The Guardians (Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter 14

Nailmarni Blood

Dale pressed his back against the grey stringy bark of the red cedar and tried not to breathe. His heart hammered furiously in his chest. He wondered on which side of the tree the Nailmarni would appear. Part of him longed to turn and look, but terror held him frozen where he stood. There was a slight rustle to his right and he turned his head. Not ten paces away stood an extremely pale figure, dressed only in a brown leather skirt. It was standing sideways to Dale, but was looking away. Dale whipped an arrow from his quiver, nocked it and let fly. The arrow drove into the side of the creature and it staggered sideways, falling face forward to the ground. Dale ran forward, drew his dagger and drove it into the enemy’s neck. He was certain it wouldn’t have been so easy if Eibhear hadn’t already wounded the creature before they were separated. He sat back on his heels and looked around cautiously, wondering if any others were following. They had been within sight of Castle when a group of Nailmarni attacked. With remarkable speed and ferocity the warriors fought back and drove the Nailmarni through the forest. The group was soon scattered and Dale found himself alone. He acknowledged just how fortunate he was to have had time to kill the Nailmarni that was following him before it saw where he was hiding. He stood up, wondering which direction he should go.

‘
Don’t let the blood touch your skin,’ a voice in his ear warned him and Dale leapt sideways, not having heard Rudiger approach. ‘Follow me,’ Rudiger ordered and Dale scrambled after him. The warrior moved through the trees so fast Dale had to run to keep up. After a while Rudiger noticed Dale was falling behind and he slowed and then stopped. He waited for Dale to catch up and rest for a moment and then they moved through the trees again, a little slower this time. They hadn’t gone more than a hundred paces when Rudiger turned and pointed upwards. In a flash he lifted Dale into a lacebark tree and Dale reached down and dragged Rudiger up beside him. The tree offered almost no concealment and it was too small and slender to climb to any height. They silently watched. There was movement close by and Dale touched Rudiger’s shoulder and pointed.

‘
Is it…?’

‘
Nailmarni,’ Rudiger quietly confirmed and Dale drew an arrow from his quiver. Rudiger copied and the two men sat with bows drawn, staring into the trees. Rudiger frowned towards the place where they had seen movement, lowered his bow and wondered which direction the Nailmarni had gone. Dale turned and his gaze swept across the nearby bushes. He grimaced as he saw white figures and the hair on his arms prickled uncomfortably. He released the arrow. Rudiger cursed and aimed at the second figure. Two bodies hit the ground. At the same moment Dale slipped on the branch and accidentally dropped his bow. Ignoring the shocked look from Rudiger, he launched himself from the tree and landed on the third white figure, slamming it backwards. He sprawled across the hard, leaf-strewn ground, completely winded as the Nailmarni rose to its feet and stood over him, drawing a short sword from a sheath which formed part of its skirt. Dale gave a cry of shock and tried to roll sideways, and then shouted again as pain confirmed that his shoulder was dislocated. He heard a thud, and an arrow burst through the Nailmarni’s chest. The white figure toppled over and its hard skull crashed against Dale’s head as it flopped onto him pinning him to the ground. For a few seconds Dale lost consciousness.

He opened his eyes and took a deep breath as Rudiger dragged the white body away
. The pain in his shoulder took hold and he gritted his teeth. His ankle hurt badly too and he wondered if he had sprained it. Rudiger crouched beside him.

‘
Sorry Dale, but this is really going to hurt,’ said Rudiger frankly. He dragged his shirt over his head, rolled it and wedged it under Dale’s arm, and then he took Dale’s wrist in both his hands and pulled. Dale shouted at the flash of pain as the shoulder righted itself. He tried to sit up, but Rudiger held him firmly on the ground and shook his head. He unrolled the shirt, tore it in half and made a sling which he tied over Dale’s shoulder. Dale tried to stand again and once again Rudiger pinned him to the ground with one hand.

‘
Baron, are you planning to hop, and hold your broken ankle off the ground?’ he said sarcastically. ‘Stop moving and give me a chance to see if I can sense where Danil is. I’d rather not make a lot of noise or we’ll have every Nailmarni within shouting distance after us.’ He stood up and gazed into the trees.

