but through a great betrayal our emperor was murdered and our tribe almost extinguished. A few managed to escape and eventually found a home on our island, Penaraja, named in their honour and translates to, ‘Emperors Guard’.”
“We are a simple people who believe in the teachings and ways of our ancestors and as such continue to train as our ancestors before us, we train from birth, just as our ancestors, in an ancient martial art and at the age of eighteen we join the British forces.”
Donald couldn’t help himself, “what you join the British army, I mean I’ve heard of the Ghurkas but the Penr…Penarajans, never.”
“We don’t have a specialist unit as such, we just go straight into the SAS or SBS, you know the British special forces.”
“You need to train for that though, go through selection, have a few years experience.”
Saki laughed, “Did you not hear me, we train from birth, by the time we’re twelve we could pass selection. At any one time there are about ten Penarajans across the two services. Why do you think the British Special Forces has such a great reputation,” added Saki with a wink.
Before Donald could respond Rachel rushed in and informed Saki he was the proud father of a beautiful baby girl. She explained that they were still concerned for Tylanni as she remained very weak. However, Tylanni, despite her condition, demanded to see Saki and their new daughter. She held her baby daughter in her arms and they named her Lela. An hour later, with Lela and Saki still with her, Tylanni passed away.
Chapter 8
Present day
Following Tylanni’s death, Saki made two pledges. The first related to Donald saving his daughter’s life. He would be forever indebted to the Kennedys and, in the tradition of his ancestors, he would become their permanent guardian. Donald’s act of heroism, diving in front of a bullet which would have killed Tylanni and the unborn Lela, had been a truly selfless act. Donald and Rachel argued that, had it not been for Saki, they would all be dead. It was they, who owed Saki their eternal gratitude. Saki, however, was adamant and there was no dissuading him. Saki would protect them with his life, if required. Anything less would be a disgrace and a dishonour to his people and their traditions.
To resolve the issue, Donald went to Penaraja to speak to Saki’s father, Papa, the island’s elder and leader, to ask for his help in relieving Saki of what Donald thought to be misguided honour. Papa, however, took great exception to Donald’s suggestion that his son’s honour was misguided. He explained to Donald that honour was the very foundation of their society and that throughout history many wars had started because of a fundamental lack of honour. By the end of the lecture, Donald not only had the personal protection of Saki, but Papa decreed that Saki’s debt was the island’s debt also. So, should the Kennedys ever need them, the islanders were at their service.
Donald had gone to Penaraja to release the debt of one islander but instead gained the debt of over 300. Donald, an outstanding negotiator, had been outflanked and put firmly in his place by the South Seas Island Chief, Papa.
Having accepted Papa’s decree, Donald and Rachel welcomed Saki and Lela into their family with open arms. With no need for surnames on Penaraja, Donald insisted that, as they were now part of his family, they should take the family name and so Saki and Lela became Saki Kennedy and Lela Kennedy. Rachel loved looking after baby Lela and was keen to have another child to keep Lela company. Soon enough, a bouncing baby boy arrived, just after Lela’s first birthday. He was named Tom. Complications during the birth meant that Tom would be her only child but when the news was broken to Rachel, she simply replied.
“Not to worry, I have a son and a daughter, I could not wish for more.”
Over the next thirteen years, the two families bonded as one and Tom and Lela were raised as brother and sister. Saki never let the children out of his sight and by default, became their nanny, bodyguard, chauffeur and martial arts trainer, but that, to his dismay, was only for Lela.
Lela, as was the Penarajan tradition, had started training shortly after birth. Such was the complexity and intricacy of the movements required to master their martial art, babies’ muscles and joints were manipulated from an early age resulting in a dexterity and strength far greater than normal. The art was the first pure martial art which, over the centuries, has been diluted by other cultures into modern martial arts such as Kung Fu, Karate, Jujitsu and Tai Chi. Only the Penarajans, with their intense training, had maintained the extraordinarily powerful pure art. Lela had proven over the years to be an extraordinary student, surprising even Saki by the intensity with which she practised and perfected her skills. After Tom’s birth, Saki had tried to obtain approval from Papa to start Tom’s training. Unfortunately, the island law was very clear. The teaching of their martial art was forbidden to anybody not born to an islander. Saki was forced to accept this as to dishonour his ancestors was unthinkable.
Saki’s second pledge was much simpler. He would avenge Tylanni’s death. Not a day had gone by when Saki did not think about Tylanni and he knew that he would love no other woman. He was aware of the mysterious Zulu, whose description had been given to him by the man called Bravo, the only assassin still capable of speech. Saki looked forward to the day he would face the giant man and stare into those intensely cold eyes.
Part Two
Chapter 9
Two weeks later
“ Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear To — om, Happy birthday to you…? ”
Tom was a very heavy sleeper. Waking up in the morning was a daily ritual which took a long time. The four looked down at the sleeping mass. It hadn’t moved. They looked at each other and began the chorus again, only much louder.
“Errrh, wh….what is it? What’s happening?” came a muffled voice from under the duvet.
“It’s time to wake up, it’s your Birthday!! You’re thirteen!!” shouted his father.
The words slowly sank in. He was thirteen. It was his birthday. He pulled the duvet back and looked up at the four grinning faces staring back at him, his mother, father, Saki and Lela.
They all rushed forward and gave him hugs and kisses as they wished him a happy birthday.
“Thanks,” said Tom as he recovered from the tuneless wake up call.
“Come on, open your pressies!” said Lela, pointing to the pile of gifts on the end of his bed.
“Coooo-oool”! “Fantastic!” “Tha — anks” was all that was heard for the following ten minutes as he opened each of the presents. Along with the usual suspects, albums, games, books and clothes, Tom received a bracelet from Saki which had been made especially for him on Penaraja. Saki explained that a similar bracelet was historically worn by emperors hundreds of years earlier and that the person wearing the bracelet was protected by a very powerful force. Tom wasted no time in securing the bracelet to his wrist.
“There’s just one more present,” said Donald.
Tom looked up with a quizzical look. Everything he had wanted or could have asked for was in front of him. What else could there be?
“Here,” said Donald, handing Tom what looked like a remote control.
Tom looked at the small remote with only two buttons.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a surprise,” replied Donald mysteriously.
Tom looked around his bedroom, hoping to find a receiver for the signal but could not see anything. He pressed the button marked 1. Nothing happened. He pressed Button 2. Nothing happened. He looked up at the sniggering audience.
“Can I at least have a clue?” he asked.
