The Guardians (Book 2) (23 page)

Chapter 2
8

Raline

Callian
glanced over his shoulder and felt an intense pang of alarm. The Nailmarni were closer than he had expected; less than a hundred paces behind him. From what he could see, all of those who had remained in the nest had taking the bait and were chasing him. He moved a little faster as he sprinted up the slope. He felt reasonably confident that over the short distance his speed would keep him alive, but he knew if something went wrong he couldn’t outpace them forever. Eventually he would tire, and they might not. He crested the hill and angled slightly southward. Along the top of the hill the path divided, with a rising rocky ridge splitting the ground. The land fell away to the north inviting him to rush downhill, but to the left the ground rose sharply towards a maze of granite boulders and rough tyallas, and it was this path he chose. They had taken the opportunity to explore the area between the nest and the chasm, knowing Callian would need to know in advance the best path to take. To Callian, the northern route appeared better, easier and less cluttered, but Borgulnay was adamant that he would be faster and safer taking the southern path. He insisted that this way was far shorter, even though it didn’t appear so to Callian. But Borgulnay was adamant, and Callian trusted him. He leapt over the boulders in his path and dodged his way through the coarse grass, avoiding large anthills as he raced up the slope. He looked back once again, pleased that the Nailmarni had taken the northern route past the ridge of rocks. They were now more than three hundred paces behind him and Callian mentally thanked Borgulnay. He was shaken once again when he saw movement through the trees where some of the Nailmarni had been hiding in the bush land. He pushed himself to run faster but several Nailmarni darted down the slope to cut him off. He changed direction slightly, but the Nailmarni were closing around him. A feeling of panic and despair washed over him as two Nailmarni approached far too quickly for him to outrun them. He dodged through the huge rocks and fallen tyallas and forced his legs to move faster as he neared the chasm, but he knew that there was no hope of him reaching the safety of the waiting rope. They would be upon him in seconds and he knew he had failed.

There was a
thud behind him and one of the Nailmarni crashed to the ground, with an arrow stuck completely through his chest and protruding from his back. Callian didn’t look back as the second Nailmarni fell. Seconds later he passed into the chasm and hope rekindled. He raced through the dry, straggly tyallas, lifting his feet so as not to trip in the long, dead grass. He leapt over a dead stump, slowed slightly as he studied the area, and dashed forward once again, jumping over masses of dry sticks and dead branches, long fallen from the rough old trees. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the Nailmarni were now within the chasm.  With a final spurt of energy he raced towards where he sincerely hoped a rope would now be waiting for him. The rope was there. He grabbed it and started to climb and someone immediately began to pull the rope upwards. He was barely out of reach when the Nailmarni were beneath him, trying to climb the impossible cliffs. He stopped climbing and gazed over the valley as he rose. He could already see fire breaking out across the mouth of the chasm and he watched in satisfaction as it quickly spread. He could see in the distance beyond the fire, a row of archers standing ready in case any should attempt to make it back through the flames. He recognized Danil, Milgorry, Gilgarry, Rudiger, Ben and Rezon. He reached the top of the cliffs and Lias and Borgulnay dragged him up onto the ledge. Across the rocks and spaced out around the cliffs surrounding the chasm, were the remaining free warriors and Daoine Maithe.

Callian
picked up his bow and slung his quiver onto his back. He moved to the edge of the rocks and began shooting arrows towards the Nailmarni. Then the fire took hold in earnest and roared towards the cliffs, driven by the wind of its own creation. The Nailmarni panicked, and though they were his hated enemy, Callian’s heart pained to see their terror as each one fell by an arrow, or they were overcome by the fire and burned to death.

Elena and Immosey
stood well back from the cliffs, forced away from the edge by Kelian and Dale, who were preventing the girls from seeing the burned bodies. And suddenly it was over. The fire reached the cliffs and was foiled by the towering rock face. There was no longer any movement from within the chasm and Callian lowered his bow. He stood warily watching the burning bush land for quite some time before he was completely satisfied with the result of Dale’s strategy, then he sat on the edge of the rocky cliff.

