The Broken Council (The Guardian Chronicles 1) (22 page)

Kishi
walked out of the council chambers even more determined and resolute in the
course of action she was about to undertake.
 
As she looked around the square, she caught sight of her faithful
general and good friend, Jaali Thrarias.
 
When he noticed the queen, he immediately left the conversation he was
having with one of the siege commanders and walked toward her.
 
He smiled as he approached the beautiful, yet
deadly, high elven queen.
 
He bowed in
greeting once he had reached Kishi, and she took hold of his chin to bring him
out of his prostration.
 
She smiled
warmly at him once they were looking one another in the eye.

“General
Jaali, we have much work to do.
 
We need
to make preparations for a long siege.
 
We will need archers, swordsmen, siege weapons of every kind, scouts,
spies, and anything else you can come up with.
 
I do not want to leave anything to chance,” explained the queen
earnestly.
 
Her resolve always gave her
great strength, and she knew that the army needed to see that fierce
determination from their leader at this critical juncture.

“We
have provisions ready that will last us for a year, and we have devised a route
that should be relatively easy to keep safe from attacks.
 
No one knows about the north land, and that
is where we will make our base.
 
We will
store our food and spare equipment there.
 
From a secret base I have found, we will be able to outlast the
Nairians,” said General Jaali gruffly.

“You
have done well.
 
Do we have any cavalry
to send with the army?” she asked.

“I
have taken the liberty to round up some of the finest horses found in the north
lands and have sent the knights ahead on their steeds to our northern home
base.
 
They should be finished with the
defensive preparations by the time the army reaches them.
 
We will be ready in the morning to head out,”
he said to his queen as if he knew the next question.
 
He knew her all too well to not know what she
would want done and what her expectations were.

“Thank
you, Jaali.
 
You always know what I am
thinking and what I want.
 
That is not
typical of a male from any race…but especially for an elf,” she chided.
 
She loved him as if he were the brother she
never had.
 
He treated her as a little
sister even though she was his leader.
 
She liked this very much because it made her feel secure and cared for.

“The
day is waning, and the army will need a good night’s rest before the trek to
the secret base.
 
I will leave you now,
Milady,” he said with an edge of friendly sarcasm.
 
He bowed slightly and took her hand in his
and kissed it gently.
 
He rose with a wry
smile and turned about-face and marched back toward the barracks.
 
The queen watched him leave, and the sky
above burned red as the sun set in the west.
 
She eventually turned around and walked to the partially finished
castle.
 
She, too, would need plenty of
rest for the journey ahead.
 
She would
wake early so that she could set some special magical protections of her own on
various places within the city.
 
It never hurts to be prepared
.

Kishi
felt that she also needed to meditate in the morning to clear her mind of all
thought so that she could use her magic with greater precision and without any
distortion from her emotions.
 
She had
learned that when she used her power through her feelings or aided by them, she
could not control its destructive or constructive power.
 
She needed to keep everything in check
because if she let her resentment gain control, her enemies would then have a
weapon to use against her.
 
She cared too
much for her people to submit them to great danger because of her ill
disposition.
 
She would protect them at
all costs.

The
morning air was crisp and cold as the queen meditated on her balcony.
 
She could sense her surroundings and could
feel her anxiety ebbing away as she became at one with her environment.
 
She always kept her cool when she took time
to focus herself and to ponder on the beauty of the world in which she
lived.
 
She immediately felt the presence
of a powerful being, but she could not tell where it was precisely.
 
It had the feeling of being everywhere and
nowhere at the same time.

As
she opened her eyes and turned around to look into her bedchamber, she saw a
shadowy figure glide toward her.
 
She
immediately knew who it was that stood or floated before her.
 
It was the mighty Mistress Kana, one of the
most powerful elementals and who happened to also be the most temperamental
guardian.
 
She would need to be cautious
in this surprise exchange.
 
She bowed
only slightly to recognize her but did not want her to think that she felt she
was a lesser being.
 
Kishi stood up straight
and looked into the fiery eyes of her unbidden guest.

“Queen
Kishi, you need to understand exactly what happened to your sister before you
take action against Nairi,” Kana explained plainly but with great power in her
voice.
 
“Kira was murdered by General
Marek, but the good general was not right in his mind.
 
General Yukio has the ability to control and
manipulate minds, and he used this power to eliminate your sister and the chairman.
 
He then killed Marek to make the whole
situation look like he was too late to save his wife and his friend from his
best friend’s madness.
 
I arrived too
late to stop the bloodshed, and he is even now preparing his army to hunt you
down.”

“Why
would Yukio do such a thing?” Kishi asked quietly.
 
She is
not telling me everything.

“He
is an ambitious man who wants power over others.
 
His ability to control minds has given him a
taste of something he wants more than anything which is limitless power.
 
That is why he has done what he has.
 
That is why you must not underestimate him or
his abilities.
 
He may be a mad man, but
he is a very dangerous one.
 
He is an
enemy that could rally support to his side with relative ease.
 
If he does this, then all-out war would be
brought upon the races of Tuwa,” Kana explained with a great deal of emphasis
on the insanity of the general.

