Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Nineteen: Desert Raiders

‘Did you replace anything?’ Charlie asked for what felt like the millionth time.

Dominic scowled. ‘No.’ he replied, and continued walking forward.

They walked in silence, looking in different directions and surrendering themselves to overflowing thoughts, their shoes crunching against the loose sand making the only sound.

The cave began to get really dark; it almost felt as if it was the dead of night. Sometimes, there would be a mysterious and chilling wind to occupy them. Or James would yet again replace an intriguing object and stop to take a closer look at it. Or one of the four of them would sneeze and the others would chorus ‘bless you’.

‘Did you replace anything?’ Charlie’s static voice echoed through the narrow tunnel.

But before Dominic could snap at him again, Nicole pointed ahead gasping.

They were standing before a huge metal door, with a big, gleaming handle that hung on it innocently. The door was filled with beautiful golden carvings of birds, which seemed to create the illusion that it was moving.

‘What?’ Charlie asked. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s a door.’ said Dominic. ‘But there’s a handle here –’ He reached out his hand to open it.

‘No don’t touch it!’ Charlie yelled. Dominic froze.

‘Why?’ June asked.

‘It could be booby-trapped.’

‘Why would it be booby-trapped?’

Charlie shrieked. ‘To keep out intruders, of course!’

‘So, what, we must just turn around and leave it?’ June frowned.

‘Yeah, what if Xavier wanted us to think exactly that?’ Dominic added. ‘What if this is the place it’s hidden in?’

They waited patiently for Charlie to answer, he was silent, but after a few long minutes of thinking, he replied rather reluctantly –

’Just try the door then. But remember I warned you.′

Dominic held the handle bar tightly, expecting something to happen at any second; the bar could electrocute him, a cannon ball could be let loose and smash into them, they may awake a deadly monster – or worse. He shut his eyes and opened the big door with full force as fast as he could and shielded his face. It creaked open, sounding awkward in the silence.

Everything remained still. The door functioned like a regular door. No traps. Dominic opened one eye and looked at his companion’s expressions. He stood back up, dusting himself. ‘Just wanted to be careful that’s all...’

‘Is anyone hurt?’ Charlie asked worriedly.

‘No,’ Dominic replied. ‘I opened the door.’

‘Excellent!’ said Charlie.

They peered into the darkness.

‘What do you think?’ Nicole looked at Dominic, suppressing a mocking laugh. ‘Lasers or snakes?’

Dominic didn’t reply, instead, he casually strolled in, his body disappearing with the dark. June, Nicole and James held their breaths until Dominic yelled out, his voice echoing – ‘Hey come in, it’s like a palace in here!’

The others followed his word and stepped into the dark. Once June entered, the room immediately lit up, yet there was no obvious source of light.

She looked around; at the roof, at the royal colors that grabbed her attention. Fancy red curtains were draped on the stone wall, with the same golden designs of the birds that were on the door. Paintings with golden frames hung from the wall too; not a single speck of dust could be spotted, the air smelled fresher and cooler than the tunnel. June walked further inside; her arm acted on its own, feeling the velvet fabric of the curtain. It felt soft; reminding her of a favorite dress that Audrey owned.

June’s eyes landed on a circular stand, elaborately crafted with gold. It lay at the dead center of the room – a strikingly pink flower planted in a golden pot was placed on the stand. It seemed like the only purpose of this room was to provide a safe place for this flower. It looked fragile, but also powerful, and created an aura of royalness.

‘Wow,’ Nicole breathed she stared at the golden ceiling.

June walked closer to the stand, where the flower was, staring at its beauty. Dominic appeared beside her, slapping open a camera book. He took a picture of it.

‘Where did you get that?’ June asked.

‘Sneaked it into the backpack without Charlie noticing,’ he replied nonchalantly. He looked down at the picture that was displayed and read the information that popped up onto the page. ‘June Price, meet The Fern Flower.’ he spread his arms in the direction of it creating an air of grand presentation.

June stared at him with a slight laugh. Nicole and James joined in, watching Dominic with interest.

‘I am a magical flower famous for bringing good fortune to the person who replaces me. I may also bring you great wealth and an ability to understand animal speech.’ Dominic read the text in a joyous, sing-song voice. But that soon disappeared and he put on a warning tone, frowning wickedly. ‘But beware ... I will bring poison to one who desires me for evil intentions ...’ he wriggled his fingers in Nicole’s face. She shoved them away.

‘A luck magnet huh?’ James said thoughtfully. His thoughts drifted off to his new and improved life with the flower. He would no longer be known as accident-prone or the unlucky guy. He’d be the luckiest person in the world, in fact. ‘That would come in handy ...’ he reached out to touch it.

