Iery Duncan had lived long ago and had betrayed the Earth Clan for the promise of power from a human king. For his part, Iery had agreed to lead the human king’s army to the Earth Clan’s home inside Terrada’s mountain. As he and the legion of intruders stood outside the mountain, the soil under Iery’s feet vibrated violently. Each of the millions of dirt particles spoke his creation name in unison, and together they pulled him down, until he became part of the mountain itself. Within seconds, he was nothing more than a hill overgrown with grass and littered with chalk-colored boulders. Witnessing this, the human king and his army fled in horror.
As had happened to Iery, Eudroch was being pulled into the surface beneath him. He screamed in pain as the flesh of his legs turned to granite and became rooted extensions of the security compartment’s floor. He quickly turned his head to see Mona backing up against the glass wall, looking on in terror. Somehow, Ohman had set the spell to only affect other Drayoom.
Trying to clear his head, he spat out Sigela’s words in an attempt to make him as light as the wisps of smoke from an open flame. His body dissolved and floated above the floor, free from the spell’s hold. Forcing his right hand to revert to human flesh and bone, he grabbed Mona by her collar and pushed her through the pane of glass, his smoke-like body following in tow. In an instant, they were both safe and alone in the blissful silence of the Rune Corp lobby.
The lobby entranceway was as grandiose and pompous as Eudroch had imagined—dark granite floors polished into black mirrors reflected the abundance of lush plant life that filled the building. The entire place smelled of dirt, soil, and the land. In the center of it all stood the largest yew tree he had ever seen. It towered and twisted up through the middle of the building, like a gnarled wooden post supporting the glass atrium ceiling far above. The desired effect was that of recreating an outdoor rain forest, ostensibly to provide the company’s workers with a peaceful work environment. But Eudroch knew that Ohman had not gone through the effort of integrating nature into his building for beauty’s sake alone. He was surrounded by Ohman’s agents of the earth, each ready to give of its own magic whenever the old man beckoned. Ohman had essentially built himself a local array of Earth energy from which he could readily draw when and if the occasion arose.
Hastening footsteps echoed off the granite floor as two human guards appeared around a corner, running toward Eudroch and Mona at full tilt. They pointed their guns and yelled for the two of them to get down on the floor.
With barely a movement of his hand, Eudroch whispered a summons, and the air around the men ignited with the scent of burning flesh and hair. The two guards crumbled to the floor, their charred mouths frozen black in half-formed screams that would never be heard.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Mona said.
The girl would have to be stronger than this if she were to prove useful to him later. He led her to the elevator on the other side of the lobby, hit the call button, and looked around. More guards would be on their way, but they were nothing. The real battle would come soon, with Ohman himself.
The elevator chimed as its doors opened, and they stepped inside. They shot up five floors, and within seconds the double doors slid open once again.
Eudroch pulled her along as he exited the elevator. They were at the same level as the top branches of the yew tree now. From the way its needle-like leaves were rustling as if a storm wind was blowing inside the building, he knew the ancient tree did not approve of his presence. He also knew that there was nothing the tree could do to stop him. He could feel Ohman’s power behind the oaken double doors at the end of the hall. The battle that Eudroch had dreamed of for so long was finally at hand.
He walked purposefully down the hall, tugging his brother’s woman along with him until he reached the oak doors. He reached out to turn the door handle, but it opened of its own accord, and they entered. Ohman sat behind a heavy walnut desk, his combed-back gray hair hanging to his shoulders. Behind him, a huge circular window was framed in the shape of a strange symbol that Eudroch had never seen before, but which cast an intricate moon shadow on the floor.
Eudroch stepped into the center of the office, struggling to contain his excitement.
“It’s been a very long time, traitor. My mother sends her greeting.”
Ohman raised his hand. The dragon words popped from his mouth like the sounds of creaking wood and rolling boulders. Eudroch felt the power of a mountain forming above his head, threatening to press him out of existence even though there was nothing there to be seen by the naked eye. On instinct, he summoned a shield of fire above his head and conjured a ball of molten lava in his right hand that he hurled at his enemy.
Ohman dismissed the projectile with but a single crackling tone from his lips. Fiery flotsam sprayed the office as he spread his arms wide and spoke again, shouting more of Terrada’s ancient words.
Eudroch turned just as a wooden wall behind him exploded. Weaving phrases constructed of both Earth and Fire words, he halted the splinters from the explosion in mid-air and watched them fall to the ground like frail dark gray strands of confetti.
Ohman knelt down and put his mouth close to his desk as if whispering to it. The heavy piece of furniture suddenly flew across the room toward Eudroch. Inches from his face, Eudroch caused the desk to disintegrate, its ashes floating to the floor, covering the lacquered wooden planks.
Eudroch ignited the atmosphere surrounding Ohman, but the old man rose into the air above the flames and clung to one of the ceiling beams as the fire raged below him.
“You are mad to seek safety so far from the ground,” Eudroch growled. “Unlike you, who have only Terrada to ask for help, I’ve spent my entire life mastering the powers of all the dragons.”
