The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  From far beyond the fallen shield, there came a dim explosion of muddy yellow light which lasted for no more than five seconds before it collapsed back to nothing. The flakes of shield were still plentiful in the air around us so our view into the battlefield was being curtailed. Andrea and I could recognize the appearance of one of the enemies withered bridges but couldn’t see why it had been deployed.

  My head showed no signs of letting up the revs so I could l sense that there was more to be alert for.

  There was no further warning as; from the curtains of night which were hanging all around us, three massive stone javelins, each measuring at least thirty feet in length and weighing God knows how much, slammed into Frederico.

  The young Guardian had still been roaring out his defiance to the advancing enemy when the attack had struck. He had been stood in an undefended area, open to attack without cover.

  His skewered body was sent crashing backwards, the stone projectiles protruding from either side of him, until he was slammed into the time weathered wall of the main building of the citadel.

  Andrea called out once as the spears hit him but her voice was lost as shock and fear seemed to reach into even her and pull the sound from her.

  Frederico's limp body hung from the wall like a trophy from a hunt. From the distance I was at, I couldn’t even tell if he was still alive but the force of the impact was such that I couldn’t imagine there being much hope for him despite his armoured Dragon form.

  No-one in the area around us uttered a word. Everyone had been stuck like a prehistoric insect in amber with the ferocious nature of the enemies strike. We had been on the receiving end of Guardian deaths before, twice before here in the last month and a half but they had always been part of an ultimately victorious effort. I could feel from everywhere that the confidence in our ultimate victory was draining away.

  It was then that we began to make out the first sounds of billions of enemy feet marching towards us.

  “They’re coming in now the shield is down.” I hadn’t noticed that Mark had made his way to my position and both Andrea and I were startled by his voice coming from so close by. He was still far from fixed, blood was seeping through the bandages and surgical dressings which covering at least half of his body, but any thought of not fighting was so far away from his mind, you’d swear that he hadn’t ever even known the words. His eyes continued to scan through the gloom which surrounded us as he struggled to pick out any individual signs of the forces moving our way.

  There was nothing to see but everyone knew that the hordes of beetle creatures that we had been facing earlier would now be streaming down the sides of the valley towards us. With the shield wall down, we would all be open to the massive force heading our way. Even with two Guardians at the centre of this fight, the odds weren’t looking good.

  “We need to bring in reinforcements immediately” said Andrea flatly. “Anthony, we must give care to Frederico to preserve his position and slow the enemy advance.” Quickly turning to Mark she continued.

  “Mr. Howells. I need you to take command of the troop effort within the boundary. Set up to receive incursions from all sides. Take those who are too wounded to contribute, down into the chamber below us and surround the obelisk with a defensive force to provide a last line. Instruct everyone there that should the enemy reach them, they are all to give their lives causing as much damage to The Hive and that they should be prepared to bring the cavern down around them to kill everyone and bury the creatures prison. Go.”

  With one barely perceptible nod, Mark agreed and turned to head off to complete his task.

  Before I could make any kind of utterance, Andrea had started to move towards the prone form of Frederico, still pinned to the wall of the citadel. As she ran, she started to tear her clothing free and send it scattering. As the final garment was discarded she called over her shoulder, again in the same flat tone,

  “Transform and help me get him down from there before we get over run.” She then blurred up into her Crystal white Dragon form.

  I didn’t wait to argue or debate what she was doing, knowing that she had much more experience in these matters than I did. Despite what I may have felt about her treatment of my friend who was still in desperate need of medical help, I was big enough and ugly enough to realize that the time for recriminations wasn’t now.

  I didn’t wait to get undressed before I drove my transformation to my own individual Guardian form. I knew that time was a serious issue to what we were doing but, deep down, everyone’s got to love the old Incredible Hulk moment of shredding your clothes.

  We reached the macabre form of our Guardian colleague and my mind was made to focus fully on the task at hand as we set about bringing him down. Despite what he had been the victim of, he was still alive. He was slumped forward unconscious, his body limp and his head lolling down almost lifeless. His chest was fluttering through shallow, rattling breathes as the damage to his torso caused blood to bubble through to areas it shouldn’t be able to reach. There was a steady pulsing flow coming from the sites of the injuries but also from his mouth and there was already a huge puddle of crimson liquid pooling beneath his suspended legs.

  The javelins had been driven through his chest and out the other side to force themselves through the wall behind him. His injuries must have been massive.

  “Take his weight, I’ll break the stone” Andrea was all business, not even a hint of human emotion filtering its way out of the reptilian form.

  I did as I was told. Taking as firm a grip as I could manage around Freddy’s waist, despite his blood making the grip treacherous, I heaved up and took as much of his weight as I could, relieving what pressure I could on the young Dragon. He moved slightly forward as I did and slid faintly along the stone columns which had skewered him. The movement must have been agony because he groaned slightly despite his unconscious state.

