The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  “Please calm down.” This time her words did have sensation behind them. I swear they did. She was asking me but with just a light glazing of so much possibility. I could feel that the fire in me was still raging but at least it wasn’t raging at Leatherpants.

  The change in me must have been clear as she quickly let me go and moved away to stand nearer the door. My skin felt alive with energy and I absent mindedly scratched at my neck in response. Everyone watched her move across the short distance but I was confident that I was the only one thinking what I was. I couldn’t see beyond the curve of her hips, the strength and order of her whole countenance. She was baiting me, she must have been, just giving each step that extra level of sway to draw attention to her athletic form.

  All I could see was her and my mind began to take me on a very vivid journey through the realms of future events I could just reach out for and have. I could just peel the skin tight uniform from her and we could really explore what each of us could do. Two hugely powerful beings challenging each other in a very new arena.

  I have to accept that it was the Dragon growl which started the problem. I can look on the events and acknowledge that Andrea did the right thing. Didn’t feel great though.

  The sheets of ice formed all over me in a heartbeat and began crushing against me and forcing the air from my lungs and, quickly, the desire from my everywhere else.

  The Elder spoke into the air before I started my response to what was going on.

  “It would appear that all of the guardians are vulnerable to attack from whatever sorcery is being cast. Mr. Johns here is a confusion but he has shown that he can do what needs to be done even in the presence of his Fire. He has just shown that his power is now not fully within his control. None of ours is.” Ever the public speaker, she let the vivid threat in her words hang in the air for us all to digest.

  “Somehow, our power is being manipulated by another and from what has been disclosed here, I believe that I understand how. We need to move from here to be able to confirm my fears but I think that the truth has presented itself.”

  Leatherpants looked smug as she spoke, practically basking in the reflective glow of the words of The Elder as they made for the door.

  “Where are we going now?” My teeth chattered as they strode away, my tomb of ice holding me firmly in place. The Elder didn’t break stride or even show any sign she was addressing me as she replied.

  “We need to get to Mexico as fast as we can. It is clear to me who we are being manipulated by and therefore, who has The Drake Stone. We need to pay a visit to the domain of The Tayne.”

  27

  It took about twenty minutes to crack me free of the ice Andrea had brought into being around me. I could have just blasted through it with my own special brand of pyrotechnics but with everything which had taken place recently, I thought it wiser if I didn’t draw too heavily on my Fire unless I really had to. Mark had been surprisingly gentle with the sledgehammer after it had been deemed to be too dangerous for me to risk getting myself out.

  We all gathered in the same place we had earlier in the day, crunching the gravel of my mansions driveway, after we’d been served a rushed yet faultlessly exquisite meal which was the response to my request for a snack to keep us all going. How the people in the kitchen managed it was still a wonder to me. Did they do the same thing in the other estates? That would have to be a question for another day.

  This time I was in my own armour as well. If my Dragon power was being affected in any way by who or whatever was in possession of The Drake Stone, I wasn’t going to risk being killed before I could defend myself in my human form. I also only had Mike and Mark as my honour guard. It seemed to make more sense to me that whoever I had with me be willing to protect me from any and all threats, including magically warped Guardians. There were more than enough other soldiers hanging around to create a strong enough battalion of fighters without the need to throw any of my bodies into the pot.

  “Why are we going to The Tayne?” I was getting impatient as we all gathered outside, not from any kind of Fire power coming from within me but just because I was wearing such a solid and delightfully ceremonial suit of armour which, despite the best efforts of everyone I’d dare let near me, just didn’t fit properly. Having my one piece under suit practically painted on was bad enough but the armour just didn’t feel quite right. Everyone had kept reassuring me that it was the armour of the Guardian of the house so would meld to my shape, regardless of who I was, a good trick if the Guardian is changed regularly, no need to create a new suit, but it still just didn’t quite feel as snug as it should have done.

  My protestations fell on deaf ears and I swear I could hear Mike calling me a big baby as I readied myself although I couldn’t be sure of that.

  The basic design was that of a medieval knight, large plates and jointed to allow some form of movement. It was also so much more than that as well. Swirls of carving depicting all kinds of fire covered every inch of the plate, showing to anyone who even flicked a glance my way what my power source was. It was made of highly polished, what looked like steel but there was a red tinge to the whole thing, again showing where I was starting from. It was far from being as artistic as the other forms of armour being worn by the other guardians but mine did look like it was several levels tougher. There were weighty spines running up the back and over my shoulders and the gauntlets looked like they were weapons first and protection later. Massive blocks of metal had been wrapped around my hands which contained more spines but also wickedly serrated blades as well.

  Despite the beauty of the carving, the craftsmanship of the suit and obvious ceremonial function which my dress had to perform, it was clear to me that this armour had been designed for face to face combat. I was designed as Fire to make the best of my burning temper, by anger. This garb showed that my line had not been afraid to literally throw themselves into the melee of battle.

  Top it all off with the brutality of my heavy helm, all horns and teeth, and you were left with in doubt that whoever was inside the suit was more than willing to go absolutely nuts.

