Chapter Twenty-Five
“Look, the thorns are also moving away from the door!” said Roz excitedly. Aiden went to step closer, and a thorny vine whipped out at him. He jumped back in just the nick of time before it made contact.
“Whoa! Damn, stay back everyone!” He shouted, pulling Roz further back.
Sperwa flew up and curled back into Bréagha’s hoodie.
Everyone held their breath, but the vines didn’t move towards Sperwa.
The scrollwork finally stopped, and they all gazed at the door.
What had been black scrollwork with no discernable pattern was now a silver sigil.
There was a circle with faded runes all the way around.
In the middle was what looked like an ethereal depiction of a phoenix with its wings outstretched reaching toward a bright star in the middle.
Bréagha stepped back slowly to see the door, Sperwa popping her head above her shoulder to see it as well. She tilted her head.
“Is that me?” she whispered.
“Maybe?” answered Bréagha equally as quiet.
They all stared at the door waiting for something else to happen.
But as the moments ticked by, they began to wonder if anything would.
Bréagha went to step back more, and a vine whipped towards her.
Killian, who had been watching closely, instinctively stepped forward to block it from hitting her, reaching out an arm to catch it as it swung forward.
He braced himself for the impact, the image of the bloody hole in Roz’s foot still vivid in his mind.
But he wasn’t going to let that vine hit Bréagha.
Instead of the thorny hit he was expecting, the vine instantly recoiled in the other direction, and they heard a click as the door swung open.
Liam and Cathal moved closer, both yelping as the vines shot at them.
One of the thorns got Liam in the arm and he cried out.
Bréagha and Sperwa moved to step towards him, but the vines quickly created a full barricade behind them and Killian, blocking everyone else out.
“Liam!” yelled Bréagha in frustration.
“I got him! You just go. Clearly, it’s not going to let anyone, but you three, in there!” yelled Roz as she moved to help Liam.
Bréagha growled and faced the door which had opened completely.
She glanced over at Killian whose jaw was set as he glared at the vines surrounding him, blocking him from one of his team members.
It was his job to take care of them, and now he was being blocked from going to their aid.
He breathed deep and let it out slowly before turning back to Bréagha.
“I guess it’s just me and you, Stud,” joked Bréagha trying to lighten the mood, not wanting to acknowledge how creeped out she was.
“After you then, Guardian,” Killian bowed at the waist and motioned to the door, allowing her to precede him.
She smiled at him in gratitude then stepped up to the door and hesitantly looked inside.
All she could see was darkness, with small slivers of sunlight making its way through the thick covering of vines, thorns, and roses.
She took a few steps inside, Killian following closely behind.
Once they were both inside the building, the door slammed shut behind them, making them both jump and spin around.
Killian stepped forward to see if he could open the door again but there was no door handle on this side.
“Forward seems the only way,” commented Bréagha apprehensively. “It would be nice if we could see a little better.”
As soon as the words were past her lips, all the foliage above them started shifting, sending leaves and dried rose petals down on their heads. They looked up and saw Kaedryn peering down at them.
“I’m here if you need me. The vines aren’t reacting to me like they have with everyone else,” stated Kaedryn. Once the vines settled, the entire center of the area was open to the sky so there was plenty of sunshine pushing away the darkness. They looked around.
Inside the walls was a bricked courtyard with a water fountain in the middle that was dry. All around the fountain were stone benches carved with the same flowers that were on Bréagha’s trunk, one from each realm.
“Do we know which one we’re looking for?” asked Bréagha in a whisper. This place felt ancient and holy, like raising her voice may awaken a dark entity best left sleeping.
“Welcome Guardian. Welcome the Guardian’s Sentinel,” said a voice that came out of the darkness, Bréagha yelped and jumped, bumping into Killian who was standing close behind her. They both peered into the shadowy corners of the space but couldn’t see where the voice was coming from.
“Hello?!?” called Bréagha hesitantly as Killian stepped in front of her, his sword drawn and held in front of him, ready to attack anything that moved.
“We’ve been waiting for you, for a very long time. Too bad it wasn’t even longer,” answered the unseen voice from what seemed like a different area than it came from before. They both spun around tracking the sound.
