The Fallen Guardian (The Guardian Chronicles 2) (8 page)

“So,
you knew I was coming,” stated Kishi bluntly. It was not a question, and Queen
Daria nodded her agreement with what the high elven queen said. The assassin
could see that her prey was waiting for her to finish the job. It was a pitiful
sight to see one of the most powerful and influential leaders in the land of
Tuwa sitting upon her throne resigned to the fact that she was going to die.

“Let
us not mince words. Finish what you have come here to do,” said Queen Daria
bitterly. “Seal your wicked fate by killing your only ally. Know this. I curse
you and all those who carry the name of high elf. May you die viciously painful
deaths, and may your souls be racked with eternal torment for your sins.” 
Daria had a stern and meaningful look on her face as she spoke. After she had
pronounced her curse, the look of resignation returned.

Kishi,
who still held the death orb, sent out the black hand once more, and it reached
out to Queen Daria and ripped her soul from her body. The queen’s eyes slid out
of focus, and she remained seated on her throne with a faraway look. Having
done what she had set out to do, she turned about and exited the soulless halls
of Nairi castle. As Kishi entered the light of day once more, she could see
that the battles on the sides of the canyons were intensifying. She needed to
relay to General Jaali that she had been successful and to put an end to the
wicked men once and for all. She started to run at a very fast pace back down
the path she had taken to enter the castle. There was no one along the way that
tried to stop her because they were all dead. As she ran, she wondered how long
it would take General Yukio to find out what she had done. She had her answer
immediately after thinking this. Yukio’s voice could be heard above the sounds
of battle and caused an eerie silence to fall. The only sound was that of an
enraged general who had somehow discovered the loss of their queen. Threats,
blood oaths, and extremely vile language rang through the air while everyone
and everything listened to his ranting and raving. Queen Kishi stopped running
and smiled.
I guess I do not need to hurry anymore; the whole world knows
what happened now. General Jaali knows what to do.

“Kill
them! Kill them all!” shouted General Yukio as he finished his vulgar tirade.
The ground shook momentarily after he shouted his order.

The
Nairi army redoubled their efforts as they renewed their attack on the
advancing high elves. They were so enraged by the loss of their queen that they
unwisely left their defensive positions to attack the approaching army in
hand-to-hand combat. General Jaali acted at once to take advantage of this slip
in judgment. He sent the archers up to higher ground and ordered them to rain
arrows down on the soldiers in the rear of Yukio’s army. After an hour of
intense battle, the ranks of the army of men began to lose their resolve.
General Yukio, though still enraged by what had happened and what was happening
now, called for the retreat. Jaali let them go so that he could reunite his
divided army and take an inventory of his troops. Plus, he wanted to speak with
the queen before deciding what to do next. After a few hours the entire high
elven army that had come to Nairi was gathered together outside the castle gate
on the canyon floor.

“My
queen,” said General Jaali, finally finding Kishi. They hugged each other and
looked one another over to see what damage had been done to them. Jaali had a
nasty cut that started just below his left eye and went down past his jawbone
slightly. Aside from that, he was unharmed. He noticed that Kishi’s hip was
bloody and had a sickly greenish look to it. “What happened here?”  He bent
down beside her to get a better look at her sickly wound.

As
the general touched her hip gently, she said, “Nothing that cannot be fixed.” 
As he stood up, she gave him a wry smile, and they both laughed warmly. She
reached up and gave him another tight embrace. He always liked the feeling of
holding her and under different circumstances would have acted on the feelings
that he had for her. Now was not the time, however. As they stood there holding
one another, the general wheeled her about while still holding onto her. They
both saw the army of General Yukio leaving the canyons; they appeared to be
heading southeast.

“Leave
a small detachment here with me and pursue those traitors,” ordered Kishi as
she let go of her beloved friend. “Do not let them reach their destination no
matter what the cost. If they should reach the High Plains before you overtake
them, encamp the army at a safe distance from the cliffs and send me word. No
one has ever taken Landen, and I do not believe we could do it on our own.
However, maybe we could get some allies together and change that record. I will
communicate with Lord Aellenas while you make your pursuit. He should have some
allies for us by now.”

“It
shall be as you wish, malady,” said the general with a bow. She stood him up
once more and kissed him hard on the mouth before turning away to enter the
castle gates. Jaali went into action at once and ordered a small regiment of
soldiers to remain behind with their queen. He then turned his attention to the
matters at hand. “All right, you can see that our unworthy foes have turned
tail and fled. Let’s hunt them down!”  Shouts of agreement rose from the ranks.
The air was also full of vulgar language as they began their pursuit of Yukio’s
army. Never before had a group of elves used such unbecoming language.

As
General Yukio rode ahead, he was consumed in dangerous thoughts and was in a
rather vile mood. First he lost the love of his life, and now he had been
unable to keep his queen from being murdered. He had been so successful in
defending her against assassination attempts in the past and could not
understand why he had failed this time.
Why was she sitting in the throne
room?  I told her to hide in the secret cavern until I came for her. What
possessed her to do such a rash thing?
  He was perplexed by Daria’s actions
and knew that she must have been coerced somehow to allow herself to become
such easy prey.

After
the army behind him was completely clear of the canyons, he called a halt to
their retreat. He had to explain to the troops what happened and what they
needed to do now in order to survive. Yukio did not like the idea of
retreating, but he would much rather run than get his entire army killed
needlessly. He had lost a significant number of soldiers in defending their
homeland and did not think it was wise to defend a place where they had
experienced a great tragedy. The general knew that it was time to leave when
his men left their defensive positions to attack the high elves in a wildly
unorganized assault. He also knew that they would be able to find protection in
the High Plains of Landen. Allies would save them from utter annihilation and
would help them recapture their beloved homeland.