  The Elder had her honour guard around her and Leatherpants strutted amongst them, just to make certain they were all standing utterly to attention. Leatherpants was the only one without any kind of battle dress on but he didn’t let that get in his way. He carried on inspecting The Elders troops despite being dressed for dinner rather than a fight. He continually straightened and adjusted his skin suit as he moved, seemingly maintaining the perfect countenance.

  Knob.

  As he walked and judged, The Elder was now taking on a more serene temperament. Gone was any kind of anger towards me or, anyone else for that matter. She was now more akin to a calm mountain lake, no ripples of emotion even hinting on the surface. She was speaking now with an almost ethereal calm in her voice.

  “The Tayne were there weren’t they? That weakling race were all around us during our fighting in Argentina. They were somehow able to greatly increase the magical power each one of their swarm had which resulted in them being able to bring down the shield wall. The Tayne are a ruined race who have raised their hands to a more powerful adversary. They will have the Drake Stone with their Queen, deep in the catacombs.”

  Andrea and Em stood waiting as well, Andrea with her soldiers and Em just standing with her arms folded. When we’d gathered here previously, the sun had been up and the day had been warm, a welcoming summer day in South Wales. Now, the sun was gone and we stood in the black of night, erratic shadows and indeterminate shapes running casually between all of the people there. It was probably the dark coupled to the threat implicit with the effects of whatever magic was being thrown in our direction, but I could swear that there was a level of fear whispering into everyone’s ears that something unknown was waiting for them and they stood no chance.

  Like I said, just the dark.

  “We are all prepared.” Andrea’s voice called out into the still night air in the same
tolling way she had always used. She had removed the raggedness from the confrontation in my bedroom and it was reassuring to have that familiarity back.

  Despite every action which had come along, I was still desperate to speak to her to clear the air and reassure her. I wanted to hold her in my arms and take her pain away. And I wanted her to do the same for me.

  “When we pass through our bridge gateways we will be walking into the heart of the lands inhabited by The Tayne. We Guardians will lead the way but each and every one of us will be open to attack. We have seen that The Tayne are not the most powerful of enemies but we can’t afford to underestimate them.” Andrea spoke from the stairs which led up to my huge great door and looked down on the gathered masses like a religious leader speaking to her gathered flock.

  The Elder eased her way up the steps and joined Andrea.

  “Our target is to beat a way to the centre of their lands, find their Queen and retrieve The Drake Stone. We will Bridge jump in at the edge of The Tayne realm and make our way to the Queen. This should be more than possible for a fighting force equipped as we are but there will be no Dragon support in this endeavor.”

  That comment drew a fluttering of half gasps and shuffled movement from the troops. In any other group of people that would almost be akin to a riot but these people were resolute to the point of fanaticism.

  “There is a great power being wielded against The Circle and all of the Guardians are at risk of having their powers turned against them. We must jump in a distance from our target to avoid risking the Bridges being tampered with and losing us all. But never forget. We are all here to serve as are you and we will continue to do so even if we are suffering.”

  That last comment was an immediate salve to the Dragon issue and I swear that at least half of the gathered forces let out an audible sigh of relief.

  Now it was my turn.

  “We also go on a humanitarian mission.” I was doing my best but I’m sure that the others just sounded more at ease in front of a crowd like this. Teaching a fitness class is one thing, delivering a battleground speech is something entirely different.

  “We are not only re-claiming our lost property and re-forging The Circle, but we go to save the life of one of our family.” Perfectly on cue, armoured figures parted to reveal Mark as he carried Marias rigid form from the house and waited at the top of the stairs. She had been placed in some kind of glittering ovoid shape, held weightless and motionless within and was carried by Mark in a hastily put together harness. Her eyes were closed but she was still showing a great deal of pained expression. Her fragile skin was raw and split and I swear her skull was oddly misshapen, although that could have just been a trick of the light.

  She looked every inch the sacred backpack. Remembering the stasis comment from Mike, it would appear that she was just ‘stopped’ within the construct. Hairy, almost a forgotten issue for me to consider up to this point, followed behind also dressed ready for war. His armour was akin to my own, huge anger and violence implicit in the design. I still had to come up with some way of getting the power swapped over between them without leaving Maria to die.

  “We go to save the life of the last in the line of Guardians who have been protecting the site in Argentina before that power and responsibility is passed to our newest member. Never forget that we all exist to save the lives of every single person on this planet.”

  There was a ripple of agreement from the crowd and I felt relieved that there had at least been some agreement to the point I wanted to make.

  Andrea resumed.

  “We are going to attack if we are attacked and smite any and all who try to stop us reaching our goal.” Andrea finished her speech and raised her right arm before her, fingers splayed in a very dramatic fashion. The Elder did the same.

  From behind me I recognized the telltale signs of their Cascade Bridges. The blue/white light washed over us all and I could make out the hum of the energy being worked. Ozone filled the air. I slowly turned and added my own power to the mix and the three rings of power hovered expectantly, waiting to accept the assembled army for their journey to the domain of The Tayne.

