The Guardians (Book 2)

by Dan O'Sullivan

  Milgorry didn’t reply, overwhelmed by Tiernan’s sincerity towards him.

  Chapter 16

  Side Effects

  Dale opened his eyes. The glare of the sun shining through the trees was blinding and he wondered how long he had been unconscious.

  ‘Three days,’ a voice said and Dale looked up to see the King’s Marshall walking towards him holding a partially filled water bag. He tried to sit up. To his dismay, he found he wasn’t strong enough to push himself into a sitting position and he flushed with embarrassment and annoyance. Danil reached out, grabbed Dale by the shoulders and dragged him backwards until he was resting against the rocks, half sitting up. He held the water bag towards Dale’s face as if to pour some into his mouth. Dale shook his head and tried to take the water bag, dropped it, cursed and lay back against the rocks resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to let Danil feed him like a baby.

  ‘Dale, Eibhear and I have been doing this for days. The fact that you are now conscious doesn’t make a whole lot of difference,’ Danil observed. ‘Can you remember anything from when you were unconscious?’ He felt curious about Dale’s unusual mind that at times refused to lose consciousness even when Dale’s body was sleeping.

  ‘A bit here and there,’ Dale mumbled. He hated the times when his mind was awake but his body refused to respond. ‘Will I stay conscious? Where’s the King, and the Princess and Duke?’ asked Dale weakly.

  ‘I have no idea. They’re still here,’ Danil reassured him.

  ‘Are they…?’

  ‘They are fine. Better than you are Baron, but they’ve been awake for over a day now,’ said Danil. Dale’s eyes closed in relief then they shot open again as something Danil said registered.

  ‘You have no idea? How could you not know! How could the King’s Marshall of Castle possibly not know where the King is? Please tell me you’re joking!’ He continued ranting before Danil could interrupt. ‘You know, I remember when we were brought to this hiding place, and I could see that there’s nowhere safer within miles. So why isn’t the King being kept in here? Who in their right mind would let a King, a Princess and a Duke go wandering around in the bush land when the place is being overrun by Nailmarni? And who’s with them if you aren’t? Shouldn’t you be standing right next to the King? You know, up until about a minute ago, I thought you were the best soldier I’d ever met. And when you turned guardian, I thought you were probably the most dangerous person our enemies would ever face! So, you’re the biggest, strongest, fastest, scariest King’s Marshall I’ve ever known and you don’t even know where the King is? Well, I suppose if the King was in here where he should be, you’d be in the right place! But now you tell me you have no idea where he is?’ With that, Dale’s eyes rolled up and silence fell.

  Danil grinned in satisfaction. ‘Good to see you’re getting your strength back, Dale,’ he said and through a hazy fog, Dale managed an indignant grunt.

  ‘I did warn him that he might wake up a bit grumpy,’ said Eibhear drily. ‘But he really outdid himself, didn’t he?’

  Danil laughed. ‘Is he going to remember that little tirade?’

  ‘I’m going to make sure he remembers every word! I can’t believe you told him you had no idea where the King was!’

  ‘That wasn’t what I meant! He asked me if he was going to stay conscious, and I said I had no idea. He also asked me where the King, Princess and Duke were and I said they were still here.’

  ‘Well, he thought you sounded careless. If anything was going to rile him up, it was someone acting incompetent!’ Eibhear walked over to where the King, Princess and Duke were all peacefully sleeping. ‘You know, Danil, I think they’re going to be alright.’

  When Dale regained consciousness once again, it was completely dark. He found he still couldn’t sit up easily, so he lay still, staring up at the stars which were peeping between the leaves of the tyallas. He remembered seeing the faces of the King, Princess Elizabeth and Duke Li and he strained to see if there was anyone else lying on the rocks, or if this had been a dream. His heart leapt as his eyes made out three sleeping shapes. Hope flooded through him. He rolled onto his stomach and dragged his knees up until his body was in a kneeling position but his chest was leaning towards the ground and his head was still lying on a rolled cloak.

  ‘What on earth are you doing, Dale?’ asked Danil, appearing beside him.

  ‘Getting up,’ Dale gasped.

