The Guardians (Book 2) (45 page)

Kelian rolled to within a few paces of the columns surrounding the courtyard and then stood up. A strange prickling sensation gripped his neck and he swung around and stared towards the lake. Through the heavy layer
of smoke he could see movement.

‘
General!’ he shouted, drawing his sword, but even as he spoke he heard General Marnol’s shout and a mass of soldiers surged past and quickly reformed a defensive lines between the lake and the courtyard. A hand reached out and grabbed Kelian and dragged him towards the courtyard.

‘
Eibhear! What are you doing?’ Kelian gasped, struggling pointlessly.

‘
Keeping you alive so that Tiernan doesn’t break my back with one glance, because I let you get killed,’ said Eibhear.

‘
Tiernan’s dead...returned. He dove into the lake and...’ Anger and grief crashed together in Kelian’s chest. He gritted his teeth and blinked back tears. ‘And now the Nailmarni are coming anyway! They’ve gotten past the lake. I saw someone coming through the smoke.’

‘
So you were thinking of rushing down there and killing them all yourself? Stay here!’ Eibhear demanded and he pushed Kelian into the courtyard. For a fraction of a second Kelian considered the penalty for shoving the King of Alkira. ‘That’s fine,’ said Eibhear offhandedly. ‘You can do whatever you like after this is over. Until then I intend to make sure you survive.’ He turned and ran towards the smoke.

Kelian
stepped back onto the grass and was about to dash after him when Borgulnay’s huge frame appeared in front of him.

‘
Majesty, please don’t.’

‘
Borg, I-’ Kelian began, but Borgulnay cut him off.

‘
Kelian, the people have just lost their King and Queen and so many friends and family it doesn’t bear thinking about. If now, on the threshold of victory, they should lose their King once again…no, I can’t let this happen. And what would I tell Elena? That I let you go running towards death? Kelian, please, I couldn’t live with myself.’ Kelian backed into the courtyard and stood completely still.

‘
What’s happening down there?’ he said desperately. Borgulnay stood beside him with his sword drawn as they peered towards the lake. The soldiers were immobile, listening intently for any sound which might warn them that the Nailmarni were moving through the smoke.

There was a shout as a body broke through the cloud of smoke and staggered up the hillside towards the soldiers. It
’s normally white body was blackened from head to toe, and it was obvious the creature was blinded. Its ears, nose and lips had almost entirely burned away and its hand seemed to have fused to the sword it carried. A strange cry came from the burnt hole where its mouth had been and it staggered in the direction of the soldier’s shout. No-one moved as it reached out blindly, then it fell to its knees a few paces from the soldiers. It gave a strange pleading wail and the soldier understood. He glanced at General Marnol as recognition dawned on the General’s face. Marnol nodded and the soldier brought his sword across hard, taking the Nailmarni’s head from its shoulders.

‘
Don’t move. There may be more,’ General Marnol instructed.

‘
We need the wind to change,’ said Gilgarry, from where he stood before the soldiers. As if in spite of his words, the wind forced the smoke ever more thickly upon them and they were forced to retreat once again.

Kelian gazed
towards the lake, his heart aching wretchedly as he thought of Tiernan, drowned under the wave of Nailmarni. He wondered what he would say to Lady Karrijeuiga, who Tiernan had insisted remain with the citizens on the ships, both for her own and the people’s protection.

‘
Kelian?’
Kelian leapt in shock as Tiernan’s voice sounded weakly in his head.

‘
Tiernan!’
Kelian’s heart pounded as if he had heard a wraith speak from the grave.
‘Where are you?’
he thought frantically.

‘
Trapped. There are tunnels leading from beneath the lake up under the Dwellings. I tried to swim up through one – it comes out under the Western Tower, and I got through onto dry stone, but a pile of rocks came down and I’m stuck in here.’

‘
How do I get to you?’
Kelian wondered, racing towards the Western Tower. ‘Eibhear!’ he shouted aloud. ‘Help me!’

