The Guardians (draft 2)

Chapter 24

 Briar sprinted through the castle hallways, Officer Adams, hot on her heels. "I can't believe Shadow is back and with a message from the King of Edarek. I hope it's a good thing." Briar panted as she came to a halt outside of the library, where Adams said the queen wanted to talk. Briar stopped to catch her breath, quickly composing herself before she entered.

Lumina was sitting on a couch, the unopened scroll sitting on her lap. Opal sat up on a large ledge near the ceiling that was obviously made for a dragon her size.

"Briar, it's good to see you again come and sit down. We are just waiting for Ray."

"Ugh fine, this is important, he should be here by now." Briar mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you have against Ray? You only just met the boy."

"He is too bubbly. I don't like bubbly people. I was hoping it would be someone a lot quieter."

"Oh stop whining Briar, he is just excited to be here. He wouldn't stop talking about how excited he was to meet you on the carriage ride here. He is really looking forward to training with you and maybe one day ruling Lyera with you. Please try to be nice to him. You are going to have to get used to him being around. I will admit it, he can be a lot to handle, but there is no needs to be so rude to him." Lumina lectured. Briar grumbled apologies, but kept her mouth shut other than that.

After a moment Raymond came walking into the room... No it wasn't distinguished enough to be walking. It was more like an energetic bounce or maybe a frolic. "I can't believe the King of Edarek wrote back! This is so exciting! I wonder what it says! Read it, Lumina read it!"

"Slow down Ray, come sit down and I will read it. Next time when I send a guard or someone to you with an urgent summon, please try to come faster. Lumina told Raymond. "Ok let's see what the King has to say."

Dear Queen Lumina,

I am very intrigued about your offer, I am surprised to be hearing from you and learning that the dark element was with you. I thought you Lyerans usually just killed them off, but change is good. You are right when you guess that Edarek was created by King Adrian and that I am the dark element of yours and my generation. I would love to meet with you to have a chat and hopefully come to an agreement of some sort. Meet me at our border in the Spine when the full moon is at its highest peak. You may only bring five people with you including yourself. If I see more than that, then I will take this meeting as a threat and all deals will be off. I will also bring a maximum of five people to keep it fair.

I looked forward to finally meeting you Queen Lumina, hopefully this meeting can satisfy both sides.

Sincerely,

King Rowan of Edarek.

"Well that was interesting. Who are you going to take with you, Queen Lumian?" Raymond asked excitedly.

"That was very interesting indeed. Well, I am glad that he agreed to meet with us, and he openly admitted that he is the dark element which is also good. I will decide who to bring closer to the date. It is still a week away if I remember correctly. What do you think Briar?"

"I don't know. It seems weird that he openly admitted that he is a Dark Element. It could be a trap, I would suggest bringing your strongest fighter, maybe even the four Guardians. Actually, no, that's too convenient. Making it exactly five people, which is enough for you and the four Guardians. Don't bring them. Maybe you shoulnt even go. Just send a representative or something."

"I have to go Briar, but I will think about what you said. Thank you for your input, you are both dismissed."

Later that night Briar found herself wandering the castle. The hallways were dark besides a few dimly lit lanterns and the castle was quiet and peaceful. Briar had tossed and turned for an hour desperately trying to sleep, but like usual, her brain was the noisiest at night. She had passed a couple patrolling palace guards but they had all left her alone and normally Adams would have insisted on following her around the castle, but he was off that night so a different guard had been watching her. Naturally she dismissed him and didn't let the new guard follow her around. Most people listen when I ask them to leave me alone. Stupid Adams always ignores me.