  ‘I seriously doubt it.’ Danil grabbed Dale by the waist, rolled him onto his back, and pushed the cloak firmly back under his head. Dale gave up and lay still. He moved in and out of restless sleep until the sky began to lighten. As the sun hit the tops of the trees, Danil appeared with a handful of Pelgavik and a full water bag.

  ‘What’s that horrible smell,’ asked Dale, grimacing as he took the herbs.

  ‘Er…your body keeps working even when you’re unconscious, but we have done our best to keep you as clean as we could,’ said Danil reassuringly and Dale groaned with embarrassment. ‘Dale, you’re alive,’ said Danil. ‘For a while I didn’t think you were going to be, so if all you need now is to bathe, that’s probably a good thing.’

  Dale sighed resignedly. ‘Danil?’ he said cautiously and Danil suppressed a smile as he caught Dale’s thoughts. ‘I said some awful things the last time I was awake. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘You remember that, do you?’ Danil grinned.

  ‘And Eibhear said he would make sure I remembered it!’ said Dale, sounding only a little indignant. ‘I guess I deserve that. He warned me that I’d wake up a bit cross, and he was right – I did think you sounded incompetent. But you are the furthest thing from incompetent I’ve ever known. I’m really sorry Danil.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Danil reassuringly. ‘You should have heard what King Dannicus said to me! Duke Li was the only one who showed any restraint whatsoever. Princess Elizabeth vented her anger on little Rezon. Now that was a funny sight!’ He chuckled as he remembered the small woman glaring up at the huge warrior.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘She hiccupped when he was helping her drink and some of the water spilt. You should have heard her obstreperous tone and the lecture she gave him on manners!’

  ‘And what did the King say to you?’

  ‘He told me I should bathe more often, since there was an appalling odor around me. And then he said I needed a haircut, and gave me a roasting because I haven’t shaved lately.’

  ‘Are you telling tales of me?’ a voice asked weakly, and Danil leapt up and moved to crouch beside the King.

  ‘Definitely, sir!’ Danil assured the King. ‘Would you like to hear what Dale said to me?’ he asked, grinning wickedly and King Dannicus laughed.

  ‘So the Baron is awake! Very good. Would you carry him over here please?’

  Danil picked up Dale and deposited him beside the King. ‘Can I get you anything else sir?’ asked Danil.

  ‘Sit me up, please Danil. And I do want to hear what Dale said to you.’ He smiled encouragingly at Dale who couldn’t help but smile back, as the relief and joy of seeing the King alive filled his heart.

  ‘I think I’d like to hear that too,’ said a soft voice, as Princess Elizabeth sat up. She reached over and touched Duke Li on the cheek and he opened his eyes and smiled at her. Then he saw Dale and his eyes opened wide. Within seconds Dale, Duke Li, Princess Elizabeth and King Dannicus were huddled together with arms around each other and heads close together. Their strength drained away quickly and they fell sideways into a heap. Danil quickly arranged each person comfortably once again and spread an extra blanket over Princess Elizabeth.

  ‘Well,’ Dannicus prompted. ‘What did you say to my King’s Marshall, Dale? Your exact words please?’ Dale flushed deeply and mentally cursed his uncanny ability to recall information word for word. But there was nothing he could do other than obey his King, so in the quietest tone possible he embarrassedly repeated his tirade and by the time he had finis
hed the King, Princess and Duke were helpless with laughter.

  ‘Don’t be embarrassed, Dale. Your motivation was good. I’m glad you care!’ King Dannicus reassured him. ‘And you are right. Danil is the best King’s Marshall we’ve ever had, and I don’t say that lightly. He was by far the best even before he became a guardian.’

  ‘I’ll get some food, sir,’ said Danil, walking away and looking uncomfortable.

  ‘He embarrasses easily, for someone who’s the biggest, strongest, fastest, scariest King’s Marshall we’ve ever known,’ said Princess Elizabeth jokingly. Dale lay back and pretended to sleep. Elizabeth leaned over and whispered loudly, ‘You can’t fool me Dale!’ Dale smiled without opening his eyes.

  ‘Where do we go from here?’ he said to himself.

