. I know I said we should eliminate the broods, but if it came down to it, we’d rather replace a way to transport them back to their home planet and free them.”

“I thought as much. Well, I am physically tired. That broodling made my chest bleed from its claws. I forgot my shields were down. I think I’ll go home. I suggest you all do the same.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Shinto interjected. “I promised Kyoko I’d bring you home to her, and that’s what…”

He was cut short by the battle cry of a small Shnark squad. The Guardians turned to face them. One of the Shnark had aimed a proto-cannon at the Prince’s chest and fired.

Thael managed to raise his shields with what little strength he had left. The blast caught him square. His shields immediately shut down. He shot backward into Rocknash’s armor plate. The impact made him lose consciousness for a few seconds. His wings vanished and he fell into the pile of goo and gore at the giant’s feet, disappearing from view.

The others were able to dodge the proto-cannon. Shinto flew at the cannon operator and killed it. Its dead body and the cannon fell into the goo and were engulfed. It would be impossible to retrieve it quickly, let alone replace it.

Still stunned, Thael managed to crawl out of the huge mess. He gasped for breath. As he stood up a Shnark attacked him. He deflected its sword off his golden shield and swung back. Sparks flew everywhere.

He shook off the dizziness, just as Another Shnark joined the fight. Thael managed to kill the first one. He turned to give the new warrior his full attention. It let out a scream of pain as he sliced it in half.

“Didn’t I say that you should never attack with your sword held high?” He demanded. No answer came because it was already dead.

Even though his shields were down he continued fighting. He killed a few more Shnark. He watched the last one he struck twitch as its final bit of life drained from it.

He felt a sudden searing pain in his back. A Shnark had come from behind and struck him. Its sword cut from the top of Thael’s right shoulder down to his left hip. He fell into the goo. The Shnark moved in for the final kill, but was suddenly grabbed by Rocknash and torn apart.

Imperial Guardian Ariana sliced and diced the last Shnark. The battle was over. Shinto had seen Thael get struck in the back, but couldn’t do anything until he dispatched the two Shnark attacking him. He flew over and knelt beside Thael. He pulled him up out of the blood and goo and held him.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man! Please don’t be dead. Kyoko is going to kill me. Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Thael coughed. “What nonsense are you saying?”

“You’re alive! Yokata!”

“My back hurts. It feels like a hundred bee stings. I think I need a Medic.” He passed out.

An Imperial Guardian flew over. She saluted, “We’ve won the battle, Your Highness. Just a few stragglers left.” It was then she noticed Thael was unconscious.

“He can’t hear you, Ariana. I need to take him to my sister’s place. Get a Doctor and bring him there.

“Yes, Captain.” She saluted and left.

The other two Imperial Guardians guarded Shinto as he flew to his sister’s place. The three Imperial Senshi protecting Kyoko hardly recognized Shinto with all the blood and goo covering him. They also didn’t realize what he was carrying until they noticed the Prince’s Imperial Guards escorting them. Thael was covered in so much blood and gore no one could recognize him.

Shinto hurried in to the bathroom, put Thael in the shower well, and turned on the water. He started rinsing all the goo off the Prince with the hand held shower head. He turned Thael and began rinsing his back. As the goo and blood washed into the drain, he could see the large gash made by the Shnark’s jagged blade.

A squeal came from the doorway. Shinto turned his head and saw Kyoko standing there in shock. She had her hand across her mouth. She rushed to the shower door.

“Shinto…! What happened?”

“Not really sure. A proto-canon killed his shields, but he kept fighting. Before I could get to him, a Shnark sliced his back. Have to get all this Shnark blood and debris off of him so I can see how bad it is.”

Kyoko gasped. “Look at his back, Shinto.” She burst into tears.

“Damn!” He ripped open the uniform and kept running water over Thael’s back. They could plainly see the long gash. Blood was seeping out of it. Shinto made sure the gash was free from foreign matter. The Medic came in.

Shinto turned off the water. “Except for the scratches on his chest, I think this is the only wound, Sensei.”

She cut the rest of his uniform top off exposing Thael’s entire back. Then she took a device from her bag that looked like a magnifier and inspected the wound from top to bottom.

“Good thinking Captain. You’ve washed all the foreign matter out. I can safely close the wound now.”

She took out another device. “Pull his shoulders back so we can get the wound pushed together.”

Shinto did as he was told. The doctor turned on the device and started at the top of the wound, slowly moving downward. At the bottom she said, “I think that will do it.”

Kyoko looked at the wound. It was gone. All that was left was a red streak.

“That will disappear in a few days. Right now he needs some rest.”

They removed what was left of his uniform, washed the blood and debris from his hair and body, dried him off, and put him in Kyoko’s bed. She was still crying. The doctor put her arm around her and said, “Don’t worry, my princess, he’s going to live. Nothing can kill a Taelon Prince.”

“Yokata! Thank you! Sensei. Thank you!”

Shinto escorted the doctor to the balcony. “I feel so terrible. If he had died…”

“Didn’t I just say, ‘You can’t kill a Taelon Prince’?”

“I thought that was just a saying.”

“No, Captain. You really can’t kill him, not easily anyway. That sword wound should have sliced open his entire back, cutting through bone and sinew, but even when totally exhausted, he can call an impenetrable shield just below the skin. The blood loss looks bad, but it’s negligible. Because of who he is, he would have healed himself in a matter of hours anyway; my procedure just speeds up the process. He hasn’t been sick a day in his life. I only suggested rest because he’s been over doing it these days.”

“Thank you Doctor. I can rest a little easier now.”

“No problem. Oh, and tell her highness not to worry. Our Prince is quite resilient. She’ll have her wedding. We’re all looking forward to it. Oyasuminasai, Senshi.”

“Goodnight Sensei, and thanks again.”

She sprouted wings and flew off toward the moon.