From Book 5
As they became more unwieldy, the Royal Twins withdrew from public appearances and War Leader Jat performed their public duties. The season made yet another circle before the pair were ready to deliver, as soon as they experienced their first labor pains, Chief Medic Mala had them rushed off to bed. They refused to be separated, so Mala had a conference room fitted out as a double delivery room and they settled in to wait. Lok was first to go into labor, he was delivered of twin boys, both with flaming red hair and powerful lungs. Hardly had the new twins been cleaned up than Gorl began labor. Within minutes, he was delivered of two golden haired twins with equally strong lungs! Nok had Far Speakers ready to send the information to the Reigning Prince when they heard a young mind sending the information and telling of contacting the minds of all four new Princes Royal. Then they heard the mental voice signing off as Mob, son of Prince Nok.
Chapter 1 - NEW TWINS
The two sets of Royal Twins had powerful minds and only Mob could calm them, otherwise, all telepaths were in pain.
The Reigning Prince, Prince Morg, arrived to visit and meet his new Great-Great Grandsons.
Prince Morg was beginning to show his great age and was slowly turning the reins of government over to his son, Prince Gard.
Prince Morg had held the heavy responsibility for The Kingdom of AZ for 400 years and he was growing weary. He would remain advisor to his son for many years yet, but now he could put down his cares and sleep soundly each night.
He spent many weeks in S'Geo, holding the new Princes Royal and getting to know them.
He had been informed of the two new, very powerful telepaths in Nok's family and he made it a point to meet them.
When told of their range, he could not believe it, especially of such young children.
Almost immediately, a Distance Speaker brought a message from Reigning Prince Gard that half the Distance Speakers in Ora had been temporarily incapacitated by two powerful mind blasts from someone called Mob and Jef!
The Prince observed the two boys in school, they were very bright and the teacher worked at a dead run to stay ahead of them. Neither boy had seen Prince Morg come into the classroom, but they sensed his presence.
They mentally giggled and Mob sent, "Chill out Bro Jef, the Chief Warrior is here!"
Mob sent with such power, every 'path in S'Geo began laughing. Prince Morg asked to meet with the boys after class and he sent to Nok, asking him to attend, also.
He sat the boys down and said, "You two boys are the most powerful telepaths in the entire Kingdom,"
Mob spoke up, "No, Lord Prince, we are not. The most powerful telepaths in the Kingdom of AZ are your four new Great-Great Grandsons, Tol, Kal and Boz, Cor, they are more powerful than we by far and have many extra powers.
The two young boys then knelt before the aging Prince, "Lord Prince Morg, we ask to be allowed to serve the Princes Royal. We shall guide them, protect them and be their friends for all our lives. We shall always love and honor our Papa, War Leader Prince Nok, but we shall also be companions to the four Princes."
Prince Morg told them it would need to be cleared by the young Prince's Fathers and also by their own father, Prince Nok.
Mob replied, "Lord Prince, they have already agreed, we waited only upon your approval before starting."
So it happened that the young telepaths, Mob and Jef, an ogre boy and a human boy, became the companions of the newest Princes Royal.
Like all vampires, the twins grew rapidly and, like their parents, their growth did not pause at the age of 5 winters.
As the four twins passed the landmark age of 5 winters, the attacks upon settlements near the borders of The Territory began.
When the Warriors arrived, all that remained would be burned out buildings and dead bodies. By counting the bodies, they knew that half or more of the inhabitants had been carried off as captives.
Nok established huge forts at S'Lak and G'Rver and placed large numbers of Warriors in both. He charged each Fort Captain to protect the settlers in their districts.
He led the Warrior Cavalry sweeping through The Territory in search of communities of the fiends from hell, killing all they found on sight. He brought cartographers with him and instructed them to make a great map of The Territory, showing all the towns and communities.
Mob insisted on accompanying his Father, leaving Jef as companion to the young Princes. The two brothers were in constant contact with each other and had even developed the ability to transmit images of what they were looking at to each other.
Jef would pass those images to the young Princes and they would all discuss what was going on.