‘No,’ June slapped his hand. ’You heard what Dominic said ... It’ll bring poison to the one who desires it for evil intentions.′

‘So?’ James asked. ‘I’m not gonna eat it.’

June opened her mouth to reply, but stopped short. A sudden, frightening burst of sound interrupted her. They stared around the room, unknowingly.

‘What was that?’ Nicole whispered.

Dominic mentioned something, when again, another sound, and this time terrifyingly loud, louder than the last one, echoed through the darkness of the tunnel entrance. It was followed by the sound of thunderous footsteps – no, not footsteps; horses. A lot of them.

It was getting louder, more painful to hear, and before they had time to run out, a clatter of men in black robes, riding black horses with long, sharp swords, emerged from the darkness and crowded the doorway. Their faces were covered with black cloth, only their eyes were visible.

June’s heart raced faster, pushing against her lungs. They all took a step back.

The man at the front, with the longest sword, hopped down from his horse and stood beside it, massaging its mane. A deep rumbling began to emit from the bottom of his throat; he was laughing. He raised his head, swinging his sword beside him threateningly.

He raised his arms grandly. ‘Ah, Guardians!’

June glanced sideways at the others. They stared back at her with frightened faces.

‘You are in my way.’ said the man, firmly. He had a rough voice, slightly ragged. ‘Move aside.’

He shoved Nicole and James aside rudely, and walked, arms outstretched, towards the Fern Flower. ‘At last my brothers!’ He turned holding the flower high into the air. ‘We finally have infinite luck and wealth, the plant we’ve been seeking for our entire lives, is finally in our grasps.’

June’s eyes widened. They were going to steal the plant. Her first thought was to stop them. And before she could even process the situation, the word escaped her: ‘No!’

The man stared at her, surprised that she, a girl, younger and weaker, spoke against him. His head tilted sideways as he walked towards her, his black robe swayed all around his lean body. He stopped walking until his face was only inches away from June’s; she could smell his rotten breath and see his eyes, not black like Salvatore’s, but yellow, merciless and even more disturbing. ‘And how do you plan to stop me, little guardian?’ He jerked his face closer; his black clothing swept over her.

June cringed bitterly, his breath having an effect on her. She didn’t reply; she didn’t know how to.

The man opened his mouth, letting out a creepy, hollow laugh. He looked uncomfortable laughing, like he hadn’t done it a lot.

’Just as I thought. Your appointer had been rather stupid to put four children here,′ he spat on the floor beside June. ‘Meaningless guardians you are.’ he began walking away to mount back onto his horse, his sword in one hand, the flower in the other.

June felt helpless and she hated it. She had to take action, but what? How?

And suddenly, a burst of flames shot from the side of her, from Dominic’s direction, towards the man carrying the flower. He turned to see the flames racing towards him, but didn’t even flinch because the flames had frozen in mid-air, right in front of his face, turned an icy color and dropped to the ground, shattering like glass. Dominic screamed in pain and fell on his knees as if he had been shot; whatever the man did, it affected him.

‘You think you can defeat me?’ The man turned to face them. He looked around at the other men in the robes, nodding ever so slightly. Then he raised a harsh hand, yelling in a voice louder than June had ever heard, ‘Seize them!’

All the other men pulled out their swords and jumped off their horses carelessly, advancing towards the four of them, slowly, tauntingly, lashing at them with their swords. June, Nicole, James and Dominic retreated against the wall, hearts thumping.

‘Any ideas?’ Dominic asked, breathing fast.

‘You’re out of your mind!’ snapped Nicole. ‘You didn’t have to throw a fireball at him –’

‘June,’ Dominic interrupted Nicole’s lecture and she snorted angrily at him. ‘Duplicate yourself. One for every soldier.’

June stared at him. She looked at the soldiers; there were too many ... she had never completely learned how to use her duplication in situations like this – but she shook it off; they were around fifteen of the raiders, and only four of them; she needed to make it equal.

‘Now!’ Dominic urged.

June shut her eyes, and burst into twenty other June’s that ran towards the soldiers angrily. Soon the room was crowded with them; each June immersed in battle with one warrior.

‘Now what?’ Nicole asked kicking another man in the shin. It was nothing to him; he lunged at her, pushing her against the wall. She grabbed at his sword and kicked him, this time in his stomach; he fell and spat out blood.

Dominic looked around the room between the two soldiers running towards him. ‘Don’t let the king get away!’ he pointed to the door, ducking from a sword at the same time. ‘He still has the flower!’

Nicole used her flexibility to stretch her arm towards the king and punched him in the face. The man yelled angrily; it had no effect on him, but it distracted him, buying enough time for James to run and snatch the flower away. The man glared at him.

