“Merrick and I have talked about this,” Cara said, “and I do not believe even he knows what he wishes at this point. He is reluctant to leave the legacy that my father left for both of us...”
“That is exactly our point,” interrupted a short, skinny woman with long flowing hair of gold. “Ohman’s legacy is exactly what we wish Merrick to consider. Merrick may not be the son of Ohman, but he is the offspring of our Queen, and he is the rightful heir to the throne. It is a role that requires preparation and training. We feel strongly that he should live among us and begin his education on how to become our ruler one day.”
“Deliah makes a valid point,” Mangus said.
Once again, Cara forced herself to hold her tongue. The last thing Merrick needed was to be trained by this group on how to lead the Earth Clan. At one point, she actually caught herself grinning slightly as she thought about the surprises the council members would be in for if Merrick ever did agree to be their Ard Righ.
“I think it best for me not to interpret too much of Merrick’s wishes. But I am pleased to tell you that we will be staying, with your permission, until Merrick meets us here—I suspect within three days or a week’s time at the most.”
At this news, the council members nodded their heads in agreement and talked amongst themselves excitedly.
“Of course, Cara,” Mangus said. “You and your colleague are welcome to stay as our guests as long as you desire. The fact that Merrick shall be joining you is an unexpected surprise, but as the daughter of our departed Ard Righ, you are welcome at all times in our city.”
“You are most gracious,” Cara said with a slight bow of her head, trying hard to conceal her disgust at having to obey the rules of nicety with a body of people who, not six months ago, had only reluctantly allowed either of them to stay overnight in their city. “If I may, there are topics that Merrick will wish to discuss once he arrives. He has sent me ahead not only to heal our stricken comrade, but also to search for clues in a quest he has undertaken.”
At the mention of a quest, the members of the council became quiet as one. They may have wanted Merrick to be their leader, but a quest undertaken by someone with as much power as Merrick gave them pause.
At last, Mangus broke the silence.
“Exactly what kind of quest does Merrick pursue?”
Cara fought to suppress her smile.
“With all due respect, it is not my place to reveal that,” Cara said. “In fact, even I have not been told the details of what he seeks. But he would be grateful if you would arrange for him to visit the divinium quarries beneath the city upon his arrival so that he might obtain a piece of your magical stone for use in his quest.”
“Surely, he could just ask,” said Deliah, “and we would provide him with whatever divinium he needs. Although...”
“Although what?” Cara asked.
“Speak your mind, councilwoman,” Mangus said. “Let there be no secrets amongst us on this matter.”
“It is just that, the great Ohman never sought divinium from our city, and I am at a loss as to why Merrick would want or even need to do so himself. We have seen what your sacred stone is capable of. I have witnessed it firsthand, when the Fire Tribe attacked our city not so long ago.”
“Esteemed council members,” Cara said. “As I said before, I do not know the full nature of Merrick’s quest.”
The members of the council exchanged nervous glances with each other.
“Of course, my child,” Mangus said. “I will personally show him our mines. Is there anything else that he might wish when he arrives?”
“I know he would like to consult the Master Keeper...on a matter also unknown to me.”
An unnaturally tall man dressed in a heavy robe of dark green with his hood pulled up and over his eyes stirred at the dark recesses of the room. He had been so still and so quiet that Cara had not even noticed him before.
All the council members turned to watch as the man stood at a height of nearly seven feet and walked to the table.
“I am the new Master Keeper. Before I was known by that title, I was called Cathasa. I was there on the day that the Fire Tribe, through the treachery of the Queen, was brought to our doors.”
Several of the council members squirmed in their seats and looked around at the mention of the Queen’s actions. Cara assumed that despite the Queen’s tenuous position, she was still feared by most of the council—but evidently not by the new Master Keeper.
“I watched as my Master and my fellow Keepers were killed,” the new Master Keeper said, “by the warriors from the Fire Tribe.”
The Master Keeper kept a stern face, but it appeared to twitch just slightly at the mention of his fallen brethren.
“Let it be known that I hold no malice toward Merrick, for I more than most, see the patterns and the ways in which the world must unfold. I will meet with him when he arrives. Bring him to my chambers when he wishes to speak. I will welcome him and talk openly as I would to our Ard Righ.”
As the Master Keeper finished his speech, Cara, along with several of the other members of the council, exhaled slowly. The stress in the room improved mildly as the Master Keeper returned to his chair in the back of the room.
Mangus cleared his throat and cast a hard glance at the Master Keeper before turning back to face Cara.
“Please excuse his bluntness,” Mangus said. “The Master Keeper has been away on travel, seeking to open up a dialogue with his counterparts in the other families, and he must be tired from his journeys. Is that now all that Merrick wishes, Cara?”
Cara simply smiled and said, “Yes, that is all for the time being, Mangus. Your generosity is heartening.”
Suddenly, the council members sitting around the table stood up, although Cara noticed that the Master Keeper remained seated.