‘
Can we come to the edge yet?’ asked Elena, feeling impatient as they waited.

‘
I don’t think that would be a good idea,’ said Lias. Right below where they stood was a pile of blackened Nailmarni, who had all burned to death as they tried to climb the cliffs to escape the fire. Most had fallen in torturous positions depicting their horrible death.

Elena frowned.
‘Are they all dead? Is it not safe yet?’

‘
They’re dead and it’s safe,’ said Callian. ‘But it’s a horrible sight down there, Ellie.’ He gazed at her intensely and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to move as far from the edge of the cliffs as she possibly could.

‘
Alright, Callian,’ she said resignedly, acknowledging that the guardian was influencing her. ‘You don’t need to persuade me. I’ll stay away from the edge.’ She sat down with her back to the rocks and Immosey sat beside her. The sky was darkening when Danil, Gilgarry, Milgorry, Rudiger and Ben returned. Each of them was covered from head to toe with black ash, but that didn’t stop the girls throwing themselves at them and hugging each man in relief.

‘
Where’s little Rezon?’ asked Immosey as she noticed the huge warrior was missing.

‘
I’m not sure,’ Ben admitted, but he held up his hand as Immosey drew breath in alarm. ‘He’s out there somewhere. I can’t catch his thoughts, he’s too far away, but he wasn’t returned. When the fire started to die back a little, we decided to check the area to make sure there was no-one left alive, but Rez disappeared. Last I saw of him, he was heading south.’

‘
I wonder why?’ Elena mused. ‘Oh Ben, I hope he gets back here safely.’

‘
I think you can stop worrying about Rez, Ellie,’ said Milgorry. ‘He is one terrifying force of nature. It will take more than a few stray Nailmarni to bring him down.’

‘
And he’s not bad with a bow,’ Callian added. ‘Do I also have you to thank, Ben?’ he asked and Ben nodded.

Kelian
considered the dirty, tired group. Even those waiting on the cliffs were filthy from the ash in the air. ‘We’ll rest here again tonight,’ he said. ‘At first light, Dale’s group will head south and the rest of us will go east. I want to have a look at what’s happening at Castle before we leave.’

‘
Do you want me to go and have a look at the city now?’ asked Callian.

‘
You need to rest,’ said Kelian. ‘I watched you crossing the chasm and I know I’ve never seen someone move so fast in all my life. You must be exhausted.’

‘
I am a little tired,’ Callian admitted. ‘I’ll have a rest before I go, but I’ll be back here before dawn.’

‘Callian, I don’t want you to go anywhere tonight,’ said Kelian decisively. ‘We’ll have a look at the city as we pass on our way to the Dwellings.’

‘
Surely you weren’t planning to go down there in the dark?’ said Dale.

‘
They’ve adjusted,’ said Callian. ‘They won’t be able to see in the darkness any better than we can. And thankfully they can’t disappear, though they’re still very fast,’ he added wryly.

‘
But not fast enough,’ said Kelian thankfully, as he watched the tall, dark skinned guardian.

‘
Kelian, if Ben and Rez hadn’t killed two of them they would have taken me down before I even reached the chasm,’ said Callian.

‘
That’s not exactly fair, Callian,’ said Ben. ‘Those two were waiting ahead of you.’ His head flicked sideways. ‘Rez is coming with someone else,’ he said in surprise.

Everyone
waited in silence as Rezon crawled through the gap between the rocks. He turned and held out his hand as a young woman followed him. She stood up, saw the dirty group of men and tried to duck backwards between the rocks. She was a small but strongly built girl, with shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and dark red lips. Her face was freckled and her skin was browned by the sun, which only served to accentuate the muscles on her arms.

