The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  Andrea and Em joined me and I could see over Leatherpants shoulder that the troops had again managed to spread out without any word from us, back into their holding pattern. Scary good. Mark had again given the rigid form of Maria as much protective cover as he could and again, Hairy went with them, adding his own considerable bulk to the effort.

  “There is something very wrong here. Where is everyone?” I aimed my questions at The Elder but she gave no hint of there being any kind of recognition that she may be required to answer.

  “We all thought there would be a fight to be had but instead we’re having a casual stroll. What’s happened here?”

  I hadn’t meant it but I’d ended the final word with a Dragon growl as an exclamation mark. The ever present threat of attack was bringing my Dragon closer to the surface and add to that the potential manipulation from whoever had The Drake Stone and things were feeling a little odd.

  I cleared my throat and repeated my final question. I just knew that everyone was paying minute attention to every word that was spoken as well as keeping alert for attack so I couldn’t risk being anything other than ceremonially perfect despite the wider situation.

  “Has your mind given us any cause to believe that there is any threat to us?” Leatherpants asked having readjusted his ceremonial mask. That huge smile of his was now back in place. The Elder remained impassive, eyes still glazed.

  “I only ask in that you had agreed earlier, that the way you are able to identify any impending attack is via a trait of the Guardian form, your spinning mind. Has that trait alerted you to the presence of anything which could threaten attack?”

  Now he tilted his head in that very curious fashion that Em had been using, innocent of everything even slightly approaching scorn. I could see Andrea and Em look at me, not accusingly but certainly eager to hear that there was something I was magically aware of.

  But I wasn’t.

  “I can’t sense anything and therein lies the problem wouldn’t you agree?” I could feel my internal rage broiling away and did my best to channel it in a positive fashion. I couldn’t afford to let Leatherpants control the discourse.

  “We’d been aware of all manner of potential threats coming from this mission, all kinds of risk were waiting for us meaning we needed to plan for the most brutal exchange possible as we made our way to the Queen of The Tayne. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m glad we haven’t had to battle to the point we now find ourselves but surely I’m not the only one who’s thinking this is a little too easy? My head flickered a couple of times but nothing actually happened. It only lasted a fraction of a second.”

  Leatherpants wrinkled his overly tightened forehead, plainly confused by my concerns. He continued to speak for The Elder.

  “As I just said, you haven’t sensed anything have you? We haven’t seen any sign of anything even resembling a Tayne fighter and our progress has been steady, almost brisk, as we double check for every possible evidence that we have any enemies within striking distance of us. All of the evidence here suggests that something major happened to the encampment at the top of the cliff and that that same something had a knock on effect to events down here.”

  He was back in his ordered ceremonial groove, practically playing to the crowd as he laid out his points one by one. With minimal effort he had transported us back to that very uncomfortable moment in the infirmary in Freddy’s estate in Argentina where he had been able to put me in my place just by stating facts. There had been no attempt to highlight any short coming or failures, no need for him to try any form of character assassination, instead he just relied on the resolute facts and they were more than enough.

  Behind him, Andrea and Em were showing that they had had all of their support for me removed, Leatherpants casually batting away my ideas.

  But he’d said we were making good time despite the loss of the light from above. We weren’t making brisk anything.

  “We’re not making ‘brisk’ time at all. Where did the light go?” I wasn’t going to let this go that easily.

  Andrea and Em now frowned at me. I had to be careful pushing now, for fear of looking like a child who just won’t listen. Despite the pain of what was taking place, you had to admire the skills of the smarmy little bastard.

  “I am sorry Mr. Johns but non sequiturs are not my forte. Light?” Leatherpants didn’t suddenly exude any fear or confusion at my question, instead he did his best to fold his plasticized features into a frown.

  Fighting the building urge to roar, I tried to continue my point.

  “We’ve lost the light from above. Look back the way we came and the sunlight coming in from above is gone. That means its night time. How can that be the case when we haven’t been down here that long? You said we were making brisk progress but yet here we are, still away from the target but taking much longer than expected.”

  I left the statement hang in the air, hoping that it was going to cause everyone else to take it on and question. That didn’t even vaguely happen.

  “I am sorry Mr. Johns. I did not explain this tactical deployment to you but The Elder requested that I station a handful of troops at the entry way as a rear guard but also to cover the entry to the outside world. They have been casting coverage since we set off to prevent anyone being able to see the hole from above. I hadn’t thought that anyone would be looking behind us so intently.”

  His tone was as devastating as any weapon strike. He maintained such a gentle tone of explanation as he’d spoken, letting me in on the details of what was going on in the way of any sage explaining a basic point to the would be simpleton. At least he stopped short of patting me on the head as he spoke.

  Looking around at all of the faces looking at me, Andrea and Em showed clearly that they had fallen down firmly on Leatherpants’s side, The Elder was serenely staring at all of us without even trying to add anything and even Mike was forced to shrug in acceptance. The Elder hadn’t made any comment so had obviously ordered the move so all I was left with was the impotent concern that we were missing something when it appeared that I was the only one missing anything and that detail was a minor one at that.

