Spirit Animals: The Stolen Crown

Chapter 4

Nazeer went in and out of sleep throughout the night until morning came. Thanks to his nightmares he was never able to sleep for more than a hour before abruptly waking up, but he learned how to steal small snippets of rest throughout the day also. Nazeer was still laying on the bed from last night. Not wanting to be bed ridden forever, he decided to try to get up and walk. He wanted to at least be able to do that by himself. He got on his legs and surprisingly found them steady. He tried walking and he was able to do so without falling. He felt as if he hadn't even been attacked by the lions.

"Looks like you can walk." said a voice. Nazeer turned around to see Anda by the opening of the hut. "Want to go and get some breakfast?" he asked. 

"Okay, I guess." The moment he walked out of the tent with Anda, the sun hit his eyes and he had to close them for a moment. His eyes adjusted quickly as he opened them again and he saw Anda next to campfire where a big pot was sitting on the fire. Nazeer looked around and saw the same scene spread out all over the encampment. Anda handed him a bowl of stew that smelled like a sunlit afternoon and led him to a fallen log to sit on.

"So what exactly were you doing in the plains by yourself? he asked. Nazeer was to busy  inhaling the stew. It was the first decent meal he had for years.  Usually whenever he got food from the market he would buy the stuff that was old or the stuff that the owners were planning on throwing away. He discovered that most food stall owners usually threw away any food after two or three days. So instead he would just ask if he could have that food. Most owners didn't really care about it and gave it to him for barely any money, or for free if he was lucky.

 Anda repeated himself. "What were you doing in the plains by yourself?"

Act tough, don't let anything get to you, Nazeer thought. He knew how these interrogations would go. He gotten caught by police or shop owners for stealing numerous amount of times. He had always tried lying his way through but he had never been a good liar. So he always acted as if he didn't care about anything. The police couldn't really get much out of him if never really talked.  

"I was going to the town that isn't far off from here." Nazeer said. 

"I asked why you were alone. Shouldn't you be travelling with your parents or at least someone older then you." 

"I don't understand why that matters" Nazeer said. Anda sighed and reached behind the log he was sitting on and brought out Nazeer's pack. He opened it and got a piece of paper out that Nazeer immediately recognized. It was a picture of Nazfir he drew himself. There were two of them, the one on the right showed Nazfir the last time Nazeer saw him, and the one on the left showed what Nazeer thought was how he looked after all these years. Nazeer set his stew on the log. It didn't taste good anymore. 

"Is this your brother?" Anda asked. 

"Yeah, he's my older brother. Why do you care." Nazeer meant to pose it as a statement but it came out more of as a question.

"From the looks of it I'd say he is missing. I'm not going to ask you how he went missing or anything, but the point is is that you're looking for him."

"What does that have to do with you." 

"I'm saying I can help you. You have no idea where he is and travelling throughout Amaya won't get you anywhere. For all you know he probably isn't even in Amaya." 

"Again, I don't see why you care. There is nothing in it for you."

"Can't I simply do a good deed out of the good of my heart for someone."

Nazeer gave a dry laugh the moment he heard what Anda said. "Yeah, because people just looveeeee doing things out of the "good of their heart" anymore." If there was anything he learned in the years since his dad died, it was that no one cared about anyone unless they had something of value to them. A boy wandering around looking for his brother who didn't have any money wasn't going to peak the interest of anyone.

Nazeer's stomach growled and he reached back for his stew and grabbed the bowl. The moment he did an elk screamed. Nazeer screamed and fell off the log he was sitting throwing the bowl at the same time which landed on his head. 

 "Looks like I don't need to introduce you to Tellun, my spirit animal." Anda said laughing.

"Wait, this is Tellun, The Tellun. As in Tellun, the leader of the Great Beasts." Nazeer said in awe. Anda laughed. "You summoned the leader of the Great Beasts, why didn't you join the Greencloaks?" Nazeer asked. 

"It wasn't something I wanted. Not everyone is cut out for the life of a Greencloak. Speaking of which, I was about to tell you the same thing. Why don't you join the Greencloaks." Anda said. The statement took him by surprise.

"Y-you want me to join the Greencloaks?" Nazeer said incredulously. Joining the Greencloaks was something Nazeer had always wanted to do. But ever since his dad died and his mom and Nazfir disappeared, he pretty much abandoned it. "How exactly does joining the Greencloaks help me find my brother?"

"Even though their main base operations, Greenhaven, is located in Eura, they have a presence all around the world. The missions they have also takes them to different parts of the world. It's very unlikely that your brother is in Amaya. Even if he is your not going to find him by just wandering around. I've worked with Greencloaks, mainly the Four Fallen on numerous occasions. If you want I can request them to keep you in Greenhaven Castle for training instead of some random outpost. Most requests for Greencloak assistance goes through Greenhaven first. You may have a chance of finding a request that your brother sent."

 Nazeer had to admit that he did have a point. He had been traveling between Amaya and Nilo looking for Nazfir and his mother. Needless to say that he hadn't had much success. Not only that, but if Nazfir was doing the same thing that Nazeer was doing, he probably would try to ask the Greencloaks for assistance. Nazeer sat there for a while thinking and made up his mind.

"Okay." Nazeer said. "I'll do it. I'll join the Greencloaks."