‘
No-one here will hurt you,’ said Rezon, catching her arm. He ran his huge hand hesitantly over her hair and glanced apprehensively at Callian. The guardian General’s jaw dropped in surprise as he watched the warrior’s face. The girl stopped struggling but looked terrified as everyone watched her. Elena and Immosey rushed forward.

‘
It’s alright,’ said Elena gently, taking the girl’s hand. ‘You’re safe here. I’m Ellie and this is my sister Immy. Who are you?’

‘
Raline,’ the girl whispered, ‘daughter of Eli and Allison.’

‘
You parents have sheep north of Castle,’ said Borgulnay. ‘They’re good people.’ The girl didn’t answer. She clutched Elena’s hand tightly and tears ran down her face.

‘
I sensed her running through the bush land,’ said Rezon. ‘There were three Nailmarni closing in on her and if I hadn’t followed…’ His eyes lingered on the girl’s soft brown eyes. ‘For some reason I couldn’t
not
follow her,’ he added sounding confused.

Raline
stared up at him. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘
And the Nailmarni?’ asked Callian.

‘
Dead,’ said Rezon shortly.

‘
What happened?’ asked Kelian. He gestured to the log the girls were using as a chair and Raline sat down tiredly. Elena and Immosey sat either side of her. The girl was wearing a linen dress and buttoned apron, typically worn by farming women. The dress tied over the shoulders, and was cut away almost to waist level at each side as it was normally worn over a shirt, with the apron buttoned to the front of the dress. Raline was not wearing a shirt under her dress, probably because she had been working by herself on a warm day.

Rezon was standing protectively behind her, and he
couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was.

Ben cleared his throat pointedly and Rezon
’s face reddened slightly.

‘
I was in the high paddock when the water came through,’ said Raline. ‘I was miles away from the farmhouse. There’s nothing left,’ she said miserably, ‘nothing at all.’ She rested her forehead on her hands and her elbows on her knees. Rezon drew breath swiftly and turned away.

‘
I’ll be outside,’ he mumbled, glaring at Ben who was doing his best not to smile at his brother. Rezon picked up his bow and quiver and crawled between the rocks.

‘
What water?’ Kelian asked in confusion.

‘
The wave!’ she said lifting her head to look at Kelian. ‘You couldn’t possibly have missed it!’

‘
We’ve been up here since the Nailmarni overran Castle. How was it they haven’t attacked your farm?’

‘
We were attacked. But we were hiding on the roof and they didn’t find us. A man called Evan came to the farm and said we had to go to Castle, so Father agreed and we were planning to leave in the afternoon, because Evan said we needed to hurry. But we hadn’t left when they attacked, and Evan had said if that happened we had to get on the roof and be really still and quiet. So we did. Then they went away but they were blocking the road between the farm and Castle, so we stayed on the farm. We had no choice.’

‘
Now tell me about the water. Did you have a dam burst or something?’ asked Kelian.

‘
No! A massive wave, higher than the city walls, came rising up from the sea and washed everything away! The farm is gone, everything is gone!’ Her voice lowered to a whisper. ‘My parents are gone.’ Tears trickled continually from her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

‘
What about Castle?’ Kelian asked, his heart beating faster. ‘What happened to Castle?’

‘
I could see Castle when I ran into the hills. Or at least, I would have been able to see it if there was anything left.’

‘
I beg your pardon?’ said Kelian, not quiet believing what he was hearing.

‘
Last I saw the walls were standing and the castle was still there. But it was horrible. I could see everything getting washed away. The water just poured in and kept on coming for such a long time! Then I thought it was slowing and an even bigger wave hit, and the water got higher and faster and what hadn’t crashed down the first time didn’t stand up for much longer.’

‘
And your entire farm is washed away?’ Immosey asked the distraught girl.

‘
Everything! Our farmhouse wasn’t made of stone, and it was washed away like a pile of sticks on the beach. There was nothing left! The house and the barn and all the sheep yards and the fences…everything was smashed to pieces and left scattered everywhere. And the animals were swept away. The poor things! They had no chance!’