What worried Mona the most, however, was whether traveling with three different dragons over the last week had caused any harm to her child. For all she knew, the Wind Dragon might try to harm her unborn child because of its affiliation with Sigela and Terrada.
For the hundredth time that day, she chided herself for not remaining at Rune Corp, where both she and her baby would have been safe. Of course, now that the Wind Family thought that Merrick killed their Prince, Rune Corp probably wouldn’t be safe for much longer either.
Mona lay on the ground trying to catch her breath. Only one more leg of the journey to go, and then she could rest for a bit. The question that still plagued her was when she should tell Merrick she was pregnant.
She suspected that Merrick would be upset at first when he found out she had been keeping their child a secret from him. At the very least, he would be angry that she had put their child at risk. But she had to let him know soon. She needed him to know and to be her partner in all of this.
After they were settled in at the Earth City, she’d tell him the first chance they had to be alone. Once he got over his initial shock, she knew he would be happy about being a father...or at least she hoped he would be.
CHAPTER 60
BY THE TIME MERRICK and the rest of his crew made it into the Earth City, it was just before dawn in Scotland, and exhaustion was setting in, despite the fact that Terrada had healed his wounds as he had traveled through her bosom.
“Where do we go now that we’re here?” Jonathan said, as they walked along the road that led to the city’s center. Merrick couldn’t help but grin a little as the young Alpha took in the sights of the Earth City for the first time. Despite all of Jonathan’s book studies, he had never before visited the fabled city in the mountain.
“To my home first,” Merrick said. “I haven’t seen my house in a while, and I miss it now that I’m back in the Earth City.”
As the four of them walked along, the people of the Earth Clan came out of their homes to greet Merrick, many of them joining the procession. Merrick could hear shouts of Ard Righ being picked up and repeated by others as he continued walking.
For the people to be so brazen in public must mean that the Queen’s political position was even more tenuous than he had suspected.
They turned left just before reaching the city’s center and waved to the small crowd of his followers as they dispersed, leaving Merrick and the others to walk the remaining segment of road by themselves. Shortly, they turned another bend, and Merrick saw his home, just as he remembered it. Only the height of the surrounding trees had changed. The yew tree that stood watch outside of Merrick’s door had grown the most.
Merrick smiled as they walked up to his house and saw the young Heinin sitting on the stoop. Heinin jumped to his feet and ran over to greet Merrick as soon as he saw who it was.
“You’re back!” Heinin said as he raced up to Merrick. “Just like your message said. Cara’s inside, waiting for you.”
Even as Heinin said this, Cara came racing out of Merrick’s home, followed by Bradley, who walked lazily behind her as if he had just woken up.
When Cara reached Merrick, she embraced his still bare torso and held their hug just a second longer than Merrick would have expected. In fact, this was the first time Merrick could remember Cara hugging him at all.
Cara must have realized this as well as she pulled away from him awkwardly. In a weak attempt to cover her social faux pas, she embraced Mona as well.
“I’m sorry. I’m just so happy that you’re all alive,” Cara said. “We have a lot to catch up on later. Do you have the cube?”
Merrick motioned to Master Banzo, who pulled the cube out of his battle suit and handed it to Cara.
“Thank Terrada,” she said. “Let’s get inside where we can talk.”
“Have you spoken to Balach?” Merrick said.
“Many times this week, but not yet today. I know he’ll be glad to see you again,” Cara said.
“I can go get him,” Bradley said. “I know where he lives.”
“You have a new leg!” Merrick said to Bradley, slapping him on the shoulder. “How does it feel?”
Bradley was silent for a few seconds.
“It feels like it belongs to someone else sometimes, but it’s a strong leg—stronger than my old one, that’s for sure—and I’m grateful to have it. If I didn’t say so before, thank you, Merrick.”
Merrick simply nodded.
“If it works as well as you say it does,” Merrick said, “I’ll take you up on your offer to find Balach. I’d like to talk to him as well. And ask him to bring me a shirt, if you don’t mind. I’m starting to feel a bit self conscious.”
“I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Bradley said as he ran off toward the center of the city.
With Bradley gone, Cara, Mona, Master Banzo, Jonathan, and Heinin followed Merrick into his home.
As Merrick entered the doorway, he reached out and touched the trunk of the yew tree. He wasn’t as close to this tree as he was to Oodrosil, but it was still good to see it again.
“Thank you for watching over my home while I’ve been gone,” he whispered.
Once inside, Merrick sat down at his dining table and motioned for everyone to join him.
“What happened to you?” Cara asked as she touched the three new scars on Merrick’s thigh from where the spikes of the mace had drawn blood.
“He did us all proud in battle, is what happened,” Master Banzo said.
“And from a political standpoint,” Jonathan said, “he asserted the Earth Clan and Rune Corp as being forces the Wind Family cannot take lightly.”
“We still have to be on our guard,” Merrick said. “We should be safe here for a short while, but I have to assume the Emperor will send troops after me—for what they think I did to the Prince, but even more so, because I’m sure they want the cube back.”
