Chapter 8 The First Step Forward
Its hide glittered in the light of the moon, and its wings were spread wide as if poised for flight. Its jaws were open, bellowing a mighty roar in its suspended animation. It's teeth and claws, though rounded ever so slightly, would still manage to deliver a powerful blow in a fight. It was a creature built for destruction. It was death incarnate.
One could hardly notice the scrawny boy on it's back when looking at this terrible beast.
Jack poked the image with the end of his staff. "What exactly is that?"
"Guardian recruit number 1" Santa replied. "He lives in the land of Berk, in a town so rough even I wouldn't deliver there. Strangely, they have Christmas there like here, but they call it Snoggle…something."
"That looks like two Guardians to me. One skinny teenager and a giant salamander."
"Says the skinny teenager", Bunny called. Sandy laughed at that in his wind chime voice.
"They are one and the same. The dragon cannot fly without its rider, or the rider without its dragon."
"'Dragon'?"
"Yes, keep up Jack. Next," he said, and the Crystal changed, "we have one of the princesses."
"One of the-"
"She may be the only one in any world that can save Tooth from the plant."
If the images over the Crystal hadn't been holding everyone's attention before they certainly were now. The phantasm that was the dragon and boy faded to be replaced with a young woman. She was wielding a…was that a frying pan in her hand? That might've been the strangest thing about her if it wasn't for her hair. How on Earth did she manage to hold that much hair on her head?
She looked familiar somehow…
"This one is a little more well known than her fellow recruits. Her story has been told again and again over the years, but oof, who knows which one is right one anymore. You, gentleman, might know her as Rapunzel. She lives in the kingdom of Corona, and she was born with a very special gift."
One or all of their jaws may or may not have hit the floor. Or maybe it was an elf dropping something. The Guardians were mythical beings; they knew that, but this was a fairy tale they were talking about. Fairy tale beings didn't exist—at least, not to any of their knowledge. But there she was, standing frozen in time with her signature longer-than-anything hair and…frying pan. Really, what was that about?
Whether she would really be one of the next Guardians or not didn't seem to matter to Sandy; her very image seemed to captivate him. He stared long at her image with a puzzled expression on his face, as if he didn't completely understand what he was looking at. He continued to stare with the same look in his eyes even when her image was replaced with the very last recruit.
"And finally," Santa continued as she too melted away, "we have this little poludnitsa." The moonlight composed itself into the form of another young lady, fierce in bearing while looking off into the distance. Her hands held a bow with an arrow knocked to it, drawn back and ready to fly at a moment's notice. She, like Rapunzel, had exotic hair, but unlike her it was considerably shorter, and sprang out in all different directions. She looked ready for a fight.
Bunny nodded his approval. "I like this girl, she looks like she could come in handy in a scrap." He leaned down to scratch his head with his foot. "But why are they all teenagers? We aren't running a high school here."
Jack shrugged. "I kind of like it."
"I'm sure you do."
"Anyway," North said, moving it along, "like I said earlier, she is a princess—a Scottish princess of DunBroch. She has nothing special about her: no powers, no special abilities. But Manny says she has an air of…fate around her; a bit of destiny that follows her. If that is good enough for Manny that is good enough for me."
"I have a question," Jack piped. "Why do they all look like they're from the middle ages?"
"Different worlds mate, remember?"
"And different times," Santa added. "Time in their worlds moves differently than time here. Once you go through the portals you may be back in a second, or an hour, or in worst case," he paused, adjusting his cap, "a year."
Jack looked incredulous. "A year? We don't have a year!"
"I know."
"Then why send us after these people? I understand why we need Rapunzel, but what is Manny thinking with the other two?"
"I wondered the same thing when you were picked," Bunny interjected. "And look how much good you were to have around."
"And here I was thinking I was picked for my sunny disposition."
"You know what, you can—"
"E-nough", Santa bellowed. He looked at them as though they were two of the bickering children on his Naughty List. "I understand how both of you must be feeling right now, but I need you to focus. Jack," he said, turning to him first, "Manny didn't tell us to recruit them, he asked us. If you want, you can stay and watch the Yeti's and I'll go save Tooth. And Bunny. I expected little more composure from a veteran Guardian. You've been through much worse than losing your Warren, or do I have to be reminding you of the Pookas?"