The Queen entered the chamber with four of her Fianna following behind her. She seemed older than Cara remembered, and her face reminded Cara of the way many of the Rune Corp employees looked after a full day of using the divinium—drained, tired, and aged. The Queen was not a young woman by any means, and as she maneuvered stiffly to her throne, she appeared to be devoid of the zest of life that had once resided in her bosom and on her cheeks.
As Cara met the Queen’s eyes, she forced herself to stand as well. It appeared that Cara didn’t need the cooperation of the Queen, but she also did not want to deal with her getting in the way of things. Until they had what they wanted or until Merrick was sitting on the throne, Cara would treat the Queen like royalty.
Once the guards took their places on either side of the tree throne, the Queen sat down and the council members followed suit.
“Welcome, Cara,” the Queen said. “It seems like it has been a long time, even though in the eternal scheme of things, it has not. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“It is good to see Your Majesty again,” Cara said with the most realistic fake smile she could muster.
“I see that the council has already had a chance to talk with you,” the Queen said, looking directly at Mangus, “and that strangely enough, they did not wait for my arrival, even though I am the one who called this meeting. Please, I would greatly appreciate it if someone brought me up to speed on what my council has already decided without me.”
As the Queen spoke, her voice grew louder, until it was just short of being a yell.
Mangus quickly went through Merrick’s requests and the council’s replies to them.
The Queen remained still as a statue, but through her eyes, Cara could see her still-sharp mind processing everything, searching through every possible avenue of thought as Mangus updated her.
When Mangus mentioned Merrick’s quest, the Queen erupted with a dry, nervous cough even as Mangus explained that even Cara did not possess any more details on the matter.
Closing her eyes as if suddenly weary, the Queen sighed.
“Very well,” the Queen said. “I see no reason to not grant Merrick his wishes, especially af
ter all that my son has done for the Earth Clan and its grand city. Please make sure that he receives help from whomever he pleases when he arrives.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cara said.
“Now, you must tell me, how is my son?” the Queen said.
“Merrick is well and thriving,” Cara said. “As I explained to the council members, he will be joining us here within a week’s time, if everything goes according to plan.”
The Queen made a show of smiling and seeming to be pleased at the news, but Cara watched her face closely and caught the quick flash of a micro expression on the old woman’s face. Cara could not decide if she saw a fleeting moment of fear or disgust, but whatever the emotion, it was not one of happiness that a mother might show upon hearing of the imminent arrival of her only living son.
“Very good,” the Queen said, gritting her teeth in a smile directed at Cara. “Is there anything else you wish to say before we dismiss?”
“No, Your Majesty,” Cara said. “I would like to check in on my colleague who is with your healers to see how he is doing. If you see no objection, I was hoping we could stay at Merrick’s house during our visit. I am sure that he would not mind.”
The Queen nodded slowly.
“Yes, of course,” said the Queen. “I will have two of my Fianna take you to his abode after you have checked on your friend at the healer’s.”
The Queen smiled with tight lips, as if offering the services of her personal guard to Cara were somehow distasteful.
Cara nodded and thanked the Queen again, simply glad that the meeting was coming to a close and that the Queen had not tried to stop Merrick’s visit.
CHAPTER 30
THE GREAT YEW TREE shook its branches and stretched its expansive root system. It searched everywhere that it was able to touch, but Merrick was nowhere to be found. He was not within Terrada’s bosom. Oodrosil could feel Cara safely ensconced within the walls of the Earth City, but Merrick had disappeared.
Oodrosil remembered the promise it had made to its friend, Ohman, to take care of the boy after the old man was gone. In fact, Merrick reminded the mighty yew very much of Ohman when he had been a young man—full of wonder and bravery, and too headstrong to know when he was up against more than he was capable of taking on.
Despite the fact that Merrick had the Queen’s blood inside him, the yew liked him just the same. After all, what someone did in life was more important than from whose loins they had sprung.
And now Oodrosil was worried about Merrick.
Oodrosil knew that Merrick and Cara were trying to unravel the very same mystery that Ohman had been working on when he was alive. They were trying to determine the nature of the divinium that Ohman used with the humans. Or at least that’s what they thought they were trying to understand.
In truth, the great tree knew that if Merrick were to discover the source of the divinium, he would also uncover more questions and more complex answers than he had yet dreamed possible about the nature of existence and the future of the planet itself.
Whether Merrick was the right one to solve that great a puzzle was an answer to which Oodrosil was not privy.
All that the tree knew was that if someone did not determine how to put the planet back into equilibrium, the world itself would one day soon become unlivable for all creatures, both human and Drayoom alike.
As reports began to come in from the tree’s sources, the yew pieced together that Merrick, Mona, and two of the other humans had left the safety of the Earth and had entered the body of Araki, the Wind Dragon.
Upon learning this, Oodrosil shook violently.
He recalled his youth as a sapling, with the forest of parents surrounding it.
They were so powerful back then, the tree thought. There were so many of us, and we all knew that we would play our roles in the world and its future, although we had no idea that our parts would not be what my brothers and sisters had imagined.
