The Guardian's Son

The Guardian’s Son

 

We lost eleven men in total, that includes both during our battle with Symonds men and when running away from Symonds’ himself. Other than that there had been only two major injuries and a whole bunch of minor ones, personally though I was unscathed. That was, apart from the rain which had almost drowned me.

On the way back, after escaping from Symonds I had heard many of the men bickering about how stupid the mission had been.

“The Duke is out of his mind” a few of the men had decided.

“Everyone knew what would happen if we tried to take back some of the farmlands” another group had said. “Maybe the Duke is trying to kill us” they had later added.

By the end of it Lucius looked about ready to murder someone, it was all really getting to him. Whether because he agreed with his men or because he was angry that they were speaking treason I had no idea.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived back in the city, women once again lined the streets to watch us and the eyrie twilight that was beginning to creep in set my mood perfectly. This time I too ignored the women, far more focussed on thinking of Symonds and coming up with a plan of how to make him attack.

“Where’s he going?” asked Martyn as Lucius marched on past the barracks.

A loud quieted hush fell over the men as they watched their captain stroll off into the distance.

“To the citadel I’m guessing” mumbled Damon. “We would tag along but this one needs some proper looking after”

“Nonsense!” said Eugene. “Let’s get going, they won’t let us in if we’re not with the Captain”

“Here give him here” said Martyn. “I’ll carry him so you can get some rest”

I walked on ahead of Martyn as he carried Eugene, with Damon at my side and we soon caught up with Lucius. We were walking straight into the Duke’s demesne and many of the guards simply looked in the other direction when they saw Lucius.

“I never seem to be able to get rid of you two” said Lucius, obviously talking to Eugene and Damon. “You’re like a plague”

“It’s nice to see you too, sir” replied Damon proudly.

Lucius grunted and continued to march on in silence.

Up close the castle was even more intimidating than I had first thought. A set of massive walls protected the gigantic structure, each of which were constructed from massive blocks of black stone. Several demonic looking towers were scattered around each of these walls.

Once passing underneath the walls we were left in a courtyard that lead to the heart of the castle, the Duke’s halls. There were a company of royally armoured guards waiting for us just outside the double doors that lead inside.

“Halt!” called one of the guards as they crossed spears barring our entry. “What business have you here?”

“Tell the Duke, that Captain Lucius has returned from his mission” Lucius said commandingly. “And that I wish to speak with him, immediately”

The guards barring our way flinched at the sound of his voice, and one of the men dove inside. After a few minutes of waiting the man finally came back outside and whispered something into the man who had spoken’s ear. He looked embarrassed to me.

“Go right in” he mumbled pushing the great oaken doors open for us.

Lucius nodded to the man and continued his march into the Duke’s hall. The place was massive and decked with gold and expensive looking banners depicting battles the hung from the high ceiling down to the floor.

“I wouldn’t mind being a Duke” I heard Damon mumble at my side.

Yet more guards lined the golden engraved stone floors that lead all the way up to the Duke’s throne. Each held a spear and wore a breastplate over the top of purple livery, the whole place stank of money.

“Captain Lucius!” a man called from beside the Duke’s throne. “What brings you to visit our great leader, Duke Rolland of the Hollow?”

“Cut the crap Ellis” replied Lucius. “We all know why I’m here”

Our march did not stop until we had reached the steps that lead up to the Duke’s throne. The throne I now realised, was empty.

“You forget your place, Lucius!” bellowed the man known as Ellis.

He wasn’t particularly notable, in fact Ellis was the kind of man who you would ignore on the street. He was short and deathly skinny, his flesh was pale and so were his eyes. The clothes he wore looked a size to big for him and his stringy brown hair hung about his shoulders. I was certain that I could snap him in half.

“And you forget yours, Ellis” boomed an unseen man.

I searched the entire room but was unable to spot the source of the voice that had silenced everyone therein. Whoever it was had sounded powerful, regal, and composed, but above all, noble.

Another man, this one crowned and dressed in expensive looking cloth stepped out from the shadows and into the light. He was large, if a little overweight, probably a warrior once who had now let himself go. His brown hair also hung about his shoulders, but it resembled more of a lion’s mane than the wires that were Ellis’ hair. His eyes were bright and golden, this was the Duke.

“My lord” Lucius said, dropping down to one knee and lowering his head.

The four of us followed his example and lowered ourselves onto one knee, I could see that Eugene was supressing a cry of pain as he lowered his hurt leg to the floor. He soon started to lean on Damon for support.

I had only just noticed, but a group of men and women had started to file into the hall and surround us. Also dressed in expensive looking cloths these were more than likely the lesser nobles of Hollowdell.

“Please Lucius, stand” said the Duke, his voice resonating somewhere deep inside of me. “We’re old friends and I do so resent the formalities, that goes for your fellows too” he said, nodding.