“Men,
we need to regroup after the tragedy we just experienced with the loss of our
beloved Queen Daria Thejar,” began the general evenly. “We must retake our
lands, but first we need help to accomplish this. We will go to our brethren in
Landen and seek their protection and aid. We will be reunited with our families
who left us weeks ago. We might even be able to garner the support from the men
of Aran as well.”

No
one said anything or made any sudden movements. It was as though they were in
shock or stunned somehow. The death of their queen did not seem real or final
until General Yukio uttered those earth-shattering words. The soldiers took a
moment to reflect on what just happened to them, and for the first time fear
entered into their hearts. They had much better defensive positions, and they
had held the high elves off for weeks. Murmurings and whisperings began to fill
the air as they stood there trying to make sense of what had happened. They had
not listened to another word of Yukio’s after making it clear that their
beloved queen was dead.

“Quiet! 
We do not have time to mourn or to place blame. We must move forward if we are
all to survive another day. See!” said Yukio, pointing at the high elven army
cresting the lip of the canyon. Shouts of terror and dismay erupted amongst the
ranks. The general had to do something and do it quick or they would surely
lose an open plain battle.

“General
Yukio, maybe we should surrender,” stammered one of the soldiers from the
middle front of the army nearest to him.

Yukio,
who was not a very patient man to begin with, snapped. He used his psychic
powers to convince several key soldiers to agree with him so that the rest of
the army would agree to move out. Voices began to shout approvals to what the
general had said, and many of the captains barked orders to stand at attention
and to prepare to move out. The discontent and fear evaporated in the air
around the army. Every soldier stood stalk still while waiting for the command
to move out. The downcast looks and shifting eyes were replaced with stern
looks of determination. The general was pleased with his easy manipulation of
his troops.

“Move
out!” bellowed General Yukio.

The
reduced army of Nairi began to march at a quick pace toward the cliffs of
Landen. They bent their course directly east once they were within the shadow
of the cliffs. General Yukio rode ahead to make sure that there were no
obstacles or traps that lay ahead of them and then turned his steed about to
check the rear of the army. He wanted to see just how close the wicked fiends
were. He needed to know if they were coming at him with their full strength or
if General Jaali had sent only a portion of his army. He also wanted to
ascertain whether or not his evil sister-in-law was among them. He wanted to
rend her limb from limb more than anyone else. He smiled wistfully at the very
thought of exacting his revenge on the little witch.
Beware, Kishi. I will
have my revenge!  You and your high elves will follow in the tragic footsteps
of the Eldar!

***

General
Jaali could see in the distance, probably some ten miles away, the army of
Nairi hugging the cliffs of Landen.
They are heading for King Leroy’s
kingdom just like we suspected. I must motivate the troops to move faster.
“Let’s
pick up the pace!  We must engage them before they reach the High Plains!”
barked the general. The army picked up the pace so much so that they were
traveling at top speed. The distance between the two armies began to shrink as
they ran full out. It was as though an invisible whip was snapping at their
heels. The general was amazed at their ability to maintain such a feverish
pace. He ordered the archers to the front and sent them on ahead to see if they
could get Yukio’s attention. They ran full out for a few hundred yards and then
stopped to release a volley of arrows. The first barrage hit a couple of the
stragglers and did exactly what General Jaali had hoped would happen. General
Yukio turned about on his steed to face his attackers, and then he bore down on
them.

The
archers were surprised that the general would rush them all by himself when
there were a couple hundred of them. The moment this thought crept into their
heads, it was replaced by another terrible thought. The troops began to
hallucinate and see things that were not there. Before they had released one
arrow in the direction of the charging mad man, they turned on each other and
began to shoot one another. General Jaali roared in frustration and ordered the
rest of the army to go to the aid of the archers. The soldiers complied with
the command, but they did so with trepidation in their hearts. As they narrowed
the gap, they saw the crazed Yukio reach the confused bowmen. Within a few moments,
every single archer was dead. They died at the hand of one another in most
cases, but General Yukio had killed some thirty plus with his sword.

The
army came to halt in spite of themselves and stood there transfixed, gazing at
the blood-soaked general. Yukio gave them a wicked smile and jumped on his
horse in one fluid motion. He spurred his beast hard, and they bolted back
toward the Nairi army that was still marching at top speed along the cliff.
General Jaali snapped out of the trance and ordered the bewildered soldiers to
resume their march. They did not react at once, and the general could tell by
the look in their eyes that they were all spellbound in some way. Jaali decided
to wait patiently for at least some of them to come around because yelling at
them had no effect.

“General,
what just happened?” asked one of the soldiers nearest the gruesome scene.

“Son,
can you tell me what you remember?” the general asked congenially. He put his
arm around the trembling soldier to try and help calm his nerves.

“I
remember running toward the archers who had stopped to shoot that wicked
general from his steed,” began the soldier weakly. He was comforted a little by
the fatherly gesture by General Jaali. “Then it was as though the whole world
was frozen or in slow motion. I saw the bowmen turn on one another and watched
them destroy one another. Then I saw that vile general jump down off his steed
and walk toward those that had not died and began to cut them to pieces. That
was when he looked at me…”

“What
happened when he looked at you, son?” prodded Jaali kindly. “It is important
that I know exactly what happened so we can make sure it does not happen to you
or anyone else.”

“Then…I…saw…him…in…my…head,”
replied the guard, shaking violently at the mere thought.