The Guardians (Book 2) (24 page)

‘
We need to go back for a look,’ said Dale.

‘
No. I want you in Emerald,’ said Kelian. ‘We have no idea what’s happening down there.’

‘
Who are you?’ asked Raline curiously.

‘
Kelian of Castle,’ Kelian replied and Raline’s eyes opened wide with surprise. Kelian introduced everyone and Raline studied each face in turn.

‘
Highness, it’s difficult to recognize you. You’re a bit dirty,’ she said and Kelian laughed. She turned to Elena. ‘Where is your other sister?’

‘
She’s at the Dwellings, which is where we are headed. You will have to come with us to the Dwellings,’ Elena told her, ‘or go with Dale to Emerald.’

‘
Emerald please, I have family there.’

‘
We have no idea what the situation is in Emerald. It could be very dangerous,’ said Danil.

‘
It couldn’t be any worse than Castle,’ said Gilgarry.

‘
It could be terrible!’ said Danil emphatically.

‘
We have no idea what’s happening at the Dwellings,’ Jival pointed out. ‘For all we know, the place already could have been overrun with Nailmarni.’

‘
True,’ agreed Kelian. ‘Go south with Dale. How long have you been running through the bush land? When did the wave hit?’

‘
It was about midday yesterday…perhaps later. I was so frightened that I just ran and ran. It’s strange, I grew up here, playing in this bush land, and yet I got lost after I crossed the River Ringo! After a while I worked out exactly where I was, and I’ve come a lot further south than I expected. I hid in amongst the rocks last night and started walking back towards the farm this morning, then those horrible white creatures came after me and if that big man hadn’t come to help me they might have caught me. Who is he?’ she asked.

‘
Rezon’s one of the free warriors,’ said Kelian, watching to see how she might react to this information.

‘
One of the free,’ Raline exclaimed. ‘I wondered. He has the dark eyes.’ Her gaze wandered over their faces once again, lingering on each set of almost black eyes. ‘Where is he?’ she asked.

‘
Just standing outside,’ said Ben.

‘
Why?’ she asked curiously.

‘
He was having a little difficulty with your…dress,’ said Ben and Raline blushed deeply.

She wrapped her arms around herself and dropped her head.
‘I didn’t want him to go away,’ she admitted and seconds later Rezon crawled back through the gap in the rocks, ignoring the expressions of amusement on almost everyone’s faces. Without saying a word he peeled off his shirt and pulled it over Raline’s head. It was enormous on her, but he helped her roll up the sleeves and accepted a piece of rope from Dale which he tied it around her waist bunching the shirt together and making it a little less awkward to wear.

‘
You need to eat and sleep,’ said Rezon. ‘We aren’t leaving until first light tomorrow.’ He rummaged in his pack and handed her a travel cake.

She
looked up at him gratefully and blushed as she took in his massive chest and the muscles rippling across his shoulders and arms. He led her away from the group and made a little bed for her. She lay down and the reality of her situation hit her once again. She had nothing. Her parents were gone and she was alone. Tears gushed from her eyes and she rolled away. Rezon put his hand on her shoulder and she turned her head back to look at him. She wondered how in all her grief and misery she could still notice how striking this man was. His curly hair, which hung around his shoulders, was the exact same shade as his almost black eyes and his body was even more browned than hers. She stared into his eyes and saw pity and concern, and she wondered why he cared about her, and why she felt her heart would shatter for a second time if he were to disappear. She turned away once again, wondering if she was going crazy to think she could love someone she barely knew. She wondered if this was the infatuation her mother had often warned her of, or if this was normal when a human fell in love with one of the free. She knew only what her parents had told her of the free, which was very little as they knew almost nothing. Rezon stood up and Raline closed her eyes, fighting her tears. Pity was also in Callian’s heart. He moved to Rezon’s side and looked questioningly at the warrior. Rezon nodded and Callian brushed his hand over the girl’s face. Rezon stood looking down at the sleeping girl.

‘
What’s happening to me, Callian? I don’t understand. No-one can fall in love with another so quickly! I can sense it in Raline’s thoughts also.’

‘
Don’t you see?’ asked Callian, smiling at him. ‘This is what’s meant to happen to your people. You are supposed to fall in love with a human. For the free, if you find the one who is meant for you, the love comes almost instantaneously. It’s often this way with the guardians. I remember how shocked King’s Marshall Danil was when he fell in love with our Lady Valeska. It happened so fast he wondered if she had done something to him. And she had. She had fallen in love with him. She found the one meant for her. Your people have spent so many years raping women and then murdering them once the child is born; you have forgotten how to fall in love. I doubt most of you even remember what love is.’

