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He was just a guard and should not have spoken out of line as he had. On the other hand, the Queen had decided in Merrick’s favor. The possibility that Gerald had influenced her decision made him swell with pride. It would make Fenton’s punishment well worth it.
Gerald wasn’t the smartest or the mightiest of the Fianna, but he was loyal to the clan, and in his mind that meant he was still loyal to Ohman.
He sauntered back to the barracks, walking through the Earth Clan’s artificial night, remembering the way things used to be. Ohman had known each of his Fianna personally, and he was never above talking directly to any of them. One time, Gerald had been standing watch all night outside the royal chambers, and Ohman, the Ard Righ himself, had brought him tea.
The Queen would never do such a thing.
But there were plenty of things the Queen would do, like lie about why Ohman had left the clan. In the Queen’s version of the story, Ohman had been out with a group of Fianna on an overnight expedition, or so she had thought. That same night, an assassin from the Fire Tribe was captured by Baldrook, the Captain of the Fianna at the time, and brought before the Queen. Believing she had nothing to fear with the mighty Baldrook present, the Queen questioned the prisoner herself. The would-be assassin boldly told her that he had come seeking vengeance and wanted to kill King Ohman because his wife was pregnant with Ohman’s child.
The way the Queen always told it, she at first had refused to believe such an accusation and had called the man a liar. The assassin broke into a terrible rage, ripped through his ropes, and killed Baldrook with his bare hands.
The Queen had feared for her own life, but the assassin did not harm her. Instead, he conjured a small fire on the floor, sliced his hand open with his knife, and let his blood spill into the flames as he summoned Sigela. Instantaneously, the assassin and the Queen were transported to Annoon, the sacred island of the dragons—where none could go unless invited by one of the dragons.
There, to the Queen’s horror, she found Ohman coupling with the assassin’s wife on the edge of a dark forest. The assassin and Ohman fought, as the Queen and the woman from the Fire Tribe stood eye to eye, unmoving. In the end, Ohman killed the assassin, grabbed his woman’s arm, and they both disappeared into the earth, leaving the Queen alone in the land of the dragons.
She fell to the ground, her tears seeping into the dry earth. Then she heard Terrada’s voice whisper in her ear, summoning her along a path to a clearing in the middle of a dark forest. With the moon shining above, she lay down among the leaves of the forest and dreamt of blood.
When she woke up the next morning, she said goodbye to Terrada and retreated into the ground, desperate to return home to her clan.
Gerald witnessed the next part of her story firsthand. The Queen had indeed returned one August morning to find Fenton holding court and sitting on the royal throne. The Queen was enraged, and she threatened to cut off Fenton’s head. Fenton explained to the Queen that she had been gone for the better part of a year, and that he was keeping everything running while the rest of the Fianna were out looking for her. The Queen rethought her position and in the end rewarded Fenton for his loyalty by appointing him the new Captain of the Fianna.
As far as Gerald was concerned, that was the only part of the story that was true so far.
Still remembering Ohman, Gerald finally arrived at the barracks. He sat down on the steps leading up to the general quarters and crossed his arms over his knees. He wished he could make a difference and help bring King Ohman back to the Earth Clan. If he couldn’t assist Ohman directly, he’d at least figure some way to help Merrick. After all, Merrick was a Prince of the Earth Clan, and he was the rightful heir to the throne, at least as far as he was concerned.
CHAPTER 16
THE WALLS OF Fenton’s home were made of wide-based trees standing shoulder to shoulder—their branches intertwining overhead to form the ceiling—their roots sunk unseen below the stone floors. Sweet wildflower scents mingled with the thick aroma of vegetable stew coming from the iron kettle in the middle of the kitchen. Fenton’s wife, Adriana, chatted away while stirring the evening’s meal with a long wooden spoon. After only an hour, Merrick already felt at home with Fenton’s family, their warmth second only to that of Terrada’s.
