The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series (34 page)

Flare almost stopped at her words, 'work your magic with the troops'. What did she mean by that? It wasn't brilliant leadership that had kept them alive so far, it had been dumb luck instead. He turned back to speak to her, but she was already tending to Enstorion, so instead he turned and left the room.

Aaron left his room and walked slowly toward the mess hall. As he walked, he stretched his arms over his head to stretch out the sore muscles in his back. So far the fighting had been pretty intense, and the stress had kept him from sleeping well. He was sure that Kara could help him with the muscle soreness, but it was a trivial thing and he didn't want to bother her. The gods only knew that she was overly busy as it was.

He walked slowly, knowing that he still had a couple of hours until sunrise, so he should have plenty of time to get his breakfast and be ready when the attack came. A thought occurred to him about what would happen if the goblins attacked before dawn, but he chased it away. No use looking for any more trouble, they already had all the trouble they could handle and then some.

Flare was doing a good job, no, a great job in his opinion. Honestly, Aaron was surprised they still held the fort. By all rights, they shouldn't have survived the first attack, but here they were on their sixth day. He hoped they would make it to seven.

“Hello,” a female voice said, jarring him from his mental wanderings. He looked up quickly, tensing as he did so, but then relaxed quickly when he saw the girl who had spoken. She had long brown hair that was braided and reached to her belt. Her skin was somewhat darkly tanned, and she was somewhat plump. Her eyes were brown, and she had high cheek bones. She wore pants like a man would wear, and a thick long sleeved shirt. Something about her made Aaron think he had seen her before.

“Uh, hello,” he responded politely.

She seemed almost embarrassed to talk to him, and kept lowering her eyes to look at the ground. “Hi Aaron, My name is Elona.”

Suddenly he remembered her. Flare had arrested her on the trip from Telur for trespassing. “Yes,” he said, smiling, “Is there something that I can help you with?”

“I noticed you in the camp and you had such kind eyes. I was wondering if you would like to meet tonight.” Her eyes dropped to the ground as she spoke.

Aaron brow wrinkled in thought, he hoped she wasn't still trying to sell herself with the siege and all. What good was money if you were dead before you could spend it?

The girl must have realized how her question sounded, because she quickly added, “to talk. I mean to talk.”

“Oh. I thank you, but I will be busy planning for tomorrow.”

He started to move past her, but the girl stepped in front of him. “Please, all the soldiers know what I do and they're not interested in just talking to me. I was hoping that you might be.”

Saddened, he paused, studying her. She seemed lonely. Perhaps all she wants is someone to talk to, how could he deny her that? “Okay, but it may be late before I can meet you. I will have to help plan the fort's defenses.”

Elona's eyes were a little misty, and she smiled, “Thank you.”

The smile on the girl's face was infectious, and Aaron found himself smiling back at her. He touched her on the shoulder and then moved on toward the mess tent.

“I'll wait for you on the steps to the temple,” she called out after him. He responded by smiling and waving back at her.

Flare stood on the western wall waiting for today’s inevitable attack, and wondering what the goblins would do today. The sun was just coming up, and judging by the lack of clouds in the sky, rain would not save them today. The sun caused the entire eastern sky to be lit up with a bright reddish glow, but his thoughts were to the west. Goblins and trolls did not join forces. How could they all of a sudden join together? What could make them join forces now? Flare quit worrying about their motives, and went back to watching for the attackers.

They attacked earlier than they had attacked previously. Today they came charging across the valley a couple of hours before noon.

Flare had positioned his troops the same as in previous days, with Atock in charge of the north, and Philip in charge of the southern part. Flare took charge of the middle, and kept Trestus close to him. Trestus swore he was ready for battle, but Flare wanted him close enough to keep an eye on.

The goblins charged in two main columns. One column charged and attacked the northern part of the wall, and the other column charged and attacked the southern part. The goblins attacked in the same manner as before, with ladders and grappling hooks, trying to scale the walls.

“What in the name of the abyss are they doing? If they have a chance of getting in the fort, it’s in the middle, where the gates are.” Flare said to Trestus.

“I don’t …” Trestus started to say before the explosion cut him off and sent them flying.

The wall underneath them and the battlements around them had just shook, with splinters of stone flying through the air. All Flare had seen was a bright blue light and then the wall had started moving under their feet. He and Trestus slipped and fell to the ground.

They picked themselves up off the ground, and quickly moved to the battlements and looked over. The ground was still scorched and barren from Enstorion’s spell, but there wasn’t anybody down there.

Just then, a blue ball of fire flew in, from over the valley, and slammed into the wall just to the left of the gates. The whole wall shook, with dust and splinters flying in all directions.

Flare quickly scanned the valley floor trying to locate the source of the fireballs. He quickly spotted two humans in robes standing at the far end of the goblin columns. They were several hundred yards from the walls of the fort, and were surrounded by guards. He watched them for several moments, and then ducked as the magician at the end of the column on the right, let loose another fireball. This one struck the gates and rattled the wall again. He was positive that he heard the gates creaking under the strain.

“It’s never easy. Is it?” Flare asked of no one in particular. Then turning, he grabbed Trestus by the arm and said, “Split these troops in half, and send half to Atock, and the other half to Philip.”

“Right.
But what are we going to do about those magicians?” Trestus asked pointing out over the wall.

“You worry about those troops, and let me worry about the magicians.” Flare hollered over the impact of another fireball.

Trestus scurried away, and Flare turned back toward the wall. What was he going to do about those magicians? They were well out of range of the archers, and Mikela couldn’t reach both of them with a magic spell.

