The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  Stood before the death, was a trembling Leatherpants, his head rocked back and his eyes bulging at the forces of primal magics now fully within him. He looked almost euphoric.

  “Still want to destroy me?” He spoke into the air without dropping his attention back to all of us but I assumed he was still talking solely to me. “I dare you to try now.”

  It was a clear call to action but even despite all of the strings he was pulling on me, I knew I couldn’t just kill him. He wasn’t the one actually stood before me. He was just the demented puppet master forcing the body of this poor Tayne soldier to do his fighting for him. Unfortunately, that realization wasn’t shared by the whole group.

  Mike just roared his own battle cry and heaved himself forwards, magic unloading all of the time as he did, and hurled himself at Leatherpants, clearly intent on tearing him to pieces.

  “WAIT! NO!” was all that any of us could say before Mike landed on Leatherpants and was confronted by the reality of fighting against the power of a Guardian. Leatherpants just let Mike land on his chest, absorbing the impact easily and without any sign of effort. Oddly, all I could see in my mind’s eye was a footballer controlling the ball on his chest before volleying it on.

  The fire roared back up in my head in reaction but as soon as it did I could feel that same icy needle, again in the same spot at the back of my neck and I knew that further energies were being taken. I dropped down onto one knee under the pain of the latest draining and looked on as Leatherpants launched Mike far across the chamber to smash into the left most wall before clanking to the ground, armour and no doubt bone, broken. He didn’t move. He hadn’t needed to volley him.

  “I’ve so much wanted to see what the reality of the power of a Guardian is truly like. I can see why you all protect it so fiercely.” His voice had travelled further into the rumbling growl of the Dragon as he flexed and straightened his fingers, admiring what he was now in command of.

  I was back to my feet in a slow, deliberate fashion and just stared back down at him.

  “Come on then sunshine. You want to see what a REAL Guardian can do with that power? Come and have a go.” My own Dragon voice wrapped around as estuary an accent as I could muster, channeling not only the monster but also the cockney gangster.

  I could sense the others moving back and away from us, aiming to remain out of the impending fight while doing their best to make their way to the stricken Mike. I snorted out twin blasts of flame in a display of my own readiness to fight.

  Leatherpants just looked up at me and smiled. A smile of cruelty and malice.

  Then he began to grow. Steadily at first but soon he was rushing up to a matching stature to me. Finally looking eye to eye, Leatherpants wasted no time in commencing his attack. He just opened his mouth and blasted me square in the face with a volley of searing flame.

  I staggered back and dropped my face away from the force of the attack. There was no risk to me from the flame, Fire Dragon after all, but it felt akin to getting it in the face with a jet of water from a hose pipe. Annoying yes, fatal, no.

  The jet was held for longer than I would have ventured but as it dropped away I could hear an almost erotic pleasure coming from my foe. He panted due to the effort but also with so much more feeling. Opening my eyes and shaking away the effects of the fire, I could see that Leatherpants was stood with his mouth open, slavering tongue hanging down as a torrent of saliva ran out to spatter on the floor. His shoulders were now more hunched and his eyes were wild with the power he’d taken.

  “So. Much. Power” he panted before loosing another jet of fire at me, this time hitting me squarely in the chest but again causing no damage.

  “Oh come on. This will get really dull if all you’re going to do is breath on me.” I could see that all I had to do was do all of those wonderful things that wound me up to get any sort of reaction from him. I followed that up with a snort of my own flame into his eyes. He did exactly what I’d hoped. He stopped his attack and dived forward, dropping his head out of the way of the missile before it could land.

  He’d been ignoring the detail of what he’d taken. He’d been so obsessed by the power of what he’d stolen he’d given no thought to the practicalities. He was still thinking like a man who was vulnerable to fire rather than something which was able to make the primal force do his bidding.

  He quickly regained his balance and heaved out yet more flame as he closed the distance between us, his wings pulsing reflexively as he did. I again let the fire wash over me but this time I decided to make my own act of aggression. Leatherpants kept his burn going as I strode forward, balling my right fist before smashing him right on the end of his snout. Magical energy and eon’s old power had to give way to the simple effects of physics. The lengthened bones within the face of a Dragon are nowhere near as strong as the armour plated wrecking ball of the fist that I’d hit him with. His nose cracked and collapsed under the force but his flame continued, splashing out at all angles as shock took over his actions.

  I hit him again.

  This time I’d lowered my aim and drove my fist into his throat. I was fighting like a man, not wanting to reach into the power of my Dragon too deeply for fear of giving Leatherpants any more of who I was. I was also fighting dirty. The flame abruptly stopped as I crushed his windpipe and for a blissful second, the look of utter bewilderment on his face was intoxicating.

  I swung again.

  And again.

  And again and again and again.

  His face and body took the force of a true Guardian of The Circle and he was being introduced to what true power really was. I could feel that I was winning and my violence surged inside me. I had him at my mercy and I was crystal clear on what I was going to do to him.

