War (Guardians of The Realm Book 3)

by Amanda Fleet

  “There’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t have killed him. There’s no guarantee that you could have retrieved the stones if you’d handed them over. You did the right thing. You completed your mission.”

  “But it shouldn’t have been at such a cost.”

  Lord Eredan took a deep breath. “Lady Aeron. One small child, however innocent, cannot balance against the safety and security of The Realm. There are many children in The Realm whose lives will be lost if Aegyir and his demons continue their killing.”

  “Then these stones had better bloody work,” I muttered. “Where are they?”

  “I took them to the technicians.” Lord Sondan leaned over from behind Lord Eredan’s chair and put my compass on the bedside cupboard. “This was with them, but the technicians don’t know what it is.”

  “It’s a compass. It’s for navigation Outside. What happened at the portal? I don’t remember.”

  “Lilja told me that you were returning and were injured,” said Lord Eredan, sitting forward. “That she’d seen you buried alive.”

  Behind me, Faran’s breath caught in his chest.

  “No one heard me calling?” I said.

  Lord Eredan shook his head. “You have no communications button.”

  “No. I lost it Outside. Probably in the caves.”

  “When we emerged, you were fighting four men and were badly injured. Though not so badly injured that you didn’t try to cut my hands off when I tried to get the backpack from you,” said Lord Eredan. “You couldn’t walk so I carried you back through the portal. Lady Aeron, who were the men attacking you Outside? Who killed the child?”

  I answered without thinking. “Aegyir’s vassals.”

  Lord Eredan arched a brow. “But Aegyir’s in The Realm. How has he managed to corrupt so many Outsiders?”

  I swallowed. “Oh.”

  Should I tell him everything now? He’d have to know eventually. Surely he wouldn’t have me arrested when I could barely even sit up?

  Faran’s arms tightened around me, and he drew in a deep breath as if about to speak. It was better that Lord Eredan heard this from me.

  “Faran removed the talisman so that I could see it,” I said in a rush before Faran could say anything. “As soon as he did, we realised I was back under Aegyir’s control.”

  Lord Eredan’s lips thinned, and he straightened in his seat. I struggled until I was half sitting up, the effort draining me.

  “I swear, Aegyir has not made me take his blood again,” I said. “I’m back under his control because he has form again. There’s something in the book Orian gave me about it. The men Outside were the ones we removed from The Realm after the attack.”

  There was a long pause before Lord Eredan spoke. “You knew all this before you left?” All of the warmth in Lord Eredan’s voice was gone.

  “Mm.”

  Faran’s posture hardened.

  “And neither of you thought to tell me?” Lord Eredan’s face darkened, and his eyes narrowed.

  I closed my eyes for a moment. “I didn’t think you’d let me go if you knew, and I thought finding the stones was more important in the long run.”

  “Why didn’t you petition for more Guardians to accompany you?” asked Lord Sondan from behind Lord Eredan, his voice gentle.

  I eyed Lord Eredan, nervously. “You wouldn’t have risked The Realm by letting Faran come with me, and other Guardians would have been as much of a hindrance as a help to me Outside.”

  Lord Sondan stepped closer to the bed. “You knew there’d be men hostile to your mission and still chose to go alone?”

  “Yes.”

  A brief silence filled the room.

  “I don’t know whether you’re braver than any other Guardian here or more stupid,” muttered Lord Eredan.

  “At the moment, she’s more injured and more exhausted than any other Guardian here,” said Faran, an edge to his voice.

  His father’s face softened. “Indeed. We should let you rest. Faran, please write up a report of what Lady Aeron has recounted. Lady Aeron, if you’re satisfied with it, sign it and send it to me. Faran, you’re excused from training for the rest of the day, but I want to see you later.”

  “Yes, Lord Father.”

  “If Faran’s writing the report, at least it’ll be legible,” said Lord Sondan, smiling at me.

