“At the same time, the Emperor most likely thinks that we don’t know about his people stealing the cube and killing Officer Diggs. That piece of knowledge gives us an advantage, and the very last thing he would expect right now is for me to accept his invitation.
“If I go with him, I’ll be safer than anywhere else. You’re the one who told me how much he worries about how others perceive him and his family. If I stay close to him, he won’t move against me, because if he did, everyone would know he was the one behind it.
“If I’m lucky, I can find where he’s keeping the cube and get it back before he has a chance to reverse engineer our tech and figure out where to find more of our divinium. I wish Ohman had told you where he got our divinium from.”
“My father was a secretive man,” Cara said. “You’ve spoken his creation name before. You know how powerful it is for keeping secrets. I told you that I asked him about the divinium more than a few times, but all he said was that one day I’d find out when the time was right.”
“I think we need to make this the right time before the Emperor figures it out first,” Merrick said. “Of course, maybe he already knows where our divinium comes from. Those guys last night were in disguise and didn’t even use magic. They certainly didn’t seem interested in questioning me. I think they wanted to kill me and maybe leave Mona alive so that she could back up the story that it wasn’t the Wind Family who did it.”
Mona had been quiet while Merrick and Cara hashed things out, but now she shifted to the front of her seat.
“So why did they want you dead?” Mona said.
Merrick leaned back in his chair, thinking.
As he was mulling around different theories, Cara started nodding her head as if a sudden realization had dawned on her.
“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way. Separate out the cube from the attempt on your life. Why else would the Emperor want you gone, Merrick? Maybe the Emperor simply considers you to be a threat. He must know that you have a chance of uniting the Earth Clan and the Fire Tribe or that you might at least negotiate a peace between the two families. If you pulled either of those things off, that alone would make you the most powerful Drayoom leader alive and a direct threat to the Emperor.”
“That’s enough for him to want me dead?” Merrick said.
“Absolutely,” Cara said. “The Wind Family takes its politics very seriously, and I know the Emperor has thoughts of ruling more than just the Wind Family. My guess is that he wants you out of the picture so that he doesn’t have to be in any hurry to figure out the source of our divinium. As a matter of fact, he probably thinks that once you’re out of the way, he can just take whatever divinium he wants directly from Rune Corp itself along with all of our technology. Why bother reverse engineering anything when he can just take it?”
Merrick thought he had come a long way in his understanding of Drayoom politics and the nuances of the individual families, but he realized that he still had a lot to learn. It had not been obvious to him, but Cara’s theory made plenty of sense.
“I agree that the Emperor might just try taking whatever he wants directly from Rune Corp,” Mona said. “But I also agree with Merrick that we need to get the cube back if we can, and that it’s safer going to the Cloud City than waiting here for the next time the Emperor tries to kill him. If the Emperor does figure out how to duplicate the Rune Corp tech, isn’t there a chance he could use it on a piece of their normal divinium—that he wouldn’t even need our divinium to make it work? He’d have an instant weapon that he could use to arm his own human soldiers, and that would be a total game changer.”
Both Merrick and Cara stared at Mona. Her last concern about the armies of magic-wielding humans immediately rang of terrible truth. Letting the Emperor have that kind of power was not an option, and Merrick knew that he had to risk whatever was necessary to retrieve the cube.
“You’re right, Mona,” Merrick said. “We need to get the cube back from the Emperor, but we also need to find the source of our divinium as soon as we can. We need more of it if we’re going to expand and if we’re going to make enough weapons for our own people. And I need more of it to figure out the secret behind unifying the languages of the Dragons.”
Merrick suddenly remembered that he hadn’t asked about Bradley since Cara had been back.
“Speaking of our own people, how’s Bradley doing?” Merrick said. “Did the Queen put up any resistance to taking care of him?”
Cara grinned slightly.
“Once I mentioned your name, the healers were very cooperative. It’s like I said before—you have a lot of supporters in the Earth Clan.”
“And Bradley?” Merrick said.
“ It’s going to take a few days for him to fully recover, but when I left him, he already had a new leg. He had some of his typical attitude going in, but after he saw his new limb, his mood greatly improved. I was planning on going back tomorrow to check on him, but I’m thinking I should go with you instead. Heinin promised to look after him while I was gone.”
Merrick shook his head.
“Don’t you know the Lynyrd Skynyrd rule?” Merrick said. “You can’t have everyone in the band on the same plane.”
Cara looked at him, confused.
“In other words,” he said, “we can’t risk both of our necks by going to the Cloud City together. Besides, I think we need to divide and conquer this. I’ll get the cube back, and you start figuring out where we can find more divinium. You promised to go back to check on Bradley anyway, right? Maybe you can talk to the Keepers. They might know something about Ohman’s source.”
“What makes you think the Keepers are going to help me with that?” Cara said.
“Like you said, I have a lot of supporters in the Earth Clan. Maybe that includes some of the Keepers.”
Cara shrugged.
“That might work, I suppose. Mona and I could go...”
Mona suddenly stood up.
