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 sworn obligation to support the House of Omarlo and whether forced exile could truly be expected of him. He loved Imir, and this love extended to his cousin’s family. He and Imir, as he remembered, fought often and were highly competitive with each other as boys growing up. Sometimes it seemed to Drakar that Imir had two personalities. Imir went about mostly as any normal boy but depending on the circumstances would immediately take the lead. There was never any doubt Imir had the mind-set of a leader.
Drakar accepted that Imir would rule with him, Drakar, as his right hand. Therefore, there had never been a bone of contention about power between them. When they were young men, only Drakar knew they loved the same woman. Drakar had known from the start that Tess had eyes only for Imir. He honored that and kept his love to himself. He had instead dedicated his life to being a member of the warrior caste whose goal was the protection of the house lord.
He now realized and accepted that life had its odd quirks. His duty now was to raise the children of his secret love as his own. He disliked that it would be in exile, but it would be done. It was more than he had ever expected. Yes, he would take one day at a time. He knew, after all, these two were used to being cared for by adults other than their parents. He knew that given time, it would be understood that Drakar was the new caretaker responsible for their safety. He in turn would do his best for them. It was not in his heart to fail his liege lord or his one love in this.
One evening, approximately two years into their travels, the ship signaled their approach to the last preset hyperspace jump. The boys were somewhere in the ship. They were playing their favorite game with Drakar. With so many vacant rooms in the ship, Drakar had, on the second day, sealed off all areas that would present a danger to the boys. Hide-and-seek became the favorite pastime in the form of a game called “I am sending, can you find me?” Drakar had made up the rules of this game with careful consideration. This became their first conscious use of the mind-link implant. Breaking the rules, which happened often in the beginning, had painful consequences. There was also another favorite “quiet time, and talk only with your hands.”
Drakar responded to the ship’s signal. He keyed in the acknowledgement codes and then used the mind link to tell the boys that the game was over and to meet him in the corridor leading to the control room. They arrived at the same time from different directions. Both boys, now