The Circle of Fire, page 26
part #1 of The Circle Series
“The game is Rugby and it’s a game of equal part strategy and brutality. You’ll love it. It starts in a couple of hours so if you don’t mind, I’d really like to have a chat with you, spend some time with you and find out some details. You seem to know everything about me so I’d like to even things out.”
Andrea sank back into the large chair and watched me intently.
“I have been the Guardian of my prison since I was eleven. I have spent the last twenty years at the front of the war with those who are still aiming to destroy the human race.” She dropped her gaze to stare at her intertwined fingers sitting in her lap. “My whole life has been spent training and fighting. I understand that my role is one of violence and danger,” she paused. “I believe in what we are doing,” she slowly lifted her eyes to bore directly into me. “My family let me know from an early age what was expected of me. Your training didn’t happen in the same way so you are at a large disadvantage but you have seen a life that is totally alien to me. I have no idea how you have lived outside of the knowledge of what is expected of you.”
“My Uncle didn’t tell me anything but he did try to explain everything to my brother. He was the next in line after my Uncle and didn’t want anything to do with it. He just thought that my Uncle was full of it so left when he got the chance.” A conversation seemed to be breaking out and neither of the two of us seemed to be on edge.
“How could he just leave? David explained everything that is going on and he still left?” Andrea was utterly perplexed by this turn of events. She had spent her whole life living in the shadow of the expectation placed on her by the Circle. To hear that someone had just decided to walk away from their responsibility shook her whole belief system.
“What was it like growing up inside all of this?” Keep the conversation aimed at anything other than my family’s failings, Andrea wouldn’t ever trust me if she was always thinking that I might decide to one day just down tools and walk away.
She pondered and sifted back through her memories of childhood.
“Every aspect of my life was designed to prepare me for what was going to take place. I was schooled in magic and fighting techniques from an early age and I knew the theory of how to master my transformation, even before my Awakening. All the games I played with my family were designed to sharpen my skills in readiness for the day that I was called upon to defend what was entrusted to me.”
“Sounds like it was a hard upbringing. It can’t have been much fun for you, all work and no play.” My life had been worlds away from hers. I was starting to really appreciate what I had had growing up.
“My life was always enjoyable. When my father and I played hide and seek around the grounds of the estate, I always had a great time. As I grew older and realised how he was always able to find me so easily, it became more of a challenge to try to beat him. I always enjoyed my time with my family.”
“Did he cheat?” I was starting to see a very different side of Andrea as she recalled her childhood. She looked happy and I realised that despite the long hours of training and magic, she was still having fun spending time with her father. Maybe that was why my Uncle was how he was with me? Just having fun.
“He used the tracking spells to find me. He channelled through the Mage and could locate me where ever I was.” She wore a smile as she gazed back through her memories. She showed on her face that there was a warm feeling to what she was running through. Maybe there was more to her story than just ceremony and fighting. Before I could ask her any more questions about what she had seen when she had been growing up and about the life that was being prepared for me, Andrea’s face clouded over and her happy memories disappeared.
“My father was killed when our prison was attacked. We were all in the house when the call was sent out that we were being attacked.” She was staring into space as she spoke, not focusing on anything that was in the present. “It was a Sunday and we were preparing a family meal together. He told my mother and me to keep something warm for him and that he would be back as quickly as he could, he didn’t think that there was any real threat to what was happening and said he would be back before I went to bed. He didn’t call for help from any other members of the Circle. He thought that he would be able to defeat whatever it was.” She smiled wistfully at the last comment. Looking back on what people say before an event can often make their viewpoints seem foolish. I wondered what Andrea’s father would have said to her if he had known that he was going to die?
Andrea held her gaze on the nebulous past as she continued to flick through memories. She finally returned to now and locked my eyes.
“I have looked through my father’s memories of the final battle several times, trying to discover the reasons for his death, but I can’t ever make out what it was that had started the offensive. There were the usual collection of foot soldiers and assorted muscle but the thing that was pulling the strings; all I could ever make out was a black cloud, just off to the edges of my fathers’ vision. It would strike from nowhere and retreat to nothing as my father swung to face it.”
I had expected Andrea to be burning with anger as she recounted the story of her fathers’ demise, but instead, she was calm and quite sad. There was no glittering oath of revenge, no hatred of the enemy. Instead, she had retreated back to being eleven again. She looked at me and I could see, worked deeply into her expression that, she was still just the same little girl who had seen her childhood come to a shuddering, shattering, premature halt. Perhaps, deep down, past all of the layers of responsibility and training, she too felt that, despite her station as a Guardian and top of the pile in her estate, she was just as much a servant as all of the others.
She shook her head slightly, breaking free from the shackles of the emotions that were leaking out.
