The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series (28 page)

The tower began to creak and slowly pull away from the wall, and for a moment he thought the spell would work. But then the tower started slowing.

Flare closed his eyes, and felt the magic aura around him. He could feel the weakening spell as it sought to overthrow the tower. He focused his need, the absolute necessity of the tower being repelled.

Slowly, the tower began pushing away from the wall again. Flare could hear the shouts of the goblins as they tried to figure out what was happening. He continued to focus, even as his vision started blurring, and everything he saw took on a yellowish tint.

Finally the tower reached a point of no return, and toppled over away from the walls of the fort. With a deafening roar, it collapsed, killing not only those inside the tower, but also a large number of the enemy who were around its base.

Chapter 12

Flare opened his eyes to see several people leaning over him.

“I hope you’re happy. You about scared us to death.” Murleen's voice said from somewhere above him. “We thought you were dead.”

Flare sat up, grimacing, “Are you sure I’m not?”

Kara helped him up, “Your right shoulder looks to have been sprained, but I treated it. You probably will still have some soreness.”

Flare mumbled his thanks and tried stretching his right shoulder in a rotating motion. It was definitely going to be stiff and sore tomorrow, but at least he could use it.

He looked to the north, and noticed for the first time the burnt out husk that had once been a siege tower. He quickly looked to the south, and there too were the remains of a tower. He turned back to his companions, and asked, “Give me a report. Did any of them get through?”

Philip answered, “No. Both towers burnt before they could get to the wall. But, what happened here?”

Flare answered carefully, not wanting to lie to his companions, “We were beaten, and the black goblins were everywhere, with more coming through the siege tower. And then the siege tower toppled over, and I lost consciousness somewhere around then.
Mikela.
Did you or Enstorion topple it?” He had told the truth, or at least a portion of it. Lying by omission was not the same as outright lying, but it sure felt like it.

Mikela looked confused, “No. Flare, neither of us did this. We were still engaged with the other two towers. We were hoping you could tell us what happened.”

Flare didn’t make eye, “Could it have been the ground giving way beneath the tower?”

Atock, looking over the edge of the wall, answered, “No. The ground is still packed and hard beneath where the tower was. It had to be magic that destroyed it.”

“Well, if it wasn’t Mikela or Enstorion, then who could it
have
been? Are there any other magicians in the fort, or could it have been a magician from outside the fort?” Flare asked.

“We're not aware of any other magicians. And why would one of the attacking magicians topple their own tower?” Murleen said in obvious confusion.

“That doesn’t make much sense. Does it?” Flare agreed. “How many men did we lose?” He asked, quietly changing the subject.

The soldiers looked at each other, before Atock answered, “Forty-three soldiers are dead. Another fourteen are injured bad enough that they are out of the fight for good.”

“Fifty-seven!?
That’s leaves us below the four hundred mark.” Flare said, his mood sinking. “We’re not going to last long at this pace.” He paused briefly, just long enough to rub his temples, “All right, we have got to get a messenger past those soldiers to the east.”

“But how?
Those soldiers are spread out with bonfires at night. What can we do to get a messenger past them?” Derek asked.

Flare thought for a moment, and noticing the tired looks on the faces of his fellow guardians said, “Post sentries, and let’s hold a council over dinner. It’s hard to make decisions when you’re tired and hungry.”

Just after sunset, the guardians gathered for dinner. They had seen to the injured, and checked on the morale among the soldiers. Flare was saddened by the looks on the faces of the young soldiers. It was a somber gathering. They ate quietly, mostly in silence.

Flare was so tired and anxious that he hardly even noticed the food. He was relieved when the food was finally gone. He stood, “Okay, we have to get a messenger through the enemies’ barricade.
Suggestions?”

Enstorion broke the silence and answered, “Well we can’t use magic to get a message or messenger through the barrier.”

“Couldn’t we magically change a person into the form of an animal, and get them through the barrier that way?” Flare asked.

“We could shape shift a soldier,
but ..
” Enstorion started saying.

“But, the spell would be broken as soon as the soldier hit the barrier,” Mikela finished.

“Unless the shape shift spell was stronger than the barrier spell.” Enstorion said, interrupting Mikela in turn. “And if the barrier breaks a spell, the enemies’ magicians would know about it immediately.”

“Does the barrier form a semi-circle above us, or could we get a messenger out through the air?” Philip asked.

Enstorion shook his head, “The barrier meets in the air well above our heads. We can’t get a soldier out that way.”

Atock leaned forward and asked, “And does the barrier run below the ground?”

“Yes.” Mikela said, “As far as I have been able to tell, the barrier forms a bubble around us. We can’t get around the barrier; we have to go through it. We have to break the spell.”

“But Mikela, we don’t have the power necessary to break the spell!” Enstorion retorted, rather rudely.

“Remain calm, you two.” Flare said, trying to soothe the nerves of his fellow guardians. “Couldn’t we shape shift our messenger, and change him back right as he approaches the barrier? That way the soldier can get safely to the barrier, but not alert the enemies’ magicians.”

“That would get the messenger to the barrier, but they would still have to get past the soldiers on the other side. How do you intend to do that?” Derek asked.

“To be able to change the messenger back to human form quickly, I would have to keep my concentration on him, and I wouldn’t be able to see where the barrier was in relation to the messenger.” Enstorion added.

