Chapter 2
Investigations
I was sitting in my house. There was a separate section of housing for the Guardians of the Citadel. The Guardians where given a mud hut, which was usually built for those a little poorer than the middle class of echidnas, the merchants, tradesmen, and artisans of the city. It's funny, we were the elite force of Guardians and we were given shambles of houses to live in. Well, they weren't shambles really, but they were very small. There was one bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen and eating area.
Why? Like I told you before, we were the Guardians of the Master Emerald. We devoted our lives to keeping it sacred and holy, therefore, we have given up a luxurious lifestyle. But it didn't bother any of the Guardians much, even though we were as poor as peasants we were very highly regarded.
But, Guardians probably wasn't the real term for us. We were more Peace Keepers than anything. When the rebellion started acting up, we investigated it. We were the police of big crimes and conspiracies.
What do you mean 'How did we fight?' We fought with swords, being the weapons of choice. But we also used our fists and feet, too, because we were trained in martial arts. We used an assortment of weapons, ranging from staves, swords, martial arts, to bows and arrows. But we didn't use bows much, for echidnas were clumsy shots and not very good at aiming. The Guardians were better, but still, bad as far as the standard goes.
So, I was sitting in my house, reading a book when Faru, also a guardian, knocks on the door.
"Celeborn, we have an assignment." Faru wasted no time with greetings, as usual "The rebellion is on the offensive. They say that they are scheming to attack the temple, or the Citadel."
I was shocked by this, the rebellion, lead by Nithak, was a group that wanted to overthrow the king, Takun. I had no idea they had anything to settle with the Master Emerald. Launching an attack against the Citadel was a bad idea, even as bad ideas go. First, you have to contend with the Guardians, us, which aren't going to be to happy when you are trying to attack the one thing they devoted their lives to.
Second, if you harm the Master Emerald, and cannot restore it, then you have a problem. The Master Emerald neutralizes the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and keeps them from creating chaos across the land. The Chaos Emeralds hold immeasurable power, which no echidna had ever seen before. The Master Emerald is the one force that takes the power of the Chaos Emeralds and stores it inside the Emerald itself, however, not all that power can fit into the Chaos Emeralds, so the Master Emerald takes some of the power and stores it within itself. That makes it very powerful, and a perfect weapon of destruction to any that could control it. That is why it needed to be protected.
"That is suicide! No echidna could control the Master Emerald and the seven Chaos Emeralds. What does Nithak think he is doing?" I asked Faru, but knowing he didn't have an answer.
"I don't know, but we need to stop him. Master Kirael thinks that you and I alone can handle this, before it gets out of hand. But, if it does, there could be a war on our doorstep." Faru explained, gravely.
"When do we leave?" I asked him.
"When the sun rises tomorrow. I'll go over the plan with you then, get ready for a journey." Faru said, and went to his own house, three down from mine.
Well, what did I do? I got ready. I packed all the essentials, like food and water, a sleeping bag and all the other usual stuff. Then I went into a closet, where I kept all my weapons. I grabbed my sword, Ataghan. It was a perfectly balanced sword, about four feet long. On the base of the blade it said "All for the Citadel." Which was the Guardian's slogan, short, sweet, and to the point. It was a red tempered blade, so it looked like it was heated. It struck fear into the opposition, which was what I was intending. I also grabbed two daggers and about twenty sherrikans, or throwing stars.
I went to sleep that night thinking solely on the assignment at hand. I had fought the rebellion only once before and they were very, very skilled. But, what was Nithak planning? Why did he want to attack the Citadel? He couldn't possibly control the Master Emerald...could he?
Investigations
I was sitting in my house. There was a separate section of housing for the Guardians of the Citadel. The Guardians where given a mud hut, which was usually built for those a little poorer than the middle class of echidnas, the merchants, tradesmen, and artisans of the city. It's funny, we were the elite force of Guardians and we were given shambles of houses to live in. Well, they weren't shambles really, but they were very small. There was one bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen and eating area.
Why? Like I told you before, we were the Guardians of the Master Emerald. We devoted our lives to keeping it sacred and holy, therefore, we have given up a luxurious lifestyle. But it didn't bother any of the Guardians much, even though we were as poor as peasants we were very highly regarded.
But, Guardians probably wasn't the real term for us. We were more Peace Keepers than anything. When the rebellion started acting up, we investigated it. We were the police of big crimes and conspiracies.
What do you mean 'How did we fight?' We fought with swords, being the weapons of choice. But we also used our fists and feet, too, because we were trained in martial arts. We used an assortment of weapons, ranging from staves, swords, martial arts, to bows and arrows. But we didn't use bows much, for echidnas were clumsy shots and not very good at aiming. The Guardians were better, but still, bad as far as the standard goes.
So, I was sitting in my house, reading a book when Faru, also a guardian, knocks on the door.
"Celeborn, we have an assignment." Faru wasted no time with greetings, as usual "The rebellion is on the offensive. They say that they are scheming to attack the temple, or the Citadel."
I was shocked by this, the rebellion, lead by Nithak, was a group that wanted to overthrow the king, Takun. I had no idea they had anything to settle with the Master Emerald. Launching an attack against the Citadel was a bad idea, even as bad ideas go. First, you have to contend with the Guardians, us, which aren't going to be to happy when you are trying to attack the one thing they devoted their lives to.
Second, if you harm the Master Emerald, and cannot restore it, then you have a problem. The Master Emerald neutralizes the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and keeps them from creating chaos across the land. The Chaos Emeralds hold immeasurable power, which no echidna had ever seen before. The Master Emerald is the one force that takes the power of the Chaos Emeralds and stores it inside the Emerald itself, however, not all that power can fit into the Chaos Emeralds, so the Master Emerald takes some of the power and stores it within itself. That makes it very powerful, and a perfect weapon of destruction to any that could control it. That is why it needed to be protected.
"That is suicide! No echidna could control the Master Emerald and the seven Chaos Emeralds. What does Nithak think he is doing?" I asked Faru, but knowing he didn't have an answer.
"I don't know, but we need to stop him. Master Kirael thinks that you and I alone can handle this, before it gets out of hand. But, if it does, there could be a war on our doorstep." Faru explained, gravely.
"When do we leave?" I asked him.
"When the sun rises tomorrow. I'll go over the plan with you then, get ready for a journey." Faru said, and went to his own house, three down from mine.
Well, what did I do? I got ready. I packed all the essentials, like food and water, a sleeping bag and all the other usual stuff. Then I went into a closet, where I kept all my weapons. I grabbed my sword, Ataghan. It was a perfectly balanced sword, about four feet long. On the base of the blade it said "All for the Citadel." Which was the Guardian's slogan, short, sweet, and to the point. It was a red tempered blade, so it looked like it was heated. It struck fear into the opposition, which was what I was intending. I also grabbed two daggers and about twenty sherrikans, or throwing stars.
I went to sleep that night thinking solely on the assignment at hand. I had fought the rebellion only once before and they were very, very skilled. But, what was Nithak planning? Why did he want to attack the Citadel? He couldn't possibly control the Master Emerald...could he?