Araas, Milgorry, Kelian and Enri turned reluctantly away and made their way around the long curtain wall. They were half way along the western part of the wall when Araas motioned for them to stop. They peered cautiously across to where they could now see Timbul standing boldly between two merlons. Within seconds there was a shout from the courtyard.
Kelian waited patiently as the courtyard began to empty. A small group of warriors broke away from the main group and turned and ran west, quickly disappearing into the forest. He glanced at Milgorry in alarm.
‘They’re probably off to find Nandul and let him know that the others have gone after Timbul,’ said Milgorry. He frowned as three warriors who remained in the courtyard moved towards the well. They spread out and faced their backs towards the old structure, staring around and looking distinctly uneasy.
‘Doesn’t this bring back some interesting memories,’ the tallest of the three warriors commented.
‘Are you thinking of last time we were here? This is not quite as much fun is it, Jerah?’ another of the warriors commented sarcastically.
‘I don’t know, Joel,’ Jerah replied arrogantly, ‘the women are just as much fun. Kolass seemed to be having a good time.’
‘So Kolass,’ Joel called to the third warrior. ‘You like it here so much,’ he stated mockingly. ‘What was more fun? Pushing everyone down the well last time we were here, or dragging all these women in for playtime?’ Jerah laughed as Kolass pretended to consider the question.
‘I-’ Kolass stopped speaking and raised his hand. ‘Did you hear something?’
‘Hear what?’ Jerah looked around the courtyard uncertainly.
The twanging sound of Araas’ bow seemed to fill the courtyard as he released the arrow. It flew straight and true and buried itself into Kolass’ back. The warrior fell forward as a second arrow flew into his spine. Jerah and Joel stood frozen in shock for a second as what had happened registered, and then they drew their swords and ducked into the partial shelter of the structure surrounding the well.
Milgorry leapt from the wall, landing heavily on the ground and Joel cursed when he saw him. Araas dropped to the ground beside Milgorry and the two moved in unison towards the well. Jerah turned and ran towards the keep and Milgorry sprang after him. He gave a shout as Milgorry caught up with him and he turned to face the warrior, with clear resignation on his face.
‘Have you joined the guardians, Mil?’ he asked derisively.
‘Your choices determine who you become, Jerah,’ said Milgorry bitterly. ‘I just chose a better path.’
‘Come on Mil. Surely you can’t be such a spineless coward? You could take Araas down any time you want to!’
‘I don’t want to,’ said Milgorry certainly. ‘He’s a good friend.’
‘Traitor!’ Jerah was shouting now. ‘Nandul knows you’re a traitor and nothing would make me happier than to see him stake you up! I’d do it myself, right here and now if he didn’t want to return you himself!’
‘Why don’t you try, cockalorum,’ said Milgorry. He drew his knife with his left hand and Jerah backed away. Milgorry started in surprise as an arrow narrowly missed his elbow and sank into Jerah’s stomach. Jerah clutched it in alarm as he fell to his knees. A second arrow pierced him and then a third smashed into his chest. He fell onto the hard stones of the courtyard.
Milgorry gave a nod of thanks to Enri, who remained with bow in hand on the top of the wall with Kelian, and then he turned to watch Araas. He felt his own spine prickle uncomfortably as he watched Araas drive Joel to his knees. The guardian had sheathed his sword and was standing glaring down at the warrior furiously. Joel’s mouth opened wide and he cried out in pain as his back arched intolerably. There was a sickening sound as his back broke. Even as his body fell to the ground, his head seemed to give a strange twitch and there was another gruesome crack as his neck snapped. Araas didn’t move.
‘I think he’s returned, Araas,’ Milgorry observed drily, as the guardian continued to glare at Joel’s body. ‘I take it you read his thoughts?’ Araas nodded mutely. He felt appalled and nauseated by what he had seen in Joel’s mind.
‘What did you see?’ said Milgorry, coming to stand beside Araas. ‘What made you return him that way?’
‘I tried to find out where Nandul was, but he didn’t know. What I did find out was that Joel was responsible for murdering most of these women. He was quite proud of this obscenity.’