  Em was the first of us to move but she was quickly followed by Andrea and The Elder. I hadn’t been expecting the shrill battle cry to come from Em though as she streaked past me and hurled herself through the central bridge gateway. She was again in her all in one suit but now she looked more as if she were wearing something made out of plastic or metal rather than the figure hugging fabric of before. Segmented pieces of whatever material slid over each other as she moved, giving her the look of someone wearing a skin of armour rather than the more bulky suits the rest of us wore. Add to this the two metre, ornate sword which was suddenly in her hand and she looked every inch the berserker warrior.

  “Close your mouth. Don’t want anyone to trip over your tongue.” Mike was next to me and spoke as low as he could to get his point across. Did everyone just think all I ever thought with was my – instinct?

  I shut my mouth.

  “That’s better bach” and he followed up with that now welcome too hard slap on the back.

  “It was just surprise at her shout and her get up. Nothing else.” I tried but I could tell he didn’t believe me. The snort gave it away.

  In seconds Andrea and The Elder flashed past and all that was left was for me to take my turn and bring our forces after us. I didn’t dare think any further than my whispered “In for a penny …” before hurling myself through the gateway I’d opened up. I could hear the footfalls of my followers as I hit the boundary of the Cascade Bridge and then there was no sound bar the crunch of scattered leaf litter rather than gravel under each step and the sun was again hanging above us. No matter how many times you travel between time zones like this, stepping from night to day like you are walking between rooms is a singularly off putting sensation.

  Only slowing my pace slightly, I did my best to take in all of the detail from around me, doing my best to be able to look everywhere at once in readiness for the attack which was no doubt just waiting to erupt. We had emerged onto a wide expanse of dusty ground, almost as wide as a tennis court. The terrain was incredibly flat and was utterly devoid of vegetation or plant life despite being in the wooded outlands of Mexico. From around me in the bushes and undergrowth of the area we were running along, there was no movement or noise save for the usual sounds which come from any wooded area in the world. Tiny life carried on regardless of my expectation of a computer game like attack as enemies of all kinds leapt out from behind anything that could have concealed them.

  Already far ahead of me, Em, Andrea and The Elder were still powering on, making the most of the unhindered path they found themselves on, while behind me, I could make out the gradually increasing sounds of more and more armoured feet hitting the ground as our soldiers joined us on this side of the Cascade Bridge.

  The final member of our group emerged from the magical bridge and I could feel the effort of the Cascade Bridge fall away. It hadn’t been a mighty weight in my mind but the effort needed was noticeable as it faded to nothing.

  I risked a short glance over my shoulder to check on the progress of the others following behind me to be immediately greeted by the appearance of Leatherpants, full Hive skin suit and associated bejeweled finery, sprinting effortlessly to draw alongside me. He was keeping remarkable pace. I’d like to think that I was being slowed by the amount of armour I was enclosed within but I hadn’t been finding it that difficult to keep moving. He was fitter than he looked.

  Returning my attention ahead of me I was confronted by the other guardians now stopped and all standing still at the edge of what looked like a substantial drop over a cliff of some sort. As gracefully and as artfully as I could, I slammed on the brakes and came skidding to a halt next to them, kicking up a wildly enthusiastic cloud of dust and gravel as I did.

  Eventually, as the dust settled, I could see everyone clearly and no-one looked happy. They all wafted thei
r arms around clearing my dusty exuberance from the air and looked at me with a mixture of disappointment and worry. It really was starting to get on top of me that there was always a mix of negative emotions on everyone’s face whenever I did anything. No matter what I did it seemed that it was always going to be wrong. I was becoming the self-fulfilling prophecy. They expected me to do something wrong so anything I did was treated with ultimate suspicion and derision, minor errors being viewed in inflated terms.

  “What?” My belligerence was breaking the surface at the accusations from the looks I was getting.

  “I think that your fellow Guardians were thinking it a stroke of luck that you noticed that they had stopped their forward momentum before you threw yourself from the cliff edge here.” Leatherpants was casually strutting around the edge of the drop, peering over the edge with a remarkable expression of contempt on his face. He kicked a stray black stone from the edge and watched absentmindedly as it plummeted.

  I did my best to ignore him but his voice just seemed to get under my skin. I caught myself before I could act on the immediate need to rip him to pieces. My power was being manipulated from somewhere else and I had to keep my cool. Whatever was going on, me going off the deep end and attacking my own people wasn’t going to help.

  Taking a steadying breath, I exhaled the building anger and shook my head clear of any lingering emotion.

  Leatherpants skimmed me with his eyes, obviously expecting some form or reaction but was quick to continue when said reaction didn’t come. He continued to walk around his superiors while all the time looking like the prowling master, watching and judging the actions of his pupils as they were put through their paces.

  All of the troops fell into defensive position around us, melting into the foliage despite their armoured attire. Even including the run, they were all looking perfectly fresh, not one breathing even slightly hard. It would appear that everyone was fitter than I’d first given them credit. I caught a glimpse of Mark easing into a defensible position with Maria on his back, shielding her from as much potential threat as he could. Just as the others, my giant colleague looked as if the effort of the run had been nothing to him. Hairy was a step behind them, also looking every inch the dutiful soldier but not wanting to move too far from Maria.