Bound (The Guardians) (11 page)

‘Wait…’ Leo calls. ‘You need a moment to calm down.’

I shout, ‘What I need is for you to go away and for things to go back to how they were!’ I crunch my fists tightly and start smacking my head hard with my knuckles.

‘Stop that!’ Leo yells pulling my hands away.

I do, realising what I’m doing to myself. It hurts. Leo lets go and I push the tears out of my eyes. I stare at the ground, my head spinning.

I hadn’t realised how much I’m whirling, that my hands are shaking, that my face is pale. But Leo does.

He gently reaches forward and rubs a stray tear away from my cheek with his thumb. I stare at him with watery eyes. ‘I hate you.’

‘I know,’ he replies softly.

‘Well, well, well… look who we have here. It’s Successor Leo,’ an unfamiliar voice calls.

The two of us turn our heads upwards. A scraggly looking man and a young girl float above us on a black flight board. The man lowers it and the two jump off.  He says, ‘How unusual to find royalty out here in the sticks, especially without a single Sentry officer for support. Mighty dangerous if you ask me, rural folks don’t usually have much time for you hoity-toity rich snobs.’

I take a glance to the side. Leo’s face is serious and concerned. That must be the reason why he’s so quiet. The Guardians have no idea that Leo has left Poridos. He’s sticking his neck to bring me here.

The girl notices my silver bangle and says to the man, ‘Hey, she has an engagement bracelet! This must be the newest Guardian fiancé!’

The man chuckles and says, ‘Going for a change of pace, are we Successor? It’s not often you people choose someone like
her
to be your match. I thought those from the country were too lowly for you?’

Leo grabs my arm and tucks me safely behind him. Something is wrong, the situation suddenly feels dangerous. I cautiously tilt my head so I can see.

‘Who are you? State your business here,’ Leo replies strongly.

The man looks at us. ‘Don’t worry about it. It won’t matter soon. We’re here to kill you.’ He turns to the little girl and hisses. ‘Take the bride.’

The young girl runs towards us and dives at me, much faster than expected from a child. She reaches forward and out of her palm emerges the blade of a knife. My eyes widen. She swings it at me but Leo pushes me out of the way in time. I topple to the ground hard, but I’ve avoided the blade.

The girl jumps backward through the air towards the man. I have never seen anyone leap so high and with such precision. It’s as abnormal as the knife sticking out of her palm.

The straggly haired man charges at Leo. The assailant rapidly pulls back his arm, as if he was about to punch. But instead his fingers fold in towards each other. His arm moves, shifts and clicks into place several times. Now there was no longer a hand, but an arm with a gun barrel at the end.

I’m officially petrified. What the abyss are these two?

The man shoots at us and I run off the road and behind a tree. Bullets fly at Leo. I don’t understand why he doesn’t move. I’m about to yell at him when I notice the shots have been stopped by an almost transparent yellow bubble surrounding his body. The empty shells clink as they hit the ground, the bullets not leaving so much as a scratch.

Now I’m even more confused. I mean seriously, not Leo too! What is up with everyone? How are they all doing this?

When the man stops shooting, Leo widens his stance. He moves his arms back before thrusting his hands forward; his top fingers are pointed and his thumb is up, forming a gun shape. When he moves his arms out towards the assassins, two strong bolts of lightning shoot out. My mouth falls open. The man and girl swiftly dodge the attacks. The man recommences firing from his gun arm. Leo defends again with the yellow shield and then starts another offence. He focusses before shooting the lightning bolts from his fingers, but his moves are fast and fluent. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

I whisper, ‘H-how…magic? No…there’s no such thing…’

But what Leo is doing with his hands and that shield thing, it’s clearly not normal. My eyes quickly scan him. I watch Leo twisting his body as he attacks. The choker necklace swings into my sight. The yellow stone is glowing.

My mind casts back to the Livolism children’s book I read in the Tower. It said that the Guardians were granted great powers. Everyone knows that tale, but is this actually stone linked to that story? Does that mean that it’s not a myth? The Guardians… what exactly are they?