Ohman grinned as he rose farther and melted into the shadows of the wooden ceiling beams.
Eudroch sniffed the air trying to detect the scent of his enemy.
“You can’t hide from one who commands the power of light.”
With a wave of his hand, a brilliant whiteness filled the room, dispersing all shadows and bringing each grain of wood and bump of material into extreme relief. Even so, Eudroch still couldn’t see Ohman. It looked like the old man had run away, but Eudroch knew better.
As he stepped forward, a wooden hand materialized from the floor and grabbed his ankle. As he fell, the polished oak floor arched upwards like a carved wave and encased him in a tomb of solid wood.
Eudroch had told the truth when he said he had mastered the powers of the four dragons, but he was no match for Ohman while trapped inside a suffocating mound of wood. He could hear muffled voices outside but could not tell what they were saying. As he tried to calm his breathing, the wood slowly began to constrict, seeping into the spaces around his body like thick sap. Within seconds, he could barely expand his chest enough to take a full breath.
He had to escape. He had not yet fulfilled his destiny.
With the air inside his encasement quickly diminishing, he summoned the power of Araki, the Wind Dragon. He heard the howl of wind outside his prison, but even the power of Araki couldn’t breach his cell. He couldn’t bust his way out, but he could control the air in Ohman’s office.
The muffled voices outside his wooden cell suddenly rose in pitch and urgency. Even though he couldn’t see what was happening, he knew that Ohman and Mona were both on their knees, their bodies trying to comprehend why there was suddenly no air left for them to breath. Eudroch’s wooden entrapment now held the only air, however minimal, in the entire office. Mona would already be close to unconsciousness, unable to think clearly, but Ohman would see things for what they were—a waiting game to the death—one that he could not possibly win.
Seconds passed. The wood around Eudroch began to swell, and then finally it burst open. In turn, Eudroch allowed fresh air to fill the room as Mona and Ohman struggled to fill their lungs and to clear their heads. When Eudroch’s vision cleared, he could see blood from Ohman’s left ear tri
ckling down his cheek and Mona still wobbling on one knee, although apparently unharmed.
Eudroch stood up and walked over to Ohman, as he struggled to contain his hatred.
“You left me to die when I was no larger than your skull, and it is time for you to give me my due.”
Ohman looked up wearily.
“I know what you desire, but I cannot give you what I do not possess. I do not know your brother’s true name.”
Eudroch laughed softly.
“You misunderstand me, old man. I’ll have my brother’s creation name soon enough. It’s yours that I demand now. We can talk about where you’ve hidden my brother later.”
Eudroch snapped his fingers, and Ohman began to shake and tremble. The right upper half of his body began to erupt into tiny boils that oozed raw lava.
“Give me your name, deceiver. You owe me that much. You have my word that you and your name will be remembered. I may even teach your name to Merrick eventually, if he lives long enough to see the return of my beloved Sigela.”
Eudroch stooped down on one knee and brushed away Ohman’s stringy hair to expose his tired face.
“Your majesty,” Eudroch hissed. “We’ve had our differences, but your own law says that you must pass on your name before you pass—and believe me, you are about to pass. You were once a Keeper before you were Ard Righ, and you know better than most the cost of losing even a single name to the ages. Better for you to tell me now than for your piece of the dragons’ puzzle to be lost for all time. You were once a great man before you fell. Be a great man again before you die.”
Ohman looked into Eudroch’s eyes and parted his lips, like he was trying to say something. He closed his mouth and shook his head feebly from left to right. Eudroch knew that the fire eating his enemy from the inside out was excruciating and would soon claim his life, but Ohman looked like he was dying of old age, his hair growing thinner, his face collapsing. Something other than Eudroch’s power was sapping Ohman’s magic, but he could not figure out what it was.
“I will tell you nothing,” Ohman finally said.
Eudroch wrapped his hand around Ohman’s throat and squeezed. Ohman’s face turned red, and his eyes bulged. He made weak attempts at removing Eudroch’s hand, but to no avail.
“Tell me!” Eudroch said. “You know what will become of you if you don’t. There’s no one else here to receive your legacy except me. By your own law, you must tell me.”
Eudroch shouted a short, single sound at Ohman that sounded like a crack of lightning.
Ohman’s body convulsed even harder, his lips moving, forming soundless words while his head shook uncontrollably.
“Tell me,” Eudroch whispered.
Ohman nodded weakly. Eudroch released his throat and murmured more words from Sigela’s tongue to ease the tremors in the old man’s body.
Eudroch lowered his head, his left ear almost touching Ohman’s lips. The old man whispered so softly that Eudroch had to strain to hear him. As gently as a petal falling to the ground, Ohman spoke a creation name to Eudroch.
Eudroch backed away quickly when he heard the name—his eyes wide and his nostrils flared. Ohman laughed even as Eudroch kicked him in the stomach.
Ohman paused in his laughter long enough to spit out a stream of blood. Eudroch pounded his fist into the office wall, shattering it with the blow. He shook his fist and hissed, his words from Sigela spitting like searing heat as Ohman burst into blue flames.
