The Guardians (Book 2)

by Dan O'Sullivan

  ‘So do I,’ Gillam agreed.

  ‘What is that, all over your body?’ asked Elena, reaching out to touch the clear fluid that was splattered over Yarrabyth’s chest.

  ‘No!’ he cried out in alarm, pushing her away. She staggered backwards. He made no move to help her, but rushed towards the lake. When he reached the edge of the lake, he stopped and stripped off his boots and trousers then he took the trousers, waded into the water and vigorously washed the fluid from his body. Elena and Aithne blushed and turned away as he strode from the water, but Immosey seemed to not even notice the fact that he was naked. He smiled at the embarrassed emotions emanating from Elena and Aithne and spoke to Elena’s back. ‘I’m sorry I shoved you like that, Ellie, but if you had touched the blood, you would have died. There’s no way I could have saved you, here on this island.’

  ‘It didn’t look like blood,’ said Immosey, watching indifferently as the guardian pulled on his wet trousers.

  ‘Nailmarni blood,’ he said, examining his boots. ‘It has no effect on guardians, but to humans, it’s deadly. There’s an herb, Pelgavik, which we’ve used before to save human lives, but I doubt there’s any on these islands. I’m dressed,’ he added and Elena and Aithne turned to face him.

  ‘Pelgavik,’ said Aithne. ‘I’ve always through it was just a nuisance weed!’

  ‘It is a weed,’ Yarrabyth agreed, ‘until you are covered in Nailmarni blood, then it becomes the difference between life and death.’

  ‘Dannicus used to say-’ Aithne’s voice broke and her eyes filled with tears. Elena and Immosey turned and hugged her. No-one spoke as the women huddled together.

  ‘I hope all that blood means that anyone who saw us is no longer a threat,’ said Gillam and Yarrabyth nodded in reply. ‘Let’s try to hide the fact that we were here,’ Gillam ordered, ‘then as we walk you can tell me more of these Nailmarni. Tiernan told us a bit about them, but I think it’s time I knew a little more.’

  Elena, Immosey and the sailors began to toss the sticks and pinecones back into the trees. Yarrabyth picked up a leafy branch and started brushing away their foot prints, and then everyone followed the guardian south. The crack between the cliffs leading down to the shore proved difficult to see from any distance but Yarrabyth found it easily and within five minutes they were all sitting on the rocks close to the water.

  ‘We need to return to the ship,’ said Gillam. ‘We’ll hurry our repairs, and get out of here.’ Even as he spoke a longboat drew alongside the rocks and a sailor grinned at the Captain. ‘I thought you were going to find a freshwater lake and camp on a nice comfortable patch of grass. This doesn’t look particularly comfortable, Captain. Did you change your mind?’

  ‘No, Davis. I didn’t change my mind. The Nailmarni changed it for me,’ said Gillam bleakly. ‘How are the repairs coming along?’

  ‘Nailmarni?’ Davis repeated, and his mouth stayed open in surprise.

  ‘Yes, the nasty bastards who are currently trying to invade our homeland. Now where are we with the repairs?’ Gillam repeated frowning at the sailor.

  ‘It’s all done, Captain. Are you ready to leave?’ asked Davis.

  ‘Done? Finished?’

  ‘Yes sir. Some of the boys are obviously keen to get home. Did you by any chance notice what’s floating around in this little harbor?’

  ‘I did! They destroyed our ships!’

  ‘So it seems. Obviously they had less skill than Oliver did in guiding the vessels through the pass between the rocks. I wonder if that means the Nailmarni are stranded here.’

  ‘They must have gotten here somehow in the first place,’ said Gillam. ‘But that’s an interesting thought. What happened to their vessel and why did they take ours?’

  ‘I’ll bet they took ours so they could waltz into our harbor without being challenged,’ said Davis.

  ‘That still doesn’t tell us where their own vessel is,’ said Gillam, ‘unless they destroyed it as well. We should have a good look at all the flotsam and see if it’s just our ships or if there’s any foreign matter floating around.’

  ‘If they destroyed their own ship, then how did they get off this island in the first place to take our ships,’ Davis wondered. ‘Unless they destroyed their own ship after they took ours...I have no idea what they did.’

