The Fallen Guardian (The Guardian Chronicles 2) (17 page)

Hilzarie
blew away toward Landen to report what she had overheard and seen to her
mistress. As the surroundings came back into life after the druids were gone, a
lone figure detached from the trees. It was a tall dark elf that had the look
of one who had barely escaped death’s grasp. He had a wicked smile on his face
as he looked up into the clear sky above. He was very glad that he had not left
the Blain River. His lack of strength over the past few days had turned out to
be a great blessing and not a curse. The knowledge he had gained by
eavesdropping on the druids was invaluable to his plans.
I will be able to
use this knowledge for our gain. Now those fools in Landen stand no chance
whatsoever if I can get to Nodin immediately. Their reinforcements will be too
late!

***

Lord
Dükker laughed wickedly as he dusted off after lying in the dirt beneath the
trees for several days. He was weak, but this new information invigorated his
body and mind. He stretched out his left hand, and his staff magically appeared
in it. He pointed it at the water and muttered some dark spell. A white flash
shot out from the end of his staff and hit the water like a lightning bolt.
Several fish floated to the surface, and he retrieved them hungrily.
I must
replenish my strength so that I can fight once I arrive at the base camp in
Nodin. They will need my strength and leadership; they will not fail with me at
the helm. The elves will pay for their stupidity, and the giants will suffer
for their interference. Those fragile men of Landen will die slow, painful
deaths for aiding those who defied me!

Lady
Hilzarie soared gracefully over the High Plains of Landen in search of Mistress
Khalida who did not appear to be anywhere in the vast country. She did not have
time to search for her, so she hovered where she was several thousand feet
above the ground and sent out a magical web to see if she could find the
nearest Elemental. After a few moments, she came into contact with Lord Neb who
had just finished flooding the Nairi Canyons. She quickly relayed to him the
information about the druids and what they had discussed. After she had
finished telling him everything, she took leave of him so she could get back to
the task that had been given her.

Go
little one. I will tell Khalida everything.
He sensed her acceptance of his reassurance, and then the
connection was severed.

Lord
Neb knew that he had to report back to Khalida at once because of the charge
that she gave him before they separated.
I wonder why Hilzarie did not
deliver the message herself to Khalida. She should have found her just south of
here. I hope that nothing has happened.
Worried, the water god sped down
the river to find out where Khalida had gotten to. As he hurried south in the
cool waters, he noticed a large army emerging from the forest. He paused to
look at this pleasant surprise before his eyes. The foremost of the army had a
figure clothed in a brown robe with black sashes. This sighting caused Neb to
stop altogether.
A druid is leading the army from Aran?  What is going on?

The
mysterious figure detached himself from the ranks of the army and walked
briskly down to the edge of the water. He came to a standstill as he began to
mutter an unintelligible chant of magical words under his breath. The water in
front of him stopped moving, and the presence of Lord Neb was revealed.
I
really hate it when they do that. They really should not meddle with time in
such a light manner.
Neb decided to transform into his human form and
hovered over the water ten feet away from the druid.

“What
gives you the right to reveal my presence like that?” demanded Neb irritably. 
Of all the guardians he was the one who distrusted the druids the most.  He was
the unfortunate one who was betrayed by the druid who fractured the council
centuries ago.

“You
do not have to worry. I have stopped time for them, so they will not know that
you were ever here,” replied the druid soothingly.  He understood Neb’s feeling
of distrust and did not blame whatsoever.

“Zaide,
is that you?” The Elemental asked this with an edge of disbelief in his voice.
I
never would have thought him to be a warrior druid.

“No,
I am not a warrior, Lord Neb. I am merely leading this army from Aran to
Landen. I have come to this spot to show them the secret entrance to the High
Plains, which happens to be right behind you.”

“So,
why have the druids finally decided to get involved?  I know that your comrades
have met together in a traditional druid council just south of here. Why were
you not there?  Still not getting along?”

