The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  "You have attacked us. You have murdered us. You have destroyed so much of who we are but The Tayne will never fall. You mutilated my people and now we have the chance to mutilate one of yours."

  My anger took over. A vicious scarlet filled my vision and all of the rage of Fire took over for just a split second. The thought of Maria being released from that magic just to be ripped apart was enough to bring my Dragon side thundering to the fore. The Tayne fighter just immolated under my grip. There was no scream of pain, no call for mercy. In an instant it was just gone, just ash and ember.

  "Em. We need to get to the Queen fast and tear that whole palace to pieces if need be. I will not lose Maria to this band of warped monsters."

  Em nodded her agreement.

  "ELDER." Now we were going to have a chat and I was going to make her see that she had been undermining everything we were in her slavish desire to always do what the process dictates.

  "Are you even slightly concerned that what you've done has resulted in the deaths of all of these people? Your rules and regulations have meant you've probably just destroyed this link in The Circle. You've managed to accomplish something The Hive has never been able to do and you've even lost your head of house in the process." Andrea placed a warning hand on my shoulder, trying to soothe me, but I was beyond her help. I could feel the righteous indignation growing as each image of pain and suffering brought about by The Elder and everything she seemed to touch, built on the rage which I was already feeling.

  "Come on then. Haven't you got anything to say for yourself?” I seethed with each syllable and my Dragon voice was now fully to the fore. Just standing before her unmoved form, I wasn't sure if I wanted her answer or not.

  Her blank expression remained in place. Despite everything that had just happened, everything that had been happening and everything that she felt about me and my ideas, she remained as calm as a mountain lake. There was just nothing. Here, deep in the depths of the earth, following an enemy attack which had killed so many, but also her right hand man, she still couldn't stoop so low as to even acknowledge me. Until, eventually, she frowned.

  "I have nothing to say to you."

  What? The question detonated in my head and the fury was almost free.

  "I do, though, have a question I need to have answered."

  She locked eyes with each of us in turn, that relative serenity still in her expression.

  "Who are you all?"

  She couldn't have sucked the wind from my sails any more effectively even if she'd tried.

  "What?" The question was very simple yet carried so much weight behind the words, meaning creeping on disguised as a basic query.

  "I haven't got time for games now you’re high and mightiness. You may not think you should have to speak with us but the needs of this mission will out-weigh your petty concerns. What have you got to say?" I asked my question again, more out of my own need to remain on firm footing but The Elder didn't let me find it.

  "I'm afraid that I don't know who any of you are. I also don't know why I'm here or indeed, where here is."

  "My lady?" Andrea pushed past me and edged towards The Elder. I could feel a very new tension in her as she did. The battle may have been swift and violent but it was something that she had at least been used to. She'd practically been expecting something to happen so when it did kick off, she wasn't wholly taken by surprise. The Elder and a mysterious case of amnesia were a different ball game entirely.

  "Are you certain you've never seen any of us before? Have you been injured? Is that causing this loss?"

  "The Elder looked lost and took a small step away from Andrea.

  It would appear that she hadn't been involved in the planning of any kind of coup after all. But what the hell had The Tayne done to her? Had their version of a Cascade Bridge mangled her mind? It had made me feel a little confusion when it had detonated but I’d been right on top of it. The Elder had been the furthest from it yet she was the only one with any issues of memory.

  Inside my head, my Dragon was still spoiling for a fight. Taking as steadying a breath as I could, I tried to remain focused on what needed to be done.

  For just a little too long, we all just stood in the near darkness, confused and alone. The deaths of soldiers had been, at least on a sub-conscious level, expected. This mystery affliction was not and it was clear that everyone was suddenly very aware of their potential frailties.

  "I think the mission remains the same." Mark's voice was quiet but resolute. It was oddly reassuring.

  "If The Tayne have taken the child they will have no doubt taken her to their Queen. We therefore still require the same outcome as when we started, no?" Famously tight lipped, Mark had just shown his feelings on the topic. The fact that he had felt he needed to interject wasn't lost on anyone.

  "I agree, but, are you sure that we should?" This time it was Mike.

  "Being purely pragmatic, surely it would benefit us to return to the estate and gather a stronger force? Return and simply level this entire civilization. We'd be better served in the long run."

  I knew he was playing devil's advocate but it was still an uncomfortable thought to come from him. I just wouldn't simply play the mission by the numbers. Human beings are always more than just numbers.

  "No. We don't run for help. We mourn later. We don't stop to look into every doorway. We don't stop to inspect every shack. We just go now, straight at their Queen. We protect The Elder but we are going to get Maria back."

  Feet shuffled on the dusty ground, showing clearly that no-one was certain of anything anymore.

  "None of us will be safe if we just play percentages. The Messenger, The Elder, Andrea and I are all having our powers twisted so the faster we can resolve this the better. We have enough muscle here to do the damage we need to and get out safely. Em. Can you guide us in?"

  She smiled wickedly in response and cracked her neck, freeing herself for more violence.

  "I still have that knowledge," she responded.

