“Maybe this is a sign,” Merrick said as he moved closer to Mona on the couch.
Mona laughed and playfully pushed him back.
“Easy there, cowboy. Let’s check the breakers first,” she said with a laugh as she stood up.
Before Mona could get to her feet, the French doors that led to their balcony blew open, and three men wearing black tactical uniforms, hoods, and face wraps burst into the living room. Even though Merrick’s first inclination was to assume they were from the Wind Family, their eyes didn’t have the epicanthic fold typical of that family, and what little he could see of their faces showed skin color that was pinkish in hue, much like his own.
Merrick grabbed Mona and swung her around so that she was behind him. As he turned to face the men, he shouted a calling tone as loudly as he could to any nearby followers of Terrada. But his voice was cut short as one of the men flew across the room and landed his foot directly in the middle of Merrick’s chest, knocking the breath out of him and sending him to the floor.
Vague images flashed in Merrick’s head as he remembered the first time he and Mona had ever been attacked. That seemed like a lifetime ago. He had not known who or what he was back then, but that was not the case anymore.
Merrick ducked as the man tried to land a follow-on roundhouse kick to his head. Then he sprang up and launched himself at the second attacker who was halfway across the living room, even as the third intruder made his way toward Mona.
If Mona was in danger, there was no time for subtlety.
Merrick flowed into action.
He landed a knife-edge hand into the exposed throat of the second attacker, leaving him gasping for air then spun around and launched a small fireball directly at the first attacker’s chest. With another word, this time from Terrada’s tongue, Merrick sent two pointy stone sculptures flying like missiles directly at the back of Mona’s attacker.
Merrick moved effortlessly, his daily training paying off as he seamlessly blended martial arts and magic into a single, deadly fighting style.
Mona’s attacker fell forward with the two statues protruding from his back as Mona ran down the hallway, out of sight. With her no longer in the line of fire, Merrick focused on the first attacker, who was bounding across the floor at him faster than it seemed possible. Before Merrick could move, the man landed a fist directly on the bridge of his nose. Merrick felt it break as hot blood poured from his nostrils and onto the carpet.
Merrick struggled to clear his head enough to defend against the man’s other fist that was already on its way toward his chin.
As the man’s fist came within an inch of Merrick’s face, Merrick sank like a ghost through the floor, and continued to pass through the ceiling of his downstairs neighbor’s unit, until he landed in his neighbor’s living room. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he jumped up and through the ceiling at a different point, passing through the drywall and the wooden trusses seamlessly until he popped back up again in his own condo, but this time directly behind his attacker.
The man spun around as the third attacker, now recovered enough from the blow to his throat, grabbed Merrick from behind and clamped an unbelievably strong hand over Merrick’s mouth so that he could not talk.
With his voice muted, Merrick wondered why his attackers, so obviously members of the Drayoom species, had not used any magic yet.
From lack of oxygen, Merrick’s vision started to sparkle with bright black and white static. He fought as hard as he could to escape and to stay conscious, even as the man in front of him began pummeling Merrick’s torso with his fists.
Merrick struggled wildly, almost throwing off the man who was holding him from behind, but to no avail.
Just as he thought that he was about to pass out from the lack of oxygen and from the pain, the man behind him let go. When Merrick collapsed to the floor, he saw his attacker writhing and struggling as he was being dragged toward the balcony by a single tree limb wrapped around his ankle. The man clutched at the blood-soaked carpet to no avail, then disappeared over the balcony railing and into the night with a single scream. Merrick was thankful that the Elm tree outside his window had answered his initial calling tone as he turned to face his final attacker.
Merrick instinctively ducked as the man lunged forward, trying to wrap his hands around Merrick’s neck.
The man passed over the top of Merrick, missing him by only a few inches as Merrick struggled to put some distance between the two of them and to catch his breath.
They both rose to their feet, even though Merrick struggled more than his attacker to do so. Merrick looked down and saw that the man was standing on a thin cushion of air. They looked at each other as the man, now wary of the Elm and its powerful limbs, maneuvered himself to where he could see both Merrick and the open double doors leading to the outside.
As both men tensed, searching for an opening in the other’s defenses, the eyes of Merrick’s attacker went wide, and he dropped to his knees.
Behind the man stood Mona, wearing the band of divinium on her finger that Merrick had given her as an engagement ring. It was a beautifully shaped, twisted piece of Rune Corp divinium that sparkled and pulsed with all the colors of the dragons, but it was also a potent weapon. She had also donned her enunciator collar and microphone.
That was why she had run down the hallway—not to remove herself from harm’s way, but to grab her gear and her divinium ring she had taken off while doing the dishes so that she could help Merrick in the battle.
He silently reminded himself again to be grateful for having someone like her in his life.
He walked over to Mona, and they embraced.
When they separated, they looked down at the two bodies at their feet. Merrick knelt down and removed the face wrap of the man whom Mona had just taken out. Even though Merrick was sure he had seen Caucasian features earlier, the attacker’s face was now decidedly Asian.