“I’m going with Merrick,” Mona said. “We already talked about this last night.”
Merrick looked away to avoid Mona’s eyes.
“You two are a great team,” Cara said. “Don’t get me wrong, but...you’re still a human. It’s going to be unsafe enough for Merrick and he’s got the power of two dragons at his command. You’d be a liability that the Emperor wouldn’t hesitate to use against Merrick.”
Mona’s face turned red.
“I’m not a liability, Cara,” she said as she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I understand what you’re saying, believe it or not, but I think I proved myself enough the last time Merrick’s life was on the line with his brother, Eudroch. And that was before I even knew anything about magic at all.”
When Mona looked directly at Merrick, he could tell that she was imploring him to take her side.
“I know what I said earlier,” Merrick said, “but that was before the Emperor raised the stakes last night. Cara has a good point about the Emperor potentially using you to get to me. If the Emperor held a knife to your throat, I’d tell him whatever he wanted to know. I’d even make things up.
“And he must know that. You know I love you, Mona. But you have to trust me that this is the best way. As soon as I get the cube, I’ll meet you and Cara at the Earth Clan, and we can all go looking for the divinium together. Right now, keeping you safe is my top priority.”
Mona looked at the table and turned her gaze away, trying to keep herself under control.
“Fine,” she finally said. “We’ll do it your way.”
Despite her words, Merrick knew for certain that Mona was not fine at all. After almost a full minute of silence, Cara spoke up.
“Who do you want to take with you then? You can’t go up there alone.”
“Jonathan’s been heading up the Araki initiative here...” Merrick said.
“We have an Araki initiative?” Cara said, as Merrick ignored her and continued.
“Jonathan knows the most about the Wind Fa
mily history, their culture, and their language,” Merrick said. “I was thinking about taking him and also Master Banzo. He’s the best fighter we have, and since I don’t want to take any divinium weapons with us and risk them falling into the Emperor’s hands, having physical fighting skills might come in handy.”
“I’m glad you’re taking Master Banzo with you,” Mona said, begrudgingly. “I worry about you too, you know?”
Merrick reached over and touched her hand across the table.
“I know,” he said. “But I’ll be fine. I’ve never been in better shape, both physically and magically. You know how much I’ve been sparring and practicing Fire and Earth Magic. Plus, like I said, the Emperor isn’t going to try anything while I am a guest in his house.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Mona said, “seeing as how he tried to have you killed just last night. If I hadn’t been there to save your butt again, you’d have been in real trouble, tough guy.”
Merrick saw that she was trying to be playful and lighten the mood, but she was also being serious. On the one hand, he had needed her help last night, but he had also been holding back and not calling on his most powerful magic by a long shot because he didn’t want to accidentally hurt her.
Before he could say anything to Mona, Cara touched her ear and activated her cell phone.
“Jonathan? Could you come up to my office? Right now, please. Thanks.”
Cara looked at both Merrick and Mona.
“I just want an outside opinion on this, before we make any final decisions on anything.”
While they waited for Jonathan to arrive, Merrick and Cara discussed the logistics of running the company in their absence.
In about five minutes, there was a knock at the door, and a tall Asian man with short black hair walked in.
“You rang?” Jonathan said.
“No need to play innocent,” Cara said. “I’m assuming you know about the failed attempt on Merrick’s life, and I’m guessing that Merrick’s talked to you already about going with him to the Cloud City.”
Jonathan glanced at Merrick, trying hard to keep his face devoid of emotion.
“You’re supposed to be the expert on their culture,” Cara said. “How do you think they’ll react knowing that we know about their botched attempt on Merrick’s life? Should we expect an all out attack? Should we accept their offer to visit the Cloud City?”
“I’ve studied everything we know about the history of the Wind Family—which isn’t all that much, frankly. I’ve researched their last three generations of leadership and any documented interactions they’ve had with other Drayoom families. Like you said, the Emperor knows that his men didn’t make it back alive, and we have to assume that he’s smart enough to guess that you know they were from the Wind Family. The Emperor also assumes that you at least strongly suspect that he was the one behind it.
“Mind you, he isn’t afraid. With probably the most deadly military force of any of the families, there’s no need for that. But he’s certainly embarrassed and angry. Hard for us to relate to this in our culture, but honor and even a perceived defamation of a person’s name or the honor of their ancestors are huge driving forces in their decision making. They take it all very seriously.”
“What does that mean for us?” Merrick said.
“My best bet is that he’ll ignore the fact that you know it was him,” Jonathan said. “He might even try to distance himself from the act right up front somehow. Either way, his invitation to you will stand, because he would never want to be seen as going back on his word. If you do go with him, he’ll keep his eyes open for any opportunity to do away with you as long as it won’t link back to him and his family. Otherwise, you should be pretty safe—unless he becomes desperate, of course.”
Merrick stood and paced to the other side of the table.
“That doesn’t sound comforting,” Mona said.
“Do you believe,” Merrick said, “that the closer I am to the Emperor, the safer I am from him trying to kill me again?”
Jonathan paused before speaking.