  Lord Eredan scraped his chair back, his gaze on me. “As ever Lady Aeron, I don’t know whether to be furious at you for keeping important information from me or to admire your valour and determination. You did well.”

  Pride warmed my heart, blending with relief at how he’d taken the news of me still needing the talisman.

  The two bowed and withdrew. I sank back and curled tighter against Faran, tugging the quilt close around me. “That could have gone worse.”

  “Mm. He’s more impressed with you than angry. Your determination to get the stones back to The Realm was fierce.”

  I touched my face gingerly. It was very swollen. “How badly injured am I?”

  “Very.” His voice faltered. “I didn’t think the healer would be able to save you.”

  Memories of the metal pipe crashing into my face came back. “My face feels strange. And Lord Sondan kept looking at me oddly.”

  He stroked my hair back. “Your nose was broken. Again. The healer’s done the best he can, but it’s still crooked. More crooked.”

  I fiddled with the edge of the quilt. “Am I hideous to look at?”

  He kissed me gently. “Not to me.”

  “Well, that’s all that matters.”

  He chuckled, before his smiles melted away. “You said you were calling?”

  “Mm. At the portal. I bellowed for you.”

  His face fell, and his breathing caught in his chest. “Be ready for when she calls for you. That’s what Lilja said. And I wasn’t. I couldn’t hear you.”

  He stared at the sky above us, and I rubbed his cheek. “You were here for me though. How come your father’s given you the rest of the day off? Isn’t the top Guardian meant to be doing some work?”

  He laughed softly. “You’d only let the healer work on you if I was next to you. Though since you were unconscious for almost all of it, I don’t know why. I think my father realises that if he wants us back in the field any time soon, we need today off.”

  I felt as if I would never be strong enough to go back in the field. Nor did I want to. “What did the healer give me? I need some more.”

  Faran leaned across me to pick up a small bottle at the side of the bed. “He said you could have one more spoonful of it. It’ll make you sleep again. Lunch will be coming in a few minutes; do you want to wait until you’ve eaten?”

  My stomach rumbled at the thought of food – even the monotony of Realm meals. “I’ll wait. Do you think you’re going to get another flogging for disobedience? Maybe we should have told your father about the slaves Outside.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve earned one. We should have told him. What’s a compass?”

  He passed it to me. I turned it in my hands. The needle turned with it.

  “A navigational aid. Remember I asked you in the library what the top of a map was lined up with in The Realm and you said it was where the sun sets on the shortest day?”

  “Mm.”

  “Well, Outside, we use things like this to orientate maps and to navigate. See the little arrow on this? That will always line up with a particular orientation, and the top of an Outside map points in that direction.”

  He took it from me, studying it. “What makes it line up?”

  “The middle of Outside is made of iron, and because the arrow has the same properties, it will line up. It’s hard to explain if you don’t know what a magnet is.”

  “What are the symbols for?”

  “They’re letters. Outside writing. You’ve seen them when I’ve been making notes.”

  He looked more closely, his brow furrowed. “Mm. What does it spell?”

  I explai
ned that the letters stood for north, south, east and west and how points in between were described. He seemed enthralled by it.

  “And you used this Outside to help you to find the stones?”

  “Sort of. At least, to help me not get lost and find where I was when I got out.”

  He put the compass on the bedside cupboard. “Why doesn’t Outside navigate by the sun?”

  “Because in some parts of Outside, it’s very cloudy and the sun isn’t visible a lot of the time. Underground, I couldn’t see any light at all.”

  “How did you see?”

  “I bought a torch. But when I switched it off, there was no light at all.” I shivered at the memory. “You can have the compass if you want. Though it’s a pretty rubbish gift since it doesn’t work here.”

  Faran squeezed me and kissed my forehead. “Thank you. I’ll put it with my mowze. Did you see any mowzes Outside?”

  “Mice. No. They’re very shy and don’t live deep underground.”