‘
Nasty bastards, aren’t they?’ Dale mumbled, looking at the bodies sprawled in the leaves beside him. ‘And I see what you mean about their blood,’ he added, as a burning sensation began to spread across his chest and up his neck. Rudiger swung around in dismay.

‘
Please don’t tell me you got blood on you, Dale!’ he said, looking horrified. He cursed when he saw the clear fluid staining Dale’s shirt, neck and the side of his face. He stood up, his mind racing, and then he took a deep breath. ‘Danil!’ he screamed at the top of his voice.

‘
Oh lovely,’ said Dale drily. ‘The legendary quiet and stealthy warrior.’ He turned his head as Danil appeared beside him. Danil looked at his ankle and gently took it in his hand. Dale sighed with relief as he felt the healing warmth flow through him.

‘
Danil, if we don’t do something about the blood all over Dale, he’ll be dead within a day. And he shouldn’t walk on that ankle. Not just yet, anyway,’ said Rudiger. ‘Let’s find everyone.’

Danil
followed Rudiger through the trees, with Dale clinging to his back. They were joined by Eibhear, Lars and Tolly, and then Ben and Rezon appeared behind them, overtook them and led the way up the granite scattered hillside, passing over the top of a rise and rushing down the far side. They hurried forward for over an hour, ascending a long valley before they stopped in front of huge granite boulders. The rocks stretched far above their heads effectively preventing their moving any further. ‘Get him inside,’ said Rudiger tersely, and he pulled a bush sideways, revealing a gap between two of the massive boulders. Danil put Dale down and they crawled through the hole and found themselves on a wide flat plane of granite. The massive stones blocked entrance from the north, east and west, and to the south the rock face fell vertically. Danil could see three bodies covered in blankets.

‘
Who are they?’ he asked, as Rudiger and Eibhear appeared beside him.

‘
I think they’re farmers,’ said Rudiger. ‘We found a lot of dead bodies between here and Three Ways, but these were alive. Barely alive. Unfortunately they were covered in Nailmarni blood. We’ve been treating them but they haven’t regained consciousness for long enough to ask them any questions. Even so, they seem a lot better than they did when we found them.’

‘
Where did you find them?’ asked Danil.

‘
They were at a farmhouse not far from the Nailmarni nest,’ said Eibhear. ‘We’d only just broken through their line and we stumbled on these three hiding on the roof of the farmhouse. They’re lucky we did, or they’d certainly be dead. I think they must have been trying to help some of the others that were attacked – they had so much blood on them. I’m not sure whether they lost consciousness because of the Nailmarni blood, or because they were terrified of us.’

Lars and Jival crawled through the gap in the rocks and passed
a bunch of herbs to Rudiger. Rudiger inspected the herbs. He knelt beside Dale, who was lying tiredly against the rocks, and handed him the herbs and his water bag.

‘
You need to eat every morsel of this plant, Dale, and then you need to drink all of the water in this bag.’ He looked gravely at Dale. ‘All of it.’ Dale pushed himself backwards until he was sitting up with his back resting against a lump of rock. He took the herbs and began to chew, gagging a little as the bitter flavor caught in his throat.

‘
What is this horrible, disgusting plant? And where’s Tolly?’ asked Dale, looking around worriedly.

‘
Pelgavik. Tolly’s keeping guard with Ben and little Rezon,’ said Eibhear.

‘
And this awful weed is supposed to stop me from getting sick because the blood?’ Dale looked skeptically at the leaves which reminded him of quite a few poisonous plants.

‘
No, Baron,’ said Eibhear unhappily. ‘You’re going to get sick. Very sick. In fact, within a couple of hours you’ll be unconscious and you’ll stay that way for days at the very least. But that little herb is your hope. You now have a greater than even chance of living. Hopefully.’

‘
Oh great,’ said Dale, looking appalled whilst putting the remainder of the plant in his mouth.

‘
Don’t worry,’ said Eibhear. ‘I’ll keep the water and herbs up to you until you wake up - if you do wake up.’

‘
So you’ll still be here to torment me?’ Dale enquired sarcastically.

‘
You’ll need someone to keep you out of trouble, Dale. When you wake up, you’ll be even more cantankerous than you normally are! In truth, I doubt I’ll hang around. You’re likely to bite the head off the nearest person. Pelgavik has that effect on humans.’