  Great.

  Leatherpants straightened his jeweled tie pin and waited for any follow up comments. Despite my best efforts, none came.

  “Excellent. Shall we continue now this basic issue has been resolved? The Tayne Queen will be more heavily guarded than these outskirts and may be fortifying her position as we speak.” He spoke with his now all too familiar creeping passive aggression, letting all there see that he was calling the shots for The Elder but we were all left with the painful conclusion that he had been right.

  We moved off again, deeper into the realms of The Tayne, again with The Elder leading the way but with Leatherpants an ever present fixture at her side, always bowing at commands that the rest of us couldn’t hear and whispering to her his responses.

  The more I watched them as our column marched on, the more suspicious I became.

  We continued our progress into the ongoing darkness that was the Tayne homeland and the abandoned living quarters continued to greet us. All of the off shoot tunnels which led away from the main route we were following were given a thorough examination but all yielded nothing. Every single remnant of the occupants of this once thriving community had been mysteriously whisked away, leaving behind nothing but buildings and possessions.

  Still there was no hint of threat revealing itself. Still there was no increase in revolution from my magical early warning system. Still, despite what should have been a very well populated city under the ground, there was not a single hint of any of The Tayne.

  I could practically feel the frustration crawling up my spine by this point. This was ridiculous. Where was everyone? Why was it that no-one else could see that this was more than a little bizarre? Occasionally I thought that my mind was cranking up through the gears, building the spinning early warnings, but each time the sensation was gone before it came into being. Wishfu
l thinking for the fight? Was my Dragon power just lusting for the violence?

  Andrea drifted to my side and, in as subtle a voice as she could manage, whispered to me.

  “You can’t let Mr. Ward get to you. We all know that your powers are being attacked but he could be the only senior member of the group here who isn’t being affected by whoever has The Drake Stone. We need to maintain ourselves.” Her accent hugged her words and reassured me. Any previous anger had been draining until where she was now, almost back to her usual self.

  My instinct took over. There was nothing my mind could do to prevent what I needed to do. Far away from my Dragon self, my own human desire for a connection with another swelled and I gripped her hand tightly, intertwining our fingers.

  For a heartbeat that lasted for an eternity, we continued walking, two armoured figures showing the simplest form of affection. Andrea made no attempt to pull her hand from mine and for a second, despite every threat and concern that was circling us, I felt a calm I hadn’t ever felt before.

  It couldn’t last. It just couldn’t.

  The Elder and Leatherpants continued their separated progress but, as if he’d somehow been able to stop time, Leatherpants had turned back to face us, about to deliver who knew what kind of speech or order, and his eyes just burned directly at us and our shared grip. Our hands flew apart in that all too familiar way we all know from our teenage years when you’re caught doing something you’re not supposed to.

  Had we been lucky enough to come apart in time? Had that preening fool seen what was going on?

  Tension spread throughout my body and I could sense from Andrea that she was going through the same thought process. We were both suddenly on the tightrope over a very high drop.

  Leatherpants was quick to remove any hope he’d missed it.

  He thrust out his right arm with an accusing finger and screamed in a voice far too high pitched,

  “TRAITOR!”

  Everyone stopped their forward momentum and just stared at him as he jabbed his finger at me and me alone. Andrea was sensible enough to edge slightly further from me, leaving me squarely in the cross hairs.

  “You have defiled the sanctity of The Circle through your actions.” His voice was still a squeaky trill but at least he’d stopped screaming. Our entire group was now turned to look directly at me, most obviously trying to work out what was going on but a few of The Elders troops just looking daggers, satisfied that the accusation from Leatherpants was enough to convict me, even if they weren’t completely clear of what they had just convicted me of.

  I had to think fast and somehow maintain control over the Dragon power inside me which wanted ever so much to attack him. .

  “How dare you? How dare you accuse me of anything?” It was all I could think to do, go on the attack, verbally, and try to pull rank in any way I could. He didn’t want to let go though.

  “I dare, my lord, because you are breaking the laws of what you are. I just witnessed you moving beyond the bounds of the acceptable with a kind of physical intimacy towards another Guardian that cannot be excused. Do you deny this?”

  “I deny nothing. There is nothing to deny, now be quiet and let’s all continue in what we're doing.”

  I tried, I really did. Unfortunately Em didn’t accept anything I’d said and just reacted.

  She loosed her own scream of anger and swarmed onwards, not towards me but instead at Andrea. I could sense the roiling disgust she felt, she was back in the same frame of mind as she had been in the mansion when Maria's magic had been affecting her, all righteous fire and fury.

  She crashed into the unsuspecting form of our Russian Guardian and they both thundered into the ground, kicking up a plume of dust as the fight commenced.

