Chapter 31

The Cost

Meridian

Eric Lyndon was having a very odd day. Only a month ago, he had never been outside of Heatherfield. Now, he found himself on an alien world, helping with preparations for war. He understood very little of what was going on around him, but he could see the determination etched across the faces of the people nearby. Provisions had been stocked, and tall barricades erected. Those who could wield a weapon were given one, and those who couldn't were ushered in to safe houses and bunkers. Eric was caught up in his surroundings, and barely noticed when he was being called for.

"Hey! Earthling! Over here!"

Eric turned quickly to see a middle aged man standing over a pile of boxes and waving. The only thing that stopped Eric from thinking the man was from Earth were four boney bumps on the lower half of his face, two on each side.

"You are the Earthling, right?" The man said as Eric approached. "The one that came with the Guardians?"

"Yes sir." Eric replied, surprised that he had become so famous.

"Do you have any powers?" the man asked.

"Uh, no." Eric replied. "I'm not really sure what I can do to help."

"Do you want to help?"

"Yeah."

The man eyed Eric up and down, intimidating the boy more then he already was.

"Well, do your arms work? Can you lift things?" the man asked.

"Yeah." Eric replied once again, slightly embarrassed.

"Then help bring these arrows up to the guard tower." the man said, gesturing towards the pile of boxes at his feet.

Eric did as he was told, but took a forlorn look towards the distant battlefield as he did so. The man followed his gaze, and glanced over at the young boy.

"What's your connection to the Guardians?" the man asked.

"I'm in love with one of them." Eric replied. "I just feel so helpless."

"My son's fighting as we speak." the man replied. "So a word of advice from one who's been where you are now. It doesn't matter how much we can do, as long as we do it well. Do you job to the best of your ability, and let everyone else worry about theirs."

Eric watched the man leave, three boxes of arrows in his wrinkled hands. It was the first real conversation Eric had had with a Meridianite, but he could already tell why they were worth fighting for.

Eric added another box onto the one he already had, and began walking towards the guard tower when something in the sky caught his eye. He squinted to get a better look at it, but all he could make out was a bright light. It was getting bigger, and heading straight for the city. In fact, whatever it was, Eric got the impression it was heading straight for him…

Balsilide

Walli tried to fight through the blinding pain. His world spun as Troth pulled the blade out of his arm, and brought it up once more. Walli resigned himself to the end. He had made too many mistakes, and they were finally catching up with him. But as he waited for Troth to bring the blade down one more time, Walli noticed something sailing through the air. It was the shot from the cannon, he realized. His arrow had been too late, and the shot had been fired. As Walli watched it disappear, and watched the plume of smoke begin to rise from the city, he was no longer content to die. He was too angry.

Just as Troth brought his arm down, Walli brought his legs up. Using Troth's momentum against him, Walli sent his foe sailing over his head and off the edge of the roof. Troth landed hard on the ground below, momentarily stunned. Just as he managed to get to his feet, Aldarn's fist put him back down.

"Walli!" Aldarn said. "Walli, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Walli said, holding his right arm and getting to his feet. "The cannon?"

"It's down." Aldarn replied. "Just a second too late I'm afraid. But since you were obviously busy, I think you can be forgiven."

Both Aldarn and Walli turned their gaze towards the city. Black smoke was rising from where the projectile had hit, but both Walli and Aldarn were looking at the structure behind the smoke.

"The Castle. It stands." Walli said.

"They missed. Guess they figured they were going to get more then one shot." Aldarn said. "Still, the city, all those people…"

"What is the next plan of attack?" Walli asked, carefully lowering himself from the roof.

"There isn't one." Aldarn said dejectedly. "I'm sorry Walli, but we lost too many men clearing that path. I'm sending the rest back to the city to fortify our defenses. I suggest you round up what's left of the Honor Guard and do the same. The portal is lost."

"Retreat? A wise order." Walli said, glancing over towards the center of town, where Balken and Caleb were still fighting. "But one I think some might have a hard time following."

Caleb could feel the tides turning against him. The fires were burning low, and less and less Meridian troops could be seen in amongst the buildings. It was only a matter of time before Balsilidian reinforcements arrived to end their duel. Thinking quickly, and summoning the last of his strength, Caleb put his endgame into play.

Taking a defensive stance, Caleb allowed Balken to go on the offensive. Blocking the first few blows, Caleb waited for his moment, and then struck. He watched for one of Balken's more aggressive lunges, and then quickly sidestepped it. In a blur of motion, Caleb brought his fists down on Balken's wrist, dislodging his foe's sword as he did so. Caleb quickly spun the now disarmed Balken around and threw him against a wall. Calling upon all of the strength in his right arm, Caleb drove his sword at Balken's neck. At the last second, Balken raised his left arm and held Caleb's wrist back. The blade was tantalizingly close, mere inches from Balken's neck. Gripping the sword with both hands, Caleb put all of his weight behind the sword, and slowly but surely it began to move. Within seconds, Balken's strength would be gone and the sword would pierce his neck. Balken, however, was not without tricks of his own. He quickly reached for a dagger hidden in his belt with his right hand, and brought it into position. Both warriors were locked in a deadly race, both about to deliver a fatal blow.

Before either man could strike, a pillar of stone appeared from the ground in front of them, separating the two combatants, and sending Caleb flying backwards. Balken was flung back into the wall, where he slumped to the ground, dazed. Too involved with the battle to care where the pillar had come from, Caleb lunged once more at Balken, only to find himself restrained by vines.

"No!" He shouted, recognizing the familiar vines. "I've got him, Cornelia! I can kill him!"

"You don't need too anymore, Caleb." Cornelia said, landing beside him. "You can stop, the war is over."