Merrick sat in a tree-branch chair growing out of the kitchen wall. He chuckled as Adriana playfully teased Balach about having a girlfriend. Balach maintained that he didn’t have a girlfriend, but his mother said she could see it in his face. Balach blushed and turned desperately to Merrick, trying to shift the conversation to a different topic.
“I bet it feels good to get into some proper clothing,” Balach said.
Merrick had doffed his jeans and cable sweater for a pair of Fenton’s dark green, heavy cloth pants, a heavy linen shirt the color of bone, and leather boots that wrapped around his legs to just below his knees. He still didn’t feel like a Drayoom, but he was beginning to look the part.
“Tell me about your meeting with the Queen,” Adriana asked, looking up at Merrick while stirring the pot of stew.
He began from when he and Cara had arrived at the entrance to the mountain, telling the whole story as close as he could recall. As he went through the mechanical details of his tale, he kept thinking about Cara. The fact that Ohman was his real father had not yet solidified beyond that of a hazy notion, and knowing that Cara was his sister, albeit his half sister, weighed on him like concrete in his stomach. Having romantic emotions for her was wrong. He could love her like a member of the family that he was just discovering, but nothing more—even though she was perfect for him, beautiful and talented, and most importantly, one of his own kind.
As if his thoughts had summoned her, Cara walked through the door with Fenton, just as he was finishing his tale. Fenton looked satisfied and was smiling, but Cara was subdued and barely glanced at Merrick.
Adriana stopped stirring the stew long enough to reach out and touch Cara on her shoulder.
“Pleased to finally meet you,” she said. “You’re welcome in our home just the same as Merrick and just the same as your father would be if he were here.”
“I’ve heard so much about you and Fenton,” Cara said. “But he never mentioned you had such a handsome son.”
Fenton sat down at the dining table and slapped his hand down on top of it even as Balach blushed.
“Your father doesn’t know everything,” Fenton said with a hearty laugh. “My boy wasn’t here yet when your father lived among us. Neither were you, of course, but I can see his mark in the way you handled the Earth Council and the Queen back there.”
Fenton turned to look at Adriana.
“The Queen didn’t know what she was in for when they invited this one to sit with them. She argued right up there with Enoch…and won. I’ve never seen Enoch speechless before, Adriana. You should have seen it.”
Fenton laughed again, then turned his gaze to Merrick.
“At least you can stay…for now, maybe longer.”
Merrick’s neck muscles released, and his eyelids fought to close as the exhaustion he had been keeping at bay swept over him.
He had been granted a reprieve—for how long he didn’t know, but he could use the time to learn how to use his powers and to get to know Cara better.
Cara sat down next to him and covered his left hand with hers.
“I have to leave,” she said, finally looking into his eyes, “but I swear I’ll be back. I have to help my father try to stop Eudroch or at least slow him down.”
“You mean you have to help our father,” he whispered.
Cara slowly drew her hands away from him and stared at the tabletop, silent.
“I didn’t know about us until the Queen told me,” she replied softly. She was as vulnerable as he had ever seen her. “I’m not sure what I think about it, but we have bigger things to worry about. You’re safe here for now, and the Queen’s put Fenton in charge of your lessons. Learn as much
as you can while I’m gone, Merrick.”
She got up and stepped back a few paces, her arms straight by her sides.
“You’re going to travel through Terrada from right there?” Merrick said. Won’t Eudroch be able to do the same thing?”
“Once you’re inside the city, you can leave from anywhere,” Fenton said, “but this is Terrada’s land. We’re surrounded by everything that’s fiercely loyal and devoted to her and to protecting our clan. Eudroch won’t be comin’ closer than a couple hundred kilometers from here if he tries to travel through the earth.”
“What’s going to stop him from traveling with the Fire Dragon?”
“The dragons made a pact to leave each other’s cities alone. If they hadn’t, the families probably would’ve killed each other off a while ago. Even Sigela obeys that treaty. Of course, we have some security words placed here and there that keep anyone out who shouldn’t be here, just in case they forget the pact.”
