Hello again! A big THANK YOU to Sokai and Lord-Squirrel for the reviews of Chapter 1; also thanks to all who actually read Chapter 1. I should also say this Fanfic is based mostly (if not totally) on the cartoon. My teachers always told me to stick with what I know when writing; I know the cartoon much better than I know the books, so…anyway, here's Chapter 2; I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. or anything associated with W.I.T.C.H.
Chapter 2
"Does everyone understand the object of the plan?" Raythor locked eyes with his fellow Knights and received affirmative nods. "Good…then move out!"
The Knights of Vengeance turned and moved towards the cave entrance, eager to fulfill Nerissa's evil will. Raythor stayed behind; he needed a little clarification before he undertook such an ambitious scheme. He waited until the others had cleared the cave, then turned and moved deeper into the large area. It was fortunate Tracker had located such a gigantic cavern; Raythor was sure you could fit the entire Palace of Meridian in just the front section. But the real beauty of the place was all the side chambers. You could wander for months and not map out the whole thing. Fortunately, Raythor knew where Nerissa would be right now. He made a right, then a left, then two more rights…he counted his turns so as not to become lost. After several minutes, he finally stood before his mistress. Her eyes were closed in meditation, and Raythor was reluctant to disturb her.
"What is it Raythor?" Nerissa asked, not opening her eyes.
Raythor dropped to one knee and averted his eyes towards the floor. "Forgive me Mistress," he said, "but I require some clarification of your plan."
Nerissa opened her eyes and stared at her field commander. Raythor was not a stupid man, but even he sometimes could be so very dense. Nevertheless, Nerissa wanted everything done perfectly, so she acquiesced. "Your questions then?"
"Mistress, much of this plan seems like just another direct assault and we already know our odds of winning in that situation are slim. What makes this different?"
"What makes this different, Raythor, is that you will be focusing on capturing a single Guardian instead of attempting to subdue them all. The bulk of your efforts will be spent on exhausting one Guardian, while a few of you distract the other four. You do not need to win Raythor; you merely must last long enough to capture one of them."
"But Mistress, it will be difficult to separate the Guardians…"
"I leave that little complication to your keen and diabolical mind Raythor."
Raythor gulped a little, but nevertheless felt a small glow of pride at Nerissa's trust. Feeling a little more confident, he asked another question.
"So you want us to capture the Water Guardian…why not simply grab the Keeper herself?"
'The Keeper of the Heart of Candracar is much too strong to be broken. She will never give up the Heart without proper….incentive."
"Then why, Mistress, must it be the Water Guardian?"
"We will need the telepathic powers of the Fire Guardian to remain free, thus it would be unwise to capture her. The Earth Guardian is vain and dislikes her role as a Guardian. She will break too quickly; the machine will not be ready in time. The Air Guardian is small and fragile…much like her grandmother was. The chances of accidentally killing her are too great. The Water Guardian has a greater sense of duty than her Earth companion, and she is more durable than the Air brat. Still…to have Yan Lin's granddaughter in my clutches…" Nerissa trailed off and looked past Raythor longingly. Then she shook her head. "No, it must be the Water Guardian."
"As you command my queen." Raythor inclined his head respectfully and rose to leave. He strode back along the twisting passages to join his teammates. He was glad for the answers Nerissa had supplied him. When she had first dictated her plan, she had been painfully vague about the details. She had simply said to capture the Water Guardian and bring her back. How were they supposed to do that without risking a direct confrontation with all five Guardians? It was comforting to know that the Knights didn't have to beat them all…just one would do. Still, how could they separate them? And what good would it do to have one Guardian and leave the other four to wreak havoc? Sure, the Guardians were weaker apart, but would they be weak enough? And what was to stop the remaining four from attempting to rescue their friend? Surely it would be just a matter of time before their hideout was discovered…and then what? It seemed to Raythor that they would be in exactly the same situation as all the other times…an eventual direct confrontation with the Guardians of the Veil. Raythor sighed and shook his head…he would just have to trust that there was more to Nerissa's plan than he was privy to.
After several minutes, he joined his fellow Knights at the mouth of the cave. His mind had been turning, trying to figure a way to separate the Water Guardian from her friends. And he thought he may have it. He addressed his fellow Knights.
"Okay," he said, "here's what we do…"
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The palace of Meridian rang with the daily activities of running a kingdom. Guards patrolled the hallways, people waited patiently for an audience with the queen, the kitchens churned out flavorful dishes for the daily meals, and the queen sat on the throne listening to the daily business from her advisors. Elyon loved Meridian and her people, but sometimes she longed for the life she gave up back in Heatherfield. She missed Cornelia and all her friends, she missed her house, she even missed school. She missed having normal teenage problems like homework, boyfriends and zits…well, ok, maybe she didn't miss zits. Still, a mountain of homework would be somehow comforting; after all it would seem…normal. Now as she tried to listen to the Chief Architect's plans for expanding the Palace's west wing to include a museum, she wondered if she would ever truly think of Meridian as home…much less normal. Not that she wasn't grateful to the Guardians for helping her regain the kingdom she never knew she had lost; she just wished they would visit more often. Sometimes she felt so isolated; being the queen definitely had its perks…but it also had its cons as well.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the doors to throne room crashing open. A farmer, exhausted, filthy, and bleeding, collapsed on the floor. Elyon leaped off her throne and ran to her fallen subject.
"Guards, get a doctor, quick!" she commanded. She knelt on the floor next to the man and checked for a pulse. As she did so, his hand closed around the young queen's wrist. Elyon gasped, but the farmer did not release her.