As if unbidden by my own mind I without thinking rose up onto my feet at the Duke’s command. I took a quick look around at the men and women surrounding me, they all seemed to be staring.

“What brings you to my halls?” the Duke asked, taking a seat on his throne.

“And in such a horrid manner?” Ellis bickered from beside his Duke. “I mean just look at you, covered in mud and blood and that one’s still bleeding my Duke!”

“We have come directly from the farmlands milord” said Lucius. I could tell how much he wanted to hit Ellis from the look on his face, I did too.

“The mission was a failure” Lucius added, shaking his head. “Captain Symonds and his full force of men were there within mere moments of our victory, we’re lucky that we didn’t lose any more men during our retreat”

“I see” replied the Duke, who looked thoughtful to say the least.

“Is that all you have come here to say?” Ellis asked.

“No” Lucius  said stiffly, eying the rat. “Milord, we cannot keep sending our men out to try and take the farmlands, it’s practically suicide for them!”

The crowd of noblemen and women’s interest had been peaked now, and rather than chatting they had fallen silent and were listening. Why they had been chatting in the first place bothered me, people rarely listened enough.

“Well do you have a better plan, Captain?” Ellis said loudly.

“Well no but…”

“No? well that’s helpful isn’t it now” the rat interrupted. “Undermining your Duke isn’t helping Captain, the least you could do is serve him properly and not speak treason by questioning his commands”

Having his point simply thrown away by Ellis had lowered the interest if the crowd in Lucius and they had once again started to idly chatter. Like sheep out in the fields munching on grass and stupidly making pointless sounds to one another.

“I have a plan” I said, stepping forward towards the throne. All eyes in the room turned to me and the majority of the crowd fell silent, leaving only a mere few still talking.

“Danny!” Martyn hissed quietly. “What the hell are you doing? Get back down on your knees and pray you don’t get more than a flogging”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the guards hands tighten around their spears and halberds. They all gazed at their Duke awaiting the order. My hand hung loosely just beside the hilt of my sheathed sword, I really wouldn’t mind killing a few of them if they tried to arrest me before I finished talking.

Ellis started to laugh, but the Duke seemed not to even notice me, too deeply caught up in his own thoughts as I often was.

“What exactly makes you think you have any right to speak in a noblemen’s court?” Ellis asked smugly. “You’re just a lowly soldier, less than a fleck of s**t on my boots”

I was about to laugh but then decided against, and contained my enjoyment to a large smile, I was going to enjoy this. The rain was letting up a bit.

“Well I’m not exactly certain how this stuff works” I said, widening my grin. “But I’m fairly sure that I have more right here than you”

Ellis recoiled and shot me a dirty look. “You dare to disrespect me?” he shrieked. “Guards! Take him out of my sight”

The guards started to advance on me, and much to my surprise Martyn and Damon drew their weapons. Eugene too clambered to his feet and drew his hammer, waving it threateningly at the guards who were encircling us.

Lucius however kneeled back down onto the floor, but I could see form where I was standing the hand that sat upon his sword’s hilt. He looked about ready to explode.

The noblemen and women surrounding us had now shut up entirely. Although they refused to leave for their own safety solely for the fact that they wanted to see some action.

“Enough!” I roared drawing my own sword and aiming it directly at the Duke. I had his attention now, that was all I had wanted. “I am Danariel le Pelletier, son of the Guardian and sworn enemy of your son, the man who murdered the only family I have ever known. Now will you hear my plan or not?” I bellowed at the Duke.

Martyn and the others shrunk away from me, a look of amazement and awe on their faces. While Ellis almost vanished entirely into the shadow of his Duke. A hushed whisper was now spreading over the crowd as each and every person in the room stared at me.

The guards looked unsure as to what they should do, and simply stood with their weapons aimed directly at me. A little part of me wanted to murder every single one of them but I resisted the urge, it wasn’t the time or place for shedding blood.

“Back to your posts” the Duke said, motioning the guards away before rising to his feet.

I sheathed my sword as the guards lowered their weapons and began to back away. The Duke made his way to me slowly, his eyeballs bearing into my soul.

“The Guardian never even had a son” Ellis spat from back behind the Duke.

“Lord Reubin le Pelletier had two sons actually” the Duke said, not taking a single eye off me. “One before anyone even knew who he was, and another, who ran away from home but a few years a go, I think you will discover that our young lord here is the second of said sons”

The Duke stopped right in front of my face, the mere mention of my father’s name had called the rain down upon me. I looked up and into his golden eyes, they shone just as my had done once, although I saw a flicker of darkness in them, Symonds was making it rain on his father too.

