The Fallen Guardian (The Guardian Chronicles 2) (9 page)

“What
was he doing in your head?” asked the general urgently. He was getting more and
more concerned by what he was hearing.
Does this wicked fiend have psychic
powers?

The
soldier did not reply vocally this time but merely shook his head from side to
side. It was clear that the poor fellow had no way of telling his commanding
officer exactly what Yukio had been doing in his mind. It was clear enough that
he was torturing the soldiers in their minds somehow. General Jaali gave the
poor fellow a squeeze of reassurance and then walked around the soldiers to see
just how many were affected. It appeared that only the first five lines of
troops had been under the control of Yukio. However, Jaali did not believe that
it was Yukio who had conjured the images.
Who has such powerful magic as to
affect the minds of so many?  And why would they be helping this vile betrayer?
 
He stood there for a moment perplexed by the situation. He would need to do
something to snap the spell and get his army moving again. If they did not move
soon, Yukio’s army would reach the other side of the cliffs and then they would
have the advantage.

As
Yukio galloped up to the front of the sprinting army covered in his enemies’
blood, his troops shouted praises to their valiant leader. Chants and war cries
filled the air as they picked up the pace now that their general was in the
lead once more. Within a few days, they had reached the sentry posts at the
northeastern end of the cliffs. Narrow passages between the cliff wall and a
massive body of water to the east were natural defenses that the people of
Landen had relied upon for centuries for protection. No one had ever scaled the
cliffs or crossed the icy blue lake that was big enough to be an inland sea.
General Yukio looked at the entry wall with a smile of triumph on his face.
General
Jaali will not dare to follow me with such strong natural defenses. I wonder
why we were not attacked. How did the soldiers of Landen know we were coming?

A
sentry came forward to talk with the general but stopped short when he noticed
that he was covered in blood. He did not know what to think of his appearance
and simply stared for a moment. At first, he thought to call for a healer but
was in too much shock to do anything. Finally he snapped out of his stupor and
welcomed the general politely. “Welcome to Landen. King Ishrafle requests a
meeting with you at once. He asks that your army stay at the northern end of
the country to help fortify our defenses. We will provide supplies and lodging
for your beleaguered men. Please hurry; the high elves are right behind you.”

“Thank
you for your hospitality. I will go with you straight away, but first I must
pass on your instructions. I will have my troop’s station themselves along the
cliff wall so we can surprise the cursed high elves and hopefully drive them
back for a time,” replied General Yukio. The sentry bowed and waited patiently
for the general to return. After a few minutes, a blood covered horse came back
into view with Yukio on his back. The sentry mounted his steed, and they took
off at once toward Ishrafle Castle. The army they left behind moved into action
at once.

After
the army of Nairi had positioned themselves along the cliff wall and at the
entrance to Landen, they waited for their quarry to come into view. They did
not need to wait long for the high elves to appear. It was clear that the army
below the cliffs had no idea that they were walking directly into harm’s way.
As the head of the army passed the first defensive position, tension filled the
air. The army continued forward until they had passed three more posts without
anything happening. When they arrived at the fifth defensive station, the
previous four stations opened fire. They sent arrows, rocks, and boiling oil,
followed by fire arrows, down into the unsuspecting ranks of Jaali’s army.
Shrieks of terror and absolute pain reached the ears of their attackers. The
captains took courage at these sounds and ordered the troops to fire at will.

The
base of the cliffs were ablaze now, and the soldiers below began to run in
every direction as though they had no idea which way was out. Several thousand
high elves lay dead within the first few minutes of the assault from above. The
portions of the army below that had not reached the first defensive position
halted their march eastward and turned due north. They positioned themselves
directly north of the besieged part of their army and were out of range of the
attacks from above. It appeared that they were attempting to set up a defensive
perimeter around the survivors. After a few minutes, the troops who had not
perished in the surprise attack settled down and rejoined their army. The
remains of the high elves that died burned brightly until the fires had burned
themselves out. The charred remains smoldered for days after their fiery
deaths.