Kelian and Enri climbed down the stone steps inside the curtain wall and ran towards the well. A square stone structure was built around the well. It had four walls, facing north, south, east and west, and each wall had a huge arch opening. Vines and creepers had gown all over the structure and over the disused well, but the opening at the top had been cleared. Araas reached the well first and leaned over. ‘Father?’ he called.
‘Araas!’ Tiernan’s voice came weakly from the depths of the well.
‘If I drop a rope down, can you climb?’
‘Ta me i gcruachais. We have injuries.’
‘I’ll go down. Father needs help,’ said Araas, taking the rope from Enri. He tied the end to the square stone structure and climbed into the well and Milgorry followed him down the dark shaft. Kelian and Enri waited nervously, peering into the darkness of the well. Kelian leaned over the well, trying to see into the darkness. He straightened up and turned around, with a tingling feeling that someone was watching them. He could see no-one but the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck prickled unpleasantly.
‘Can you see someone?’ asked Enri warily, drawing his sword and squinting through the vines towards the keep.
‘No, but for a moment I felt like we were being watched,’ Kelian replied. They turned back towards the well and leaned over to peer into the darkness.
‘Are you planning on climbing into the well?’ said a voice behind them and Kelian froze. Enri threw himself in front of Kelian, pushing the Prince backwards as he raised his sword.
‘If you come one step closer I’ll skewer you like a mutton roast,’ said Enri threateningly, wishing he could see his opponent more clearly in the darkness.
‘You’re as bad as Dale, always talking about food,’ the voice said drily and Enri lowered his sword in surprise.
‘I beg your pardon,’ he said incredulously, as the warrior stepped towards him.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Rudiger, as Eibhear and Dale ran up beside him.
‘What are you doing here?’ Kelian echoed, sounding a little hoarse from fright.
‘Enri!’ Dale shouted grabbing the young man and slapping his back.
‘You’re the last person I expected to see here,’ Enri exclaimed, as he slapped Dale on the shoulder, recovering from almost as much fright as Kelian had experienced.
‘Tiernan, Danil and Borg are down the well,’ Kelian explained. ‘Araas and Mil have gone in after them.’
‘What!’ Rudiger exclaimed, leaning over to look down the well shaft.
‘Pull up the rope!’ Araas’ voice came from the darkness.
Rudiger and Eibhear began to pull on the rope and moments later Araas’ head appeared at the rim of the well. He was clinging to the rope and he had Danil’s unconscious body draped over his shoulder. Eibhear reached out and dragged Danil over the rim of the well. They let the rope out and Araas descended once again.
‘Kelian, what in the name of His Supreme Majesty are you doing in East Inlet,’ Dale’s voice was almost a growl as he spoke through gritted teeth.
‘Tiernan went with Danil and Borgulnay to…it’s a long story,’ said Kelian. ‘Right now we need to get out of here and get back to the ship.’
‘Ship!’ Dale cried in amazement. ‘What ship?’
‘The Swift. Hopefully Captain Gillam will have her anchored in the southern cove by now.’
‘Highness-’ Dale began.
‘Majesty,’ Enri corrected him.
‘Majesty,’ said Dale without missing a beat. ‘I have the entire city of Emeral
d camped not too far away.’
‘You’re joking!’ Kelian looked at Dale in astonishment.
‘No. Not joking. I was taking them to the Dwellings. We got out of Emerald only about three days before it was attacked. At least it appeared that way from the smoke we could see to the west. Would you be so kind as to share your ship sir?’
Kelian nodded and took a moment to gather his thoughts as Eibhear and Rudiger pulled up the rope once again. Rudiger leaned forward and took Borgulnay from Araas’ arms. Rudiger lifted the rope a little higher and Araas climbed from the well. ‘Are you ready Mil?’ he called. There was a quiet reply from the well, and moments later Milgorry appeared holding Tiernan. Araas helped them over the rim of the well and Milgorry leaned the almost unconscious body of Tiernan against the bricks.
‘What happened?’ asked Enri.
‘I don’t know,’ said Araas. ‘Father hasn’t even had the strength to heal their wounds.’ He reached out and placed his hand on Borgulnay’s chest. Warm light filled the soldier’s body and he gave a groan of surprise and opened his eyes slightly. Araas withdrew his hand.
‘Danil’s leg is broken,’ Borgulnay managed to whisper.