‘
No, I haven’t forgotten,’ said Rezon, his face turning hard. ‘Did you know that I had a human brother, Callian?’

‘
I didn’t know.’ Callian looked at him curiously.

‘
My mother had a child before my father took her. A boy called Peter. He looked a lot like Ben and me but he was tiny - barely six feet tall! But Nandul killed him and for that alone I will see the bastard dead.’

‘
What happened to your own father?’

‘
I have no idea why Nandul returned him, but it was just as well, since I couldn’t seem to finish the job,’ said Rezon coldly. ‘I so badly wanted to destroy him.’

‘
Because he killed your mother?’

‘
That and more. He murdered a lot of women. Women he took only for momentary pleasure.’ Callian’s face darkened as Rezon spoke. ‘I tried time and time again to return him, but I couldn’t.’

‘
Do you know why?’

‘
Mil told me what Tiernan said; that we couldn’t return our own parents or our children.’

Callian
let out a sharp breath of air. ‘It’s just as well. The way your people seem to want to murder everyone in sight, there would be none of the fallen left by now, though that might solve a few problems,’ he said crossly, feeling exceedingly disturbed by what Rezon had told him of his father.

Rezon
looked at him coldly. ‘Tread carefully, guardian General.’

‘
I’m sorry Rez. I’ve seen your mind. I know you’d never do what your father did.’

‘
Never!’ Rezon spat. ‘If I ever become like that, hunt me down and return me!’

‘
Rest assured, I will,’ said Callian confidently and Rezon looked at him appraisingly.

‘
Coming from anyone else I would laugh,’ Rezon admitted. ‘But I know you could.’ He sighed. ‘When I was old enough to know what my father was doing, I made a vow never to take a woman by force.’ He gazed down at the young woman sleeping on the rocks before him, with tears staining her freckled face and his huge shirt engulfing her body.

‘
Good choice!’ said Callian, slapping his shoulder and walking away. Rezon stood still, wondering if Callian meant his choice in women, or his choice of behavior.

‘
Both,’
Callian’s thoughts came to him, and Rezon smiled contentedly as he lay protectively beside the sleeping girl.

Chapter 2
9

Enroute to Emerald

‘
Fallen? Which way are they going?’ asked Dale, failing to see the tracks Rezon was indicating. They were moving south as quickly as they could, and this wasn’t the first time they found tracks crossing their path. Dale had been leading Leon with the horse carrying the greater part of their gear and Raline had ridden the mare. They avoided farms and towns, as Dale was sure the people of Alkira wouldn’t react well to his dark eyed companions. He was also concerned that they may be followed by the fallen, and any people they had contact with might be targeted, so skirting around civilization seemed the best plan. Callian had been growing uneasy and now he turned aside from their path to ascertain whether or not they were being followed. Rezon and Dale accompanied him as he circled around their camp, looking for any indications of activity.

‘
North-east,’ said Rezon. ‘Heading for Castle, I suppose.’

‘
I hope Kelian is gone from there before they arrive,’ said Dale anxiously.

‘
I don’t like this at all,’ said Callian. ‘This looks like the tracks of about seven or eight warriors. What do you think Rez?’

‘
That seems about right,’ Rezon agreed. ‘And not the most skilled warriors I can imagine, leaving such obvious tracks.’

‘
What about the tracks you can’t see from the more skilled warriors?’ Dale asked ominously. ‘And what if they deliberately left these tracks to make us think they went this way, when in actual fact they may have gone somewhere else?’

‘
There’s nothing we can do about it now. Let’s get back to the others,’ said Callian decidedly. He suddenly swung around and stared into the trees. ‘No!’ he shouted and he sprang forward. Rezon sprinted after Callian, leaving Dale to follow them as best he could.

Callian
snarled as he reached the clearing. His heart hammered in his chest at the sight that met his eyes. The lifeless bodies of Lars and Jival lay sprawled across the ground. Lias, Ben, Rudi and Eibhear stood back to back fending off attackers on all sides. There were seven of the fallen attacking them, preventing their desperate attempts to reach Raline, whose screams pierced the air as a warrior threw her onto the ground.