“You
have many questions, god of water. Can you not glean from my mind what you
seek?  We still do not allow others access into our minds, and our reasons for
getting involved are not your concern. We have chosen to help and will see to
it that this war that is on the brink will not destroy all of the peoples of
this land. We take our charges very seriously.”  He did not hide his contempt
for the Elementals in his retort to Neb. He meant nothing personal by it
because he liked Lord Neb the best out of all the guardians. The druids did not
trust the Elementals after the first war of the races, and it was apparent that
their attitude was not about to change.

“The
druids still hold a grudge against the guardians. That is not surprising to me.
Your inability to learn from mistakes is still your greatest weakness.”

“The
guardians are still arrogant and unrepentant for the destruction they caused in
the past. And now we are just supposed to trust you because you say so?  What
of Kana?  It is no longer a secret that she is responsible for the current
situation. We know of her direct involvement, and we also know that you have
done nothing to stop her. You still insist on using these lesser creatures to
fight your battles. Why don’t you take her and your kind and stay in the east
where you belong!”

Neb
did not like what he was hearing at all, and he wanted to blast the infidel
into oblivion, but he knew that he had more pressing matters than fighting with
a foolish druid. He submerged himself back into the water and continued down the
river to find his mistress. He had broken the druid’s hold on time, and Zaide’s
surroundings burst back into life. He stood there watching the Elemental
heading south with a feeling of regret for having been so harsh with someone
who had once been a good friend.
If only they would admit to their folly and
make amends for it. If they could finally accept responsibility for their
actions or rather their inactions, we could move forward together once more.

“Where
do we cross?” asked General Sanjay from behind the druid who was lost in his
own thoughts. The question brought him back to reality.

“We
shall cross here,” he replied while motioning to the running waters behind him.
The druid turned about and with a complicated waive of his hands, the water
stood still.

General
Sanjay walked up to the water’s edge and placed a tentative foot on the smooth
surface. The water was solid as though it had been frozen except that it was
not icy or slippery. He looked at the slight druid with a look of approval as
he placed both of his feet on the magical barrier. He turned to face Zaire
while still standing on the water and gave him a look that clearly asked what
they needed to do next.

“General,
will you please have your troops cross over this temporary bridge I have
created and march them directly at that boulder on the other side of the river.
That is the entrance to the Shabazie Path.”  The druid was clearly not focused
on what was happening at the moment.  He was still thinking of his talk with
the water god.  He wished that he would have been more forgiving. 
In the
end our two councils are going to have to stand together.  After all, we too
experienced the same treachery that has torn apart the guardian council.

“You
want my soldiers to march across this bridge and walk into that massive rock? 
Don’t you mean that we need to go around it to the secret entrance behind it?”

“No,
I mean that you walk at the rock as though it were a curtain. I warn you that
if a person is not resolute about entering the secret path, then they will not
be granted passage.”  The druid marched himself across the river and walked
right at the boulder at the base of the tall cliff. Everyone tensed as he
reached the point where they all thought he would hit the rock. When he came
into contact with the entrance, he vanished from sight. A collective gasp
escaped from the troops who could see what was going on.

“Leave
it to a druid to be so dramatic,” the general said dryly. “Follow me!”  The
army resumed their march and crossed the river and entered the surprisingly
vast tunnel under the cliffs.

***

The
sound of the river filled the air as Khalida and Kuma made their way south
along the western bank of the Blaine River. As she neared a narrow bridge that
would allow her to cross the flowing waters, she stopped abruptly like a feral
beast that sensed its prey. She looked around the water’s edges trying to see
someone or something that was not there.
I sense the traces of powerful
magic around that area on this side of the river. If I am not mistaken, it
feels like druid’s magic.
She continued to puzzle over this development as
she sat there atop her massive bear.

