Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 21: Finn

As the sun rose over Illondas, Queen Marie and Princess Anne gathered every one of their top military Generals and lead Investigators of the Corps of Investigations, including Florian and Chief Montegeu, in the throne hall of Quorias. All of them sat at long tables arranged along the walls and the sides of a long, red carpet that stretched from the gates to the throne. Haemon and I sat with Florian and Montegeu at the end of the table closest to the throne. I could sense nervousness from every single one of the Generals and Investigators. They all knew the wall of their city had been breached. If only they knew what did the breaching. All of the men and women who were defenders of Illondas knew what a breach in the wall meant. They were vulnerable. Their people were vulnerable to the army marching towards them from the west.

"We're dead, aren't we?" Montegeu suddenly asked.

"Not yet we aren't," Florian answered. "The wall has been breached, true, but the enemy army has to march through it."

"Do you have allies you could count on?" I wondered. "Chardan has its hands full, so they might not be able to help much."

"Most of them are still recovering from the Third Great War," Montegeu answered. "We won't get help from them either."

"What's going to happen, then?" asked Haemon.

"We shall see what the Queen decides," Florian declared.

"Right," I sighed.

"You know her," Florian reminded. "And the Princess. They have the people's safety in their minds first."

"I know," I promised. "I know."

I remembered the size of the army Haemon and I saw a day ago. As far as the eye could see, from both directions under the cliff. I could only imagine what would happen when those soldiers reached Quorias. It would be a bloodbath, and with a breach in the city's wall, there was a giant hole for them to march right through. Only from one direction, though. I didn't know about battles or tactics utilized by Generals and commanders to win those battles, but if King Heinrich's soldiers could only enter the city through a single part of the wall, hopefully, hopefully, numbers wouldn't matter. It was way out of my knowledge, though. Suddenly, I heard the side doors to the throne hall open, and saw Queen Marie and Princess Anne walking through them, but they weren't wearing dresses or gowns like they normally would when they would have a session of court. They wore military uniforms, red tailcoats with golden trim on the bottom, buttoned to cover themselves. That was what they would wear to let people know that what they had to say was serious. Haemon and I stood at attention along with Florian, Chief Montegeu, and the other Generals and Investigators as the Queen and Princess addressed their audience.

"Be seated," the Queen excused, and we all sat back in our seats. As the Princess stood next to her mother, I began to notice something. She gave off the tiniest possible aura of darkness I had ever felt. Was it residual, from the lycanthropy I had cured from her? Something was definitely wrong here, but something was even more wrong with what was going to be here.

"All of you know why you are here, don't you?" Queen Marie announced. "Because of the massive breach in the wall of our city? I regret to inform you all of something that I wished was not true. War is on our doorstep. We have two days before it is through the door itself. Our first priority is, and always has been, the safety of our people. Therefore, what we must do is evacuate Quorias. We shall send our people north, across the Sea of Ice, until the war subsides. Chief Montegeu, you will oversee the preparations for evacuation and the evacuation itself, and the rest of the Corps of Investigations will escort them along with fifty thousand soldiers. Florian, you and Captain MacHilles will prepare warding sigils for protection against creatures of darkness along the breach in the wall. As for the rest of you, you all have your duties to your country and its people. Every man, woman, and child in Illondas is your responsibility, and there are people coming to kill them. We will not let that happen. We are not afraid of Heinrich. We are not afraid of his war machines, his soldiers, or his monsters. We are also not afraid to die protecting those we care about. I care about my people, just as all of you do. Will you allow these foreign invaders, who align themselves with the forces of Hell, to take your home away from you?"