Excerpt, Chapter 1
 

I peered out the window, searching for the source of the explosive sounds that were becoming louder by the second. Mother tugged me by the arm.
 

“Stay away from there,” she scolded. “Go to the back of the house until I call you. Take Arixa with you.”
 

I sensed fear in Mother’s tone, and even though we were the same age, I was protective of my twin sister. She was much shorter than me. I took my assignment to heart and led Arixa to the storage area in the back and waited. When Father arrived, he gathered us together in the kitchen.

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“Children, remember how we have talked about what is happening on our planet?”

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Father was referring to stories he had shared with us that I clearly had not paid enough attention to. At my young age, I was not so concerned with Aranda’s current events.

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“Aliens are meddling in our affairs and trying to turn the tide in our planet’s clan wars. I learned this morning that they are aiding the Morant clan. Our province is being bombarded by weapons beyond our known technology. It is not safe here anymore. I have rented a mobile home vehicle for us and Foxor’s family. We will have to hide out in the wilderness until the danger passes. Follow me.”

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“What kind of cowards are we? Why are we so ready to let those bastards take our home and land?” said Drator, my eldest brother.

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All our jaws dropped in unison. Drator was the only one of us who would dare to speak to Father in such a tone. He had been home for a few weeks on a break from his off-world business school. No one else in our neighborhood had ever traveled to another planet, even within our star system. He was kind of a celebrity in our small village.

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Everyone froze. My other older brother, Rimax, and I looked away when Father glared at Drator.

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“I am no coward, but I have a family to take care of.”

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