The Fallen Guardian (The Guardian Chronicles 2) (13 page)

“Marcello,
let the bloodshed begin!” called an eerie female voice.

“Who
speaks thus?” queried the giant.

“I
am Queen Kishi of the high elves, the future queen of Tuwa,” replied the
sorceress queen darkly.  An unnatural ease fell upon both sides of the line. 
It was as though evil was emanating from her.

“Queen
Kishi, reveal your wicked self to me!” demanded Marcello in a loud, booming
voice. His shout echoed through the silence that had settled over the two
armies.  His eyes narrowed as he searched out the vile witch.

A
flash of light shot from the end of Marcello’s staff and illuminated a shocked
soldier in the middle of the fifth row of archers. The magical light engulfed
the now struggling high elf as he was lifted into the air. After a moment, the
magical disguise Kishi had been using was undone, and she hung in midair
revealed completely to everyone in both armies. Her stunned look did not stay
long on her beautiful face. She quickly summoned her staff into her hands and
swung it violently through the air. She burst the magical chains that had been
holding her fast and screamed loudly in a fit of uncontrollable rage.  She
slammed to the ground hard and was up again without noticing her weakened
appearance.  Anger made her numb to the wounds she just incurred and her focus
on the giant mage made her oblivious to her indecency.

“You
will pay for that!” she blasted at the giant wizard. She pointed her staff at
him and sent a powerful fireball at him. The fire quickly engulfed him, but
there was no scream of pain or even discomfort. The giant snapped his fingers,
and the flames went out at once.

“Is
that the best you can do?  Remember, I am a giant,” Marcello said smoothly. His
calm demeanor did nothing to sooth his attacker. It had the opposite effect,
which was exactly what he was hoping for.  He could see that she was stomping
her way toward the front of the army.  She did not notice the looks her soldiers
were giving her.

“So
be it.  There is more than one way to kill a giant. Even one as ugly as you!”
retorted Kishi. She raised her staff high in the air, and a black cloud
appeared out of nowhere. Panic began to appear on some of the giants’ faces.
They had seen a cloud like this before. It was the one Marcello had used to
send ice blocks crashing to the earth. They knew that this spell was not an
easy one to defend against, so they braced for the worst.

Marcello
reacted very quickly and gathered a strong wind behind him. When he saw the
first signs of an ice block falling from the storm cloud, he shot forth a
mighty gust of wind. The blocks were hurled away from the giants at the North
Gate and landed on the back row of high elven foot soldiers, killing several of
them instantly. Kishi sent bolts of blue lightning into the cloud, and icy
darts shot down from the cloud instead of chunks of ice. Several giants were
hit by these icy projectiles, but their thick skin deflected the weak attacks.
The giants took heart by these feeble attempts by such a powerful sorceress.
Feeling too frustrated to continue the fight, Kishi ordered General Jaali to
call for the retreat. The high elven army turned tail and began to retreat. The
departing army made rude gestures and shouted vile profanities at the defiant
giants. They truly were not the gentle, dignified people they once were. 
Kishi’s personal downward spiral was bringing down her troops as well.

“Gentlemen,
do not think that she will not return. Queen Kishi is much more powerful than
I, so be prepared. She was caught off guard, which made her clumsy in her
attacks. She will not make that mistake again,” Marcello warned the troops at
the gate. “That being said, I am proud of the way you conducted yourselves.”

As
the air filled with a musty, dank smell once again, Lord Keb resigned himself
to defeat. He was trapped inside this mountain of dark magic with no hope of
escape. His brethren and sisters of the guardian council would be too busy by
now to search for him. The evil creature that held him bound in this mountain
prison seemed to grow stronger as the guardian’s despair grew. The small pool
of murky water had steam rising from it as the ice melted. This created a
greenish haze that not only blurred his vision, but it also caused the panic he
was feeling to intensify. His thoughts became erratic and increasingly wild,
like an animal that is cornered. Without realizing what he was allowing to
happen, he began to lower his mental defenses to the secrets he had kept hidden
from Kana. He felt weary from the confrontation with Kana and the giant
serpent. He did not see any harm in allowing his defenses down for just a
little bit.

Images
began to call themselves forth in his mind as though someone was searching for
something, some particular secret. Images of the other guardians flashed
through his mind as he began to have a feeling of foreboding come over him. The
image of the council of the guardians displayed itself for several minutes. Keb
watched the meeting progress as he relived the events that took place during
and immediately after the meeting. It was then that he finally realized that
some foreign being had penetrated his defenses and was perusing his mind like
it was an open book. He immediately tried to slam shut the door he had allowed
to be opened. The intruder merely laughed at this vain attempt. The voice he
heard did not come from a particular source and was not heard using his ears.
The speaker spoke to him in his mind.

