Chapter Twenty-Three
As the sun started setting on another training day, Bréagha put her crossbow down and rolled her shoulders.
“I don’t understand why I have to train so much with the crossbow and hand-to-hand when I have wings, fire, and a wand now,” she complained as Aiden came up to stand next to her.
She missed hanging out with him all the time but was enjoying her time with Roz in his place.
The two of them had taken to feeding the pig that had a vendetta against Bracken and training her to open the gate to rampage after him.
They got immense joy out of it; they also had ice cream binges and movie marathons a couple nights a week.
Roz had even added on to Bréagha’s cottage so she could have her own room across from Sperwa’s.
She said the couch was okay for the occasional nap but not full sleepovers.
Aiden reached up to pull the end of her braid, but Sperwa flew down and sent a small flame towards him.
“No touchie my Soul-bonded!” admonished Sperwa and Bréagha laughed while Aiden yelped.
“I thought we were friends, little sparrow,” argued Aiden.
“Oh, we are. I haven’t actually caught you on fire yet, have I?” she asked innocently. Aiden just shook his head and sighed.
Before the conversation could continue, Roz’s pink magic created a portal next to where they were standing, and Roz poked her head out. She smiled when she caught sight of Bréagha and Aiden.
“Hey! Marcus wants to see everyone.” She looked around the area and realized it was only Aiden and Bréagha standing there. “Where is everyone else?”
“They all hit the hot springs in the caves. Aiden made me stay behind and practice aerial crossbow shooting,” grumbled Bréagha, shooting a glare at the offending party. Roz stepped out of the portal completely and closed it behind her.
“Well let’s walk over there and wait for them,” she suggested, leading the way towards where most of the Sentinels bathed after a long day of training.
The cave had a large room with several naturally formed pools that the Sentinels would soak in to ease their overworked muscles.
There was also another large room in the back, separate from the main section that the female Sentinels used, since there were only a handful.
Bréagha preferred her waterfall pool but learned these hot springs would work in a pinch instead of having to get Roz to take her to the other one.
Aiden went in to hurry up the others as Roz and Bréagha sat down a short distance from the entrance, near where the familiars were laying out in what was left of the sun, soaking in what they could before their soul-bonded came out.
The two friends sat in companionable silence, watching the sun finish its descent as the first stars began twinkling overhead. Bréagha had her wand and was rolling it between her fingers which had become a habit.
“Do you ever wonder how that wand, which belonged to your mom just happened to be where you could find it?” Roz asked. Bréagha looked down at her wand and smiled softly.
“No, I just chalk it up to a Guardian thing. Seems like the Garden makes sure pieces are where they need to be when they need to be there.”
Finally the boys joined them, and Roz was able to create a portal to the library.
She can teleport into the library when it was just her and a couple other people, but when she does the big portals, to accommodate all the Sentinels and their familiars, she could only get to the library steps.
Marcus rose from where he had been waiting for them.
“Finally!” He exclaimed. “Come! I think we’ve made some progress.
” He waved all of them to follow as he eagerly reentered the library, leading them to where he and the other Record Keepers did their research.
The fire on both sides of the room was lit today, and they found all eight Elders scattered around it.
When they entered, Lily smiled from her place amongst the books as did Isadora who sat beside her, but neither stood up, continuing to read whatever they were looking at.
Marcus led them to the sitting area that he favored, to the right of the doors.
He sat down next to Donegal who had papers strewn out in front of him on the coffee table.
Sitting next to the table was Bréagha’s trunk.
“I think we’ve finally figured out the significance of the flowers on your trunk,” exclaimed Donegal as he waved them into the room to join him.
On the papers in front of him were exact replicas of each different flower from the trunk, eight distinct flowers.
“I think each flower is unique to its own realm.”
He showed them a picture of what looked like a regular stick that had a glowing purple flower on the end.
“This one we believe is from Silvanemus, the forest realm. Found only in what they call the Deep Dark, a place where light itself dims and the world goes silent,” explained Marcus.