‘You fool!’ The man boomed and raised his sword towards James.

Instinctively, James shielded himself with his hands and the next moment, just as the sword was inches away from James’s face, there was a blue light as the man’s sword hit James’s protective force field, bouncing off it, trembling wildly.

‘I didn’t know you could do that!’ June yelled to him whilst elbowing a soldier. It was not enough; he swung his sword at her, snipping off a lock of her hair, but she stamped at his black robes, dragging across the ground, and kicked him to the wall so hard that he went unconscious.

‘Well, now you do.’ James returned. ‘What do we do now? We can’t take all of them.’

Nicole looked around at the decreasing amount of June duplicates. For every one duplicate that died, the original June was loosing energy. ‘Are you okay, June!’

‘Never mind me,’ said June. ‘James is right. We need a plan for escape.’

‘June,’ Dominic yelled. ‘Flood the room!’ he pushed back a soldier with another, dropping them over each other.

Flood the room ... June had never used her powers this way before. Would it be wrong to? Audrey always told her that she was powerful, and she had to use it responsibly. She could fight the soldiers off, yes, but flood the room? This place that must have once been sacred?

‘June, it’s the only way,’ James whispered from beside her. He grabbed a sword from a soldier that lay still on the ground, sending her a nod.

‘What about the flower?’ she asked him.

‘We’ll have to take it with us,’ James said. He pushed a soldier against the wall, narrowly ducking out of the way of another soldier’s sword.

Making up her mind, June ran to the back of the room and shut her eyes. She could sense the atoms of the water nearby ... A tugging force that grew stronger the more she concentrated ...

A soldier ran towards her, flinging its sword violently, but James stood in his way, protecting her. He kicked the soldier, afraid to use the sword. He shot her a thumbs up.

June barely saw the gesture, she was concentrating so hard. There was a bright blue glow coming from inside her, and all the sounds of the fight seemed far away. June felt her arm and back muscles taut and she felt dizzy, but she didn’t give up. She exhaled and crossed her arms then slammed it to the floor, dropping herself too, her knees slamming the rock painfully.

The golden stand burst open and an enormous amount of water rushed out of it, slamming anything and everything in its way, including soldiers. She erased the June duplicates until she was the only June standing.

June breathed. She was exhausted. But she couldn’t stop now. A horrible thought struck her when she looked at a struggling Dominic. He would be weakened with so much water so close to him.

‘Dominic – what about you?’ she yelled.

‘Don’t worry.’ He barely whispered back. ‘We have to get out of here now.’

James and Nicole, who were at the front fighting off three soldiers at a time whilst juggling the flower to and fro, heard Dominic’s instruction.

‘I’ll get the hovercraft.’ James tried to reach into the back pack, that he carried on his shoulder, to retrieve the folded car. June took his place, fighting off three soldiers; two armed with swords. She used the water around her to trap one in a powerful bubble Audrey had taught her to use.

The water, now up to knee level, slammed onto the stone walls causing waves and wetting all the furniture, the velvet of the curtain. June looked at Dominic; his clothes were drooping, his hair stuck to his face and he was sweating all over. He was in a weak condition.

June saw him kick a soldier. He breathed deeply and fell to the ground unable to defend himself from the soldier who now took advantage of his opponent and raised his sword. June didn’t have to think. She formed a huge wave of water which carried the man off his feet and face first into the wall, turning the water a bloody red. June felt her insides squirm; she wasn’t accustomed to injuring people, but she ran over to Dominic where he floated, eyes closed.

‘James!’ she called out attempting to lift Dominic away from the water. But it was no good. The water now reached their necks. ‘James, a little help!’ she called again. She swam up to where fresh air was and dived back down. All the soldiers seemed to have escaped and there was no sign of James and Nicole.

She tried her best to keep Dominic above the water while going back down and checking to see where James and Nicole were.

Now, the water had covered the entire room. There wasn’t any fresh air, just water and she was forced to keep Dominic there. She wasn’t worried about herself; she was in a better condition than Dominic.

June strained her eyes to look around for the hovercraft and caught sight of a black vehicle approaching through the murky water.

The next moment, a silver force field formed around Dominic, and pulled him towards the hovercraft. She swam with it and James pulled the two of them inside the submarine-like vehicle.

‘Dominic!’ Nicole yelled from the driver’s seat. ‘What happened?’

‘The water,’ June breathed. ‘It drained his energy.’

She placed Dominic on the seat, and looked up at James. His hair stuck to his forehead; wet. He wiped himself, wrapping Dominic with a towel. He handed June a towel too, but stopped when he saw her.

‘You’re not -’

‘Yeah,’ said June. ‘The water is my friend.’

