The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  She was now covered in what looked like full ceremonial battle dress taken from the pages of so many graphic novels or from computer games. She was practically glowing as she strode towards me, her simple protective wear catching the sunlight and wreathing her to perfectly highlight that she was so much more than human. Her white hair had been pulled back into a tight braid giving her a severe expression which left no room for argument.

  Her glare could scare a man perfectly well without her even having to consider the helmet she carried under her left arm.

  “Why are you not in your suit of armour?” She asked me with the familiar tone of the teacher addressing a particularly slow student.

  “No one said anything about armour. Don’t we just need to have everyone prepped and ready if we need them? We’re going to the estate in Argentina, we’re not jumping into an enemy stronghold are we? We were both there a few days ago and there was no threat of doom from the staff there, was there?” I understood the need to be prepared but come on.

  “The Drake Stone was stolen from the estate. The item is of huge importance to The Circle and there was no sign of there having been an attack to remove the item.” Andrea began to lay out points which, to her, seemed to be obvious to everyone. The Elder arrived next to her as she continued.

  “None of us knew where the stone was kept prior to the knowledge coming from the Messenger. The Hive were able to attack us regularly in Argentina and not allow us the knowledge of what their true goal was. They obviously had prior knowledge of the location of the stone so will more than likely be watching that location to be certain of how long we are unaware of the theft.”

  Both ladies folded their arms as Andrea spoke in a startlingly similar way. Now The Elder joined in.

  “If the site in Argentina is compromised by The Hive, we need to show a swift and violent response, proving to the enemy that we are not to be crossed. A full out assault on the estate is the only option here.” The words came from The Elder but there was no anger behind them this time.

  “Why?” It was all I could ask.

  Andrea picked up again.

  “Because in this situation, when there is an on-going threat of one of our bases being infiltrated by any creature from The Hive, we advance on it and make certain that if there had been any form of breach, it is neutralized in the clearest way we can muster, thereby sending a message to anyone who is aligned against us that we will stop at nothing to defend our duty.”

  I just stood dumfounded. If in doubt, nuclear option. At least they hadn’t done that to my estate after what happened when I was brought into this conflict.

  But they probably thought about it.

  Just in case.

  “Do you doubt the tactics we are to use here?”

  The voice came from nowhere but I knew that she would show herself soon enough. The veil shimmered away and The Messenger was left standing at my side.

  “Yes I doubt the tactics. Are you insane? Why is it a good idea to just level the estate?” I still had that flicker in my stomach at the knowledge that they were probably readying themselves to do the same to everyone around me only a matter of months ago.

  Now all three women just put their hands on their hips and stared at me.

  The Elder was the one who spoke.

  “Look back through your memories. This has been done for years if there had been a threat anywhere near this kind. A swift and decisive strike to cleanse everything we are and send a message to our foes.” She added, again with the calmly modulated tone, “Look through your experiences to see the truth. We aren’t lying to you.”

  I was so unnerved by her more calming tone that I just delved directly back, hoping to be able to prove her at least partly wrong.

  The pictures swap before my eyes and I looked into each of them in turn. One by one, long past recollections of the horror that was the Dragon Guardian line beamed out in the most perfect immersive experience. Sights sounds and smells all crashed into the wall of my mind, illuminating to me what had happened before. And they all showed the same thing. The other members of this party had been telling the truth. I watched on as estate after estate was demolished before the power of the advancing army. I recognized several sites from South Wales and watched on as Neath Abbey and Neath Castle were both ripped apart by magic and Dragon alike.

  But none of this made the decision the right one.

  “You see that we have done this before? We as a group understand what we have to do.” Andrea’s voice was cool and business like but there was still a glimmer of calming power in it. She was speaking as The Circle but at least she was showing some level of compassion. It wasn’t just a matter of levelling the sites.

  The Elder continued, and matched her tone with Andreas. There was no anger in her voice but there was still a level disappointment to her tone.

  That was even worse despite my opinion of her and everything she was talking about.

  “We have been doing this in this way for thousands of generations. This has given us the peace of mind to continue, knowing that we have done everything in our power to stop any weakness which may have afflicted us.”

  “But there are other options which need to be discussed, surely. Messenger, is this tactically the best move we have available to us or is there just the reliance on what has been done in the past? Can’t we at least have a discussion about a course of action before we ruin a perfectly good mansion?”

  All eyes turned to The Messenger, the two ladies looking on with expectation that she would back up their opinion, me with a shred of hope she’d at least listen to mine.

  “Everything that Mr. Johns has said is accurate. This may be an unusual course of action but the logic that has been delivered is sound.”

  The Messenger had been beaten to the punch and whatever opinion she had been about to provide had been still-born.

  This time we all turned to face the owner of the voice who had leapt to my defence. We had all been so focused on the discussion that we hadn’t even noticed anyone else approaching to listen to what was being said. Leatherpants just stood with his hands behind his back, rod straight with his familiar expression of casual certainty fixed in place.