He sighed deeply. “Would someone hurry up and get that poor man some medical attention” the Duke nodded to Eugene. “Before he bleeds out”

A group of women cut through the crowd and moved over to Eugene who was panting as he bled over the floor.

“I’ll carry him” snapped Damon as one of the guards attempted to lift the soldier.

Damon carried his friend off and followed the women down a set of stairs and out of sight.

“Come with me Danariel, we can talk in private” the Duke said, motioning with his head for me to follow as he began to walk away. “Including this so called plan of yours we have lots to talk about”

“What about everyone else?” I asked, waiting for an answer before I followed the golden eyed Duke.

“As a favour to you they have me permission to roam the castle as they see fit” he replied. “Just see that you and your men don’t destroy anything, Captain”

The room the Duke lead me to was far less expensive looking than the hall I had first entered into. Desks and tables were strewn around the place and these were coated with a layer of papers and skins which were covered with drawings and scribbles.

One of the larger drawings looked a lot like a colossal version of my mysterious white metal. Due to the green scribble on the corner of the page I assumed that it was a sketch of Hollowdell’s green meteorite spire.

“Take a seat Danny” the Duke said, pointing to a chair.

Doing as I was told I sat down and watched as the Duke pulled up a chair to sit across from me at the table.

“You knew my father milord?” I asked, attempting to be courteous to the Duke.

He waved his hand at me dismissively. “No need for that Danny, just call me Rolland, after all you are heir to a line far greater than my own” he replied. “And yes I knew your father, the two of us were close friends once”

As much as I hated talking about my father I really did want to know what this man knew. He had mentioned another son, a brother I had never even known I had.

“You said something about him having two sons?” I said after a moment of silence. “Who and where is this brother of mine?”

“I’m sorry, Danny” he replied. “I really am, but I have no real idea, Reubin only mentioned the matter to me once, you would have to ask him yourself”

I sighed, I had really been hoping for some good news involving my family for once, having a brother would have given me some kind of purpose after I had dealt with Symonds. Or so I thought.

“It would be a bit hard for me to ask him now” I mumbled.

“Yes, he did go rather mad after you ran away” said Rolland.

“His mind was well and truly gone before I ran away” I replied. “Between all his alcohol even on some of his soberer days he was never really quite all there”

Not that I had ever seen my father sober or at least couldn’t remember if I had, I just assumed that to be the case.

“I’ll take your word for it” he said after a few seconds of scratching at his beard. “Let’s talk about more pressing matters though shall we? This plan of yours, what exactly is it?”

“It’s pretty simple really” I explained. “The main problem we face is that we’re running out of food, and your son is trying to starve us out so he can take the city. Well I say we do the same thing to him”

“And how exactly do you mean to do that?”

“We wait for nightfall and sneak out into the farmlands” I continued. “In small raiding parties followed closely by caravans, and we take everything we can and bring it back here before slashing and burning the crops”

The Duke rubbed his eyes and looked at me, they were no longer so golden and were beginning to redden at the edges. Know I realised it

“And what if your plan leads young Symonds to attack the city?” Rolland asked. “What then?”

“That’s exactly what we want” I replied. “If we force him to attack than we should with some luck be able to crush his army and defeat him once and for all”

Rolland sighed and buried his head in his hands over the top of the table. I couldn’t see exactly but I was pretty sure the man was shaking his head, in other words, rejecting my plan.

“It’s too risky” he finally said. “I won’t risk the lives of my people in a siege just so that I have a chance to crush this rebellion”

“So you would rather sit and watch as they starve to death?” I asked, my tone more than just a little aggressive. “And don’t worry about having to kill your own son, I’ll do that for you.”

“I have no quarrel with the death of my son” he replied staunchly. “And our food will last, we’re a tough people, we will survive”

“What do you mean your food will last?” I demanded. “If you nobles actually took  the time to look outside your own walls crafted from gold you would see that everyone else is starving and living in poverty, many people have already died simply from not having enough food!”

The golden eyed Duke’s eyes lit up once more and he started to laugh, nearly toppling over backwards in his chair.

“You have your father’s fire, that’s for sure, Danny” he said after he had finished laughing.

I am nothing like that monster I call a father nor am I anything like that monster you call a son even though many men have made those comparisons in truth the two are more like each other than anything.

“I am nothing like that monster”

“And what of my plan? You truly have no other option but to follow it” I said sternly. “If I must than I will attempt it alone”

“Well it seems impossible to dissuade you, Danny” replied Rolland with a sigh. “And you do make a good point, I would rather not watch on as my people starved”

“It’s settled than? In a few days time after Eugene’s leg has healed, during the night our troops will raid the farmlands?”

The Duke nodded and got up to his feet. “Yes, with you at their helm my men will raid the farmlands” he replied slowly. “I have no doubt that after that you will then face my son in battle”