Dale rolled his eyes and
began to drink. He emptied the water bag, and then took off his shirt which was splattered with clear blood from the Nailmarni who had fallen on him. Eibhear poured his own water bag over Dale and he did his best to scrub the strange fluid from his body. Then he lay down on the rocks.

‘
He’s asleep!’ said Eibhear in surprise.

‘
Humans do that when they get tired, Eibhear,’ said Rudi drily.

‘
No, I mean, he’s asleep, soaking wet and just lying on the rocks!’

‘
That’s our Baron Dale,’ said Danil smiling. ‘I’ve rarely known him to have difficulty sleeping.’ He frowned as he turned back to Rudiger. ‘How long have the farmers been unconscious?’

‘
Quite a while,’ said Rudiger ominously. ‘We’ve had to crush up the Pelgavik and mix it into the water, and then force it into them, but they’ve all had a good dose.’

Danil crouched beside the three bodies and peeled the blanke
t from the face of the nearest. He gave a gasp of shock and fell forward onto his knees. In a flash, he reached over and dragged the blankets from the faces of the two other bodies then he sat staring at them, his eyes wide.

‘
Dale,’ he whispered, not bothering to turn to the sleeping Baron.

‘
He can’t hear you, Danil,’ said Eibhear, as if this should be obvious.

‘
He can hear me,’ said Danil firmly. ‘Can’t you Dale?’

‘
I can hear you King’s Marshall,’ said Dale, without opening his eyes. ‘It’s just that I’m having such a nice sleep, and you seem to want to wake me!’

‘
You need to see this, Baron,’ said Danil, and the tone of Danil’s voice coupled with the use of Dale’s title, made Dale sit up. He crawled over to Danil then he knelt staring at the three bodies, barely believing his eyes. A myriad of emotions tore through his heart. There, dressed in farmers’ clothing but obviously alive and breathing were the bodies of King Dannicus, Princess Elizabeth and Duke Li.

Chapter 15

Strategies

A feeling of calm control stole over Kelian. He looked at Callian in surprise. ‘Thank you,’ he said and the guardian inclined his head understandingly.

‘
Lady Sophie, you said they could disappear. Could you describe this please?’ asked Kelian, gathering his composure with Callian’s help.

‘
Callian called them Nailmarni and from what the soldiers said, it was just like trying to find a stonefish. One moment there was nothing to see, and then a second later someone starts screaming. And just as suddenly they would disappear into the background. Evan said he was close to one when they disappeared and for a few seconds after their body seemed to melt away, he could see the pale eyes staring back at him, then they were gone too. He said he swung his sword at where they had been, but hit nothing. Then he noticed that their strange clothing – a sort of skirt – didn’t actually disappear, it just blended in so well with the surrounds that he hadn’t noticed it before. But he said by then it was too late and the Nailmarni was gone.’

‘
Who are they?’ said Kelian.

Callian
glanced at Tiernan who hesitated for a few seconds before answering. ‘They have ever been our enemies. For as long as I can remember we have striven against them, always managing to drive them back, but never eliminating them. I have no idea what they call themselves, once we simply called them
Namhaid,
enemy. But Nailmarni is also a name we have used for these people.’

‘
Nailmarni,’ said Kelian. ‘Well, now they’re also our enemy. What do they want? Where did they come from?’

‘
They want to destroy the guardians completely, because if they do, they gain this whole land and to them it’s a feast. We have no idea where they originally came from, but they have been a thorn in our side for longer than time remembers. They destroy and acquire, at the expense of any inhabitants of any land they choose to take. It was given to the guardians to resist them and protect the humans, but their presence has not been seen in this land for longer than you can imagine.’ He looked tensely at Kelian. ‘Highness, the last time we battled against this enemy, the fallen and the guardians were one people and we managed to expel them from the land. But the battle was horrendous. And terribly close. Far too close.’

‘
Why? Are they so skilled?’ asked Kelian.

‘
Sheer numbers,’ said Callian soberly. ‘There were perhaps several hundred guardians at the time, and quite a few thousand Nailmarni.’

‘
Thousands,’ Kelian exclaimed, ‘and you still managed to defeat them?’

‘
Only to drive them away,’ Callian clarified. ‘Of course, with our limited strategic skills we weren’t able to come up with a good enough battle plan to eradicate them entirely.’