Through the azure flickers that now consumed the traitor’s body, Eudroch thought that he saw a smile.
As suddenly as the killing flames had emerged, they disappeared and were replaced with a thick cloud of ashes rising up in a lazy spiral to the ceiling.
It was all that was left of the mighty Ohman.
“You killed him,” Mona whispered as she backed away from Eudroch.
“He killed himself. He only had to teach me a single word,” he shouted. “One word, and he’d still be here.”
Eudroch took Mona by the arm and led her into the hallway.
“With him gone, his army of humans will be in disarray, but they may still come for revenge. We have to go before they arrive,” he said.
Of course, Ohman didn’t have an actual army—just a gaggle of human drones—but there would at least be more security guards on their way soon, and the less he had to deal with them the better.
As Eudroch and Mona hurried back to the elevators, he stopped in front of the upper branches of the yew tree. The tall tree appeared clenched and dry and withered, as if mourning Ohman’s demise. Eudroch spat onto its bark, then continued to the elevators.
Mona followed hesitantly.
Within seconds, the elevator door opened with a chime. They stepped inside, and the door closed behind them.
“How was his name important enough to kill him for it?”
Eudroch stared at the floor.
“A Drayoom’s name is his power. Each of us has a creation name, which is a piece of the language that created this world. Who we are at our core represents a single word or phrase within the languages of the dragons. Because Ohman was once king, he was never forced to tell the Keepers his name. To know someone’s name is to have power over them, and it would not have stood for his subjects to have control over their precious Ard Righ. But because even the Ard Righ’s name is important to rebuilding the dragon tongue, Ohman decreed that he and all subsequent kings would have to pass on their names before they died. By his own law, before he passed, he should have told me his name—a piece of the Earth Dragon’s language that will now be lost forever.”
“What did he tell you before he died?”
Eudroch paused.
“The fool whispered my own creation name to me.”
The elevator door opened, and they walked briskly into the lobby.
“Why didn’t he use your name against you then, instead of letting you kill him?”
Eudroch stopped and turned to her.
“That…is an excellent question.”
He stared past her, thinking.
“He should have given me his name…unless he had already shared it with someone else, someone he trusted with his life.”
He started walking purposefully toward the exit doors again Mona remained standing where she was.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on. Those things you both did back there when you were fighting—can Merrick do that too?”
Eudroch turned around and walked back to her. They had already wasted too much time here and had to continue their search before Merrick’s trail turned cold.
“I know you can force me to go with you,” she said. “I believe that much already. But tell me the truth, and I’ll help you find Merrick willingly. If you lie to me, you might as well just kill me now. I’m sure you’d hardly break a sweat.”
“You have my word that I’ll tell you everything as soon as we leave this building,” he said. You heard the security warning when we came in. It’s not safe for us to be here much longer.”
Not wanting to waste any more time, he pulled her by the wrist, but she grabbed him as well and put all of her weight into resisting him. She was no match for his strength, but as he pulled away from her even harder, she abruptly let go.
He stumbled backward, momentarily caught off-balance.
While he regained his composure, she sprinted for one of the exit doors, pushing at the door handle, even though it didn’t move.
He heard her curse out loud.
He came up behind her, but the bothersome woman slid down into a sitting position on the floor, folding her legs beneath her and crossing her arms over her chest.
Her passive action surprised him. Her human fragility had served a purpose once in helping him defeat Ohman, and it might prove of additional value again, but she was becoming more annoying with each passing minute.
Mona looked up at him, determined.
“Come clean now, or we’re going to go through this
every time you want to go somewhere. Your choice.”
“I’ll say this one last time. Come outside with me, away from this cursed place, and I promise I’ll tell you everything. I swear this in front of Sigela. If we stay here much longer, the police will arrive, and then there will be even more dead bodies, except this time they will be on your conscience because of your stubbornness.”
He held out his hand to help her up. She reluctantly took it this time.
Still holding onto her, Eudroch placed his other hand on the door. Together, they walked through the glass and into the security chamber where they paused. Eudroch made sure that they listened to at least one full loop of the pre-recorded security message before he pulled her through the outside glass wall and into the late night air.
He released her and watched her confused face, as she seemed to search for some forgotten thought. Finally she looked at him directly.
“Are we still going inside?”
“We already did. You can’t remember anything because Ohman’s security wards have instilled a form of short-term amnesia in you. He and I battled, but the traitor escaped. Now, Merrick is in even greater danger than I suspected every second he’s away from us. You’ll just have to trust me this time. I’ll explain everything once we get out of here, but we have to leave right now.”
Ohman’s exit spell had worked perfectly. Thanks to the old man’s paranoia, Mona was open to his telling of the events. She never had to know that he had killed the great Ohman, right in front of her eyes.
#
The ancient yew tree shivered in its climate-controlled home, cold for the first time in years. Living across the centuries had its disadvantages. Chief among these was watching old friends like Ohman die. Oodrosil’s roots and its branches swelled with sorrow, both for itself and for Cara.
The Conservation of Magic Page 11