Chapter 26

Art of War

Meridian

Walli stood on the shattered roof of a building, surveying the mayhem below him. An hour ago, this village was tranquil and abandoned. Now, it had exploded into fire and smoke, with the sound of clashing steal echoing through the red sky. He was responsible for this, Walli thought to himself. It was his hands that had crafted the scene before him.

It wasn't the first time that a city had burned because of Walli's decisions, nor was it the first time men had died because of them. The memories of those men haunted Walli's thoughts on a daily basis, but he had learned to use them. Before, the memories had brought pain and doubt, but now they served only to strengthen Walli's resolve. And while this new battle would be sure to forever live in Walli's mind, it still felt different. He felt no shame in this fight. He did not regret his decision, and he had learned long ago not to dwell on the past. Only the present mattered, and presently all he could do was notch an arrow, and let it fly into the next wave of Balsilide soldiers.

It was an easy target for Walli to hit, and he did so with ease. Their intelligence had been accurate, and Walli estimated that 5,000 men had passed through the portal. Meridian only had 1,500. But Walli was only interested in one of the 5,000, the one that posed the greatest threat to himself, and the one he was sure to meet quickly. But where was…?

"Walli!"

Troth. The brother of Hoth, the man Walli had killed less then a week ago. Walli had known that Troth would seek him out as soon as the fighting started, but Troth had still managed to take him by surprise.

Walli saw Troth a second to late, as the R.E.G member kicked out the supporting wall of the building Walli was standing on. As the building started to collapse, Walli leapt from his perch, hitting the ground with a role. He attempted to retrieve an arrow from his quiver, but Troth was already upon him. Only Walli's quick reflexes allowed him to avoid Troth's sword.

"Murderer! My brother shall be avenged!" Troth said, lunging again.

Walli said nothing, but easily avoided Troth's attack. Troth was emotional, and his attacks were clumsy, but he still wielded a sword while Walli was left holding only a lone arrow. Troth swung again, but Walli ducked and slashed at Troth with the arrow, slicing a cut running the length of Troth's chest. Troth jumped back and grunted with pain. Now beyond angry, the Balsilidian searched for his target, but could not find Walli. Carefully, Troth strode through the rubble, searching for the archer's whereabouts.

Walli wiped the blood off his arrow, and peered out slowly from behind his hiding place. With so many damaged buildings, the hiding places were nearly infinite for a master archer such as himself. Although he bore Troth no ill will, and in some ways sympathized with his anger, Walli knew what had to be done. He trained his bow on Troth, and let his arrow fly. Much to Walli's surprise, the arrow stopped midflight, only inches from Troth, and shattered into pieces. Troth turned and smiled at the look of confusion on Walli's face.

As Troth restarted his assault, Walli's mind worked furiously. He had fought long enough to know that the only thing that could stop an arrow like that was magic. Walli ducked under Troth's sword and rolled into a series of half standing pillars that had supported a now destroyed building. Walli used the rubble to keep his distance from Troth, and used the extra time to think. There were only two people that he knew of on Balslilide that could wield magic. The first was Selna, but Walli doubted that she would use her powers for merely protecting Troth, and that if she was in the battle, they would have all noticed by now. The only other option then, was Grimm, the sole magic user that the R.E.G. had. Grimm used two gauntlets as the source of his power, and while Grimm himself was hidden, Walli suspected the shiny gauntlets would be hard to hide.

Troth's attacks were relentless and Walli was given no time to breathe or relax. A streak of silver was all that could be seen as Troth's sword sliced through the air, getting closer and closer to Walli each time.

"It is time for you to pay for your sins." Troth said. "My brother will know peace at last."

Walli was only half listening, as he had just noticed a spark of light in one of the distant shadows. As Troth lunged once again, Walli evaded and went on the attack. In the blink of an eye, the nimble archer scored two hits to the back of Troth's knee and head. Troth was stunned just long enough for Walli to draw his bow back, arrow locked in place, and aimed at Troth.

"I'm sorry about your brother, I truly am." Walli said, " But right now, I'm not worried about you."

Before Troth could react, Walli fired his shot just over Troth's head. It sailed through the air briefly, before making contact with the right arm of Grimm, standing hidden in the distance. Walli had seen the reflection of light of one of Grimm's gauntlets, and had fired his single shot perfectly in its direction. The arrow hit and shattered Grimm's right gauntlet, and left the mage holding his arm in pain. Troth clearly wanted to continue the fight, but with his protection now gone, he could only flee back to the Balsilide army before Walli could notch another arrow. Walli watched Grimm hobble back to his own camp, effectively removed from the battle. One down, Walli thought. Only 4,999 to go.

Balsilide

Taranee stared down nervously at the four guards lying at her feet.

"Uh, you didn't…"

"Relax." Cornelia replied. "They'll wake up with headaches, but they'll wake up."

"Good." Taranee said. "Most of these people are innocent, so let's not hurt anybody we don't have to. Ready Will?"

Will was staring at the large wooden doors in front of her. Eyeing them up and down, she took a deep breath, and sighed.

"You know," she said, "my mother always told me to knock before I entered someone's house uninvited."

Will channeled the powers of the Heart, and released them as a blast of quintessence energy. The doors were blown back off their hinges, sliding into the Balsilide throne room and revealing a group of guards and President Rikar, all of who were very surprised. Will couldn't help but smile.

"Knock knock."

Rikar's expression quickly turned from surprise to anger.

"Seize them!" He yelled.

Most of the guards stationed in the throne room at the time had only heard about the Guardians, and had never actually seen the girls in action. Not knowing any better, they rushed headlong at the Guardians, attacking them as they would any other intruder. Within seconds, the four Guardians had disarmed and dispatched the guards, making sure not to hurt any of them too seriously. Once they were done, Will quickly flew at Rikar, grabbing him by the neck.

