Chapter 12
Acceptable Losses
Taranee sat on the cold, damp ground of the Balsilidian cave, and stared up at the creature in front of her. Irma and Cornelia were ready to fight, and Hoth and Troth to their credit, didn't seen to be backing down either. Taranee gave Balken a quick check to confirm that the R.E.G leader wasn't injured, and then got to her feet. The Shadow Walker had surprised them. He had created a trap and sprung it. Now it was time for them to return the favor.
Taranee lit and hurled a fireball at the Shadow Walker, but it was not meant to hurt. Instead, it spread out, sending light throughout the cave, and allowing Cornelia to begin her part of the plan.
"Everybody, move!" Cornelia shouted.
The group followed her instructions, with Hoth and Troth helping their leader, and Irma bringing up the rear. Once Cornelia was sure everyone had gone, and she was alone with the Shadow Walker, she began to work.
"You dare come to my home again?" The Shadow Walker shouted at the Guardian. "Now you will pay for your transgression!"
Cornelia did not answer. She was too busy concentrating. It wasn't until the Shadow Walker heard the rumble behind him that he realized what it was she was concentrating on. The Shadow Walker turned to find the cave collapsing behind him. He turned back to Cornelia, who, satisfied with her work, flashed a smile and bolted for the exit. The Shadow Walker grimaced, and was about to follow when he stopped. Quickly phasing through falling boulders, the Shadow Walker moved through the cave until he reached a hollow in the stone wall, in which a small jewel lay. The hollow was mostly undamaged, although it was clear that it would not stay like that for long. Quickly, he grabbed the Heart of Balsilide and held it carefully before heading for the exit. Since he could not phase the Heart with his body, the Shadow Walker had to be very careful to protect the fragile jewel from falling rocks.
Will and Hay Lin waited impatiently at the exit of the cave. It was not the first time they had split up, and the others had only been gone for a few minutes, but it was still making Will uneasy. She suspected it had something to do with the four members of the R.E.G staring at her suspiciously. She reminded herself that they too were the good guys, and tried to calm herself. She was just beginning to succeed when Taranee and the others came flying out of the cave entrance.
"What happened?" Will asked nervously, grabbing the Heart tightly.
Taranee gave Will a thumbs up, then began coughing dust out of her lungs, something the others began doing as well. Between Taranee and the others catching their breath, and Will and Hay Lin being concerned with this, no one was quite ready when the Shadow Walker burst out of the cave mere seconds before it collapsed.
"Watch out!" Slyn shouted, grabbing his bow, but it was too late.
The Shadow Walker, eyes blazing, began disarming the members of the R.E.G one by one. Will, trying to be silent, moved into position, when the Shadow Walker caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye. Sensing what she was going to do, The Shadow Walker moved away just as the first cage went up. Desperate, Will created cage after cage, but the Shadow Walker was too quick, and avoided all of them. The display of pink flashes combined with black blurs was too much for Hay Lin. She simply stared at the battle going on instead of being alert, and she paid for it. Quicker then anyone could see, the Shadow Walker appeared in front of Hay Lin, one wispy, yet very solid hand wrapped around the girls neck.
"If you want to imprison me, you'll have to trap her too." The Shadow Walker said menacingly. "Something I don't think either of you want."
Will analyzed the situation carefully. The rest of her team, as well as the R.E.G were back to full fighting capacity, but it wouldn't help if the Shadow Walker had control of Hay Lin. The air Guardian was struggling bravely, but it was for naught. When he wanted them to be, the Shadow Walker could make his hands pretty strong. And that's when Will noticed the Shadow Walker's left hand, the one by his side. Will hadn't noticed it before, but it was solid as well. It was holding something, and Will was pretty sure she knew what it was.
"I don't want you…" Will said with a smile. "I want it."
With a flick of her wrist, Will created a small cage around the Shadow Walker's left hand. The solid hand was trapped in the cage, and was separated from the rest of the intangible arm. The Shadow Walker screamed in pain, bringing both hands to his face, releasing Hay Lin in the process. As the Shadow Walker began constructing a new hand, the one in the cage began to disappear, until all that remained imprisoned was a small jewel. Will removed the cage, and the Heart of Balsilide fell into the waiting hands of Cornelia.
"Just how we planned it, right Will?" Hay Lin said, catching her breath.
"Something like that." Will replied with a smile.
"You think you've won?" the Shadow Walker said, cradling his newly formed left hand close to his chest.
"Um, yeah, pretty much." Irma replied. "The combined force of the Guardians and Balsilide's finest. Even you can't beat all of that."
As if to prove Irma's point, the R.E.G raised their weapons at the Shadow Walker in unison, tightening the circle as they did so.
"Perhaps." The Shadow Walker said, "but we will not find out today."
Phasing through Will as he left, the Shadow Walker bolted from the group before Will could stop him with a cage, and disappeared into the darkness. Satisfied with how the Shadow Walker had been dealt with, Will knew the night was far from over. The jewel in Cornelia's hand wasn't working yet, but it still had the power to cause a lot of trouble. To her surprise though, it wasn't Balken who was first to talk for the Balsilidians.
"You let it get away? Why didn't you finish it off?" Selna said, glaring at the Guardians.
Taranee turned a raised eyebrow towards the young girl.
"Look, I don't want to be rude kid, but it's not as simple as that." she said.
"One of you" Selna said, eyeing Irma, "let that thing kill my family. And now, with a perfect opportunity to make it pay, you let it escape! Seems pretty simple to me."
Irma turned away, her hands clenching into fists. Hay Lin put a hand on her friends shoulder, but Irma shrugged it away.
