The Equilibrium of Magic

by Michael W. Layne

  “I must apologize again, Ard Righ,” the Emperor said. “This was not the manner in which I intended our dinner to end.”

  The emperor snapped his fingers, and a member of his personal guard stepped up, drawing his katana and standing at the ready next to the dying warrior.

  “His honor has been restored,” the Emperor said. “He has suffered enough. End his pain and let him know of my mercy.”

  With no hesitation, the guard swung his katana blade in a single arc that cleanly sheared off the dying warrior’s head. An instant after the severed head landed on the floor, the lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

  Three servants scurried over to the dead warrior and dragged him away, while another servant put the warrior’s head into a basket woven of wind and followed them out the door. A fifth servant followed behind, soaking up as much of the blood from the floor as possible with cloths.

  Merrick turned back to the Emperor and surveyed the faces at the dinner table. All of the Wind Family members were looking blankly at the table in front of them, as if they were all ashamed at what had just occurred.

  The disturbing thing was that Merrick was fairly certain they were ashamed of the warrior’s actions and not about the fact that their maniacal Emperor had just ordered a man to commit seppuku right after dessert had been served.

  And for what? It seemed that the Emperor was more aghast that the warrior had uttered a word in another dragon’s language than he was that the warrior had accidentally killed one of his fellow soldiers.

  Merrick started to say something to the Emperor, but as the Emperor turned his head, Merrick glimpsed a micro-expression—a look on the young boy’s face that lasted only for a fraction of a second before being concealed once again. In that millisecond, Merrick saw a look of superiority and almost amusement on the Emperor’s face that confirmed all he needed to know.

  “Yes, Ard Righ—is there something you wish to ask?” the Emperor said.

  “No, Your Imperial Majesty,” Merrick said, his eyes locking with those of the Emperor. “I know all that I need to at the moment. If you will excuse my team and me, however, we are still tired from our journey, and wish to retire early this evening. I’m sure you will understand.”

  “Merrick, don’t be rude,” Mona whispered into Merrick’s ear. “We’re still guests here—remember.”

  There was no question in Merrick’s mind that Mona was under the control of Mr. Kawagishi, who had probably been quietly assuring her that everything was fine, and that nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary with what had just occurred.

  Merrick forced himself to bow his head slightly toward the Emperor as he pushed back his chair and helped Mona with hers.

  The Emperor watched with a stoic face. Merrick knew that he had just been given a message, and a strong one at that.

  The Wind Family had the cube, knew how to use it, and its members were just as powerful if not more so than Merrick’s employees. Above all else, the Emperor’s warriors were willing to do whatever their Emperor said, even if it meant giving up their own lives simply to prove a point.

  CHAPTER 37

  MONA THOUGHT THAT most of the dinner party had been spectacular, and she was very pleased she had come along for the visit to the Cloud City, even though Merrick had spent the entire evening ignoring her and chatting with the child Emperor instead.

  Mr. Kawagishi, on the other hand, had been so nice to her, quietly and patiently instructing her on the significance of the different parts of the Wind Dragon dance.

  He even had tried to explain exactly what offense had been committed by the warrior who had spoken one of the Fire Dragon words out loud and why it was so important to punish the warrior. Mona had a harder time understanding Mr. Kawagishi’s points on that topic, but by the end of the conversation, she felt very comfortable around Mr. Kawagishi and about what had happened.

  As Mr. Kawagishi continued to remind her, Drayoom never really died anyway. Their energy was returned back to whichever of the four dragons they followed.

  In fact, according to all of the Drayoom she had met so far, death was simply a natural part of the cycle of life and of magic. The Drayoom believed that the fallen warrior was with Araki now, and was better off for it.

  Mona continued to ponder this even as Merrick was suddenly demanding that they leave the party. The Emperor didn’t look very happy about Merrick’s abrupt departure, and Mona wasn’t very pleased with it either. Merrick might have turned into a responsible and focused adult since he had first discovered that he was a Drayoom, but he certainly hadn’t learned how to enjoy life any more than he used to.

