The Protector and the Peacemaker

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

(Porter)

Porter felt the sun's rays gently creep over him, waking him up and telling him a new day had dawned.

Morning already? he thought. Ozzie didn't wake me up for guard duty.

The young man let out a massive yawn, stretched, and then sat—

Something sharp pricked his neck.

Instantly alert, Porter's eyes shot open, and he summoned Flicker to his hand.

"Don't move," a voice above him ordered, "or I'll cut your throat right open!"

Something pricked his throat again, and Porter made himself go completely still. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light, but when they did he was stunned to see some sort of green skinned creature pinning him down. It was wiry, barely more than skin and bones, but the strength it used to hold Porter down proved that it was far stronger than it looked. Its gnarled green skin reminded him of a goblin, but this thing was the size of a small man.

"What are you doing?" Porter demanded, resisting the urge to reach up and force the creature's knife away from his throat.

The creature didn't answer, but turned to look off to its right. Porter followed with his eyes, afraid to turn his head, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw that each of his companions was in a similar predicament.

"Porter!" Sarah shouted from the other side of camp, a knife held to her throat as well by what appeared to be a living puppet.

"Sarah, don't move!" he called back. To his left, he heard Manchi let out a frightened whimper as a miniscule man with massive ears held her down.

"I'm sorry!" Ozzie shouted from in front of Porter. He was being restrained too, and another Mythic had hold of Misty's leash. "They came out of nowhere and said they'd kill me if I said anything!"

Porter turned his attention back to the green man. He released Flicker, letting it vanish again, hoping it would help put their attackers at ease. The green man glared at him through slitted scarlet eyes, looking somewhat disappointed, as if it had actually hoped Porter would put up a fight.

"What's going on here?" Azkular's voice rang out from the other side of camp.

For a moment, Porter swore that the green skinned man hesitated, but then pressed the knife against his throat even harder.

"I am Commander Azkular, Guardian Authority over Jellaska Kob Lertan," the djinn ranted. "You will release me and my companions at once!"

"Ignore him!" the green skinned man ordered. "We have our orders!"

"Why are you doing this?" Porter asked, his heart beginning to beat faster. If these creatures didn't answer to Azkular, who were they working for?

"Arch-Mythic Rayalga has demanded that all of you be brought before him," his captor answered. With that, he grabbed the boy's shoulder, rolled him onto his stomach, and bound his hands with a prickly old rope. Porter tried in vain to break it as the strange Mythic hauled him to his feet, but found that they were enchanted to heat up and burn his skin whenever he struggled.

"This way," the green man commanded, putting the tip of his knife against Porter's back, steering him to come stand with the others. All of his friends had been bound as well. Even Droma, with all his size and strength, had been forced to submit.

"Don't worry," he said, trying to put a brave smile on his face. "Rayalga's your leader, right? He won't let anything happen to you."

A sharp laugh came from Porter's captor. "Don't bet on it, Slayer. The Arch-Mythic himself gave us orders to track every one of you down. That includes you, djinn!"