The Guardians (Book 2)

by Dan O'Sullivan

  ‘Go on then,’ Callian suggested sarcastically, ‘make me do something, Rudiger.’

  ‘Highness, could you ask the guardian General to put me down?’ said Rudiger confidently. Kelian ignored him and Callian grinned with delight and lifted him a little higher. ‘Please Kelian?’ Rudiger sounded a little less sure of himself. Kelian stared blankly into the distance and Callian looked pointedly over the precipice. ‘Highness!’ Rudiger raised his voice, now sounding alarmed. ‘Please could you make him let me go?’

  Kelian sighed. ‘Put him down, Callian,’ he said and Callian immediately dropped the warrior onto the rocks, then exclaimed in annoyance when he noticed that Rudiger had taken the opportunity to purloin his knife.

  ‘There,’ said Rudiger smugly. ‘You had no choice. Unlike the free, you have to do what Kelian says,’ he explained, inspecting the blade of Callian’s knife.

  ‘Right now, you’re in my territory and you have to do as I say as well, Rudiger,’ said Kelian confidently, and Rudiger snorted in disbelief.

  Kelian frowned. ‘Oh, there’s no doubt you do. You might be stronger, faster and far more skilled with a sword, but I’m in charge and you will do as I say.’ Rudiger raised his eyebrows and folded his arms rebelliously across his chest. ‘Give the knife back to Callian,’ said Kelian and Rudiger found himself handing the knife to the guardian General. He stared at Kelian with a mixture of confusion and dismay as Callian took the knife with smug satisfaction.

  ‘So,’ said Kelian, spreading his hands, ‘things have changed a little, haven’t they warrior?’ Rudiger seemed unable to answer. ‘From what I’ve seen of the Daoine Maithe and the free, your choices define your nature. I doubt you had to pass him the knife if you truly didn’t wish to.’ Kelian glanced at Callian as he spoke.

  ‘Rudi, you know I’m bound to do as Kelian requests, and I am compelled by the desire to serve,’ said Callian. ‘You are not. But the instinct is still there, and the instinct is probably asserting itself more than normal because you are here, surrounded by humans and guardians with whom an alliance must be formed or we are all as good as returned, and the humans will be dead. If you put your mind to it, I have no doubt you can do exactly as you wish regardless of what Kelian or anyone else commands you. You have chosen to be free,’ he said adamantly, ‘and are under no obligation to obey either human or guardian. Though I’d like to see you try to ignore Tiernan,’ he added, with a grin. ‘The point Kelian was making is that he’s Prince of this land, and whilst you are here, in his land, he expects you to do exactly what he says, but I’m sure he hopes you’ll do this by your own choice. And if you don’t choose to do exactly what he says, I’ll make you do it anyway,’ he said resolutely.

  ‘Explain why I handed you the knife then, Callian,’ Rudiger requested. ‘I didn’t choose to do it, I just did it. I didn’t want to give it back, but I doubt I could have stopped myself!’

  ‘Like I said, the instinct is still there. There was no reason to refuse, and you weren’t consciously trying to stop yourself,’ Callian replied. ‘If Kelian had asked you to toss Eibhear off the cliff, I doubt you would have complied.’

  ‘But if he told you to do that, you would have complied,’ said Rudiger.

  ‘Normally I could do it without a moment’s hesitation,’ Callian confirmed. ‘Tossing one of the fallen from a cliff wouldn’t exactly be difficult. But it would depend on the circumstances. If Kelian asked me to toss the King from the cliff I couldn’t. But I would have to discern whether Kelian had gone mad or not, and if the King did actually need to be thrown from the cliff. You know we retain the ability to make a rational judgment, and in actual fact, I would find it difficult to agree to toss anyone here from the cliff, you included. Of course, I’m quite certain Kelian will never ask me to do anything stupid.’

  Gilgarry crawled through the gap in the rocks and looked curiously at Callian. ‘Which stupid person are you planning to toss from the cliff?’

  ‘You,’ said Callian sincerely, ‘for listening in on other people’s conversations.’

  Gilgarry tried to look innocent and failed. ‘Is Dale dead, or did he just injure himself again?’ he asked pointing to the body of Dale which was sprawled out at the base of the boulders. Everyone rushed over to where Dale lay.