  The Elder looked at him with a mixture of surprise, pride, horror and anger all warring for control of her. She wasn’t the only one who was caught off guard by his comment. My own mouth must have been swinging open judging by the expression that Leatherpants flashed back at me, the barest frown coming my way.

  “Why do you feel that this deviation from our recognized course of action is such a positive move?” Andrea was angry, judging by the clipped tones which were wrapped around what she was saying. Maybe my influence was starting to rub off on Leatherpants if he felt that it was appropriate to butt in on the conversation of the Guardians. Either that or he was just trying to push my idea forward to trip it up later. Having him agree with me was already more problematic than having him against me.

  I’ll say this for him, he reacted very quickly to placate any anger which was clearly rising in the group.

  “My Lord and Ladies, I did not intend to cause any offence at all. I merely wished to offer my view on the issue at hand. My Lady Elder had asked me to look into the behaviors and tactics shown by Mr. Johns in an attempt to better work with him in the mission and in my studies, I have been able to identify that, despite his unconventional attitude and complete lack of understanding of what he is doing, he does have a very singular way of reading situations that present themselves.”

  The ladies looked at him, carefully weighing up what was being said while I tried to work out if he’d just insulted me or not. He continued.

  “Mr. Johns has claimed that our recent failures in battle have been caused by, what did you call it? ‘Our calls being worked out?’”

  Him saying that just seemed to make the phrase sound ridiculous.

  “Looking at the detail of what has been happening to The Circle as a whole and to Mr. Johns as an individua
l since he was given the great gift of the Guardian power, it would appear that his childish appraisal of the situation is accurate. Even if he is the one who has been giving our plans to The Hive, following his suggestion here will either uncover his treachery as The Hive will be forced to show themselves or we will be able to gather much needed information. Either way, The Circle will be advanced by deviating from what has always been the usual course of action.”

  He finished speaking and bowed with a modicum of subdued ceremony.

  The silence seemed to squat on the group, an angry creature almost daring someone to be the one to speak and set off a storm of fury.

  But that storm was blown out before it could take hold. He really was very comfortable dealing with the Dragon powers who were his superiors. Over the generations he had been at The Elders side, he’d learnt his skills exceptionally well.

  “Mr. Ward is correct. Only the Guardians shall travel to Argentina in the first instance but all of our forces will be prepared should they need to be called to deliver our more accustomed solution.”

  The Messenger was as emotionless as ever as she spoke and the decision was made. The Elder flitted her eyes from Leatherpants to me and back again but also kept the mask of blankness she always wore, firmly in place. Andrea was the only one of the group who was showing any kind of emotion.

  She was trying her best to maintain that strong glacial mask of her own but there was fire building behind it. Without any real effort I’d found myself on her bad side again. Was she taking this personally?

  I didn’t have the time to find out.

  Leatherpants had already melted from the group to re-join the soldiers of The Elder, knowing that there was nothing more to be said by him. The Elder was already half way out of her armour, piece by piece just floating from her as she magically dismantled her ceremonial dress. Andrea slowly closed her eyes and began the same process herself. Both women’s battle dress gathered together before them until it had been totally removed from their bodies, then briskly drifted towards a member of their war force. It was a relatively basic use of magical power but it was impressive this close, none the less.

  Their armour removed, The Elder and Andrea were left wearing a garment which was almost exactly the same as the Messengers. All three women were now stood in very form fitting suits which I could see now were actually vital pieces of the armour they had been wearing. The Elder and Andrea had metallic discs and hooks spaced evenly all over their suits, showing how the armour had been fastened but also how it could have been removed so easily. Looking closer still I was able to make out miniscule flecks of colour glinting like tiny river courses all over the fabric.

  My studies of the detail of this level of what was being worn was interrupted by an angry sounding cough. Andrea had made the sound but by the expression on all three faces, my attempt to gather information had been misunderstood. Typical.

  “Right” I stammered and clapped my hands together to try and break the mood which was now standing with us and laughing at me.

  “It really only needs the four of us to travel to Argentina doesn’t it? There’s no point being anything other than relaxed about all this.”

  “Agreed” said The Messenger, immediately adding more weight to my argument. “Mr. Johns and I will follow behind Miss Thomich and The Elder as they infiltrate the site and gather information. We will act as your support and protection whilst in the estate but gather information ourselves but in a more covert fashion.”

  “Acceptable.” The Elder was switching to business mode as she took orders from The Messenger.

  “One question.” I just needed one point cleared up first.

  “How are we going to be more covert and act as their support? I think we’ll need to have some serious thought about what it is we’ll be walking into.”

  The Messenger just held that slightly confused expression of hers, just dealing with that familiar slow mind of mine. Until the penny dropped and she could see on my face that I’d caught up.

  “We’re going in under that cloak of invisibility of yours aren’t we?”

