Page 3 of Expecting The Unexpected
“It’s too much to ask of him!” Turquoise hissed.
Never taking his eyes off the gem brother, snapping and snarling, Hron asked. “If my Viata is willing to sacrifice so much for the Nakaka, then tell me, Zircon, why is it too much to ask Topaz to do the same?”
“We just wanted him to be able to live his life without everyone wanting answers from him. Father was adamant that we not allow Topaz’s gifts to be known to the people here. We honored his request.” Zircon stated.
Throg knew he should remain quiet, but something about Zircon’s statement had him thinking. Throg had known the gem’s father well. They had talked many times about his gift, and what it meant to him to have the gods bless him, and trust him with such a gift. It didn’t make sense that the man would want to hide Topaz away from the world, and not use that gift to help their people. “Zircon, can you remember your father’s exact wish? What I’m asking you is what he said exactly.”
Zircon thought for a moment, then said, “Topaz is an Oracle. There are those here that if they know they will take him from us, and then use him for the remainder of his life to do their bidding. Topaz will never know peace. We must protect him from this, no matter the cost, or he will be lost to us forever.”
“So, he wasn’t telling you not to tell us, just those in this clutch house?” Throg asked.
Zircon looked at his brothers then looked back at Throg, “We never thought about that. We mainly focused on the fact, he would be used for his entire life, and he would be lost to us forever.”
Throg looked at Hron, “I think their father might have known what was coming?”
Hron turned to his fathers, rolling his eyes. “What do you think?”
“I think not only did he know what was coming, but who was bringing it. For him to keep his family from the rest of the Nakaka, I’m wondering if there is something bigger going on here that we’re missing.” Stok stated.
“Why would Topaz and Jude not have met Tamale?” Hron mused to himself, then looked at the gem brothers, “Why did your father not want your brothers to meet Tamale?”
Shaking their heads, Zircon answered, “We don’t know. Any time Topaz and Jade wanted to go into the inner city, father made us go with them. When Jade wanted to open Fruitlisious, father wasn’t happy, but he allowed it if one of us was with him at all times to watch out for any higher ranking Nakaka. If one were to come around, we were to have Jade go in the back and we would serve them. It wasn’t difficult, Caliph Tamale wasn’t much of a juice man.”
“None of this makes any sense at all.” Hron said in confusion.
Throg shook his head, saying, “It sounds as if their father didn’t trust Tamale at all, but from what your mate says, Tamale was an honorable Nakaka.”
Hron sighed, “Well, it seems to me that this situation is far more complicated than we thought. Gods, what if Tamale was in on whatever these bastards planned?”
Shaking his head, Throg replied, “Your mate will be devastated.”
Nodding Hron replied, “I know. The question I have is, if he was in on whatever is going on, then why is he and his inner circle all dead?”
Throg snorted, “More to the point, who took them out of the equation?”
“I have a feeling that things are going to get really ugly really fast. We must up our security. It is our job to keep our clutch safe and I’ll be damned if I’ll just sit back chasing my ass with these flash drives out there,” Hron stated firmly.
“What do you mean?” Groth asked for the first time.
“I’m wondering if the reason those flash drives are scattered about, is so we are so busy chasing them for answers, and not watching what’s going on within our own house walls,” Hron stated thoughtfully.
Nodding, Groth replied, “That could be. But, the one we had did lead us to know about the originals being targeted.”
“Yes, but what if that flash drive was a lure. Give us a bite and we go for the entire fish, only to have a sea monster destroy us all when we’re not looking.”
Nodding, Groth finally spoke. “I agree it could be what’s happening. So, what do we do?”
“Throg? Any ideas?” Hron asked.
“Me? Why are you asking me?” Throg asked in surprise.
Hron snorted, “Throg you are older than dirt. You’ve seen plots and plans of all kinds, and security has always been your specialty. What do you think we should do?”
Throg thought for a moment. He was shocked that Hron would even ask his opinion on this, but was honored for the Caliph’s trust he was showing him. “I think we put two people on finding those drives, and we pull together our security team. With Dak gone, and you sending people to help him and Topaz find Jade, it kind of leaves us shorthanded, but maybe Petree would know of some good men that could help, and I think the gem brothers would be a huge asset. They know the people here, where you could hide bodies, and possibly even know a person that might shine a light on things.”
Shaking his head, Emerald replied, “No one has been talking about a coup that we’ve heard of, or we’d tell you.”
“Oh I have no doubt you would. I’m just saying that you know enough of the people here to ask around and see if they’ve heard anything in the rumor mill. The Nakaka are still leery of us.” Holding his hand up to stop Hron or Groth from interrupting, Throg continued, “Yes, things are getting better, but you all know that they are still not as trusting as they need to be in order to talk to us about people spouting shit about us being here, and if Tamale was behind a lot of what happened here, and these people knew or suspected it, they are going to be even less likely to trust us. However, the gem brothers offer a bit of familiarity, and with that they might be willing to talk to them.”