  “Where is ssssssshhhhhhhhhh.” My question died on my lips as I was shuddered back to the reality of the fight. That icy needle was again being driven into my neck and this time I just crumpled under the weight of the pain, all the air stolen from my lungs, my legs turning to water. Again, there’d been no signal from my spinning early warning system, I was just hit.

  I hit the ground hard. There was no attempt to break my fall, I just wasn’t able. I just fell into Leatherpants and slammed into the stone floor.

  “What was that you were asking?” His words were garbled thanks to the shattered features of his face but the contempt was still there, ringing at perfect pitch. He spat out blood and what I could only assume was a tooth or two. Stretching his back and extending his wings, he enjoyed the power flowing into him. He was gloating.

  I just couldn’t help myself. I just couldn’t. His face and the implied smirk behind it was just too much for me to control. I just heaved against the agony in my neck and drove myself up and against him, crashing him backwards as far and as fast as I could manage. I didn’t care that he was probably going to leach even more energy from me, I just needed to unload as much anger as I could. The squeak in the back of my head from my rational mind was easily drowned out by the howling of my monster and I didn’t care if I was being manipulated into feeling the way I did, I was just going to attack.

  We hit the wall hard and mighty slabs of masonry rained down around and on us. Cracks extended out in all directions behind the warped version of my Dragon and I could feel the structure shaking in warning. The pain remained but I was moving further away from being able to feel it. My own animal was taking over.

  “I said. WHERE IS SHE?” There was barely any human left in my words, the beast now in control. Leatherpants let out a stuttering half laugh as we grappled with each other in the almost complete darkness. When he spoke, the words were still mangled but were clear enough to comprehend.

  “The child? You’re still concerned for the child? How typical of The Circle. I’ve done so much to fracture you and all you’re worried about is the vessel. You still can’t see beyond keeping your own position in this world and you call me the monster.”

  More loose stone fell onto us and boun
ced away as I just locked eyes with Leatherpants. He was a power mad lunatic and his assessment of the situation was driven by his own demented standards but to the outside world, this was the only reason we were doing anything that we were, the continued survival of our own grasp on power.

  “I don’t care about the vessel. I care about a frightened little girl who needs to be protected.” I forced my rational mind to take over despite the call of righteous indignation at my motives being questioned. Leatherpants frowned but remained silent. The falling stone continued but was now down to just the small fragments. The tension remained as we both just stared at each other, seemingly caught in an impasse of will.

  I wasn’t going to prolong this anymore.

  With as little finesse as I could manage, I just pitched my head forward and slammed a head butt at the centre of the ruined Dragon face before me. I was going to just rip the body to pieces and see what Leatherpants was able to do from there.

  Leatherpants, I’ll give him credit, was learning. Rather than ducking away from the impending blow or protecting himself in some extravagant way, simply turned his head slightly. It wasn’t actually his body that was going to be damaged by whatever I was about to do but that didn’t mean it would be prudent to let any and all injury take place. Protecting some of his ruined snout, and as more rock and dust fell onto us from above, he took the force of my attack on his own horned temple.

  As I hit, there was a thrumming crack which echoed around the chamber, far beyond anything it should have been able to do, and a pinpoint beam of purple energy speared through the murk, first against my face then away against the far wall. Leatherpants just stood rigid. His previously tight grip on me was stolen away and his limbs just held in place like a statues, his eyes glazed and fixed on nothing, his mouth fixed open. He’d totally been stolen from the moment and I could recognize that the warped Tayne body was now free of his control. More tellingly for me, the pain in my neck, that which had been tearing away the power I had and giving it to another, vanished.

  Reluctantly releasing my grip, I warily stepped back, my fists still raised in readiness at the uncertainty before me and watched as the light emanating from Leatherpants steadily waned to nothing, leaving behind the hollowed out form of the Dragon he’d been, lifeless and suddenly limp. It crashed forward and shattered on the floor of the now ruined royal chamber. Slowly at first but still quickly enough, the loss of the energy from the construct resulted in the collapse of the Dragon form. The meat of the body altered and twisted back into nothing more than a mangled lump of flesh, a far cry from what the Tayne soldier would have been. Looking at the destroyed matter I could feel the roar of victory coming to my lips but it was never given. I was looking down on the dead body of a Tayne warrior who had been abused by someone who had thought they had the right to do it and had been left to perish as Leatherpants withdrew his control.

  My fiery anger swirled in my mind but I could see that it was more than that. Leatherpants hadn’t withdrawn his power from the construct, he’d lost his grip.

  “What happened?” Em was immediately stood next to me, back to her probing ways, already trying to understand everything about what she’d just witnessed. Andrea was quick to join her and they looked on at the still settling remains of the Tayne.

  The Queen of the Tayne rushed past the others and began to weep at the remains of her most tortured guard. I just stood and stared down at the agony she was feeling and, rather than it fanning the flames of my fury, it instead dowsed water over it, leaving me with a hollow empathy for her loss. All I could feel was the understanding that she was blaming herself for the suffering and destruction that had befallen her race, justified or not. She’d been driven utterly by the desire to protect her people and do her best to remove them from under the boot heel of whatever power decided to kick the weaklings about. I could understand the need to protect those around you, the feeling that family is more than just shared blood. I could remember Mike crashing against the wall of the chamber and I shared her connection to those who were deemed to be beneath her.