“Essentially, my answer is yes.”
“Then it’s settled,” Merrick said. “Jonathan, please gather Master Banzo, and both of you get your suits on. I don’t want to bring any weapons with us, but I can’t send you in there without your battle suits to help protect you. Meet me out back in half an hour. The three of us will go up to visit the Emperor while Cara and Mona go to the Earth Clan to check on Bradley and to ask the Keepers for any clues about where we can find the divinium.”
Cara looked over to Mona as if waiting for her approval. Mona glanced at Merrick, and Merrick stared into the distance, thinking.
Jonathan glanced back and forth at all three of them and then turned to leave.
“See everyone in half an hour,” Jonathan said as he hurried out the door.
Merrick snapped out of his daze and softened his eyes as he turned to look at Mona.
“It’s going to be fine,” he said. “I’ll see you at the Earth City in a few days or so, and then we can figure out together where this elusive divinium is hiding.”
Mona didn’t say anything, but from experience, Merrick knew that her silence was not the same as her approval.
CHAPTER 21
FOR THE THIRD TIME that day, Prince Takehiko told himself that there was no dishonor in being only the Prince of the Wind Family. The situation that led to his younger brother being placed on the throne had been beyond the Prince’s control, and no one would contest that fact.
It was true that the Prince believed he would be a better leader for his people than his little brother, but there was no arguing with the will of the dragons, and he dared not say anything out loud about the matter.
He barely felt safe thinking about it.
Prince Takehiko himself had been considered gifted because he remembered his creation name at a very early age—at the same time his body was going through the all-too-human process of puberty.
His father had been proud of him on the day that he had given his name to the Monks of Araki, adding to the family’s lexicon of words.
But years later, when his younger brother had come out of his mother’s womb and greeted the doctors using perfect Wind Dragon language, there was no question in anyone’s mind that the newborn was meant to sit on the throne.
Even the Prince had thought as much.
Now he realized that he had been wrong.
He, the Prince, had been the one to capture the cube from the hands of the human—not the Emperor. He, the Prince, had been the one who had not failed in his mission, unlike the Emperor’s three assassins who had been handpicked from the elite Wind Guard.
Yes, it was true that they had been forbidden to use their magic so that Merrick’s woman would not be able to identify them as members of the Wind Family, but they had still failed, and that was unacceptable.
Despite the Emperor’s incessant worrying, the Prince did not think that Merrick posed much of a threat. In fact, the Prince was pleased that the young Ard Righ had survived his brother’s attempt on his life.
The Emperor viewed Merrick as a future enemy and as an obstacle to him fulfilling his destiny as the ruler of all the Drayoom. But the Prince suspected that they could use Merrick’s knowledge to more quickly unlock all of the cube’s secrets.
If nothing else, the Prince wanted Merrick alive so that he could tell them where they could find more of the Rune Corp divinium.
Any fool could immediately tell that there was something special about the material from which the cube was built.
Prince Takehiko remembered holding the powerful cube in his hand. As soon as he had felt its power, he knew that the rumors were true. The divinium Ohman had used to craft the cubes was different than the sacred stone each of the families possessed.
And even though the Prince had not had enough time to thoroughly examine the cube, he had briefly opened himself up to its power and glimpsed at what lay insid
e.
What he saw was wondrous, frightening, and unnatural all at the same time.
With the cube, the power of all four of the dragons lay at the fingertips of any user, whether Drayoom or human, and this is what the Prince found both amazing and blasphemous. Few Drayoom, and certainly no humans, could be entrusted to command that much magic.
The power of the cube had been so enticing that it had been difficult for the Prince to hand it over to the Emperor. But the pain of losing the cube was multiplied when his little brother ignored him as soon as the prize was in his hand.
The Prince had felt dishonored, yet not surprised at his brother’s action.
The boy Emperor had been cold and uncaring toward the rest of his family since the day he was born. Not only had the Emperor emerged into this world as an enlightened being, he had also been born arrogant and unyielding.
When the Emperor was only five years of age, their older sister, Tamami, had been kidnapped and tortured by extremists from the Fire Tribe. Despite reports of what the men had done to her, the Emperor made it clear that her kidnappers would receive nothing from him in return for her safe return.
The Emperor allowed her to be held captive for over half a year before finally accepting the Prince’s plan of sending members of the Wind Guard to retrieve her. It had never been spoken, but the Prince knew that the Emperor had not come to her rescue sooner because he considered her an abomination—the product of their father’s union with a woman from the Water People.
It was rumored that their father had loved the Water woman and had cheated on his rightful wife, the Empress—a union that had resulted in the birth of Tamami. By bringing Tamami to live in his kingdom as one of the Wind Family, the Prince’s father had sealed his fate.
Some even suspected that the then-Emperor’s death had been from poison at the hands of his real wife, Prince Takehiko’s mother.
When Tamami was finally returned, the Emperor treated her as if she were an embarrassment to the family. He had all but consigned her to life as a social outcast by insisting that she become a monk of Araki to atone for her sins.
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