Her Heart, His obsession

21. To Fight or To Surrender

Donavan was sitting on his usual seat amongst the Council of the Guardians waiting for the Elders to arrive. The healer coven, Evelina, Keith, Ethan and Lydia were also given special places to sit alongside the council. The Alaskans were well informed of the services of the new arrivals and made sure to make them feel welcome. These highly respected guests were even given the liberty of speaking as long as they wished in this important meeting. This was an honour that even Donavan was not allowed. All members of the council of the guardians and the elders were always given allocated limited time.

Donavan was looking around the crowed of people watching them intently in the massive closed roof arena. The arena was part of a large set of safe compounds which were centries old and heavily guarded against spies and outsiders by the most ancient spells.

There was quite a big audience for a public debate. Even many people were turned down from entering the arena out of security fears. The outcome of the decision was going to be broadcast through messenger spheres all over alaska immidiately after the meeting. But many still wanted to witness the discussions that could change their faith drastically. Donavan was feeling cold out of nerves. He looked at the section in the crowed that housed the Alaskan pack of werewolves. They were sitting silently awaiting the elders to make their entrance and start the life changing discussions. Donavan felt that he was too young for this. He was the youngest member of the council of guardians and hoped that his voting today would not bring doom and destrtuction to his people.

The wait was over as the golden cloaked elders entered the arena one by one. Donavan smiled at his mother, Prudence who was walking with her calmness and elegance. She waved at him and gave him her warmest smile.

Prudence was an independent and powerful woman. Her marriage to her ex-husband Marcus had made her even more determined to commit herself to a lifetime serving people who could use her protection as an elder. Her role meant that she had to work alongside the elders and the council of the guardians to oversee law and order in Alaska which was a 24 hour job. Her responsibilities in punishing the guilty had made her alot of enemies and she was sure she was on Dante's most wanted list. However, the risks in her job were not worrying for her.

The only part of her job description that troubled her was her lack of contact with Donavan. She would have liked to spend every minute guiding her son and supporting him but too bad the calling of her duties were too strong. Instead, she had to rely on her loving husband, Andreas to be Donavan's full time parent. She was hardly ever at home when her duties were restricted to Alaska's borders. Also when She had to travel with the elders around numerous territories, it had created further distance between her and the only son she was allowed to see.

The thought of the time when she was forced to leave Dylan at the care of her ex husband Marcus, brought chills down her spine. She had no choice. Her husband, as a highly ranked army commander had made that, she did not get the right to have his custody. The laws in Arkansas had also obstructed any divorced parents to take their offspring away from their homeland.

Even when she had taken Donavan to Arkansas, the border controls had interrogated her fiercely about why she had chosen permanent residence in Alaska when herself and her son had Arkansan blood through their veins. They were lucky for the official papers that the elders had signed that she was an apprentice elder, even though she had passed her assessments with flying colours already. She had already lost one of her sons to the the Ronas dynasty protocols. Now that she was living far away, she hated to think that she had lost another son but only to a good hearted force like the council of guardians.

She had promised herself that once Donavan turned 21 she was going to convince him to take the entry tests to join her Elder Council (short for "ElderTree Protector" Council). They were an ancient society sworn to protect the existance of magic in their natural habitat from forces with dark intentions. Their values were close to the guardian council only more peaceful and diplomatic. She had long put away her hard feelings over, the council of guardians attracting him or rather ordering him to join them. They mainly participated in front line military action and any form of defence of Alaska's borders but the ElderTree Protectors weren't obliged too. Therefore it had unsettled Prudence at first to watch her son put into a position of such high risks of capture and death.

Now, Prudence had a dilemma. If she voted for fighting, her son was going to be condemned to confront Ronas's invincible armies and who knew he may have been even forced to fight his own brother, Dylan. On the other hand, she couldn't bring herself to vote for surrender. This would have meant an unavoidable exodus if only they were lucky to escape with their lives before Dante and his men arrived. She was petrified for the first time in her life. What was she to do? She felt dependent on her fellow elders to help her make up her mind today.

The elders had now sat down in a semi circle at one side of the arena facing the council of the guardians at the other side of the arena also sitting in a semi circle. They were matched in numbers but there was one empty seat on each side. The council of the guardians consisted of; Donavan, Cyrus, Claudious, Clemencia, Aliona and Athena's mother Flavia. But unfortunately she had gone on a big mission around global territories with her husband, Marius. Everyone else had been told they were on vacation but the risky work they had to carry out required secrecy even they had to keep the truth from their daughters Aretha and Athena.

The elder council were also missing their key member Marius who was accompanying Flavia on their vital mission. The council of elders were quite susceptible to assassinations by Alaskan rebels and their numbers had declined greatly over the last few years. Beside Marius there were now only Adonis, Aticus, Hillaria, Avita and Prudence.

The most senior member of the elder council stood up and the crowed went silent instantly. As Avita stood up waves of power and concern radiating all over the arena. She started to speak in an urgent tone looking all over the arena. "Good day my fellow Alaskans. Today we are gathered here because of the state of emergency that has fallen on our peaceful community made up of all creatures living in harmony. There has been news of Dante, the 5th heir to Ronas the conquerer is starting his quest to fulfil the prophecy he has been foreseen to do many decades ago. We are short of time. The urgency of our topic of discussion today requires to act fast. Therefore I apologise in advance if this meeting would seem to be adjourned at an earlier time than you may anticipate. The reason for the early closure would be made clear throughout this meeting. Now I would like to ask Prudence who is the only Arkansan blood elder present in the council of elders beside Marcus of course to describe the dangers ahead that she may be better familiar with than us and also the importance of the voting that would take place today."

As Avita sat down, prudence stood up and spoke in a serious and even more urgent tone; ; my fellow Alaskans as you were just informed, Dante, the 5th Ronas is on his way to fulfil the prophecy. We predict that he would be invading all territories in North America first and build an strong and invincible army and move on to even a bigger mission. There are fears that his powers are growing and continue to grow over the next 12 months. The prophecy states that Dante is no ordinary warlock and his powers won't stop maturing after his 21st birthday. Therefore this is why we are running out of time for plotting long term solutions for resistance."

"My fellow Alaskans. There are two possible paths to take. One is to fight and one is to surrender. In the last meeting we had yesterday, the elders and members of the council of guardians expressed their views. Today we have additional speakers whom will discuss the options. At the end of the meeting Avita would announce the time for voting. The elders and guardians would vote and instructions would be transferred all over Alaska with messenger spheres. May I introduce you to the first speaker; Evelina."