The Guardians (Book 2) (5 page)

‘
Oh thank you so much Mil for your overwhelming vote of confidence,’ said Gilgarry grumpily, trying to choke back his sadness.

‘
I know you’re a good soldier Gil, but you need the guardians. If they’re incapacitated everyone else here is as good as dead, and you’re not exactly at your best at the moment!’

‘
Would someone just shut him up?’ asked Kelian crossly.

Milgorry ignored him.
‘You have to get everyone out of here and if you weaken yourselves, you won’t be able to travel. You’ll be stuck here for days! Anything could happen. There absolutely no way I will allow you to even think about-’ His tirade ended abruptly as Araas brushed his hand over his face. He gave Araas one final glare, outraged by the guardian’s audacity, then he lost consciousness.

‘
Well, what do you think?’ Timbul asked Araas once again.

‘
Tim, we have to do this,’ said Araas. ‘At least, we have to try! I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try. Besides, it’s our duty.’

‘
Is it your duty to help one of the fallen?’ Colonel Mulgrew asked curiously. ‘I was under the impression it was your duty to return them.’

‘
Return?’ Peta looked at him in confusion.

‘
I believe one of the duties of the guardians is to hunt down any of the fallen who are not behaving as they should and return them to their creator?’ Farmer Mulgrew looked at Timbul for confirmation and the guardian nodded.

‘
Colonel, I owe far too much to Milgorry of Tarl,’ said Kelian, looking sadly at Milgorry’s body. ‘The guardians are right. If we can save him, we must.’ Upon this statement Timbul and Araas leaned forward and placed their hands on Milgorry’s chest.

‘
We could be here for quite a while,’ said Araas glancing up at Kelian. ‘The rest of you should go inside.’

Colonel Mulgrew
and Borgulnay positioned themselves between the guardians and the forest, and Gilgarry moved towards the house and sat on the ground, leaning against the steps. Kelian and Peta followed the girls inside. Araas and Timbul seemed frozen in place and very gradually warmth and light began to fill Milgorry’s body.

C
hapter 6

Nailmarni

‘
Lias, you actually look scared,’ said Dale. ‘I wasn’t entirely sure that was possible. Do you know who these people are?’

Lias said nothing, but continued to stare at
Callian.

‘
Callian?’ Dale prompted.

Callian
frowned at Lias, and Dale slapped his hand crossly on the table.

‘
Aloud!’ Dale demanded. Callian turned to him, and Dale saw that the guardian General’s face was ashen.

‘
Dale, I need to get back to the Dwellings right now. I have no idea how much I’m allowed to tell you about these people. Lias, you can come with me if you choose to.’ He turned to General Marnol. ‘General, as soon as I can, I will return.’ He turned to Danil. ‘Danil, you need to get Valeska, Enri and Aithne into the keep or let us take them to the Dwellings.’

‘
Should we send someone out to look for the King?’ Alex asked anxiously.

‘
I don’t think so,’ said Callian.

‘
Excuse me?’ Baroness Kielie was looking at Callian in disbelief.

‘
I doubt you’ll find him. You’ll just get yourself killed,’ said Callian. ‘Try to keep as many people as possible inside the castle walls. You need to treat this like a siege. If people refuse to come into the keep – make them!’

‘Should we try to get people out of here? Could we try to get them to other towns and cities?’ asked Alexander.

‘
You say they attacked by both land and sea? Moving a large group of people any distance isn’t easy, especially if there are children involved. As far as I can see there are very few carts and wagons left which weren’t burnt and you would need to take food and blankets, more than you can carry. You wouldn’t be able to move fast enough, Alex. You’d never get through. And where would you take them? Who knows if other cities have been attacked? I’ll admit it’s quite a conundrum. Do we stay and face another attack, or to leave and lose the shelter of these walls. It’s a difficult decision.’

‘
Can we send runners or riders through for help?’ asked Lady Sophie.

‘
We can try,’ said Callian dubiously. ‘But if they act as I suspect they will, there will be a circle of them at a distance around any city they wish to attack, so anyone you send is most likely to be discovered and killed.’

‘What about the ship?’ Alex persisted.

‘
You said they had taken three Alkiran ships and two were not sunk. I doubt they’ve gone very far.’

‘
Then how are we getting to the Dwellings?’ Dale asked Callian.

