Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 37: Daisy

Every single soldier in Illondas was at their assigned position within the hour of Haemon alerting us of the Camnorish army approaching. All I could think was that the enemy forces were barely another hour away. In the place of the section of the wall that had been destroyed, plasma barricades were raised to offer whatever protection they could. I felt my heart pounding rapidly against the inside of my chest. I had never been in battle before, with anyone other than the Inquisition. Even then, though, I hid in the bushes while Nato fought to protect me. It was something I wouldn't soon forget. She risked her life to save mine, and I was hiding like a coward. She could have died. It was a risk that every Guardian took, though. Right now, Nato was in Azzuran's fortress, looking for Finn. She wasn't here to protect Quorias. I had to in her place, along with Lyrandrar, Florian, Haemon, Eris, Anzulminar, and all of Queen Marie's soldiers. They weren't scared of what was coming, but I was. I had no idea how I could be, having faced monsters before, and having fought against the Inquisition. These were professional soldiers I was about to face, though. They were different from monsters. I wanted to run as far away from Quorias as I could, but I was one of only two Mages here. The soldiers of Illondas needed me, and if I ran, they could very well die. I drew my wand out of its holster. Eris and Anzulminar carried a strange device that could turn into any kind of weapon they could think of. Haemon drew his staff, Lyrandrar drew his katana, and Florian planted his staff in the ground. Machine gun turrets were mounted behind the plasma barricades that could shoot through them from their side, and large, indirectly-firing cannons were positioned a few streets behind the wall to support them.

"Is it normal to be this nervous before a battle?" I asked, to Lyrandrar.

"Oh, yes," Lyrandrar answered. "But you are a very powerful Mage. You hardly have anything to be afraid of."

"Alright," I sighed. I thought about what Eris had just said to Haemon. There was something bigger than myself at stake. I jerked my head from side to side, hoping to clear my thoughts. Lyrandrar was right. I was young, but I was strong. I wouldn't die here unless I didn't fight.

"You'll be fine," Eris promised, with a hand on my shoulder. She had her strange weapon in the shape of a long glaive, and had it planted into the ground by its pommel, while Anzulminar's held the shape of a large dagger. I was sure he had his reasons to use such a small weapon in battle, but it wasn't my business what anything was used for.

"What's that?" Haemon blurted, looking into the air. I looked to where he had his eyes fixed, seeing three bright objects in the sky, with smoke trailing behind them.

"Artillery shells!" I gasped.

"Nesa!" Lyrandrar shouted, waving his hand across the sky. A dozen large Nesa glyphs appeared above the wall and the soldiers of Illondas to protect them from the enormous explosions from the large plasma shells. I covered my eyes to protect them from the bright flames from the shells crashing against Lyrandrar's barrier.

"At arms, soldiers!" Florian roared, to the soldiers behind him. Every single one of the soldiers behind the wall and plasma barricade marched forward to position themselves in a place to attack the enemy forces while still defending their city. While the smoke was still hovering over the ground, Eris suddenly warped out in front of the wall and rushed into the cloud.

"Mom!" Haemon cried. I could only imagine how terrified he must have been for his mother, but he didn't go after her. Instead, he stepped in front of the soldiers in front of the others, in case he did need to go after her.

"Who's that?" a man's voice suddenly asked, from inside the cloud of smoke. A Camnorish soldier. The same voice suddenly unleashed a blood-chilling scream, then went silent.

"Kill her!" another Camnorish soldier roared, but he was quickly killed, too. I began to hear the sounds of blades clashing and guns firing from inside the smoke, along with more screams from the enemy soldiers before their deaths. It made me glad that someone such as Eris was on our side, because if she wasn't, I would probably have been dead by now.

"Wow," I whispered. If this was Finn MacHilles' mother, I could only imagine how strong Finn himself was, and if Nato was anything like him, if she was capable of this much carnage.

"So, what do you suppose she's doing to them?" asked Florian.

"Well..." said Anzulminar.

"Knowing her, I'd say she's showing them absolutely no mercy," Haemon guessed, interrupting his father. I wasn't familiar with having animosity of any kind towards my parents, because I loved them with all my heart, but it seemed as though Haemon had nothing nice to say to or about Anzulminar. Eris wasn't a part of any pantheon of gods or goddesses, but I knew that Anzulminar was a God of Lies and Deceit. Most faiths depicted him as a shapeshifter that loved nothing more than causing trouble and making the other gods angry at each other for the hell of it. I never heard of who Haemon's parents supposedly were, but if his father was the God of Deceit, then I imagined that there would be tension between everyone he met, including his son. I wouldn't ask either of them what happened between them, though. It was none of my business. Soon, the smoke began to clear outside the fortifications, and the soldiers I stood with were aiming their assault rifles to the other side of the plasma barricade. When the smoke completely cleared, we could all see Eris walking back towards us, her white and gold armor turned completely red with blood, and even more clearly, we saw hundreds and hundreds, if not a thousand blue-armored Camnorish soldiers scattered across the entire area between the woods and the breach of the wall, dead.

"Florian," she said. "Order your indirect cannons to start firing. There's more out there than anyone can handle alone."

Florian turned to a soldier standing beside him and nodded his head, and the soldier rushed down the street that the indirect-firing cannons were positioned at. Soon after, the cannons began to fire. Any fire that was returned crashed against Lyrandrar's Nesa glyphs, leaving the cannons behind the wall untouched. It was a good thing that Quorias had been evacuated. The people living here would have been terrified by the sight of plasma shells exploding in the sky above their home. None of the soldiers of Illondas broke their ranks, even with the shells that were only being stopped by a single Silver Hawk's spells being cast. All Lyrandrar was doing was holding his hands up to where the Nesa glyphs were hovering in the air. Even as the shells exploded against them, Lyrandrar was barely flinching.

"How long will those shields hold?" I wondered.

"As long as I can keep them up," Lyrandrar answered.

"I'm guessing that's a long time," I hoped.

"This is nothing," Lyrandrar promised.

"Do you think the soldiers that Eris just killed were the brunt of this attack?" I asked.

"Probably," Lyrandrar guessed. "But if Haemon's right, there's more to come. Don't let your guard down. Don't get arrogant, but don't get scared."

As our cannons continued firing into the enemy army, and theirs continued to fire at us in return, I began to realize that this wouldn't be over any time soon. I would have to be ready for anything, and I would be. Haemon seemed to be growing anxious about something, probably about the possibility that enemy soldiers would break through the forest again. There would be soldiers prepared for any that did, along with Florian, myself, and three Ilentia warriors while Lyrandrar took care of the cannon fire.

"They don't think they can keep using this strategy and hope for the best, do they?" I asked.

"Hmm," Florian hummed. "They would probably have sent more soldiers, by now."

"But that wouldn't work, either," I said. "Unless there's something else."

Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion from the distance, away from the wall. I heard an ear-piercing roar from that same direction. Haemon had his eyes widened with terror, and he flew into the air to see what it was. I couldn't imagine what he had seen, but it must have been a frightening sight, even for him. What did King Heinrich send to Illondas with his army?