As Cara and her team slowly walked toward the warriors from the Earth Clan, their hands held high in surrender, Cara heard a sudden war cry from behind. It was Chris, leaping from high up on the cave wall, a storm of boulders following him, shooting out in all directions wherever any of the warriors on both sides stood.
Two more of the Fire Warriors and one of the Fianna were dead before Chris hit the ground.
Before Chris could get to his feet, arrows and spears flew at him, followed by stone missiles and flaming balls of lava. Cara stood in horror only for a split second before she sprang into action herself. Chris was amazing as he met each projectile with his own flying stones until finally, he had constructed a dome of rock that protected him with only enough spaces between the stones for Chris to aim through. Seeing that Chris would be safe for the time being, she slipped her headset back on and shot a cloud of dirt into the eyes of the Fianna guards who had now turned their attention back to her and her team.
While the warriors were blinded, Cara led her crew back into the cave wall where they would hopefully be protected by the mountain and still be able to attack using their cubes.
Cara watched from inside the mountain wall to see if there was any movement from Chris inside his earthen mound of protection. Maybe he had tunneled underground and would emerge elsewhere, taking the warriors once again by surprise.
As Cara was still wondering about Chris and throwing razor-sharp chunks of the mountain at the warriors, she saw Eudroch walk into the middle of the fray. Even though he made no obvious attempt to defend himself, every projectile that came near him turned to ash and fell to the ground.
Cara threw down a dozen boulders directly at Eudroch. They all turned to dust before getting halfway to their target. Eudroch looked up at where Cara and her team were hidden as if he could see them as plain as if they had been standing in the open. Then Eudroch turned his gaze to Chris’s stone structure. Eudroch pointed his hand at the rocks and whispered a few words that Cara could not hear. Chris’s stone fortress exploded into tiny fragments. When the dust cleared, only Chris could be seen, on one knee, coughing, covered in a thin layer of rock dust and blood. As he looked up at Eudroch, Eudroch thrust his arms forward, clasping his hands together and then violently pulling them apart. As he did so, Chris’ body started to shake uncontrollably. Chris screamed as molten lava flowed from all of his body’s openings. Soon, Chris was on the ground, surrounded by a pool of smoking lava, his skin erupting through his divinium suit with angry boils that burst and spewed more of the same glowing red liquid. Even though she was a living part of the mountain, Cara felt her stomach spasm at the grotesque sight.
When Eudroch looked up again to where Cara and her teammates hid, the message was as clear as the smirk on his face. He was telling her to surrender now, fully, or to be dispatched just as Chris had been. The last thing that Cara wanted to contemplate was giving in to Eudroch, but with Chris and Melanie gone, she owed it to the rest of her team to save whomever she could.
With resignation and with her head bowed, Cara phased out of the cave wall, motioning Gary, Ann, and Steve to follow. She stood before Eudroch with her team fidgeting timidly behind her. Cara didn’t have to look back to know that the three of them were scared beyond belief. She could smell the rancid fear of one of her teammates and could not blame whoever it was for his or her weakness.
For a moment, there was only silence as the Fire Warriors gathered around Cara and her group. Once they were fully surrounded, Eudroch stepped close to Cara and reached around with his hand behind her neck, grabbing her hair. He jerked her head closer and did the last thing that Cara would ever expect out of this man who she had been raised to both fear and hate—this Drayoom who would destroy the world.
He kissed her.
Eudroch kissed her with his full tongue pushing into her mouth as Cara wretched.
Over Eudroch’s shoulder, Cara saw the Earth Queen glide into view.
Eudroch released Cara from his embrace and half turned to the approaching Queen.
“It’s good to see you again, Mother,” Eudroch said with a sneer. “I believe you already know Cara, the daughter of your estranged husband and king.”
#
There were no words in Chris’s language or that of the Earth Dragon’s to conceptualize the agony he was going through. Some distant part of him realized that everything was temporary—that his suffering, although intense, would be short-lived.
