Chapter 27

Playing with Fire

Meridian

Caleb hit the wall with a thud. Sensing that his opponent was trying to press his advantage, Caleb braced himself against the wall and rolled out of the way of Balken's attack. Calab countered the charge with one of his own, but Balken blocked the swing with ease, and lunged at his foe. Caleb danced aside, only narrowly avoiding Balken's sword.

"You know, all rivalries aside, you're pretty good." Caleb said. "You would have made a great member of the Honor Guard."

"Why would I want anything to do with your Honor Guard?" Balken snarled, unleashing a fury of strikes.

"No, I guess you really wouldn't." Caleb said thoughtfully, blocking the attacks. "In fact, you don't want anything to do with Meridian at all."

Caleb tried to sweep Balken's legs out from under him, but the experienced Balsilidian merely leapt over Caleb's attack. As Balken was in mid-air, however, Caleb managed to hit him square in the nose with the hilt of his sword. Balken rolled with the hit, but backed off momentarily.

"Can you blame me?" Balken said. "Your military is weak, your Queen is inexperienced and you lack the culture and sophistication of Balsilide."

"Debatable." Caleb replied.

Caleb stepped back, allowing Balken to make the next move, which he promptly did. Balken leapt forward quickly, and the large man's speed and agility caught Caleb off guard. Caleb managed to avoid Balken's first few attacks, but was too slow to dodge the last one, which just skimmed his chest. Caleb looked down to see a small streak of red under his torn shirt. He frowned at the cut, which was only a minor wound.

"Still, none of the things you said have anything to do with why you hate Meridian." Caleb said.

"Oh? Then enlighten me." Balken said, glaring at his opponent.

"You don't want Meridian for the same reason I don't want Balsilide." Caleb said. "It's not your home."

Balken opened his mouth, but shut it just as quickly. He could not argue with this, so he decided to debate a different way. Once more, Balken lunged forward, but this time Caleb was ready. Stepping nimbly to the side, Caleb used Balken's momentum against him, and threw him to the ground.

"Must be hard, fighting for something you don't even want." Caleb said, pressing his advantage.

Balken was forced further and further back by Caleb's attacks. With each passing second, Balken's blocks got weaker, and Caleb drew closer and closer to landing a fatal blow.

"Fighting, maybe even dying, all for a war you don't even want to fight. For a leader you don't even want to serve." Caleb said, continuing the onslaught.

Balken glared at Caleb and dug into the Meridian dirt. Blocking one attack, he swung with a force so powerful that it took Caleb off guard. The ex-rebel, who had only just managed to get his sword up in time, stumbled backwards.

"Must be hard, fighting a war you cannot win?" Balken said. "For all your precious arguments, we still have the numbers advantage. And that's all that matters.

"Well, can't argue with that." Caleb said, steadying himself and getting ready to fight once more.

Balsilide

Will was very thankful that she kept her hair short as an energy blast whipped past her face. She would've had a hard time explaining to her mom why half of her hair was singed off in a firefight. She could only guess at how Cornelia managed.

The Guardians once more found themselves on the defensive against Selna. This time, however, the girls were invested in the fight, and had no intention of backing down. They still felt guilt over Selna's situation, but their friends on Meridian were suffering even more, and the girls only had one chance to save them.

"Um, Will?" Hay Lin said telepathically.

"What is it Hay Lin?" Will responded, narrowly dodging another blast. "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.

"Wait a second, Hay Lin?" Taranee said. "We need more information. What did you find? Hay Lin?"

By this time, the Air Guardian was too wrapped up in the scene in front of her, and was no longer paying attention to her friends.

"Well, that's deliciously vague." Irma said. "Guess we should head down there, but how are we going to lose Selna?

"We don't." Will said. "Let's bring her and Rikar along. I still haven't given up hope in Selna, and maybe if she found out the true reason for this war, she'll snap to her senses."

"Or kill us all." Cornelia said.