Over the next half hour, Merrick, Mona, and the rest of their team told Cara and Heinin everything they had seen and experienced in the clouds. They told Cara about their dinner with the Emperor and of the Earth Room. Mona told the story of Master Banzo’s fight with the Wind Warrior and then, of course, about Merrick’s battle with the Prince. The ending of the story seemed to surprise Cara as Merrick told her about the loyal boulder that had saved his life by crushing the Prince under its weight.
Merrick omitted his nightly adventures with Tamami and especially the last night he had spent with her.
However, as he retold the story of the last week, Merrick couldn’t help but think of Tamami. Now that he was back in the Earth City, his mind seemed clearer than it had in days. He wondered if he had indeed been under some kind of spell the entire time he was in the Cloud City. As he glanced over at Mona, who was sitting next to him, gently rubbing his shoulders, the pang of guilt weighed heavily upon him.
Looking back, he couldn’t remember why he had done it—why he had let Tamami stay with him that last night. At the time, he had felt such an intense connection to her—the type of bond that he hadn’t felt with anyone before. He had felt a certain amount of pity for her also. He had found her increasingly attractive as he spent more and more time with her, but there was also a certain vulnerability and sadness about her to which he had responded.
Tamami had been relegated to the monastic order as a young woman. Even though she had not said as much, he was sure that, although her captors from the Fire Tribe had taken her body, she had never known the love of a man. A part of him had wanted to give her that gift—to bond with her in the most intimate way possible.
And he had.
It was something that he couldn’t change, but as he sat next to his ever-faithful Mona, he felt sick in his stomach at what he had done. Even though it would kill him to do so, he had to tell Mona the truth. Maybe other men could have taken that secret to their death, but Merrick was not other men. He knew that if he didn’t tell her, the guilt would consume him.
As soon as h
e could get a moment alone with her, he’d face the consequences of his actions.
But for now, he had to remain focused on the next phase of their journey—finding the divinium and getting back to Rune Corp as soon as possible before the Emperor came here looking for him.
Merrick listened to Cara talk about her meeting with the Keepers, and how they said that Terrada believed that he, Merrick, would be their Ard Righ. It was one thing for other Drayoom to say that Merrick should be their king, but when Terrada herself had the same opinion, Merrick had no choice but to consider the possibility.
“Did the Keepers say anything else?” Merrick asked.
Cara hesitated, like she was going over what she was going to say in her head.
“They gave me something from Terrada that you’re supposed to have,” she finally said as she held out what looked to be a piece of pure divinium molded in the shape of a thin branch from a tree.
Merrick took the divinium in his hand and looked at the multitude of colors swirling across its small branches. Its craftsmanship was amazing and delicate, and he could tell immediately that it was made from the same divinium as the cubes.
“It’s beautiful,” Merrick said as he held it to his right ear. “There’s a hum coming from it—very low, in the infrasonic range for humans.”
“According to the Keepers, Terrada gave them the sculpture when they asked about your destiny,” Cara said. “I think it might be a clue about where my father found the Rune Corp divinium. That piece you’re holding reminds me of an image I saw when my father passed away—a picture of him talking to a tree made of stone. And remember the burned out forest you saw when you spoke with Oodrosil about the divinium?”
Merrick moved forward in his seat, nodding his head as he recalled seeing the blackened trees in his mind when he had asked Oodrosil about the source of the Rune Corp divinium.
“There’s one more thing,” Cara said with a slight smile. “It might be nothing, but...I remember a story my father used to tell me about when the first Drayoom, Abred, and his family left Annoon.”
Merrick focused even harder when Cara mentioned the island of Annoon, a place very few Drayoom, other than he, had ever visited.
“Later in his life, Abred supposedly took his family,” Cara said, “and sailed from Annoon to a land where he created a magical forest in which he and his wife and child could live. It’s just a myth, but as with any myth, there’s probably some bit of truth there as well.
The forest was rumored to be a place where all of the elements lived together but without the direct presence of the dragons—a place where the Drayoom could live in peace. It has since been called the Forgotten Forest.”
Before Merrick could ask a question about why the Drayoom would have ever left such a place, there was a knock at the door, and Balach walked in, followed by Bradley.
Merrick and Balach looked at each other awkwardly for only a moment before tears welled up in Balach’s eyes and he stepped forward to embrace Merrick.
“Welcome back, brother,” Balach said, handing Merrick a brownish-red shirt that Merrick thought must have belonged to Balach’s father. “I look forward to talking about old times and of recent adventures with you soon. It has been…too long.”
“I agree,” Merrick said. “But first, I need to hear about how you are faring and how your mother is.”
Balach’s mood noticeably dimmed, although he still looked pleased to see Merrick.
“We have much to discuss, Merrick, but Mum is doing as good as can be expected,” Balach said. “I know she will be glad to see you again.”
Merrick placed his hands on Balach’s shoulders.
“Please tell her I’ll visit as soon as I can,” Merrick said. “Right now, I need you to do something for me and for the Earth Clan, Balach.”
“Whatever I can, of course,” Balach said.