General
Jaali looked up at the tiny dots that were their attackers and cursed loudly in
a fit of rage. After ranting and raving for a few minutes, he regained his
composure and surveyed the extent of the damage. They had lost a little over
six thousands soldiers in the surprise attack. Their numbers had been reduced
to less than one hundred thousand strong. While this infuriated the general
greatly, he knew that his forces were still formidable and that with reinforcements
that he could capture the Nairi army and the foolish people of Landen. He would
merely have to wait for a report back from Queen Kishi on exactly who their
allies would be. He decided that he had better send her a report and address
his battered soldiers.
This is only a temporary setback. Those foolish men
will curse the day they betrayed us!

Lord
Keb shrieked in utter frustration as the wraiths swarmed all about him. They
seemed to be feeding off of his anger and anxiety. He was not necessarily
afraid of the vile creatures; he was terrified of what Kana was doing. He knew
that he had to warn the others of exactly what she was planning to do. His mind
ached from the effort of thinking while his essence was racked with pain from
Kana’s fire. He calmed his thoughts and drove out all feelings and emotions
from his body. He locked his mind from his external foes and emptied all
thought. His body finally relaxed, which enabled him to block out the effects
of Kana’s magic. The specters stopped their siphoning and floated motionless
around the wooden figure that was still ablaze. The anger and anxiety had
dissipated all at once, and they could not understand where it went or how Keb
had accomplished this feat.

As
the battered Elemental sat there consumed by flames, his mind was blissfully at
ease. He focused his efforts on blocking out everything around him. After a few
hours or days, he could not tell, he had enough strength to do what he needed
to be free of Kana’s spells. As the word formed in his mind, he knew that his
friend Lord Neb would forgive his command of water. The word that formed in his
mind was from the sacred language of the guardians. Their language was one of
power, and when a word was uttered aloud, it commanded one of the elements to
obey. The power was only effective if it was used singularly. When the
Elementals spoke to one another verbally, their words did not command because
they were used in plurality. It was forbidden for a guardian to speak a command
word of an element they did not have stewardship over. Kana was the first to
break this commandment since the first war of Tuwa. They all knew how to use
all the command words, but only the rightful guardian should command the
element, or elements.

“
Watnesé
!”
bellowed Keb. The wraiths pulled back from him in shock. Power emanated from
him after he said this command word.

Water
rose up from the stagnant pool and dowsed Kana’s flame. Lord Keb was free of
the painful flames, which gave him even more strength and resolve to continue
his attempts to free himself. He calmed himself again to the same point he was
at before he uttered the command word for water. As he settled his mind, he
knew that his actions had altered something within the earth. He had broken the
commandment just like Kana, and he would have to pay for his trespass. He knew
that the guardian would forgive him, but he would have to make amends to Lord
Neb and Mistress Khalida for his trespass. They too would understand that
circumstances did not allow for anything else and that it was for the greater
good. Though, a law that was violated required punishment and retribution. He
knew that in his case the payback would be considerably lighter because of the
mitigating circumstances.

“
Frumacia
!”
yelled Lord Keb. His wooden-shaped body transformed into his human form once
more. He had freed himself of Kana’s traps. He did not look into the depthless
faces of the demons floating all around him as he took in his surroundings.

As
he scrutinized the cavern, he could sense the presence of another creature that
did not belong. It was not like the others because it had a discernible form.
The being was powerful and was possibly created by dark magic. Evil emanated
from it, and its fowl stench filled the air around him. The wraiths began to
move higher toward the ceiling as if making way for this new threat. It was
clear that they did not want to leave, but this new demon, or whatever it was,
posed a greater threat than the whole of the specters. Finally they turned
toward one of the walls in the cavern and disappeared. Keb was all alone now
with this invisible beast, and in that instant he knew was trapped. He simply
could not find his foe even though he knew that it had a body. An unnatural
mist began to spring up from the dank pool of water.

“
Watnesé
!”
bellowed Keb once again. Once he had uttered the command for water, he forced
the pool to freeze. He made every drop of water turn to ice in that dank green
pool. He thought that this was where the beast was coming from. He was sorely
mistaken.