  CHAPTER 38

  FOR THE FIRST TIME in a very long while, Cara found herself unsure of her next move. Normally, at Rune Corp, she knew exactly what she had to do on any given day and there was always something for her to be working on. But here, in the Earth Clan, aside from waiting for Bradley to recover and for Merrick and the others to arrive, she had the somewhat vague mission of figuring out how to determine the source of the Rune Corp divinium.

  After thinking about how to proceed for a while, she determined that she needed to first get the lay of the land.

  After checking on Bradley, she visited with Balach and his mother, Adrianna, most of the day. Their conversation lasted hours, spanned two meals, and helped Cara get a true sense for the state of the Earth Clan. What she discovered confirmed and surpassed her suspicion about the Queen and her tenuous hold on the seat of power.

  Cara had already seen the way the Earth Council acted differently—and more openly defiant—to the Queen, but according to Balach, displeasure with the Queen was rampant in all levels of Earth Clan society.

  Her first thought was that the citizens of the Earth City were turning their back on the Queen because she had invited forces from the Fire Tribe into the city and had actively tried to help her one son, Eudroch, kill her other son, Merrick. What Cara had been surprised to discover was that those events had only been the proverbial last straw for many of the council members and the citizens whose general displeasure had been building for a while.

  According to Adrianna, many of the people in the Earth Clan remembered the time when Ohman ruled, and despite the Queen’s best attempts to vilify him, they were still loyal to him and missed his inclusive and direct style of leadership. Cara knew that her father had been a stern ruler when he held the crown, but she was sure that he had also been fair, led by example, and treated all citizens with respect and dignity.

  That kind of approach to ruling a people was in direct contrast to the Queen and her propensity to look down on everyone and to make her decisions in a vacuum, or even worse, behind a veil of secrecy.

  Even though Cara’s primary duty was to the company that she and her father had built, and to finding the source of their divinium, she couldn’t help but daydream about what it would be like to rule the Earth Clan and how she would do things differently than the Queen if given the chance.

  Of course, Cara knew that if anyone was going to depose the Queen, it would be Merrick—not her—and in her heart, she was perfectly fine with that and increasingly hopeful that he might do so.

  CHAPTER 39

  MERRICK WAS TIRED of waiting for the emperor to provide a room where he and Mona could speak with one another openly. It had been too long since he’d had a private conversation with his fiancée, and he was determined to make it happen despite the four guards following closely behind them as they returned to their rooms.

  As they were about to step onto the platform that would whisk them up to their floor, Merrick turned to the largest of the guards and the one who seemed to be in charge of his detail.

  “I desire to visit the Earth Room before retiring to our rooms,” Merrick said.

  “I am afraid that is not possible at the moment, Ard Righ,” the guard said. “My orders are to escort you back to your chambers...”

  “And I will allow you to do so, after you have taken us to the Earth Room,” Mer
rick said. “This is not an option, guard. Unless you would rather risk showing your Emperor’s guest such disrespect as to not allow him to pay homage to his dragon before retiring for the evening? The Prince was quite clear when he told me that we were welcome to visit the Earth Room at any time.”

  The guard was confused and glanced at one of his colleagues, who shrugged and turned away. Merrick could see the guard’s brain going through the different possibilities. If he let Merrick visit the Earth Room, he would risk angering the Emperor, who had ordered him to take Merrick and his team directly back to their chambers, most likely so the Emperor could more easily observe them.

  On the other hand, the guard had clearly heard his Emperor refer to Merrick as the Ard Righ, and knew that he would not be expected to argue with one such as Merrick who was so obviously above the guard’s own station in life.

  Either way, the man was likely to get in trouble. But he was assured of getting in trouble if Merrick complained, as the guard assumed Merrick would.