Milgorry reached forward and placed his hand on Danil’s shin. The same warm light flowed from the warrior’s hand.
‘We’ll have to be extremely careful bringing the people past the city,’ said Kelian to Dale as they watched Milgorry and Arras working together to heal Tiernan’s, Danil’s and Borgulnay’s injuries. ‘The fallen could return at any second. They might think chasing Timbul is too difficult a task and decide to come back here.’
‘Chasing Timbul?’ Tiernan croaked. His eyes were still closed, and his face whitened further as he tried to speak.
‘I wondered why they all suddenly rushed away,’ said Eibhear. ‘So Timbul was your distraction. I’ll bet Araas didn’t like that,’ he said, glancing empathetically at his own brother.
‘I don’t like it either, but he made up his mind to do this and wouldn’t be dissuaded. I think he might have been influencing me, I couldn’t seem to help agreeing with him,’ Kelian explained. ‘Dale, can you get the people to the southern cove?’ he asked, referring to a branch of the inlet where the water came in just below the city.
‘Definitely,’ said Dale confidently.
‘Good. Now let’s get out of here before it’s too late.’
Chapter 47
Fallen Reasoning
They remained silent as Dale led them from the keep and through the ruined city but they saw no-one as they passed the deserted buildings and walls. Araas was quite certain that the chance of returning Timbul was far too tempting for the fallen, and he was sure they would chase him through Alkira and beyond if they thought they might catch him, so they moved with speed rather than stealth. They continued north until they were hidden in the bush land surrounding the inlet. Once they were confident they had not been followed, they stopped to rest. Tiernan, Danil and Borgulnay were all quite weak.
‘Now tell me what happened,’ Kelian ordered as they rested.
‘Well, we got as close to the nest as we could,’ Tiernan began. ‘I’ve never seen so many Nailmarni in one place. It was…to be honest it was fairly unsettling.’
‘It wasn’t nice,’ Danil agreed. ‘But we followed Dale’s example and got ourselves up into a tree.’
‘And then?’ Kelian prompted.
‘And then Tiernan tried to make one of them do something,’ said Danil.
‘I didn’t try to take their thoughts, and I didn’t try to force them to do anything, I just tried to subtly plant an idea in their mind,’ said Tiernan.
‘So what happened?’ asked Enri.
‘It worked,’ said Borgulnay with a grin. ‘I can hardly believe it, but it really worked!’ He laughed and Tiernan and Danil both smiled as though sharing a joke.
‘What did you make them do?’ asked Enri.
‘I tried to get them squabbling amongst themselves,’ Tiernan explained. ‘Actually, I had no idea if it was even possible, but we were so close, I thought it worth a try, even if only to cause enough distraction for the three of us to move a little further away. We were hidden right next to the path they were using to go in and out of the nest-’
‘You’re joking!’ said Enri. ‘Why would you want to hide there? That’s crazy!’
‘It was sort of an accident,’ Borgulnay admitted. ‘We came from the opposite direction and climbed the thickest kumbartcho we could find. It was only when we were up quite high that we noticed their track on the far side of the tree, only about fifty paces away. Then a whole bunch of them came running past so it was a little too late to change our minds. And I’m sort of glad we were that close because it was really funny!’ Tiernan and Danil joined in his laughter.
‘What was funny?’ Kelian was curious about their jocularity but wondered if they were ever going to get to the point.
‘I’ll get to the point,’ said Tiernan, and Kelian couldn’t help but smile at the guardian, so relieved was he to find them all alive. ‘I copied Danil. I made one of them want to hit another and within minutes they had a massive brawl happening. It was incredible.’
‘It was that easy?’ asked Kelian in disbelief.
‘No, it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of energy just to get that one Nailmarni moving.’
‘But it worked!’ Kelian’s mind began racing through the plethora of possibilities that now occurred to him.
‘It worked until I almost passed out. I was so weak I fell out of the tree,’ said Tiernan soberly.
‘What?’ Rudiger couldn’t believe his ears. ‘You fell out of a tree?’
‘I did. But I think I know what to do differently next time. There was so much chaos happening around us it took a few seconds for the Nailmarni to react, which gave us just enough head start to avoid being instantly returned. Unfortunately they spread out around us as we ran. They knew we’d try to go east. We outran them, and we were planning to circle east and come along the shore to Dwellings.’
