Page 65 of Guardian's Destiny

"How do you know?" I asked Craygh.

"We've done some extensive research on this spaceport. For centuries, we had lookouts here. Only in recent years have we dwindled it down to monthly assessments." He explained.

"How come?" I asked curiously.

He moved his head back and forward. "There wasn't anything new for us to learn here, and we're not in a position to steal ships and take off."

Now, I was getting really curious. "Why not? You could have taken your entire colony somewhere else, started over."

"Ohrur is our home planet. One day, we will take it back, but not yet. When the time is right, we'll send more sentries here." He sounded defensive, and I understood. As the leader of whatever army the Ohrurs had managed to build, he was a man of action. A man ready to reclaim what was taken from them. But as a leader, he also knew that their army would never win against the Space Guardians. They would have to completely surprise the Ohrurs. Still, they had been waiting for twenty-thousand years.

"How much longer are you going to wait?"

He looked thoughtfully from me to Vraax, "Hopefully not much longer, it seems to me that our time has come. The gods sent you and together I believe we can reclaim what is ours. You Darlam," he sent a nod at Vraax, "and us Ohrur."

A noise stopped me from answering. I spun around and caught sight of Moddekdum as he was about to slip through a large crack in the wall.

"Oh no, you don't!" I jumped forward simultaneously with Vraax and Craygh. The three of us collided, but I managed to get far enough ahead to clamp my hand around the Ohrur's ankle. He howled in anger.

Laying prone on the ground, I held on to his ankle until Vraax got up from the ground and pulled him back.

"Nice try."

Moddekdum glared at him. "At least heal my ankle," he demanded.

"Even if I hadn't left the healing wand with Lord Hyugh, I wouldn't do so," Vraax declared, angered. "I think I prefer you limping for now."

Craygh sat down against a wall. "Might as well rest; we won't be doing anything until it gets dark."

"And then what?" I found a spot by another wall while Vraax tied Moddekdum against a piece of metal or pipe sticking out of the ground.

"Then we'll make our way toward the ships that have been left here for the night. Maintenance will be finished with them while the pilots visit their families."

Just like I had thought earlier, but something else made me curious. "When you say families, how exactly do the Ohrur's families work? I mean with the women being used like servants."

"Females do not mean anything in their culture." Craygh's expression turned derisive as his eyes moved to Moddekdum, who acted as if he was bored with our conversation. "They're nothing but bargaining tools and are being treated like servants; you're right about that. They are taught that their males are like gods, to be adored, protected, pampered, and have every whim fulfilled from the day they're born. They don't attend school or read or know how to use comms except for the simplest tasks, like ordering supplies.

"They cook, they clean, they do anything their male demands. They raise children until they are old enough to attend school, and then they're separated. The girls are being taught that males are gods, how to cook and clean and… pleasure a male." I scrunched up my face, and Craygh looked away while Vraax let out a loud hiss. "While the boys are taught… everything they need to know, including how tohandletheir females when the time comes."

"That's barbaric," I said, shaking my head. "And why?"

"Do you want to take that one?" Craygh sneered at Moddekdum.

"Because females bring nothing but troubles," Moddekdum spat. "Their bleeding hearts were the cause for the war. If it hadn't been for them, we would have been the gods of Darlam. They bring only arguments, fights, and chaos. They weaken the resolve of men, cloud their judgment, and sow discord where there should be unity. They are a distraction, a burden, and a curse upon our kind." His voice dripped with venom, his eyes burned with a mixture of anger and resentment as he clenched his fists, as if the very thought of women was enough to ignite his fury. "

A picture formed in my mind, "So it was the women who didn't want you to take Darlam over?"

"Mostly," Craygh explained. "At the time, we actually had a queen who fell in love with one of the Darlams. I don't think she knew about the mating marks, but when she found out about it, she ordered us to retreat from the planet."

"Which the merchants didn't like," I finished.

Craygh looked surprised enough to make me add, "We had similar things happen on Earth because of greed from people who could never have enough gold."

"There was tension before." Craygh elaborated, "The Krythar Order was old, and the Queen had been trying for many years to put a stop to their barbaric treatment of females."

"But how come they had a queen if females weren't allowed…" I drifted off, confused.

"Because at the time, the Luminal Union was gaining power. Led by a male who had educated several females and found out that underneath all their apparent ignorance lay some very active, intelligent minds. He mentored the Queen from a young age and proposed she take power to stop the Oligarchy, but she only ruled for a few years. Unfortunately, she was killed right before Darlam was destroyed."

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