“The Emperor took one of our cubes, and we’ve just now reclaimed it. If that were all that had happened, we’d be in the clear. He wouldn’t have a legitimate reason to come after me. The problem is, someone made it look like I tried to assassinate their Prince, and I think the Emperor will use that accusation as an excuse to come looking for me, even though all he really wants is the cube.
“I don’t think the Wind Family would do anything as foolish as attack the Earth City, but he can be a difficult strategist to predict. The Earth Council and the people trust you, Balach. I need you to alert the Earth Council and the Queen and tell them that they should be ready, just in case.”
“What about Rune Corp?” Balach said. “With you and Cara gone...”
“I’ve thought about that, and I think you’re right. Some of us need to go back and prepare them as well.”
“I’ll go,” Cara said.
“I want to check a few things before we do anything,” Merrick said, “but first, I don’t know about Master Banzo and Jonathan, but I need to rest for a few hours.”
“Me too,” Mona said as she reached out and held Merrick’s hand.
“While you two recuperate,” Cara said, “I’ll go with Balach to talk to the council. Meet you back here in a few hours to figure out what we’re going to do, if that sounds good.”
“Thank you, Cara,” Merrick said, as everyone but Merrick and Mona left his house.
Merrick and Mona lay down and embraced. Mona kissed Merrick’s cheek and then his lips gently.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Mona said. “Something I should have told you earlier.”
Merrick sat up and looked at Mona’s face before averting his eyes.
“Before you say anything,” Merrick said, “I need to tell you something first.”
“Is there something wrong?” Mona said, her eyes wide with worry.
Merrick reached out to hold her hand and forced himself to look at her in the eyes as he began to speak.
“I’m not sure how else to say this, Mona. I didn’t plan it, but back at the Cloud City. Something happened between Tamami and me. It wasn’t love. I don’t know what it was. I don’t even remember it that well—like it was a dream almost...”
Mona pulled her hand away from his.
“What are you saying, Merrick? Did you have sex with her?”
“Yes,” Merrick said as he buried his face in his hands. “And I’m so very sorry.”
Merrick heard the sound of metal hitting the ground. He looked up and saw Mona walking out—her divinium engagement ring on the floor.
CHAPTER 61
IT WAS LAUGHABLE that the young Ard Righ would think a Prince of the Wind could not easily survive falling from miles above the Earth’s surface. Falling for the Prince was like taking a gentle stroll for Merrick.
The Prince was in his element—inside Araki himself—when he was in the air. The blow from the boulder, on the other hand, had hurt very much. Although his neck still stung from the impact, it had been no problem at all to follow Merrick and his team to where they landed atop the Great Mountain, known to the humans as Mt. Fuji.
Yes, he could have attacked them there, but Merrick was a formidable opponent as was the one called Master Banzo. And, Merrick would have the advantage standing on the Earth’s surface, in direct contact with Terrada.
Instead, the Prince listened to Merrick’s plans to travel to the Earth City, a location known to all of the families. Even before Merrick and his team left, the Prince leapt into the air, becoming a living part of Araki as his molecules sped along the Wind Dragon’s back until he arrived just outside the mountain home of the Earth Clan.
As with all the established territories that belonged to each of the dragon families, travel directly up to the city’s gate or even into the city was usually prohibited.
However, the wards did not stop the Prince from watching Merrick and his followers when they passed through the hidden entrance to the city, nor did they stop him from hearing the phrase he needed to enter through the city gates himself.
Becoming a part of the air itself, the Princ
e tracked Merrick as he moved through the city and heard everything that the Ard Righ had to say and saw everything that he did, including when he handed the cube over to Ohman’s daughter, Cara.
As the Prince hid outside of Merrick’s home, he listened to everything Merrick told Cara about their trip—their words carried directly to the Prince’s ears by the obedient breeze. He was particularly amused when they described him in their stories. Neither Merrick nor Mona was entirely unkind, but they didn’t have much nice to say about him either.
The Prince found it particularly interesting that Merrick failed to disclose his nightly excursions with Tamami to the group.
The Prince had no real interest in what Merrick and Tamami did or didn’t do while together, but if he knew his sister as well as he thought he did, she had already gotten everything she wanted from Merrick well before he and his fellow travelers had made their escape from the Cloud City.
As the Prince continued listening, Merrick revealed that he was indeed searching for the source of the Rune Corp divinium. It appeared that Ohman had not told anyone else where he obtained the magical stone after all.
Now that he knew Merrick held no more useful information, the Prince at first wanted to end Merrick’s life and be done with him, but his primary obligation was to the Emperor and to his family. He would send a note back to his brother on the wind—a message that only the ears of the Emperor could hear.
He would tell the Emperor that he would not return until he had learned the source of the Rune Corp divinium. He would also suggest that the Emperor send his forces to Rune Corp now and take all of the Rune Corp divinium and technology back to the Cloud City while both Merrick and Cara were absent.
After sending his message, the Prince would wait to see if Merrick was successful in locating the source of the divinium before deciding Merrick’s fate. A lesser strategist might simply have tried to beat Merrick to the source of the divinium or to maybe even follow Merrick to see the source of the divinium for himself, but the Prince was not a simple man.
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