The Equilibrium of Magic

by Michael W. Layne

  CHAPTER 44

  PRINCE TAKEHIKO HAD ARGUED with the Emperor at first—something only he and perhaps the Abbess would ever dare to do. He had made the case for not killing Merrick, because he believed that there would be more information to be gained from interrogating him. What the Prince had not shared with the Emperor was how apprehensive he was to face the legendary Merrick, even with the advantage of surprise in his favor.

  The Prince was a superbly skilled fighter and had remembered his own creation name early on as a child, but he had never faced Sigela before, nor had he journeyed to Annoon, the fabled home of the dragons.

  Merrick had done both of these things and survived.

  The Prince held the cube and waited patiently for Merrick to break through the door to the Emperor’s bedchamber, as he readied himself for the battle of his life. It was true that having a few guards with him would have made his victory over the Ard Righ more certain, but the Emperor wanted as few people as possible to be aware of what was really about to happen.

  As it was, one of the royal guards had already sacrificed himself earlier in the evening at dinner, and two more would be required to do the same to make it look as if Merrick had fought his way through to the royal chambers, bent on killing the Emperor in his sleep.

  The fact that the compromised divinium statuette was recording Merrick’s progress along the way would help convince the Wind Family and Merrick’s followers that Merrick’s death was only the result of the Prince trying to protect the Emperor.

  The Prince still believed that they could learn more about the cube with additional information from Merrick, but the Prince was bound by honor and duty to follow his brother’s orders. And if he were honest with himself, he had to admit that, after having the chance to examine and use the cube himself, its technology was just as potentially dangerous as Merrick.

  The divinium from which the cube was created was so different from the stone the Wind Family possessed. Its ability to store magic from all four of the dragons, combined with the human concept of a user interface, made magic accessible and usable by humans. And an army of humans outfitted with cubes and with magic at their disposal was enough to cause fear in any sensible Drayoom.

  Humans had proven several times over that their appetite for destruction overruled their ability to do what made sense for their species and for the planet overall. To give them the power of magic would bring about the end of existence as the Prince knew it, faster than anything the dragons could do with their prophecies and their powers.

  In addition to the potential of a human army armed with magic, the Prince also shared his brother’s fear of a united Earth and Fire family under the Ard Righ—a union that would eventually produce an entire family of Drayoom—with each member being as strong as Merrick himself.

  In order to stop both of these futures from coming to pass, perhaps the Emperor was right about Merrick having to die. After he was out of the way, the Prince would lead the Emperor’s army against the humans at Rune Corp and take the divinium and the human technology for the glory of Araki.

  As the Prince was lost in his thoughts, waiting for Merrick to arrive, he felt the cube vibrate and saw it light up with an eerie green glow, signaling that Merrick was drawing nearer. Even though he and the Emperor had easily learned how to use the cube, they had not yet begun to unlock all of its mysteries, but as best as he could tell, the cube had been calling to Merrick ever since dinner tonight. It was as if the cube had sensed Merrick’s presence and was reaching out to him so that he could return the cube to its home—something that the Prince could not allow.

  As he tensed and loosened his muscles, readying himself to strike as soon as Merrick came through the door, the cube stopped humming and its glow began to dim.

  The Prince cursed under his breath as he went back into waiting mode. Perhaps Merrick was not yet as close as he had thought.

  Soon, the Prince would have his chance to prove his dedication to Araki, the Wind Family, and the Drayoom species itself. Defeating the mighty Merrick in battle would also raise the Prince’s status throughout the Drayoom world and force others to finally recognize him as more than just the Emperor’s brother.

  CHAPTER 45

  ORDU DID NOT THINK so much as feel that it was a horrible existence to be a boulder so far removed and isolated from Terrada, the mother to all things. When the rock had first sensed the Ard Righ’s arrival, it could hardly believe its senses. For years, Ordu had sat in the tiny enclosed room, locked away in the palace of the Wind Family with its fellow prisoners—the tree, the sand, and the other dedicated followers of the Earth Dragon.

  Although just a boulder to most, Ordu had been alive for countless years and took pride in being a full member of the Earth Clan.

  When Merrick had entered the Earth Room and had actually greeted Ordu, the boulder had been astonished and pleased. Ordu had once been a part of the very mountain inside which the Earth Clan had built its fabled city. Before being brought to this awful place, it had seen enough of life and felt enough magic to recognize the power and the potential greatness bubbling inside of Merrick.

  Ordu knew the moment it saw him that he was the true Ard Righ, chosen before birth by Terrada herself to rule her people and perhaps even more.

  When the Ard Righ walked out of the room with Araki’s female monk, leaving the Earth Room, perhaps forever, Ordu sank back into its depression. There was nothing it could do to help the Ard Righ, but the boulder made a vow that if ever chance permitted, it would give all that it could in service to its king.

  As quiet as a boulder at rest tends to be, Ordu settled back into its dreary existence, silently praying to Terrada for a chance to somehow help Merrick and to escape its wretched prison.