Keb
felt a tall figure rising behind him, and he knew that he had been mistaken in
his hasty assumption. He turned around to see a creature that appeared to be
three times his height and appeared to be coiled like a snake. The beast had
red eyes that had slits for pupils. A forked tongue flicked in and out of its
massive mouth tasting the air around it. There were two enormous fangs that
were three feet long and that were being displayed warningly to Lord Keb. The
scales were a blackish green color with no distinct patterns. This snake was
obviously a creation of dark magic that was used ages ago. It was once an
average poisonous snake, but it had been altered by magic to its current size.
The vile creature stared at his prey ominously as if waiting to see what Keb
would do. The unnatural beast was some sixty feet long and was three times as
wide as the guardian who stood transfixed in front of the demonic creation.

Lord
Keb immediately tried to communicate with the creature by using telepathy, but
he could not penetrate the snake’s thick skull. “
Eromé
!” commanded Keb.
Huge chunks of the ceiling above the beast came crashing down on its head,
smashing it to the earth. For a few tense moments, dust engulfed the room and
nothing moved. As time passed, Keb became convinced that he had not killed the creature
because if he had truly hurt it there would have been some sort of sound from
the dying beast.

Rocks
flew into the air as the snake burst from its earthen prison and raised its
head high into the air. Keb was quick enough to throw up a protective shield
around him so that the first attack of his adversary was thwarted. However, his
magic shield had holes in it from where the creature’s fangs had hit. Somehow
the venom had dissolved the shield where it had come into contact with the
protective barrier. The vile creature rose up into the air again to position itself
for the next attack. Keb decided to use basic magic to see if it had any effect
on it. He sent fireballs and ice bolts into the underside of the worm with
extreme force. The magical assaults merely glanced off his scales and were
deflected into the cavern walls.
This beast is just like a dragon; magic
cannot penetrate its scales.
The guardian hesitated for a moment while he
tried to figure out what to try next.

This
time his hesitation worked in his behalf. The snake struck with unbelievable
speed and accuracy. It did not try to poison his prey this time and simply
swallowed him whole. This was an erroneous move on the serpent’s part. Once
inside the vile creature, Keb used every basic spell he knew to wreak havoc on
the defenseless inner walls. The beast thrashed about violently from trying to
dislodge the Elemental he had consumed. Then he tried to vomit Keb up so that
he would stop inflicting such horrible damage to his innards. As the beast
heaved repeatedly, the earthen lord clung to the sides using metal claws he
conjured up. This caused even more pain and discomfort for the wretched snake.

“
Zëgé
!”
screamed Keb defiantly. Unquenchable fire burst into life along with a rush of
water heading in the opposite direction of the fire. Wind ripped through the
belly of the beast as massive boulders appeared out of thin air and began to
roll both directions. Keb dislodged his claws from the sides of the snake and
transformed the claws into hands again. He clapped his hands together is one
swift motion, and all of the elements converged together at a point in front of
the Elemental. An explosion of the four elements ripped the snake in two and
consumed it entirely after the collision.

Lord
Keb stood in the now silent cavern covered in slime and other nasty pieces of
the deceased reptile. He waited a moment to see if the wraiths would return
after the demise of the snake. As he pondered on this thought, he began to
wonder why the specters were afraid of this beast.
It could not have harmed
them. They have very little substance and could easily avoid the creature.
Bewildered
by this he turned his attention to escaping the cursed mountain. He tried to
use his psychic powers to see if he could send a message through the earth to
one of the other Elementals. It was then that he realized that Kana’s magic was
not blocking him. There was a much more evil form of magic being used to deny
him the ability to communicate to the outside world. He then realized that the
walls also had a magical barrier that would not allow him to leave the cavern.
The wraiths were allowed to exit because they served the power that was holding
him captive.
I am trapped!

