The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  "I told you there are more than just you for us to be afraid of. The Circle and The Hive have been fighting each other for so long, I swear you can't see the most basic points around you."

  Interesting. What else? I used every inch of who I was, before I became the Guardian, to drag the anger back down. I needed control. Andrea took up the questioning.

  "Are you saying that you weren't in league with The Hive? You were attacking The Circle with a different group?" I could hear the skepticism in her voice and could understand what she was talking about. I was still new to what was going on but so far there had been no time given to the topic of further issues than The Hive.

  "I'm saying," the Queen continued, "that my people were indeed a part of the army which attacked The Circle. I'm saying that we were at no point aligned with The Hive and most importantly for all, we did not take part willingly. We were conscripted at first with promises of greater security and then with threats." She picked another towel from the basket and moved to the next cot, starting her ritual of cleaning and tending again.

  No-one moved and the silence was deafening. Inside the giant chamber, which had once been designed with nothing more than a regal lifestyle in mind, now acted as a hospice for the fallen. And the races leader was now the sole custodian of the broken.

  "These soldiers were the first to receive the gift from our would-be benefactor.” The Queen spoke in a low tone of resigned loss, all the time watching as she moved about her latest charge. “He promised us such things.” She dabbed at the corners of the mouth of her patient. “He came to us and gave us the one thing we could never turn away from. He offered us the chance for safety. He gave me hope.”

  She held the pause before continuing just long enough for everyone within earshot to understand.

  “He promised to give my people the power to be able to defend themselves against foes from anywhere. We were to become a mighty army with the strength to be able to defend our way of life against any and all threats." The Tayne she was attending to, coughed a rattling, dry burst and moaned in pain as she ever so gently dabbed at the crusty wounds around his neck.

  “All I’ve ever wanted for my race is its safety. I want us to all live, here, away from your petty wars.” She looked sideways at us. “I wanted to have a people free from bullies.” She turned back to her task, pausing yet again, on the final word of the sentence.

  "But we were told that the only way for this to happen was to take part in the raids needed to re-claim the power that had been stolen by The Circle."

  She shrugged her shoulders as she recounted the idea.

  "I know how ridiculous it sounds now but we have been used and abused for so long by so many that the chance to save ourselves was too great an opportunity to let pass by." She still looked down at the Tayne in the cot and slowly smoothed over the cracked skin of his bald head, giving any form of care she could to ease the suffering.

  "After the second attack he gave us what he had promised. His crystals slammed power through us, giving us such strength. These were the first to receive the gift and they became so powerful, so vastly strong. They could do so much more than any of us had ever been able, surpassing the very Gods in strength." Despite everything which had brought her to this desolation, there was still a vibrantly fierce pride when she spoke of what these soldiers had become. The rest of us remained still, not interrupting anything she said.

  She moved to the next cot.

  "I saw that power and all I could understand was that the bargain was true. We were going to free of all of you so I gave the word that everyone should be given this mighty gift as soon as possible.” Another pause but it was clear that any pride she had for her people was fighting against her own shame. Her voice wavered ever so slightly as she finished, “I gave the order that damned my whole race." She dabbed and smoothed the latest living corpse.

  She continued to move down the line as the silence just grew and grew until, "I actually said that I would be the last of the people who would receive this gift. My people deserved to have this strength far more than I did."

  Silence returned, all save for the ever more labored breathing from the cots.

  "It was after he had given to all people bar myself that he turned to me and said that he would require our help in attacking The Circle for a fourth time and that with our greater strength we would be of more value as fighters. I told him no, that we had fulfilled our bargain to him and his people and that we would not be taking any further part in any violence. He did this to my honour guard by way of warning." She held out her arm indicating the shriveled forms.

  "He used his crystals to ruin these poor souls and leave them in this state. They just shriveled before our eyes at a single movement from him. I told him that he would have to take all of The Tayne before I would give him what he wanted. I was tired of my race being used." She looked directly out at us and we could see the tracks that her tears had made down her barely there face.

  "So he did. He took all of us. Those crystals of his gave him the power to warp and destroy us but it also gave him the ability to control us. Control the minds of all those he had gifted. He just dragged my whole race away to use them as he wished." Her impotent anger in what had been done to her was clear but she still maintained the same rod of pride in her people.

  Em moved forwards, her swords now retracted back to the pommels and stowed on her suit, and placed her hand on the shoulder of the Queen. The Queen looked as shocked as the rest of us with the simple display of emotion and empathy but bowed her head and placed her own hand on top of Em's. Through everything that any of us had experienced, through every moment of bloodshed and horror that been a fixture for everyone in the chamber, that single gesture from Em signified so very much. There was no adherence to what ‘should’, instead there was just the simplest gesture between two beings to signify the loss that was felt.

  Andrea placed a steadying hand on my shoulder and I could feel the heat of my rage dropping back. Whether it was as a consequence of her inherent magics or from what she represented to me, I didn’t know but it really didn’t matter.