  My rage dwindled and with a little concentration, I sank back away from my Dragon form and returned to my more familiar human shape. I was naked but no-one paid any attention and no further comments were made.

  “What did you do to him?” asked a familiar voice from beside me. Mike’s calm voice was usually a balm to whatever slight I was getting angry at but now, understanding what the Queen was feeling, I was suddenly incredibly glad to have my Head of House back at my side.

  I slapped him on the shoulder, far too hard considering what he had just been through, and despite the armour, he winced at the impact.

  “Good to have you back with us,” I said, holding as much machismo as I could in my voice. He half smiled and I could feel a mixture of emotions boiling within him.

  The Queen continued to weep and Andrea and Em had gone to her side. By the looks of things, Andrea to console and Em to investigate the corpse as much as she could without looking ghoulish.

  “What the hell were you thinking, just charging at him like that?” My question to Mike was framed seriously, there was no other way to do anything, but it was quickly followed by something to lighten the mood.

  “You may be wearing a suit of armour but that doesn’t mean you’re anywhere near as hard as I am.” He snorted his response and rubbed at the back of his head, reflexively showing where he’d been injured without saying anything. For that second, he was ashamed that he’d been so forward and I was far too glad he was OK, far beyond what was going to be appropriate for a master and his servant anyway. The Elder interrupted us.

  “Is it over? Is that thing dead?” Her words may have been relatively callous but her tone was nothing more than questioning. She wanted to know what had just taken place and she was far from being concerned about the sensibilities of those involved. The Queen didn’t take well to her question.

  “THAT THING WAS ONE OF MY MOST TRUSTED GUARDS.” Her voice was wavering as she screamed her anger. She was now nothing but a raw nerve of sorrow.

  The Elder blinked and did the last thing I would have expected. She apologized.

  “I am sorry your majesty, I meant no disrespect to you or you fallen subject. I merely enquire after all of our safety against a further attack.”

  The Queen was still breathing hard and sobbed with each breath but her eyes showed the anger there for The Elder was fading quickly. She was angry at herself.

  “I am not to be addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ from now on.” The Queen’s voice was low, a flame kindled partially by the hatred of what had happened to her but mainly by her loss. The words of The Elder must have stung.

  “From this day, address me as Haras. I am alone now, the last of the Tayne. Only a monarch with subjects can be called ‘Your Majesty’.” She straightened up and faced me directly.

  “I have lost everything because of the actions of one power hungry maniac attacking another and using my race as a tool. I say to you, Guardian of The Circle, your group is equally culpable in the fall of my proud and ancient race. I will do my utmost to spread the word of what has happened to us and your role will be exposed to the light in a way that has never been.”

  The tone of her voice was painfully clear and deeply resolute. She’d meant each and every ounce of venom she’d spread over her words and it had all been levelled at me. Her fury would have been bad enough if I’d been clothed in my suit of armour but being on the receiving end of that while utterly nude really showed that the Tayne weren’t completely helpless.

  “Your Majesty …..” I started to respond.

  “MY NAME IS HARAS!”

  Taken aback, I corrected myself as quickly as I could.

  “Haras. I offer my, our, sympathies for your losses and beg that you don’t act too hastily. We weren’t the ones who did this to you.”

  “This, maybe not but this is the latest in a long line of actions concerning The Circle which has befallen my people w
ith pain. Actions from yourselves or by those you battle as they attempt to fight you. Your group are at the centre of the world in matters of destruction and don’t even look at the ants you crush along the way. This latest catastrophe just means that the ants were used against you and you helped squash them all.”

  She was breathing deeply and had a burning scarlet hatred for us all.

  “Now get out of my realm.” The final sentence was almost a whisper and was as sharp as steel.

  There was nothing more to be said.

  Andrea bowed her head and began retreating from the wrecked cavern. Em and The Elder followed, as did all of the others until it was just Haras and I who remained. Mike had collected up the pieces of my armour as he left so there was at least a chance I’d be wearing something soon.

  “We will leave you and we won’t return but never forget, Your Majesty, not all of your people are dead. You said they’d been taken away.”

  Her anger just blazed in her silence.

  “I am more than just The Circle. I am looking for the people who brought us to this place and I will make them understand the error of their ways but I will do my best to return your subjects to you.”

  I walked away with as much regal dignity as I could muster before turning and adding, “I won’t come to you again but, in the future, should you require anything from me or The Circle, I’ll be more than willing to listen to you. The Circle is changing so now we pay attention to everyone, even including the ants.”

  29

  Walking into the still deep gloom outside, I was greeted by quizzical expressions. Each of the remaining force just stared and showed that they all felt that the final lead we had been clinging to had been snatched away. I walked slowly towards them all and could feel a weight on my back which was beyond every loss I’d felt up to this point. I could see that Maria was lost and there was nothing I could do about it.