"But he's right there!" Caleb pleaded. "I can end him!"

Cornelia stepped in front of Caleb, and looked her boyfriend in the eyes.

"It's over, Caleb." She said. "Killing him doesn't help anyone. But there are wounded soldiers, Meridianites, who we can help. Please, let it go. Let him go. It's over."

Caleb slumped to the ground exhausted, but alive.

"It's over."

Cornelia helped him back to his feet, and the rest of the Guardians joined them on the now quiet battlefield. Wilder and Matt, both of whom had come from Balsilide, joined them. Caleb looked up at his friends and, much to Cornelia's relief, broke into a toothy grin.

"But I could have had you!" Caleb taunted, pointing at Balken who was now dusting himself off. "You would have lost, and I would have won! Ha! Looks like the Guardians saved you for once!"

"Hardly." Balken replied. "I had my dagger ready. Another second and you would have gone down."

"What? Nonsense. You were helpless under my assault."

"You call that an assault? I've had training fights harder then that one."

"Oh yeah? Come here, you little…"

Cornelia sighed, and restrained both Caleb and Balken with vines before they could renew their fight.

"Boys." Irma said. "They truly are stupid."

"If we could try focusing on the matter at had for one second," Wilder interrupted, "Balken, are you hurt?"

"No ma'am." Balken replied. "Not severely at least."

"I'm fine too, by the way." Caleb said, folding his arms and pouting. "Thanks for asking, girls."

"Well we can see you're fine." Hay Lin said.

Cornelia smiled and gave Caleb a kiss on the cheek, which turned his smile back on.

"We will have to attend to the wounded quickly, but first, business." Wilder said. "This war is over. It never should have begun. The Guardians revealed that Rikar was seeking to start a war for financial gain. He is being put on trial for War Mongering, and is currently being held on Kandrakar, in the Tower of Mists."

Will had expected Balken to put up a fight at the sound of this news, but instead the Balsilidian warrior quietly put away his sword and sighed, more relieved then anything.

"The order to retreat is normally supposed to come from the President," Balken began, "but since Balsilide is without one right now, I'll make an exception."

"You are not entirely correct." Wilder said. "Balsilide does indeed have a President."

"Really?" Will asked, surprised to hear this, "Who is he."

"Not a he…" Wilder replied, drawing herself up to her full height.

"You?" Will replied, dumbfounded.

"Of course." Balken said. "In times of emergency, where the President is unable to complete his or her duties, the military leader takes temporary command. In this case, Wilder is President."

"Is this what you want?" Taranee asked Wilder.

"I… It does not matter. It is what it is." Wilder replied. "Now, my first order as President is for all of you to shut up and begin helping with the relief effort. Move!"

The Guardians did as they were told, and quickly began helping those they could. Only Irma went to the skies, looking for one person in particular.

"Walli!"

Irma, having spotted the archer leaning wearily against a wall, quickly flew down and landed beside him.

"Hello Irma." Walli said, "I suppose I have you girls to thank for the lack of fighting."

"Something like that, yeah." Irma said with a smile. "Thank goodness you're okay! Uh, you are okay, aren't you?"

"Yes…"

"Oh, good."

"Apart from the knife wound in my right arm from where Troth stabbed me."

"What!" Irma shrieked.

Walli revealed his right arm, which was still bleeding rapidly. Walli had torn his shirt to create a makeshift bandage, but the usually green cloth was now a deep red.

"We have to do something!" Irma said. "Don't worry, I know CPR. Well, Taranee knows CPR, but I'll get her and…"

"I would advise you to get your friends, but not for me." Walli said. "There are others who need help more then I."

Irma looked in the direction Walli was pointing and noticed a group of unconscious bodies, many of which looked very familiar. The rest of the Guardians arrived to find that of the six bodies present, two were Vathek and Raythor, while the others were the members of the R.E.G they had been fighting. All of them were still alive, but Vathek was bleeding from the head, and Raythor had burns down the backs of both legs. A medical team was quickly summoned, and both men were put on stretchers to be taken back to the city. As they left, Aldarn came to join the Guardians and Caleb.

"I appreciate your help, girls." Aldarn said, once Vathek and Raythor were taken away. "But I need you at the castle."

"The castle?" Will asked. " Why? All the fighting was here."

"Balsilide brought a cannon with them." Aldarn said. "It fired an explosive projectile, or something like that. Whatever it was, it hit the city."

"The Threbite!" Taranee said. "Will, do you know the damage that could do?"

"I was at ground zero when it exploded on Balsilide, so yeah, I've got a pretty good idea." Will said.

"Don't worry Aldarn, we'll head to the city and keep it safe." Cornelia said.

The five girls quickly teletransported to the Castle. Matt grabbed hold of Will and joined them. They took to the air once more, and looked down on the destruction below them. They could see a plume of smoke rising from a section of the city, but it looked as if the projectile had been small, and the damage was only minor. A burning blacksmith's with some rotten wood was the source of much of the smoke.

"Thank goodness, doesn't look like too many people got hurt." Matt said. "But there will still be some who need…"

"Hay Lin!"

Surprised at the sound of her own name, Hay Lin looked down to see Elyon standing below them, waving her arms madly. The five girls, followed by Matt, lowered themselves to the ground. As they touched down, they noticed that Elyon had tears running down her cheeks.

"Oh Hay Lin, I'm so sorry!" Elyon said.

Hay Lin was now quite spooked by the tone of Elyon's voice, but still had no idea what the girl was talking about.

"What is it Elyon?" Hay Lin asked.

"The projectile, I didn't know…" Elyon began.

"Elyon, calm yourself. What happened?" Hay Lin asked.

Elyon took a few moments to compose herself, and then looked directly into Hay Lin's eyes.

"It's about Eric…"