The Broken Council (The Guardian Chronicles 1) (16 page)

Bronwen
nodded that he understood, and they each took a seat at the round table.
 
Kira relayed to him all that General Marek
had learned from her husband about the secret passageways and the hiding place
within the heart of the mountain.
 
She
also told him about what she had asked Marek to do.
 
She did not hold anything back from her
faithful friend.
 
She even told him of
her different plans she had formulated to defend herself.
 
He listened carefully to every word she said
before making any reply.

“Kira,
you will need someone to watch your back.
 
It should not be one of the home guard or even General Marek.
 
They will protect you, but they may not be
able to see the assassin before it is too late.
 
If you have another person you trust to watch your back, then they may
be able to see who it is that hunts you.
 
They would be able to alert you of any danger,” Bronwen said with a
certain amount of urgency in his voice.
 
He did not feel that her plan for protecting herself was foolproof.
 
He felt that another fail-safe was needed in
order to avoid the unthinkable.

“Who
would you recommend to do such a task?”

“I
believe that I am the only one who can be trusted to be faithful in shadowing
you.
 
You know that I have the ability to
hide myself most effectively.
 
I will be
able to warn you when I sense danger.
 
Please, allow me to do this for you.
 
I do not want to lose you,” he said pleadingly.
 
If we
lose Kira, then our cause is lost.

“It
will be as you have asked.
 
Follow me,
and watch out for unseen dangers.
 
I feel
comforted knowing that you will be watching over me.
 
I am sure that my husband would be most
grateful for your loyalty to me.
 
It
sounds like a plan he would come up with as well.
 
Remember, you are not to be seen by anyone,”
she said with warning in her voice.
 
She did
not want any harm to come to him while watching out for her.
 
He is
putting himself in great danger by offering this service.
 
I hope that he is kept safe. I could not bear
to lose him.

“You
will forget that I am even there, Milady.”

“Excellent.
 
I must undo these protective spells on the
hall so General Marek will be able to enter.
 
I told him to meet me here as soon as he was done with instructing the
home guard.
 
With him at my side and with
you watching my back, I should be safe,” she said with ever-increasing
confidence.
 
She then removed the spells
she put on the entire room and unsealed the doors.
 
A moment later, the general knocked at the
front doors.

“Come
in, General Marek,” said the queen.

He
entered the room and bowed himself to the floor.
 
He waited for the queen’s acknowledgment
before raising his head.
 
She bade him to
rise, and as he did so, he noticed that she was all alone in the hall.
 
He thought that she was going to meet with
Bronwen while he was away.
 
She could
sense his confusion and decided to interrupt his thoughts.

“Bronwen
has left already.
 
He exited through the
back door on an errand for me.
 
We had
just finished our discussion before you arrived,” she said calmly.

“Very
well…your majesty.
 
Was it a profitable
meeting?” he asked tentatively.

“It
was very productive, General Marek.
 
Now,
let us not waste any more time.
 
I have
come up with several ideas, and I wanted to talk to you about them.
 
Let’s go back to the castle and discuss them
there.”

“As
you command, majesty” sneered the general.

***

As
they walked in the shade of the mountain, Bronwen watched.
 
He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his
stomach.
 
He could not tell what it was
exactly, but it was there nonetheless.
 
He watched over her from a distance as a chameleon would its prey over
the next two days.
 
The feeling of
impending doom still pressed on him to keep vigilant in his duty.
 
He saw no signs of danger and could see no
one else watching the queen’s movements.
 
He thought that this should comfort him, but it did not.
 
The only person that interacted with Kira was
General Marek.
 
The general appeared to
be watching her every movement as a parent watches a newborn taking their first
steps.
 
He looked like he was very
anxious as well.
 
Maybe they were sensing
the same unseen danger.

***

On
the third day, both of Kira’s protectors sensed eminent danger.
 
General Marek acted at once, knowing that if
he took too much time the queen would be at risk.
 
A shadow flitted pass a window and seemed to
land somewhere on the queen’s balcony to her bedchamber.
 
Bronwen immediately went to where he thought
the intruder was, but there was no one there.
 
He could sense a presence but could not see anything with his eyes.
 
General Marek shoved the bed out of the way
and opened the trap door.
 
He hurried the
queen down the passage below and hurried in after her.
 
Bronwen ran across the floor to reach the
door before it closed.
 
He barely slipped
past the door before it shut.
 
He heard
Marek utter the words “
Twilight Cavern”
,
and the trap door disappeared.

“My
queen, we need to head to the heart of the mountain now!
 
We need to put distance between you and that
intruder.
 
I do not think that the
assassin is made of flesh and blood, so I am not so sure the entrance
disappearing will stop it from following.
 
It will be easier for us to make a stand, if need be, in the cavern,”
General Marek said emphatically.

“You
are right, Marek.
 
Let’s go,” she
ordered.
 
She glanced behind to see if
Bronwen had been able to make it into the tunnel with them.
 
She saw a quick glimpse of her trusted spy
and felt reassured that everything would be all right.
 
She started down the tunnel as fast as she
could manage without falling.
 
General
Marek and Bronwen Merindiel followed suit.

The
journey to the center of the mountain took much longer than anyone
expected.
 
