By the time Dren finished his speech, he was already standing arms in the air with a look of triumph on his face. His plan had taken meticulous planning and a considerable amount of patience on his part. Finally, the time had come when he would get his day of glory. Not only for himself, but for his father! He was going to make not only the Protector�s daughter pay for killing his father, but he was personally going to make the Protector herself pay for banishing his father from the plateau. Because of her, he barely had memories of his father! All of them would pay! Every single last one of them would suffer just as he had suffered!
He turned back to Roxton expecting to see him panicked or even terrified but he was wearing the same calm expression as earlier, almost a smug smirk. Such audacity! He had no idea who he was dealing with!
�You do not seem very worried, Lord Roxton.�
Roxton leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. �That�s because I�m not.�
�You are a fool, Roxton. If you truly knew what lay ahead, you would not sit there ignorantly believing you would escape your fate!�
�If you knew how many people I have run across on this plateau these past few years who have preached death and destruction believing they had the upper hand, you wouldn�t be worried either. Because as you can see, I am still here alive and well while those others were not as fortunate.�
Dren slammed his fists on the table and it shook under the force. �I am not like those others! I am Dren, son of Mordren, leader of my people! Not only will you and your friends pay for what you have done to dishonor us, the whole world will pay!�
�Mordren?� Roxton asked. He immediately recognized the name and remembered Veronica told us all she could remember and how he killed her father when she was only a child.
�That�s right! Mordren was my father. Now that he is dead, I have taken his place and will lead our people in victory! We will finally have control over the plateau and neither the miserable Protector or her daughter will be able to stop us!�
�So what does any of this have to do with me?�
�You are going to be the reason we win this war! It is obvious that Miss Krux is in love with you, and when the time comes, she will have to make a decision. She has a much bigger part to play in the events approaching than you know. She is the Chosen One. Veronica will have to wield the trion as the new Protector, but Marguerite alone has the power to sway the balance. On her shoulders there is a burden that is inescapable. Either you or the world, and I believe that she is selfish enough that she will choose you! If she does not choose correctly, your life will be forfeit! That is the only reason I have not killed you already!�
�You don�t know Marguerite as well as you think. She would never risk countless lives just to save me. Our love for each other is irrelevant. She knows I would never ask her to save my life when others depended on her to make the right decision. She knows I would give my life for hers gladly!�
Dren waved his hand in the air. �I have already considered that possibility which is why if she refuses, I will then offer her something she cannot refuse. I will offer her what she has been searching for her entire life. The very thing that motivated her to come to this plateau!�
Roxton couldn�t believe it. �You know who her parents are?�
Dren let out a loud laugh. �Do not be so na�ve, Lord Roxton, of course not. But she does not know that. I know she has been searching for years for her true name and when I tell her I know it, the temptation will be too great for her I�m sure. When my father was on the plateau several months ago, he came to me and told me of his plan. He showed me the medallion he received from Shanghai Xan and he mentioned the arrangement Xan had made with a Miss Smith. I remember how my father laughed as he told me the tale for he himself knew the name on the certificate. Sadly he did not pass the information on to me as he was forced to put his plan into action quickly. What is even more ironic is that since Xan burned Marguerite�s birth certificate, the only person on earth who knew Marguerite�s real name was my father, and one of Marguerite�s best friends killed her only chance!� Dren had a good laugh on Marguerite�s account and Roxton found himself becoming enraged.
�I�m convinced that one day Marguerite will find out who her parents were. And even if Marguerite knew that your father possessed that knowledge, I don�t think she would lament the loss of his life. Marguerite loves Veronica like a sister, and we all were glad she got her revenge!�
The smile that was on Dren�s face evaporated quickly. �The day I heard of my father�s death, I vowed to avenge his death! He was forced to flee the plateau because of the Protector and when he finally returned ready lead us to glory, her miserable daughter murdered him! The Protector and her daughter will both pay for what they did to him, but Veronica even more! Her death will be slow and painful!�
Roxton saw Dren was close to losing it completely. The veins on his forehead were bulging and there was a fire burning in his eyes. If he could gain the upper hand, maybe he could overpower him escape. �You speak of murder? Your father killed Veronica�s father before her very eyes! He was a sorry excuse for a human being and Veronica did the world a favor by killing him!�
�How dare you speak of my father in such a manner!� Dren howled in rage and threw himself over the table at Roxton. They collided with a force that pushed Roxton�s chair backward causing them both to crash to the ground. Dren pulled himself up to his knees and crouched over Roxton while using one hand to keep him pinned to the ground. He landed punch after punch while Roxton tried fruitlessly to get free. �My father was a great man! You�ll never be the type of man he was!�
�Thank heaven for small miracles.� Roxton felt himself slowly suffocating. Roxton saw his plan hadn�t worked out quite as he planned. The pain that was in his head earlier would have been a picnic compared to the one he had now. His ribs were aching and the pressure on his lungs was so intense he could barely breathe.
�Dren! What are you doing, man?! We need him alive!�
Dren stopped his relentless attack and seemed to be awoken from a haze. He looked down at Roxton and realized what he had done and quickly jumped off of him. He was extremely angry that he let Roxton goad him into such a rage.
As Dren�s weight lifted off his chest and the tight grip on his neck was loosened, Roxton breathed in deeply. He was hit with a sudden fit of coughing and as he turned his head he saw blood on the stone floor. Roxton turned to his back to relieve the pressure on his ribs and closed his eyes. He could hear the two men talking and Roxton thought the second man�s voice sounded familiar. As he opened his eyes, Roxton found it exceedingly difficult to focus. As the faces became clearer, Roxton wondered if the several knocks to the head were making him see things. Roxton clearly recognized the man standing beside Dren, but his mind kept telling him his eyes had to be wrong.
�It can�t be��