"Yeah, or that." Will admitted.

As if to prove Cornelia's point, Selna hit Will with a blast of energy that sent the girl flying through the far wall. Will sighed, finding herself face to face with the rest of the Balsilide military, all of who had their swords at the ready.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Will said, getting ready to defend herself.

Irma, Taranee and Cornelia did as they were told, and quickly flew out of the throne room and towards Hay Lin. Selna followed in close pursuit, and before long the group had reunited with Hay Lin.

"Hey everybody, feast your eyes on this!" Hay Lin said, stepping aside the contents of the room she blocked were now visable.

Inside the strange room was a large pile of glowing, green and black rocks. In the dim light, the rocks were eerily beautiful as they pulsed with energy. Even Selna stopped to admire the strange stones.

"Cool. Anybody know what it is?" Irma asked.

"Nope." Hay Lin said. "But it looks pretty awesome."

"It's Threbite." Taranee said. "Or at least, most of it is. I don't know what the black stuff is."

"Threbite?" Cornelia said. "You mean that glowing stuff miners on Meridian put in their helmets? Why would Balsilide have a pile of that lying around?"

"Because Meridian never understood its full potential." Came a voice from behind.

The four guardians and Selna turned to see President Rikar walking towards them. The girls tensed up, not sure what to expect from the Balsilidian leader.

"One of their many failings." Rikar continued, continuing towards the Guardians. "But it has lead to an opportunity for us. One we will capitalize on."

"Anybody want to tell me what's going on?" Irma said, looking confused.

"Would if I could." Taranee replied. "Threbite, or Revell as it's known here, is very rare on Balsilide but common on Meridian. It's also the reason why Mr. Jantique was murdered a few months ago. The Hurlex Corporation tried to start a war between the worlds, so that Balsilide would win, and they would have the rights to mine Meridian. And I'm guessing that the paper trail tell me that Hurlex is owned by the government."

Taranee glared at Rikar as she said this, but the Balsilidian president made no sign of concern.

"But what's so valuable about Threbite?" Cornelia asked. "I mean, it just glows, right?"

"That's what never made sense…" Taranee began.

"It does much more then glow, you simpleton!" Rikar shouted. "With the proper additions and treatments, it can become the greatest weapon in the world!"

"A weapon?" Taranee breathed, staring at the innocent looking mound of rock. "My word! If Threbite collects and stores energy, as I think it does, then releases it as light…"

"Then with enough energy it will bring much more then light." Rikar finished. "It will rain death and fire down upon Meridian, and any other world we might turn our attention to."

"It's an explosive!" Taranee said. "All of it! Selna charges it up with energy, and then they fire it at whatever they want! It must explode with tremendous force!"

"And there's nothing the 'legendary' Guardians can do about it." Rikar said. "You're not even supposed to be here, and Kandrakar will never accept any tales you tell them! Meridian is doomed!"

Meridian

With a final swing of his mighty mace, Vathek vanquished the last of the Balsilidian soldiers foolish enough to test his might. As he searched for his next target, he found only Raythor standing nearby, also looking for someone to battle. Years ago, the two men would have gladly fought each other, and even now they flinched upon meeting.

"I see you're doing alright by yourself." Raythor said wiping the blood from his blade. "Always did think you were the best fighter the rebellion ever had, Vathek. Even better then Caleb."

"No one is better then Caleb." Vathek said. "By the time this day is done, you'll remember that."

"Loyal to a fault, eh Vathek?"

"You're one to talk."

"Fair point." Raythor replied. "Now, let's get back to business. These guys I just fought were…"

"Only the beginning." Came a voice from high above the pair.

Vathek and Raythor looked up to see the archer Slyn standing on top of a half standing wall, bow trained on Vathek. Just as Slyn let his arrow fly, Raythor dove at Vathek, pushing both of them out of the way of the arrow's path. Slyn frowned and notched another arrow, but before he could, Vathek grabbed a piece of rubble and hurled it at the wall Slyn was standing on. The fragile stone wall crumbled beneath Slyn, who leapt from his ex-perch and landed gently on his feet.