  Mike, though, added a single comment before we set off.

  "If you had the full power of your Dragon at your control then I'd agree but without that there is a much greater risk. We still don't know who's able to manipulate your power. Just thought you'd like to know." He was beaming a smile as he spoke, just low enough so the others didn't hear him, and he replaced his helmet before clanking me, still just a little too hard, on the arm.

  "Come on then team, we're travelling light. In for a penny......."

  Em led the way and she led fast. The previously slow pace of our much larger fighting force was now replaced by the whole group charging on in the same we had when we first burst through the Cascade Bridges here. Our group was making short work of the journey and I was loving every step of it. My inner animal was still roaring around inside me, crashing against my mind, pleading to be let free to just destroy everything but this physical activity was at least helping it let off a little steam. Watching the rest of us moving on as well, I could only guess at the turmoil of magic in Andrea and Em but also in the fear in everyone else.

  More and more ramshackle buildings rushed past us but there was never any sign of life that we could make out. Indeed, there continued to be no sign of any Tayne of any kind as we moved.

  Lone shacks began to be replaced with larger groupings which in turn became villages. We were heading into the core of their civilization yet there was still no sign of anyone.

  Unbidden, Em withdrew two dark metal sword pommels which had been attached to her suit at her hips and, with a mere thought, caused the massive blades to magically extend, ready for the fight. She continued to run without hindrance despite the weapons. We all followed her lead and drew together our respective powers and weapons. By her actions, Em had signaled that we were closing in on our goal.

  "We are almost to their Queen's location? I can sense no life in the area bar her and a small group of creatures in her attendance." Em's words were almost lost in the rush
of wind as we powered through the narrow streets of what had once been a thriving and busy city. As with every other location we'd passed through, there was still no sign of the previous inhabitants. All of the businesses and homes were alone in the dark. My rational mind took in the detail as much as I could muster but the animal in me was still scratching behind my eyes to break free and all it cared about was burning everything to a cinder.

  "Can you sense the child with them?" Andrea asked. Her grip on the task at hand was obviously stronger than mine.

  "Nothing my lady," Em's response was flat, matter of fact.

  "Where exactly is the Queen?" I roared, Dragon now fully back in my voice.

  "Ahead, approximately seven hundred meters." She gestured ahead with one sword. "That structure with the small turrets all over it. What do you want us to do when we get there?"

  I bellowed out a battle cry from the Dragon inside and increased speed, passing Em and taking up position at the head of our party.

  "Everyone," I called out, "follow me in, and pick up the pieces of anything I miss."

  Each and every one of us has seen a cartoon or film or some such where a character just runs through a wall and leaves behind them a ‘them’ shaped hole. We all know that that doesn't happen in the real world but for me, at that moment, I knew I was going straight through what was ahead of me.

  I can only guess but by the time I hit the outer wall of the Tayne Queen's 'palace', I must have been travelling close to thirty miles an hour. There was no consideration given to stealth or guile in what I was going to do, I just reacted purely on need, that pulsing desire deep down that calls to you and you have to do your best to quieten the temptation to listen. I needed to just tear my way into that place and rend flesh from bone. I needed to tear down the leader of The Tayne and unleash the kind of violence which would show to any and every other race of creatures who'd dare try to stand against The Circle that our response would be swift and terrible. I was going to save Maria and make sure those who had started out to hurt her, and all of us, were shown the errors of their ways.

  My armoured shape hit like a bowling ball hammering into pins. My armour was already dented by use over the years, a much more functional suit than the ceremonial efforts of the others in our group, and it flickered through my head that maybe this was the reason why. Years of the Fire Dragon doing just what fire would do would take its toll on the finery and craftsmanship of any design.

  I'd aimed at what looked like a doorway but it was clear that the doors were made of the same materials as the walls. Huge lumps of masonry flew ahead of me and a thick black dust billowed. The cracking and breaking of the stone swarmed into the various tunnels within the palace and I could hear them echoing away as they travelled. Despite the stygian blackness of the location, the palace was very slightly illuminated. Inside there were signs of the palaces use, furniture and what could have been called great wealth to a Tayne, but there was still no actual living creature here. I skidded to a halt and slammed into objects of who knew what construction, scattering them all over the area.

  Andrea, Em and the others followed through the hole I'd made and rushed to my side.

  "Subtle bach, really subtle." Mike spoke quietly from next to me through deep gasping breaths. He'd clearly been having to work hard to get here at the speed I'd forced.

  I ignored him. Wave after wave of nauseating anger swelled in my head, each calling with such rotted sweetness for me to relax my faltering grip on my senses and just let the need to destroy take over.

  Sullen clouds of dust were still filling the air, creating an almost physical sensation of the smell of the room. My eyes were tracking round hurriedly, taking in all of the information I could while trying to decide where I needed to aim my fury.

  "Where's the Queen?" It was a call to the whole group. I knew that someone would be able to locate her for me. I could probably have done it myself if I'd really concentrated but my mind was in no mood for that. I just needed the fight.