The ancient part of his brain that dealt with seeking shelter and surviving whatever nature threw at him tried to take charge, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to escape to.
With his last remaining slice of time, Chris looked back across his life and noted everything good and everything bad he had done. He realized that Merrick was nothing like the monster who was killing him—destroying him from the inside. Chris thumbed the airport locker key in his front pocket. Now that he was dying, no one would reclaim the cube he had hidden—not for a very long time, if ever. If he had had another second or two, he might have told Cara about the stolen cube with his dying breath, hoping that he could do one last piece of good before he was gone.
As it turned out, Chris did not have an extra second or two. He used his last half of a second to issue a final command to his divinium cube to open its security gate wide, allowing anyone who tried to use it to have full access. He could only hope that Merrick, not Eudroch, would have the opportunity.
CHAPTER 37
THE QUEEN SUMMONED a throne made of stones from the ground at her feet, as Cara was forced by Eudroch to stand in front of her. The Queen sat down gracefully, resting her arms lazily on the cold rock arm rests.
“I can’t say that I agree with your taste in women, my son,” the Queen drawled to Eudroch. “She looks sturdy enough, but she has something of an undisciplined tongue, if my memory serves me correctly.”
Eudroch held Cara tightly by her arm and laughed.
“That’s odd—her tongue felt fine to me, Mother. In fact, I’m relying on her tongue to tell me about these divinium cubes that she and her people wielded so effectively against my warriors.”
Eudroch picked up the cube that sat at Gary’s feet. He clipped it to his belt and slipped on the headset. He closed his eyes as everyone waited to see what the results would be.
After a moment or two, he opened his eyes and took the cube in his free hand, holding it up to Cara.
“Tell me how this works. I can sense a structure to it that has been woven by magic, but I need to know how to operate it. I wouldn’t want to get hurt playing with it. If it could give these normals such power, maybe it could help me in my task as well.”
Cara stared silently at Eudroch.
Eudroch shook his head and snapped his fingers once. Suddenly, Gary fell to the ground, clutching his stomach as his side erupted in lava from within. Within seconds, he was nothing more than smoking liquid remains.
Cara shook at the calm execution of Eudroch’s ferocious acts. First Chris and Melanie, and now she had lost another member of her team. She didn’t want there to be any more deaths on her hands. As she was about to tell Eudroch everything he wanted to know about the cubes, Cara caught a faint glimpse of her father, Ohman, off to one side. When she blinked her eyes, he was gone. Whether he had been real or not, his image had served its purpose. Yes, she was responsible for Steve and Ann and had to do everything in her power to protect them, but her actions would affect the whole of humanity. She could not—would not tell Eudroch how to operate the cubes. She closed her eyes tight, sick with the knowledge that her silence would condemn her teammates and probably herself to certain death.
When she opened her eyes again, Eudroch was still staring at her, waiting for her to respond to his command to teach him about the cubes.
As if sensing her resolve, Eudroch dropped the cube on the ground and stood close to Cara. He slammed his fist into her side as she doubled over in excruciating pain. As she fell to the ground, Cara desperately t
ried to breath, but her body refused to inhale. She figured that at least one, maybe two of her ribs were broken. Mercifully, Eudroch let her sit on the ground long enough to finally draw a complete breath. Not knowing what else to do, she started to chant her father’s creation name over and over again. She prayed to her dead father for the strength to resist Eudroch’s torture and to keep any knowledge about Merrick and the secret of the cubes from him. If Gary had followed protocol, his cube wouldn’t work for anyone other than himself, no matter what Eudroch did. She allowed herself a brief hint of a smile as she looked up through her tussled hair at the towering Eudroch.
Gary always followed protocol.
Eudroch adjusted the headset from Gary’s divinium cube and placed the throat microphone correctly over his larynx. Looking into Cara’s eyes, he quietly spoke a single word from Sigela’s tongue. Eudroch’s whisper was turned into a loud roar as the cube amplified his magical word. A ball of flame ignited between Cara and Eudroch. Then, Eudroch spoke another word, and the flaming orb disappeared.