‘
On the Swift, with your permission Baron?’

‘
My permission?’

‘
Yes,’ said Danil. ‘With so many people either dead or missing, yourself and Baroness Kielie are our senior nobles at this point,’ he explained.

‘
We have the same problem with our army,’ Danil admitted. ‘We lost a huge number of soldiers and most of our officers in the battle.’

‘
Is that why we don’t have anyone on the walls?’ asked Dale.

‘
We have men on the walls; they’re just doing their best to stay out of sight. We need more soldiers.’ General Marnol glanced at his son as he spoke.

‘
If we want to bring in more soldiers they’d have to come by foot, if you’re planning on sending the Swift to the Dwellings,’ said Evan, nodding to General Marnol.

‘
But Callian just said we couldn’t get out of here by ship.’ Dale crossed his arms.

‘
We’ll have to try,’ said Callian.

‘
Should you take some of the women and children with you?’ asked Alexander.

‘
There’s a greater than even chance that we’ll be caught and killed. Do you want to pick out which unfortunate women and children should come with us?’ asked Callian.

‘
Ah…not really.’ Alex’s face reddened and he leaned back in his chair.

‘
So now we just need to work out how you are going to get the ship out of the harbor,’ said Danil. ‘Yet we got in alright…’

‘
I think that was pure luck, and the longer that ship stays there the less lucky I feel,’ said Callian ominously.

‘
We just need a bit of fog,’ said Dale, ‘or some very heavy rain, or maybe a really dark night.’

‘
No!’ Callian’s and Lias’ unified cry made everyone jump.

‘
No,’ Callian repeated firmly. ‘Darkness is pointless. The fog or rain will serve you far better.’

‘
Callian, anything you are allowed to tell us might be useful,’ said Baroness Kielie anxiously.

Callian
stared ahead for a moment and then he sighed. ‘I will tell you what you need to know. You cannot defeat them. Did anyone even come close to injuring or killing any of them?’

‘
Not one,’ said Evan adamantly. ‘For the few of us who even saw one of them – it was only for the briefest moment.’

‘
What about the ones on the ship?’ General Marnol reminded him.

‘
You only sank the vessel, General,’ Callian explained. ‘The ship was probably just a means of keeping the crossbows above water for long enough to destroy everything in the harbor. I’d be astounded if you actually found any of their bodies.’

‘
So why did they leave? If we can’t kill them why didn’t they just keep killing us until we were all gone?’ asked Baroness Kielie.

‘
They were tired. The next time they attack they will last a little longer, and then if they attack again, longer still. Eventually their bodies will adjust themselves to our environment and they will need no rest at all. So they’ll have a base somewhere – more like a nest actually, where they’ll be taking the time to rest and adjust to this environment.’

‘
This nest,’ said Dale, ‘how far away do you think it might be?’

‘
It will be within their offensive ring,’ Callian replied.

‘
But you won’t tell us who they are?’ Baroness Kielie frowned at Callian.

‘
They are our ancient enemies. We’ve battled them before,’ said Callian. ‘We call them Nailmarni.’

‘
Stonefish?’ Lady Sophie was confused for a moment and then she understood. ‘Is it because they are very hard to see?’

‘
Exactly,’ Callian confirmed. ‘Hard to see, then they cause a great deal of pain.’

‘
Can you sense them?’ asked Lady Sophie. ‘Would you know if they were close?’

‘
Not at all,’ said Callian unhappily. ‘They can’t sense us and we can’t sense them.’ He hesitated. ‘That’s not entirely true. If I can capture one of them, I can force his thoughts from him. But it’s a horrible way to kill them. Very messy.’

‘
Messy?’ asked Evan cautiously.

‘
The very first time we battled the Nailmarni we captured one of them to try to gain his thoughts,’ Callian explained.

‘
Who caught him?’ asked Evan.

‘
Tiernan, Daibhi, Valeska and myself. We found we could force his thoughts from him, but-’

‘
But?’ Evan prompted.

‘
But he died under the intensity of our…coercion.’

‘
That doesn’t sound too messy, and they are our enemy,’ said Evan. ‘We could certainly stand to have a little more information, if we could catch one of them.’