  ‘Callian said they could breathe under water – at least until they adjust to our environment. It’s an impossible swim from here to Castle, but if you can’t drown I guess it could be done. Not by a human, but with the Nailmarni, who knows?’ said Gillam. ‘I’ll see the repairs and we’ll get underway.’ He looked over to where Yarrabyth was walking across the rocks toward the crack between the cliffs. The guardian spun around to face him and fear and shock emanated from him.

  ‘Go!’ he shouted. ‘Go now!’ He turned away and ran across the rocks and as they watched, hundreds of Nailmarni appeared at the top of the cliffs.

  ‘Go!’ Gillam’s voice echoed Yarrabyth’s words and everyone threw themselves into the longboat.

  ‘We can’t leave him!’ Immosey shouted trying to climb back out of the boat but Dommy caught the back of her tunic and dragged her towards himself.

  ‘I can only give you a little time,’ Yarrabyth shouted.

  ‘Yarra!’ Elena screamed, trying to climb back out of the boat. Captain Gillam pushed her backwards and blocked her path.

  ‘No! Yarrabyth, you have to come now!’ Aithne cried out, and her voice was hoarse with fear.

  ‘Yarrabyth, you can make it to the boat! Run!’ Captain Gillam ordered.

  But Yarrabyth ignored the command. ‘Get the ladies out to the ship! Don’t come back!’ Yarrabyth shouted. ‘Don’t come back here for anything!’

  ‘No!’ Immosey shouted, struggling against Dommy who was holding her firmly in the boat. ‘Let me go!’ she screamed, struggling violently. ‘Yarra!’

  There was no reply, and as Davis used his oar to push the longboat away from the shore, they saw Yarrabyth standing at the bottom of the crack in the cliffs. His sword flashed as he faced each attacker and one by one they tried to push him backwards through the narrow gap. Tears of shock poured down the women’s faces as the longboat moved away from shore. They saw the Nailmarni break past Yarrabyth and then he was surrounded on all sides. A sword drove through his chest and he fell to his knees, but he managed to turn to watch the longboat moving across the water and a feeling of accomplishment and relief flowed from him. There was a flash of blade across his face and he was blinded, and a split second later a sword struck his head from behind and his body smashed down onto the rocks where he lay unmoving. There was no life left in his body as the Nailmarni picked him up and flung him across the rocks, slamming him into the cliffs.

  Elena, Immosey and Queen Aithne were all sobbing as Dommy and Oliver helped them onto the deck of the ship. Dommy began shouting commands immediately and sailors rushed to and fro readying the ship for departure. The Nailmarni leapt into the water and swam after the ship, but before they were close, the ship slipped through the narrow passage and into open water.

  Chapter 21

  Norah

  ‘Cal!’ Evan whispered as loudly as he dared. He gestured frantically behind Captain Callum. Callum turned and crouched, staring into the bushes, and then he moved backwards until he was beside Evan. Evan pointed to the branches of a hoop pine above their heads. Callum crouched and Evan placed his foot on his shoulder, then he stood and Evan caught a branch and pulled himself up into the tree. He reached downwards and lifted Callum up onto the branch. They moved through the branches until they had gone as far as was safely possible, then they wedged themselves between the branches and the trunk and waited in silence. Evan leaned his head against the rough bark and wondered if the Nailmarni’s movements would be similar to what they did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. He was so tired that even in this high, uncomfortable perch he felt he could probably drift off to sleep. He yawned and thought fondly of the castle courtyar
d, where his blankets waited for him. His mind drifted to the barracks at Highview where he had his own bed. He couldn’t remember how many days they have been traipsing around the forest east of Castle checking on the whereabouts of the Nailmarni and trying to establish whether their movements were forming a pattern, but he knew he’d been without sleep for long enough to be dangerously tired. His head jerked backwards and he clutched frantically at the trunk of the tree. Callum grabbed him and pushed him upright when he started to slide from the branch.

  ‘Are you sleeping?!’ Captain Callum whispered indignantly.

  ‘Sorry Captain,’ said Evan guiltily. He yawned again. A flash of movement caught Callum’s eye and Evan followed his gaze. His mouth fell open as a young woman dashed from the bushes, holding a baby to her chest as she ran. She stopped for a few seconds and leaned forward with her mouth open. Her breath came in gasps. Her long black hair fell around her face and her deep blue eyes stared around in terror as if she didn’t know which way to go.