A
little further done the river on the eastern bank there was a dark figure in
the eaves of the Aran Forest. She did not move yet because she wanted to
ascertain the intentions of the person that was standing there by the river’s
side. Then, with a sharp turn of its head, the dark elf caught sight of her.
She could not make out what it had said, but whoever it was had summoned magic
and threw it at her with great strength. A bolt of purple lightning shot at her
almost too fast for her to counteract the attack. Khalida was able to deflect
the magical missile and sent it flying into a nearby tree. The blast blew apart
the massive tree like it was a sapling.

Before
Khalida could go on the offensive, he was gone.
Who in the name of all
that’s holy was that?  Why would an elf attack me?  Maybe that was one of the
high elves. But why was he down by the water all by himself?  We know that the
orc and high elven armies are positioned in Nodin a few of miles east of here.
After
a few more moments of pondering what had just happened, she decided that she
had better get across the river and get back to Landen as fast as possible. She
needed to report to King Leroy about what she had learned and then inform him
that the next major attack would likely come from the south.

She
gently prodded Kuma with her mind to cross the bridge and to hurry as fast as
she could along the base of the southern cliffs. As the bear began to pick up
speed, she could hear a voice in her mind telling her to wait. She halted her
bear midstride and whirled around to face the direction the familiar voice came
from. It was Lord Neb who had called after her. She rode back to the edge of
the water on the north side of the bridge they had just crossed. She hopped
down lightly onto the ground and walked a few paces into the cool water.

“What
news do you bring?”

“I
have met with one of the druids. I was told that he was assisting the army of
Aran by helping them to enter Landen through a secret passage. He, of course,
made it clear that his kind still do not trust us after all these years. Also,
Lady Hilzarie gave me some even more interesting information.”  He went on to
explain about the druid council and also told her what the druids had learned
about Kana.

“Well,
this is both good and bad news,” she replied slowly. “The good news is that the
druids will help our allies fight this war. The bad news is that they will
likely try to make us all out to be the source of evil in this violent affair.”

“What
shall we do about it?”

“Nothing;
let them do what they feel is best. They are wise enough not to make all of the
guardians out to be villains. I am sure that Zaide knew that Kana was the only
Elemental fighting against the peoples of Tuwa. It will be because of this
knowledge that he and his kind will not stir up the people against the rest of
us. He knows that we will be needed to put an end to Kana’s evil ways.”

“What
do you think Kana is doing up in the north?  We know that she has Lord Keb up
there, but what else is she doing up there?”

“I
fear that she has committed an unforgivable sin. Evil wraiths do not just float
out of the north anymore. We took care of those spirits centuries ago. Someone
has released them from their imprisonment, and we know that only one of the
elder guardians could do that. I am afraid that she has gone and made a deal
with the devil himself.”

“You
think Kana released Drogan along with his horde of vile abominations?  If this
is true, then the druids and the rest of the races of Tuwa will never trust us
again. There will be no winning this fight. Evil will run across these lands
like my flood of Nairi. Do you think our master knows of this treachery?”

“I
do not doubt that he does. He knows a great deal more than we are being told,
but I am certain it is for the best. As for this war that is about to consume
us all, I agree with your assessment of the situation. Unless we find a way of
stopping a northern army, the people of Tuwa will perish…the good with the
bad.”

“So
you believe that there is very little hope then.”  This was a statement rather
than a question. They both knew that these tidings and deductions spelled the
doom of Tuwa.

“If
we can turn Kana from her evil ways, then we will have a chance. Remember, it
took all seven of us to imprison those fowl creatures the last time. We need to
get this information to the others as soon as possible. Neb, will you contact
the others for me?”

“I
will.”

“I
must find our master and see if he already knows of this evil. Maybe he has a
plan to turn the tide of this dreadful affair.”

They
both quickly departed to carry out their tasks. Neb went in search of Hilzarie and
Necia to give them the information they had just discussed. Khalida jumped onto
Kuma and urged her to run as fast as she could.
I must find my master, Kuma.
You know what to do.
The bear picked up the pace and headed north along the
western cliffs.