“It’s home to the Shadow Cats and Rootbound, ancient beings that legends say will only awaken when Silvanemus is truly in danger. ”
“That doesn’t sound at all ominous,” Bracken remarked as he leaned back against the fireplace.
“We think the Guardians will need to find these flowers, gather their seeds, enough for each of them to carry to their realms, and plant them in a ceremony within a secret grove.” Lily called from her seat across the room.
“A secret grove?” asked Bréagha. She peered down at the other flower drawings on the table. She had lived on Earth her entire life and had never seen any flowers like the ones in front of her. “Which one is for Earth?”
Donegal rummaged through and handed her a drawing. It was of a cluster of purple flowers on long green stalks. The blooms looked oddly like bunny heads. At first glance she had thought they might be lavender but the closer she looked the more she saw the differences.
“I don’t think those are from Earth, I think I would’ve heard of bunny headed flowers,” she argued.
“That’s the point. None of these flowers are common, only blooming when they’re needed. From what we’ve been able to decipher, they’ll bloom once to give you the seeds you need then immediately die,” called Isadora.
“What? How do we find them if they only bloom when we need them to and immediately die? Are they in the secret grove you spoke about?” asked Killian as he moved closer to the drawings, leaning over Bréagha’s shoulder to see the one she was holding.
She tried not to breathe in his scent but couldn’t help it.
She wasn’t sure what soap he used that was different than the others, but he always smelled amazing, clean and musky without being overwhelming.
Aiden coughed beside her, and she side-eyed him. He smirked and waggled his eyebrows, making her turn toward him and glare her best glare. Having someone who knew her so well was equal parts amazing and aggravating.
“No, the secret grove will be in a different location than the location of the flowers. Can’t have them together, quests must be more difficult than that after all,” answered Donegal, his eyes sparkling with his excitement. Mason and Travis both facepalmed and groaned.
“Should we be scared at how excited he is about this?” wondered Cathal looking over at Bracken.
“I would say so, yes. That look never bodes well for us, historically speaking,” answered Bracken who was watching Donegal warily. The man in question just laughed.
“You all love a good adventure, and you know it.”
“Remember when he sent us on that treasure hunt a few years ago and we ended up in the Bermuda Triangle during hurricane season?” asked Liam from his spot by the fireplace next to Bracken.
“Yes, and he said we didn’t need a big boat, a small one would be fine,” scoffed Travis. “So Bracken decided we should take a sailboat that barely fit all of us.”
“Yes! It capsized after the first big wave hit us!” lamented Mason who hated the water more than anyone else in the group. He shuddered at the memory.
“Hey! All of you made it to the island and survived. So what’s the problem?” asked Donegal. Bréagha bust out laughing as all seven of the Sentinels turned as one unit to gape at the Elder.
“We spent three days in that storm, holding on to debris and praying to all the gods of every pantheon to just let us get somewhere Roz could come save us,” insisted Jaxx. “I didn’t even know if any of the others survived. We all washed up on different areas of that island.”
“Well at least it was the same one. Now, I promise this adventure won’t be that bad,” admonished Donegal and Bréagha grinned even wider when he winked at her.
“Now, to actually discuss what you are all here for,” Marcus brought their attention back to the business at hand. “Each realm has both a secret grove AND a place where the realm’s magic flower grows. You will need to find both in each realm.”
“And the Guardian,” reminded Killian. “Each realm has its own Guardian, its own flower which only blooms when you need it most, produces the perfect number of seeds needed then dies, and the secret grove.”
“Right. That sums it up! And look you already have one, so you are making good progress,” exclaimed Donegal who just grinned unrepentantly at Killian and Jaxx who both turned and glared at him.
“We have A Guardian. One out of eight. We have no idea where to find the Garden’s flower or the Garden’s secret grove, AND no idea where any of the other Guardians are,” spoke up Jaxx.
“Yes, well, we didn’t say it would be easy saving the realms, did we?” Marcus snarked from his place next to Donegal. “If you think it’s too much for your team, we can assign another one to Bréagha and the other Guardians.”
Marcus didn’t flinch when eight Sentinels growled at him, but he did when a small sparrow sized phoenix almost lit his hair on fire.