Princes Lok and Gorl became aware of this and they asked to be included, they were getting a first-hand look at the lands they ruled.
Nok and his Warriors finally made contact with a large body of raiders and they chased them across the desert. They flung away their captives in hope they might escape the pursuing Warriors, but they could not and soon found themselves trapped between two halves of Nok's War Party.
Nok had called upon the Medics to collect the abandoned captives while he attended to the destruction of the fiends.
When they had reduced the force of cannibals, ghouls and rogue ogres to piles of body parts and stains on the sandy soil, they returned to assist the Medics in helping rescue the former captives.
What the Warriors saw as they helped the Medics only served to enrage them further, small children who had been cruelly tortured, adults maimed and mutilated and young women hopelessly violated.
Their Sergeants met with the men under them and then they asked a meeting with their leader, War Leader Prince Nok. The Sergeants' anger was radiating off them like rays of heat and they made it clear they would accept only one order, "Wipe out the fiends once and for all time!"
Nok agreed and called up the Reserves and he integrated them into his forces, he then split the Warrior Army into two halves, placing Mob in Command as Junior War Leader.
Mob sent out a mind call, asking all those who could receive him to join his Command, another 200 powerful telepaths rushed to the field to assist in wiping out the terrible scourge upon their land.
They set up such a powerful mind barrier, wild animals fled in terror. The two forces circled around in a pincher, trapping thousands of cannibals, ghouls and rogue ogres against the northern ice barrier, allowing none to escape.
The angry 'paths increased their mental pressure against the fiends as they came closer and most were incapacitated, staggering under the thunderous mental assault when the Warriors struck with their full fury.
The Warriors charged through the massed fiends, sparing none of the hated fiends, by the end of the day, the battlefield was littered with thousands of bodies and body parts of the destroyed monsters.
More than 5,000 captives were liberated and required care. Chief Medic Mala was frantically requisitioning wagons to transport the injured captives back to S'Geo and freedom. Farm wagons, freight wagons, any wagon capable of carrying the injured were pressed into service.
Healers worked day and night restoring those unfortunate folk to health, but, sadly, many were beyond healing and required burying. The Warriors stood, with their heads bowed as those who had died were given their final resting place, their anger held barely under control, their minds radiating their terrible anger.
Nok led his two Warrior Forces around through 'Vega and into the lower regions of AZ chasing the remnants of the fiends, trapping them against rivers or mountain ranges, none survived.
Prince Morg had remained in S'Geo and was being kept up to date by Jef, who presented the elderly Prince with mind pictures of what was taking place.
The elderly Prince was horrified at what he was shown and, as the surviving captives began trickling into S'Geo, he ordered a great hospital to be erected to care for them and named Chief Medic Mala to head the Kingdom's medical service.
She would later be named a Princess of AZ.
Back and forth through the Kingdom and its Territories the Warriors marched, wiping the land clean of the foul fiends from hell.
Nok left detachments of Warriors and a Captain to establish Forts along their borders to prevent reinfection of their lands.
As peace began to return to the Kingdom of AZ, the Great Warrior Army returned home to S'Geo and a grateful population, in hopes they might have purchased peace for their people.
Mob had gathered a force of 250 powerful telepaths, many approaching the power of himself and Jef. As the Warrior Force was disbanded and the Reserves returned to their civilian occupations, Mob asked his father to establish a Corps of Telepaths to serve the Kingdom.
Prince Morg agreed and together they established the Royal Telepath Corps to be headquartered in S'Geo. It was to be headed by Mob.
The last official acted performed by Prince Morg before he turned over all official duties to his son, Prince Gard, he raised both Mob and Jef to be Princes of the Realm, and that he named them The Royal Telepaths of AZ.
Chapter 2 - RENNAISANCE
The war against the fiends marked the beginning of great strides by the folk of AZ. Before People technology began appearing at a faster pace and the population increased rapidly.
S'Geo had been a sleepy agricultural backwater, but it was now emerging as an important financial and manufacturing center of the Kingdom. Factories and food processing plants were springing up and the new Royal Hospital drew patients from all over the Kingdom. The water pumping system was finally perfected and piping laid down to provide every home and building with fresh, clean running water. The newspaper began being published daily and a plant built just to make paper for the newspaper.
