The Guardians (Book 2) (16 page)

Evan made his way up to the third floor
and found the place where the soldier had deposited his gear. He stretched out his bedding and placed Norah gently in the middle, covering her carefully with the softest blanket, and placing his pillow beside her to prevent her rolling onto the cold boards. When General Marnol found him, he was fast asleep on the hard, bare floor with Norah stretched out comfortably on the bedroll beside him.

Chapter 22

Reunion

Dale opened his eyes and glared at Danil who couldn’t help but smile at the look on the Baron’s face.

‘
Good morning Baron Dale!’ said Danil politely, placing his hand firmly on Dale’s shoulder as he tried unsuccessfully to sit up.

‘
Get your hand off my shoulder Danil!’ said Dale crossly, trying to push Danil’s hand away. He may as well have been trying to push the city wall over for all the impact he had on the huge soldier. Danil shook his head. ‘You’re not ready to sit up yet, Dale.’

‘
I’ll sit up if I want to! Stop pushing me, Danil! Get away from me! Why is there water on me?’ Dale clicked his tongue irritably, looking at the water spilt on his chest.

‘
Because for the last two days, we’ve been trying to get water into you to keep you alive and you’ve done your best to make this task impossible,’ Danil explained. ‘Most days I’ve had Mil hold you down and Eibhear force your mouth open whilst I pour the water down your throat. I didn’t think such violent reactions were possible for a normal unconscious human, but obviously you’re not quite normal.’ Dale snorted derisively as Eibhear approached.

‘
I offered to hit you with something to make the job of feeding you a lot easier,’ said Eibhear, flexing his hand into a fist, ‘but Danil wouldn’t allow it.’ He sounded disappointed.

‘
At least you sound like we got enough of the Pelgavik into you, Dale,’ said Danil.

‘
What’s that supposed to mean?’ Dale growled. ‘Who knows what noxious weeds Eibhear’s been shoving down my throat!’ he added not waiting for an answer. ‘And someone your size shouldn’t need two warriors to help him feed someone a little water, Danil,’ he finished obnoxiously.

‘
You need more sleep Dale,’ Danil stated. ‘You’re not well enough yet to move about. Could you please try to get back to sleep?’

‘
No! Lift me up so I can stand. Or do you need Eibhear to help you with that too?’

‘
Is there anyone else you want to insult before I step back and let Eibhear make the job of feeding you easier,’ said Danil threateningly, and Eibhear grinned and flexed his fist once again.

‘
You wouldn’t dare!’ Dale snarled managing to push himself up onto his elbows.

‘
No, but I would,’ said Milgorry, appearing beside Danil. He leaned over and brushed his hand over Dale’s face. Sheer indignity registered on Dale’s face for a fraction of a second before he lost consciousness once again. Milgorry, Danil and Eibhear burst out laughing and Danil caught Dale’s head before he hit the rocks.

‘
Good,’ said Danil. ‘He should be a lot better when he next wakes up. ‘He can ride his horse when we leave, so we could leave sooner.’

‘What about the King, and the Princess and Duke?’ asked Eibhear, glancing over to where the three sat quietly together.

‘
They’ll be fine,’ said Danil reassuringly. He walked over to Dannicus. ‘Your Majesty, with your permission, I’d like to try to get through to Castle today,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately we will all have to walk, as Dale will have to ride his horse…if he can even sit up.’

‘
What’s the likelihood of success?’

‘
We’re a big enough group now that they would have to come at us in force to stop us. I don’t think they will.’

‘
We’ll leave as soon as you think we’re ready, Danil.’

It was late afternoon
when the group reached the gates of the castle. There was a shout from the wall adjacent to the barbican and seconds later General Marnol appeared. The group approached the portcullis. The General stood in mute shock as he stared down at them, then he sprinted along the wall to the stone steps and tore towards the gates, shouting for the guards to raise the Portcullis.

The King stepped
inside.

‘
Your Majesty!’ said General Marnol, hardly able to believe his eyes. ‘Welcome home! Princess Elizabeth, Duke Li… I’ve never been so relieved in all my life. Prince Kelian! Thank His Supreme Majesty you’re back!’