Callian
put his elbow on the table and rested his forehead on his hand. ‘We did manage to take most of his thoughts before his head ruptured and his body burst open, sending a torrent of his horrible blood and intestines splattering over everything within reach. Fortunately there were no humans nearby or we would have been hard pressed to save any of them in the middle of that terrible battle. Nailmarni blood is very poisonous to humans.’

Evan
closed his eyes, feeling nauseated.

‘So what do you suggest General?’ asked Danil.

‘
Don’t let anyone leave the castle unnecessarily. If you are attacked, be ready to defend from the walls. Try to keep them tired. Make them work for every inch of ground they want to take. The longer you keep them tired, the longer it will take them to adjust.’

‘
So if we were to somehow trap them between two attacking forces and keep them fighting for a length of time…what would happen?’

‘
The theory is good, Danil, but you don’t have enough soldiers and you don’t have enough weapons. It takes some of their strength to disappear, or I should say to conceal themselves in their surroundings, but that’s what they are most likely to do if they are threatened.’

‘
Why did they burn everything?’ asked Dale curiously.

‘
They knew fire would drive people out into the open. And when the buildings burn it brings everyone down to ground level. The Nailmarni can’t look up,’ said Callian.

‘
Clarify,’ Dale ordered.

‘
Their necks don’t bend backwards. They can twist sideways and look around, but they cannot tilt their head backwards because their neck won’t allow this movement,’ Callian explained. ‘Please don’t try anything rash. Just hold them off until I get back from the Dwellings.’

‘
That would make it difficult for them to attack close to the wall,’ Dale observed.

‘
Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to wait until they adjust fully, and then attack us?’ asked Lady Sophie.

‘
Once they fully adjust they won’t require sleep, so we lose the advantage of making them tired, but they won’t be able to disappear and they will no longer be able to breathe under water. I think they attacked whilst they still had these advantages, and we can expect them to try again as soon as they regain their strength.’

‘
Perhaps if we let them adjust they might be easier to defeat,’ said Alexander. ‘It would be nice to be able to see them properly.’

‘Callian said they won’t need to rest at all,’ said Evan. ‘That’s a bit daunting when you are battling someone, Alex. It would be a bit like going out against an army of – who was that big Captain they had stalking us through the Cabla Hills at the very start of our training?’

‘
Borg,’ said Alex nodding with understanding. ‘He gets more and more dangerous every year. Will they slow down at all once they adjust?’

‘
No. When they’ve adjusted, they’ll be very fast and very dangerous,’ said Callian. ‘And their eyesight will improve. At the moment they can see at night very well, but in daytime, until they are fully adjusted, they will be relying on seeing movement rather than clarity. Right now, they are more dangerous at night, when they can see clearly.’

‘
That’s interesting,’ said Dale. ‘Do they smell?’

‘
No worse than we do,’ said Evan mischievously.

‘
Idiot!’ Dale snorted. ‘I mean, how good is their sense of smell?’

‘
The equivalent of your own, Baron,’ said Callian.

‘
So what do they actually want?’ asked Tappy. ‘There must be a reason for the attack. Do they want our land? For what reason have they come here? Why Castle?’ Everyone in the room turned in surprise towards the usually reticent Administrator.

‘
They want the land and everything that comes with it,’ said Callian, suddenly sounding intensely uncomfortable. ‘I imagine they feel there’s enough bounty here to warrant fighting for it.’

‘
You’re trying to tell me that they want to eradicate a bunch of puny, weak, pathetic, feeble, mediocre, stupid human beings because they want this bit of Alkira?’ said Tappy incredulously. ‘I find that hard to believe.’

‘
Thank you Administrator for bolstering our confidence in our own abilities,’ said Alexander sardonically.

‘
And where do the fallen stand in all this?’ asked Tappy.

‘
The last time this happened we were all one race, one people,’ said Lias, looking at Callian. ‘And even then, they nearly took us down.’

‘
So, we need to defend the keep and try to keep them tired,’ Danil murmured. ‘Don’t take too long Callian. The second it starts to rain heavily or gets foggy, you need to leave, though I have no idea when that will happen.’ He looked expectantly at Dale. ‘You seem to be the weather prophet. What do you think? Can you tell what the weather’s going to do?’

Dale pushed back his chair.
‘I can try, but sometimes I just can’t tell. I’ll need to go out onto the wall.’