Free The Scarecrow of OZ by S. D. Stuart Page B

who this girl is.”
    She exhaled sharply in exasperation. “Yes you do. It’s Dorothy.”

Chapter 9
     
    Deep in the bowels of the Southern Marshal’s castle, Caleb urged the guard in front of him to walk faster as they made their way through the maze of underground passageways. As soon as they reached the door to Nero’s underground warehouse, Caleb brushed past the guard and took the steps two at a time down into the partially lit chamber.
    His feline eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light, yet the true depth of the warehouse remained unknown. He had never managed to reach the other end of the warehouse the last time he was down here. The multitude of odd trinkets, contraptions and carvings, from civilizations long since dead, could have stretched on into infinity for all he knew.
    Nero remained seated on a stool with his back to the door. He was at the table that held the large stack of ancient scrolls and sat bent over an open scroll, a magnifying optical lens clutched in his scarred hand. Caleb wasn’t sure he had even heard him come in until his raspy voice broke the silence. “What changed your mind?”
    “You could’ve told me Dorothy was going on your little escapade.”
    Nero kept his back to Caleb and continued to study his scroll. “Would that have made a difference?”
    “If I knew you were going to put her life in danger, I would have…”
    Caleb let his words fade to silence. He would what? He was a prisoner in the Southern Territories, despite the best efforts of everyone to convince him otherwise.
    Nero finally stopped studying his scroll and faced him. He parroted the same thing that was running through Caleb’s head.
    “And just what would you have done?”
    This line of thinking was going to get him nowhere. If he wanted to keep Dorothy safe, he had to come up with something else.
    Nero placed the magnifying glass on the table and stood up with considerable effort.
    “Her father built the box that contains the Brahmastra. Her blood is the key to opening that box.”
    “I won’t let you kill her.”
    “Who said anything about killing her? We only need a few drops of her blood. She will barely miss it.”
    “Why don’t you bring the box to her? Why does she have to go anywhere?”
    “The box her father built is big and heavy. The Brahmastra is much smaller than that. Much smaller. Believe me when I tell you, getting her to the box will be far simpler than bringing the box to her.”
    “Okay, so we get this Brahmastra first and stop the bad guys. Then what?”
    “That subject has been a matter of debate for the past couple of days. The Southern Marshal wants to keep it to ensure the protection of the hybrids. I, however, disagree. As long as the Brahmastra is accessible, it can be stolen.”
    “Then we destroy it.”
    Nero shook his head. “It cannot be destroyed. I say, after we have stopped the Directors, we drop it in the deepest hole and, this time, don’t spread stories and legends about what it does and where to find it.”
    This was a side of Nero he had never seen before. It surprised him that Nero was not even considering keeping this weapon for himself. It was like the old Nero had burned away along with his skin and from the ashes was born a new man.
    He’d spent his whole life trusting a man who didn’t deserve to be trusted. Now, he found it hard to trust the same man who had undergone a dramatic transformation and was finally proving to be trustworthy. Or was he just putting on an act?
    “We could always keep it and claim to drop it down a deep hole.”
    Nero shook his head like a father who had just been asked by his child if they could have chocolate cake for breakfast.
    “It is too powerful a weapon for anyone to possess. The Directors sent me here to find it. Why do you think I took so long? I didn’t want them to have it.”
    Maybe it was possible that Nero had changed.
    “So you don’t plan to keep it?”
    “After we have stopped the Director’s invasion,