  Evan and Callum scrambled down the tree until they were standing on the lowest branch. ‘Lady!’ Callum whispered, and the woman leapt backwards in fright. ‘Pass me the child and we’ll help you climb up!’ The woman lifted the baby and held it as high as she possibly could and Callum took it and moved up into higher branches. Evan leaned down to lift the woman onto the branch, but before she could reach up, six Nailmarni burst through the trees. The woman screamed in terror and ran towards the bushes, but the Nailmarni were too fast and they were upon her in seconds. She was a tiny woman and the Nailmarni towered over her. Evan watched in helpless horror as the first to reach her simply drew his sword and slashed her throat. She collapsed to the ground with her blue eyes staring emptily towards the sky and her dark soft hair spread across the ground. She seemed even younger in death, with her lips parted slightly showing a gap between her two front teeth. Evan didn’t move a muscle. He knew it was highly unlikely that the Nailmarni would attempt to twist their bodies around to look upwards, but he was frozen in place from the shock of what had happened. The Nailmarni turned and moved back in the direction from which they had come, each to their assigned position surrounding Castle. The last to leave dragged the woman’s body away.

  Evan still didn’t move and Callum climbed down beside him. ‘Evan?’ said Callum, holding the baby in the crook of his arm. Evan’s mouth was pressed into a hard, angry, line and his eyes glittered furiously.

  ‘We need to get this child back to Castle,’ said Callum. Evan swung to the ground and took the baby as Callum climbed from the tree then Evan passed the child back to Callum. They walked quickly but in silence until they were within the walls of Castle, then Callum placed his hand on Evan’s shoulder forcing him to stop.

  ‘Evan,’ he began. He stopped when he saw the infuriated look on Evan’s face.

  ‘There is nothing to be said!’ Evan stated angrily.

  ‘Even if we’d leapt from the tree to help her, we couldn’t have beaten one of them, let alone six. And they would have killed her baby too.’

  ‘I know that!’ said Evan angrily. ‘But she was a woman! So young! She was barely more than a girl! Why would they kill a woman? She was no threat to them! She was a woman!’ he repeated. ‘A woman carrying her baby,’ he added miserably.

  Callum stared sadly at the baby in his arms. It was swaddled in a blanket and it gazed innocently up at him with eyes as blue as its mother’s. There was a thin strip of leather tied around the baby’s neck with a tiny bell attached to it, which was a common gift for a newborn child. Callum lifted the bell, trying to make out the letters which had been scratched into the silver.

  ‘Norah,’ he said. ‘She’s a little girl.’

  Evan wiped his hand over his eyes. ‘She’s going to be as pretty as her mother,’ he said. He brushed some dirt from the child’s black skin and she lifted her hand and held onto his finger, then she opened her blue eyes wide and smiled at him, and without warning the tears broke from his eyes and ran down his face. He turned away, feeling ashamed of his tears, but the little girl wouldn’t let go.

  ‘You’ll have to take her,’ said Callum, passing the little girl to Evan, who held her awkwardly in his arms. ‘Let’s get back to the keep.’

  When they reached the castle, General Marnol was in the courtyard and surrounded by soldiers. As soon as he saw Callum and Evan, he dismissed the men and signaled for them to follow him. He was about to make a joke of the baby in Evan’s arms but he held back as he studied his son’s face.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘There’s a pattern,’ said Callum. ‘The Nailmarni around Castle stay in set positions for a day, then at sunset each evening, they all move along to the next position. So the ones leaving the nest join the line at a point almost directly between the nest and the city and they either move east or north in a huge curve, then once they’ve gone as far as they can without getting wet, they go back to their nest for rest. The ones who are sentries at the nest never leave; they just seem to take turns standing guard.’

  ‘And the child?’ General Marnol looked at his son who stared at the little girl but didn’t answer, so Callum described what had happened. He watched the baby as he spoke, and when he finally looked up he was startled by their identical expressions of sadness and anger.

  ‘Callian said to wait, but…’ General Marnol sighed in frustration. ‘If he doesn’t get back here soon, we’re going to have to do something ourselves. Meet me in the conference room after sundown and we’ll try to come up with a plan.’ He turned and walked across the courtyard, leaving Callum and Evan standing looking at the baby.

