The Rise of the Omarlo Clan. Rosylan McCallum

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СКАЧАТЬ of the Keep, this was a conflict that the House of Omarlo could not win. He did not want to tell Drakar that he could not stand by and witness his lifeblood spilled. To get back at Imir that would be one of the first things that Lord Marlis would do. Lord Marlis relished causing pain to his enemies. Lord Imir turned away and looked out over the walls of the Keep. He felt a deep sense of great loss, much more than he had expected. He had no words of response at the moment, and then he heard the approach of Lady Tess and the laughing voices of his twins.

      He turned back to Drakar and said, “Here they come. I need you to be strong for Racine and the family but in a different way than you are accustomed to. My wife and I are aware of your position of loyalty to our house and your considerable abilities as a supreme warrior general. You were chosen to carry out this most desperate of assignments because of those very qualities and the respect and love that we have for you.” Imir put his hand on Drakar’s shoulder.

      “You and I share a history of growing up as close as any brothers could be. I trust only you to protect the lives of the twins. My oldest and heir, Rarg, will remain here on Racine. I am gambling that because of his age and his mother, he will survive. Your duty, just in case, is to ensure the survival of our family’s name. I do not fear for my wife or myself, but the twins will be a threat to Marlis even though they are kin. This was not an easy decision to make. I have given this plan considerable thought. I have played out all of the alternatives and decided that this is the wisest option that I can take under these dire circumstances. I have waited as long as I dare.”

      Lord Imir rubbed his eyes. “Those of my people involved in the decision process agreed that you, more than anyone, can be relied upon to get my sons to a safe haven.”

      “Sire!” cried an anguished Drakar, “what are you saying? Do you believe . . . are you saying that the battle is lost even before it has been fought?”

      “No,” said Imir, “there is still hope for a peaceful resolution. Word has been sent to Captain Nor to return to Racine. As you know, he is in the fifth quadrant. Victory can still be had if he is able to arrive within the next turning. However . . .”

      Lady Tess slowed her approach. She saw the strained look pass between Imir and Drakar. “Minna gave me your message to prepare the twins, has the time finally come when we must send our sons away?”

      Lady Tess bent down and gathered her sons to her. She thought of how small they were, and would they truly survive? They were so young. If worst came to be, would they remember the family that they left behind? She looked into the eyes of Drakar and then those of her husband. She saw the grave but regal look in Imir’s eyes and the mutinous eyes of Drakar. She reached deep within herself to the truth that she too had to put on a brave united front; or for the first time, Drakar would resist an order from his lord.

      “Drakar, take care of my sons. May the blessings of the Maker be with you and them during your journey. I have no fear that you will carry out this new and very important responsibility with the same aplomb that is so characteristic of you. We will miss you.” With that said, Lady Tess quickly bent down and hugged her four-year-old sons for a last time and stood up and pushed them toward Drakar.

      She turned away and glanced at Imir and continued forcing herself to smile. “Surely this will last for only a month or two, and then we will be reunited. Let us go quickly while we all still have the courage to do what is right.”

      Tess stepped into Imir’s arms, and then the trio of adults and two children left the Keep wall and took the stairs to the fifth-floor elevator. They continued down to the below-ground level hangar where the starship Blazer waited, fueled and ready.

      The heightened emotional levels of the adults were dampened only by the excitement generated by the twins’ natural curiosity toward the ship, which they found before them. It stood out like a beacon, offering adventures to be had in the exploration of the interior. They stared, mouths open, identical in looks—nut-brown complexion, curly dark brown hair, and inquisitive brown eyes. They were tall for their age. All who knew the family agreed that these two would reach six feet or more in stature, a trait common in the males of the Omarlo family. From their mother, they had inherited the infectious smile that lit up their faces and went straight to the heart of whichever adult that they turned it on.

      At four, they already knew quite well the effect that their smile had, and each used it often to get out of punishment when caught in the wrong. They looked up and turned it on Drakar. He took each by hand and walked over to the lift platform. For a moment, the boys hesitated before stepping onto the lift. They sensed that their parents had not followed. They knew and trusted Drakar, and then there was the lure of the ship. They each then waved and stepped onto the platform, which began to slowly rise up to the passenger-boarding doorway. Imir and his wife stood watching long after the ship had left, neither able nor willing to move on after the finality of having said good-bye to Drakar and their twin sons.

      It was expected that the ship would reach its destination within two years. The activated concealing device would shield the ship from exposure during the takeoff and future landing. Drakar was to open his sealed orders after safely leaving the quadrant. What Lady Tess and Drakar did not know was that his orders included that they were not to return for fifteen years. It did not matter what the outcome of the current crisis became. The device needed to be forgotten until such time as it could be used to serve their house, their planet. Lord Imir Omarlo too was ambitious and not ignorant as to how the device would one day affect the destiny of his house. Part of his plan was for his sons to be brought up in an isolated environment, receiving extensive supreme-warrior combat education and training. This would enable them to be prepared in any future situation.

      After two days the automatic programming awakened the three travelers. Drakar helped the twins, Johan and Collin, out of their sleeping pods and into their clothing.

      “Hungry, hungry!” they yelled.

      Drakar looked at the boys. He knew that the first order of business was to find the ship’s galley. Next was to determine how to operate it to get food, and the question arose, what did these boys normally eat? It turned out that this was no problem and very simple, they ate whatever he ate. He initially fixed something that he thought they had agreed to have—a grain cereal, and then he fixed eggs and sausage for himself. To his extreme dismay, they refused to eat the cereal but pointed to what he had made for himself.

      This is how he learned that their way was to eat what he ate and that they could be very vocal on the subject. Then Drakar was faced with the aftermath of the mess of eating. By the time the morning meal was over, Drakar was horrified to think that there were still two more meals to go in this day. He began to wonder if his cousin truly understood the enormity of this assignment, or maybe he did not love him as much as he had said.

      To tell them apart, Lady Tess had instituted the use of a color code. Drakar knew through house gossip that early on, the twins found it a game to switch clothes. As a supreme warrior, certain mastered abilities were marked by the use of one or more earrings in the right ear. Drakar decided to use the earring system to distinguish between the two. Collin would wear one, and Johan would wear two. It took him over an hour to locate Collin after Johan’s ear was done. By the end of the first day out of cyber sleep, all three were exhausted. Drakar had learned another valuable lesson. As soon as possible, he would add a signal-locating device into the earrings. Finally, the twins fell asleep.

      Drakar turned on his computer and opened the file containing his instructions from Imir. He had to read it twice before he could accept the request that Lord Imir asked of him. Spend the next fifteen years in exile, not as the warrior that he was but in an unassuming identity as the widower Drak Lunt, raising two sons Collin and Johan Lunt.

      Drakar looked at the sleeping boys. He was filled with inner conflicts. There was his СКАЧАТЬ