“This is the safest place you can be,” Cara said. “I think my father was right about that.”
“At least stay with us for dinner,” Merrick said.
“Let the girl go,” Fenton said. “She has her duties just as you have yours.”
“We will talk later,” Cara said.
Turning away from Merrick, she put her hand on Fenton’s shoulder and gripped it tightly. Without looking back, she walked toward the door, and turned halfway around, her head slightly bowed.
“Not everyone agreed with the Queen’s decision,” she said. “Some of them wanted to send you on your way. A couple of them thought it would be best if you were…not with us anymore.”
Merrick’s heart sped up, and his arms turned cold.
“It’s not only the council members that fear you. You saw the crowds when we came here. They think you’re just as dangerous as Eudroch. Once they hear that you’re staying, you might run into some problems. For now, don’t trust anyone except Fenton and his family.”
“And you,” Merrick said.
Cara smiled wistfully and nodded. She turned her back to the group and disappeared through the stone floor.
Merrick stood, staring at the spot where she had just been. Fenton walked up beside him.
“It’s time to eat, lad.”
“Will you tell me about my father when he was Ard Righ?” Merrick said.
Fenton looked sharply at Balach, who averted his eyes.
“I see the boy’s been talkin’ to you. Best you know anyway, I suppose. Your father and me were friends since childhood. He was a part of the royal family, but he always treated me like a brother, even though I was just the son of a servant. When he married Nabharia and became the Ard Righ, he still treated me like a man—even made me one of his Fianna.”
“Why do you think he left?” Merrick said.
“If you listen to the Queen, he was banished for breakin’ one of our laws from long ago when the four families first parted from each other. The Queen says that your father betrayed her and the clan by mating with a woman from the Fire Tribe.”
“You make it sound like that was worse than him cheating on the Queen.”
“History’s shown us that too many dragons in the blood can lead to madness—too much power and too many competin’ desires inside a single Drayoom.”
Fenton sat down and started undoing his boots.
“So that’s the story the way the Queen tells it. I figure the truth is that your father fell in love—maybe with a woman from the Fire Tribe, maybe not—but he ran away with someone he was in love with more than the Queen. The important thing I try to remember is that he left for true love, which my sweet wife always tells me is above the law of man, clan, and dragon.”
Fenton ducked as Adriana swatted at him playfully.
“Do you think that Ohman is really my father?” Merrick asked.
Fenton looked up at him and exhaled.
“All I know is that I see some of him in you, that’s for sure. You best ask him yourself, next time you see him.”
Merrick had already talked to Ohman about his real parents back at Rune Corp, and if the old man was lying when he said that he had known his parents, his face hadn’t given anything away.
Fenton gently slapped the top of the table.
“Plenty of time for talking later, but you better eat something now, or you’ll wish you had. We start your lessons right after supper. So, fill your belly and clear your mind.”
Balach joined Merrick at the kitchen table, and Adriana filled their bowls with the steaming stew. Even though the thick concoction smelled wonderful, Merrick wasn’t hungry. As he moved the hearty mixture around with his fork, he looked up at Fenton, who was close to finishing his first bowl already.
With a sigh, he forced himself to finish his meal, just as Fenton polished off his second bowl and stood up, patting his belly.
“Time to get going,” he said. “Get him ready, son, and I’ll be out front waiting for the both of you.”
Balach sauntered off to his room. Merrick followed him.
“I thought you’d be excited about training together, Balach.”
The boy opened a large cedar chest at the foot of his bed and pulled out two wool cloaks. He handed one of them to Merrick.
Merrick took the thick material and draped it over his shoulders.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
“I have a lot on my mind.”
“Woman trouble?” he said, remembering how Adriana had been so sure that Balach had a girlfriend.
“Worse. You wouldn’t understand.”
Merrick thought about Cara and then Mona. He hated this, but he felt guilty about everything—not just because of abandoning Mona at the hospital, but also because of the trouble he was causing Cara. He looked at Balach’s somber face as they went outside to meet Fenton.
