Free The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I) by A. Elford Page B

better, I must
say After all, Chief Remula is only playing it safe and keeping
such decisions out of the hands of failures such as yourself!” he
taunted.
    “Where is Hari?” Ikani
barked, readying his Fireblade in a fit of rage, pointing it
towards the guard.
    “
Me’hts-zie
!” cried the
guard in the tongue of the Sirens.
    It must have been a
call to action of sorts, because immediately after the command was
uttered the Sirens began to close in on Ikani. He waved his sword
before them threateningly, admittedly not knowing how to act. If he
were to attack and harm the guard, then any hope of redeeming
himself in the eyes of the Tavar would be lost. And so he continued
to back away, his movements quickly turning into a frantic run as
he hurried towards the only place he could think of that would be
relatively safe – the mountains.
    It was not long before
the Sirens had given up, leaving Ikani to flee. He was not
surprised; he figured that it was all part of their plan. They
desired to exile him from home – to banish him from the very land
which he was sworn to protect. It was behind a fallen body of rocks
a short ways up the mountainsides that Ikani waited in silence
while the sun began to slip beyond the smaller mountains of the
west. As nightfall drew near, Ikani began to devise a plan. He knew
that there was no use in setting out aimlessly in search of Oren
any longer, and without any hints from his Pendant he concluded
that it would not be a feasible option at the time. He also knew
that it was pointless to sit around and accomplish nothing. And so
as lights began to illuminate the streets below as the village fell
beneath the curtain of night, Ikani watched on as the Zor below
retreated to their dwellings after a long day’s worth of work.
Occasionally Ikani would catch a glimpse of a squad of Sirens or
guards and his mind would once again wander back to the mess of
questions that still burdened him. Where had all of the old guard
gone? And most importantly, was their truly a need for the
excessive security that had suddenly taken charge – questionable as
it was? Surely the Tavar and his Authority would not be taking such
actions if they did not also perceive that the Five Islands were in
danger, Ikani figured. In that case, then, why hadn’t they been
taken more seriously upon their arrival at the Tavar Mafa? As the
final lights in the dwellings below were extinguished for the
night, Ikani realized that the only way that he could hope to get
answers would be to speak to one o the guards who must have seen it
all go down. He was going to have to locate Hari.
    Carefully, more aware
than ever of his surroundings, Ikani made his way back down the
mountain and beyond the clearing at its base, hurrying silently
down the winding pathways towards the Village. Relying solely on
his memory, Ikani retraced the path on which he had seen Hari
travel before – though it was but a handful of times – in the
direction of his dwelling. Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps
other than his own that broke through the silence of the night.
Ikani frantically sought shelter, ducking behind a boulder on the
roadside.
    “Are you certain that
there has been no sign of him?” Came the voice of a
guard.
    “Yes sir,” a second
voice replied, “we had deployed Sirens throughout the Village to
search for him and we have checked his dwelling. We have gotten
confirmation within the hour that Ikani has fled Af’One
village.”
    Ikani froze at the
sound of his name with a mix of rage and unease creeping up inside
of him. The temptation to reveal himself at that moment – to
proclaim their searches unsuccessful and to attack the guards – was
all but overwhelming as he reached for his sword. Accidentally
leaning too far against the boulder behind him, Ikani caused a loud
thud to echo through the stillness of the night.
    “What was that?” one
of the voices asked.
    “What was
what?”
    There was a pause.
“Never mind me,”