“Teach me how to use this,” Eudroch said to Cara. “It did nothing other than amplify my voice. The effect would have been the same whether I had used your cube or not.”
Cara got to her feet, feeling her broken ribs as she winced in pain.
“I don't know how to use it,” Cara said with a pained smile. “I never saw that thing before in my life. Sorry.”
Eudroch punched her again, this time, in her stomach. Cara struggled to remain standing and fought the urge to defecate.
Eudroch moved in to kick her when the Queen unexpectedly raised her voice in objection.
“My son, if you break her, we will never learn the secrets of these cubes, although I think you overrate their importance. They might be nice as new weapons for our soldiers, but nothing more, I’m sure. I suggest we hold on to your delicate friend for a while longer. You can deal with her later, after you and Merrick have fulfilled the prophecy.”
“Mother, after Sigela has returned, I will not need her stupid weapon.”
The Queen rose to her feet, her cheeks reddening and her eyes wide.
“My dear son, after Sigela returns, we may need more than her weapons. The Fire Dragon’s return is not the end. It is merely the beginning. Do you think that the other dragons will complacently watch as Sigela and we rule this world? Sigela’s return is only the first step in a larger unification that must occur between all four of the dragons and we, their families. We will rule the world in due time, as one family, with all of the dragons serving us as they served our ancestors. The four dragons will teach us their complete language, the true creation tongue, not dole it out word by word—Drayoom by Drayoom. You and I will rule this world as its Queen and its Prince—and possibly worlds beyond, my son, but do not think that the fight is over when Sigela returns. We will need every advantage to succeed.”
Eudroch threw down the cube and its headset on the ground at his feet and spat on it. Cara noticed with curiosity that Eudroch’s spittle soaked into the cube, like water on a sponge. Suddenly, the oldest of the dark-skinned warriors stepped forward. He held himself differently than the rest of the warriors from the Fire Tribe. With his ornate headdress and plentitude of tattoos, the man looked the part of savage royalty—a king of beasts in their precious city.
“Let it be known,” said the Fire King, “that today, we unite our two families as I take Eudroch for my son, and the Earth Queen as my wife.”
The Queen’s face broke momentarily in surprise before she regained her usual stolid composure.
“I am honored, my King,” the Queen said, bowing her head slightly. “I misspoke. I of course meant that you and I will rule as king and queen of the new family, with Eudroch as our Prince and heir apparent. My apologies to my future husband if my emotions got the better of my tongue, but as I’m sure you will agree, we cannot be wed until after the ritual. Our union must be witnessed by Sigela herself.”
The King grunted in approval as his remaining warriors repeatedly stamped the butts of their spears into the ground showing their approval. The Fianna behind the Queen tried hard to conceal their confusion, but it was obvious to Cara that the Queen had not told them of her plans. Cara knew that the Fianna were bound to serve the Queen. She hoped that some of them, now that they knew of her treachery, would decide to serve the clan instead.
While the Queen, King Polopu, and Eudroch were talking, Cara looked over to Steve and Ann. They were both in shock, standing still, afraid to look any of their captors in the eyes. Cara also got a closer look at the brunette she had seen earlier with Eudroch. She could only guess that the woman must be the one that Merrick had told her about—Mona. Mona was thin and not too tall, but had a strength that emanated from the way she stood, her shoulders square and her face stern. Even though Mona seemed calm and poised, Cara noted the dark-skinned warrior holding her tightly by her wrist. The woman’s independence was an illusion. She was a prisoner, as was Cara. And that made her a potential ally.
“Eudroch, my son,” the Queen said, “you and the King take Cara back to your tribe and prepare for Sigela’s ritual. I will find your brother and bring him to you.”
“I have not come this far to let Merrick slip from my grasp, Mother,” Eudroch said softly. “I will find him and speak to him as his brother—convince him of our duty to fulfill the prophecy. If I cannot, then this one, Mona, will convince him for us—one way or another.”