Oodrosil remembered the dragons and how all trees depended not just on Terrada, but also on Lagu to help them grow. Even Sigela from her prison in the sky gave of herself so that they could grow.
But there was always the other dragon—Araki.
It was true that the Wind Dragon helped spread their seed so that mighty forests would one day sprout up across the world, but it was equally true that the wind was often brutal and more likely to tear at their leaves and branches than anything else.
CHAPTER 31
MERRICK AND HIS TEAM walked through the glittering streets leading to the imperial castle at the center of the Cloud City.
Commoners bowed as Prince Takehiko strode past them, with two of his guards leading the way as they passed through wisps of slow-moving cloud vapor and were caressed by an ever-present but gentle breeze. Seeing the Earth City always filled Merrick with a sense of grandeur and wonder, but walking through the Cloud City was more akin to exploring the ethereal landscape of a dream.
The farther they made their way into the city, the more of its citizens popped their heads out of stores and homes to watch the procession. Merrick heard a language spoken that sounded like Japanese to his ears but which also had a tint of some other influence he could not place.
Everywhere Merrick looked, he saw people going about their business as if they lived in a regular town on Earth. There were people on bikes and others walking with fresh fruit filling giant wicker baskets, but the glittering cloud-like material seemed to permeate everything.
As more of the Cloud City denizens stopped to watch their procession, Merrick noticed that several of the Wind People seemed to be bowing, not only to the Prince, but to him as well.
“Usually, I would simply fly to the royal castle,” the Prince said, “but I thought that this stroll would help you gain more confidence walking in our element—and give you a chance to see our grand city.”
“Is everything here made of clouds,” Mona said, voicing what Merrick was wondering as well. “Do you have to depend on the other dragons to live up here? I mean, you can’t eat clouds, and that woman was carrying fresh fruit.”
“Mona...” Merrick said.
“No,” the Prince said. “She raises a fair point. I see that your Master Banzo believes he knows the answer...”
Master Banzo seemed surprised for just a moment, but quickly gathered himself and nodded to the Prince as they continued to walk.
“If I had to guess,” Master Banzo said, “I would say that like all of the Drayoom families, your people rely on the bounty from all of the dragons. Just as the members of the Earth Clan must still breathe the air, and the members of the Fire Tribe must drink water to stay alive, so must the members of the Wind Family rely on the other elements to survive. Am I correct, Prince Takehiko?”
The Prince turned his head to face Master Banzo and laughed.
“Well answered, Master Banzo,” the Prince said. “You are, of course, correct. Despite the differences between the families and the dragons themselves, there are some rules that are sacred and never broken, for if they were, it would mean the end of us all. Imagine if all the creatures of the earth suddenly found themselves without air to breathe, or if there were no more animals and plants to eat. Or if Sigela no longer shone in the sky.
“Yes, Mona, all of the elements are here. In a moment, we will even cross over a stream that cuts through the city. The difference is that up here we tend to use the wind and the air for as many things as possible, but as you implied, even the great Araki cannot fill our hungry bellies.”
Merrick nodded his head. It all made sense, but at the same time, it also gave him pause. Until now, he had never wondered if, while in the Earth City, the non-earth elements that permeated the city were loyal to or even somehow spying for their respective dragons and their families.
The realization of how interconnected each of the elements truly were started Merrick’s brain wondering how he might adjust some of the design specs for the Rune Corp expansion back home.
Merric
k snapped out of his thoughts as the group passed over an arched footbridge, under which ran a river that frothed and fizzed as if it were carbonated—a testament to the amount of air in the water, Merrick imagined.
Even though the Prince had assured everyone that all the elements were present in the city, Merrick didn’t see a single piece of wood anywhere. Nor did he see any plants. He did notice smoke billowing out of some of the houses and could only assume that the people of the city used fire to keep themselves warm, especially in the higher altitudes in which they lived.
“Prince Takehiko,” Merrick said. “Forgive me, but where are we in relation to the world below? My guess is that we are perhaps somewhere above the country of Japan? To my untrained ears, the language of your people sounds similar to that spoken by the Japanese.”
The Prince smiled.
“As you know, like all of the families, we have had to periodically integrate human stock into our families to keep the bloodlines of the common citizen healthy. Our people have culturally mixed with the humans who live on the ground far below us, and so our common tongue is very similar to Japanese, although by now it has evolved into its own distinct language.
“In answer to your first question, we are far above what the humans refer to as Mount Fuji. Even though the mountain belongs to Terrada, it has always been an important part of the Wind Family’s culture as well.”
“How has no one ever noticed an entire city floating above a national landmark like Mount Fuji?” Merrick said. “The Earth City is hidden inside a great mountain, and the Fire City lies beneath an immense cenote. How is it that you remain undetected out in the open like this?”
“As we spoke of before, there are some secrets that we must keep,” the Prince said, “but I will tell you that even if a human were to stare directly at this city, from the ground or from inside a passing airplane, he would see nothing at all.”
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