The Torn Guardian Read Online Free PDF Page B

what to say. There is not an easy way to explain the major problem Nilohm is experiencing with Sethos, and the wrong words will cause a disaster to occur before we can get started.
    I am silent and have been for too long. Adira is clearly confused as she checks my temperature by placing her hand against my forehead. Usually this is where someone says nice to meet you or anything really, but I just stare dumbly with wide eyes at her instead. She murmurs to herself to grab Uzo, who had ensured her only vivio nectar coated his arrow, and gets up to leave.
    “I am fine,” I reassure her. The sentence does its job. Adira has stopped trying to leave, but I don’t know how to continue on. I seriously have no idea where to start this conversation. I never expected to be facing my sister so soon, so I ask probably the dumbest question I possibly can at this point in time. I ask her if she has seen Grace.
    Any benefits or leniency Adira was going to give me vanishes. Her stance becomes tense, and her entire demeanor changes. I am no longer looking at the caring priestess who was tending my wounds. She’s a tall, strong warrior ready for a fight.
    “How do you know her?” Adira asks as her eyes narrow to thin slits at me. I gulp slightly and refuse to answer right away. I know I have to tread carefully here, but the problem is no matter what I answer it is going to sound like a lie. Being completely honest sounds like the tallest of tall tales. Well you see, Adira, you’re actually kind of Grace’s and my sister. We were created by three dragon lords to take on the fourth dragon lord because a balance must be maintained in the world at all cost. If we don’t, all of the world is going to be overrun with darkness and cease to exist as we know it.
    This is not what I say because I’m sure if I did, Adira would kill me on the spot. Instead I reply I am looking for Grace because we need to talk. It’s vague but true. It’s also about as honest as I can be at this point. This answer naturally does not satisfy Adira, which isn’t all that surprising. It is not really satisfying to anyone. She presses on further asking me questions; she wants to know why. I answer I need Grace’s help and tag on I will need Adira’s help as well. The three of us need to sit down and talk.
    Adira loathes this answer, and her frustration with me appears rather quickly. She is pacing back and forth in front of me occasionally pounding her fist against her open hand. I suppose it’s good to know earlier rather than later how quickly Grace’s name can anger the daughter of life. I guess I am just surprised that one of Jenesis’s creations can be so aggressive. Jo was much more lax. Either Adira is the opposite, or she just hates Grace that much. Both of those situations are less than ideal. “Do you think I am stupid?” Her half-yelled question pulls me out of my thoughts.
    “It is the truth, Adira. It is incredibly important. The world is in danger,” I try to explain.
    Adira is shaking her head at me; she does not believe a word I said. I open my mouth to try and expand on it some more and give better information, but we are interrupted yet again. Uzo comes in and starts urgently talking about how Grace and her men are defacing a sacred temple. Adira looks from him to me and orders him to grab my things while she walks behind me to tie my hands back. Uzo grabs a bag that I hope has my quiver and the dark claw armalo inside. He also picks up my bow, but I hear him struggle a bit with his breaths as he does it.
    I attempt to ask them what exactly is going on but am ignored by both. Adira pushes me out of the room, and as the little sun escaping through the thick branches above shines in my eyes, I see the room I had been in was actually an entire shack. There are several more identical to it forming a circle around one big fire that appears to be the center of the community and is currently roasting several wild boars. The shacks are tiny and