The young sets of Royal Twins came into some of their powers early and asked to join the Corps of Telepaths.
Mob and Jef accepted them eagerly as the four Princes Royal had become the most powerful 'paths in the Kingdom.
Prince Morg had decided to remain in S'Geo and watched the development of his Great-Great Grandsons with more than a little pride. The Princes mixed with the other telepaths easily and were an asset to the Corps.
Between them and the other 'paths, there was a barrier of mental force surrounding the entire Kingdom of AZ, no fiend could cross the border without being detected.
With peaceful times, Nok had time to explore his feelings for Chief Medic Mala and they were seen together, holding hands whenever they thought Mob or Jef were not watching.
Little did they know that their every move was seen and transmitted to the boys by their friends and companions in the Corps of Telepaths.
Even the Princes Royal sent their images to Mob and Jef!
Finally, the boys could contain their secret no longer, they told their father to "Get On with it"!
A very red faced Nok proposed to Mala and she accepted. In honor of the occasion, Prince Morg asked if he could act as Father of the Bride. Mala was honored and told him that she would be delighted for him to do so.
Prince Morg asked his son to preside over the nuptials and folk from all over the Kingdom began to arrive to witness the ceremony.
Just before the wedding, Prince Morg had asked his son to elevate Mala to the Peerage so, as they were arriving, Prince Gard instructed Mala to kneel before him and he named her Princess of AZ.
Mala's eyes were rolling crosswise as she stood there becoming the bride of War Leader Prince Nok, their two sons standing beside them, transmitting everything throughout the Kingdom.
Prince Gard declared a National Holiday in honor of the couple and then named Nok as the Military Leader of the Kingdom of AZ. Prince Jat was proud as a strutter bird of his son and all the Ogre Folk now realized their acceptance and equality with the other folk of the Kingdom was complete.
Forgotten were the old prejudices and hatreds of ancient times, regardless of race, they were all folk of AZ!
While Prince Morg had many years left to him, he knew what he had started as a small, pre-molt Vampire boy so many years ago, was finally bearing dividends, his people were one folk, one nation.
Years of peace passed and, strangely, Jef, a human 'path, did not age as other humans. In fact, he was taking on the characteristic of an Ogre! Nok watched closely, and concluded it was the intimate mind contact between his two sons, Mob and Jef that was causing the mutation.
As he traveled through his Warrior Command, he noticed other such mutations taking place, even between humans and vampires and ogres and vampires.
Prince Morg was the oldest and wisest of the vampires, he sought council with the elderly prince. Neither had an explanation, but they wondered if the races were also mutating.
Despite the peace, Nok never relaxed his vigilance. He kept the forts manned in a state of instant readiness. The first warning that "something" was happening came from the Corps of Telepaths, they noted attempted penetrations of their mental barrier from the east and the south.
None had succeeded and he asked the 'paths to be extra aware. The four Princes Royal were approaching their maturity and their mental powers greatly exceeded any of the others. They sat in communion, forcing their minds to range far beyond where others had been forced to stop.
They detected many other folk living great distances from their own lands.
When the others discovered the four were descended from Prince Jorl, there was great excitement and those far distant immediately began a trek to the Kingdom of AZ.
Prince Jorl was the last ancestral leader of all the Vampire Folk!
The travelers from far lands met the mental barrier and requested entrance, opening their minds that the guardians would know their peaceful intentions.
The visitors were amazed that humans, vampires and ogres lived in peace with each other. The oldest of the visitors, Prince Gan, predated the great war, now more than a thousand years in the past and had once met the legendary Vampire Leader, Prince Jorl.
As the aged Vampire Prince, who was also blind, was led before the Twins, he screamed and fell to his knees, his mind seeing Prince Jorl.
He called out, "My Prince, My Prince, you have returned to us."
The Twins Royal stood and went to the ancient vampire, "No, Lord Gan, we are his descendents and he is in us."
The old man was in tears, "I have waited a thousand years for you to return, now I can die in peace."