‘Oh,’ he folded the towel, placing it on the seat next to him. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine.’ June replied and looked out of the shut window. Outside, the tunnel wall whizzed past, filled to the ceiling with water. ‘Why are we still underwater?’ she asked.

‘Because the whole tunnel is flooded,’ Nicole said from the driver’s seat, looking at June through the review mirror. ‘There must have been gallons of stored in that room.’

June shivered. ‘Where’s the flower?’

‘Right here,’ James said taking the golden pot out of the back pack. It still looked as fresh as ever. ‘Where’s the walkie-talkie? We have to tell Charlie what happened,’ said James.

‘Dominic had it last,’ June replied.

James checked Dominic’s pocket and found what he was looking for. It was dripping with water; June doubted it would work.

James dried it with a towel. ‘Hello? Charlie?’ He spoke into it.

‘Y-ye-yes.’ Charlie’s voice replied. His reply was broken; unclear. ‘What-happened?’ Charlie yelled. ‘I was trying to get through-ever since-walked through that door! But-don’t have the decency to reply!’

June frowned, making sense of his broken words. But James seemed to have understood.

‘Charlie, calm down,’ said James. ‘We just fought off an army of men in black robes.’

Charlie silenced. ‘You – did?’

‘Yes we did, and we found this pink plant, The Fern Flower, which brings luck and –’

‘Oh-proud of you four!’ Charlie yelled. ‘On your first-fight a sand monster and-army of desert raiders and – wait did you say Fern Flower!’

‘Yes –’ James replied, and suddenly decided that maybe he shouldn’t have.

‘Did-take it?’ Charlie was screaming now.

‘We had to, those raiders were after it, and we could tell they weren’t very good people ...’ June pitched in.

‘What! Do you realize-that flower is as valuable as the tree you’re looking for? It’s been hidden from-hands of common folk-because of its power!’ They heard Charlie bang his fists against the desk, ‘Put the flower back.’ He said firmly.

James glanced at June. ‘We can’t ...’ He said softly.

‘What do you mean-you can’t?’ Charlie replied in a panicked tone.

‘We – we flooded the place –’

‘What?!’ Charlie yelled so loud they had to cover their ears.

‘It was the only way to escape.’ June defended.

‘Get out of there – now!’ Charlie said.

‘We are ... why?’

‘Why?’ Charlie yelled. ‘Because the whole village is going to collapse!’

Nicole slammed the accelerator and they sped through the tunnel. The wall where they had to figure out the riddle was dissolved into the water and they made it outside in a flash.

Nicole switched to sand mode and they cruised out of the village gates just in time. The heat hit them instantly; just like the first time they had landed here. Nicole parked the hovercraft on top of the sand dune they camped on, just outside the village.

The trio stepped out and watched the village crash, brick by brick, into the sand. June’s insides hurt; she wished she could return the building to its original form; it felt like her home. But she watched it fall helplessly. And as the sun disappeared, the village ruins too disappeared.

The three of them watched, each equally stunned.

‘Dominic is missing a beautiful sunset,’ Nicole commented.

June shivered besides the heat. There was a slight breeze in the air as night came.

‘Everyone alright?’ Charlie asked. The signal was clearer now.

‘Yeah,’ James replied.

‘June, Nicole, James and Dominic?’ Charlie checked.

‘Uh, Dominic is a bit sick...’ Nicole started.

‘Unconscious from all the water,’ June continued.

‘What!’ Charlie’s broke into a fit of coughing. ‘I’m probably going to lose my voice from all this screaming. Get back to the office then, use your watches, remember think of the place, and don’t mix up your thoughts.’ He instructed.

June frowned. ‘But we haven’t searched the place enough.’

‘There’s no use staying there anymore.’

Silence.

‘To bring Dominic along,’ Charlie said, ‘you will have to hold him. Make sure to not leave anything behind.’

James nodded even though he knew Charlie couldn’t see them. He switched the walkie-talkie off, and they stared at the sand.

‘I’ll pack up everything.’ Nicole said gesturing to the hovercraft.

June yawned, seating herself on the top of the sand dune. She gazed at the horizon, the setting sun creating rings of yellow and pink across the sky.

‘Tired?’ James asked, sitting beside her.

‘Very,’ June replied. ‘Manipulating water is harder than you think.’

‘Yeah,’ James said. ‘But you did a pretty good job there.’

She looked at him; he had removed the towel, but he was still soaking wet, his hair damp, his clothing weighing on him heavily. He looked somewhat comical. ‘Thanks.’ she smiled, almost laughing.

They watched the sun dip below the sand.

Raiders. Another mysterious and all powerful plant. What does it all mean? Are they facing something bigger than they expected?

Dun dun duhhhh!

Love from all the fur on my back,

--THUG.