And he was still alive, but only barely.
“Who sent you, and why are you here?” Merrick said, grabbing the man by his collar.
“I...act...on...my...own,” the man whispered, as his life energy continued to fade. “All of this, and all that will come. It is your fault. You are the one who must pay...You did not avert…anything.”
Merrick felt the man’s body go limp in his hand. He dropped the man’s head onto the floor with a thud and then searched his body and that of the other man for any type of clue as to why they had attacked.
He discovered nothing.
There were no markings on either of them. No divinium. And certainly, no missing cube. In fact the only real proof he had that the men were from the Wind Family at all was the fact that he had witnessed one of them floating on air.
Standing up, Merrick quietly intoned for the Elm tree to help once again, and watched as five thick branches from outside slithered over his balcony rails and across his floor. The wooden tendrils wrapped around the two dead Drayoom and pulled them back toward the balcony and over the side.
Merrick knew that the bodies were being taken away to reside forever in the Earth, a most unholy of burials for members of the Wind Family.
Those three men had invaded his and Mona’s home and had endangered the woman he loved, and for that, they could burn for eternity or decay inside Terrada’s bowels for all he cared.
Merrick thanked the Elm out loud by its creation name, knowing that it could still hear him, and asked it to tell Oodrosil of everything it had just witnessed.
Most of Merrick’s body was throbbing in pain, and his nose ached in particular as he sat down on the couch. He uttered a healing word from Terrada’s tongue that sounded like flowing honey. His pain receded a little, and the blood stopped flowing from his nose. He knew that he would wake up even sorer and stiffer in the morning—but it was nothing that Oodrosil couldn’t help with later.
Merrick thought back on the fight, which had lasted no more than five minutes in total. He had certainly done better than when he wa
s old Merrick, and he and Mona had been attacked by those thugs in Old Town, Alexandria. But his training had not been enough to face three killers at the same time. If not for the Elm tree and for Mona, he might have died tonight. He was good, but he had to train harder and to dedicate himself even more if he was going to survive in his new world of magic—and if he was going to be able to protect Mona.
He knew that he should take Mona to Rune Corp right away to make sure she was safe for the rest of the night. But they had to clean up while it was still dark outside, and by the time that was done, they would both be exhausted and ready for sleep. At least the damage was fairly contained, and there was nothing that couldn’t be easily repaired without the condo association’s knowledge.
Additionally, he felt safe staying put, knowing that Oodrosil would have the Elm tree standing guard outside their condo until morning at least.
The real question was whether it was still a good idea to visit the Wind City or not. Now he would definitely have to talk to Cara about the pros and cons of going and he would have to take her opinions strongly into consideration.
He found one thing particularly confusing. The assassins had not used any magic to attack him, and their appearances had been altered so as not to appear like they were members of the Wind Family. Whoever had sent them assumed success and did not want the attack to be linked to the Wind Family if anyone else happened to see them.
Or maybe the plan was to kill Merrick and leave Mona alive as a witness.
Since they had failed in their mission, once the men had died, the spell of deception had stopped working, revealing the attackers for what they really were—assassins from the Wind Family, most likely sent by the friendly Emperor himself.
At first it made no sense as to why the Emperor would invite him to the Cloud City, and then try to have him killed. But the more he thought about it, a twisted sort of logic began to emerge.
All of his alleged kindness toward Merrick could have been orchestrated only so that the Emperor could have claimed that he had nothing but good intentions toward the rightful Ard Righ.
Merrick laughed ruefully. All of that talk about him being the ruler of the Earth Clan had just been planned misdirection and deception.
It was most likely that the Emperor had never actually meant to show Merrick his fabled Cloud City at all, and had only invited him, knowing that Merrick himself would spread the news, to give the appearance of good will and to help rule himself out as a suspect in Merrick’s death.
Merrick didn’t like being played for a fool, and the fact that the Emperor had never intended for him to visit his precious city in the first place made him even more determined to take the Emperor up on his offer.
The more he thought about it, he more he began to think that he would be safer being as close to the Emperor as possible. The Wind Family, more than any other Drayoom faction, was concerned with politics and appearances both within their family and with the other families as well. Their pride was their weakness, and Merrick suspected that as long as he stayed close to the Emperor, the young ruler wouldn’t try anything that might make it look as if he had played a role in Merrick’s death.
As far as Mona went, however, she might be fairer game and would definitely be at risk. She could even be perceived as a weakness for the Emperor to exploit.
Even though Merrick knew she would protest, he would have to insist that she stay here. Maybe he could entice her with a trip to the Earth City, going back with Cara when she returned to check on Bradley.
Either way, she would have to stay, but he would have to take a small group of experts with him, in the guise of being his diplomatic detail. In reality, of course, they would be handpicked from his Alpha Team for their combat skills as well as for their cultural expertise.
Since he was going to throw himself into the enemy’s camp, he would do so with his eyes wide open and with as much help as he could get.
