The Portal Soldiers

Chapter XXX

XXX

Another Collection

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Under the sun of a tropical island, the Juniors rode the horses the ranch manager let them borrow.

"Where are we gonna start?" William asked. Everyone turned their heads to Amy.

"We need to..." Amy paused.

"Need to what?" Sally asked.

Amy pointed a place with a circular arrangement of grass. All of them looked at that direction. The horses bucked, and they all fell on the ground.

"No! Come back!" Amy coughed.

They stood up and found themselves in the circle. The grass became taller than what a grass should be. The tall grass turned into glass. The Juniors held their weapons high and banged those against the glass. Once the glass had some cracks, it transfigured into flashing beams of light.

"What's happening?" Sally screamed while trying to open her eyes. The lights around them became brighter. Then, it faded.

Thr Juniors looked at the ground. The circular arrangement of grass was gone. There is no glass at all, and no bright lights.

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It was night when the manager and man were fixing their things and locking the office. Some weird footsteps were heard. Horses, the manager thought. Six horses were running toward the open gate of the ranch. The manager turned his head to see everything around him, then his eyes proved his thought is right.

"These were the horses the Juniors borrowed," the man helped by the Juniors said as he welcomed the white horse.

"Could this mean they're in trouble?" the manager exhaled. "I hope they're alright."

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Without the horses, Amy, Lance, Elise, William, Sally, and Tom walked through the apart trees with their minds almost idle.

"This is bad luck, your Majesty," Tom complained. "First, we lost our horses. Then, we lost the horses we borrowed. This is bad lu—"

"Don't call the name of misfortune, Tom," Lance said.

They continued to walk until the smell of food becomes stronger.

"I can smell food," Tom said.

"It's because you are starved," William laughed as he looked around.

"We are all starved," Amy said. "Our last meal is not really a meal."

"It's just a coffee," Elise said.

Some footsteps made way to their ears as the smell of food clearly becomes fish. Their heads all turned to right where a woman in a floral dress and black leather shoes. She has silky raven hair, and some white hairs perfectly contrasted it. She has three bags and one plastic bag, which is translucent, and those were pulling her left arm downward. Must be food, Tom thought.

The six ran to the woman and amenably lent a hand. Amy, Elise, and Sally carried the three bags while Tom has the plastic bag. William and Lance supported both of the arms of the woman.

"Thank you," the woman whispered as her facial muscles' movements emphasized her thin eyebrows. "I am sorry I can't recognize you. My eyes are blurry. May you tell me your names?"

"Ma'am, I am Amy Arrows."

"Sally."

"Elise Fox."

"William."

"Tom."

"Lance."

"Amelia is my name," the woman whispered. "Please let me lead you to my house. It's getting late."

The Juniors nodded. Amelia led them to her house. The house stood beside two oversized trees where the rainforest gradiently changes to a desert by the South.

"I'm sure you're here for a purpose," Amelia said. "You are the Juniors—I know that, and you're not going to this island without a cause."

"Yes, we're up to something," Elise answered.

"Our horses were gone. We don't have any clue where they are, so we went on to random places," Amy explained.

When they are at the front of Amelia's house, Amelia knocked on the door. It took only few seconds before the door was opened. There, a young girl was rolling the wheels of her wheelchair to make way for her unknown visitors.

"Hi, Ma," the girl smiled, and that smile made her look like her mother. She has got her mother's eyes, hair, and cheeks. Amelia with tiny footsteps led the Juniors inside her home. The six shyly took their first steps in.

"Julie, we have visitors," Amelia introduced. "They are the Juniors of Portland Goldens. Juniors, this is my only daughter, Julie."

"Hi, Julie. Nice to meet you," Amy said.

Amelia continued to walk to the deeper parts of the house. She stood by the door of a bedroom and twisted the doorknob.

"Do you have any special materials to fight Kininvas aside from weapons?" Amelia asked and went in the room.

"We have diamond and emerald padlocks," Amy replied.

"Since I really loathe Kininvas, I am giving this to you," Amelia said and went out of the room with a rectangular box in her hands. She stretched her right hand towards Amy. When Amy had the box opened, Amelia explained what the key is.

"That is a key that can open any locks without getting the padlocks harmed," Amelia smiled bitterly at the key.

"Thank you," Amy smiled and tilted her head downwards. "We'll be sure to use it."

"We are sorry we couldn't provide more items," Amelia said.

"No, Ma," Julie said and rolled her wheels towards her mother. "They can borrow our ca—"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot," Amelia told Julie, then turned to the Juniors. "I will let you borrow our camels, but please let me give your tummies a dinner."

"Ma'am, I can't afford losing camels," Tom shook his head vigorously. "We lost our horses, right? We borrowed some horses from a ranch and lost them. The bad—"

"Don't call misfortune's name, Tom," Lance said.

"Well, bad mm... is really after us," Tom continued.

"Whether he's after you or not," Amelia giggled, "I will let you borrow our camels, and I will still let you have dinner, okay?"

"We don't know how to thank you," Elise smiled weakly. "I can remember Ma'am Delle in you."

The Juniors, Amelia, and Julie went to the dining area and had a dinner. Amelia prepared liters of water, some snacks, and the camels for Juniors as the night became deeper.

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