The Guardians is a children's book that has adult appeal due to its positive recurring themes centered on: veracity, courage, wisdom and compassion. The story is centered around five natural predators that join forces to serve others around the world. In so doing, they quickly discover in becoming servant leaders they have to identify and deal with their own character flaws. All the while several of them are secretly being evaluated for membership into the Guardians society. The book's intent is to promote positive core principles along with focusing on the importance of relevant ecological awareness of issues around the globe. The next two installments of The Guardians are already in progress.

The Guardians

By Alexander Amani

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Alexander Amani
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-8571-1

Contents

Chapter One: Acquaintances.........................1Chapter Two: Earth.................................25Chapter Three: Monkey Business.....................47Chapter Four: Fire.................................81Chapter Five: Water and Air........................95Chapter Six: The Holy Mountain.....................111Chapter Seven: Homecoming..........................129

Chapter One

Acquaintances

The wind whistled a cold, unforgiving melody between snow-capped Seattle peaks. Below, brown leaves rested on the valley floor as a lone squirrel searched for food. Ever alert, the furry creature caught the unmistakable shrill cry of an American Bald Eagle as it soared on the currents swirling through the mountain range. As the eagle circled far above, the hungry squirrel decided to have his dinner later, and scurried back to the safety of his tree.

Nala, quite dismayed with her daughter, continued circling while she called for her to return home. Erin was taking care of two brothers and a sister. They were all younger than she was. Lately, she had grown more and more distant and tired of her normal chores. Nala had been meaning to discuss it with Erin; that, and her suddenly peculiar attitude towards the colony. Yet it wasn't really a new attitude, Nala thought to herself. Her daughter had always been independent. During community events in the colony, she always found an excuse to be somewhere else. Her mother realized Nala had grown up different than the other female eagles. She was unusually distant when it came to affairs of the colony.

Erin was the first-born and incredibly independent. She was very slow to trust or rely on others. She was also very intelligent and loved dearly the opportunity to explore and travel to new places. Nala circled and started back towards the nest when she accidentally dropped one of two dead snakes she had caught and killed for her family's dinner. Nala considered diving down to retrieve the snake but changed her mind. One snake would be enough to feed Erin's siblings. Since Nala was not hungry, one snake would certainly do. Nearing the nest, she continued to ponder all the unique aspects of her eldest daughter; including the fact that she was a vegetarian ...

Fourteen hundred miles south of Seattle, Washington, in a city called Imperial Beach, a group of lizards sat on a muddy mound in the Tijuana Estuary, waiting for the next unfortunate grass hopper to venture by. In the distance, a pair of herons soared like white ghosts, surveying their protected sanctuary. Squatting in the middle of the group of lizards was their leader, Larry S. Williams.

"Hey Silk, what you want to do today?" Larry Williams looked over at his best friend, George the prince Jackson, as he considered the group's options.

"Well, we could go steal the frog's lily pads."

"No, man; we already did that Tuesday."

"What about sneaking up on the herons and throwing mud balls at them?" Rudy the joker Hayes was already shaking his head vigorously in opposition.

"No way, prince. The last time we did that, old man heron poked me something fierce in the tail." Rudy flicked his tail and pointed to the bruise marks left by the angry heron. Ron too fast Bates was laughing hysterically as he remembered the heron catching the slowest member of the group.

"I have a better idea, why don't we send Ronnie in there to bring out old man heron. Once he starts chasing Ronnie, we can have Tiny sneak into his nest and hide his favorite straw hat."

Everyone in the group began laughing again as they remembered the last time they had hidden old man heron's hat.

"The last time we did that, old man heron had every crazy bird in Imperial Beach hunting for us!" Old man heron was tall, slender with a serene look to him. However, underneath those facial features was a keenly intelligent, wise old bird!

"Ya man, it wasn't funny. I couldn't come back home for weeks. I had to hide out over at the beach, waiting for things to cool down." Pete Tiny Johnson remembered well the trouble he caused. Pete Johnson was the smallest of the lizard gang, and by nature a follower.

"Relax my lizard brethren; leave it to the man to arrange some entertainment for today." Everyone turned and looked at their leader. Silk had a small, red-shaped object the resembled a pencil. He waved everyone closer as he whispered some instructions. Within a few minutes, all the lizards were staring at each other in disbelief. The first one to speak was Silk's best friend, George Jackson.

"I don't know Silk, throwing mud balls and hiding hats is one thing. But we might hurt old man heron with your firecracker."

"Ronnie, what you think?"

"You know me Silk; I'm in if you're in."

"Rudy, what about you? Are you in or out?"

"They don't call me the joker for nothing, Silk; I'm down."

"Well, Tiny that leaves you; are you with us?" Tiny Johnson looked at everyone, noticing the same mischievous look in their eyes as he did the last time-right before he was caught.

Silk continued, "Listen Tiny; don't forget the last time whose tail received ten pokes from old man heron's razor sharp beak." Tiny looked back to Silk and saw that same thin, mischievous smile spread across his reptilian friend's face.

"Alright Silk, I guess I owe the old man one for all those holes he put in my tail." George was still shaking his head as he turned and walked down off the mound, heading towards home.

"Hey prince, don't wait up; we will be up late putting on a fireworks display for our fine feathered friends." George continued on his path, and laughed softly as he pictured his friends lighting up the night sky in honor of old man heron.

Later on that evening, the setting sun cast a brilliant reddish-orange hue across the Tijuana Estuary. Four lizards glided silently on the sidewalk. With their fearless leader guiding the way, the reptilian intruders approached their target. George Jackson had the best seat in the house. Sitting atop a mud mound, George could almost feel the excitement and the fear his friends were feeling. A part of him wanted to join in on the fun. Just then, three large shadows flew over his position. George looked up and saw three very large herons. One of the three broke formation, and circled around, coming to land where he was. George's heart started pounding and he swallowed slowly as old man heron's face became visible.

"Listen boys, I want a perfect operation, no mess ups understand?" Ronnie, Rudy, and Tiny responded to Silk with salutes.

"Ron, use your speed to run up there and draw out old man heron. If he is not there, grab his straw hat and meet us at the rendezvous point. I will follow you with the firecrackers." Pete and Rudy nodded their heads in agreement.

"Once I set the fireworks off, get out of there, head for the beach and the safety of the rocks," Silk directed. All four lizards moved off the sidewalk and crawled into some tall grass as they headed for the mud flats.

Back on top of the mud mound, old man heron circled around the prince on the ground with his head turned to the side and his long, slender beak pointed down. As he walked around him, he never took his gaze off anxious George.

"So, you and your cold-blooded friends think you can terrorize me, steal my belongings, throw mud balls at my family, and nothing is going to happen to you?" George wanted to respond but...