“Maybe, you’re right,” Merrick said. “I probably wouldn’t understand.”
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Balach listened to his father talk about how Ohman gave up his throne for the love of a woman even though she might have been from the Fire Tribe. He understood what his father was saying—that true love was more important than anything else. The sound of his own creation name resonated in his mind, straining to be spoken out loud, but he knew the rules. His name could not be used until after his naming ceremony with the Keepers.
Even though he was the youngest member of the Earth Clan in recent history to remember his creation name, doing so gave him the right and the obligation to declare himself as a full citizen. Or at least it would after the Keepers had done their part to confirm the truth of his name.
After hearing the way his father spoke about Ohman and the woman from the Fire Tribe, he felt at least hopeful that his father might understand his love for Firefly. If he didn’t, Balach would take Firefly and leave the clan. They would both have to live without their families, but their love would be worth it.
CHAPTER 17
CARA ASCENDED through the warm earth beneath Rune Corp and into Oodrosil’s roots.
It was then that the great tree told her that her father was dead.
She stood motionless in her father’s office. The energy from the battle still hung in the air, smelling of sulfur and rage. Her grief fanned into anger as she sunk to her knees. She recognized the power still wafting in the air—had felt its twin only recently in the vessel known as Merrick. Eudroch had come for Merrick, and because she had disobeyed her father’s orders to stay at Rune Corp, he had been forced to fight Eudroch alone. She had failed her father and now he was gone.
Cara stared at the ashen smear that had been her father, recalling only the good in the man, unable to remember his darker qualities even though she knew they had existed. None of that mattered now. She would miss all of him.
She dried her eyes, then remembered the wooden box he had instructed her to open upon his passing.
Cara passed her hand above her father’s ashes and spoke the same word of shaping that s
he and her father had used to construct the Rune Corp cubes. The wooden planks that were smeared with his ashes morphed into a small solid block of wood that contained the remains of her father. She plucked the cube from the air and held it in front of her face.
“You could have told me the truth, Father—about Merrick and Eudroch being your sons by that other woman. I would have understood.”
She left her father’s office with the wooden cube in her hand and stood in front of Oodrosil. She reached out to the great yew and touched the knot where she had hidden her secret so many years ago. The tree’s trunk dissolved at her touch, revealing a small dark opening in the flesh of the tree. She reached in and withdrew a small, oaken box that was held shut with two bands of black iron. With her other hand, she replaced the box with the wooden cube that contained all that was left of her father. She removed her hand. The opening in the tree closed and then covered itself with bark.
She held the box from the tree close to her heart and gently tried to pry the lid. To her surprise, the box opened easily. Her father must have been powering the spell with his own life force. With his death, the spell had ceased to function. Inside the box was a small piece of divinium with a leather cord attached to it. She placed the cord around her neck and let the stone settle against her chest.
The divinium touched her, and her mind flashed with mental movies of her father’s life. She saw him as a frightened boy being questioned by one of the brutish Fianna but refusing to betray a childhood friend. She watched him as a young man keeping his silence at the dinner table with his parents, knowing that his own father was sleeping with another woman. She saw him now as a man, but not yet the Ard Righ, standing in front of the council, preparing to embark on a quest given to him by Terrada herself, refusing to give details to any of the council members. After these and a dozen other scenes played out as short narratives, staccato bursts of still frames bombarded Cara’s mind. Her father’s ear pressed against the trunk of a tree of metallic black stone. Her father and Nabharia, the Earth Queen, kneeling in front of an altar of entwined trees. Discovering a pregnant Nabharia in a strange land by the side of a dark man with fire in his eye. Killing the dark man. Taking the infants from Nabharia at their bloody birth. Placing one in a human orphanage and the other in the middle of a vast desert. Wandering the human world, outcast from his own clan. Falling in love with a human, Cara’s Mother. Watching Cara’s birth. Filling with pride when she learned to swim. Lastly, uncontrollably shaking on the ground with Eudroch looming overhead. And then darkness.
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