The Drakonid was staying in a city to the east, inside a large estate. Edric stood before the gate and knocked. Knock, knock, knock. A gruff voice answered from inside not long after. "Who is it, waking people at this hour? Are you insane?" Edric kept his tone polite and deferential—he knew he was asking a favor from a Rank 10. "Elder, my name is Edric, I—" Before he could finish, the gate swung open and a disheveled old man in pajamas appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" The awakened second elder, Thero Smith, scowled at Edric. "You'd better have a good reason, or I'll kill you." Old man's got a temper like dynamite.Edric answered earnestly, "I'm a suitor to Drake's huntress, Emma Tibarn. I came—" "You say you're a suitor to Mr. Smith's huntress?" Thero stared at him in disbelief. Edric nodded. "Yes." Thero's expression changed in an instant. He dropped the scolding act, put on a wide, beaming smile, and clapped Edric on the shoulder like kin. "You should have said so earlier. We're family. Why knock at the door? Smash it down and come in next time!" Edric could only stare. "Did Mr. Smith's huntress send you? Is she missing him? He's been busy at the Aquadome, but it's fine—I can bring your huntress to him right now." Looks like he's clueless about Emma and Drake's true relationship, Edric realized, feeling awkward as he scratched his nose. "Elder, it's not like that. I came to ask for your help. I was wondering if—" Before he finished, Thero gave him a hearty pat. "Help? We're family—just say the word. I'll get it done." Are all Drakonids this easy to talk to? Edric thought, surprised. He quickly explained what he planned to do to the Violet Obsidian Clan. Thero heard him out and was nearly incandescent with anger. "B*stards! How dare they bully Mr. Smith's huntress?! They've got some nerve!" Thero ground his teeth, dying to beat the Violet Obsidian Clan into a pulp there and then. "Kid, I get you. I'll make a few calls—let's go." At that, he hustled back inside and used the lightcore to notify Drake. He could not be left unaware that his huntress had been wronged. The lightcore connected fast. Thero relayed Edric's account to Drake as clearly as he could. "Mr. Smith, Edric is going to the Violet Obsidian Clan. He wants me to help take out those two Rank 10 elders, and to send all males Rank 5 and above to the outer battlefield to face the Chitinid. You suppose…"We should just kill them all instead? Thero's private thought bristled. What good would sending those weaklings to the battlefield do? They would be Chitinid fodder. Thero preferred the simpler solution: wipe them out now. Across the line, Drake's voice sharpened in a rare moment without its usual lazy drawl. "Is Emma hurt?" "No, no." Thero shook his head. "I asked Edric already. Your huntress is fine. Word is she even killed a Rank 5 female herself." Drake relaxed only when he heard Emma was safe. If anything had happened to her, there would be no one to give him mental comfort. He leaned back in his jewel-encrusted chair, voice returning to its usual indolent edge. "Do as Edric suggests. Tell them if they refuse, there's no point in their living." Words like that from anyone else might have been dismissed. From Drake, they were law. The man's reputation for slaughter and clan-wiping left no one bold enough to defy him. … By morning, Emma woke to find Edric's side of the bed empty. She dressed and stepped out, and Edric returned at that moment. "You're up," he said with a smile, taking her hand. "Good—there's something I need to tell you." He told her everything: his plan to go to the Violet Obsidian Clan, that he had asked for Jimmy's help, and that he had secured Thero's support. When he finished, he sank to one knee before her. "Emma, I'm sorry. I'm not yet Rank 10. I can't kill them myself. I have to borrow other people's strength to intimidate them, to make it impossible for the clan to produce new power in the near term. Please believe me—give me a little time. Once I reach Rank 10, I will kill them." "Why kill them?" Emma tugged him upright and laughed. "Recycling the useless ones sounds better to me. Silas' plan is good, but killing those two Rank 10s—wouldn't that be wasteful?"