  Faran played with my fingers, biting his lips together. “You’ve given me two gifts, and I haven’t given you any. I have no skill in carving or drawing. I want to give you something, but I don’t know what I could make you.”

  I kissed his fingers. “Just make me happy, Faran. That’s all I ask.”

  17

  I wolfed down the food that arrived and took a dose of the medicine. I don’t even remember handing the bottle back to Faran – the medicine knocked me out instantly. When I woke, I was alone in bed, and I cried out for Faran, my heart racing and my breathing rapid.

  He stuck his head around the door, clutching a pen. “I’m here. Sorry. I didn’t expect you to wake so quickly. I was writing the report.”

  My breathing calmed. “I thought you’d gone.”

  He grinned. “No. Let me finish the report and you can sign it.”

  I flopped back on to the pillow, wrung out. Faran returned to the bed a few minutes later and passed me the report. Lord Sondan was right. Faran’s writing was a lot better than mine.

  “Just read it to me?” I said. “I’m too tired to work out the runes.”

  The report was dry and factual but included everything. Faran handed me the pen, and I scrawled my signature on the bottom.

  “You need to seal it,” he said as I gave the paper back to him.

  “Oh, you do it.” I was too tired to faff about with hot wax and seals.

  “Using someone else’s seal is a punishable offence.”

  I fixed him with a malevolent stare, and he held his hands up. “I’ll endeavour to seal it as crookedly as you do, so no one suspects. Hesta also wanted you to do a report on the location of the stones.”

  I nodded wearily. “Have you written that too?”

  He nodded and read it to me.

  “Yeah. You can seal that one too,” I said when he’d finished.

  He went back to the outer room, and I heard the rustle of paper and smelled hot wax. He summoned a messenger and sent the lad away with the reports, then returned to the bedroom and sat on the bed next to me. I rested my head on his broad thigh.

  He played with my hair. “I was so scared you would stay Outside.”

  “And leave you? No.” I paused, thinking about my first night Outside. “I missed you. I wanted to show you my stars, the way you showed me the stars here. It felt horrible, knowing you weren’t even on the same world as me.” I closed my eyes. “You came to me. When I was really struggling in the caves.”

  “Mm?” Puzzlement laced his voice.

  “Well, not you, obviously. Your voice. Telling me I could do something. Telling me you needed me.”

  His hand left my hair and stroked my neck. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. And when I was fighting the guys at the portal, I heard you really mad at me that I didn’t get a guard up.”

  He chuckled. “You can be quite poor at that.”

  I smiled, happy, then thought about Outside and my dreams of being able to live there with him. My trip Outside had shredded them.

  “I don’t think I can go Outside again,” I said. “I’ll be wanted for murder. My fingerprints will be on the weapons used to kill Aegyir’s slaves. The woman who drove me to the town would say I was covered in blood. I could possibly claim self-defence, but I’d still be in trouble. I don’t have any witnesses to support my version of what happened.”

  Faran tipped his leg so he could see my face. “Fingerprints? How will they mean that you’re wanted for murder? Everyone leaves fingerprints. Why are yours different? Because you’re a Guardian?”

  “I don’t think so. Give me your hand?” I studied his fingers. As I thought, the patterns of ridges on his fingers were different from mine and each of his fingers differed from the others, but they were recognisably fingerprints. “No. Guardian fingerprints aren’t different from Outsiders’.”

  He stared at his hands, deep in thought. “But to know that they’re your fingerprints on the knives, they must already know what the patterns on your fingers are. Is everyone Outside recorded?”

  “Not where I lived. But mine may be on record because I was reported missing when I first returned here. They’ll have tried to find things with my prints on in case they found a body to match to.” Tears filled my eyes. “My adopted father, Paul, will think I’m dead by now. He’ll never know I’m safe and well.”

  I scrubbed my face, sniffing hard. “I wanted to tell him I was alive. That I was okay. But it wouldn’t have been fair if I wasn’t going to live Outside again. And I don’t know how I would have explained where I’ve been for eighteen months.”