  ‘Once you’re all strong enough to travel, we’ll take you back to Castle,’ said Rudiger, appearing beside them. ‘But you may not be well enough for quite a few days, Baron, which is probably a good thing, since there are a lot of Nailmarni wandering around the bush land right now. Hopefully they’ll have moved on by the time you get through the next bout of unconsciousness and we’ll be able to slip through.’

  ‘I meant what are we going to do about their nest?’ Dale clarified, trying to ignore the comment about there being another bout of unconsciousness.

  ‘Are you still planning on trapping them somehow and burning them out?’ asked Rudiger. ‘Or were you planning to do something with chiniocelle?

  ‘That’s it!’ said Dale fervently, his eyes opening wide. ‘Rudi, I think you just worked out how we can make it happen!’

  ‘Did I?’ said Rudiger guardedly.

  ‘Just what are you planning, Baron?’ asked Dannicus worriedly.

  ‘We’ll burn them out. We’ll surround them, and then we’ll set fire to the bush land. No. That won’t work. We need to get them all moving. If we can make them chase us, we can lead them to somewhere where they’re trapped. Then we lock them in with fire. If the weather’s dry enough, a bush fire would do our job for us.’

  ‘And what happens to whoever they are chasing? How do they get away?’ asked Duke Li. ‘That might be a bit tricky!’

  ‘It wouldn’t be so difficult,’ said Danil. ‘Dale, this could work. Excepting so far they’ve shown no inclination to get up and follow you regardless of what you are done.’

  ‘They just need a little more incentive,’ Dale insisted.

  ‘Remember, if they do choose to move, they’re fast!’ said King Dannicus.

  ‘How is it you were found dressed as farmers and your clothing is in a pile of bodies in the middle of the Nailmarni nest?’

  Princess Elizabeth answered. ‘When they first attacked, someone dragged us from the carriage into the storerooms near the city gates, but there was a fire and the last thing I remember was seeing the roof starting to collapse on us. When we woke up, we were at a farmhouse a very long way from the city. There were bodies everywhere. The place had already been attacked. We tried to help but so many were already dead. The farmer suggested we change clothing, which we did and he put our clothing on some of the dead bodies. He reckoned that if the enemy was specifically looking for the King or the Duke or me, it would be better if they thought they found us dead. Then the farmhouse was attacked again. The farmer pushed us up onto the roof and then he ran past the enemy and into the bush land. They followed him-’ Elizabeth’s voice broke and she looked down at the rocks. ‘He would have to be the bravest man I’ve ever known. And he was right. They looked all around the farmhouse, and they took a lot of bodies away, but the first ones they took were the ones wearing our clothing. Somehow they knew…’

  ‘So that might account for some of the other bodies in the nest. I wonder who they were,’ said Dale.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Elizabeth sadly.

  ‘And who do you think dragged you to the storerooms?’

  ‘It might have been young Mulber,’ said Dannicus. ‘He was the nearest to the carriage.’

  ‘I found his body not far from the city gates,’ said Dale. He stopped speaking as Danil raised a finger to his lips. The King’s Marshall tiptoed over to the gap between the rocks and crouched. He drew his knife. Then to everyone’s astonishment, he stood, slid the knife back into its sheath and let out his breath all at once in a sigh of relief.

  ‘Could you knock or something, Callian,’ he said irritably. ‘You scared a couple of years off my life.’

  Chapter 17

  Freedom and Duty

  ‘We can’t move them yet,’ Rudiger declared, his black eyes flashing angrily.

  ‘We need to get them back to Castle!’ Kelian argued. ‘It took us far longer than I would have wished to get from the Dwellings to here and we had no end of trouble breaking through the line of Nailmarni. It was only luck that we came near enough to this place for Callian to sense there were people here.’

  ‘They’ll die! I haven’t spent the last week trying to keep them alive only to have you drag them through the bush land, which is literally swarming with Nailmarni who are just longing to kill them, but that won’t make a lot of difference because they’re so weak they’ll probably die anyway, just from being moved.’ King Dannicus, Princess Elizabeth and Duke Li were all unconscious. Rudiger had been expecting this and he suggested that Dale would also lose consciousness again for several days. He was certain that if they survived this next stage of the illness they would begin to recover within days of awakening. Eibhear had collected quantities of Pelgavik and had even removed several large plants from the ground and replanted them in a patch of soil inside their rocky enclosure.