‘That was the plan,’ Borgulnay agreed, ‘right up until we ran straight into the arms of half of the population of Nyinaku.’
‘How far away were they?’ asked Araas. ‘Were you inside the Province?’
‘No,’ said Danil. ‘The instant we crossed the border they were onto us.’
‘If I hadn’t been so slow, Tiernan and Danil would have been able to outpace them, I’m sure,’ Borgulnay admitted.
‘I doubt it very much.’ Danil shook his head. ‘They were waiting as we crossed the border and they had us surrounded in seconds. They wouldn’t listen when Tiernan mentioned the Nailmarni; I don’t think they believed him, and when he forced them to listen to his thoughts, they were only further incensed. They thought it was some kind of plot to distract them. They dragged us up to the old keep, beat us around a bit then stuck us in the old well.’
‘To add to our problems, they cut Borg badly when he tried to defend me,’ said Tiernan, ‘and when Danil refused to stop blocking the top of the well, they pushed him in. He was lucky to only break his leg.’
‘It would have been a lot more serious if there wasn’t so much mud at the bottom of the well,’ said Danil. ‘I was relieved when they lowered Borg and Tiernan down on ropes.’
‘So why did you call me? I’m glad you did, but why me and not one of the Daoine Maithe?’ asked Kelian.
‘Because I’m your King’s Marshall,’ said Danil looking at Kelian as if this was obvious. ‘I report to you. I may be a guardian, but first and foremost I serve my King. So I called you. I thought you would send someone rather than endanger yourself, but that was rather stupid of me, considering previous experience. It didn’t help that they’d hit me so hard and so many times I was finding it difficult enough to reach anyone’s mind. Most of the guardians are shielding their thoughts and emotions very efficiently, so you were far, far easier to talk to, in the condition I was in.’
‘I’m surprised they didn’t return yo
u all, and particularly Tiernan, the moment they caught you,’ said Kelian. ‘Could you sense them at all? Were they planning to return you?’
‘They wanted more than anything to return me, just not immediately.’ Tiernan’s face turned cold. ‘They wanted to see me screaming in pain for as long as possible before they returned me.’
‘Then why did they go away and leave us in the well?’ asked Borgulnay.
Tiernan sighed heavily. ‘I was already weaker than you can imagine from the incident with the Nailmarni as well as from running through the forest for hours on end and then being beaten by the fallen. I doubt they would have found it half as interesting if I’d lost consciousness the second they stuck a stick up-’
‘Ugh!’ Enri’s face whitened. ‘That’s just repulsive. Why would they want to do that to a person?’
‘Hate. Anger. Revenge. Dominance.’ Tiernan shrugged. ‘To be honest, even after all this time, I don’t understand them at all.’
‘I do,’ said Milgorry. ‘Don’t misunderstand me. It doesn’t justify torturing someone, but I do understand how it happens. We are irrevocably changed from the servants who were originally allowed to take their freedom, and our behavior reflects this. We know the guardians will return us if given the chance because we know we’ve stepped far beyond the boundaries placed upon us and we know this justifies the guardians stepping in, but it makes us angry to think that the guardians should have such power over us – remembering that we were once the same people. So even though at the bottom of our hearts we know we’re doing the wrong thing, and we know the guardians are justified in their actions, anger and fear are strong and we begin to believe that the guardians will return us regardless of who we are and what we do. So we try to justify our behavior – after all, we’re no different from any others of the fallen – and we wonder if there is truly anything wrong with what we’re doing. So why should we care if the occasional human gets hurt? After all they’re only human. Are they not inferior? They are no longer our responsibility. And over time we come to know that what we are doing is normal, is right, and the humans are stupid, weak animals, and the guardians are unjustified in their actions and they should be returned, and anger turns to malice and in the darkness of our hearts we want more than anything to punish the guardians for even thinking they have the right to interfere with us. And the desire to punish the guardians and the humans is so dominant it becomes part of our nature, and our children grow up being taught that this is the way they should feel. And after so many years of hatred, our actions are accompanied by callous indifference. It took me a long time to see that for some of my people, indifference had turned to pleasure.’ There was a moment of silence after Milgorry’s astounding speech.
The Guardians (Book 2) Page 36