“Keb,
how long has it been, old friend?” asked a gravelly deep voice.

“Who
are you?” queried Keb sharply. He did not like this creature who apparently
knew his name and who knew how to get past his defenses. The feeling of
uneasiness welled up inside him once more.

“Come
now…old friends like us should never forget one another. I certainly remember
you. You are the puppet of that self-righteous––” began the gruff voice in
chiding tones.

“You
will not speak his name!  I know who you are now; you are that filthy,
good-for-nothing demon lord we banished centuries ago!”  He realized with a
sudden shock of horror that the dark lord was speaking to him. This was the
very creature that the guardian council had banished after the last war for
Tuwa for his crimes against all living creatures and more importantly for
defiling all of the elements. They had imprisoned that old devil in the icy
fortress located at the furthest northern point on the continent.
How did he
escape that heavily guarded prison?

“The
particulars of my escape from that pitiful prison are of no consequence. The
reason why I am here with you now is of the utmost importance. I want to know
what it is that you are hiding from your friend Kana. You will tell me; you
know you will. I do not believe that you will have forgotten my ability to
persuade people…especially an element that is as weak as you are.”

“If
I remember correctly, your overconfidence was what landed you in that cozy
prison we put you in.”  Keb knew that this would irritate him and would
potentially throw him off his mental intrusion. He knew full well that he had
better regain control of his mind soon because of the secrets that he kept
hidden in there. One in particular was of the utmost importance to keep hidden
from this beast. There were only three people that knew about it, and he was
probably the weakest out of the fellowship.

“Taunt
me all you like; I do not mind. I have all the time in the world to play games
with you. Believe me when I tell you that you will never leave this mountain
again. I already have full access to your weak mind, and you and I both know
that you do not have the power to block me out now that I am in.”

“That
may be true, but that does not mean that I know anything of value to you or
your new master.”  He could not control the fear that was threatening to
destroy his resolve.

“I
serve no one but myself!”  This shout was not heard in his head but in the
empty cavern around him. A dark mist began to swirl about a dozen paces in
front of him. A large, horned figure rose up out of the eerie-looking cloud.
The dark lord was twice the height of Lord Keb and had reddish-black hide that
had the look of blood mixed with mud. He had two massive horns that came out of
the sides of his head and wrapped around his head in a way that provided some
measure of protection. He had a thick muscular figure that did not appear to
have an ounce of fat on it anywhere. His eyes were bright red with dark black
pupils. He had surprisingly white teeth as he displayed them nastily for Keb.

Lord
Keb took advantage of this slight break in the dark one’s concentration to lock
down the one secret that he knew he must keep secret. He did this so subtly
that the wicked beast did not take notice. Keb looked up at the impressive devil
standing in front of him and smiled back. “It’s nice to see that you have not
let yourself go after all this time. What have you been doing all these years
locked away in that icy fortress?”

“You
will soon find that out for yourself, my old friend. You too will have a new
eternal home just like I had for all those centuries. This mountain will be
your icy fortress for as long as you live. Who knows…I might be able to find a
way to end your misery. Of course, it would be easier if you just joined my
side. You of all people should appreciate how precious life is. I know that you
will do what is best for you. It is time to stop living for others.”

“You
should know by now that your smooth talk and subtle coercion does not work on
me. I thought you would remember that.”

“People
change, Keb….especially right after they realize that they are trapped. So,
what is it that you have locked away in your mind?”  Keb shifted slightly from
this declaration because it meant that his subtlety did not go unnoticed.

“What
are you talking about?”

“When
I was probing your simple mind, I thought I saw an image of some kind of object
of great importance or power. Now, I can no longer see that image. What was
it?”  His deep voice had a soothing tone as he tried to pry to information from
the earth elemental.

“You
seem to be a bit touched in the head after all those years alone in that
castle. I do not know what you are talking about.”  He was trying his best to
sound cool and unconcerned.
If ever there were a time that I needed help, it
would be right now
.

“Believe
me when I say that there will be no one coming to your rescue. Your friends are
all a little busy at the moment. Kana has made sure of that.”  A wicked grin
flashed across the dark lord’s face as he spoke.  He snorted derisively at his
prisoner as he inched closer to Keb.

“That
may be true, but I have other friends that you do not know of that will rescue
me.”

 The
dark figure looked slightly apprehensive for the first time during their little
chat. He did not like the tone in which he referred to these other friends.
What
is this little fool hiding from me?

“So,
you have invisible friends that will break you out of this prison?”

“Yes,
they will come to my aid when the time is right.”

“I
think that you have the very dementia that you accused me of having earlier.
Your arrogance will be your downfall. I see through your lies and deception,
old friend.”

