Jack
Mia was talking with Neigh, the two of them facing each other when we got there. That wasn’t unexpected. Neigh was a good storyteller and she would have found him to be a charmer. It was also weird that we wouldn’t expect her to have made friends with the person who had saved her. It wasn’t like I was mad but I would have loved it if I had found her waiting for us and showing that she did instead.
I shrugged off the negative emotions. What did I intend to gain from wanting her look worried? She had suffered over the past few days, she deserved some laughter and peace now. I had to grow up and get over my jealousy. Yes, I realized that it wasn’t that she was laughing that got me acting out, it was who she was laughing with.
I was being silly. Why would I be jealous of Neigh? It wasn’t like she was going to leave us to get mated to a horse. That was no offense to Neigh because he was a good friend to us over the past few days that we had met. We wouldn’t have found Mia on time if it wasn’t for him, I had no reason to be jealous or feel bad that Mia was laughing with him instead of looking around for our safety. If anything, I should be thankful to him that he kept her mind off worries.
“The boys are back.” Neigh said.
Immediately he said that, she broke away from the conversation as if she didn’t care about it and ran to us. We stood as a group and smiled as she jumped at us, wrapping her hands all over us in a big, warm group hug. We smiled as we wrapped our hands around her. My heart felt lighter and I inhaled as I breathed her in. I wasn’t jealous again. She was in my arms and the world was made right again.
“I thought I would never see you again.” She cried.
“I thought that we would never see you again.” I told her.
She cried, clinging on tightly to us. We were back together and that was all that mattered. She broke apart from us and looked at us, her face filled with fear.
“I waited for you like I was going to die.”
“We are sorry we took too long.”
I remembered that she was bleeding then and pulled her closer for inspection. “You were bleeding then. Are you fine? Did those bastards hurt you anywhere?”
I sniffed and realized that she was no longer bleeding. Has she healed that fast? It couldn’t be possible. She hadn’t completed her transformation. She couldn’t have started healing.
She blushed. “I’m fine. I started my period.”
Oh! We smiled at her. No wonder she wasn’t bleeding anymore. She must have found something to do about herself. She had definitely cleaned herself up when she was here. I felt silly for being jealous of Neigh. I wondered if he had felt disgusted carrying a bloody Mia on his back. I hoped he didn’t.
“Hope you are fine?” John asked her again.
She nodded and chuckled. “Oh yes, I am. You boys should stop worrying about me.”
“Do I no longer exist because your girl is here?” Neigh asked, his voice booming as he looked at us.
We chuckled and moved towards him, the four of us laughing. “We are sorry. We didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
“I know.” He grinned, winking at us. “I was only messing with you.”
“Thank you, Neigh for helping us.”
“Thank you for killing those bastards as well. The island and all of its inhabitants will forever be grateful to you.”
I frowned. “Weren’t your sister the only one they took?”
Neigh rolled his eyes. “Oh please! Don’t tell me you believe that. Those trolls had made a lot of enemies in their time, I was just bold enough to desire their downfall. That the others didn’t make a move against them didn’t mean that they were fine with their reign.”
“Oh! Good. What happens now?”
“We now have a new leader.”
“Hopefully, he would be good.”
“He will.”
“You know the new leader?”
“I know him well.” Neigh smiled.
“Do you have a list of ascension into the leadership position here?” John asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
“How then do you know the next leader?”
“I just know it, just as everyone in here would have known that powers had changed hands. They would also have known the person who became the new leader. That was how it worked here. We feel mostly than see or hear. That was how the late guardians knew where you were. They felt your energy close to the Aselia tree and tracked you there.”
“The complications of your world never ceased to amaze me.”
“What next? What happens now for you?”
“Nothing much.” I shrugged. “We go back home. We find the exit and go.”
“Let me show you the exit.” Neigh said.
“Is it near?”
“Actually getting out of this place is easier than coming in. You have survived the ordeals of coming and being in here. You would have it easy getting out.”
“How do you know that the exit is near and has no issues? Have you tried to get out of here before? Do you know someone who was in and got out safely?”
He was about to open his mouth to reply when I interrupted him. I feared he was going to say the same thing and I was tired of that.
“Don’t you dare tell us that you just felt it? I have had enough of that already.”
He chuckled. “Okay. I won’t.”
As we were walking, one three legged bull walked by and bowed to Neigh. That was strange. I didn’t think that a bull could ever bow to a horse but I didn’t talk. That could be their culture here.
Neigh must have seen the expression on my face because he started talking when I didn’t ask him for anything.
“The late guardians were the ones who did his leg like that. They broke one of it because he was bold enough to challenge their actions. He had to use three legs since then.”
“Was that why he bowed to you?”
Neigh looked uncomfortable and I wondered why. Was there something he had left out and didn’t tell us about?
A little rabbit walked by and bowed to him as well. He wasn’t old enough to have been mistreated by the late goblins.
I turned to Neigh, my face betraying the sarcasm lying underneath it. “Did that rabbit bow to you because you helped him from being eaten by the goblins or it was his mother that you helped?”
Neigh laughed in an uncomfortable manner. “Ah! Jack. You are funny.”