  ‘Make a bed for him,’ Kelian commanded, handing Gilgarry his pack. Gilgarry pulled out a blanket and spread it on the rocks and rolled another for a pillow, and then he picked up Dale’s unconscious body and placed him on the blanket.

  ‘So, he’s entered the second stage of the illness,’ Borgulnay observed, ‘which means we’re stuck here for at least another four days.’

  ‘With a nest of Nailmarni practically within arm’s reach,’ Gilgarry added.

  ‘A nest of over a hundred,’ said Danil, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about Dale’s plan to herd them somewhere where they can’t escape from and set everything on fire,’ said Borgulnay. ‘Which is fairly horrible, but since it’s either them or us…’

  ‘I know just the place,’ said Danil.

  ‘This chasm?’ asked Borgulnay, gesturing towards the precipice. ‘Come and look at this,’ he said to Gilgarry. They moved to the edge of the precipice and looked down.

  ‘Well, isn’t that interesting,’ said Gilgarry. ‘There’s the answer, right in front of our noses.’

  ‘So how do we get them to follow us?’ Danil wondered.

  ‘I can make them move,’ said Callian, appearing beside Gilgarry.

  ‘Do you think they would follow you into this valley,’ asked Gilgarry, pointing to where the cliffs beneath their feet formed a roughly shaped horse shoe with a surprisingly narrow entrance along the eastern edge.

  ‘Yes,’ said Callian.

  ‘And how would you get out?’ asked Gilgarry. ‘No-one could climb these cliffs. Not quickly, anyway.’

  ‘If you were standing up here, Gil, you could throw us a rope,’ said Borgulnay, sounding like he was stating the obvious.

  ‘There will be no ‘us’ Borg,’ said Callian. ‘Not this time. There’s no way any human could outpace one of the Nailmarni. Outwit them...definitely. Outpace them...it won’t happen.’

  ‘So what do you think, Captain? Should we have some ballistae up here on the cliffs?’ asked Gilgarry.

  ‘How do you suggest we get them up here, Gil?’ asked Borgulnay.

  ‘We have four days,’ said Gilgarry. ‘We just need a way of getting them here without being seen.’

  ‘Ah! A distraction! I never would have thought of that!’ said Borgulnay, grinning at Kelian, who was now looking apprehensively at the King’s Captain.

  ‘What sort of distraction?’ asked Kelian, folding his arms.

  Borgulnay was lost in thought for several minutes. ‘Callian, how are you planning to get them to follow you into this chasm?’ he asked.

  ‘They’ll follow me because they know who I am,’ Callian admitted. ‘I’ve been past their nest a couple of times now, and I had a sense of their recognition of me. I don’t know how they do this because it’s been a very long time since we last met, but if they think they can return me, they’ll come after me.’

  ‘And can they catch you?’ asked Borgulnay.

  ‘Not a chance!’ said Callian with a grin. ‘At least, not unless they are faster than they were last time we met.’

  ‘So that part of the plan will probably work,’ said Borgulnay. ‘Do we actually need the ballistae? It’s thick bush land down in that chasm. Once we have them in there, we just need to block their exit. Then we can have as many archers as possible sitting up here on the cliffs. We might not get all of them, but we’d certainly lower their numbers.’

  ‘If we can make this work, maybe we could devise a plan to remove the ring of them surrounding Castle as well,’ said Rudiger, from where he was dripping water into King Dannicus’ mouth.

  ‘Alright, as soon as all of our patients have had their water and their herbs, let’s work out some
details,’ said Kelian.

  Eibhear approached Callian cautiously. ‘Callian, I’m certain you didn’t tell Rudi everything.’ Callian looked at him calculatingly before answering and when he did his voice was barely a whisper.

  ‘You and your brother...you’re different. I think you’re changing and you’re going to be very, very different once the changes are complete. It seems you made a choice.’

  Eibhear’s face was unreadable. ‘I have some gifts I shouldn’t be able to use, as one of the free. Is this what you mean?’

  ‘Yes. I think if you continue down the path you appear to have chosen, you may regain many gifts.’

  ‘And my freedom?’

  ‘You know. As I said, it’s a choice. You can’t have it both ways.’

  Eibhear stood in deep contemplation for some time, and then a smile broke over his face. ‘Strangely enough, I think I can live with that.’