  In the end, the guard reluctantly motioned for them to get on the wind lift system. There were no visible controls anywhere, but Merrick heard the man mutter a word under his breath. From his cursory studies of the Wind Dragon’s Tongue, Merrick recognized the word as being simply a number that most likely corresponded to that of the desired floor.

  A gust of air lifted them several stories into the air before slowing down and bringing them to a stop. The guard motioned for them to step forward into the hallway. Merrick and Mona got off the elevator, but Merrick turned back to Jonathan and Master Banzo and suggested that they go back with two of the guards to their chambers and that Merrick and Mona would go on to the Earth Room with the other two.

  “Unless you have a problem with this as well,” Merrick said to the head guard.

  The guard grunted and walked forward, leaving two of his men in the lift with Jonathan and Master Banzo. The guard led the way to the Earth Room while his comrade followed behind Merrick and Mona.

  Merrick could smell the room before they even arrived. He had not realized how much he missed the scent of the Earth until he inhaled the wet odor of the soil, the smell of raw life from the trees, and the richness of the air.

  The Wind Dragon may have controlled the air and the wind, but Terrada and her creatures made the air smell sweet and full of life.

  The guard opened the door, but did not step inside, which was exactly what Merrick had hoped would happen.

  “Thank you,” Merrick said as he and Mona entered the room. “We won’t be long.”

  Merrick closed the door before the guard had a chance to reply.

  Once inside, Merrick walked over to the tree. Somehow the Wind Family had figured out how to grow and sustain a small birch tree in no more than a few feet of soil and with no sunshine. He reached out and gave the tree’s trunk a tentative touch.

  He could feel that the birch was not happy or healthy. He felt the isolation and the loneliness of the rocks and the sand, being so far from Terrada and her creatures. Even though it was a pleasant experience for Merrick to be around parts of the Earth so far from home, his joy was quickly overshadowed with sadness, as he now perceived the room as being no more than a prison for its inhabitants.

  He didn’t know how, but he pledged to himself that he would free the rocks and the sand and even the tree if he ever had the opportunity.

  He walked over to Mona and gave her a hug and a gentle kiss on the lips.

  “I just wanted a chance to talk to you,” Merrick said. “You haven’t seemed yourself since the outpost. Can you tell me what’s going on? Are you still not feeling well?”

  Mona looked away and then back into Merrick’s eyes.

  “I feel as good as can be expected,” Mona said. “Pretty funny that you’re the one asking me to open up now. I remember not too long ago, I had to ask you for the same thing.”

  “I’ve grown up a bit over the last year,” Merrick said with a melancholic smile. “I was always introspective, but going through everything we did last year just so I could discover my creation name made me realize how important communicating is. You know, I couldn’t have done it—discovered who I really am—without you.”

  Mona moved in closer and put her arms around his neck and the side of her face on his chest.

  “Thanks, Merrick,” she said. “I needed to hear that.”

  “Now will you tell me what’s wrong?” Merrick said while stroking her hair.

  “I know I forced you to bring me along on this trip,” Mona said. “I didn’t know how long you’d be gone, and I didn’t want to be away from you. I know you were just trying to keep me safe, and...maybe I shouldn’t be here after all.”

  “You did kind of weasel yourself into being invited,” Merrick said with a chuckle. “But I meant it when I said we make a great team. I’m glad that you’re here.”

  “It just seems that maybe you need something or someone else sometimes,” Mona said, silencing Merrick as he shook his head, about to deny her statement. “I’m not saying that you want anyone else. But, Merrick, look at you. Look at what you’ve become over the last year.

  “Other women have boyfriends with ambitions, but none of them have ever saved the world from being destroyed by a Fire Dragon. None of them might become a king one day, and they don’t go on adventures in a city made of clouds to retrieve a cube filled with magic. That sounds crazy just hearing myself say all of that.