“Wait! If you cast the magic spell, I could watch the messenger and warn you when he got near the barrier, and I could maintain communication with him.” Mikela said, excitement starting to bubble up in her eyes.

“Okay. We can get a messenger to the barrier safely, and we can get him though the barrier safely, but what about the other side? How does he get past the soldiers?” Flare asked while pacing back and forth. Excitement was taking hold of him again.

There was silence for several moments, as the soldiers thought about the problem at hand.

Finally, Callin spoke up, “It seems to me that the only way we can do this is if we have a messenger sneak through the barrier. And at the same time, we create a distraction that confuses the enemy.”

“We could attack them with a small group of soldiers,” Derek said.

“Anything short of an all out attack is too obvious a distraction,” Flare answered, shaking his head. “We have to think of another way.”

“I have an idea,” Callin said quietly, “We could send one soldier as a distraction.”

“One soldier?
But what good would that do?” Philip asked, confused.

Callin stood up and paced behind the chairs of his fellow warriors. He seemed excited. “Think about it! A small group of soldiers is an obvious distraction, but one soldier could be sent as a fake messenger.” The other guardians looked confused. “One soldier could be sent as a decoy.
Pretending to be the real messenger, while the real messenger sneaks out magically disguised as an animal.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Flare said.

“Wait. Who’s going to be the decoy?” Philip asked.

Callin answered the question, “It was my idea. I’ll be the decoy.” Before his brother, Trestus, could interrupt, Callin continued. “It was my idea. I have to be the one to go. If somebody else dies while trying my plan, I just couldn’t live with that, it has to be me.”

“It’s your plan, but I can move a lot quieter than you.” Flare said.

“But that’s defeating the plan. The plan calls for a decoy that gets noticed! I will make a much better noisy decoy than you will.” Callin argued passionately.

“He’s right Flare, besides you are the commander of the fort. You cannot abandon your post.” Atock said.

“I was not talking about abandonment. I was talking about leading through example.” Flare said, a touch of anger rising in his voice.

“It’s called being a leader. You cannot risk yourself on every mission.” Atock responded.

Reluctantly, Flare gave in, and rested his head in his hands and was quiet.

Philip stood from his chair, and asked, “All right, Callin will be the decoy. But who will be the messenger?”

It was Flare who answered, without so much as raising his head. “That much is obvious. It has to be Heather. She is the only one, besides maybe me, who has the ability to sneak quietly past the soldiers.”

Heather sighed, and crossed her arms across her chest, before answering. “Right now, I cannot imagine anything more dangerous than staying in this fort. If you can get me through the barrier, I will deliver your message, but where am I to go that it will make much difference?”

Derek cleared his throat and leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. “I think that I can help answer that. I spoke with Colonel Holt's secretary, and he gave me some good information.” Subconsciously, Derek rubbed his right knuckles and Flare wondered if the secretary had volunteered the information or not. “General Andatell is gathering soldiers to send to the south and east. He started in the south of the western territories, and is working his way northward along the mountains and will eventually make his way eastward.”

Philip's forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I don't understand. Why wouldn't he just start in the far west, and move eastward picking up soldiers? Why start in the south and move northward?”

Derek studied the table for just a moment, “It seems that some of Lord Efflen's bondmen have openly discussed not sending aid. The general is picking up soldiers from the loyal southern lords and moving northward toward the rebellious bondmen. By the time he reaches them, they won't dare hold any soldiers back. He will have enough fighters to obliterate them if they do not keep their oath.”

Hope bloomed in Flare at Derek's words. “Perhaps, if we can get word to General Andatell, then perhaps his host can save the day.”

“Perhaps,” Derek agreed, frowning. “But we have to get word to him quickly. He is still supposed to be several weeks south of us.”

Flare refused to hear the negativity and focused on the hope. “Okay. So we have a messenger, we have a plan to get her through the enemy, and now we have a destination.”

Heather looked at Flare, “Now we just need a message.”

Flare smiled and nodded at her, “Leave that to me. I'll write it myself.”

Trestus broke the silence. “So we try tomorrow night?”

“No! We need to do it as soon as possible.” Philip replied. “We don’t even know if anyone will be left tomorrow night.”

“We need time to plan, and they need to be rested before we try this.” Trestus replied.

It was
Callin
who responded, quietly answering his brother's objections. “We will be no more rested tomorrow night, than we are tonight.” Looking at his brother, Callin continued, “Philip is right. We have to try right now.”

Flare had to admit that tonight was perfect for trying to sneak somebody out. The moon, which was just a sliver at this time of the month, was hidden by thick clouds that had rolled in since the sun had gone down.
 

Enstorion shape shifted Heather into the form of a rabbit. The spell was slow and complicated. At first Heather could feel nothing, but as the spell continued, she began to feel her body changing. She became more disorientated as time passed. The rest of the guardians were gathered around her, and as the spell was being cast, they slowly began to appear larger.

The popping and snapping of Heather’s joints changing caused several of the spectators to get sick. Flare ushered them away from the magician, so they wouldn’t interfere with the spell.

Finally, Enstorion turned from the rabbit at his feet, and spoke.
“Finished.
We’re ready to go.”

Enstorion started to move toward the battlements, when Flare stopped him. “Wait. Is it going to take that long for her to be changed back? She could be dead long before the transformation is complete.”

Enstorion looked irritated, “Of course it won’t take that long. I took extra time in transforming her, so that when I transform her back it will be much quicker. I know what I am doing.”