Quinn shook his head and gave me a warning look. “It’s okay if he doesn’t want to talk about it, Jack. We all have what we don’t want to talk about.”
I knew that but Neigh was acting strange and I couldn’t clamp down on my curiosity. I knew the others were curious as well but only trying their best to be well mannered. Well, I didn’t have the time to pretend that I had exceptional manners.
Quinn couldn’t tell me that he wasn’t curious so he shouldn’t try to stop me from asking what he couldn’t.
“Thank you.” Neigh said to Quinn.
“You still haven’t answered my question, Neigh.” I reminded him.
“I thought we were done with that.”
“You thought wrong.” I scoffed at him. “It’s only over when I say it is over.”
“Jack,” he sighed. “I’m actually a respected person in the island. That is why they are stopping to respect me.”
“Why weren’t they doing that earlier?” I snorted. “We passed some people on our way to where the late guardians were and no one stopped to greet you.”
“Because I didn’t know anyone of them. It’s not my fault that we are now meeting people that I know.”
“What a coincidence.” I sneered.
He exhaled, stopped and stamped his hoof on the ground. “You are exasperating. Have you ever been told that?”
“You are stubborn and know how keep a sealed lip. Have you been told that as well?”
He smiled. “I have some good qualities compared to you. Why is that so? Thank you for buttering me up.”
I hissed, already annoyed with him. He must think that I was playing with him and I didn’t have his time.
I knew that Quinn was going to get mad at me if I asked him another question with the way he was looking at me himself. I respected myself and let it go.
“Suit yourself.” I hissed at him.
He smiled. “Oh! Thank you. Let’s get you to the exit. You must be acting out because you are homesick.”
I snorted. Me? Homesick? He had to be kidding me. Maybe that was because he didn’t know who I was. I was an officer, a military man who had fought several wars and faced several challenges. Why would I be acting out because of something as little as homesickness?
I snorted, finding the idea ridiculous. He had to be kidding me. The only thing that could have gotten me stressed or worked out was if Mia was in danger and she wasn’t at the moment.
This was just me being curious. He had some nerves thinking that I was homesick.
He rolled his eyes as we walked, scanning the environment as if he didn’t want anyone to pass by us again till we leave. He had a secret that he was trying to protect and that bothered me. He didn’t even stop himself from telling us of the death of his mother and sister even when he had told us at first not to ask. What could be wrong with him now?
Another creature passed and I was surprised to hear a groan from Neigh’s mouth. There was something wrong with him.
A tough creature looking like a horrible breed of a lion and a rhinoceros gasped as he walked past us and saw Neigh. I could see the expressions on the faces of the brothers and Mia. I could tell that they were curious as well. There was no way that Neigh had helped this creature and stopped him from getting killed by the late guardians. He looked like he could protect Neigh a thousand times over from disasters.
What he said was the ice breaker and I smiled as I watched him leave afterwards knowing that there was no way that Neigh could talk himself out of this one.
“Greetings to you, great lord of the mountains and forest.” The creature said and walked away.
“Great lord of the mountains and forest?” I arched my eyebrows as I asked him that. “Isn’t that the greeting for the guardians of this place?”
“Oh!” He shouted in exasperation. “Fine. I’m the new guardian of this place. I became that when the former ones died. Everyone has been paying obeisance to me because they had felt the shift in power to me just as I told you that everyone would.”
“That is nice.” I beamed. “Why were you trying to hide it? Why didn’t you want to tell us?”
He sighed. “I don’t want to make you think that I used you to become the new guardian. Whoever killed the old guardian becomes the new one. That was how those three had become the guardians. They had conspired together and killed the old one.”
Quinn snorted. “We don’t care if you used us and become guardian. We all have reasons for doing what we do. Whatever your reason was, as long as it helped our cause of finding our mate, we are cool with what you do.”
“You are too nice.” He bowed.
Quinn shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not as if we want to stay here. I know you are definitely going to be better than the other guardians had been.”
“Thank you.”
“Be careful.” John warned him. “You might be the guardian now but your life just got to be as risk as well. Someone else might be plotting to kill you and become the guardian.”
Neigh smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m prepared for that. The people like me more than they like the former guardians but I won’t let that fool me. I’m going to get some bodyguards for myself once I know that you are out of here and safe.”
“Good thinking.” John praised him. “Thank you for watching out for us.”
He nodded. “Of course, I have to. I can lay my family to rest in my head because of what you did. You helped me get revenge for them.”
“Shouldn’t we be the new guardians then? Since we killed the former ones.” I asked.
“Maybe but you don’t belong here. The power got shifted to me because I am part of this place and I was around you.” He gave me a mischievous look and I knew that I wasn’t going to like what he was going to say. “You are welcome to kill me if you want to be the guardian. That would help me see my mother and sister early.”
I shuddered. The thought was frightening and he must have known that because he burst out laughing afterwards. The damn sly was going on about seeing his mother and sister early but he wouldn’t have suggested that I kill him if he had thought that I could.
I wouldn’t be the guardian of this place even if money was attached. I didn’t want to spend another minute more than it was necessary here.
Neigh laughed and shook his head. “Let’s help you find your way home.”