Too Late

The three figures before Taran—two males and one female—did not seem at all concerned with their misfortune. In fact, the messenger stared at him defiantly, his brown eyes focused on Taran with startling intensity.

Even though dozens of wolves and lizards surrounded the prisoners with swords or claws drawn at them, they did not seem perturbed. Only the woman showed any sign of worry as she kept her head and gaze calmly averted toward the ground. The hood of her brown cloak was pulled up over her head, but of the three, only she did not seem to be a warrior.

Contrary to Taran's hopes, the messenger was human. Since the nobleman had not blocked his nose, Taran could smell the burly man's musk. It stank of hard work and humanity.

The woman had a similar though less earthy scent, but the third.

…the third had almost no scent at all. It could have just been overpowered by the intense garlic smell that threatened to choke him, but Taran did not think that was the issue.

"Trespassing?" The messenger's icy glare did not waver from Taran. "We are not the ones trespassing."

Angry, Taran surged forward and slapped the messenger with the back of his hand. The hit was so powerful that if the man had not been anticipating it, his neck could have easily been snapped by the force. As it was the messenger absorbed the hit and fell to one knee.

"How dare you!" Taran barely kept control of his senses. "Do you have any idea who you are addressing?"

"Do you have any idea who I represent?" the messenger responded, rubbing his cheek. "You have struck a representative of Her Majesty without cause."

"Bold, very bold." Taran caught himself. "Trying to make me upset and lose my temper. I should kill you just for that." His calm manner was more terrifying than his anger.

The man on his knees looked up in disgust. "Then do it, Sir Taran."

Behind the messenger, the second man flexed and took a step forward. His silver eyes flashed.

"Stop right there," Taran ordered. "Take off your cloak. Now, Guardian."

Although Taran did not know much about the mysterious group of those chosen by the Fates, he did remember the stories from the war that they could pull weapons from their magical cloaks. That is why the group had come unarmed. Their weapons were safely stowed away where no one but a Guardian could reach.

"Why should I?" the silver-eyed man was clearly not happy with the turn of events.

"Because if you do not, I will tear it off your dead corpse instead." Taran growled, and the abominations around him echoed his threat. The white wolf beside him seemed ready to surge forward and wreak havoc on the unfortunate souls who got in his way.

Reluctantly, the Guardian reached up slowly and unclasped the band. After a quick glance at the human woman beside him, he held out the garment with one hand for the lizard closest to her to snatch it away. "Be careful with that!"

Amused, the short lizard hissed and draped it over his own shoulders just to taunt the captive. The act frustrated the Guardian, but he let the matter go. Instead, he stepped forward as he had before and helped the messenger to his feet.

"Now, before I kill you three, why are you here?" Cutting to the chase, Taran crossed his arms.

"We have a message from Her Majesty, Empress Aurora, Ruler of Valiant." The messenger announced with a small flourish. His manner was familiar as was his cadence, marking him as a member of Aurora's court.

"How did you even find us?" Livie's lips were pressed into a thin line.

"I was sent by Her Majesty. She provided this location to me."

The answer only bothered Livie more, but Taran simply shrugged. "Let's get this over with. Give me the message."

The messenger turned to the woman in the brown cloak. She handed him a roll of parchment which was tightly bound. Taking the scroll, the man removed the royal seal and unrolled it slowly.

He looked at the page for a long time. Then he cleared his throat.

"Well?! What does it say?" Taran boomed.

"Surrender."

The nobleman rolled his eyes. "Yes yes… what else?"

"Nothing." The messenger turned around the page. Only one word was written.

"How can that be all?" Livie chewed her lip contemplatively, nearly cutting it with her sharp teeth.

The Guardian broke in, "What were you hoping for? Negotiations?"

"That would be wiser than the garbage she sent instead." Taran looked down on both the epithet and those who had brought it.

The messenger released a low growl, seeming ready to attack Taran for his spiteful words. The woman flinched and the Guardian laid his hand on the messenger's shoulder to calm him.

Shooting a baleful glance at the woman and man, the Guardian proceeded. "Since you seem not to appreciate brevity, allow me to explain the Empress's offer. Her Majesty would like to extend to you the chance to surrender peacefully. She will help your troops find a cure for their ailment and give each one a fair trial. As long as they have not hurt anyone, their punishments will be lenient."

"Ailment? Peacefully? Is she really so blind?! She has already surrendered to the enemy and has gone so far as to become one of them. There will be no peace with Her Majesty as long as she chooses those with magic over her own people." Taran was seething.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and then smiled darkly. "As for the ailment of which you speak, it is anything but a sickness. It is the solution, Guardian. The war taught us one thing: we are defenseless against magic wielders. But not anymore. Now we have power too. And with it, humans will never have to fear being helpless again."

"You reject the Empress's offer then?" The messenger rolled up the paper, which had crumpled slightly during his frustration, and tucked it under one arm.

Taran sneered, "Ha! Quite an offer. Though not a tempting one. You must take me for a fool. We both know there is no truth in Her Majesty's words. If the Empress had been the least bit sincere then she would have come herself."

"But brother, you are a fool," Livie said icily. "You have been talking to the lapdogs instead of their mistress."

Taran tilted his head to one side and arched his brow. "Mistress?"

"The looks for confirmation, the silent orders. They have only been doing as they were told. You really didn't see it did you?" The noblewoman chuckled humorously. She turned her gaze to the woman in the brown cloak. "Overlooked and ignored unless they need us. Men never do see us unless we have cleavage or a crown, do they, Your Majesty?"

From beneath the shadow of the cape, two blue-flecked eyes shot up to meet the other woman's gaze. Sliding back her hood, Aurora's fiery hair seemed to be set ablaze in the sunlight. A wry smile graced her delicate face.

"Perceptive," the Empress did not deny Livie's claim. "Do you still think me insincere, Sir Taran? I will place my offer with my own lips. Let us end this now peacefully and let us cure your people of the madness overtaking them."

Taran shook his head. "You are too kind, Your Majesty. And by that I mean you have kindly chosen to die by my hand. I am glad Livie failed back in Oblivion so I could have the honor of sending you to the Maker myself."

The two men with Aurora tightened their stance in front of her, ready to defend their ruler.

"Do you feel the same?" Aurora turned to Livie. "You do not have to take the same course he does. You are your own person."

"The War on Magic took the only thing that promised me any joy. I fully intend to see both it and you burn for those crimes." Livie refused easily.

"I am sorry to hear it. I had hoped you would be reasonable."

Livie tried to understand the Empress's confidence. She was surrounded by abominations ready to tear her apart.

Under each bandana, a gaping maw was ready to bite into her or tear off her head. In fact, they all had bandanas...even the white wolf who had come to fetch them. The rest of the camp was not nearly so uniform.

And each had one of those special nose plugs. None was using dirt or pieces of fabric to block their nose. Alarms rang in the lady's head. Livie's eyes opened wide as she put the pieces together. She had recognized the wolf from a previous encounter, but not the one she thought.

He had been the one to destroy her siege machine in Oblivion.

Which meant..."It's a trap!"

Her warning came too late.