I watch Leo fighting in such awe that it takes me a moment to notice the girl assassin is gone. I twist my head around and hear a noise behind me. The dark haired, pale-skinned child stands above me on a branch, the arm with the knife coming out of her palm hangs by her side. With force, she jumps down stabbing it at me. Luckily I roll out of the way in time, her knife piercing the hard dirt and causing the ground to crack. Envisioning what a weapon like that would do to me I get up and start running.

I take off back down past my hiding spot, across the dry river and into some nearby trees. I can hear her on the chase not far behind. My heart is beating in my ears. My throat is dry and begins to burn. Everything is starting to blur, the only thing I can focus on is getting away.

I yelp as the girl unexpectedly appears beside me. She leaps into the air and launches off a nearby tree. I stop running and try to back step as she swings her knife arm at me. The girl misses once again, but I hit my head on the dirt as I topple to the ground.

I quickly stumble to my feet and continue running in the same direction.

Hot on my trail, the dark-haired girl continues to hunt after me. I unexpectedly reach the edge of a hill. It’s extremely steep, but I have no choice but attempt to run down. I stumble halfway and barrel to the bottom. The girl on the other hand doesn’t miss a beat, hitting the ground on her feet near me.

I try, rather pathetically, to crawl away.

A bolt of lightning strikes near us. The girl shoots up in the air to avoid it. Leo dives down from the top of the hill. He too lands without any loss of balance. The assassin man appears overhead on the black flight board. He whistles to the girl. She turns and soars into the air, landing next to him on the board.

‘Sorry but it seems our time has been cut short,’ the man says with a laugh. The two sail across the sky in the opposite direction. In a matter of seconds they’re gone.

I flop backwards into the dirt with relief. I need a moment to figure out who I am.

Leo stands near me glancing around the blue sky. Once he’s sure they’re gone, he looks down. From the ground I ask him, ‘Do you always have people shooting at you like that?’

Leo replies, ‘Yes and no. Normally they are simply anti-Guardian rebels with their own agenda and reasons for attacking, armed with basic weapons. But those two...those armaments…they are like nothing I have ever seen.’

‘What was with those gun arms…’

Leo’s face grows serious. ‘I do not know. But I must report this to my father and grandfather at once.’ He makes his way over to me and reaches down. ‘Are you all right? Can you stand?’

I gradually sit up. My fancy dress is torn, my knees and elbows are skinned and my head is burning. Still I manage to answer, ‘I think I’m good.’

Leo’s blue eyes quickly widen. He kneels down near me and says, ‘Mellea, you’re bleeding!’ 

I reach up to my forehead and touch it. My fingers are covered in blood when I pull them back down. Leo fishes around in his jacket pocket.

I half laugh, ‘Today has been one big disaster after another.’

Leo pulls out a handkerchief and holds it against my forehead. I sit there as he dabs my cut gently. I smile, feeling drowsy from exhaustion and minor blood loss. ‘You know, before, that was the first time you’ve ever called me by my name.’

Leo glances at me. ‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘Yeah,’ I say with a weak smile. ‘It’s funny. My name doesn’t sound so ugly when you say it.’

‘There is nothing wrong with your name. It is perfectly fine. In fact it is kind of pretty.’

‘No,’ I say pointing at him. ‘Back when we first met you said “I don’t care for it”…another lie then, hmm? You big stupid liar…with…your pants on fire and whatnot.’

Unexpectedly, Leo smiles and laughs. It’s been so long since I’ve seen his genuine smile and the first time I’ve heard him laugh. The expressions are sweet and warm, not those demonic looks of a Successor, simply those of the guy named Leo. Maybe, only maybe, there’s some good deep down in his heart after all.

He stops dabbing the blood and turns around. He remains crouching and asks me to grab onto his shoulders. ‘We need to get back to the road so I can call for some help. Can you get on?’

I start to move towards him but things become blurry.

Chapter seventeen

I glance around at the bed canopy above my head. Things are cloudy and unsure. My forehead aches. I slowly reach up and touch the cut. I feel a medical patch that has been placed on it. I’m back in the Tower.

Leo quickly comes into view, standing over me before perching on the side of the bed gently. He doesn’t say anything but looks at me with quiet relief. The light in the room is that of the afternoon. I begin to remember what has happened, the attack by those mechanical people and more importantly, my parents.