***

Lord
Neb was warned by Mistress Khalida that the southwestern part of the Black
Forest was ablaze and that there were several fires burning in Tarisdell. She
had asked him to put out the fire that was threatening the Seda’s home because
she did not want them to venture outside their domain. It would not bode well
for either side to have them on the loose and unchecked. They were powerful
beings that had helped the guardians in their fight against evil many years
ago, but they had isolated themselves because of their mistrust for every
living thing. They did not take sides anymore, and anyone who was unlucky
enough to cross into their realm either died or was not right in the head ever
again. Khalida believed that if the fire that was burning their home was put
out at once that they would not become involved in the battle for Renshaw.

Lord
Neb caused dark rain clouds to appear over the area that was burning out of
control in the southwestern part of the Black Forest. He caused an unrelenting
downpour to be unleashed, and the blaze was put out within a few hours. Neb
stayed for a while in the rain clouds to make sure that the Seda stayed put and
did not venture out. He watched them for a few days with no visible signs of
them leaving their home. Once he was satisfied with the result, he reported
back to Khalida that his mission was successful. She was very pleased with his
work and told him to move on to Tarisdell and put out the fires there.

The
massive storm cloud moved slowly toward the melee that had engulfed the elven
capital. As he reached the southern end of the city, he unleashed such a fierce
downpour that the elves, giants, and orcs ran for cover. The fires were put out
instantly, and the raging battle ceased for the moment. As the clouds made
their way over the rest of the city, the inhabitants and the soldiers headed
for cover. When the storm reached the northern outer wall, the high elves,
elves, and giants ran for it. The rain was coming down so hard that it would
literally hit the soldiers from the different armies as hard as an arrow shot
from close range. The city of Tarisdell was covered in darkness by the black
clouds while rain continued to pour down for several days. Lord Neb
communicated telepathically with King Ciel in the midst of the torrential
downpour. He told the king that he was to take his people and depart at once
for the High Plains of Landen. He was also ordered to take the giants with
them. The elven king was told to ask King Angus to protect the rear while both
groups retreat.

After
he had effectively communicated with the elves, he reported back once again to
Khalida. She was pleased with his efficiency and timing. She then informed him
that he was needed in Nairi to deal with a situation that had spiraled out of
control. The people of Nairi had been driven from their homes and had been
pursued all the way to the country of Landen. General Yukio’s army had
successfully driven back the high elven army once they had taken defensive
positions along the cliff walls in the north, but their homeland was still in
the hands of their enemy. Neb instantly knew what was needed, and it would take
some preparation before he could accomplish his next mission. He would need the
help of Lady Hilzarie to carry out Khalida’s orders. He was told to seek her in
the south. She was on a mission in the lands south of Tuwa to make sure that
there were no more orcs, goblins, or rock trolls gathering down there. She was
also supposed to look for signs of any other people or group of animals that
may join in the fray.

As
Lord Neb left the scene at Tarisdell, he contemplated the plight of the good
peoples of Tuwa. He wondered whether they would triumph over the evil designs
of the axis powers like the last time. The first war of Tuwa was still fresh in
his memory because the concept of time was foreign to an immortal being such as
him. He knew that this time the situation was slightly different because the
evil armies had an ally that they did not have before. Last time they had the
dark lord, but he did not help them in the end. This time they had an Elemental
on their side, and she would not quit until she had achieved her designs. Kana
wanted control over everything and everyone. He had learned of this plan from
the whisperings from the peoples of Tuwa and the creatures that would speak
with him.
I wonder where my dear friend Keb is. I have heard nothing
concerning his whereabouts. I hope that our fallen sister has done nothing to
him.

After
traveling at an unbelievable rate of speed, he had reached the lands south of
Tuwa via an underground waterway. These remote areas were unknown to the races
of Tuwa, which is why they had never been mapped out. The peoples who lived in
the south were uncouth and wild. They bore little resemblance to men, elves, or
dwarves. There was a different breed of orcs and goblins living there, though
scattered and unorganized. There were all manner of trolls that roamed the
lands in small tribes. There were no governments or civilizations among any of
these primitive peoples. The animals were just as wild and ferocious as the
people. Lord Neb could see that the inhabitants had no interest in the north
lands and were unaffected by its current unrest.