  ‘What are you going to do with her?’ asked Callum.

  ‘I’m going to try to find her father. And if I can’t find him or if he’s dead, I’m going to look after her, Callum. I’m going to make sure she has a decent life.’

  ‘It’s a difficult life for the child of a soldier. I worry about my little brother continually. You’re going to need help.’ He paused and stared thoughtfully at Evan. ‘I don’t even know what you do, Evan. I know you trained under your father at Highview, but then you just seemed to disappear from existence. The only thing I’ve worked out is that when you disappear, your reappearances have coincided with the arrival of soldiers from other garrisons. But no-one seems to know what your true rank is, or to whom you report, or exactly what you are supposed to be doing.’

  Evan smiled. ‘Excellent. That’s all you need to know, unless the King’s Marshall or my father chooses to tell you more,’ he said with finality in his voice. He glanced back down at Norah. ‘He’s right though, little one,’ he said to her. ‘I’m going to need help. You must be hungry by now.’ As if in acknowledgement of his words, she opened her mouth and cried.

  He walked towards the keep and wasn’t surprised to see Alexander carrying Peta, one of Leonie’s twin babies. Alexander looked curiously at the child in Evan’s arms as Leonie appeared holding Peta’s twin sister Leanna. Evan explained what had happened and Alexander shook his head sadly.

  ‘It’s an evil enemy that will kill an innocent woman,’ he said.

  ‘You know the moment the Nailmarni appeared, she ran towards the bushes, away from her child. I think she just wanted Norah to have some chance of survival,’ said Evan sadly. ‘Where are Mully and Alex?’

  ‘They’re in the sandpit. Always in the sandpit,’ said Leonie with a smile as she pointed across to the little box of sand where several older children were looking after the younger ones. ‘Evan, how do you plan to feed Norah?’ she asked.

  ‘Actually I was planning to ask your advice,’ Evan admitted.

  ‘I have enough milk for these two hungry girls. I don’t think I can feed a third, but my cousin Mary is still feeding Lilia,’ said Leonie pointing to where a young woman sat nursing her child on a bench beside the keep. ‘I’m sure she’ll be happy to help out if needed.’ Mary looked up as she heard her name, smiled at her cousin and carried Lilia to where they were standing. Leonie exp
lained to her what had happened.

  ‘Of course I’ll help!’ said Mary adamantly. ‘I’m sure I have enough milk for quite a few babies! You take on too much, Leonie. I’m just grateful that you are being cared for,’ she added, glancing at Alexander.

  ‘So am I, Mary,’ said Leonie.

  Mary waved to a girl of about fifteen years, who walked over and took Lilia from her arms. ‘Do you want me to take Norah?’ Mary offered.

  ‘No!’ Evan exclaimed, holding Norah possessively.

  ‘I think she’s getting hungry,’ said Mary, pointedly raising her voice over Norah’s cries and Evan reluctantly surrendered the child. Mary walked back to the bench and sat down and with a little persuasion Norah was soon suckling contentedly. Evan hovered over her protectively and as soon as Mary declared that the baby was full, he took the little girl into his arms.

  ‘I’ll show you how to change her nappy and how to keep her clean,’ said Mary, kneeling beside the bench and pulling a fresh cloth from a bag she had stashed beneath the seat. When she had changed Norah’s nappy, she handed Evan a small stack of cloths and offered to help with washing if needed. He thanked her and carried the baby to where Leonie was standing talking to Alexander.

  ‘I have some clothing that Peta no longer fits into that should fit Norah,’ said Leonie. ‘I’ll bring it to you later.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Alex, embarrassed that he had not considered how he would find clothing for the baby.

  ‘She’s a pretty little child,’ Leonie commented.

  ‘She looks extraordinarily like her mother,’ said Evan.

  ‘Let me look at her properly,’ said Leonie taking Norah from Evan’s arms and holding her up. ‘Describe the woman,’ she said, with a curious look on her face.

  ‘She looked like Norah; black hair, big blue eyes, beautiful black skin. There was a little gap between her front teeth,’ said Evan. ‘I think she must have been one of the farming folk from up in the hills, but I have no idea what she was doing in the forest.’