  “Hold him there. Do not move him” spoke Andrea calmly. She reached past and behind him, and placed her hand flat on the wall behind him. With a concentration of will, she drove extreme cold through all of the stone of the wall and of the javelins within it. The rock of the wall and of the spears through Freddy creaked and moaned as the temperature within fell drastically.

  “Change places. I need you to super heat the stone so we can shatter it” Andrea ordered, not even a hint of emotion to be found in her voice.

  I did as instructed and drew together my own casting. The fire in my mind surged through the freezing stone and the effect was almost instant. Within a billowing cloud of steam, the stone shattered apart and Frederico dropped from his position. Andrea was strong enough to at least control his fall but the weight of the javelins through him toppled her backwards. They hit the ground in a crumpled heap.

  “MEDIC!!!!” I knew I needed help from someone who actually knew what they were doing. I swept my eyes around the immediate area hunting for someone, anyone, who could bring Freddy some desperately needed help.

  Andrea was at my side quickly and grabbed my face to look at hers.

  “Do not lose focus of the defence of the site. FOCUS NOW!!!” There was absolute urgency in her reptilian face and the firmness of her grip forced me to look away from the issue of Frederico.

  All around us were masses of scared people who would now be looking to us for leadership and protection. None of our assembled troops had ever had any experience of seeing the strongest magical barrier that had been created be so readily shattered under the force of a previously weak aggressor. In everyone’s mind, our shield had been taken apart by the Tayne who had previously only ever shown themselves as being slightly more powerful, magically speaking, than a Guardian’s fart. I had, literally, shit bigger than them!

  They had all been taken into a realm of uncertainty by the unfolding carnage which had befallen our force and they were all looking for some kind of reassurance from the Dragon force that everything was going to be alright. All I had to do was make certain that I didn’t
let on that I was just as scared as all of them!

  Taking a deep, steadying breath, I buried my own fears and turned out to face the situation ahead of us all.

  It didn’t look good!

  The final glittering shards of the magically dismantled barrier fluttered to rest around us taking with them what remained of the illumination they had provided. The inky darkness pushed in at us all, leaning against the small light sources we had dotted around the courtyard. The medic group had quickly reached Frederico and had started to administer whatever power and potions they had to save his life. Elsewhere, there was a tangible feeling of fear bubbling amongst those soldiers of The Circle who were rushing about gathering supplies and creating some form of complex of defensible positions. Mark was stood in the centre of the space, directing the movements of everyone with a calm focus and steely determination in his voice despite the impending violence. His face was a blank mask of pure business – not a shred of apprehension or any other emotion for that matter to be seen.

  As he casually yet forcefully gave the ringing orders that provided all of the other people around us something to focus their attention on and therefore something to occupy the space in their minds that abject terror was threatening to over run, it became obvious to me that he was truly built for the leadership of others. He was fully aware of what was happening around us all yet he was providing that solid rock that everyone else could cling to to escape the oncoming flood.

  I could do a lot worse than look to my giant general for tips on leadership.

  Beneath that most hurried layer of movement from our troops came the creeping train of the injured, snaking through the courtyard towards a large stone door frame which had been long parted from its door. To the casual observer, it made up nothing more than another ancient opening in the ruined citadel walls, another cracked view through the spyglass of history which led into a room or building which too was decayed into memory. I knew that Mark had followed Andrea’s orders completely and that this shuffling line were those who were too seriously injured to provide a meaningful addition to the rearguard action which was being put together as we spoke.

  They were being moved out of harm’s way in the short term, the hope to protect them as they were too weak to stand up to the nightmare of battle which was about to befall this site, but, more tellingly, if the enemy did manage to breach the outer defences, they were to raze the prison to the ground, destroying everything that the enemy had thrown at them and all of them as well.

  The line continued through the crowds without being impeded. Every member of the teams was working fluidly together without encroaching on the requirements of others. They were, despite everything, a well drilled and supremely organized fighting force.

  Seeing that everything within our encampment was progressing in the way they should, I turned my attention outwards, beyond the veil of the night, to the surrounding enemy.

  I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t hear them. Spreading out my magical power, I couldn’t even feel their presence around us.

  But they were there.

  I knew that millions of the tiny raiders were pouring down the valley towards us, their mandibles clacking as they zeroed in on their objective.

  Looking back to what Mark was doing, marveling at the smooth, well practiced activities of the people around me, fear crawled up my back and roared its own defiance in my ear. The familiarity of all of the movements made it clear to me that our defences were going to be over run in minutes when the beetle things actually hit the site from all sides.

  We were all about to be massacred and we were all happily walking into the mincing machine and laying down, the collective familiarity of the tactics used by our troops worldwide looking like they were creating the blueprint for our own downfall.

  “We’re about to be slaughtered” slipped from my Dragon lips as they peeled back to bare my teeth, more on instinct that conscious effort. Andrea was quickly to my side and griped my arm tightly, spinning me to face her.