Rezon burst into the clearing and a roar of rage bellowed from him. He leapt forward and
with one hand he wrenched the man away from Raline and flung him to the ground. The man gave a shout of recognition and terror as Rezon’s sword destroyed his manhood. Rezon hesitated for a split second as the man screamed, then he took his head cleanly from his shoulders with one massive stroke of his sword. He turned and in a flash two more warriors fell. The rest of the fallen tried to run, but Callian returned two in seconds, leaving Eibhear, Ben and Rudiger free to return the remaining warriors.

Rezon flung his sword to the ground and dropped to his knees beside Raline, who had her eyes closed as she sobbed. He gathered her into his arms
, but she struck out at him desperately, bringing up her knee hard and managing to hit his thigh. He grunted and held her tightly so she couldn’t move. Her sobs became even more terrified and frantic and eventually he lowered her to the ground and stepped back.

‘
Callian, do something,’ he said desperately. Callian knelt beside Raline and brushed his hand over her face. Instantly, she fell silent. ‘That’s not good enough,’ said Rezon angrily. ‘When she wakes up, she will remember! She mustn’t remember!’

Callian
shook his head. ‘We’re not supposed to do that unless it’s unavoidable.’

‘
You have to! She’ll see every one of us as a threat!’ Rezon glared at Callian and the guardian stared down at the girl. ‘Please Callian!’ Rezon begged. ‘She’s so young! I don’t want her to remember this!’

‘
I don’t think he had time to do anything to her,’ said Callian.

‘
You know how terrified she was! She thought she was seconds from death! She knew she would be raped and killed or left to die!’

‘
Rez, of the few times I’ve removed someone’s memories it’s created more problems than they started with.’

‘
But you
can
take them! She might hate me because of what they did!’ He crouched down beside Raline and brushed the hair away from her cheek.

‘
I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ said Callian reluctantly. He reached out but as his hand touched Raline’s forehead she opened her eyes wide and stared up at him. Rezon leaned over her, feeling he had failed her and not quite knowing what to say. She reached up and took his hand.

‘
I’m sorry Raline,’ said Rezon, his voice breaking.

‘
Don’t leave me,’ said Raline croakily holding his huge, warm hand against her face. She closed her eyes and he could feel her tears on his hand. ‘They killed Lars and Jival,’ she cried softly, overwhelmed with fear and shock. She reached up with both arms and wrapped them around Rezon’s neck, dragging herself up right. ‘Where’s Baron Dale?’ she asked looking around.

Callian
leapt like he’d been bitten by a snake. With a look of dismay he tore back into the bush land with Lias close behind him. It didn’t take them long to find Dale. He had done his best to follow Callian and Rezon, but he had been far too slow and lost track of them very quickly. He was quite confident he knew the way back; however he soon saw that Callian and Rezon had chosen a path suited to their own abilities but not to his. He came to a cliff face and he could see by their footprints that they had climbed the rocks, but he knew there was little chance he could follow them. He headed south along the cliffs and found a maroong tree which had grown almost against the wall of rock, so he dragged himself up into the tree and began to climb. Once he was above the level of the top of the cliff he began to inch his way along a branch towards the rocks. The branch was rough and covered in green needles, and it began to bend dangerously as he moved away from the tree trunk. He found himself holding his breath in anticipation of it snapping beneath him. But the branch held and he managed to maneuver himself close the rocky edge of the cliff. He reached out and fingered the rocks until he securely gripped a crevice, then he leaned forward and stretched out his other hand. There was an ominous cracking sound and the rocks began to fall away from the top of the cliff. Dale gave a cry of consternation as a huge piece of rock hit the end of the branch, dragging it heavily downwards. The branch gave way with a horrible snap. Dale desperately grabbed for another branch as he began to fall. His hand closed around a bunch of needles which did nothing to stop his momentum, then the back of his head smacked the limb he had been sitting on and he tumbled through the coarse branches until he hit the ground with a resounding thud. He was still unconscious when Callian and Lias found him. Callian knelt beside him, but did not move his body.

‘
Surely he couldn’t have fallen out of yet
another
tree?’ asked Lias incredulously. ‘Is he alive? I can’t sense him!’

‘
He’s not dead, Lias. He’s just deeply unconscious, which for Dale, is really saying something.’ Callian stood up.

‘
Can’t you fix him up?’ asked Lias, misreading the expression on Callian’s face.

‘
I can mend his injuries,’ said Callian.

‘
What’s the problem then?’

