Alice groaned next to me. "So, whatcanyou tell us?"
"Pretty much all we already know. The Darlams were created to be a species of peace and harmony. The Arkhevari are both light and darkness. Or, to put it in human terms, angels and demons in one."
"I knew it," Sloane spat. We ignored her.
"Their ultimate goal was to create a species that is only… good," Hannah said, smiling wryly and looking at Tharaax with love and adoration. "The Darlams’ destiny was to live and love. Souls that had already been bound for eternity were given the gift of finding each other in a physical body in each lifetime."
Sloane interrupted, "Zapharos is very much a physical being."
"In the form he chose to show you himself in, yes." Sloane was right; Hannah sounded like the frygging Arkhevari—riddles on riddles.
"Alright," Zoe waved her hand, "Let's get back to it. The Ohrurs killed us women and put our men to sleep likeSleeping Beauty."
I didn't know whatSleeping Beautymeant, but the concept made sense.
"Yes. They killed us women, which is why we don't have any memories," Hannah included herself in thatwein the general sense, because her memories were of a spiritual, not personal nature. "And the men kept theirs because they… slept."
"So what did you do to make them forget?" Sloane asked the Ohrur.
"It took many trials, but we finally discovered that a subliminal message, implanted while they were in a state of sleep, was needed to erase their memories, and then we added a failsafe to have them experience headaches anytime they attempted to remember. That trained them not to do it." I growled, and Alice squeezed my hand. "Unfortunately, that hold lessened over the years, and we had to… terminate them once their memories became too strong, generally around the thirty-year mark." The Ohrur continued, oblivious to our growing hate. He spoke as if he were in a lecturing hall, training others.
"The training," Zaarek pushed.
"Well, yes, that. The Darlams were strong but not trained in combat or civilized weapons and technology. Again, it took some trial and error, but eventually, we discovered that training with intermittent sleep and mind stimuli helped. Usually, the Space Guardians' memories of training remained fuzzy because of the intermittent sleep."
By the stars, I wanted to end this little frygg so much. Me and everyone else in the room.
"Does anyone else have any questions?" Sloane asked.
We stared from her to the Ohrur. A million questions still warred inside my head, but I was reasonably sure I had heard and taken in everything I could for now.
"Who wants to do the honors?"
The Ohrur looked almost happy, as if he was about to leave.
"Me," Raasla said, pulling his blaster and firing it at the Ohrur, who was still smiling when he hit the ground. His death was almost too fast for my taste.
A subdued silence followed, which lasted the rest of the day. All of us had to come to terms with what had happened. Where would we go from here?
It wasn’t until dinner that Sloane announced, “The superior commander of the Imperial Forces, Xandros, and his mate and my friend, Ashley, will be here in the morning with transporters to take the women to Pandrax. From there, they can contact their loved ones.”
The emperor must have already been on his way to Darlam to get here this quickly, I mused, but I wasn't about to question our good fortune on this.
That, at least, was good news, though I was astonished that Sloane knew the Pandraxian Forces Commander Xandros’ mate. “Did she say she’s friends with the superior commander’s mate?” I asked Vraax.
Vraax’s chest puffed out with pride for his mate. “She is. She was also offered the position of chief intelligence officer for the Pandraxian emperor.”
I was duly impressed.
“Where do we go from here?” Alice asked, sidling up next to me.
I put my arm around her, “Right now, I just want to take you to bed and make love to you all night long.”
She smiled softly, “I like that idea. But I mean after.”
I remembered Rottvan and what a peaceful planet it had been. How beautiful it was, and how happy she had seemed with the other humans there. But my heart wanted to stay on Darlam. There was so much to do. The still-sleeping Darlams needed to be awakened. I would like to get to know the tribe of Shade’s Vale better. Broken towns needed to be restored. My heart hurt at the thought of leaving while there was still so much that needed to be done. Most of all, because I had just found my brother again. But if Alice wanted to leave, I would go with her wherever she wanted to go. She was my heart and soul; home would always be wherever she was.
“Where would you like to go?” I asked, making an effort to keep my voice even. I didn’t want her to pick up on how much I hated the idea of leaving Darlam.