The ancient being continued, "The legends tell us than when the Great Prince returns, the races shall once again become one. The Great War split us into humans, ogres and vampires. The ghouls and cannibals were the criminals that caused the Great War and showered our world with their terrible bombs and weapons."
The four young princes said as one, "We know this to be true, we are the Uniters, through us shall our world be healed."
They led the Ancient Vampire to their own rooms where they laid him down to rest.
They returned to the Audience Room and announced, "It begins, our peoples shall once again be one."
Nok heard in his mind, "Bring Mob and Jef, your Father, Jat, also and meet with us. This is the beginning of the new times."
Chapter 3 - RECOVERY
Nok gathered his sons and his father and brought them to the Twins' rooms. There, Prince Morg and Prince Gard were waiting. The Ancient Prince Gan was sitting up, with a huge smile on his face.
Thus began the campaign to reunite the races of man, Vampire, Human and Ogre as they were in times past.
Nok took a leadership role from the very first. He insisted that they all join with those of the Corps of Telepaths in forming a common mind. He was convinced that the joining he had witnessed within his forces was the key.
When he shared his thoughts, Prince Gan clapped his hands, "Yes, that is how it occurred in ancient times."
Nok opened his mind, calling his 'paths. From having created the Great Barrier, the telepaths already knew how to form a mental collective, the visitors were stunned when they realized what Nok had created, the most powerful mental force on the planet.
Knowing what they were looking for, they discovered those who had already begun the mutation and asked them to come to S'Geo. Soon, humans, vampires and ogres were arriving from all parts of the Kingdom and beyond; from lands long forgotten.
Those who would harm them, the cannibals and ghouls, began to take notice of changes in the mind barrier and those traveling towards the Kingdom.
The attempts to waylay the travelers were met with a devastating mental force, leaving the attackers crippled in mind and body. As the collective grew in size and experience, the ghouls and cannibals started to fear for their lives.
In a short time, even those who had thought they had no such ability, discovered they could sense the collective mind force and tap it for help and knowledge. When the force was most active, the sky would tinge purple and the lower animals would cower in their dens, shivering in fear.
Those animals, those who had long social associations with the race that was becoming mankind, the dogs and other descendants of the wolves, came closer, hungering for their ancient association.
The Wolfkind grew bold, asking mankind for association. In an open mind, there can be no secrets nor falsehood, the minds of the Wolfkind lay open and they were welcomed into the mental fold that was forming. It was not to be a master-slave relationship, the minds met on an equal footing, with respect and honor. There was a great sigh among the Wolfkind, a sigh of happiness and comfort, they were coming home.
The Wolfkind, from small dogs to the great timber wolves were received with honor and dignity as equals. Everywhere the collective mind reached, things were changing, ancient knowledge and science was being rediscovered, but with a different approach. It must do no harm, cause no fear nor hurt any living thing.
As the power grew, so also did those who were its parts, those who were elderly and feeble discovered new energy, were quicker of step and actions. Those whose hair had grayed with age, their skin wrinkled and hand palsied found reversal. They did not grow younger, but their age no longer limited them.
Women thought past the age of child bearing found themselves expecting, men, whose hands had become shaky and infirm found them able to again do that which was useful and those whose sight had dimmed found new pleasure in seeing what they had been unable to see.
The race of mankind was retaking the planet of its birth.
All was not as easy as the telling of it, the ghouls and cannibals fought back. They fought with a desperate ferocity, fearing their way of life, their very kind were threatened. But, they could not fend off the mind collective of the Mankind combined with that of the Wolfkind.
Slowly, the ghouls and cannibals were driven back, many, with their backs against that which they could not survive, chose death. In a few short years, they became the "boogiemen" in stories told to small children.
Peace reigned in all the lands of the Earth, Mankind and his friends were thriving. There was no ruler insofar as someone making laws, but Nok and his family, along with the four young princes were the leaders of humankind.
Great Gray and his clan were the leaders of the Wolfkind.
All was at peace when a mind of great force "spoke" so that all could hear, "You have matured and are made welcome to those of us from the stars."
TBC