  "Fifty meters to the right. At the end of that corridor." It was Em's voice, again pointing the way without any addition of comment. She was back to her purely business based approach. Excellent.

  I just reacted. Having been given the new direction I just tore off down the corridor in the direction Em had just signaled. I could feel the out pouring of heat from my magics being readied for the attack as I ran, each step was becoming slimy as the stone melted beneath my feet. I didn't care. Danger was nothing to me.

  I again seethed through the doorway, sending pieces of it in all directions once more. And slid to a stop amid the falling debris and the liquefying stone. I was breathing hard, not due to any of the exertion but more down to the almost physical hunger I was now facing for the kill. Ahead of me in the high ceilinged chamber were seven stone carved cots, angled at forty five degrees to allow the occupant of each to see ahead in some fashion. In each one was a Tayne, but not anything like The Tayne I'd seen before or those we’d been attacked by earlier. Whereas we'd encountered the waftingly weak Tayne regularly before, and the monstrous beasts from the attack earlier, these were all broken creatures. They were all sinew thin but rigidly solid and wore an expression of twisted agony. They all bore the hallmarks of statues which were partially brought to life but which were now trying their best to move petrified limbs despite the futility and pain.

  I didn't care. One roar and I was toward them, fire balling in each of my hands. This wouldn't last long.

  "STOP."

  It was a strange sound. One that I recognized as a word and one that I knew the meaning of but it still just flitted around the edges of my mind. I knew the voice saying it as well but couldn't place who they were.

  "ANTHONY, PLEASE DON'T."

  I was Anthony. Don't what? What?

  I shuddered to a halt and looked around me, trying to place the owner of the calls. I was still breathing hard with anticipation, the lust for violence driving me almost to madness, but I could feel the question in my head pulling harder.

  "Who said that?" I snarled into the darkness. This had better be good.

  "Stop the attack Anthony. It's me, Andrea. They didn't take the child. They couldn't, look at them."

  Andrea. I knew her. I trusted her.

  Swinging my head to look down on the Tayne, still breathing like a ravening beast, I was able to see, now clearly, that these creatures were so far beyond the pain I'd first envisioned them to be in. This close I was able to see the haunted eyes, stretched by their own horrors but all unseeing. Their skins were all rotten, boils and sores erupted indiscriminately, pus and worse weeping out to stain their dressings and the bedding. But worst of all was the smell. There was just nothing beyond death. All of them were rotting, decaying despite somehow still clinging to the most slender sliver of life they had.

  The fury in me abruptly dropped back to nothing. All of the maddened violence I'd felt was now clearly laid out before me as the product of a magical incursion into my own head.

  Andrea ghosted next to me as I just stared down at the bodies of the Tayne, looking for all the world as if they represented the last of their civilization.

  "They've been like this for too long to have been able to kidnap anyone. If they did order it then we'll need to speak with them first." She spoke soothingly, bringing me down from the power high until I'd regained enough of my faculties to be able to respond.

  "What happened to them?" I still couldn’t quite understand what had befallen The Tayne. They were never the heavy hitters of the magical fraternity but seeing them in this state was something else altogether.

  "They were the first to be taken and changed."

  We all span round to face what I'd left of the doorway, a massive hole replacing the original. Framed perfectly by my handiwork was a tall and slender Tayne, hovering gracefully and carrying a basket of wet towels. She had over her head, the orange/red crest which signified her regal lineage. This was the Queen of The Tayne.

  "What do
you mean, taken and changed?" Em was directly to business and took up a place between the Queen and the Guardians. "What have you done with the child you took?"

  The Queen just narrowed her gleaming white eyes and fixed her gaze on Em.

  "These are what's left of my honour guard. These were the strongest of us all but they were laid low by the hand of those who seek to enforce their will on others." She fixed each of us with her gaze as she spoke the end of the sentence. Her voice was akin to a cat mewling it's words with a cumbersome accent but, the same as the monster we'd faced in the tunnels, it was very clear that she was articulate and educated.

  "And any child you have lost is nothing to do with us." There was a haughty snap to her comment and she drifted into the room, making her way towards her fallen subjects and ignoring the group of enemy fighters gathered around her.

  She set the basket down next to the cot on the far left of the line, removed a damp towel and started to bathe and tend to the crushed occupant.

  "Your majesty." It was Andrea's turn. "The Tayne have been a part of the fighting force which has been attacking us over the last months. A great many of our people have been killed by your actions and you have been complicit in the actions which have placed the safety of the whole world in jeopardy. Do you deny being an enemy to The Circle?"

  The Queen tensed but continued to care for her fallen soldier, only the barest pause coming at the mention of The Circle. She finished what she was doing before looking back up to us.

  "The Tayne are a peaceful race. We know that before the might of The Circle we are nothing but you should also know that The Circle is not the only great power in the world." Her words were angry, with no attempt to hide that anger.

  "So you admit that you've sided with The Hive against us?" I leapt in and matched her tone with my own anger, the fire jumping back up inside me.

  "I did not."

  Pause.