"We can take him." Raythor said, reading his sword.

"But what about us?" Came another voice from behind Raythor.

Laris and Garth, the strongest two members of the R.E.G. appeared from out of the shadows, flanking Vathek and Raythor.

"I'd give it even odds." Raythor said.

"All of this for the two of us?" Vathek said. "I'm flattered you think us that much of a threat."

"Oh, we don't." Slyn said. "But it's what you are, not what you do. You're the famous Honor Guard. You inspire your troops. Remove you, and the rest of the Meridian army will surrender quickly."

"Surrender?" Vathek said. "Clearly you don't know the people of Meridian."

Garth had heard enough, and began to charge the pair. Raythor stepped quickly aside, allowing Vathek to meet Garth head on. The two collided hard, sending shockwaves throughout the broken buildings. For a second it looked as if Garth would over power Vathek, but Raythor stepped on the back of Garth's knee, felling the strongman quickly.

While this happened, Slyn and Laris began their attacks. Laris leapt into battle, while Syln fired another arrow. Acting quickly and with no time to plan, Vathek grabbed the charging Laris and used her to block the incoming arrow. The shot pierced Laris's side, and the large woman fell to the ground in pain. Meanwhile, Raythor had taken the opportunity to attack Syln. Raythor dropped the archer in two swift hits.

Far away from the battlefield, Grimm watched the fight with hatred. He was equally disgusted at how Raythor and Vathek were handling his teammates, and with how his damaged gauntlets were keeping him from helping. He glared at his faulty weapons, channeling every spell he knew into them, with no success. In desperation and anger, he gave his gauntlets a swift hit. Without warning, a powerful bolt of magic shot from the gauntlets with such a force that it blew Grimm backwards and left a smoking crater in front of him. Grimm stared at his gauntlets and smiled.

Garth, Laris and Syln had gotten back to their feet, and were angrier then ever. Raythor and Vathek retreated slightly, standing back to back and watching their foes regroup.

"Fools! Your good luck won't last forever!" Syln said, rubbing his sore jaw.

Raythor looked around at the burning builings, and at the R.E.G members readying for the next attack.

"This is our good luck?" he said, bracing himself for the coming fight.

"For us? Sadly, yes." Vathek said.

"Man, I'd hate to see the bad luck." Raythor replied.

Suddenly, a blast of energy hit the ground in front of Raythor, sending members of both teams flying through the air. Vathek coughed the smoke from his lungs and sat up to see Grimm walking towards them, gauntlets raised. Vathek turned to Raythor, who was still finding his bearings.

"That would be the bad luck."

Balsilide

Taranee had never seen a smile quite as obnoxious as the one that Rikar now wore. The girls were standing in front of the proof needed to end the war, but they were still far from being able to convince Kandrakar to act. Rikar had them dead to rights, and the all-powerful Selna was loyal to a fault. Taranee's instincts told her to fight her way out, but the mound of Threbite loomed large in her mind. One stray hit during a fight could set the whole thing off, doing untold damage to the palace and the people in it.

"When Kandrakar finds out about this…" Taranee ventured.

"If they find out about this," Rikar said, keeping his smile firmly fixed upon his face, "they'll do the same thing they always have. Nothing. Kandrakar has always been to afraid of their own power to do any real good."

Taranee was about to argue when she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. Will was flying fast and hard down the hallway, fists sparking with power. Taranee looked around to see Selna had risen up and was facing Will, fists raised. It didn't take long for Taranee to figure out what was going to happen.

"No!" Taranee said, but it was too late.

Will fired a single shot from her hands, missing Selna by mere inches. The bolt of energy flew past the young girl and hit the mound of Threbite. The group could only watch in silence as the green stones began to glow brighter and brighter…