‘
You’ll need to lift out the stone at the very bottom of the tower stairs. It has eight rings set into it. You’ll need help from more than just Eibhear to lift it out.’

Kelian dashed back towards the courtyard.
‘Borg! Gil! I need you now!’ he shouted and he turned and flew towards the Western Tower. Eibhear was already gripping the steel rings and hauling on the stone when Kelian arrived with Borgulnay and Gilgarry and a rather scorched looking soldier.

‘
This is Private Rayne,’ said Gilgarry, pointing to the strong looking soldier, who flushed even redder as he dipped his head towards Kelian. The soldiers and Kelian gripped the rings and with Eibhear’s help they began to pull. Seconds later the stone lifted. Eibhear gave a shout of shock and snatched his leg backwards as the stone came away from the hole and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing his foot.

‘
Sorry!’ Kelian exclaimed, embarrassed that he had lost his grip on the enormously heavy stone at that instant.

‘
You did fine,’ said Eibhear, slapping Kelian on the shoulder.

‘
Let’s get him out of here!’ said Kelian.

‘
Who’s down there?’ Gilgarry asked, gazing down into the black hole.

‘
Tiernan is stuck down here.’ Kelian shoved Borgulnay aside and scrambled into the hole. Suddenly he found himself airborne as Borgulnay’s huge hands lifted him out of the hole. The soldier dropped him at the foot of the stairs, bowed politely to the glaring King, and turned and stepped down into the hole. Eibhear followed. Kelian paced impatiently waiting for them to return, then gave a cry of relief as they appeared carrying Tiernan’s body.

‘
What happened?’ he asked.

‘
A mass of rocks came down and I broke my leg,’ said Tiernan, gritting his teeth. ‘The tunnel isn’t very far below the surface of the lake; very little is under water. That part was all fine. No blockages. But about halfway between the water and the tower some of the ceiling had fallen in. I should have taken the time to clear the fall, but I tried to push my way through and…I guess I was lucky I wasn’t buried alive. My head was sticking out, but I couldn’t get my leg free.’

‘
Some fairly heavy rocks must have come down to break your leg,’ said Kelian.

‘
The rocks didn’t break my leg.’

‘
What happened then?’

‘
I was completely trapped. I couldn’t free my leg and I couldn’t bend my leg enough to be able to move the rocks away.’

‘
One of the boulders was massive,’ said Eibhear. ‘Your ankle is crushed as well as broken.’

‘
I thought you said it wasn’t the boulders that broke it,’ said Kelian in confusion.

‘
The boulder crushed my foot quite badly. Unfortunately I needed to break it myself to get out from under the boulder,’ Tiernan admitted and Kelian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘And I can’t seem to gather the strength to fix it.’

‘
Get help,’ said Kelian to Private Rayne, who turned and ran toward the courtyard. It took him only seconds to find a guardian who was gifted with the ability to heal, and when he returned to the Western Tower Tiernan was sitting uncomfortably on the floor leaning against the stairs.

‘
Any sign of the Nailmarni?’ asked Tiernan, closing his eyes as the guardian placed his hands over his smashed ankle.

‘
No. You know I think we got them!’ said Kelian, barely daring to believe what he was saying.

‘
I think so too,’ said Tiernan, closing his eyes. ‘There’s nothing…’

‘
I thought you couldn’t sense them. Callian said the Nailmarni couldn’t sense the Daoine Maithe and the Daoine Maithe couldn’t sense the Nailmarni.’

‘
Sometimes I can sense them, especially when they move in such huge numbers,’ said Tiernan, not opening his eyes. ‘Not often and not very well, just a sense of their existence. But now there’s nothing. It’s strange – I’ve never known of anyone who could sense them at all, other than me. I don’t know why.’ Tiernan seemed genuinely surprised by this fact.

‘
And the ones Danil shut in the caverns?’ asked Kelian. ‘What do you think happened to them?’

‘
There will be as much chiniocelle in there as there was outside,’ said Tiernan. ‘Trust me, they’re dead.’