“You
may believe whatever you want; that does not change the fact that they will
come. Mark my words.”  His tone took on a very serious edge to it as he said
these words.  His bold words were giving him confidence to stand firm against
the devil in front of him.

“Considered
your weak words marked. Now, you will tell me everything you know about that
image I saw in your feeble mind.”  His eyes began to burn bright red and looked
as though flames were about to shoot out of them.  His impatience was rising to
the surface and his anticipation of discovering important information was
causing him to lose control.

“Torture
me all you like, Drogan; you know you cannot kill me.”  Keb had a definite edge
to his voice as he spat back at his dark tormentor.  His confidence began to
waver once more as the demon continue his deliberate approach.

“Well,
well…you are not afraid to speak my name aloud anymore. Impressive.”  He had a
wicked gleam in his fiery eyes that told Keb that he had better prepare for the
worst. He had seen that look before from his villainous captor. He braced for
the physical and mental attacks that were about to be unleashed upon him with
ferocity that he knew all too well.

“You
must do what you feel is necessary, of course. Know this…friend, any
information you find in my mind will not help you or your cause. Remember,
limitations beset everything in this world; you should know this by now.”

“We
shall see…” The dark one raised his hands above his head, which caused a
blackish fire to ignite in his outstretched hands. He lowered his arms
dramatically and sent balls of fire directly at the defenseless guardian. In an
instant, he was engulfed in fiery blackness. His very substance burned
painfully hot while the real threat of this attack bored into his mind. The
blackness was a foreign spirit that penetrated most of his mental barriers
within a few seconds.

Lord
Keb dropped to his knees as he clasped his head, which was engulfed in flames.
He was reeling from the power of the dark spirit Drogan was using on him to
extract the information he desired. The spirit easily circumvented the magical
barriers he had placed around a secret race he had knowledge of. However, the
spirit quickly moved on because that was not what its master was looking for.
There was a particular image that needed to be found and identified. Keb tried
his best to fend off the relentless assault on his mental facilities to no
avail. His walls seemed to melt away at the whim of the intruder. It was a very
uncomfortable feeling having one’s mind read like an open book. The strain of
trying to fend off the evil spirit was draining any remaining strength he had
left after his encounters with Kana, the serpent, and most recently Drogan.

After
only a few minutes of perusing, the spirit lurched suddenly while in Keb’s
head. The image that he was sent to find was just behind a series of mental
barriers. Keb tried desperately to conceal the secret that he knew he must not
reveal. Drogan sensed the iron will of his captive increase in intensity and
knew that he needed to do something immediately to distract the Elemental long
enough to give his spirit creature the edge needed to gain access to the concealed
information. He held aloft a jet-black staff that had appeared in his hands out
of thin air. He pointed the tip of the staff at the burning guardian and sent a
cloud of ferocious vampire bats swirling at him. The bats began to bite and
generally torment the beleaguered Keb as he struggled to fend them off. They
did not do much damage physically, but mentally he let his guard slip slightly.

During
the split second that Keb was distracted, the demon spirit smashed through the
magical barriers and captured the information that the guardian had tried so
desperately to conceal. Once the creature had the information, it withdrew from
the battered mind he had invaded and returned to its master. A broad smile
crept across the demon lord’s face. This was a very unpleasant sight to behold
and sent chills down the spine of the hunched figure of the broken Lord Keb. He
knew that he had given his enemy a secret that would alter the fate of Tuwa and
its people forever. He silently hoped that Drogan would not know what to do
with the information that he had successfully retrieved for his new master.
Kana would know what to do with this intelligence. Keb did not doubt that. He
hoped that the dark lord would try to keep his findings a secret and not
divulge it to the now twisted elder guardian. That was really the only hope he
had for this horrific situation he found himself in.

“You
are a weaker than I thought. That was not much of a defense, earth lord. I
expected greater things from you.”  He laughed raucously at the bent figure
before him. He was enjoying the fact that he was able to so easily break a
guardian. He really did believe that it would take days of torture instead of a
few minutes.

“Leave
me, dark one. You have what you were sent here for. Go back to your new master
and report what you have found.”

“I
serve no one!”  He smacked the poor Elemental across his right temple with his
black, gnarly staff. Everything went dark, and Keb knew no more for a space of
time.

 “Mistress
Kana, I have the information that you were unable to find,” stated the dark
lord wickedly.

“Very
good; let’s hear what you have found out,” replied Kana coolly. She did not
care for her dark companion, but she could not dismiss his results and his
effectiveness. Sometimes a person is required to make a pact with the devil in
order to achieve their designs. This was one of those situations.  It was just
too bad that this devil annoyed her.

“What
is in it for me?”  He felt that his bargaining position had improved since
their first meeting. He was going to push his advantage while he still had it.