‘
Thank you General,’ said Dannicus as his eyes wandered around the courtyard. He leaned towards General Marnol and spoke quietly. ‘Marny, if I don’t lie down, I’m going to fall down.’

General Marnol smiled at his old friend and whispered back.
‘You should get some sleep then Danny. We can talk tomorrow when you’re rested.’

‘
Thank you,’ said Dannicus gratefully. ‘Lizzy, you and Li should get some rest too. We’ll meet in the conference room tomorrow morning and the General can bring us up to date on what’s happening.’ Duke Li took Princess Elizabeth’s hand and they walked into the keep after the King.

‘
Danil, how are we supposed to explain that we now have a huge bunch of the fallen standing inside the walls?’ asked General Marnol, warily eyeing the dangerous looking warriors. ‘Lias!’ he exclaimed, before Danil could answer and Lias stepped forward and shook the General’s hand. Marnol slapped him heartily on the back. Rudiger visibly relaxed as he watched.

‘
Suffice to explain that these are free warriors, not fallen, and they are to be given the same respect that would be shown to the guardians,’ said Danil firmly. The warriors watched with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

General Marnol
looked across to where Callian, Timbul and Araas stood with Borgulnay, Gilgarry and Tolly. ‘King’s Colonel Borgulnay,’ he said loudly, bringing Borgulnay to sudden attention, ‘change your uniform shirt! King’s Captain Gilgarry, change your vest! Report back to me on the double!’

Borgulnay stood rooted to the ground staring at General Marnol in confusion.
‘Excuse me, sir, with all due respect, did Gil and I just skip a couple of ranks?’

‘We’re horribly short on officers,’ Marnol explained. ‘Evan brought back reinforcements from Highview, but they had a nasty encounter with some Nailmarni before they arrived and sadly we lost a number of officers and a lot of good men.’

‘Shouldn’t we have a formal-’ Gilgarry began, but General Marnol interrupted.

‘You can wait until all this is over.’ He sighed and shook his head. ‘We badly need more officers. You two are more than capable of doing the job. So get going!’ The two men dashed away. ‘I’ll be on the wall!’ he shouted after them.

‘
General, I’ll be off to the kitchen. Who knows what everyone has been eating in my absence,’ Tolly joked as he left. General Marnol made his way up the steps onto the wall and everyone followed.

‘
Highness is there anything you need to know now or can it all wait until the morning?’ he asked Kelian. He stopped speaking as a soldier approached. ‘What is it Simon?’ asked Marnol, taking note of the strange look on the soldier’s face.

‘
Sir, you’re not going to believe this, but my pack is missing! My entire pack! My bedroll and…well, everything!’ said Simon indignantly.

‘I trust you had no valuable private possessions in your pack?’ asked Marnol.

‘
No sir. I know that’s not allowed. But why would someone take my pack?’ he asked, looking bewildered.

‘
I have no idea, Simon, but you’re not the first to complain. Go down to the provisions cellar and get what you need.’

‘
Yes sir,’ said Simon. He made a salute and headed down the stone stairs.

‘
Packs are going missing?’ asked Kelian, looking puzzled. ‘But if anyone needs anything surely we have enough in our provisions cellar?’

‘
We do. But we’ve had it heavily guarded since the first attack of the Nailmarni. When the first few packs disappeared I wondered if someone was taking gear to the Nailmarni or the fallen, but that doesn’t make sense. I can’t think of anything in a soldier’s pack that either would want or need, they are so different from us.’

‘
How many have gone missing?’ asked Kelian.

‘
Including Simon’s, twenty seven,’ said General Marnol. ‘When they started to go missing, we lost ten the first day, then five the next day! Then none went missing for a while, but lately it has started again, only now whoever’s taking them is only taking one at a time.’

‘
Twenty-seven!’ Kelian repeated looking astounded. ‘I’ll hear everything in the morning, General. In the meantime, I’m going to take Callian, Timbul and Araas and have a look at the line of Nailmarni surrounding the city.’

‘
No need, Highness,’ General Marnol assured him. ‘Evan and Callum came back with a report on what they are up to.’