"Help us, Your Majesty!" he croaked. "Please…!"
Elyon's heart softened as she stared into the farmer's fear-struck eyes. "Try to be calm," she instructed him. "Tell me what's happened."
"The Knights of Vengeance, My Lady. They're burning our homes and our fields! We had no warning…our families..!"
"Rest now," Elyon instructed as the doctor arrived. "We'll take care of the Knights of Vengeance. Guards…"
Suddenly another man crashed through the doors and collapsed in like manner to the first. His story was similar to the farmer's. Over the next several minutes, over a dozen people would collapse in Elyon's throne room, each with a similar story of destruction. Elyon's eyes narrowed; not even she, the most powerful being in Meridian, could be everywhere at once. She looked up at the Captain of the Guard.
"Captain, I need you to organize your armies and handle the first six problem areas. Also, mobilize some of your men and have them patrol the general area; we need to know if the Knights have struck anywhere else. I can handle the rest myself."
"Right away my queen." The Captain bowed and turned to his duties.
Now, Elyon thought to herself, I need to find the Guardians…we're going to need their help.
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"But there's a shoe sale going on!" Cornelia complained loudly, as the Guardians walked home from school. "Do you have any idea what this means?"
"That Heatherfield is about to have a shortage of shoes?" Irma quipped.
Cornelia ignored her. "It means that I have to get to the mall right now!"
"Well hold on, I'll call my dad and see if he can get you a police escort!" Irma's dad was Sergeant Tom Lair, Heatherfield P.D. He was a little strict, but Irma usually managed to get her way.
"Ok time out you two," Will said stepping in between Cornelia and Irma before someone got physical. "Cornelia, I have a mountain of homework to do tonight and I really think we could use some practice before then. We've seemed a little rusty lately and I would rather that not be the case if something blows up in Meridian."
"Nothing is going to blow up in Meridian, Will," Cornelia pleaded. "Elyon can handle anything that comes up! Come on, she's stronger than we are."
"Be that as it may, we still need to be ready; and I'm the leader so I'm pulling rank! We practice now, and then you can go try on shoes all night."
Cornelia glared at Will, but there was no changing the redhead's mind. She resorted to pouting, and fuming quietly. Hay Lin put her slender arm around Cornelia's shoulders.
"Cheer up Cornelia; you can still shop for shoes all night."
"If you value your life, you will step away from me right now!" Cornelia growled, glowering at Hay Lin.
Hay Lin let out a small "eek" and quickly moved behind Irma. The Water Guardian just giggled and patted Hay Lin's hand.
Just then, a fold opened up right in front of the group. Taranee, who had been looking back at Cornelia's antics, nearly walked into it and had to be pulled back by Will. As the Guardians prepared for a fight, Will pulled out the Heart of Candracar, ready to transform everyone. She breathed a sigh of relief as Elyon stepped through.
"Elyon!" Cornelia cried happily. She leaped for her best friend and grabbed the Queen of Meridian in a rib-cracking hug.
Elyon laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. "I'm glad to see you too Cornelia," she replied as soon as she could breathe again. "Listen, I would love to say I just dropped in to go mall-hopping, but Meridian needs your help."
"What's going on?" Will asked, going all Guardian Leader.
"The Knights of Vengeance are stomping through the kingdom, burning and otherwise destroying everything. They've already hit over a dozen areas and I'm pretty sure they're not ready to stop now."
"Wait a second, how are they moving around so fast?" Taranee asked.
"Good question Taranee…I don't have an answer for you." Elyon replied. "All I know is they're causing great havoc and injury to my people. Please, will you come and help us?"
"Like, duh!" said Irma.
"Of course, Elyon; the Guardians are at your service!" Will answered. "Speaking of which…Guardians Unite!"
In a flash, the five teenage girls were transformed into beautiful and powerful young women. Just seeing her friends in their Guardian forms made Elyon feel better. "Great, come with me." she said.
Elyon leaped back through the fold through which she had come, followed closely by the Guardians. They arrived in the palace throne room. Elyon raised her hand and a map of Meridian appeared in the air between her and the Guardians. Over a dozen points glowed red; Elyon began to speak. "These red areas are the places we know the Knights have hit. My guards are checking these six," six formerly red areas now glowed blue, "and I intend to check these six myself," now six green glows added themselves to the map. "That leaves these few down here," Elyon continued. "Would you please investigate these areas?"
Taranee had been staring at the map and now she cocked her head. "You know, I think we can do better than that. I've noticed a pattern and I think I can estimate where those big uglies will pop up next."
Will gazed at her way-too-smart friend; she was seriously impressed with the dark-skinned girl's powers of deduction and reason. "Nice going T!" she cried, gracing her friend with a proud smile. "I think Taranee's got a good idea and we should head for…wherever. Elyon, I think you should still check out your designated areas and then meet us back here. We'll trounce the Knights, then head for the other trouble spots and offer what assistance we can. Sound good?"
"I trust your judgment Will…it's a plan." Elyon agreed.
"Alright then ladies," Will said, "Let's go kick some tail!"
Will folded her team to the area Taranee pointed out. As the Guardians flew out of the fold, a hidden Raythor smiled. "Perfect," he purred. "Everything is working out just perfectly…"
Right-o, that's Chapter 2 for you. I would really appreciate some more reviews. Even if all you do is write "it sucks," I would still be flattered and humbled that you took the time to do that. Again I would ask that you be gentle, but please let me know your honest opinions. Thanks!