“Whatever it was, it didn’t do enough damage to kill my father before he had demolished the whole army gathered against him. He took his fighting force and beat back the force that was threatening his charge. He died after the battle had been won. He didn’t think that he had been dealt a mortal blow but the collection of injuries put together added up to be enough. He fell as the last demon was being driven from the grounds surrounding the prison. They hadn’t even broken the boundary of the prison before they were driven off.”
There was a sad pride in the final sentence. She was looking back to her predecessor who had done his duty and defended the prison. He had gone to fight off his enemies knowing that his life was on the line each time and he had gone on regardless. I kicked the idea around. Would I be that certain of my position that I would do the same as he had?
Andrea seemed to shrink back into the chair as she finished her recollection. She was shrouded by an air of the little girl lost as all of the layers of her position slipped from her. Maybe she was thinking the same thing?
“Have you gone into battle against the forces of evil?” I thought I’d aim for a more relaxed tone; I didn’t want to make her dwell on the negative or make it seem that I was just after the morbid details. I think she took it in the right way.
“I’ve lost count of the times I have had to fight off attempts to free my charge or to destroy either me or my home. I think that I have been averaging about three a year but they have been getting more serious as I have got older. It’s probably because I was shielded for so many years as I grew up. The Elder trained me and spent a very long time moving between her home in China and mine in Russia. She must have taken on a lot of the early responsibility.”
That comment about the Elder was the first time that I had heard any of the members of the Circle actually do anything that resembled an act of compassion. That, more than anything, had made me feel off kilter.
“We all come into this role through the pain of loss” Andrea continued. “Each and every Guardian will have lost someone close to them otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are. You may think that we are all far too obsessed with the importance of the past, but it can hold the secrets we all need to survive. Others will have seen things that you may need. Everyone in the Circle has gone through the same thing, so we all understand what is happening when each new Guardian takes their place. We all take the details of the past very seriously because it can often be the only link we have to those who have been taken from us.” That explained a huge amount to me and I felt like I was protected.
“I will be tough on you during the training so you can live longer. The faster you learn what you are capable of, the more able you will be to stay alive.”
We both looked at each other and sipped on our drinks. Andrea had started to let me into her life a little and it had served to make me feel more comfortable about my situation. I could see that, despite the cliché, everyone was really looking out for me. My Uncle had tried to protect his and my family and made sure that I was ready to accept the role should it pass to me after he had pushed too hard with Steve. Loss had been flowing through my family and by the sounds of what Andrea was saying, she had gone through something very similar.
“It’s not as bad as it looks then?”
She smiled and I could tell that I was starting to see the real Andrea.
“We have to fulfil a very important role in the world but, we can have some fun along the way.” She looked through her fringe at me and I could see she was relaxed. Her smile was wide and her eyes were glinting. She sounded very appealing, her thick accent making each of the words sound just that little bit more exotic.
“Sounds good to me.” I held her gaze and tried to match the tone of her voice. We had both started to lean forward in our chairs and I could feel that the tone of our conversation was changing. I couldn’t tell if the crackle in the air was just something that was in my head or if it was really happening.
“Well, where should we start? More hide and seek?” I swear the crackle was real.
“As long as you play fair, I don’t want every man in my life to have to resort to cheating.” The words were practically hypnotic. She put her drink down and looked like she was about to climb from the chair. I watched her and studied every last detail, the curve of her body and the supple strength which was suffused through her. I hoped her father wasn’t going to mind what I had running through my mind!
Her father. Hide and seek.
She slithered into my chair next to me and placed an arm around my shoulders just at the moment that realization crashed into my head.
I jumped to my feet and practically knocked her to the ground. I started to pace the floor and tried to organise what I was thinking.
“I don’t think I care for this game,” Andrea complained, folding her arms across her chest to really emphasise that she wasn’t happy.
“I’m sorry, but I think hide and seek has just told me that we are all in real danger.”
She sat straight up and frowned at me.
“What danger?” She hadn’t been on edge before but she was back in battle mode at the flick of a switch.
“Come with me, and get Lloyd. We’re still under attack.” I gripped her arm and headed for the door.
“Under attack?” she questioned, her voice now rising to a much higher pitch. “Where are we going?”
We were now starting to run; my mind was pushing towards desperation. I hoped that I was wrong but too many pieces had just lined up. Please be an over-reaction.
“We’ve got to get to the Mage.”
23
Andrea was now running after me as I twisted down corridor after corridor, aiming for the stairway down to the Mage’s chamber.
“We need Lloyd to get to the chamber with us. How do we call him?” I was shouting over my shoulder as I ran and didn’t stop to catch the response. I shot round another corner as fast as I could sure that I needed to be in the Mage’s chamber immediately. I hadn’t factored into the journey that there might be obstacles in my way. I crashed into a large suit of armour which had been displayed by the entrance to one of the many state rooms and sent assorted pieces of medieval armourment scattering all over the thick carpet.