After many hours, the narrow
tunnel opened into a broad cavern.
 
The
ceiling was very high, and sounds of water dripping echoed through the massive
open space.
 
Their eyes scanned the
heights at first before they even realized that General Yukio had outfitted the
floor with everything they would need if they were to stay here for an extended
period of time.
 
There were beds, a well
of fresh water, food storage, weapons, clothes, medical supplies, and
books.
 
There was enough provisions that
they would be able to last for a year if need be.

“Your
husband certainly knows how to plan ahead,” said Marek in utter disbelief.
 
He could scarcely believe what he was
seeing.
 
He took comfort in their
surroundings and felt reassured that they would be able to defend themselves
against any threat that may present itself.
 
Little did he know that he was about to face the assassin in a way he
had not accounted for.

As
they settled themselves in to their new surroundings, they found some lanterns
and lit them so they could try to see their shadow friend.
 
As soon as the light filled the cavern, the
shadowy assassin appeared.
 
The queen and
the general immediately took defensive postures as they waited for their
mysterious tracker to attack.
 
The
shadowy figure began to shrink in size until it disappeared.
 
Bronwen had been watching from behind a
barrel of ale and noticed right away that the thing that had been pursuing the
queen had entered Marek.
 
He immediately
sprang from his hiding place and undid his cloaking magic he had been using.

“Kira,
that thing has possessed General Marek!
 
Look out!” Bronwen shouted frantically.
 
He had sacrificed the few fleeting moments that he could have protected
himself to warn his queen.

Marek
turned to face the revealed protector with an evil grin as he sent forth a
strong gust of wind at the defenseless chairman.
 
Bronwen was lifted high into the air where he
hit the northern wall with a sickening
thud
.
 
Kira immediately sprang to action by throwing
up a protective shield that sent the blistering winds toward the ceiling.
 
It hit the roof with an extreme amount of
velocity, which caused the whole mountain to shake.
 
Rocks began to fall from the area hit by the
assassin’s diverted attack.
 
Kira quickly
threw up another protective barrier around herself and her friend as the
ceiling began to collapse.
 
She hunched
over her bloodied friend while projectiles bounced harmlessly off the shield
around them.

After
long moments of quaking, the mountain went still again.
 
Marek’s eyes were burning bright red as he
stared down his queen.
 
Kira bent over
Bronwen face to see if he was still alive.
 
His body was broken from the attack, and he lay motionless.
 
As she sat up, the vacant eyes of her most
trusted friend stared back at her.
   
She
cried softly as the truth sunk in.
 
She
didn’t have time to indulge in her sorrow.
 
The protective barrier had weakened as she had lost concentration and
was consequently hit by several fiery missiles.
 
Burn marks from the vicious attack appeared all over her body while
smoke rose from her wounds.
 
Her resolve
and desire for revenge gave her new strength as she stood to face her attacker.

She
straightened herself as she faced Bronwen’s murderer and knew that she would
have to kill one of her other trusted friends if she were to destroy this
assassin.
 
She did not hesitate a moment
longer and sent a gust of wind of her own at the assailant who did not attempt
to deflect the attack.
 
The general was
sent flying through the air some fifty feet backwards.
 
Marek landed with a deafening
thud
and did not move.
 
Kira sent balls of fire and rained down
blocks of ice on the crumpled form of her loyal general.
 
She then sent pieces of the cavern’s ceiling
crashing down on top of the motionless would be assassin.
 
After the dust settled from the assault, no
movement could be seen from the pile of rubble.

“Marek,
are you still there?
 
Are you still
alive?
 
Have I driven that demon from
your body?” asked the queen with tears streaking down her scorched face.
 
She felt sick to her stomach because she was
sure she had just killed her friend.
 
She
hoped that she had killed whatever it was that possessed him; however, she got
the feeling that it might still be there.

Suddenly
the pile of debris exploded in every direction, and Marek stood up
unscathed.
 
The shadowy figure started to
separate itself from its host.
 
The
general’s body went limp, and he appeared to be unconscious.
 
The figure started to take on a familiar form
as it rose higher into the air.
 
Before
she realized fully who it was, the assassin sent a fatal mix of hailstones the
size of an elf along with a powerful mixture of wind, fire, and parts of the
ceiling at Kira.
 
The queen was much
faster than her attacker thought, and she sent fire out to destroy the
hailstones.
 
Sadly, she could not fend
off all of the deadly projectiles.
 
She
was struck hard in the head by one of the burning chunks from the roof, which
crushed her skull.
 
She flew back through
the air gracefully as she reeled from the blow.
 
She landed on the ground by the exit to the waterfalls.
 
Blood flowed freely from the head trauma.

As
she lay their struggling to make sense to what had just happened, she could
just barely make out who her attacker was.
 
Her vision was blurry and her mind could not make sense of who she had
just seen.
 
Tears mixed with blood ran
down her cheeks as her vision finally gave way.
 
As the breath of life left her body, her mind finally registered who had
killed her.
 
This realization was too
painful to bear and only lasted a few moments before her spirit left her body
and she knew no more.
   
The queen of the
high elves had been murdered, and no one was left who knew what really happened
except for General Marek.