  “Your majesty,” Andrea spoke so softly into the rancid gloom. We will do all we can to be able to free your people from whatever hex they find themselves under. After that, if it is still your will, we will leave you be, here on your own as a people and do our best to keep you out of any future conflicts. You can call on us to your aid should you need it but I’m afraid that we must ask for your aid.”

  The Queen patted at Em’s hand and moved gracefully away from her to face Andrea and me.

  “What is it you want?” Her voice came out with the resignation that she was again in no position to do anything other than what was being asked of her. Andrea was going to be as gentle as possible but we needed answers.

  “If you don’t have the child who was taken from us, who does?” I leapt in, still not fully back in control of my faculties.

  “I do not know. We are all that is left of the realm of the Tayne and I have been consumed totally with caring for all the subjects I have left.” She again gestured back at the stone cots to show clearly that her focus was far from being that of a kidnapper. “I am afraid I know nothing of the child you’ve lost.”

  The answer made me angry, but not at her. I just couldn’t believe that we were losing further ground on rescuing Maria. There was no deception in her. She just didn’t know. Andrea took over following my outburst.

  “Who was it that did this to your people? How was it that such power could be given in the first place but warped in such a hideous way?” She was still hard on the case of facts. She was asking the questions that needed to be answered to give us any hope of success rather than what I had done, just chasing the latest cause. Cold pragmatism against fiery passion.

  “He never gave me his name.” The Queen’s cultured voice was hard. “He came and went through this palace as he wished, arriving without my calling. He just walked into my chambers and made h
is offer without preamble.”

  “He didn’t give you any indication of who or what he was? Did he have anyone or anything with him when he came to you? Is there any information you can give us about what he was? A demon? A man? Anything?” Despite keeping her voice the same calm level, Andrea was pleading as she spoke.

  The Queen considered for a second, then answered.

  “He was a man but like no man I’d ever seen before. He looked so much like a man to be classed as one but there was; something more to him. He felt calmly threatening in my opinion. He was never openly hostile but there was always a sensation from him, an intangible violence under that cultured exterior of welcoming. Even more so than any malice I felt from you when you first entered here.” She was looking at me as she explained and that singular point was something which needed no explanation. Whoever he was, he was either a wonderful confidence trickster, able to make people believe that he was a terrible threat or he was the power that he suggested. Both were dangerous for different reasons.

  But where did that leave us? So far all we had was he was a mysterious stranger who either had immense power or at least the ability to make it look like he did. It may have been a new player on the field but at least if he was a man he could only come from a certain number of places.

  Without there being any signal that anything had changed, The Elder spoke this time.

  “How was it he was able to give you such power? You said he needed you to help him in an attack against The Circle and that he’d be able to give you the powers he promised after the attack. That would suggest that he didn’t have them to give in the beginning but acquired them during the fighting, would it not?” She looked between all of faces that had turned to face her. She hadn’t said a word up to this point and I’d almost forgotten about her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to speak out of turn but that did seem to be the next logical question.” She just looked around us all with her eyebrows raised in question. She may have lost all of the details of who any of us were but she still had full control of all of her reasoning skills. The conversation stopped at her interjection. None of us had even considered that point. My mind had been set on one of two options but the details looked like they fit somewhere in between. I opened my mouth to disagree with The Elder out of sheer belligerence but stopped. She’d never liked me and had been a part of a group trying to have me killed but that didn’t mean that she was wrong about this. The Queen looked like she was taking the same route of thought.

  Whoever he was, he’d needed help breaking into the fortress in Argentina for some reason. Whatever he was after, he knew he was going to be able to use it to deliver an enormous amount of power to the Tayne in payment for their help but also that he was going to have the ability to control them should he need to use them again.

  But if that was the case, why attack again? Why risk exposure when you’ve already got what you came for? The question was limping around at the edges of my head as it fought against my animal rage. The conversation continued without me.

  “You said he was using crystals to give your people the power he had. What did he do?” Andrea kept to her methodical probing but it was obvious now that she was feeling a level of excitement. It was an almost tangible sensation crackling around the chamber as we all joined the train of understanding.

  “He brought with him a small casket full of glowing fragments of crystal. None were fashioned or worked, they were all raw from the ground. He took each of my people in turn and forced a fragment against their head. It glowed and he said it was done. We were skeptical at first but when the changes started to happen, I brought everyone through as fast as I could.” That final thought checked the previous positivity. The Queen was again confronted by the fact that she had, in her mind, damned her people.

  Perfectly on cue, it was at that moment that one of the ruined Tayne rasped out an arid cough, reinforcing perfectly what was running through her mind. It broke the atmosphere between us all and the Queen hurried to the aid of her pained subject.

  “I’m sorry but I must tend to my people. Please leave us. I thank you for the offer you have given us but there isn’t anything further to discuss.” I started to protest but Andrea cut me off sharply.

  “Thank you my lady. We will leave you in peace.”

