The Guardians

Chapter 30

"Saren."

He heard the whisper and slowly opened his eyes, sure it was his imagination.

"Saren."

He looked around, swearing he was hearing his sister.

"By the window."

He barely had the energy to pull himself up. Sure enough, he was looking into Neve's worry-filled eyes.

"By the Great Mother!" she whispered, reaching through the bars to gently place a hand on his bruised cheek. "What did he do to you?"

"You have to get out of here, Neve. Don't worry about me. You have to get as far away from this place as you can."

"I found Aiden and Lyra. They're here with me. We have a plan to break you and the others out. How many are still alive?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen anyone else since you left. But you can't get us out. There's too many guards."

"We have a way. Get down before you fall down and I'll see you soon."

"Neve." She disappeared. "Please, don't get yourself killed," he said to the empty courtyard.

Neve was heartbroken at seeing the condition that her brother was in. Heat radiated off of him when she reached for him. She feared that he was dying and could only hope that Lyra was as potent a healer as she claimed to be. Slipping into her old habits from her days in Shadeaux Rouge, Neve stalked the guards from the shadows while Lyra held a small sphere of the stealth wall around herself, Aiden, and Will. She couldn't see them at all. She assassinated the guards one by one, pulling their bodies into empty cells and locking the doors. They freed their brothers from their cells but they saw that many were on death's doorstep. Orin was perhaps one of the few that were still in good condition despite the tortures they'd been put through. Saren was in the worst condition, unable to stand without help, and every Guardian agreed that he was to be the first to be spirited out. Neve noticed that none of the Guardian spellcasters were there and no one recalled seeing them after the battle.

"Orin," Lyra's disembodied voice startled the big man. "We'll need your help in getting Saren out."

"Lyra? Where are you?"

She touched his arm, most of it disappearing behind her wall. Neve was sure the former highwayman was going to have a heart attack. After casting the spell around Orin and Saren, she instructed him to follow Will. The boy would take them to a place they had chosen to rendezvous if they were ever separated.

"How are we going to do this?" another Guardian asked. "You can only stealth us for so long, yes?"

"Yes, that is why we need to hurry."

"It'll be no use, Lyra," another said, a former knight called Roudxi, "if we are caught before we even have the chance to taste freedom. I will stay behind and serve as a distraction for the others."

"One man won't be much of a distraction."

The others murmured in agreement. In the end, it was agreed that the Guardians bearing the worst wounds and illnesses would be spirited out of Arlan's estate. Half of the men choose to sacrifice themselves as a distraction.

"May the Great Mother guide you to safety, Lyra."

"May the Valkyrie embrace you when you fall." Lyra stealthed the remaining men and together they fled the dungeons.

Roudxi knew that they would be sacrificing their very lives in order for the others to escape. Many of them had died in the following skirmish. Only five were captured alive. Arlan had ordered their executions to be carried out as planned. But he'd decided to humiliate them beforehand. The five of them were placed in the pillories near the gallows. Where they would remain for the two days before they were set to walk the path to their deaths and forced to look upon the empty nooses awaiting their throats. One of the Guardians had struggled against the restricting wood planks until he cut into his throat. Roudxi didn't know if he'd done it with that intent or not. But Arlan wouldn't let the man be taken away for burial. Instead, he ordered the man to hang next to the other corpse that had once been the body of a fellow Guardian who'd escaped the battle only to be caught later. By the end, his back and neck were stiff. Then came the day he'd been trying to prepare himself for. One by one, the remaining four were released from their pillories. Roudxi was the last to be unlocked. He was pulled upright, his stiff muscles screaming in protest. His arms were grabbed and pulled behind his back. He could feel the roughness of the rope as they bound his wrists tightly together. It wasn't long before his hands began to grow numb. The four of them were marched towards the gallows that waited for them. His heart beat harder with each step towards the empty loops. He looked over the crowd gathered and saw many tears before his world plunged into blackness as the blindfold was tied around his eyes. He felt the roughness as the noose slipped over his head and tightened around his neck.

Great Mother, protect my brothers and sisters and keep them. he silently prayed. Valkyries embrace me in my final hour.

"Before you stand four traitors to Veloce. Because of the ill-fated decision of their commander to side with the treasonous Sari, I have declared all Guardians of Veloce as traitors. Anyone who aids them shall be hanged as traitors alongside them." There was a pause and he heard heavy boot falls as Arlan walked across the gallows' platform. Roudxi took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. "May the gods have mercy on your souls."

"May the gods have mercy on you, Arlan, for my brothers will not."

There were gasps in the crowd at Roudxi's final defiance before he heard the mechanism that opened the trap doors below their feet. He fell before the rope stopped his fall. Unfortunately, the sudden stop didn't break his neck and he struggled, gasping for the breath he could not catch due to the noose pressing against his throat. He hung there for what seemed like an eternity as he kicked and struggled against both the noose and his binds.

"Mercy!" someone cried. "Give him mercy!"

He continued to kick and vainly attempt to free his completely lifeless hands. His struggling slowed as his heart began to beat slower and slower. He slowly began to lose consciousness and kick less. The cries of mercy were becoming father away. He felt an embrace around him as he finally died.