Flare stood there for several moments, considering his options. He quickly realized that the magicians could not be reached from here, so that somebody would have to take the fight to them.

“Mikela!
Come here!” Flare shouted.

Mikela was on the wall, but not currently involved in the fight. She jerked around at the sound of her name, and came running.

Trestus came running up behind Flare, and appeared to be out of breath. “Flare, the troops have been split up; per your orders. What’s the plan?”

Flare didn’t answer him, because at that moment Mikela finally reached them. Enton and Aaron came running up behind Mikela.

“What are we going to do?” Aaron asked, slightly out of breath.

‘
They’re all looking to me for answers.’ Flare thought. ‘How did I get myself into this? All I wanted was to be accepted. I never wanted to be a hero or be in charge.’

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Flare looked from side to side, trying to find out what was making that sound. To his chagrin, he discovered it was his own heart beating faster than he ever thought possible.

He looked back toward the magicians, who were still pounding fireballs into the wall. “We must take the fight to them. We’re going to have to go through the goblins, and try to kill the magicians.”

Flare looked back at the guardians, and instead of surprise, they wore looks of grim determination. ‘They’re getting used to battle; nothing is surprising them anymore.’ He thought.

“Mikela.
Can you get the four of us through the goblins near the magicians?”

Mikela considered. “I can muddle your appearance, which should confuse them into thinking you’re just another group of goblins. It might be enough to get you through, but I can’t promise you it will work.”

“We’ll take our chances. What happens if we put an arrow into one of those magicians when they are casting that fireball spell?” Flare asked, thinking of Enstorion.

“Well. I would imagine that it would be like one of their fireballs radiating outward from the magician.” Mikela answered. “You had best have a boulder or ridge or something to hide behind, and I don’t know if that will be enough. The heat might still kill you.”

“Listen up. Aaron and I will go after the magician on the left. Enton and Trestus will take the one on the right.” Flare said. “Trestus, get close enough to use your bow, but wait for me. When we’re both in position, I will give you the hand signal for move forward.” It was one of many common hand signals used in their guardian training. The hand signal was done by making a fist with the index finger pointing straight out, and then the finger was waved in a circle. “After the signal, count to three and shoot your arrow.”

Mikela interrupted Flare. “Once you shoot an arrow at the magicians, the magic spell will be shattered, and they’ll be after you. You had better not miss that first shot.”

Flare looked first at Mikela, and then at the rest of the guardians.
“Any questions?”
He paused, “All right. Mikela cast your spell.”

As Mikela began casting her spell, Flare was surprised at how easy it was to follow the spell. Apparently, his time with Cassandra had taught him more than he had realized.

All too soon Mikela was through, and the soldiers were ready to go over the wall. Their appearance had not changed, but Mikela assured them that the goblins would see them as fellow goblins, at least for a short while.

He paused, and grasped the hands of his fellow guardians. “Good luck. Remember, kill the magician, and get down. After the explosion, try to make it back to the fort, however you can.”

Flare got up to the battlements, and kneeled down. The silence was eerie and unnerving as they waited. He attached one end of the rope to a ring on the wall, and waited.

Two fireballs slammed into the wall in rapid succession. He waited until the stone chunks had landed, and then he heaved the rope over the side of the wall. He slid over the side and climbed down as quickly as possible. Reaching the ground, he dropped into a crouch in a small depression that was all black from Enstorion's fire spell.

Trestus, Enton, and Aaron followed Flare down the rope. Flare was nervous the whole time Aaron was climbing down the rope. A fireball would be hitting the wall at any moment, and he could easily see Aaron getting caught in it. Aaron reached the ground only moments before a fireball slammed into the wall, shaking the wall and covering the soldiers in dust and stone chips.

Trestus tried to speak, before the dust had settled, and ended up in a coughing fit.

Flare waited several more moments. “Good Luck,” was the only thing he could say as Enton and Trestus sprinted off to the right.

Flare and Aaron ran, hunched over, trying to keep hidden. They used everything from ridges, to boulders, to outcroppings of rock to cover their approach.

At first the going was easy. The goblins were staying well away from the gates, because of the fireballs. As they moved further away from the gates, they began to encounter more goblins. Fortunately, they were ignored.

It took about ten minutes to reach a favorable spot, where he felt comfortable that he could hit the magician and not have any goblins interfere. They stopped on a slight ridge, which was to the north of the magician. Flare got his bow and arrow ready, and looked to see how Trestus and Enton were doing.

Trestus and Enton had made better time than they had, and were already in position. They had reached a boulder that was to the south of their magician. They were using the boulder for shelter and were awaiting Flare’s signal.

He watched the magicians for several seconds, to make sure they were in the process of casting. He was about to signal the others, when he noticed the people standing near the tree line. He recognized two of them. The big bald fighter and the pretty woman he had seen when Zalustus had first rode out to speak to him. The others he did not know. Some of them were fighters, but there looked to be several magicians as well. They were just watching the siege of the fort, but they were too far away to interfere. 'Worry about them later,’ Flare thought, and then he quickly signaled to Trestus.

Keeping a count in his head, Flare notched an arrow and drew the bow. He aimed for the magician’s chest, and tried hard to ignore the beads of sweat that were running down his face and nose. He reached the count of three, breathed out, and held his breath. Still holding his breath, he ever so smoothly let the arrow fly.

The arrow flew straight and true, but at the last second the magician moved. Flare’s heart skipped a beat, for just a second, as he thought he had missed. Fortunately, the magician was still struck by the arrow. It slammed into his throat, with the head of the arrow clearly protruding out the back side. The magician fell to his knees, with his hands clawing at his throat, and his eyes bulging in their sockets.