The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series Read Online Free Page A

will be a long time before I can go on another one.” The king’s face was indifferent, but Yolstice’s eyes had narrowed to mere slits. “When my trip is over, I will enter the academy.” Flare held his breath. Interrupting the prince was risky; it could very easily re-anger the king. Fortunately, it appeared he hadn't noticed.
    “Well, that appears to be reasonable. Where did you intend to go?” The king asked.
    Flare had also anticipated this question, and had prepared for it. This was crucial to his plan, and his stomach did flips as he continued the lie. “I was hoping to go north, and hunt around the Urlist mountain range.” Telur was to the south, so by saying that he wanted to go north, he hoped to turn aside any suspicion. Once again, the surprise was evident on the prince's face, but that was not good in Flare's estimation. If Yolstice was expecting him to want to go south, then perhaps the prince may have already guessed Flare's plan to run for Telur. He reminded himself to be very careful and keep the story straight.
    The king considered the request for a moment, and then said. “Well, I will allow you to go on the hunting trip, but you probably shouldn’t go to the mountains. There have been reports of white dragons in that range. Also, I believe that goblins have come down from the north and entered the edge of the eternal forest. Maybe the south would be safer.”
    “ Well .. ” Flare paused. Everything had occurred as he had hoped, except the smug look on Yolstice’s face. ‘Damn,' Flare thought, ‘he’s guessed the whole thing.’ He considered changing the plan, but that was risky. So, he continued on, “I could hunt and fish along the black river.” The black river was far to the south, along the edge of the eternal forest.
    “That would be much better, I woul...” the king started to say.
    Prince Yolstice interjected, “Father, perhaps a squad of the elven guard could accompany him, since he will be so close to the human territories.”
    “That’s probably overdoing it; I have hunted along that river before by myself.” Flare said, getting nervous at his uncle's attempt to thwart his plan.
    The king turned toward the prince, “Yolstice, I tend to agree with Flare. I think a squad of the elven guard is way too much.”
    “But father. We have been receiving reports of the humans crossing the black river and hunting in the forest edge.” He turned toward Flare, with a sneer on his face. “I would hate for anything to happen to my nephew .”
    His uncle's ‘new found affection’ for Flare was winning over his grandfather's opinion. Flare had to think fast. If he was stuck with a whole squad of the elven guard, then he wouldn’t have a chance to get away. “Grandfather, perhaps one guard would be sufficient for the trip.”
    “No, I think that ... ”, Yolstice started to say, but the king interrupted him.
    “Yolstice, I think that one guard will be sufficient. Surely one guard can protect an elf within our own borders.” Feilolas turned back to Flare, “It’s settled. You can have twenty days for your hunting trip, and I will assign a guard to protect you. When are you going to leave?”
    “Well, I guess I could leave tomorrow morning.” Flare said, his hopes rising.
    “Fine. Fine. Why don’t you meet your escort at the main gate tomorrow, at sunrise. ” The king seemed rather pleased. “Flare, I am really glad that you had a change of heart. I do not like being angry at family.”
    Flare smiled at how easily his plan had worked. But now the hard part began, he had to carry out the rest of his escape. He bowed low, and said, “Thank you, Grandfather. You don't know how much this means to me.” Turning to leave, it seemed that he could feel the cold emanating from his uncle's stare.
    Flare went home and began to pack. He packed several different hunting outfits. The outfits had been nice once, but were rather worn now. The last thing he wanted, was to make himself a