I pushed myself back to my feet just as Andrea rounded the corner. She looked at me with a mixture of concern and annoyance.
“Lloyd will meet us at the chamber doorway. He is as keen as I am to know why.” She helped me back to my feet and we both headed off towards the entrance hall of the mansion.
“When Lloyd and I were missing in the woods after my bridge jump, why couldn’t anyone find us? You said that the Mage was responsible for ensuring the focus and power of all the magic that goes on inside the estates and that a tracking spell, like the one your father used to catch you as a child, was easy. If it was so easy, why couldn’t anyone use it properly?” We rounded the next corner together but Andrea wasn’t talking. She was turning the facts over in her mind as I made my case.
“When I was jumping around in the woods, I could only travel between two points. They were the jumping in points that Wynn and her troops used. I was drawn to them somehow right? That means that they were in the house for hours before they actually tried to attack me. What were they doing? The easiest tracking spell you can cast goes dead the second that I find the sites they used to get in? Looks to me that they must have attacked the Mage first. They must have wanted to blind him to my whereabouts so they could do more damage. They could have jumped me anywhere in the grounds and started to do God knows what. No-one would have been able to find me. That’s why no-one could locate me when I jumped Lloyd and me out into the woods.” We were getting closer to the entrance hall and my apprehension was rising with every footstep.
“They would have killed the Mage if they could get access to him surely,” questioned Andrea as we ran. She could understand my logic but needed to be sure.
“If they walked in the room, the Mage would have mangled their minds. I saw what a short exposure did to Lloyd. It’s only the Dragons who can spend any time in there with him without losing it. Besides, if they attacked him in such a violent way, it would have alerted every single person in the house that something was going on and they would have lost any advantage they had. They did something more subtle than that. They poisoned him. Magically. I think.”
We both sprinted out towards the bottom of the huge stairway to the upper levels of the house and rounded on the route to the chamber entrance. Andrea was really powering on now. I think my logic had made sense and she looked like she was going to tear the door down rather than wait for it to be unlocked. She continued questioning as she ran.
“What would they want to accomplish by only poisoning the most powerful magical force that we have at our disposal? It would still make more sense to kill him.”
“If they tried to kill him, he would probably just ‘walk’ out through one of the other estates. If they had weakened him, how would we ever know? They would be able to send forces into the house at will, get around our defences, undo our attacks with ease and we wouldn’t have known how. They would have been able to kill Guardian after Guardian until they had weakened the whole structure of the Circle.”
“That all fits very well, but how did they all get through the boundary field? Our defensive magic was working when they crossed the boundary so how did they do it?”
“Wynn showed that she was more powerful than any of us ever thought. She must have been able to breach the power to allow the jump.” The pieces had all fallen into place and I could see that there would be a massive variety of attacks to deal with in my role as Guardian, not just the full frontal violent assault.
All of my ramblings were enough to convince Andrea.
“What are we expecting to find in the chamber? More Wraiths?”
“I don’t know but I would be pretty sure that the empty room that I saw earlier isn’t going to be empty now.” The image of the Mage in his sphere flashed in my head. The pain on his face was clear for all to see. Had he been tormented by those who had broken in?
We finally arrived at the door to be met by Lloyd who looked like he was ready to go to war. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, sturdy walking boots and a thick, checked lumberjack shirt with the sleeves rolled up above the elbow. He carried with him, a large, double headed axe and bobbed nervously from foot to foot. He was ready to go.
“What do you two mean we’re under attack?” he shot at us. He wanted to kill something and all he needed was to be pointed in the right direction.
“I’ll tell you on the way down. We’ve got to move, now.”
“Shouldn’t we be bringing a more powerful force with us? If there are things attacking the Mage then we could do with all the help we could muster.” Andrea was running through possible strategies as we stood there and it looked like every plan of attack she could come up with would require a much larger force.
“We’re the only people on our side that can go in the room and we’re going to be dealing with an enemy in a very small space in the corridor outside. Besides, the enemy must have been in the corridor when Lloyd showed me the room last night before the attack. There couldn’t have been a huge battalion of them, we would have noticed as we went in. There was probably only a small group so huge numbers on our part would be a waste of time.”
The two of them listened to what I had said and then nodded their agreement.
It looked like the times I’d seen various captains of the Enterprise give these speeches of explanation had rubbed off.
Lloyd unlocked the door and led us all into the corridor beyond. I pulled the door closed behind us and the lights on the walls snapped into life. As we headed down the stairs at a fast run, we were all silently praying that we would be able to do something that would help the Mage.
I could feel a hum in my chest as we approached the end of the corridor. The power inside the Mages chamber felt stronger than during my first visit, it was more forced. Andrea and Lloyd could feel it as well. It was almost pushing the air from our chests as we continued down. We were roughly fifteen steps from the entrance to the chamber when the attack began. The spinning in my head alerted me to the danger a second before it hit.
