Chapter 12 Guards and Guides

"Tegan! Tegan! Did you hear, did you? Did you see her?" Lydia ran through the scattered, sleeping military encampment. She leapt over one of the sleeping footman. He woke with a start and muttered a few cures under his breath before returning to sleep. Lydia kept running towards Tegan who sat alone around a small fire with a warm cup of tea.

"Did you see her, Tegan?" Lydia asked again, as she sat down across from her. "Did you see the Eletian? Oh gods, she was beautiful. Tall and lean and she had the smoothest skin that shown like the moon! Her hair was so silky and long. And the way she carried herself..." Lydia bit her lower lip.

Tegan just raised an eyebrow and offered her friend some pine tea.

"Oh you had to have seen her." Lydia said stubbornly.

"What did she have to say?" Tegan asked into the fire.

Lydia put her fists on her hips and made a pouting face. "Fine. I'll tell you what she said, but don't be surprised when I don't listen to you next time something strikes your interest."

Tegan rolled her eyes with a slight smile.

"She spoke with King Zachary and I heard rumors that the Eletians were to meet us at the Wall."

Lydia fell silent. There it was.

No one talked about the wall or the Blackveil forest. Too many of them were going to, most likely, loose their lives in that condemned place. The Green Riders were getting cross looks from many footmen because the riders got to "lay back" in the Wall's towers. Each tower was to have two riders in it who were accompanied by two guards. Tegan was Lydia's mentor so they were partnered together to be in the same tower. Their two guards, well...

"Aw shit! Our two greenies are havin' a piss-my-life sulking session." Gaelic, a rather attractive curly blonde, came over and slapped a hand down on Lydia's shoulder. Ash, a female guard with a pitch black pixie cut, just smiled and sat down next to Tegan.

"What's got you two down in the crappy dumps, today?" Gaelic asked.

"Well, for starters, your language is appalling and sure can cripple a good mood." Lydia snapped.

"You just need to relax!" Gaelic put his arm over Lydia's shoulder.

"It would be so much easier to relax if I didn't have this slimy snake over my shoulder." Lydia shrugged off Gaelic's arm with a look of disgust.

"Damn. The pretty ones are always so vicious . Ain't that right, Ash?"

Ash just snorted in amusement.

"Wait," Lydia leaned over and reached into her pack. "I got just what you need."

"Hell, yes. You got all that I need." Gaelic eyed Lydia's backside as she rummaged through her bag.

"Oh, you perv!"

"Just Stop it, Gaelic!" Tegan and Ash laughed out at the same time.

Tegan was starting to enjoy these new friends and the show they put on.

"Here." Lydia threw a bar of soap into Gaelic's lap.

"What's this for?" Gaelic picked up the bar and examined it.

"It's soap. So you can wash your mouth out." Lydia crossed her arms and nodded as if finishing the subject for good. Tegan chuckled to herself.

To Tegan's surprise, Lydia wasn't over exaggerating when she described the Eletian's beauty. The Eletian's name was Evie, a messenger of sorts to the king. She was to be our guide to the D'Yer Wall. Apparently it was Elt protocol. Tegan didn't care much. One Eletian won't hurt anyone. . . Well this one wouldn't anyways.

A few of the senor riders were called to the debriefing. Tegan, Yates, and Ty stood, representing the Green Riders, across from the other military men of status. The tent, the King's tent that is, wasn't extravagant or large for that matter, but Zachary's presence still dominated the attention.

He was dressed in casual trousers and a white shirt. The only colors that stood out were the green of the riders and the blue of the Calvary. And of course the ever-changing cloak of Evie. Over the tightly woven black trousers with silver lining and plain shirt, the cloak's color flickered and pulsed as if smoldering ashes were caught in the stitching. It wasn't gaudy, just a fluctuation between coal blacks, burnt greys, and gracious oranges.

King Zachary sat in a slightly elevated chair with the fiery Captan Mapstone to his right and the Eletian to his left. Skipping the formalities, gods be praised, King Zachary got right to the point.

"Lady Evie, as most of you have heard, is going to accompany us for the last leg of our journey. We have come to an agreement, the Lady and I, that she would have a guide of her own through our camp."

The emotionless facade Evie wore fell for a split second into a wince, which told Tegan that the Eletian wasn't to happy about being paraded around by a mortal. Zachary wasn't gong to give the Eletians the least bit of slack.

After a short pause the king opened his arms. "Any volunteers?"

No one stepped forward. Suddenly the meeting got awkward. Tegan shifted her weight impatiently.

Just as Zachary was about to conjure up something to say, the Captan stepped up.

"I volunteer my services. Rider Newland?"

Taking his usual stiff step forward, Ty said, "I would be greatly honored to..."

Before he could finish his acceptance speech,Yates took a step up and gave Ty a friendly pat on the back. "Ty seems to have a lot on his plate already. Our Rider Newland has to mind twelve other novice riders. If your Majesty and Captan Mapstone don't mind I would like to take the extra weight for my esteemed colleague."

The King looked to Mapstone, who nodded, then he gave Yates his approval. The two men stepped back into ranks on either side of Tegan. As the king went on with the plans for the rest of their journey to the wall, Ty whispered so only Yates (and unavoidably, Tegan) could hear, "Thank you, Yates. But how did you know I felt... Overworked?"

'Overworked' felt strained from Ty's tongue, butYates replied with a wink "There's a wrinkle in your uniform."

Ty hissed through his teeth and tried to iron out the single creese in the lower left-hand corner of his shirt. Tegan snickered. For the remainder of the meeting, Yates and she had the true honor of watching Ty fret over his uniform malfunction.

Okay I tried to make this chapter a little bit longer, but it's kind of hard for me to tell the length considering the change in format. I hope you like it. I have been having fun writing about Tegan and Lydia. Something tells me that Lydia and Gaelic's relationship is going to be very amusing. Thanks for reading! Please feel free to critique!

Shine on,

Key4ana