  She smiled as I worked it out. She smiled cutely and showed off her dimples.

  “You will have to remain close to me as we move through the estate to prevent there being any risk of you stepping outside of my control. Are you ready for that Mr. Johns? The closer the better.”

  The smile remained on her face as she spoke.

  What the hell did that mean? Was I mis-reading the whole situation or was she coming on to me? The crackle of anger which crawled over my skin suggested that Andrea had noticed and thought the same thing.

  Covert mission to infiltrate a potential enemy stronghold with three people who all seem keen on keeping an eye on me for one reason or another.

  Why can’t anything be easy?

  23

  The Elder opened the Cascade Bridge and we all stepped through from the gravel driveway of my estate in South Wales to the comparable position at the estate in Argentina. The Elder and Andrea lead the way, walking with a casual confidence which came from the knowledge that they were going to be fawned over and shown utter deference by all of the staff at this estate or that they were going to be walking into the belly of a newly minted Hive fortress. Either way, it wouldn’t be the done thing to show anything other than absolute confidence. The Messenger and I followed close by, veiled by a magical wall which made us utterly unseen.

  The sensation within the veil was kind of like being in one of those massive balls you can either walk on water or roll down hills. There was a tangible weight to what we were surrounded by, like it had mass that we had to move along with us. The Messenger had said that it would be able to completely remove us from the awareness of the site, meaning we could speak normally and no-one would hear us but also that we could traverse any surface without there being any tell-tale signs. You could just imagine all the effort being for nothing because of muddy footprints on carpet. That would certainly have me hung, drawn and quartered.

  The Messenger was holding a constant pulse of power as we moved to be able to hold the construct. The effort wasn’t enough to be able to slow her down or cause her any stress but the strands of colour through her suit were glowing a subtle purple to highlight the magical effort.

  Our magical ball rolled along behind The Elder and Andrea, our senses only slightly dulled due to the power of it and I tried to keep my eyes open for any chance to be able to work out how The Hive had been able to do what they had. I needed to be able to prove that I wasn’t the monster that everyone else thought I was. Even though I can be a monster. A real monster, not a metaphorical one. But a good one. Not evil. You know what I mean.

  Our collective pace slowed as The Elder and Andrea approached the imposing doorway at the front of the estate.

  The design of this mansion was very similar to my own, all heavy stone and intimidation wrapped up in implied poise and decorum. The gravel driveway of this mansion had been dead straight rather than the weaving route of my own but the effect had been the same. The crunching of the stones beneath feet had been enough to alert the staff to the arrival of guests aside from the undoubted power shift of our arrival.

  The huge doors were swung open with equal measures control and panic and a group of very nervous people made their way towards us. The woman at the front of the approaching group, a tall, lean woman whose age could have passed comfortably for anything between thirty and fifty, was the first to speak.

  “My ladies, I must apologise for not greeting you in the appropriate fashion, we were not told that anyone would be attending this site other than our returning personnel and our new Guardian.”

  She bowed deeply and gestured that everyone around her do the same. They all did.

  As one they straightened and the worry was clear to see even from within this magical veil. They had been expecting a new Guardian. They’d known that Maria was next in line so would need to be replaced. Was I being paranoid or was that knowled
ge jumping the gun? I’d have to look into that.

  The Elder was responding as I pondered.

  “You have been mis-informed. We are here to review the site in readiness for the next Guardian. The Circle knows that you have all been under such pressure recently that we wish to ensure you are all still able to do your jobs.”

  Everyone in the group went pale. The easiest way to wander the house freely wasn’t to threaten the abilities of those in said house. Now everyone would be doubly on edge.

  “What my fellow Guardian means is that we want to assist you all in the correct preparations. You have all been dealing with so much with the recent losses at this site. We want to safeguard the health and well-being of every member of the Circle.” Andrea’s words softened the blow somewhat but it was clear that there was still a fair amount of apprehension.

  “Interesting that Miss Thomich should use such a tactic to elicit obedience from the staff here. Everyone within The Circle, at every level of service, understands that they must obey the commands of their superiors.” The Messenger spoke almost absent mindedly, not taking her eyes from the people ahead of us.

  “Maybe you have had an effect on our Siberian Guardian?” She turned to look at me. “What do you think Mr. Johns?”

  “She’s just trying to get the best response in the quickest time, nothing else.” That comment made it very clear that I was going to be watched just as closely as everyone else in the Argentinian estate. I shrugged in response but kept my gaze ahead, showing her that I would rather just concentrate on the relatively easy task of the potentially violent mission ahead. She didn’t push the point, instead returning to what was taking place before us.

  The lead woman bowed deeply again and gestured that she would direct her guests to whatever location within the estate that they may desire. The remainder of the welcoming committee surged back into the house and, no doubt, back to their respective departments to do their best to prepare for the scrutiny of the visiting Guardians. The Messenger and I silently started moving again.