‘
You need to get him to Emerald as fast as you possibly can. If there are any more of your people around-’ He stopped as Lias snarled at him angrily.

‘
Don’t you ever, ever call those bastards my people again, guardian. I may be one of the free, but these are not my people. They are…’ He glowered at Callian. ‘They are fallen!’ 

‘
I’m sorry,’ said Callian, surprised by the vehemence from the usually composed warrior. ‘It seems I need to apologize a lot lately. Did you know who they were?’

‘
I know most of them. The one who attacked Raline was Daegan, one of Nandul’s personal guards.’

‘
I wonder if that means Nandul is in Alkira.’

‘
I’d say that’s a fair assumption. He’s probably heading for Castle.’

‘
I would have thought he would have his personal guards with him,’ Callian mused.

‘
If he plans to attack Castle, Nandul will drag in anyone and everyone he possibly can. He’ll make sure he arrives with enough warriors to wipe Kelian’s city from the map. So I imagine he has gathered his forces and given his closest warriors the job of getting everyone into Alkira and into position before he attacks.’

‘
I wonder what he’ll do when he reaches Castle and finds that it’s already practically destroyed,’ said Callian.

‘
Are you going to heal this poor man or leave him here to die a slow and painful death?’ Lias asked.

‘
Which brings me back to my point,’ said Callian. ‘You can’t wait here for me. Once I heal him, you need to go south immediately, and move as fast as you possibly can. Don’t stop any more than you have to. Put Raline on the mare and Dale on Leon.’

‘
What are you going to be doing?’ said Lias, looking bewildered.

‘
I’m going to be unconscious, Lias,’ said Callian bleakly. ‘There’s a small split at the base of the cliffs,’ he said pointing to the north. ‘If you drag my body over there and push me inside, I probably won’t be found before I wake up again.’

‘
Callian, I can’t leave you here,’ said Lias uncomfortably.

‘
Yes you can! I don’t want to argue about this Lias. All I’m asking is that you get the Baron to Emerald.’

‘
Callian-’

‘
Just give me your word, Lias!’ Callian’s voice cut like a knife. ‘Tell me you will do as I ask or I will break you!’ Lias took as step backwards. As the guardian glared at him he felt the muscles in his back contract uncomfortably. ‘Tell me you will get Dale safely to Emerald! Tell me now!’

‘
I give you my word,’ said Lias, watching Callian warily, ‘I give you my word that I will take him to Emerald. You have my word, Callian.’

‘
Good,’ said Callian, relaxing. He reached out and placed his hands on Dale’s neck. ‘Perhaps you could go back and bring the others here and the horses too please. Bring them north of the cliffs. There’s no easy way through to the south.’

Lias disappeared into the trees.
When he returned Callian was sitting in the exact same position he had been in when Lias left. They made camp in silence as the sky gradually darkened, and still Callian didn’t move. Only Raline ate, when Rezon insisted, then he stretched out several blankets and lay beside her on the ground. She snuggled against him and hid her face against his chest, wondering if he could sense how frightened she was. He immediately squeezed her comfortingly and she drew back and looked up at his face in surprise.

‘
Can you sense everything I’m thinking?’
she wondered and he nodded. She blushed and hid her face against his chest once again. Rezon wrapped a blanket around her and tried to make her comfortable, and she fell into an uneasy sleep.

She woke up screaming
. Rezon was beside her in a split second. He wrapped his arms around her and her screams turned to sobs. He said nothing, knowing there would be a lot more crying before she could deal with what had happened to her, and to her family. Eventually she became quiet. She gazed ahead and noticed that Dale was sitting propped up against the trunk of a small tamarind tree and the unconscious body of Callian lay on the earth at his side. Dale was frowning as Lias tried to explain something to him.

‘
I gave him my word, Dale!’ Lias was saying angrily.

‘
We’re not leaving him here!’ snapped Dale, though he seemed barely strong enough to hold his own head up.

‘
He told me to take him to the crevice at the southern end of this cliff and leave him there,’ Lias explained. ‘I don’t like it either Dale, but I gave him my word!’

‘
What
exactly
did you say, Lias?’ asked Dale curiously.

‘
I said I would get you safely- ah! I didn’t actually give my word that we wouldn’t carry him with us!’ Lias exclaimed. ‘He told me that I shouldn’t wait for him, but I just said I would get you safely to Emerald.’

‘
Good,’ said Dale weakly. ‘We’ll take him with us.’