  “And then there’s the strangest part. I love you, Merrick, but you’re not...you’re not even human.”

  “That’s not very fair to say,” Merrick said. “I can’t help how I was born. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

  “I don’t mean anything bad by that,” Mona said, “but don’t you want to be with a woman who can give you Drayoom children? Won’t the Earth Clan expect that from you? The only reason they accept Cara is because of who her father was and because of you. Not only are you a pure blood, but you’ve got the blood of two dragons in you. You’re special even among a species of magical beings. And I’m just a woman.

  “A great woman, sure,” Mona said with a laugh, “but still just a woman.”

  Merrick held her at arm’s length.

  “Where is all of this coming from?” he said. “I’ve never heard you talk this way before, and I don’t understand why you’re talking all of this nonsense now.”

  Mona turned her eyes away from him.

  “I’ve just been thinking a lot. Back home, you and Cara are in the minority, but up here, being with all these Drayoom—it makes me realize how foreign the world of the Drayoom is to me and how much you seem to belong with more of your kind.”

  Merrick shook his head. Maybe the magic of Mr. Kawagishi’s name was influencing her somehow—putting doubt into her mind—although Merrick couldn’t understand why the Emperor’s diplomat would want to put a wedge between him and Mona.

  “I’ve never even thought about any of that, Mona. I just know that I want you, and that being with you makes me happy. And for a human, you’re pretty damn amazing,” he said with an attempt at a laugh that Mona joined in on. “Is there anything else on your mind?”

  Mona appeared to be debating internally about whether or not to bring something else up, but she just shook her head and smiled, wiping a small tear from the corner of one eye. Merrick was frustrated about not knowing what was going on inside her, but he knew that in her own time, she would tell him whatever she was still hiding.

  What concerned him even more was that, even as he was trying to convince Mona that there was nothing wrong on his end, he couldn’t deny to himself that he had never thought through any of what Mona had just brought up, and that he probably would have to in the future. He had never imagined what it would mean to live among other Drayoom, and he had never considered that he might have an obligation to continue his bloodline, especially since it was also that of the Queen’s.

  In the meantime, he would continue with the mission and keep an eye on Mon
a to make sure she was all right. Maybe he could ask the Emperor to provide an escort back home for her, or maybe even to take her down to the ground and let her return with Master Banzo by traveling through Terrada.

  Merrick took Mona’s hand and led her over to the large boulder in the room. They sat down together, and he reached over and picked up the divinium statuette he had given the Emperor as a gift back at Rune Corp.

  “I want to check to see if the divinium recorded anything important,” Merrick said, “although I doubt it did.”

  Merrick touched the divinium and closed his eyes. The humans needed special equipment to access and use the full power of the magical stone’s. The cube interface, the enunciator collar, and the earphones were all necessary for humans to tap into their internal magic. But Merrick had developed an automatic connection with divinium that was as natural as walking.

  As soon as he touched the divinium, his mind filled with images of being clutched by the Emperor and of being immediately handed over to Mr. Kawagishi, who enclosed the statuette in a sphere of wind. From that point on, the divinium’s senses had been dulled and dampened, and the next thing it really saw was when it was placed in the Earth Room at the royal palace.

  Merrick opened his eyes. There was nothing of value for Merrick in the divinium’s memory. But at least he was fairly certain that he knew where the cube had been a little while ago—inside the spiked ball at the end of the chain that the warrior had used to kill his fellow combatant.

  Now that he was away from Mr. Kawagishi and the Emperor and the power of their creation names, Merrick’s mind felt clearer, and he was able to focus his thoughts more easily.

  Even though just a boy, the Emperor was already a shrewd leader. And if he was to be believed, he carried in his mind, as a part of his own memory, all of the experiences of his great-grandfather and many of his ancestors before that. Merrick had to stop thinking of the Emperor as a child in any sense of the word. The Emperor had adult memories, adult ways of looking at situations, and adult desires and ambitions.