I glare at Leo. ‘Don’t think that because I bumped my head I’ve forgotten what happened today. My parents hate me and for that, I hate you.’

He glances downwards. ‘I understand.’

I lie still in the bed, the sheets covering me to my chest, my arms exposed over the top of the blanket. I feel so lost and confused.  The look of hatred in my father’s eyes after he slapped me - the way my mother did nothing to help me - still burns in my heart. I can’t go home now. That life is over. And it’s all Leo’s fault. If he hadn’t tricked me into believing I had no way out, I would never have made the stupid mistake of agreeing to unite with him.

Huh, stupid. My father was right. I
am
stupid.

Leo adjusts himself on the bed. ‘When we are children, our parents are our whole world. They can do no wrong. But as we get older, we see that they are not as perfect as we once thought.’

‘Excuse me? There is nothing wrong with my parents.
You
did this to me,’ I say angrily.

Leo sighs. ‘I may have been a bit… underhanded, shall we say, by not coming clean about the new laws. But I did not tell your parents to say such things. I did not tell your father to hit you. I would never want them to hate you and I
never
intended to make you unhappy.’

I shout, ‘Unhappy? I’m miserable!’ I flinch, touching my forehead again. I shouldn’t speak so loud with a head wound. Quieter I continue, ‘I’ve lost everything that was ever important to me, my friends, my family, my job…’ Tears start to fill my eyes. ‘It might not seem like a big deal to you here in your fancy life, but those things were all I had. And now…’

A light knocking on the door begins and young maid Poppy pokes her head inside. She scurries across the room, handing Leo a small electronic tablet.

‘Important message for you, Successor,’ she announces.

Leo takes it from her and stands. He flicks though it quickly and hands it back. ‘I will leave straight away. Show this to Arin and then inform my father. After that, tell Elentia to push back the meeting. I will speak to everyone when I return.’

‘Yes Master.’ Poppy nods and hurries from the room.

‘I must attend to a project,’ Leo tells me. ‘It needs my direct attention.’

I roll over in the bed to face away from him. The room quickly falls silent, but I know he’s still there.

Leo then says softly, ‘I will see you tomorrow, all right?’

I don’t answer back.

***

A few minutes after Leo leaves the room I hear voices outside my door. Usually people don’t linger on the lower floors and I’m curious as to what’s going on. I drag my body out of bed and move to the door.

Carefully, I push down on the gold handle and open it just enough to see out. Not too far down the balcony is Lord Neros. Leo stands before him, the atmosphere looks tense.

‘I do not care, Leo!’ Lord Neros hisses. ‘You do
not
leave Poridos without my permission. And you do
not
go on public transportation to some dangerous outskirt town, under
any
circumstances. Do you understand me?’

Leo stares at his father. ‘What was I supposed to do? She misses her family… she already hates me, keeping her locked up in here is not going to help that.’

‘You are a Guardian! You do not bend the rules for commoners, especially not her. She is the daughter of that rotten crook Noran Wendorn.’

Feeling sick at the mention of my father’s name, I clench my hands tightly on the door.

Neros says, ‘She is a
dirty little nobody. I do not understand why you want her so badly. The only reason I am letting this go is because you have taken so long to choose a bride. But mark my words, unless she starts conforming to our ways – I will have her removed.’

‘Removed?’ Leo says with a squeak. ‘No! She simply needs some time to get adjusted.’

‘When are you planning on uniting with her?’

‘I… I uh,’ Leo mumbles.

Neros asks, ‘Are you having sex with her?’

‘Father!’ Leo shouts. He’s clearly embarrassed.

‘Well I cannot think of any other reason that you would want to keep her around. Clearly she is giving you
something
that keeps you hanging on a string, sighing during meetings and generally being reluctant to do your job, more than normal.’

Leo straightens his stance. ‘That is unfair. I am a model Successor. Do not try and pretend like I am not.’

‘Good. Then get going on the mission and return back here, on time. Then I expect a full report.’

Neros turns and heads down a set of nearby stairs. When he’s out of sight Leo walks to the edge of the balcony. He leans on it with his elbows and covers his face with his hands. I watch him with a sort of sickly feeling in my stomach. Leo stands back up and takes a breath in. He heads down the same set of stairs Neros did.