The Guardians

Chapter 16

Neve's ability to blend in with the shadows had been her saving grace. She was glad that Lyra had been able to escape, although she wasn't sure of Grace, Kara, and Lex. She hadn't seen the three spellcasters since the battle. She shuddered at the thought of what would happen to any of them had they been caught. Neve was the only other Guardian that knew that Aiden and Lyra had escaped with Faeren. It had broken her heart to find Faeren's sword marking the grave several leagues from the battlefield. She and her brothers had owed Faeren their very lives. He'd saved all three of them from a wrongful execution. They were actually innocent of the assassination they'd been accused and convicted of. They had been betrayed by the guild master of the Shadeaux Rouge and had the nooses around their necks when Faeren intervened, much to the annoyance of the executioner. Prince Jareth had been amused by it. King Mael stayed the executions citing that if they passed their Trials, he would pardon them. If they didn't, they would return to the gallows and have their sentences carried out. Their skills had helped them greatly. She was eternally grateful to Faeren. She slipped past the gallows and the pillories in the courtyard and relieved a guard of his purse in the process. She wasn't sure where Aiden and Lyra would head. She made a random guess and headed east.

~~~

Aiden knew there was something about Lyra that he just couldn't figure out. The cut on her cheek had healed much too quickly and the gash on her arm was now just a scratch. Was she sneaking some kind of healing potion when he wasn't looking? He couldn't just outright ask her. That would be rude. But she made him curious. He finally thought of a subject to breach.

"How did you catch Faeren's eye?" Aiden asked.

"Hmm?" She'd been gazing into the fire, deep in thought.

"How did Faeren find you?"

"I was a guard that didn't follow orders. My commanding officer was giving me a tongue lashing for disobeying a direct order. Had I not, everyone in my patrol would have been killed. I saved him from having to explain to a dozen or so mothers and wives why their sons and husbands died. Faeren overheard the reprimand and requested to recruit me."

"Because you don't listen?"

Lyra laughed. "Because I saved a dozen lives without any regard to my own. The captain and I had never seen eye to eye so I'm sure he jumped on the chance to be rid of me."

"Why?"

She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, he didn't agree to his predecessor's decision to allow me into their ranks. I served as a local lord's guard. My father... was forced to work for a rival lord because of a debt. He sent him to assassinate the lord and he was forced to take me along to protect me from his employer. He'd killed my mother and threatened to make me do... um... very unladylike things if my father didn't do as he was told. The guards caught my father and the lord ordered his execution. My father begged the captain to take me in as a squire and not let me be forced to serve the Lord in his house. I think he was afraid that his employer would try to come and claim me as his."

"So you served as a guard for the man who killed your father?"

"What choice did I have? It was be his guard or be a whore. To me the choice was easy."

"So the new captain didn't think you should have been a guard."

"Because of my father. He never did say who sent him. And I was afraid for years that if I revealed it, I would be hanged as well as an accomplice. You are the first person that I've told." She threw a stick into the fire. "What about you?"

"Faeren found me in an orphanage. He frequented them often. He knew talent could be found in the oddest places and he had a bit of a soft spot for orphans. He took about six of us. Four of us passed the Trial. I'm a bastard and my mother died when I was very young. I barely remember her. I spent a good portion of my life in that orphanage."

"I guess we both have that in common."

"We orphans got to stick together," Aiden said with a grin.

Lyra grinned back. "That we do."