The Guardian 1.5 of 1.5

5.

Karthum looked to his plate of beans and green leafy growth. He was in the tavern with Torak; he was had drunk his third goblet of wine, while the boy nursed the cup of goat milk. He looked to the boy and wondered if he was dead or living his nightmare. He was sure something happened there, but he could not place what was it. The boy knew but he won't tell. When he was to picked up on his meal, a hooded figure joined them at the table.

"Guardian, please do not look at me." The hooded figure with the face hidden spoke. :"I come bearing the news you seek. Mina was not the works of the brigand....alone. There were others. Unnamed ones that came from the nowhere."

"Who are you, before you speak another word?" Karthum asked.

"He is my servant, Guardian." Torak told him. "He came here on great risk to tell you."

"I have not much time. They would know." The hooded figure spoke. "The one you seek is Kutai. He is not who is claimed to be. He walks in that like your soul reside in your body. He is named....."

"Seize that person!" The voice belonged to the armed man stood at the door while more armed ones stormed in.

"Run, my Lord. I would protect you." The hooded figure threw back the hood and drew out a double blade from it. Torak pulled at Karthum to run from the rear exit behind them. The hooded figure who was Muta in disguise had rushed at the approaching armed men. By then, Karthum was out at the rear of the tavern. He wanted to go back but Torak had pulled him. They ran along the back alley and then out to the street before Torak pulled him into the undertaker shop. They seek shelter there among the papyrus used to cover the bodies.

In the tavern, Muta faced off the four armed men. He knew them all by their emblem on their left wrist; the sign of the claw on it. They were Clawler assassins, run by the older man name used on the clan. Muta held out the double blade and swung at the nearest assassin. He cut into the assassin at the right forearm but he was countered by the assassin cut into his left wrist. He dropped his double blade and withdrew back but the second assassin had penetrated his defense and thrust the sword into the chest. Muta crumbled to his knees trying to hold his bleeding back, bur there was no cure for the poison that was in his body. The Clawler used the potent poison on their blade to quicken the bleeding thus killing their victims.

"Who paid you, Master Clawler?" Muta looked to man who was first in. The older man held onto the sword in his hand and smiled.

"Only the highest bidder." The older man raised up the sword and swung it hard on Muta' neck. "He had paid for your silence."

In the undertaker shop, Torak looked to the Guardian. The other was still pushing to go back to help.

"The man had things to tell me. I need to go back." Karthum told the boy.

"He told me enough. I knew the identity of our foe." Torak smiled. "While he was with you, I was in him. I read his mind. I journeyed his soul. He died for me. As you would, when its needed."

"Who are you, boy?" Karthum removed the the two blades and threw them on the ground. "I would carry those. They are cursed. Like you."

"I guessed the truth must prevail." Torak stood up.

"I am not Set as you had suspected. I am Osiris, your God of the Underworld. I am also the God of Mercy. Mina people died; no, they were devoured by minions of the evil sorcerer who shamed me in sending those innocent soul to my realm. I came up to deliver judgment on them." Torak looked to Karthum.

"I called on your soul; resurrected you to life, and gave you the power of the Guardian." Torak pointed to the double blades. "Those are his blades kept by the priests of Set. They had it hidden for generations. I retrieved it for you."

Torak picked up the blades.

"They have a soul; a pair of powerful souls on them. Powerful wizard and sorcerer. The other one feared them. He knew that they are here but they are weak. They need to bond to you to be complete." Torak looked to Karthum. "To be the real Guardian, invoke them into you. Be the Guardian."

"No!" Karthum shouted out. "I am Karthum Masin. I would not serve anyone anymore. I would only serve myself. Not to you or to them."

The ground rumbled then with the sounds of screaming outside. Karthum rushed out and saw the killings by the brigands again as if he was in Mina. But he was not. This was Sheria. The brigands were running wild; slashing at the innocent. That was not all; there were others. They were not of man. They were creatures with the upper part of the animal but their lower body was human., They held weapons on their hands but they killed with their animal head growth. The one with horns killed by impaling, the fang ones tore the flesh with it, the devourer swallow their victim.

Karthum ran back to the shop. He approached Torak who stood there.

"I got to stop the killing." Karthum went on his knees before Torak. "Please tell me. I need to help."

"Call on them." Torak pointed to the blades. "Say the incantations."

Karthum did not know what he said, or even what he did, the inscriptions on the blades floated up and dragged itself over his fingers then up the arms. It wrapped itself by the arms to the shoulder blades. It joined to the neck and up the back of his spine to reached the left ear to joined with his own red streak. He screamed out in pain, and then fell forward on his face.

"Rise, Guardian." Torak told him. "Your real task awaits you."

Karthum pulled himself up and looked to the boy, who handed him the double blades. On it was no more inscriptions but it was on his arms. He took it and walked out the door.

Outside was the usual crowd of people but on seeing the armed man, they seek cover in the shops and alleys. There were not half man creatures but there was a group of armed man rushing to him. He stood there and waited for them. There was about ten in the numbers; all had the sign of the claw on their wrists. They came at him with none holding back, but they did not expect their adversary to charged at them.

The Guardian charged at them, with his arms spread out holding the blades, swinging them in an arc on the assassins. His blade clashed with theirs; he moved his body to avoid the oncoming thrusts, some had cut but the wounds were not fatal. He however fought back, landing his cuts with deadly wounds, bleeding out the bloods from the main arteries. His first prey was cut in the neck with the long blade while his shorter blade had cut the second assassin in the ribs. He then stopped in his path and turned with his body half crouched, his arms swinging out in a wide arc. That arc cut down one more assassin in the lower torso, who had back tracked to kill the Guardian.

"Three down, and the rest of you may go." The Guardian voiced out to the group while he pulled himself up. The trained assassins were not cowards but suicidal in their mind. They came at him again, and the clash begin again. The Guardian parried the swords and cut his own on them. He cut deep into the wounds, and pulling out the flesh with the serrated edges to cut down another. On the third charge, the Guardian held the last assassin by the throat with his right hand while his left hand held the blade that had pierced the assassin's heart.

Karthum stood up from the dead bodies and looked to the boy at the shop entrance.

"The last one told me who was Clawler and Kutai. They are one. The minion of the unnamed one." Karthum looked to the center of the town where the oasis still offered its nutrients to the inhabitants of Sheria.

"We would end the threat now."