  Kelian stared at Rudiger for a few more seconds and then his shoulders dropped. ‘You seem very sure that moving them would kill them,’ he said despondently.

  ‘I am sure. Kelian, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to try to save someone who’s been splashed with Nailmarni blood, but I haven’t forgotten what can happen. The only time I want to see them move in the next two days is when someone opens their mouth and shoves some Pelgavik down their throats, or sits them up to get water into them. Nothing else!’ he said forcefully.

  Kelian let out his breath in a sigh of worry and sat down on the rocks next to Callian. After discussing the suggestions offered by Borgulnay, Callian had left the Dwellings with Kelian and headed for Castle, accompanied by Timbul, Araas, Milgorry and Lias, but leaving all other guardians to defend the Dwellings and to search for any other nests of Nailmarni which might be hidden near the Province of the guardians. Tiernan made it clear he was not happy with this strategy, as he argued it was the guardian’s duty to defend the humans above all else, but Kelian insisted and Tiernan yielded to the Prince’s wishes, understanding that Kelian would attempt to send as many citizens as possible to the Dwellings for protection. Kelian had come to appreciate that the Daoine Maithe were bound by laws which ensured they had no choice but to do as he commanded. Naturally, Borgulnay and Gilgarry remained with Kelian.

  They were almost at Castle when they had to fight their way past the line of Nailmarni who stood barring their way, and Kelian was once again stunned by the alacrity and strength of both the guardians and the free warriors. He was a little disturbed by the absence of sound or emotional expression from the strange Nailmarni, though there was a moment of recognition when they first approached. Kelian could see that they were surprised and even frightened to see the guardians fighting alongside the fallen, and it was obvious that they were not expecting this. He was also surprised to see a flicker of panic on the face of the first one that Callian faced, and Kelian knew that somehow, perhaps instinctively, they knew who the guardian was and probably exactly how dangerous he could be. He wondered how the Nailmarni knew that the guardians and the fallen were no longer one race, as they had been the last time they had battled. This made Kelian suspect that the Nailmarni had been watching them, and probably for some time. It seemed far too much of a coincidence that the Nailmarni would choose to attack right when the people of
Nyinaku were on the brink of war amongst their own people, and at a time when Nandul was also planning to attack the King’s city of Castle in Alkira.

  The reunion between Kelian and his family was an emotional one. He was barely able to believe his eyes when he crawled through the gap in the rocks to where his family was hiding, and he was impatient to see them within the walls of Castle at the first opportunity. Dale spent several hours telling them everything that had happened in the Prince’s absence, and of his failed attempts to find a way to destroy the nest of Nailmarni. Now their hiding place was rather crowded. Lars, Rezon and Gilgarry were standing guard, hiding in a thick crow’s ash a short distance away and Tolly and Ben were carefully concealing any signs of their presence and any tracks which might be seen, something they had taken to doing at every opportunity.

  ‘How long, Rudi?’ Kelian asked dispiritedly.

  ‘Two days unconscious, two days to recover. Once they’re conscious we can be fairly sure they’ll survive.’ His head flicked towards the gap between the boulders and a minute later Rezon crawled through.

  ‘There are Nailmarni everywhere,’ he announced to no one in particular. ‘Probably best if everyone stays in here.’

  ‘What are you going to do if the King wakes up and insists on being moved immediately?’ asked Eibhear. ‘You can’t exactly refuse the King of Alkira, Rudi.’

  ‘I’m going to tell Callian to accidently put him back to sleep,’ said Rudiger innocently, and Eibhear laughed as Callian looked appalled by this statement.

  ‘And do you think Callian would do what you told him to do?’ asked Kelian with a skeptical smile playing around his lips.

  ‘Definitely not! But I have no doubt he’ll do what you tell him to do,’ said Rudiger confidently. ‘So if I need to make him do something-’ There was a flash of movement and a grunt of surprise and Callian was standing holding Rudiger uncomfortably above the ground.