Guardian

By Julia Skinner

Kabr slithered across the bloodstained cobblestones, eyeing the shadows bordering the backstreet of Veerion. The sharp twang of fresh death flared through his nostrils, stoking the fire in his chest. Beneath the foul stench, Merna’s perfume of old pages and secrets still lingered, even hours after her body had been taken away.

Kabr could feel his time already draining, forming an incessant drumbeat in his mind. He had twenty-four hours to hunt the fiend and avenge Merna, before he was pulled back to his realm. Only twenty-four hours.

I’ve added it up, run all the variables, she’d written in her journal as she walked through.

He’d been trailing after her, as he always was. Invisible, silent, but present, even if she was the only thing he could see through the fog of his realm. There is no way Erie’s rebellion can work.

His scales grating across the stone, Kabr moved down the empty street. A translucent trail of crimson footprints danced across the cobblestone, the murderer’s imprints, visible to his eyes alone. He hissed quietly, the fire in his chest shoving him forward. Tonight, vengeance would be his. Tonight, he would have justice.

Killing King Eronn will not fix anything, the words Merna wrote weaseled through his mind as he followed the trail. It will only make things worse.

Tucking his wings in close, Kabr followed the footprints across an intersection. Trees lined the tops of the buildings, their skeletal limbs etched out against the sky. They had been planted by the rebellion as a secret beacon for sympathizers, pointing the way to their hideout. Burnt red leaves drifted on the wind now, as if the moon itself were crying ruby tears.

Kabr tracked the footprints, increasingly vibrant in the moonlight, past the hideout, through the winding streets, to the outskirts of the city, where the last of the hulking buildings were bordered by train tracks. The distant rumble of a train growled in the distance.

The prints—now bright, like newly shed blood—led up a ladder to the roof of a half crumbling building. Kabr jumped, landing lightly on its stone roof. A woman stood at the opposite edge, peeking down at the empty tracks.

“Murderer!” Kabr hissed.

A strand of moonlight flickered across her face as she jerked around, illuminating dyed red hair. Kabr paused. He knew this person, though this was the first time he was able to see her so clearly. Erie. One of Merna’s best friends. Smoke billowed in his throat, half-choking him.

“Guardian…” she gasped, stumbling backward, closer to the edge.

“Erie,” Kabr hissed, slinking forward. “How dare you… She was innocent!”

“She was far from it!” Erie snapped. “Merna… Merna tried to tear down everything I’ve built.” She took another step away from him, trembling. “She didn’t understand…. They have to pay. The king, the royals, all of them! They killed my family. This is justice. And I won’t let anyone stand in my way.” Her voice wobbled. “Even my best friend.”

Hatred gleamed in her eyes, reddened from lack of sleep and unshed tears.

Kabr crouched closer to the stone, breathing out a puff of vermilion smoke. Avenge avenge avenge, the words thrummed in his head.

A train whistled close by. With a jerk, Erie flung herself off the side of the building right as it came whooshing past. Lurching forward, Kabr snagged her shirt in his talons, flinging her back onto the roof. Red flames rose in his throat as she hit the stone.

The king deserves it, for all the people he has murdered, the words Merna wrote trailed through his mind, soft and quiet against the drumming rage. I know that. But sometimes it is not best to give someone what they deserve.

He froze as Merna’s face surfaced in his mind, cooling the red blotches dripping across his vision. For a moment, Kabr was back in that morning, trailing behind her through the haze of his realm, as his ward paused in the street that became her grave. “I’ve been studying Guardians, and our history,” Merna said. She couldn’t see him, nor could he ever speak to her, but she knew enough about his kind to know he was there. “Every time a person kills someone, their Guardian must avenge them. Then that person’s Guardian fights their Guardian to death. But it doesn’t end there! Friends and family of those who have been murdered pursue revenge. It is a path that just keeps going, filled with hatred and bloodshed.”

She snapped her maroon journal closed. “As much as it is going to hurt Erie, I have to convince the rebellion that killing is not the answer. Hurting other people will only ever cause more hurt. I know we can do better.”

And then, Erie had killed her…

The memory faded, and Kabr stared down at the woman. The hatred in her eyes had turned to panic as she struggled against his crushing claws.

…. Just as he was about to kill Erie.

I know we can do better.

We can do better.

He ground his teeth, staring down at the one who had murdered his ward.

“I can do better,” he whispered. He could almost see Merna’s smile, bright and hopeful and knowing.

Stepping back, Kabr released Erie. Gasping for breath, she struggled upright. “What… what are you… Guardian?” she stared at him, disbelief drawn across her pale face.

“Merna didn’t want more people to die,” he growled, refusing to give in to the flames in his chest, the ones that burned for revenge.

Erie swiped a hand across her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense. This… is justice. I…” She stammered, then slumped forward, “I deserve...”

“Perhaps sometimes,” Kabr interrupted, swallowing back a hiss, “it is not best to give someone what they deserve.” Spreading his wings, he vaulted towards the ruby moon, leaving the murderer behind.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Skinner is a seventeen year old writer, blogger, and ice cream enthusiast. When she’s not working on one of her (many) Sci-Fi Fantasy novels, she can be found playing video games, happy-ranting about one of Brandon Sanderson’s books, or wondering just how many germs are on the door handle. Julia strives to bring glory to her Savior, Jesus Christ, and if any good comes from her journey, it’s because of Him.

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