‘
That’s still a fairly incredible feat, even for a guardian,’ Kelian observed.

‘
You obviously haven’t seen one of them get really…irritated,’ Milgorry said with a smirk.

‘
Actually, I have,’ said Kelian, glancing at Timbul and remembering the guardian’s attack on the six fallen warriors who had tortured and murdered the human woman he loved. Timbul’s face darkened and turned hard and Tiernan turned to look at him. He placed a hand on Timbul’s shoulder and stared deeply into his eyes for a few seconds then he withdrew his gaze and sighed.

‘
I’m sorry Tim. I wish you had told me,’ he said and the pain emanating from the two guardians was tangible. Tiernan looked curiously at his son. ‘You are far more skilled and dangerous than I realized,’ he admitted. ‘We will need every skill of every guardian to handle these invaders.’

‘
By why would they want to take Alkira?’ Kelian persisted.

‘
Because Alkira has much to offer, particularly as a source of food,’ Callian answered. ‘Like a massive nest of ants, their numbers grow and they need a bigger nest, so they take anything standing in their way. And we’ve battled them before so there’s more than a little resentment towards us.’

‘Where did they come from?’ asked Kelian. ‘I don’t mean thousands of years back. I mean now. Where do they live?’

‘
After our last battle we confined them to a land so far away on the other side of this world that I hoped we’d never see them again,’ said Tiernan.

‘
And now they’ve attacked Castle,’ said Kelian contemplatively. ‘Why?’

‘
Perhaps they’re trying to eliminate anyone who might help us,’ said Callian, sounding uncomfortable.

‘
No,’ said Kelian. ‘There’s something wrong here...’ He gazed into the distance as his mind raced. ‘What do they really want?’ His voice was a whisper as if asking himself. He suddenly sat forward and gripped the arm rests of his chair and his eyes fixed on Tiernan. ‘I don’t think their goal is to eliminate any danger the garrison at Castle represents to them, Tiernan. Lady Sophie said there is less than a tenth of our garrison left alive, and very few officers, and that many of the citizens have been killed. If their goal was to cripple Castle, then they’ve already succeeded. You say their intention is to destroy the Daoine Maithe. I think what they’re trying to do is to draw the guardian forces out. This would be a very difficult place to attack. They want to pull your forces away from here, leaving the Dwellings under-protected and vulnerable. I’d also be willing to bet they have a couple more nests close by.’

Callian
turned to Milgorry. ‘Where do the free stand? Will your people be willing to help us?’

Milgorry let his breath out
in a sigh. ‘Callian, if it was something I could control, we would have our forces lined up beside yours the very second we could manage it. Unfortunately my people are on the verge of disintegrating into war with each other. I am not the only one to stand openly against my father. There are more and more warriors who are willing to fight against his control. After we left the Ice Coast, we were followed almost to Tarlique before we managed to slip away from those who were tracking us, but I doubt Nandul will back down. His need for retribution against Kelian is too strong to let the insult pass,’ he said referring to Kelian’s flight through Nyinaku to rescue his fiancé and her sisters. ‘He will take revenge, regardless of whether civil war breaks out or not. Whilst he thinks he’s in charge, he’ll be quite happy to manage a war as well as an invasion. If only Garran, the true Prince of Nyinaku hadn’t disappeared or been returned, much of this trouble could be avoided.’

‘
Garran, the missing Prince.’ Kelian knew that even mentioning the missing Prince of Nyinaku had a significant effect on the fallen. ‘But we don’t know whether he remained here or whether he was returned.’

‘
He’s not returned,’ said Callian with certainty. ‘I think he just doesn’t want to be found.’

‘
What makes you say that?’ asked Kelian.

A pained expression flashed over
Callian’s face. He turned away momentarily. ‘I just know.’

Kelian paced back and forth across the patio with his arms crossed
, knowing Callian would not allow the subject to be pursued.

‘
So, we have the people of Nyinaku on the brink of civil war. And we left a bunch of their warriors somewhere around Chayse, and unless Colonel Mulgrew’s men have been able to repel them, they might head for Tarlique. We have Nandul planning whatever horrible revenge he plans to take – we already agreed that he would declare our little venture an act of war. And just to top it all off, we have a ring of murdering invaders around Castle and nests of them in the Castle Hills and who knows where else, and their ultimate goal is to wipe out everything in their path!’ Kelian sighed heavily. ‘It doesn’t rain…’

‘
and then it pours,’ Lady Karrijeuiga finished in agreement. ‘We need to come up with a workable plan. Strategy isn’t something either the guardians or the free do well, though Callian is far better than most of us, as is Lady Valeska. Prince Kelian, would you be willing to help us?’