“Yes, it has been a long time. We were hoping it would never come to pass. But here we are, the Guardian and her Sentinel,” said the mysterious voice from yet another direction, causing the two to move again, Killian trying to stay between where he thought it was coming from and Bréagha.
“Who is we?” he finally managed.
“Well, that would be us.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Then the vines started moving again, several roses falling around them, transforming into small fairylike creatures as they fell, no more than two or three inches tall, with translucent white wings, rose petal dresses in blood red, sunset orange, and a few in between the two.
They were all wrapped in tiny thorns just like the roses surrounding them. “We’re the Flower Keepers.”
There were about two dozen of these fairy-like creatures in the area, some settling on the water fountain, others hovering in the air above Bréagha and Killian, and others flying up into the sky.
They heard the hollers from those left outside, at first Bréagha was worried they meant harm, but when she heard Roz laugh, she relaxed.
“Don’t worry we won’t hurt your friends.
They all have their own parts to play moving forward, but now it’s Bréagha and her Sentinel Killian and their familiars.
” The voice came again but this time it came from a single Flower Keeper who was slightly larger than the others at around 5 inches tall.
She looked like all the others, but her gown was the deepest red, her wings had a brighter glow, and she had a brighter sparkle surrounding her.
“My Sentinel?” questioned Bréagha finally catching on that they’d said that a few times.
“Yes, every Guardian will have their own Sentinel. The one who naturally protects his Guardian, understanding and accepting her without question. Even if it may irritate him,” Bréagha glanced at Killian, that sounded about right. He arched his brow at her, and she shook her head, grinning.
“But wouldn’t that be Aiden?” she asked. The sound of tittering laughter flowed from every corner of the courtyard and beyond. The Flower Keeper in front of them covered her mouth to hide her own smile.
“No. Aiden is destined for someone else, that will be revealed when needed. Your Sentinel is Killian, he’s your counterpart, the one who protects and watches over you; Aiden did so as you two were growing up, but his path is diverting from yours.
He’s not a true counterpoint, but more a reflection of you,” explained the Flower Keeper.
“I am Petralyn, the Elder for the Flower Keepers,” offered the fairy rose in front of them.
“Petralyn, where are we?” asked Bréagha, choosing to bypass the whole Killian being her’s thing.
“This is the hidden vault, long forgotten and hidden away with just us to protect and guard what’s inside,” answered Petralyn as she hovered and gestured around her.
“Well you do a good job of it, that’s for sure,” grumbled Killian, still trying to shake the image of Roz’s bloody foot and the slice on Liam’s side that he only had a small glimpse of before the thorns had cut him off from his teammates.
The fairy before him beamed like he had just complimented her entire bloodline.
“We were tasked long ago to only let the Guardian and her Sentinel and their familiars in. Your familiar is a bit large to fit though.” They all looked up to where Kaedryn was keeping a close eye on them from above. “We weren’t expecting a dragon.”
“I would like to get back to my teammates who are injured. Would you please let us know what we need to do and what you’ve been hiding?” Killian asked, trying to be as civil as possible but anxious to get back to the others.
“Liam and Roz are both perfectly fine, like nothing ever happened. My Flower Keepers have healed them. Though I know your phoenix did an amazing job herself.” Sperwa finally popped her head out of Bréagha’s hoodie and hopped up onto her shoulder.
Petralyn flew up close and pet Sperwa’s head, which the phoenix leaned into, and Bréagha swore she purred like a cat.
“We’ve been hiding the seeds that you need from the garden, but it won’t be as easy as just walking in here and asking for them. We’ve had a long time to come up with a brilliant test for you,” exclaimed Petralyn.
Suddenly, the area was plunged into a darkness so complete, neither of them could see their hand in front of them.
The ground shook and moved under their feet.
Bréagha felt Sperwa lift off her shoulder and heard her indignant screeching as she was pulled away.
This went on for several seconds and then utter silence, followed by a surge of light as a hallway was revealed in front of her, lit torches lining the path forward.
She looked around for Sperwa and Killian, but she was alone.
She walked forward slowly, until she entered a small room with three hallways branching off of it.