  “Do not spread your own fears through the troops. Even if we must fall, you must NEVER allow those beneath you to know that you have been broken by fear.” She had jabbed her face forward to such a degree that our noses were brushing together as she growled out the words, hard anger etched all over her face.

  Her sudden movement had taken me by surprise and the level of pointed order in her voice had put me on the back foot. It didn’t last long.

  My fire nature took over and the anger within me surged upwards. Pushing my jaw out and squaring my shoulders, I straightened myself up to my full height and loomed ominously over Andrea, forcing her to take a small step backwards.

  “I’m not an idiot!” rattled more from my chest than from my mouth. The sudden growl had startled Andrea enough to make her pause.

  “They’ve worked out our calls.” I rumbled to her as I took furtive glances around the courtyard. I wanted to make certain that all of the people milling around our feet through the courtyard weren’t able to listen to the conversation we were having.

  Andrea’s expression said she had no idea what we were talking about. Since we had first met, she and I had been involved in a great many battles but also a great many normal situations. We had spent a great deal of time together which I had thought had been more than just trainer to trainee. I had learned a great deal about her and her family outside the realms of her duty to The Circle. I knew that her father’s favorite colour was red and that she hated eating white meat. You’d have thought that she would have remembered that I was a rugby nut who used the metaphors from sport. Christ, aside from anything else, I was a man so sporting parlance was to be expected, surely.

  “They know what we’re going to do in our defence; they have done for a while.” I thought back to the battles which had seen the loss of Frederico's father and sister in the last few weeks and started to think about the nature of the defeats we had all suffered. We had always been just lucky enough to be able to keep the advances of The Hive at bay but it always seemed to come at a very high cost. We had lost hundreds of troops and two Guardians in the last month and a half, defending a prison which had never once come under this kind of sustained attack.

  “We’ve got to change our strategy.”

  That seemed to make more sense. I continued without waiting for any comment further.

  “Everyone who is part of our group is fully prepared to die in order to protect the prisons. Everyone will happily see the total destruction of our forces if it means we can stop The Hives advances. That’s our current problem.”

  Andrea’s mouth dropped open.

  “Our collective will to repel the enemy of the human race is not a problem!” Her vehement objection of my train of thought was clear for all to see. I needed to get this turned around fast.

  “I mean that our forces have always behaved in the same way. Under every attack we’ve encountered all over the world and all the way through history, our forces have been either able to squash whatever attack has been mounted quickly or they have consistently fallen back towards the prison as they have fought, all with the final plan of bringing the prison down around their ears. Every person I’ve spoken to about previous battles has said the same thing.”

  The sound of the on rushing beetle creatures was starting to move beyond that of an approaching force and was beginning to resemble a broiling thunder clap. Looking around quickly, it was clear that I needed to accelerate.

  “The point is that we have always done the same thing. The whole fight here today has felt like we have been running at least one step behind the enemy all of the time. The opening fly-by from the Tayne who would have been able to bring us down if we’d taken off, the enemy cascade bridges right on top of our forces, the Tayne smashing our shield. All of it says we’re being worked out. We need to do something very different.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me but was quick to cede to my point despite her fears.

  “What do you suggest?”


  “How wide a ring of ice can you create? We need a wall between us and the outside world at least fifty feet high, ten to fifteen feet thick and angled out.”

  “That will be very hard to bring to. I will be exhausted after this effort and unable to provide any further support.” Her voice showed no sign of any emotion. She was purely stating fact.

  “Well, we may be able to reduce the size a bit. What do we need to do to get the shield back up?”

  This time, even Andrea’s icy calm exterior was unable to cover her resignation.

  “We need much more powerful Guardians here to be able to re-build the shield at all and even then that would take too long for us here on the ground. We need to fall back into the caverns below the citadel. We need to prepare to bottleneck the enemy and bring down the tomb for us all.”

  I looked in her eyes and could easily see that she had no other options available to her. She was out of possible responses to the battle which was rapidly being lost around us except the tried and tested mass suicide play which seemed to be the oddly preferred method of defence.

  I couldn’t accept that.

  My frustration was crawling through me like an invading parasite. Second by second, it bored deeper and took more and more control until I roared out and turned to face back towards the on-rushing enemy.

  “They want in and you want to kill everyone here to stop them.” My humanity was gone and I could feel the same lust for violence that had boiled over in Frederico wildly boiling over in me.

  “I don’t give a shit about history or what you think you should be doing to defend this place. I am going to take the fight out there.”

  I dropped down onto all fours and charged out into the darkness beyond our encampment. I was going to burn so much of the surrounding land and anything that was stood on it, it would probably be seen from space!

  I could hear the onrushing hoards ahead of me but before I could do anything in my own attack, an icy cold grip wrapped itself round my shoulders and legs and heaved me backwards towards the citadel, sending me across the ground before Andrea.