  CHAPTER 46

  IT HAD BEEN three days, and Cara was beginning to be concerned about Merrick. She knew that he was fully capable of taking care of himself and the others, but he had never before dealt with anyone as powerful and devious as the Emperor.

  Aside from her concerns about Merrick, she was also finding that she missed his company. She had grown used to working closely with him on a daily basis, and even this much time away from him left her feeling alone and bored, despite her task and having the entire Earth City to explore.

  She had spoken with several of the council members and tried to learn anything more she could about her father and the source of the Rune Corp divinium. Everyone she talked with told the same story. Ohman had never once asked for any of their divinium after he had left the clan. From that, she had to conclude early on that Ohman must have found the Rune Corp divinium somewhere organically instead of altering divinium from the Earth Clan.

  She had talked to a few of the clan’s elders who weren’t even on the council, looking for any clues or rumors they might have heard about divinium that could hold the magic of all four dragons, but no one had heard anything. Her last resort was to try talking with the Master Keeper, but she had not been successful in getting an audience with him yet.

  The night before, she had dined with Heinin and his parents, which turned out to be the highlight of her week so far. His parents were both so humble and kind. Having dinner with them gave Cara a peek into a life she herself had never known.

  Of all the strange things she had experienced in her life, eating a home-cooked dinner with a family around the dining room table had been one of the most alien.

  A single meal wasn’t about to change the way she approached life, but it did make her wonder what a normal life with a family and with someone she loved would be like. With her father gone, even though she had never told him, Merrick was the closest thing to family that she had.

  And even though she knew that Merrick could take care of himself in the Cloud City with the Prince and the Emperor, she was anxious about his safe escape. After all, even though he downplayed the seriousness of his mission there, Merrick was going to try to steal back their divinium cube, an advanced weapon that the Emperor would be sur
e to guard quite jealously.

  To top it off, she knew Merrick well enough to know that he had no real plan other than to get the cube and leave.

  With anyone else, that kind of strategy would have been unacceptable, but with Merrick, things were different. He had a way of dealing with situations and coming out on top, even if he had to suffer immensely before doing so.

  Regardless of his ability to improvise and his prowess at magic that seemed to grow with every passing day, Cara was still worried about him and had to physically restrain herself from figuring out a way to visit the Cloud City on her own to check up on him.

  For now, she would remain patient, try to speak with the Master Keeper, and wait for Merrick and the others to return.

  CHAPTER 47

  BRADLEY LAY in the healer’s bed, dozing sporadically. Each time he regained consciousness, he looked down to make sure his leg was still there, and when he saw that it was, he allowed himself to fall back into his slumber.

  Even though the healers had regrown his leg, the trauma to his body from doing so was immense, and he felt as if he were devoid of all energy.

  Just as he was about to fall asleep again, a hand touched his arm. With a start, he opened his eyes and turned his head to face his new visitor. He hoped it was Cara, come to see how he was doing again.

  It was not.

  His vision was slightly blurry, but he could plainly see a tall, graceful woman, possibly in her thirties, standing next to his bed. Atop her head, she wore a crown of gold and leaves. Even though he had never met her, he knew immediately that this was the Queen of the Earth Clan.

  “It is Bradley, is it not?” the Queen said.

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” Bradley said, feeling awkward at the use of the formal greeting. He had never before spoken with a queen, and he had learned everything he knew about dealing with royalty from international news stations and bad romantic comedies.

  Bradley felt relieved when he saw the Queen smile at him and tilt her head slightly to the left. He felt...warm under her gaze for some reason, and he was not complaining.

  He did wonder about one thing, however. All this time, he had heard Cara and Merrick talk about the Queen as if she were some old hag, and this woman was far from that.

  Then it hit him. What if this wasn’t the Queen at all, but instead her daughter? A princess instead of a queen?

  “I apologize,” Bradley said. “You must be the Princess. I mistook you for the Queen.”

  “Such a sweet boy,” the Queen said with a smile. “You were correct the first time. I am indeed the Queen, and I am here to make sure my healers have taken proper care of you.”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Bradley said. “I’m very grateful for your help—for their help. They gave me back my leg. I wish there was some way I could repay you for your kindness.”

  The Queen raised her right eyebrow.

  “Well, there are one or two things we could discuss later,” the Queen said. “But first, tell me how this awful accident occurred.”

  Bradley shuddered at the memory of it, but he forced himself to tell the Queen the story of working with the new dragon word and of the pencil in his pocket.

  “It really was my fault,” he said. “I didn’t follow procedure, and if Merrick and Cara give me another chance, I won’t screw up again. I’m just happy to have my leg back.”

  The Queen snorted lightly.

  “It seems to me that you are being incredibly good natured about the whole thing,” the Queen said. “To be honest, if it were me, I would not be able to let go of it so easily.”

  In fact, Bradley had not been able to let go of his anger at all up until when the healers started taking care of him. Maybe when he was more rested he would grow angry again, but for now, he didn’t have enough energy to be mad.

