Page 54 of Guardian's Destiny

"Why is that?" Hyugh asked. I contemplated telling him a lie but then decided against it. What good would it do? If he was going to try to stop us, it would end in a bloodbath, and we both knew it. So far, he and Craygh had been nothing but forthcoming and honest with us. Hospitable and generous. Which was why I decided to stick to the truth.

"The Ohrurs put a forcefield around Darlam that will only allow ships through that have at least three Ohrurs present and are of Ohrur design."

Craygh ripped his eyes from Moddekdum. It seemed like he had been admiring the other's brooch. I had to admit it was a fine piece of art, and I wondered how many missions my fellow Guardians and I had been on for him to afford this piece of jewelry. "I'll go with you. The female can stay." Craygh offered spontaneously. As if realizing he might have overstepped, he turned to Hyugh, "If you can spare me, that is."

"You don't even know what you're getting yourself into," I warned.

Hyugh listened intently to our exchange.

"Then fill me in," Craygh demanded.

"We need to get to Darlam to get answers, to find out what happened twenty thousand years ago." Sloane placed a hand on my arm when I realized that Craygh's and my exchange had gotten a little heated. "We want to know who the Space Guardians really are, and we want to make the Ohrurs pay. The Krythar Order," she clarified.

The door opened, and an ancient-looking Ohrur entered, supported by the soldier Craygh had sent to fetch him.

"Chronarch Byalbor." Craygh rose from his chair, and we followed his example. The old male looked as if a strong breeze would blow him over. He was so skeletal that it was painful to look at him. His skin, like the other Ohrurs, was a lighter gray tone, probably from lack of sun. "You honor us with your presence."

"A presence you requested," the male retorted in a scratchy voice filled with a hint of anger. From having been called away?

"I apologize. This is Space Guardian Vraax, a human named Sloane and two Ohrurs of the Krythar Order—one is Moddekdum, the other is a female, Paddekah." Only during the elaborate introduction did I realize the old male was blind. Did they not have healing wands here? I made a mental note to mention it at a later point.

"A Space Guardian? Well, well, well, you might have done good this time calling me away." Byalbor cackled.

The soldier, Zoyab, led Byalbor to a chair, which Craygh pulled out for him. Carefully, they deposited him into it. "Can we offer you some food?"

"Food?" Byalbor repeated as if it was a strange notion. "I suppose I can take the time to eat," he sighed deeply, explaining why he was so painfully thin. I hadn't met many scholars, but the few I did were either obese or too thin. Either overeating while reading or eating nothing at all. It seemed like Byalbor fit intothe latter category. He probably had students who read to him until their voices were hoarse.

"The Space Guardian and the human female both have mating marks." Hyugh filled him in.

"Do they now?" Feeble fingers picked at the food from the plate Zoyab had pushed over to him. "That is interesting indeed."

"What do you know about the Darlams?" I couldn't stop myself from waiting to ask any longer.

"Darlams? Are you a Darlam?" Byalbor didn't look up.

"We don't know. At the very least, he has the archegene," Sloane said.

"He looks exactly like a Darlam," Hyugh explained.

"The Archegene was strong in the Darlams," Byalbor nodded. "Very strong. They were the closest to the Arkhevari there is."

Sloane stiffened next to me. The name meant nothing to me, but it was familiar to her.

"They were the sons and daughters of the gods. It's a damn shame what your people did to them," Byalbor's head rose, and he stared straight at Moddekdum as if he knew exactly where the Ohrur sat.

"My ancestors," Moddekdum corrected. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Nothing but keeping up your support for them," Byalbor censured in a stinging tone dripping with disapproval.

Moddekdum folded his arms over his small chest and leaned back in his chair, obviously done with the conversation.

"What are the Arkhevari?" I interrupted the dispute.

SLOANE

Arkhevari!

Neither pride nor happiness filled me at the mention of Zapharos’s species, validating that I had made the right decision by staying. I was still too worried about Zapharos to have any strong emotions over having been proven right.

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