  That left us at an impasse. We didn’t have any way of finding out anything further and the Queen had nothing else to give.

  The same Tayne continued to cough horribly and was joined by one of its comrades. Both sounded in agony, as if the sheer act of living was wrenching at them in an attempt to break everything they had.

  What could have done this to them? It all pointed to the fact that whoever this person was, he’d managed to pull off an amazing heist and steal from under the noses of The Circle.

  Andrea and Em turned to leave the room and The Elder serenely looked between everyone there, obviously still quite some way off the full understanding her stolen memories could have given her. Hairy and Mark stalked out looking equal parts dutiful soldiers and crazed Goliaths. It was only now that I noticed just how huge Hairy was but he was hanging his head as he walked and every inch of his demeanor was that of someone who was fighting back tears.

  Mike caught me looking. “He’s lost his chance at the power of The Circle. With Maria gone, there’s no way to Bridge to him. All of his life he’s been told that the role of Guardian is a sacred calling and he’s just missed the passing of the mantle. Another soul who’s lost.”

  My anger rose again at the thought that the potential death or torture of a small child was being mourned as nothing more than the loss of a job. The Tayne had been decimated, he’d not. They were nothing alike and the way Mike was able to see exactly what was going through that oaf’s head was like needles on my skin. The parched coughing of several ruined soldiers in their stone cots from behind us just made it worse.

  I started to stride towards him and the red was gathering at the corners of my vision, the coughing still ringing in my ears as I went, when I realized that the coughing was no longer coughing. One by one, gently at first and then gathering intensity as a new voice joined the chorus, that hideous hacking cough was steadily being replaced by a cruel laugh.

  Turning quickly to face the alien cackling, I was greeted by the rictus grins on all of the faces of the patients. Their bodies were still contorted by pain and that same pain was etched ever more clearly on every face, but now they were all emitting a hissing demonic laugh.

  “No no no no. Not these poor souls as well?” The Queen was backing away from the cots and had dropped the basket of towels she had been tending the sick with.

  “What is this? What’s wrong?” My voice held an element of squeak as I spoke. I was getting slightly more used to the effects of monsters and the like coming to kill me but that noise coming from those beings, coupled to the reaction of the Queen left my bravery sadly lacking.

  “It looks to me,” chimed The Elder from the entrance to the room, “that whoever it was who did all of this to The Tayne is starting again.”

  The laughter continued as, one by one, each sallow face picked out The Elder in the low light of the chamber. Every one of them had tears rolling down what was left of their faces but the smiles and the laughter remained. It was the Tayne on the far left who spoke first.

  “Yessss,” it spat, holding the final ‘s’ for far too long. “I am returned.”

  The Queen was hurriedly backing away from the stone cots and was whimpering as she did, making her way back to take up position behind me. Mark, Mike and Hairy were quickly at my side and they all snapped their power to a ready posture, coloured energy forming in their hands as they balled their magic for any attack. I did the same, though so much of my magic was already near the surface, it didn’t take much.

  The Tayne who had spoken leaned itself forward, sitting upright and leaning forwards, a gesture of threat despite its crushed form. The laughter continued from the others and as my eyes fl
icked across each of the faces in turn, I could see that the tears on those faces were those of such sorrow and suffering. The Tayne knew that they weren’t in control of their actions. They knew that they were being manipulated from afar and they were experiencing both a physical and a mental anguish. Their tortured bodies were being forced to act despite being ruined and they were being forced to act against their Queen. These were the honour guard of the Queen, her personal guard. I thought of what Mark was like around me and any possible threat and was easily able to see what these fighters would have been sworn to. Being wholly unable to prevent what they were doing towards the one person they had been sworn to protect was probably a worse pain than that their skeletal frames were undergoing.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Andrea was stood next to the Queen and asking from slightly behind the wall of prepared violence between them and the cots.

  The laughter increased slightly, mocking the question just for being asked. In the light which was produced from the actions of my soldiers, the faces of all of the crushed Tayne looked even more nightmarish. Shadows and eerie shapes danced across features and the walls, adding to every inch of menace.

  “Silly little girl. You’ve spent far too long in your ivory tower haven’t you?” the same Tayne spoke. “It hassssss taken me some time to be in a position to be able to do what so badly needs to be done.” The other Tayne continued to laugh but the shriveled form on the far right now lurched forwards and forced itself out of the cot and began shuffling and stuttering towards us. There was a sudden intake of breath from behind me as the Queen watched on in horror as another member of her personal guard was twisted and controlled like a demented marionette.

  “I asked who you were and what you wanted,” boomed Andrea into the cackling group of Tayne. “Answer the questions.” She was in no mood for games and I was in complete agreement.

  “Come on sunshine. The lady asked you a question. Show some manners and answer her.” My animal was back screaming away behind my eyes and the sentence was again issued forth wrapped in the roar of my Dragon. Whoever he was, he needed to know just what was going to happen if he didn’t play ball.