The Broken Council (The Guardian Chronicles 1) (19 page)

As
the facilitators of the second phase gathered in the cavern near the hidden
exit, they went over their plans again to make sure they set the traps in the
proper places.
 
This particular part of
the plan actually had two parts to it.
 
The first part was the trap setting, which would be carried out
immediately.
 
The second part would be to
move the siege weapons into position in the courtyard.
 
They would be set up with their backs to the
castle in such a way that would lead the home guard to believe that they were
there as an extra precaution for tomorrow’s important meeting.
 
General Yukio would be helping out with this
part of the plan.
 
He had informed the
guards surrounding the castle to allow the siege weapons to be stationed in the
royal courtyard as an additional defensive measure.
 
They would not argue, considering that they
had allowed the queen and the head of the council to be assassinated on their
watch.
 
The rain was coming down so hard
that the high elves could not tell which direction they were coming from, so
there would not be any questions about their sudden appearance.

The
first part was completed without incident.
 
The ironic thing about the placing of the siege weapons was that the
home guard helped to position the weapons so that the inner wall was covered
from every angle, basically ensuring their own destruction.
 
Once all the artillery was in place, the
guards who had helped Yukio’s men were executed and replaced with Commander
Favian’s men.
 
General Yukio wanted to
take this extra precaution even though he knew that if the rain subsided before
the meeting, their plans could be discovered.
 
He felt that even if this happened that they would prevail in a
fight.
 
At the end of phase two, there
was still no sign from the high elves that they knew what had taken place.
 
It was nearly dawn by now, and the rains
showed no signs of halting.
 
Phase three
was only six hours away now, and the men were anxious to finish this bloody
campaign.
 
They all felt like heroes and
that they were invincible.
 
They really
believed that not one soldier would fall in this violent campaign.

As
the morning wore on, the home guard was having difficulties seeing anything
through the deluge of rain.
 
They sent a
messenger to General Yukio to give him a warning about the terrible weather and
the feeling they were having about a possible surprise attack.
 
Yukio had the messenger return with the
instructions to be on their guard and to watch for any suspicious
behavior.
 
He also said to make sure that
no one approached the hall once the council meeting had begun.
 
He believed that additional assassination
attempts would be directed at members of the high council, so the council
chambers must be protected at all costs.
 
He thought that this message would open some gaps in the inner wall’s
defenses, but he was sadly mistaken.
 
While the guards did not know of the plan thus far, they had taken extra
steps to ensure the meeting would not be interrupted.
 
Yukio did not know about the archers
stationed on the mountainside above the city.
 
This would be the undoing of the general’s hope that none of his men would
be lost.

***

As
the time neared for the meeting to commence, General Yukio got dressed in his
kingly armor and armed himself to the teeth.
 
No one would question what he was doing considering his beloved wife’s
recent demise.
 
He smiled grimly at his
reflection in a mirror as he surveyed his armor to make sure there were no weak
points.
 
I will be remembered as the right hand of the gods.
 
There will be none who will dare question our
deeds!
 
All the peoples of Tuwa will all
fall down and worship us as the true advocates of the guardians.

He
continued to contemplate exactly what he would say and do once in the
chambers.
 
He needed to make sure that
all of the members were there before starting the meeting.
 
He wanted to ensure that they would be
leaderless before the assault began on the inner wall.
 
He would have to be quick in his execution;
otherwise a warning would be sent to the home guard.
 
The plan had appeared to work perfectly thus
far, so it was up to him now to make sure it ended according to their
designs.
 
His men had not let him down,
so he would do his best not to disappoint them.

He
was at the back entrance to the council chambers before he knew it.
 
If he had not been lost in his thoughts, he
would have noticed the archers stationed on the mountainside.
 
He would have also noticed a vanguard heading
toward Queen Kishi’s domain.
 
Many of the
high elves had actually escaped before the assault had taken place.
 
A third of the main body had left before the
nighttime slaughter began because of their misgivings they had toward
Yukio.
 
The general walked through the
entrance full of confidence and with a smile on his face.
 
The entire council had already taken their
seats and was waiting for him to get the meeting started.
 
The general walked purposefully to his seat
but did not sit down.
 
He had a wicked
gleam in his eye that made the council shudder at his gaze.

“I
have discovered who the culprit was that killed the queen and Chairman
Merindiel,” he began coldly.
 
“It was the
work of an entire council. It was all of you!”
 
At this bold declaration, Yukio sent several daggers flying across the
round table into several of the council members’ heads.
 
Chaos erupted in the chambers as hidden
guards attacked General Yukio.
 
Many of
the council members escaped out the front door, and they immediately warned the
home guard.

Yukio
was being assaulted by six of the finest swordsmen that the high elves
had.
 
First, he reached out with his
magic to infiltrate their minds of those around him.
 
He felt their mental barriers and saw the
animalistic thoughts they used to shield their thoughts.
 
He chuckled to himself at the basic defense
measures they employed.
 
He exerted his
force of will like a battering ram against these barriers and they splintered
like a wooden door.
 
He forced the high
elves to turn on each other, and within seconds four of them lay dead on the
floor, and the remaining pair were fighting one another with such ferocity that
the general had to get out of the way.
 