‘
They’re not showing any signs of actually attacking us again, are they?’ said Kelian shrewdly.

‘
Not yet,’ General Marnol admitted, looking at Kelian curiously.

‘
As far as I can see, General, their attack on us was just a goad to try to draw out the Daoine Maithe. The Dwellings is a difficult place to attack and I’m sure the Nailmarni would like nothing better than to be able to attack them almost anywhere else.’

‘
If that’s the case, and if Tiernan doesn’t take the bait, they might just try that tactic again, and with a little more force,’ said Danil soberly.

‘
That is true,’ said Kelian. ‘Let’s discuss this in the morning when everyone’s rested, including me.’ He turned and went into the keep.

General Marnol
eyed Dale who was unconscious and being carried by Eibhear. Soldiers had taken Leon to the stables to be groomed. ‘Surely he didn’t injure himself again?’ he asked in disbelief.

‘
Well, he tackled one of the Nailmarni, and dislocated his shoulder and broke his ankle, and got himself covered in Nailmarni blood,’ Danil explained, ‘which is why he keeps losing consciousness. I’d better get some water into him.’

‘
I’m sure you have enough to do King’s Marshall,’ said Eibhear. ‘We’ll look after him. Do you have a supply of noxious weeds I can feed him?’ he added jokingly, and General Marnol raised his eyebrows as Danil laughed.

‘
I’m not quite sure what to do with all of you,’ said Danil to the warriors. They were warily eyeing the soldiers in the courtyard, who in turn were giving the warriors a very wide berth.

‘
We could go down to the harbor to find out what that ship is doing,’ Rudiger suggested, inclining his head towards the bay and Danil and General Marnol spun around to stare towards the water.

‘
The ‘Swift!’ Danil cried. ‘Let’s go!’

They
sprinted down to the docks and waited patiently as the boat sailed into the harbor. Danil and Marnol moved forward as a boarding ramp was extended between the ship and the dock and Captain Gillam, Executive Officer Dominique, Queen Aithne, Elena and Immosey stepped ashore. Queen Aithne stared nervously at the group but Elena and Immosey leapt forward and greeted everyone gladly.

‘
It’s good to see you alive, little sister,’ said Rudiger to Immosey as Queen Aithne watched in surprise. ‘And you little Queen,’ he said to Elena. ‘Majesty,’ he added, bowing his head before Queen Aithne, who managed to incline her head in acknowledgement.

Danil stepped forward and
officially greeted the Queen then he led the group up to the castle. He decided to take the Queen to her chambers where King Dannicus was resting, rather than blurt out the news of the King’s survival, as he felt the Queen was looking tired and haggard, and he didn’t wish to see her faint from shock in public. He escorted her to the door of her rooms and as the guards stood aside, he moved strategically to block the entrance. She waited apprehensively as he spoke.

‘
Queen Aithne, something wonderful has happened. I just want to ask you to prepare yourself before you enter your chambers. There is someone you love waiting to see you.’

‘
Kelian?’ she asked hopefully, and Danil shook his head.

‘
No. I didn’t mean his Highness, though I believe he’s also resting inside.’ Danil stepped aside and opened the door for the Queen. She moved through the doorway and across the room as if she was in a dream. Sunlight fell on the man sleeping on the bed under the window. Tears of love and joy burst from the Queen as she ran across the room and threw herself upon her husband. Dannicus woke in surprise then wrapped his arms tightly around his wife. Then Kelian was beside them and the little family huddled together, basking in the unexpected bliss of finding each other alive.

‘
We’re missing Eijelin,’ Kelian commented.

‘
I miss her terribly too, Kelian, but she’s far safer at the Dwellings,’ said Queen Aithne.

Danil smiled as he watched the reunion and then he backed away and shut the door. He leaned against the stone wall of the hallway and sighed, wondering what was happening at the Dwellings and if
everyone was still safe. He knew Tiernan would never let Valeska fight whilst she carried a child, but if the Nailmarni managed to overrun the Dwellings, she might end up having to defend herself, and if the battle came to the point where those being protected had to fight, there was little chance of victory - or even survival.