“We
may need help to take the canyons if Yukio rejoins Queen Daria and her people,”
she said, consumed in her own thoughts.

“I
will work with your mentor to garner support from some of the other races.
 
They will not be able to provide you with
direct support, but they will cut off any support from elves, dwarves, or men,”
the powerful guardian declared.

“Why
are you helping us?” Kishi asked impulsively.
 
She did not entirely trust the temperamental goddess, and she knew that
she was on thin ice questioning her the way she was.
 
But she needed to be sure that she was not
making a mistake by siding with her.

“You
are a bold one; that is why I like you so much.
 
I have been prompted by what I have foreseen to join with you and the
high elves.
 
You are the future, and I
will help you usher in a new world order.
 
I will provide you with an axis of powerful allies and with direct aid
from me when possible.
 
For instance, I
will create a windstorm so violent that the army of Yukio will not be able to
follow for a few days.
 
This will allow
you to get to your secret base and to make your first assault on the canyon
lands.
 
I will then assist Lord Dükker in
retaking Alanderas.
 
Finally, I will have
him create the alliances that you will need to be victorious,” the guardian
explained coolly.

“Very
well then, I will go to the army now and get everything ready so that we can
depart at sunrise.
 
It will probably take
us until midday to get all the troops out of the city, so how can we make sure
that Yukio does not follow right away?” she pressed Kana.
 
She did not want to fight the first battle on
their doorstep.

“Leave
that detail to myself and Lord Dükker.
 
We will kill any spy or pursuer from Yukio.
 
I will inundate him with powerful winds from
the mountaintop that he will be unable to gather his men for some time.
 
He may be mad, but he would not expose his
men to unnecessary injury from my gale force winds,” Kana explained.

“All
right then.
 
I will go and get ready for our
journey. I will leave you so you can meet with Lord Aellenas,” the queen
replied.
 
She bowed slightly and went to
her closet to gather what she would need for the battles ahead.
 
She would take her staff with her because she
felt that this would help her channel her power better while providing a
measure of control over her magic.
 
It
would also enhance her destructive power while bolstering personal protective
spells she had in place.

Kana
said nothing in reply and simply vanished.
 
Kishi was too consumed in her preparations to notice the guardian’s
departure.
 
The sun was beginning to peak
over the horizon, and she could already hear the sounds of the army making
their own preparations.
 
When she had
gathered together her staff and other magical items, she left the bedchambers
to begin her last task before leaving Tiranidrol.
 
She quickened her pace so that she would be
done by the time the army was ready to depart.

As
she went about casting her protective spells, General Jaali was making his
final preparations for departure.
 
He
divided up the men into a very specific formation that would help protect
against ambush.
 
The exterior had pike
men to guard against horses, and behind them were a row of swordsmen.
 
Behind the swordsmen were archers who could attack
enemies at a distance while being protected by the first two rows.
 
In the very center were the siege
weapons.
 
He was proud of this ideal
formation and knew that they would not likely need to protect against much, but
it is better to be safe than dead.
 
That
was his motto and everyone knew it.
 
His
desire to keep his troops from unnecessary harm made him the ideal leader.
 
His army was fiercely loyal to him as a
result.

As
the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon, the army was ready to move
out.
 
Queen Kishi appeared out of the
shadows and walked slowly to stand at the side of General Jaali.
 
He turned to her and smiled confidently at
her.
 
She smiled back briefly and then
put on a determined look.
 
Everything
went still as she looked over the thousands of troops standing at attention
before her.
 
There were nearly five
hundred thousand soldiers in the army, with five thousand knights waiting for
them at the secret camp.
 
She felt a
surge of confidence rush through her body, and she began to glow an eerie red
color as she began to lift off the ground slightly.
 
Outside the walls of the city several plants
wilted as their life force was stolen from them for her purposes.

As
she stretched out her arms toward the heavens, she bellowed, “Let it begin!”
 
As she said this, a series of twisters formed
just outside the western wall and picked up strength as they headed toward
Mount Quang.
 
She continued to hover in
the air, and her eyes were a milky white color.
 
She then slowly began to float down toward the ground, and her arms
lowered a bit.
 
From out of nowhere, a
staff flew into her right hand, and she shot straight up into the air some
fifty feet.
 
She pointed the staff directly
at Alanderas and muttered something unintelligible while holding aloft her war
staff.
 
Bright blue light engulfed her
momentarily and then seemed to consolidate into the staff.
 
She then sent the built-up charge of magic
into the sky over Mount Quang.
 
Lightning
began to strike the mountainside repeatedly.
 
Booms of thunder rang out, waking every living thing within miles of the
sudden storm.

Kishi
returned to the ground and looked herself once more.
 
She eyed the soldiers as they looked at her
in awe and wonder.
 
She smiled wickedly
and said, “Move out!”
 
She motioned with her
staff toward the front gate of the outer wall.
 
The army acknowledged her command immediately and began to file out of
the city.
 
She walked at the very front
as a sign that she would take the lead with General Jaali as they headed to
war.
 
The troops began to shout and chant
as they marched.
 
Within a few hours,
they had emptied the city and left only the citizens and the home guard behind.