"Not really in the mood for playing games." Will said. "A lot of good people, some of which are my friends, are fighting and dying and I want to know why."

"You do know why." Rikar responded. "You were there when Walli killed Hoth. You know that we have every right to be fighting this war. There's nothing you can do to stop this."

"Oh come on." Will said. "We all know that this war has little or nothing to do with Walli, so why don't you just…"

Suddenly, and with a loud bang, the set of doors at the far end of the throne room burst open and in walked Selna, Heart of Balsilide dangling around her neck.

"Guardians! Run back home before I'm forced to hurt you!" Selna said.

"Hold that thought." Will said to Balken, dropping the Balsilidian president.

"Sorry Selna, but we're done with running." Taranee said.

"Very well." Selna said. "Then finally your end has come."

Will smiled internally as she braced herself for battle. Everything was going exactly how she had expected, and it was time to let the fifth member of the Guardians know about it.

"Hay Lin, you there?" Will asked telepathically

Deep within Weldrick Palace, Hay Lin waited patiently, invisible to the people walking past her. She had been waiting there for a couple minutes, and was beginning to get restless.

"Yes, of course I'm here." Hay Lin replied. "Has Selna shown up yet?"

"Just did. Her attention is focused on us, so the palace is all yours." Will said.

"Good. I'm starting my search." Hay Lin said.

"Do us a favor and be quick." Will said. "I don't think Selna's playing around."

Hay Lin didn't respond, but did sigh internally. As she started to wander invisibly down the halls, she began to realize just how big Weldrick Palace was. This may take longer then she thought…

Meridian

Were it not for the fires burning all around, and the growing number of men falling in battle, one could easily be forgiven for finding Caleb and Balken's duel beautiful. The two participated in less of a fight, and more of a dance, spinning and leaping through the burning city. Each lunge was met with a block, and each attack met with a counter-attack. Moves were timed to perfection, each warrior representing the best of their respective worlds.

"Have you ever tried ice skating?" Caleb said over the sound of clashing swords.

"What are you talking about?" Balken grunted, dancing away from Caleb's slice.

"Ice skating." Caleb repeated. "You put some blades on the bottom of your feet, and you slide around a frozen pond. I know, it sounds weird, but once you try it…"

Balken charged forward, driving Caleb through the remnants of a nearby wall. Both men went flying through the air, hitting the ground with a series of thumps. Balken grabbed a loose piece of rubble as he landed, and hurled it at Caleb. The ex-rebel only just managed to move his head out of the way of the speeding projectile.

"So, I'm going to take that as a no for ice skating." Caleb said, regaining his breath.

Balken was angry, and once more charged at his foe, but this time held Caleb up against a wall instead of throwing him threw it. With Caleb pinned, Balken brought up his sword and drove it towards Caleb's head. Only at the last second did Caleb manage to get his arms free and block Balken's wrist, the blade mere inches from his face. But it was taking all of Caleb's strength just to keep it there, and the tip of the blade was moving slowly towards its target.

"Has everyone ever told you that you talk to much?" Balken asked.

"Oh, all the time." Caleb replied, struggling to keep the sword away. "Elyon says it every day. But the thing is, I'm a nervous talker. And considering what type of stuff we have to deal with on a daily basis, I'm pretty much always nervous, or at the very least excited. So now it's just instinct. Words come out of my mouth without me even thinking about them."

"Clearly." Balken said.

"Shut up. The point is, it doesn't take any energy for me to talk, but it does for you to listen. And that means you're paying attention to what I'm saying," Caleb reached down with his free arm and grabbed a piece of loose rubble lying at his feet, "and not what I'm doing."

Claeb lifted his newly found weapon and slammed it against the side of Balken's head with all of his might. Balken staggered backwards, screaming and holding his head.

"Ah, misdirection." Caleb said, grinning and gaining his breath. "Where would I be without you?"

"Six feet under." Balken growled. "Which is where you'll be after I'm through with you!"

Balken lunged forward, and the dance continued once more.

Balsilide

Hay Lin was getting more and more nervous with every passing room. As she scanned another long hallway, it dawned on her that she could potentially be looking for nothing. The girls had assumed that there was some sinister motivation behind this war, but it was just a hunch. It was just as likely that there was nothing for Hay Lin to find in the Palace. And if that was true, then all they had done was waste their time, alienate Kandrakar, and leave Meridian to…

Hay Lin shook her head and marched down the hallway. No use thinking about it, she told herself. The only thing she could do now was to go through as many doorways as possible, and hope she found something. As she was thinking this, she noticed two men standing at the far end of the hallway. She had seen guards walking the hallways before, but these two were different. They weren't patrolling, they were… guarding, Hay Lin realized. And if there was something worth guarding, then there was something worth looking at.

"Sorry." she said, walking up to the guards.

Still invisible, she removed the air from around the guards' heads, until they noiselessly passed out. Checking briefly to make sure the guards were all right, she used a powerful blast of air to blow the door open. As she stepped inside, she wasn't quite sure what to make of the scene in front of her.

"Um, Will?" Hay Lin said telepathically.

"What is it Hay Lin?" Will responded. "We're a little busy right now. Did you find something?"

"Yeah, definitely something." Hay Lin said. "But I'm not sure what. I think you're going to want to take a look at this."

"We're on our way." Will said.

Hay Lin stepped back to get a better look at the room. She was pretty sure she had found what she was looking for, but that didn't make her nearly as relaxed as she might have hoped. In fact, she had a nagging feeling that things were about to get a lot worse.