CHAPTER 3: Unworthy Guardian

The carriage arrived at a slow halt in front of Kajor's second largest building in the city. The building had three tall towers to represent each of the Heliars that came before her father. The sun slowly descended behind the middle tower, the tallest of the three, illuminating a red sky. Thus the building of guardians adopted it's name, Eve. Eve was also the building that the dragon had...

Snapping her attention back as she jumped down out of the carriage the three women entered Eve. Once again greeted by the keepers of the building they made their way up to Ophelia, the Lady of Eve.

"Welcome, Great Helias. Ophelia of Eve greets you. Now, come to see the new arrivals." Lady Ophelia was a rather tall woman, slender in build, but voluptuous. She had come to Ipreya, the seaport of Kajor, almost 5 and a half years ago. From there she had made a name for herself. Rising in the ranks as a merchant and trader, establishing independences from the rest. She worked her way up to be one of the richest women in Ipreya and now…the owner of Eve.

Every year "new arrivals" would be brought to Eve, or guardians. Guardians were brought around since the first established Kingdom to protect the Royal Families. They would raise the guardians to protect and provide companionship throughout the royal family members' lives. Every kingdom had different guardians; A bird, a snake, and even wolves were made as guardians. However, Kajor was known for producing the strongest guardian of them all. The King Lion. The better the guardian was trained, the bigger and more powerful it would grow. In every kingdom, the rulers of that land always had the biggest guardians to signify the power that they held. The Heliar's King Lion Izul stood well over 6ft on all fours. The size of a male horse. One of the biggest King Lion's ever produced.

Lady Ophelia brought the women through the maze. Walking through elaborate landscapes and trimmed brush in the center courtyard, they finally reached their destination. There was a fenced portion that was designated for all the newly arrived guardian cubs. There the Lion cubs played and frolicked in the grass nipping and biting at each other. One little cub let out a fearsome growl right before he pounced on another. Another pulled away at the long pieces of grass in the pen.

"Cat! Look!" Nara pulled her baby sister away from the keeper and her mother to the opposite side of the fence. The two women slowly strolled behind the girls as they chatted with one another. Nara pointed at two cubs who were rolling in the brush. Cateile laughed in joy and pointed at another. There were all so many guardians and Cateile could not choose one! Well...she didn't even know how to choose one.

"Now Kitten. Which one do you choose? You must be wise in your decision. Your guardian will be bound to you for eternity, to accompany you in life...or death." Her mother Ifira reached her hand out and placed in onto her daughter's shoulder. Cat's gaze never left the pen as her eyes swept over the lot of cubs. They were all so lively. Bouncing, jumping, biting and clawing at each other. All of them so playful. All of them....the same.

Then it caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Far off in the brush, she saw him. A lion cub was sprawled out on a leaf in the brush, sleeping. He seemed as though he were having difficulty breathing. It's chest heaved and fell very slowly as it was sprawled out on it's side, paws stretched before it. The cub's body was a lot slimmer than the rest and even it's tail was a bit scrawnier.

Cateile inched her way slowly towards the fence next to where the lion lay. Leaning over the fence, she scared all the nearby cubs away from her as she stretched out her arm. The little cub raised it's head slowly, alerted by her presence. The cub's eyes were sapphire blue, holding the depth of the ocean, beautiful and serene. Letting out a sigh, the lion cub laid it's head back down again, as though out of strength.

"Him, mama. I want him."

"No, kitten. This one looks very sickly. Remember your guardian must be able to withstand your energy. It might kill it instead. It is not a fit Guardian."

"No, he's fine. Look at him!" Cateile pointed back to the little cub who had it's head lifted again, staring at her. A soft grunt left the cub's mouth as it once again plopped its head back onto its paws.

Ifira and Cateile held each other's gaze for quite a while, as though battling with their eyes. Silence took over the courtyard, besides the grunts and growls of the cubs, not a word was spoken between them. Ifira motioned to take the first initiative to break silence when a guard slowly approached her. Leaning her ear towards the guard, he whispered something in the Helias' ear that made her eyes widen a bit. Quickly fixing her composure so as not to alert the others within the room, she slightly nodded, signaling for the guard to return to his position.

"My final answer...is no. Lady Ophelia, I fear that we must return at a later date to select a proper Guardian. Xilias...Xilu come... let us go." With the slightest of nods towards Lady Ophelia, Ifira turned on her heels and made her strides towards the entrance, where their carriage was awaiting.

Cateile sat in disbelief at the abrupt refusal and departure her mother gave her. Not one bit concerned about what the guard may have mentioned to her mother, Cateile turned back to look at the cub that had captured her heart. Nara gave Lady Ophelia a courteous nod of farewell before taking Cateile's hand, dragging her sister along with her to follow her mother. Cateile took a long glance over her shoulder at the captivating cub that lay sprawled out in a deep slumber. A mischievous thought overtook Cateile as she connected eyes with one of her guards that she was familiar with. Cateile had always been certain of what she wanted and never regretted any decision she made. This time would be no different.

The Helias Ifira quickly dismounted from the carriage, ushering the guards to take her daughters to their palaces so she could meet Saith in the meeting room. She tried to quickly ascend the long steps as gracefully as she could. Panic and confusion both helped to boost her adrenaline, making her heart throb loudly in her ears.

Ifira rounded a corner, her gown clutched in both hands, slightly pulling up to prevent her from tripping. As she got closer to the hall, she could hear the Heliar's voice echoing doing the hallway from the meeting room. There was another man's voice answering to her husbands and then a loud crash from an object hitting the floor! Stopping in her tracks before the door, she signaled for the guards accompanying the room's hallway to fallback. Two guards opened the door for her before they left to accompany the other men.

"How could you not have flown a message to me!" The Heliar was pacing the room. Anger seeping into his voice, his fist balled by his side. His hunting vest had blood streaked on it, possibly from the prey he had captured.

The man was kneeling before the Heliar. His head was bowed and his eyes were tightly shut in fear. His face was familiar. Ifira recognized him as one of the guardian soldiers he had sent with their eldest daughter to Lusidor, a kingdom in the East.

"What is going on? What has she done?" Ifira slowly approached the Helias, her hand slowly lifting to steady him. Her eyes pierced his with evident concern. He flung his arm away from beneath his wife's touch, to lunge out and grab the man's shirt in his fists, bringing him to his feet.

"Let this coward tell you!" Pushing the guard free from his grasp the Heliar clinched his fist and turned away from them towards the palace window.

"I couldn't stop her, Helias. I am truly sorry. She is hard to...to control and I..I..I never foresaw it coming.....I..I...Princess Cobrantes...she...she..."

"GO ON WITH IT!" Eyes wide in anticipation, Ifira yelled at the man. She had heard from the previous guards at Eve but needed confirmation now!

"She.....She murdered the King of Lusidor....She murdered her own husband..... and took rule." Falling back to his knees with tears rolling down his cheeks, the guard slumped his head down in defeat. Ifira, stumbled backwards away from the guard, her eyes slowly leaving his face to meet her husbands', who now stared back at her. The seriousness in those eyes were enough to turn her blood cold.

"And she's coming here...as we speak." Saith stepped closer to his wife, never breaking gaze. He reached down to snatch the necklace from around the man's neck; a symbol of the oath to never break faith and complete his duties. Clutching it within his grasp, Saith growled low as he continued to stare in his wife's eyes.

"You are an UNWORTHY guardian!" Were Saith's last words to the guard, as he ushered him out to meet his punishment. Death.