Their blades were a blur of precision and years of training.
 
They fought as though the thought of stopping
was unconscionable.
 
He immediately left
the hall in pursuit of the council members who had escaped.
 
As soon as he left the chamber the two guards
fighting one another came to their senses.
 
Apparently the general was conserving his energy for the battle so he
did not force the pair to kill one another.
 

As
he stepped out into the open, he was blinded by the sun.
 
The rain had not only stopped; the clouds
were gone.
 
As his mind caught up with
reality, he heard the sounds of a heated battle taking place.
 
He then heard several whooshing sounds as
objects flew past his head.
 
Before he
could turn around, he had been struck twice in the back with arrows from the
hidden archers on the mountainside.
 
His
effort to conserve energy had left him open to this surprise attack.

He
dropped to his knees and reached back to remove the arrows that were lodged in
his lower back.
 
Amazingly, each hit had
missed anything vital, so he was able to remove the arrows without doing
further damage.
 
Raged burned through him
as he stood erect and saw that his plans had been foiled.
 
His eyes literally burned red like fire, and
he quickly began to use his mind-controlling ability to turn the home guard on
one another.
 
He directed his silent
assault on the archers stationed on the mountainside first.
 
He had them attack the high elves protecting
the wall.
 
He continued to survey the
battle around him and was shocked to see many of his men were dead or
dying.
 
This only fueled his thirst for
revenge.
 
His break in focus allowed the
bowmen to come back to their senses and redirect their assault at Yukio’s men.

He
whistled for his stallion to come to him and then made a different noise that
called his faithful war hawk. His horse appeared suddenly from behind the
castle and ran at top speed to aid his master.
 
Yukio did a running jump to get on his steed without the beast breaking
stride.
 
Shortly after mounting his
horse, the hawk appeared out of the clear sky.
 
The bird landed roughly on the general’s outstretched arm.
 
Yukio quickly spoke to his hawk words of
command, and the bird took off immediately.
 
The fowl flew west out over the wall where there was no fighting and
then turned north.
 
Yukio had sent his
messenger to report to Queen Daria of what had transpired.
 
He knew that the high elves would unify under
Queen Kishi and that they would want revenge for what they would perceive to be
an unwarranted attack.
 
He needed help as
soon as possible.
 
He knew that he would
win this day, but he did not know how he would survive an attack from Queen
Kishi.

The
battle continued to rage on around him, but the tide was steadily shifting in
the general’s favor.
 
Yukio returned his
attention to the archers on the mountainside.
 
They had thinned out the numbers on the wall enough to allow for the
army outside the wall to finally gain the edge they needed to capture the inner
wall.
 
The general focused his power on
them again and forced them to face one another.
 
Many of the archers resisted his commands to shoot one.
 
After several moments of mental conflict,
which drained the general of a significant amount of energy, the archers let
fly their arrows.
 
Within minutes all the
archers lay dead or dying at one another’s hands.
 
Now he had the advantage, and his battle cry
inspired his men to finish the bloody conflict.
 

As
the men under Commander Favian swept across the courtyard, Master Aiden was
cleaning the walls off by himself.
 
His
blade, Keahi, flashed in the light of the noonday sun as he tore through the
heavily armored high elves.
 
The blade
burned red and sent massive fireballs into crowds of guards.
 
He cleared the entire wall alone while his
men stood there and watched the finest swordsmen in the world annihilate at
least fifty soldiers.

Within
minutes, the remaining high elves had been killed and the battle came to abrupt
end.
 
A third of Yukio’s men had fallen
in the confrontation, but they had won the day.
 
As the general stood panting from the physical and mental exertion, it
dawned on him that Mistress Kana had not kept her end of the bargain.
 
He had the feeling that the other guardians
were involved somehow and they were fighting against her and her allies.
 
He was overwhelmed with feelings of betrayal
and loss.
 
He did not think this day
would cost so much in blood.
 
He walked
slowly to the wall to speak with his men and his faithful commander.
 
Everyone had gathered together at the wall to
discuss what had happened and were trying to figure out what went wrong.
 
They all came to attention when they saw the
general approaching.

“Men,
we have won this day, but the cost of our victory was too high,” Yukio said
solemnly.
 
“There is one among us who
saved us all. Master Aiden, I thank you.”
 
General Yukio bowed to recognize the true hero of the battle for
Alanderas.
 
Aiden had single-handedly
saved the army of Yukio, and the general was not too proud to recognize such
greatness.
 
If Aiden had not been here, we would have been destroyed.

“Thank
you, General Yukio,” replied Master Aiden.
 
The rest of the army had bowed like their general.
 
Aiden motioned for everyone to rise.
 
They all did as he asked and looked on him as
if he were more than just a man.

“Men,
we need to prepare for retaliation from Queen Kishi.
 
Several of the council members escaped along
with a third of the host of the high elves.
 
My warrior hawk told me this when I had summoned him from hiding.
 
I have sent him on to deliver a message to
Queen Daria explaining the situation.
 
I
believe the army of the high elves will not strike us, but they will attack the
Nairi Canyons,” he said confidently.
 
“We
must be ready to head them off or cut off their retreat.”
 
He was beginning to regain his composure and
put on a look of defiance in order to inspire his men.