The Guardians (draft 2)

Chapter 29

  Briar sat with her arms crossed staring intently at Thorne as he finished his story. Aspen had told his side when he had arrived back at the camp, and it matched up with Thorne's. As much as she hated it, she sensed that Thorne was telling the truth. I shouldn't trust him. He's a Griffen, but he seems sincere. Maybe the fire element is with Edarek. Maybe not on purpose though. Raymonds right, I shouldn't be so quick to judge. I have to practice being friendly.

Briar watched River get up and angrily storm off, Raymond stood and went to follow him, but Briar grabbed his arm and shook her head.

"Leave him be Raymond. He's in a rough situation right now."

"But I want to help him." Raymond replied, staring after River longingly.

"You totally like him!" Briar said, poking Raymond.

"What? No I don't. I can just see a kind and scared person under all the anger. He's worried about his sister and I want to comfort him."

"Okaaaay." Briar said, giving him a side eye.

"Well you like Officer Adams."

"No I don't. Ben and I are just friends. He's the first nice person I met at the palace other than Lumina." Briar responded, glaring at Raymond.

Lumina elbowed Briar, signaling with her eyes to pay attention. Briar quietly apologized and focused back on the rest of the group.

"I had suspected that King Rowan's meeting with me could be an attack, but I will go anyway. I need to get as much information as possible and maybe he will have Ashe with him. Plus, then I could see if he has an amulet like Aspen mentioned and possibly trade for it. "

"Who will you take to the meeting, your majesty?" The big Plant Guardian said.

"I'm not sure yet Forrest. I think I will take Briar and Raymond for sure. You four seem like too obvious of a choice. If I had the option I would have liked to take my General and a trusted soldier, but my General has betrayed me and has now vanished and the soldier I would have taken is recovering from serious injuries."

Briar winced slightly, still feeling terrible about having to leave Ben behind. He was recovering well and Briar had basically begged Lumina to bring him to the camp to heal, but she had refused.

"Wait, what happened with my father?" Aspen said, wringing his hands in worry.

"He and a few other soldiers attacked Briar. Luckily Raymond was there and he came to warn me. We locked him and his followers up, but Cliff Griffen escaped and I'm assuming he will try and go back for his remaining followers."

"I- I think I might have seen him in the camp I was held prisoner in. I can't be sure, but he was wearing his gold armour and I slightly heard his voice. He was talking with King Rowan. They must have been working together from the start. He could be responsible for sending the scroll to you saying that I was working for Rowan. He's always had it out for me and probably even more so if he knew that I had 'let myself get captured'".

"Hmm, that's very interesting news to work with. Thank you Aspen. Sky, Aspen. You are dismissed. I must speak with the current Guardians to decide what to do. Briar and Raymond, you two may stay. This will probably involve you."

"So we have to figure out what to do about the meeting. It's most likely a trap, but we need to get info." Sol said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"It's five days until the requested meeting time. Is there any chance we can have a battalion or a company ready by then?" Rain asked.