The Guardian

Chapter Eight: The Charges

They are all cold and hungry. Little girls press their slender bodies against older girls, wanting to feel protected. The older girls try to help the little ones, giving them extra food, wrapping them in their arms, trying to make up for the lack of their Guardians.

            Mica has taken charge, comforting the others and telling them to be strong. At night she sits up in the darkness and seeks a way out of the room, desperately searching. She yearns for her Guardian, and the safety of her fellow charges.

            Daniela, charge of Guardian Abida, sits in a corner, her tiny body curled up tight, arms round her knobby knees. Her face is pinched, and her eyes speak of despair.  She misses her Guardian, who she has known about since the tender age of four. After ten years, she is very attached to him. When Mica speaks to her, trying to coax her into eating, the girl shakes her head, making her stringy brown hair fly about her ears. “Why not, Daniela?” Mica asked her the first time.

            “I won’t eat until I get to see Abida.” The girl always says stubbornly, her jaw set. Mica just frowns and rubs the girl’s back.

            “Ok.”

            Another girl paces around the room all day, her fingers moving, face ferocious. The younger girls are intimidated by the girl’s jet black hair, and her pale skin. One of the toddlers called her a witch because of her eyes, one being purple, and the other orange. She mutters under her breath, saying, “Cham, get back here.” The others know that she is broken under the weight of her worry. All of them are.

            The emotions in the room keep building up and building up, slowly driving all of the girls crazy. Finally, Mica can’t stand it anymore. She stands up, her back perfectly straight. Her deep brown eyes survey the people in the dark, depressing room. “Are we really going to do this? Stand by while our Guardians suffer?” Several of the girls flinched. “We are not wimpy, useless girls! We are special. Otherwise we wouldn’t have had Guardians in the first place.” The older girls, including Daniela, nod.

            “They’ve done nothing but protect you. Are you going to leave them when they need you?” The girls shook their heads. “Are you going to fight, or lay here, giving up?” Daniela stood.

            “I say we do something.”

“I agree.”  Ana, a small, fox-faced girl says. Soon, all of the girls, even the little ones, have stood and stated their agreement.

“What do we do?” Ana asks.

“I say it is time for our own rebellion.” Mica replies. “Who here has before fought?  Real fighting.”  About twenty girls stood. “Go over to the left corner of the room.” They did so. “How many are good strategists?” More girls got to their feet. “To the right corner. Little ones go to the middle.” This went on for a while, Mica trying to sort the girls and find out what they needed to do. When it was all done, she strode over to the fighters.

“We are going to need to attack the guards. I know that there aren’t a lot posted because Lucifer sees us as worthless, weak children.”

“We could pair off and take down one per pair.” A big boned girl suggested. Mica’s face screwed up in concentration. After a moment, she nodded her head.

“Sort yourselves into groups then.” Mica walked over to the group of girls who were strategists.  “I need to find a way into the dungeons. I am sure that that is where they are.”

“I’ll need to know the basic lay out of the palace.” Aiah said. One of the girls shook her head.

“Dungeons are normally on the right of palaces, and straight down. If we can get to the right, I’m certain that we’ll be able to find it.” She glanced at Mica. “After that, we’ll pick the locks. None of us are fighters, so we’ll need some people to guard our backs.”

“I have a group of girls who’ve only done basic defense training. You can use them for that.” Aiah nodded.

“We’re going to need nurses. Some of the Guardians might be injured and unable to fight.” Mica nodded once again.

“The little ones should stay with the oldest girls, the ones who haven’t any kind of training, but are smart enough to protect them using wit.” Mica agreed with them, and looked over the mass of shabbily dressed girls.

“Alright girls, do you know what we’re doing?” Over a hundred heads began nodding. Murmurs of agreement filled the chamber.

“Time to start the game.”

Late that night, the girls got ready. They ripped pieces of their pants or skirts and tied their hair back. The pale girls stayed behind the darker skinned ones, so that they wouldn’t be seen as easily. Every girl leaned towards the doors, waiting for the demons to open them, bringing in their meager meals.

Click

The doors slowly opened. The fighters posed their lean bodies into a pouncing position, ready to attack. The demons didn’t know what hit them. They were bombarded with heavy blows, and well placed kicks. The girls slammed their thin bodies into the demons, hatred gleaming in their eyes. In what seemed like only seconds, the girls were through.  Mica stalked ahead of everyone, body tense, aching for a fight. The feeling of victory poured through her. She glanced back at the injured demons, who eyes were wide with shock and pain.

“Burn, bitches.” She growled.