CHAPTER 19
JOANNA REVIEWED the footage of the storm for the fourth time in a row. The station had already aired her video of the twister. That had been enough of a coup for one day, but the extreme weather was not what was holding Joanna’s interest.
She watched as the woman on screen backed herself up against the fence and stood there as the man in the tight, white ninja suit threw things at her that Joanna couldn’t quite make out. She asked Chip to zoom in as much as he could while still maintaining some picture clarity, but there wasn’t enough data in the cell phone file to get a sharp image of the woman’s face.
She could barely make out what looked like the man in white tripping over some unearthed roots or tree limbs being blown around by the high winds. She saw the woman fall to her knees and drop something on the ground that she had been holding in her hands.
Then the twister moved in and blocked her view of whatever happened next.
Joanna cursed out loud.
She should have gone over and searched for the woman’s body or at least called the police. She had been too focused on getting the footage of the tornado to her producer so that her station would have the scoop on the breaking story, and now she was left with no obvious way to identify the mystery woman she had captured on film.
Then again, as far as she knew, the woman and her attacker had both been swept away by the storm anyway.
She set a password on her file and closed it before grabbing the tiny memory card from her cell phone and setting off at a run.
Behind her, she heard Chip enter the room and shout at her, asking what was going on.
She didn’t answer or turn back.
Within less than half an hour, she was once again at the scene where the twister had touched down.
Making sure she was wearing her press badge, she walked up to the police officer in charge—an assumption she made, based on the fact that he was the only one standing around and not actually doing anything.
She showed her credentials and asked the officer if there had been any fatalities, but he responded immediately that no one had been injured to the best of his knowledge. In fact, there had been surprisingly little property damage either. The sudden storm had mostly taken its toll on the area outside the grocery store and the area next to Joanna’s own condo building, ripping up trees and large stones, but leaving other nearby structures untouched.
As far as the police were concerned, the area was not a crime scene, so Joanna was allowed to make her way over to where she had seen the struggle between the man and the woman. The ground there had been ravaged, and she saw no signs at all that either the woman or the man in the white ninja suit had ever been there. Where the woman had been standing, Joanna could barely detect the remains of what looked like female footprints. She also saw a set of very distinct tracks. Size ten and a half urban hiker. Men’s shoes.
The man’s footprints were so pronounced that she suspected they had been made after the storm had passed, possibly by someone else searching the area.
As her eyes continued to scan the surroundings, her left foot brushed against something solid.
She bent over and picked up what looked to be a throwing star by placing her pencil through the hole in the middle of it.
It was made of a dense black stone with little streams of swirling white mist flowing across its surface. It was also partially covered in what looked like dried blood.
Joanna had been around long enough to know that taking evidence from a crime scene was illegal, but at the same time, as far as the police were concerned, no crime had taken place. As far as she knew, she was the only witness to what had happened. If she told the police about it now, and even if she showed them the video, without a body, they wouldn’t be able to do much of anything.
She carefully dropped the star into a small plastic bag that, as a good reporter, she always carried with her. She placed the bag in her purse before walking over to a nearby tangle of broken trees. Even without moving any of the branches, it was easy to tell that there was no dead body to be foun
d.
Joanna’s best bet at figuring out what had gone on was to hit up some of her scientist friends and to have them run some tests on the star while she did her own research using the Internet. She also figured that it couldn’t hurt to check with the residents of her own condominium building just in case one of them had seen something.
One way or another, she was going to figure out what had happened, and she was going to make a story out of it.
CHAPTER 20
IT WAS THE MIDDLE of summer, but the morning had started out with a cold rain and a thunderstorm. Early morning hail had been reported in several locations around Vienna, Virginia. By noon, the day was sweltering with a hot breeze that choked people when they tried to breathe.
Merrick imagined that by the close of day the temperature would drop yet again. Living in Northern Virginia was becoming very much like living in the desert.
Cara had returned early that morning, just as she said she would. Just as Merrick suspected, she had not been happy to find out that she had missed the Emperor.
As Merrick and Mona sat in Cara’s office, Merrick tried to appear as if he were paying attention to Cara warning him about the risks of visiting the Cloud City. But he couldn’t stop pondering the hidden secrets of the Rune Corp divinium, nor could he stop worrying about the fact that the Emperor most likely possessed one of their divinium cubes.
“You’re telling me that we’re pretty damn sure the Wind Family has our missing cube,” Cara said, “and that the Emperor sent a team to kill you last night. And now you want to go along with this same Emperor on a trip halfway across the world to visit the Cloud City? What part of that plan makes sense to you, Merrick?”
“I know it’s risky,” Merrick said. “By now, the Emperor has to assume that his assassins failed and that we have figured out that they were from the Wind Family. If we decide to confront him with that, he could always disavow any knowledge of the attempt and say some of his people went rogue and acted on their own. It would look suspicious, but he knows that we can’t prove he’s the one behind it.
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