  Faran stroked my face. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t want you to go Outside again, but I know there are people there who love you and who must wonder where you are.”

  “Mm. Admittedly not that many. Maybe only as many as there are here.”

  The room filled with the sound of a klaxon, making both of us jump. I clamped my hands over my ears. “What’s that racket?”

  “The city gates are being barred. The Council will be summoned.”

  “Seriously?” I struggled to sit up, still spaced-out from whatever was in the medicine. “I need to go.”

  “Aeron, no one will expect you to get to the Council.” Faran’s hands guided me back to him.

  “Maybe not, but I want to go. You’re going to have to help me though.”

  One of us needed to be at the Council meeting. Not just to know first-hand what was going on, but to potentially temper any response.

  “Could you stop being so stubborn? Just for one day?” He huffed, exasperated. “You should rest!”

  I grinned. “No.”

  Faran had to almost carry me to the Great Hall. All of the Guardians had gathered there, not just the Council.

  Lord Sondan rushed over to us. “Lady Aeron, are you well enough to be here?”

  I wasn’t. Without Faran to hold me up, I’d have crumpled into a heap on the floor. I shrugged noncommittally, and Faran handed me off to his friend, thin-lipped. “Keep her upright and call me when the Council has finished. She should be resting, but she’s too ungovernable.”

  Lord Sondan laughed, keeping a firm hold on me.

  Lord Eredan strode to the middle of the room to address the massed Guardians, grim-faced. “Council members only. If you’re not a Council member, continue with your training.”

  Lord Sondan clutched me around my waist and held me tight against his side. We walked over to our seats, and he sat me down. Faran shot me a worried glance before joining the throngs of Guardians moving away from the Great Hall. I turned to Lord Sondan.

  “What’s happening?”

  His face was tight, his posture stiff. “Rioting.”

  Jeez, that was all we needed. The Guardians were spread thin enough dealing with demons, without being needed for domestic issues.

  The klaxon still sounded, splitting the air.

  “How long will that noise go on?” I asked, my head ringing from the racket.

  �
��It’ll stop soon.”

  Mercifully, it did. The rest of the Council took their seats, various degrees of concern across their faces.

  Lord Eredan cleared his throat. “The city gates have been closed and barred. They’ll only be opened to re-admit Guardians and other city-dweller who are not hostile. The villages that rioted yesterday have marched on the city, demanding to speak to me. They accuse the Guardians of releasing Aegyir and the other demons deliberately, to prove that the Guardians are needed. They’ve been barred from entering. Few new supplies have been sent to the city today – none from these villages – but there is sufficient food within the city boundary to feed the city for two days.”

  “Will you allow the village representatives in to speak to you?” asked Lord Sondan.

  “No. I will not.” Lord Eredan’s roar filled the room. “They have nothing to say worth listening to.”

  I blinked slowly, fighting not to shake my head at his stubbornness. Lord Sondan looked chastened. I raised my hand, wondering if I would ever learn to keep my own counsel.

  Lord Eredan rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Yes, Lady Aeron.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to listen to their concerns now, before the city runs out of food? Wouldn’t we be in a stronger position?”

  “More will die in the provinces in two days at the hands of the demons than will die in the city from starvation,” said Lord Eredan, his voice firm, his eyes hard. “Let them lose their loved ones and realise what they need the Guardians for. Then we’ll be in a stronger position.”

  I bit my tongue before I spoke my mind. Calling Lord Eredan a callous bastard might have been accurate, but wasn’t going to have any positive outcomes. Instead, I said, “Doesn’t that play into their conspiracy theory?”

  Lord Eredan scowled at me. “The only threat to The Realm at the moment are the demons. If any are within the city walls, we can deal with them. If they’re in the provinces, the people will learn they cannot deal with them. I want an inventory of supplies and a plan to ration them so that we can manage without incoming food for three days. I’m sure the villagers will come to their senses in that time.”