  Chapter 18

  Rough Sailing

  Elena shouted as the boat lurched sideways and she was flung from her bunk. She gave another cry of dismay as Immosey landed heavily on her. She crawled away and braced herself between the bulkhead and the bunk and then reached out to help Immosey to do the same. Seconds later the cabin door opened and Yarrabyth staggered inside. Both girls were wedged in position.

  ‘Did you get a chance to take a nap? Did you have any sleep?’ he asked.

  ‘Not a wink!’ said Immosey crossly.

  ‘Yarra, have you seen the Queen,’ asked Elena worriedly.

  ‘She’s in her cabin,’ said Yarrabyth. ‘And she’s sitting on the floor in the exact same position you are in,’ he added with a wry smile. ‘Only she’s wedged between a lovely old teak chest and the end of her bunk. Her stateroom is a little larger than this,’ he explained. The Queen had been given the Captain’s cabin for her quarters. She had suggested to the Captain that she was quite comfortable in any cabin, and the rearrangements were unnecessary, but Captain Gillam was adamant that Queen Aithne should have the most comfortable cabin available. Kelian was not pleased with his mother’s decision to return to Castle, and he was even less happy when Elena and Immosey insisted on accompanying her. The only change he had made to their plans was that they should travel by ship rather than by over land.

  ‘How long is this going to go on for?’ Immosey exclaimed. ‘It’s been days! Captain Gillam said we were blown off course days ago! And the storm just seems to get worse and worse!’

  ‘Unfortunately, it’s been all the Captain can do to keep the ship above water,’ Yarrabyth admitted.

  ‘Do we even know where we are now?’ asked Elena in dismay.

  ‘Er…apparently not,’ Yarrabyth replied. ‘But as soon as the storm clears the Captain will find a star and steer us home,’ he said confidently. ‘Are you feeling well?’

  ‘Fine. Just a little bruised, here and there,’ Elena admitted. ‘Nothing we can’t manage,’ she added with a smile, remembering the hardship they had experienced during their trek through Nyinaku.

  By evening the wind dropped and the driving rain eased, but the sky remained covered with clouds. The girls made their way up onto the deck to find the Queen deep in conversation with Captain Gillam and Yarrabyth. There was still enough wind and waves to send sea spray in gusts right up onto the forecastle deck, but the girls were so glad to leave their stuffy little cabin they took pleasure in the cool splashes of water. Both girls bowed their heads politely towards the Queen, but Aithne stepped forward and gathered them into her arms.

  ‘Captain Gillam says that until the clouds clear a little, he can’t be too sure exactly how far off course we are, but it should be dark within an hour and the clouds are beginning to break up, so we should be able to see some stars,’ she said optimistically.

  By dark Captain Gillam had them sailing towards Castle. He was dismayed just how far they had been swept off course, and he was anxious to take the Queen home as quickly as possible. Aithne, Elena and Immosey decided to go to their cabins and they all slept until almost dawn.

  The sky was beginning to lighten as they made their way back onto deck. Captain Gillam was standing exactly where he had been when they had gone to bed and it was obvious he had not had any sleep. He was speaking quietly with his newly appointed executive officer, Dominique who was more often called Dommy, and sailors were scurrying in all directions. The girls stood beside them in silence as the sun peeped over the horizon, and they watched, completely captivated as the strange cloud formations in the distance suddenly burst into flaming red and orange light.

  ‘Uh oh,’ said Gillam as he watched the horizon. ‘That’s not a good sign.’ He gestured to a tall sailor who was repairing one of the huge crossbows attached to the ship’s bulwarks and the man immediately handed his tools to another sailor who continued the work without comment as the tall sailor approached the captain.

  ‘I want you up in the crow’s nest,’ Gillam ordered. The sailor bobbed his head and scrambled up the rigging. Gillam gestured towards the burning horizon. ‘Ladies, I suggest you eat now. In a couple of hours I doubt you’ll want to do anything other than hang on to something that’s nailed down.’

  Immosey’s face fell. ‘Is it going to storm again?’ she asked wearily.

  ‘When that arrives,’ said Gillam, nodding towards the horizon, ‘you’ll think that the last two days were quite pleasant.’ Without waiting for comment he waved to Dommy who began to issue orders. ‘We’re heading for the Black Apple Islands,’ Gillam continued. ‘With a lot more luck than I think we have, we might just make it before the storm hits.’