It was just like Eudroch to use whatever means at his disposal to get his way. Cara was sure that if Mona couldn’t convince Merrick to help, Eudroch would use Mona’s life as a final bargaining tool. Either way, Eudroch would win.
The Queen pointed her hand out to Eudroch, her face red again with sudden anger.
“You will do as I say, whelp. I won’t have you tearing down my city any further by getting in a fight with your brother.”
The Queen paused and softened her voice.
“I already know Merrick’s creation name. With his name, we may not even need him any longer. The Master Keeper was kind enough to tell me before he turned traitor and tried to help Merrick escape.”
“The name you have may not be his full name and would not be enough even if it were. The prophecy says that two brothers will join together to bring Sigela to the world once again…”
“Prophecy’s are not written as human laws are, child. Their words are open to much interpretation,” the Queen said, turning around and looking up at the cavern ceiling. “After all, what more is Merrick other than his name. Once you leave, I will summon him with his name and we will meet you at the Fire Tribe. You have my word and my command. Now go. Do not forget that I know your creation name as well. I love you, my son, but I will use your name if I have to.”
Eudroch stared in silence at the Queen. Both the Fianna and the Fire Warriors were focused on Eudroch. Cara was sure that this would be only the first of many power struggles between them.
“Why do you refuse me my brother when I’m so close?” Eudroch asked.
“You are brothers, but I fear that you will not mix well. I fear that you and Merrick will destroy what is left of my fair city under the mountain before you can work out your differences.”
Eudroch motioned for his warriors to bring Cara to him as he started to walk away. After only a few steps, he turned to face the Queen again. He motioned to Mona, who was being pushed along by one of the Fire Warriors.
“I’ll leave the girl with you, my Queen. You may find her useful if your summoning does not work as planned. If she is of no use, I suggest letting your men do with her as they wish. Your clan could use some new breeding stock.”
“I think I shall keep the human and Cara with me,” the Queen said. “Either may be useful if the need arises.” The Queen motioned to one of her Fianna and then to Cara. “Gag this one. The normal is of no concern, but Ohman’s offspring may possess powers even without the assistance of these cubes.”
As Eudroch disappeared from sight, the
Queen ordered the Fianna to collect the divinium cubes and to begin clearing the dead bodies from the streets. As Cara watched the men gather her cubes, she was gagged using a large roll of cloth that effectively prevented her from speaking, and almost from breathing.
Cara was sure that Eudroch and his group of warriors were heading for the city’s exit. Once outside, they would ride the lightning back to the tribe and prepare for the ritual. She believed, along with Eudroch, that Merrick’s creation name would not be enough, but there was much Eudroch could do to start calling Sigela without Merrick’s presence.
As the Queen gathered her Fianna around her, Cara and Mona were shoved down on their knees, with ropes attached to their wrists—the other ends of which were each held by a separate Fianna. Cara struggled to hear as the Queen instructed her men on her plan for capturing Merrick. Cara wondered if the Queen really did know Merrick’s creation name. From what Cara could overhear, Cara and Mona were to be used as bait for Merrick. That meant that what Merrick had told her was true about knowing only half of his name.
As the Queen divided her Fianna into two groups, Cara was given to one and Mona to the other. As the two groups started walking through the ruined streets of the Earth City, Cara looked back in time to see Steve and Ann fall to the ground, their bodies as stiff as stone before they hit the dirt under their feet. Now there was no one left of her team. Cara allowed herself a single tear. She had failed them all, but she would not fail humanity.
She felt a sudden tug on the rope attached to her wrists and stumbled along behind the group of six or so Fianna. As they walked, the Fianna called out to Merrick, threatening that if he did not show himself, they would kill or do worse to Cara. Cara welcomed the chance to have one of the Fianna that close to her. She would find some way to kill whoever tried anything with her, even with her mouth gagged and her hands bound. Cara hoped that Mona would have enough strength to survive whatever her guards would do to her and enough wisdom to do what was right for the world, not just for Merrick.
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