‘
Of course,’ Kelian declared adamantly. ‘Callian, I have no doubt you know almost everything there is to know about these people,’ he said. ‘Borg, if you and Gil would get your heads together with Callian and Lady Valeska, and report back to me before nightfall. I want every suggestion you can come up with to begin to deal with this mess. Put your heads together and give me some suggestions on what you feel we should do first. And I think we need to ignore who thinks they are guardians to whom. No!’ he said raising a hand to forestall Tiernan’s objection. ‘We need a plan which ensures we all survive.
All of us
.’

‘
Yes, sir!’ Borgulnay stood and left the room, closely followed by Callian, Valeska and Gilgarry.

‘
Now,’ Kelian continued. ‘Somehow I have to deal with Nandul.’

‘
I
have to deal with Nandul, Kelian,’ Tiernan replied. ‘I want him brought here, but failing that, I’m considering hunting him down myself and returning him.’

Milgorry sighed in frustration.
‘I had the point of my sword at the bastard’s throat and I couldn’t bring myself to drive it through his neck! After all the killing, after all the evil he’s brought upon people, even after he beat me to within inches of being returned, I still couldn’t return him!’

‘
But he couldn’t return you either, could he?’ said Tiernan knowingly.

Lias grinned.
‘No, he couldn’t return Mil, because even though he tied Mil’s hands with leather straps and had at least ten warriors surrounding him, and he’d beaten him almost into unconsciousness, Mil managed to break his own bonds and heal his broken collar bone. I think Nandul nearly soiled himself in fright!’ Lias laughed remembering Nandul’s face.

Tiernan looked at
Milgorry knowingly. ‘Who else have you helped?’

Milgorry said nothing, so Lias answered for him.
‘So far he’s healed his little sister when someone pushed her off a wall and Immosey’s arm when Garret broke it, and then David of Castle’s arm after he got too close to danger in a bit of a skirmish that broke out in Nyinaku,’ Lias explained. ‘Did I miss anything?’ he said turning to Milgorry. Milgorry still didn’t reply as he looked warily at Karrijeuiga and Tiernan. Tiernan took Karri’s hand in his own.

‘
There are changes happening here, and right now we must use every gift of every race, of the humans, of the guardians and of the free. Milgorry, do you know why you can’t return your father?’ Milgorry shook his head. ‘It’s
because
he’s your father,’ Tiernan explained. ‘Siblings cannot betray each other and parents and children cannot return each other.’

‘
I didn’t know that,’ Milgorry admitted.

‘
It’s just way we are,’ said Tiernan.

‘
We?’ said Milgorry, looking distrustfully at Tiernan.

‘
We were once one people,’ said Tiernan. ‘It seems there are some things that haven’t changed. And you Milgorry of Tarl are less different from the guardians than you think.’

Karrijeuiga
tapped her fingers on the table. ‘What is the most likely place that Nandul would attack, if he was to declare war on the humans?’

‘
Probably Castle,’ said Milgorry. ‘But he’d send in scouts first.’

‘
What about the group that tracked you near Chayse. Do you think they’ll try to get through to Tarlique?’ asked Tiernan.

‘
I wish there was some way of knowing how Colonel Mulgrew’s men went,’ said Milgorry. ‘That would tell us a lot about what their plan was. If they were just intent on taking Louisa back to Nandul, as soon as we escaped they will have gone to tell him. If their goal was purely revenge, then I doubt Tarlique is still standing.’

‘
Milgorry, you know that Nandul will come after your child, either whilst Louisa still carries it, or within the first twenty years of the child’s life.’

‘
Yes. I know. Which is why I brought Louisa here, but I’ll do everything in my power to keep her and our child safe. Absolutely everything,’ said Milgorry adamantly.

Tiernan
inclined his head in agreement. ‘I’ll be returned before I let anything happen to them, Mil. You know this, don’t you?’

Milgorry
didn’t reply, overwhelmed by Tiernan’s sincerity towards him.