Draiks and Angels: Vignettes

Sean Tagan - Part 1

Based in Book #4

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Sean carefully copied down the painted symbols on the ancient building's wall. He was surprised at how well-preserved they were, when all other indications led him to think the structures on the island were quite old. But even though he had a good amount of experience with ruins and the like, he was no archaeologist, so he didn't really know.

All-in-all, Sean was rather bored, and they had only been working on the site for a week, at best. It was nothing like their normal gig. His group specialized in "assisting" people who had "excavations" in dangerous areas. They provided protection from robbers, looters, and terrorists. They could run missions to find "leverage" against local leaders or tyrants to keep the site running. And they could assist in basic archaeology, if needed.

Their current employer seemed to only want them for the grunt work. Sean didn't think there were any of their normal dangers in Ellada, and it pissed him off. Who hires a semi-militant group as just paper-pushers?!

While ranting in his head, Sean heard multiple people coming up the path through the site. He was sure everyone else heard, too, but they all continued to work and watched in a way so that they wouldn't be noticed. Their employer, Chad, walked by followed by an elderly man of about the same age, a young, female Angel of about thirty with black wings, and an even younger, male Draik with copper skin, who was maybe only twenty. None of them were talking, and they just continued down the path in silence.

It was nice that at least something different happened, but then they all had to return to work. Not much later, though, Mark, his group's leader, got a message on his phone. They all knew it was from their employer, because Mark only let Chad's messages make any noise. It was a long one, and Mark read it a couple times before calling everyone together.

"Boss has a job for us. You saw those folks who walked in with him? The Draik is special. Boss wants us to take him alive. Boss wants to fool the folks who came in, so we're gonna take 'em all, including Chad, who's with them at the stone benches, separate them, then let Chad decide what to do with the others. Priority is the Draik, so I'll lead."

Everyone nodded and quickly pulled off their tee shirts, showing black tank tops. Since their targets saw them in their normal-wear and Chad wanted to fool the visitors, it went without saying that they needed to change. Switching immediately into stealth-mode, his group rushed toward the stand of trees that surrounded a semi-circle of stone benches further up the island.

With hardly a sound, they worked around the clearing. Sean could barely see Chad from behind, sitting on a bench, and the young Draik looking vaguely into the distance on another bench. Someone made a mistake and stepped on a twig! The Draik turned his ear toward the sound, alert, but when there were no more noises, he turned back.

Sean heard the bird call that was Mark's signal to move, and they all rushed forward. Several more twigs snapped in their haste, but it didn't matter now. Before any of their targets could react, Mark had reached around the bench and put his knife to the Draik's throat. Sean came up next to Chad, grabbed his shoulder and held his own knife in the vicinity of his neck. He didn't get too close. Others from his group stood closely behind the elderly man and the black-winged Angel, likely with knives pressed to their backs.

"Don't move!" Mark commanded.

No one said or did anything. Mark grabbed the Draik's upper arm, pulled him to his feet, and shoved the young man forward, stepping over the bench. Suddenly, Sean's knife vanished from his hand! Confused, he looked at his group-mates and their knives were all gone as well!

"Tadeas! Now!" the Angel yelled.

The Draik's hands started to glow and he quickly reached behind him to punch Mark in the side. The man collapsed immediately! What?! That punch was nothing! It wouldn't have even given a bruise! The Draik stepped away from Sean's fallen leader and turned around. The way the young man was looking around, and had turned his back on several of their group, made Sean think he couldn't see...