  “I mean no offense, Bradley,” the Queen said, as she gently squeezed his bicep, “but leaving a human alone, even one as capable as yourself, to work with unknown words from a dragon tongue, is irresponsible at best. Did you know that our Keepers are trained from the time they are young children, and that they are selected from the rest of the citizenry because they have the highest capacity for memorization of all the members of the clan? And still, when they learn a new creation name—when one is brought to them to test for the first time—they take precautions and are never alone. I do not see how you could be to blame for what happened.”

  Bradley looked at the beautiful Queen. Her face seemed to shimmer and her eyes made him feel safe and cared for. He found himself smiling before he was even aware that he was truly happy, perhaps for the first time.

  “I respect a man like you, Bradley,” the Queen said. “Do you know how rare that is for me? It is very rare, indeed. I feel as if the two of us are cut from the same stone. In fact, I wonder if you might not have some Drayoom blood running through you somewhere. Have you ever felt that way as well?”

  Bradley simply nodded, transfixed by the Queen’s lovely face that was slowly coming ever nearer to his mouth as she spoke.

  “I don’t find many people I respect, Bradley,” she said slowly, before standing up and letting her robe fall to the floor.

  Bradley tried to say something, but found that he was too in awe of her radiance to speak. A part of him was also afraid that if he made a sound, the dream would shatter. And he didn’t want that to happen.

  “But I never find someone I respect, and to whom I am attracted,” the Queen said as she slid into bed with Bradley. “Never.”

  Finally, Bradley found his voice, although his speech came out quivery and unsure.

  “Your Majesty,” Bradley said, “I don’t understand. Why?”

  “I will explain everything later,” the Queen said as she pushed back Bradley’s hair from his eyes and pressed her lips against his. “Let us first merge ourselves as only two of our nature can. Afterwards, we shall talk about what you can do to help me. You’d be agreeable to that, wouldn’t you, Bradley?”

  “Yes,” Bradley said. “I will do whatever you wish.”

  CHAPTER 48

  AT FIRST, MERRICK had been perturbed about the Emperor not allowing him and Mona to stay in the same room, but as he readied himself to spend the third night in a row with Tamami, he admitted to himself that he was glad he had the chance to escape and to explore the wonders of the Cloud City at night...without her.

  He still loved Mona; his time with Tamami was nothing like the love he had for Mona. But his love for Mona was also nothing like the relationship he was forming with Tamami, the outcast daughter of the realm. When he was with her, he felt...at home and comfortable, like he was with one of his own.

  It was true that Tamami was a member of the Wind Family, but she also had the blood of the Water People in her veins as well. That is why she was able to understand and to relate to Merrick better than anyone else he had ever met, other than his own brother when he had been alive, of course. Tamami knew what it was like to be consumed by a dragon and to feel its power coursing through your veins, and then, in the next moment, to feel the power of a different dragon also trying to take control of you. Sometimes the swings could be exhilarating, and at other times, exhausting.

  For Merrick, that meant that he could be one with Terrada, focused and filled with endless patience for a task at hand, and then the next moment he could be filled with unquenchable passion and inspired by Sigela to succumb to all manner of spontaneity. Merrick had taught himself to combine the two dragons inside of him and to reach a certain equilibrium or balance where he was able to be both focused and passionate about something—namely his work and unraveling the mysteries that Ohman left behind.

  According to Tamami, her experiences were often much worse than his.

  At times she would be filled with a lightness of being that only a creature of the clouds could feel, only to be suddenly weighed down like a creature living under the water.

  Thanks to the benefits of her monastic training, she had learned how to keep her mi
nd under control and in a meditative state while merging the feelings of wind and water that filled her essence. As she divulged to Merrick, it was during these times that she felt at her most troubled, but also at her most powerful.

  She, like Merrick, felt misunderstood by others the majority of the time, and during their nightly outings, she seemed as happy as he was that they had found each other. Not only did he marvel at the city nightlife she showed him, but he found himself understanding the way she thought and began to share her love for the city and the ever-changing cloudscape upon which it was built.

  By day, he, Mona, Jonathan, and even Master Banzo were treated to exclusive access to all parts of the city. In addition to the palace itself and its many wonders, they visited local markets, were presented with gifts from vendors, and learned that clouds had landscapes within them as rich and as varied as the most pristine tropical rain forest.

  As a bonus, Merrick’s body finally adjusted to the higher altitude, and by the second night, he was able to walk about effortlessly as they explored the streets of the city, adding to his happiness during the day, but especially at night when he was with her.

  Merrick had asked Tamami about his overwhelming euphoria at one point, but she had assured him that what he was feeling was a natural by-product of living amongst the clouds. Just as the clouds themselves were light, so were the spirits of those who dwelt within them—and even though he wondered why neither the Emperor nor the Prince seemed particularly light to him, that small inconsistency didn’t seem to matter when he was with Tamami.

  As he prepared to go out with Tamami, he was dressed in the more casual black kimono she had given him as a gift. He was excited but also nervous about the evening. He had been telling Mona and the others that he had been searching for the cube each night and that he felt like he was getting closer to finding it. The truth was, he had been outside the palace gates every evening, and the last thing that had been on his mind had been finding the cube for some reason.