Tears were on the verge of spilling from both of their eyes. They looked at Santa, furious and ashamed, and viciously scrubbed their respective faces with the back of their arms. With live devoted to bringing happiness to children, sometimes they were like children themselves. But they grudgingly recognized that the big man was right, even if they didn't like it.
And all that time Sandy just looked between the three, pained to see his friends so hurt, and him unable to say a word to comfort them.
North took a deep breath and sighed. He crossed his arms. "And to the three of you," he said in a soft voice, "I ask, would you really say no to the help? We do not know what Lantern will do next, or even what he really wants. His message, to say the least, was odd. We could use the help, no matter what anyone thinks."
They were quiet for a long time.
Santa, satisfied that there would be no more arguments, nodded his head firmly.
"Alright," he said, bringing up the snow globe again to eye level. "Who will go where?"
Bunny looked at Jack, withdrawn. "I think you should be the one to fetch Goldilocks," he said after a while.
"No", Jack said, lowering his head. "You were right Bunny, with what you said before. When it comes to Tooth my mind just doesn't…it doesn't work like it usually does. We don't need that out in the field." He leaned against his staff and rubbed his eyes. "This was so much easier when we were all just friends."
Bunny thumped his foot and smiled. "Women."
"Yup."
A tinkling sound came from beside them. Sandy was raising his hand, a serious look on his face. The sand around his head transformed into the picture of Rapunzel, exactly as he had seen her in the crystal.
Jack blinked. "You want to get her Sandy?"
The little man grinned his wide grin and nodded, confident. Santa tossed him a globe.
Bunny brought himself up. "In that case, give me the other sheila. I think I'll be able to handle her."
"Guess I get the lizard," Jack said with a shrug.
"Very good," Santa said, smiling again with the snow globes distributed.
"One more question," Jack said, shaking his snow globe. "How will they see us? I doubt any of them believe in us, wherever they are."
North gave him a surreptitious look. "A Guardian will always see another Guardian."
Jack, after a shrug, tossed the snow globe behind him. It hit the ground with a wump, and just like that the snow globe transformed into the gateway that would bring him to another realm. "Guess we'll go find out if that's right."
With a nod to each other, Sandy and Bunny threw their own snow globes down. Bunny looked at his portal and gulped, eyes wide. He quickly spun around to face North. "I don't suppose you know how we'll be getting back?"
Jack and Sandy stopped at the edge of their own portals. That was a good point; they'd close up behind them as soon as they went through.
"Ah, kanyeshna!" Santa said, shaking his head and reaching into his jacket. "Foolish of me, very foolish. One more for the way home!" He tossed them each another globe.
Jack caught his and stuffed it in his hoodie. With everything settled, he turned to the other two Guardians. "Good luck you guys," he said with a grin. "And Bunny, try not to scare the princess too badly." He disappeared into the portal, closing it off before Bunny had the chance to fire off a comeback.
Bunny grimaced. "Showpony", he grumbled.
Sandy was the next one to go. He eyed the globe he caught and shook it, watching the snow swirl around in it. He gave Santa a look and grinned, nodding his head. Santa put a hand on his hip and gave him the thumbs up sign. Sandy turned to Bunny to repeat the gesture, and with a floating, dream-like step, he too disappeared into the swirling vortex.
Which left Bunny to be the last one there. He stood for a minute, looking into the shifting colors with his ears straight up. "I don't uh, suppose I could take my tunnels there, could I?" Even though he felt his tunnels had changed somehow, he still felt like they were a much better alternative to stepping into a dodgy looking portal.
"Well, I guess you could always take my sleigh" he replied, one eyebrow up.
"Didn't think so." Bunny gulped. "Alrighty then, no choice I guess. I'll be seeing you soon. You hold down the fort, and uh…you look after yaself. And Tooth."
"You to. Now get going!"
"Here goes nothing," with a leap Bunny jumped head first through the portal, and into DunBroch. The Guardians had taken their first step towards a counterattack against Lantern.
Santa watched the space where the portals had been for a minute after they'd gone. He took a deep breath and surveyed his workplace, taking in what was left of the busy yetis and elves.
It was time to get to work.