  ‘The Black Apple Islands,’ said Queen Aithne uneasily. ‘Is it safe?’

  ‘The volcano?’ asked Gillam. ‘I’m hoping it’s not sending out ash and smoke at the moment. When we left the Dwellings the sky was clear, not clear of storm clouds, I mean clear of smoky haze. That’s what I would have expected to see if it had been erupting. Even so, the islands are not exactly where I would normally want to take you,’ Gillam admitted. ‘But we have little choice. We must find shelter.’

  ‘What are they like?’ asked Elena curiously.

  ‘They are great rugged black stones rising out of the ocean,’ said Gillam. ‘On all but one island, there’s no water and no plants, but on the largest island there’s a sheltered bay, and if the volcano’s quiet it’s quite a pleasant place. If you’re prepared to do a bit of climbing, there are trees and springs and even some tiny fresh water lakes. Not that we need anything. We’re not short of supplies or water. In fact, we have no need to go ashore at all. I just want to have this ship in the bay before the storm hits.’

  ‘And you think there’s little likelihood of our making it to the bay in time,’ said Aithne, studying the Captain’s face worriedly.

  ‘That is true,’ said Gillam frankly. ‘But it won’t be for the want of trying.’

  It was late afternoon and they were within sight of the islands when the storm struck with sudden, astonishing fury. Huge bolts of lightning flashed, and the wind roared as the boat was tossed like a cork on massive and violent waves. Captain Gillam had been correct. The girls were back in their hot, dark little cabin, once again wedged as tightly as possible between the bunks and the bulkhead, but this time with Queen Aithne between them. It wasn’t long before they were all exhausted from the effort of trying not to be thrown around the cabin. The door was suddenly flung open and Dommy practically fell into the room. ‘I’m sorry ladies, but the Captain wants you on the quarterdeck,’ he said, and he firmly took the Queen’s hand and lifted her to her feet. Yarrabyth appeared in the doorway accompanied by two sailors, and minutes later the ladies were clinging to the balustrade surrounding the quarterdeck. The rain was so heavy it was impossible to see anything in any direction. Captain Gillam was standing right beside the helmsman and they were staring anxiously ahead. There was a flash of lightening and for a second they could see massive black rocks rearing from the water on both sides of the ship. The bow of the ship plunged heavily an
d then soared upwards as the helmsman frantically sought to keep the vessel from being flung against the threatening cliffs. Water burst over the ship and Yarrabyth and two sailors wrapped their arms around the three ladies and pinned them against the balustrade as the water surged past. The bow plummeted heavily once again.

  ‘Hard to starboard!’ Gillam shouted over the weather. The ship rolled dangerously as it climbed the next huge wave and then it laboriously righted itself as the helmsman tried to keep it away from the rocks. There was an ominous grinding sound and he cursed desperately. Then the bow of the ship bounced up once again. ‘Now dead ahead!’ Gillam shouted and even as he spoke, an immense wave smashed against the stern of the ship. It was as if a strong hand had grabbed the huge vessel and pushed it forcefully into the bay. ‘Run her in. Steady as she goes…’ Gillam stared around in satisfaction. One moment they were being thrown around furiously and seconds later they were sailing into relatively calm water.

  ‘There,’ said Captain Gillam, using a convenient flash of lightning to indicate a point across the bay.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ the helmsman replied, adjusting their course and relief could be heard in his voice. ‘Captain, we hit something,’ he said guiltily.

  ‘Oh, is that what the sound was?’ said Gillam sarcastically. ‘I think it’s called a rock, Oliver.’

  ‘Ahhh…I’m really sorry, sir,’ said Oliver sincerely. ‘Did you know the rocks were so close together, sir?’ he asked, sounding slightly accusing.

  ‘Actually they seemed a lot further apart the last time I came through,’ Gillam admitted. ‘Of course it was a bright sunny day, calm seas, and I was in a much smaller vessel.’ Oliver clamped his mouth shut and stared straight ahead and Captain Gillam laughed at his expression.

  ‘Oliver,’ he said, and his face became serious, ‘how much chance did we have of outrunning that storm, had we not made it into this bay?’

  ‘Well…we might have made it….’

  ‘Sometimes you have to choose the lesser risk.’