"We got what we came for." Will said in what she hoped was a soothing voice. "We weren't prepared for an all out fight with the Shadow Walker, and we didn't need to start one."
Selna made it quite clear that she was not satisfied with this answer, and stood behind Balken.
"The girl raises a valid point." Balken said in what Taranee noticed was a much gentler voice then the one he had used in the cave. "You could have trapped it. We might have been able to end all of this."
Will frowned but remained silent. There was no reason she should be bothered by Selna's dislike of the Guardians, she knew this. The girl had virtually no role to play in the upcoming battles, and it wasn't as if everybody in the universe was going to be best friends with the Guardians anyways. Yet the way Selna stayed close to Balken and the way she glared at Irma made Will more then a little frustrated. And that was before Balken made his move.
"Now," Balken said casually, "give us the Heart and we'll be on our way."
"What?" Cornelia said. "Give you the Heart? Why would we do that?"
"Because it is rightfully ours." Balken replied, his calmness beginning to break. "It is the Heart of Balsilide, and that is where it belongs."
"Sorry Balken, but this goes way past Balsilide. The fate of the universe may rest with that Heart." Will replied.
"Really? The fate of the universe?" Balken said, "Why would the Heart of Balsilide contain the fate of the universe? Can you explain what you meant?"
"No." Will said reluctantly.
The fact that the Guardians were potentially destroyers of the universe was something Will didn't really like revealing to a whole lot of people, and definitely not to Balken.
"Well, if you can't explain, then I guess you'll have no problem with leaving the Heart here." Balken said smugly.
"This isn't a debate, Balken." Will said. "We need this Heart. We are taking it back to Kandrakar, and that is not up for discussion."
Then, something happened that took all of the girls off guard. Will's phone rang. Everybody seemed to pause for a second as the chime split the air.
"Um, Will? Did you forget to turn your phone off?" Hay Lin asked.
"No. Definitely not." Will replied. "Which makes this more unusual then it already is."
The phone continued to ring.
"Speaking of unusual," Irma said, "I'm scared to ask, but where is your phone? We clearly don't have pockets in these costumes."
"In my civvies I guess." Will replied. "I always wondered what happened to our human stuff when we transformed. I guess now we know."
"So, are you going to transform back and answer it?" Cornelia asked.
The phone rang once more.
"Do I have to?"
"I don't really see how you have a choice."
Will sighed and transformed back into human form, shooting the R.E.G a glare as they snickered at her predicament. Reaching into her jeans pocket, she pulled out her ringing phone and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello Will." The familiar voice replied back.
"Yan Lin? What are you doing calling me?"
"What, just because I'm a grandma means I can't have a cell phone?"
"No, I mean… just, what do you want?"
"You have to give the Heart back to Balsilide." Yan Lin said.
"What?" Will shouted as quietly as she could, not wanting the R.E.G to hear. "Why?"
"Because we have no right to take it." Yan Lin explained. "The Heart belongs to their world, and they have done nothing to warrant us taking it from them."
"But… you're Kandrakar! Can't you just do whatever you want?" Will asked.
"No, we can't." Yan Lin said with a smile. "The key is provocation. With proper provocation, with reason to act, Kandrakar is the greatest power in the universe. But if we do not have a reason to act, and we have no such reason here, then we are powerless. I'm sorry, but those are the rules."
"Seems like pretty stupid rules to me." Will said.
"Those 'stupid rules' are the only thing stopping Kandrakar from ruling the universe, and then we would be no different then Phobos, or any other petty tyrant." Yan Lin explained. "Besides, the Heart is powerless. It would do us no good anyways. Not yet."
As Yan Lin and Will continued their discussion, Irma began rubbing her arm carefully. A piece of rock had grazed her as she was leaving the cave, and a cut ran down the length of her forearm. Small drops of blood dripped out of the wound.
"Are you alright?" Hay Lin said, inspecting Irma's arm.
"Yeah, just a flesh wound." Irma replied. "Nothing serious."
"Huh, I bet you wish Walli was here." Hay Lin said with a smile.
"What?"
"You know, so he could see how courageous you were in battle." Hay Lin said. "I bet he could kiss it and make it better."
"What are you rambling about, girl?" Irma asked, giving her friend a strange look.
"Oh, come on!" Hay Lin said. "It's obvious you've got a thing for him."
"What, I can't have a friend who happens to be a guy?" Irma said. "I'm not a little girl anymore Hay Lin, and I don't have silly crushes."
"You sure?" Hay Lin asked. "Just friends?"
"Yeah, just friends. That's all." Irma said.
Hay Lin walked off, seemingly satisfied. Once her friend had left, Irma's trademark smile disappeared, replaced with a pained grimace.
"Friends." She whispered to herself. "Because that's the best a girl like me could ever hope to be."
"Alright!" Will said, hanging up the phone and approaching Balken. "I've decided to let you keep the Heart."
Taranee opened her mouth to argue, but closed it just as quickly. She had known Will long enough to trust her. If she was giving them the Heart, it was for a good reason.
"But, Kandrakar asks that you allow them to borrow it once it has regained its powers. For… research purposes." Will continued.
"Research? Why? It's just like any other Heart, right?" Balken countered.
"It's not often a Heart completely loses its power. Kandrakar would like to see what effects there were." Will said, lying about Kandrakar's true intentions.
"It is wise not to go against Kandrakar's wishes." Orube added.
"Very well." Balken said grudgingly. "We accept to these terms, barring any major changes to the situation as time goes on."
"Good enough for me." Will said.
The two leaders shook hands, and headed for home. None of the girls could say they were happy with the way things had gone, but the Shadow Walker had been driven off, the Heart was safe, and no one else got hurt. The girls had a feeling that that was about as good as it was going to get.