  Em flailed her arms wildly and rained down blow after blow at Andrea regardless of her armoured exterior. Andrea, despite being taken off guard by the swiftness of the attack, had started by simply defending herself from the hammer blows from the women now sat atop her but quickly switched to working her own violence. She opened her mouth and spewed forth a blast of freezing white power directly into Em’s face. The effect on Em was down to physics rather than magical power. The blast from Andrea heaved her backwards simply due to the physical force of the attack rather than the potency of the magical ability. It reminded me of someone being blasted away by water from a fire hose yet not getting wet.

  Em crashed back against a pod of soldiers who were all staring at the unfolding events without truly understanding what was going on. They cushioned her fall as much as metal clad warriors could and she was soon back to her feet and heading back at Andrea, all thought of any kind of deference lost.

  Blow after blow rained down from Em and sent splintered shards of the formerly ceremonial armour that Andrea was wearing spinning away in all directions. Each blow was accompanied with an animal shriek of fury which just tore at the rocky surroundings we all found ourselves.

  Andrea reeled against the attack which she’d been thoroughly unprepared for, just doing her best to shield her head as much as she could as crushing blow after crushing blow continued.

  In an instant, Leatherpants had signaled to a group of his troops, The Elder remained unmoved during all of the activity, not even noticing that anything was taking place, just watching on serenely, so the troops had passed to Leatherpants to command. Whatever the situation was with The Elder, it was clear that Leatherpants was going to be the one making the moves but would most likely make the most of the situation and push his own will on the soldiers. Maybe this was a play from The Elder to keep her hands clean? If needed, she could just throw Leatherpants under the bus if this action didn’t work out. In an instant, they were surrounding me with various bladed weapons drawn and levelled at me. I lifted my arms slowly in a gesture of surrender, not daring risk any kind of aggressive response, an action wholly at odds with my inner voice.

  “You will not dare infect this mighty order any longer.” His words were hissing out at me with a huge smile on his face as he spoke. He had troops at his side as well, ready for any possible attack that I could have conceived, no wonder he was smiling.

  Risking a quick look around the mess which had suddenly unfolded, I could see that I wasn’t the only one who had been pinned down by the pointy ends of The Circle’s armoury. Mike and Mark were both now surrounded and had both taken on a similar pose to me, although Mark still looked as if he was the one doing the threatening despite himself. Hairy had left his side and had joined Leatherpants at the head of the group, a look of smug satisfaction plastered all over his face. He carried with him the stasis pod which held the frozen form of Maria. Despite the weight which it must have carried, he hefted it about as if it were nothing more than a school backpack.

  Members of every house were now pointing their weapons at me and mine and there seemed to have been fluid organization to get them all ready. I knew that they were an incredibly efficient fighting force despite the fact they had just been assembled for this mission but it almost looked as if they’d had prior warning that Leatherpants’ outburst was coming.

  The only people who seemed to be overlooked in this were Andrea and Em. The fight continued between them unabated as Andrea fought back, forcing Em back from atop her with freezing blasts of energy and her own swinging blows, her clenched fists now encased within massive maces of ice. A handful of soldiers had taken up a very loose ring position around them, intending to act as either protection or guard, I couldn’t tell which but by the looks of things, I was looking to be the only culprit. Instead they all just carried the air of confused onlookers, unsure if they should intervene in any way but mesmerized by what they were seeing. I almost expected someone to pop out a mobile phone and begin filming them.

  Leatherpants took a step forward and left The Elder staring into space. His soldiers came with him and he sneered his contempt without any fear of breaching the strict protocol.

  “Your actions have plagued this mighty assembly for to
o long, boy. The Elder has been instructing me for the duration of this mission, that should you show your true colours, I should take the steps that need to be taken.”

  He was walking casually back and forth, but this time, his stride carried with it a much deeper swagger. Gone was even the barest hint of his usual adherence to what was ‘correct’ and in its place was a violent, seething confidence.

  “It’s been painfully clear to all who would see that you’ve been trying to crack apart The Circle. You are the one who’s started all of these actions and you are the one who’s now going to pay the price.”

  His words just held me in place and he locked eyes with me, almost daring me to be the one to look away. I was doing my best to keep a lid on my fury as he strutted about but I could almost hear my Dragon roaring in my ears, desperate to reach out and introduce itself to the situation.

  Step by step Leatherpants moved closer to me, passing between the ranks of soldiers holding me at bay until he was stood practically touching his nose to my chest.

  “Do you even want to try and deny what you’ve been caught doing? Don’t you care for our mighty Guardian line or Miss Thomich, who you’ve sullied?”

  “SULLIED!” My Dragon was getting nearer the surface and the roar of the word showed everyone that fact. The swords pointed at me all jumped slightly in reaction to my outburst but all edged closer to me in response.

  Leatherpants stepped back a couple of paces. He kept that confidence in what he was doing but he clearly thought better of risking being next to an angry Dragon should it appear.

  “What I think my lord wanted to say was that he was surprised that a charge had been levelled at him.” Mikes voice was full of apprehension as he leapt into the conversation but I could readily make out his attempt to diffuse the situation as best he could, easing both sides away from the brink.

  “Is that correct my lord?”

  He edged gingerly through the various blades which were pointed at him and made his way to my side.