‘
So we won?’ said Kelian, his heart accelerating.

‘
Definitely,’ said Danil appearing behind Kelian. Kelian swung around and before he could stop himself he grabbed Danil and hugged him, slapping his back in relief at seeing his King’s Marshall alive.

‘
Good to see you alive too, Majesty,’ said Danil, smiling.

‘
Did we lose anyone?’ said Kelian anxiously.

‘
Not one!’ said General Marnol proudly, as he appeared beneath the portcullis. ‘Not one person was lost! Can you believe that? This will go down as the single most incredible victory Alkira has ever seen. This is amazing! It’s impossible! But it happened! Not a single person lost! Though there are about forty soldiers who’ll be anxious for their eyebrows to grow back. There are a lot of burns and singed hair. The men will remain around the lake until we’re absolutely sure, but…it worked! It worked!’

‘
Ha!’ Kelian shouted in delight. ‘I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it!’

‘
There was one person who died,’ said Tiernan guiltily, and a feeling of regret and shame rushed from him.

‘
Who? What happened? Kelian asked.

‘
There was a woman taken into the Nailmarni nest. They dragged her in whilst we were sitting up in the tree.’

Kelian
felt troubled as he watched the guardian’s face. ‘Who was she? Was she dead? Did they kill her?’

‘
I don’t know who she was. She was dressed like one of the farmers. And she wasn’t dead when they brought her into the nest.’

‘
What aren’t you telling me?’

‘
We couldn’t help the woman,’ said Danil, as Tiernan seemed lost for words. ‘Not without jeopardizing our entire plan. It was a difficult choice.’

‘
So they killed her,’ said Kelian knowing how difficult it must have been for the Daoine Maithe to see such a thing happen before their eyes.

‘
No,’ said Tiernan softly. ‘I took her life from her.’

‘
I beg your pardon?’ Kelian’s eyes widened.

‘
We couldn’t stand by and watch them tear her to pieces whilst she was still alive,’ said Danil grimly. ‘So Tiernan took her life before they could do this.’

Kelian
felt sickened, but he nodded grimly. ‘Yes. I understand. Thank you, Tiernan. That’s a terrible choice to have to make, but you did the right thing. For how long will the lake be poisoned?’ he asked, deliberately changing the subject.

‘
Months perhaps,’ said Tiernan looking at Eibhear who shrugged as he helped Tiernan to his feet.

‘
You shouldn’t walk on that leg yet.’ Eibhear lifted Tiernan easily. ‘Where do you want to go?’

‘
To the beach, please,’ Tiernan requested. ‘Get everyone onto the sand and bring the civilians from the ships. There’s still a lot we need to do.’

‘
Like what sir?’ Private Rayne asked, following the group back towards the courtyard.

‘
Feed everyone, clean up the mess, deal with the dead Nailmarni polluting our lake, find any stray Nailmarni who might still be wandering around Alkira, confirm that there are no more nests anywhere in this country or any other country for that matter, find out what the fallen are up to and get them out of Alkira, and then we need to get all these citizens back to their own cities, and if their homes have been destroyed we need to help them rebuild,’ Tiernan explained.

‘
Oh!’ Rayne stared at him in surprise and then glanced at Kelian. ‘Majesty,’ he said, looking back down at his own boots.

‘
What is it, Private?’ said Kelian.

‘
A long time ago, you made me a Private and sent me to Highview,’ Rayne began. Kelian remembered how the drunken lad had harassed Elena until he had intervened. He wondered what Private Rayne would have to say.

‘
Thank you,’ said Rayne sincerely and Kelian raised an eyebrow in surprise. ‘Everything changed. For a long time I hated you. I hated what you did, sending me to Highview. I hated the work, I hated General Marnol, I hated the other soldiers, I hated the barracks, I hated the weapons, I hated the…well I hated everything actually. But then I started to learn a few things, started to train. I would never have believed it before – but I like what I do. And I think I’m a reasonable soldier, or I will be when General Marnol has finished with me.’