Balach removed his hands from his face and wiped the wetness from his face. He looked around him at the walls of the cold stone room in which he sat. He noticed the complete starkness of the room and wondered if this would be his cell until the Keepers figured out what to do with him.
Balach gingerly poked at the reddened wound in his chest where the Master Keeper had touched him with his staff. Balach had heard that the Keeper’s Chambers were protected with powerful wards that kept most magic from working inside its walls. Supposedly, only magic spoken by the Keepers worked in the chamber to protect the Keepers from the power of the creation names they heard for the first time in the ceremonies. Balach’s chest was sore where the wound was. Touching it again, his face curled in a painful grin and his eyes squinted. He knew that he didn’t know nearly as many of Terrada’s words as the Keepers, but Balach thought that the word the Master Keeper used on him sounded like something he had heard Merrick say when he was in the clearing with Firefly. Whatever it was, it must have called forth potent magic. Balach felt like his insides were on fire, compelling him to tell the truth in the hopes that doing so would make the pain stop.
Gently covering his red wound with the cloth of his shirt, Balach walked over and checked to see whether the door was unlocked. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down on the stone bench, spreading his legs out in front of him. There was no telling how long they would keep him here before his next test.
To pass the time, Balach imagined what he would do when he was released as a man. The first thing he would do is tell Merrick what his name was. Balach knew that the sharing of one’s name was the highest sign of trust between two people. If Merrick knew his name, that meant that he could exert complete power over Balach. The thought didn’t scare Balach. It made him want to tell Merrick even more.
Maybe his name could be of some help to Merrick in his future battle with his brother, Eudroch. If not, maybe Merrick could use it on himself—after all, he did need to love himself more. Even though Balach had been happy to see Merrick smiling more of late, he could still see an unnamed anger and sadness behind his eyes.
The other benefit of telling Merrick his creation name was that he could finally tell Merrick about Firefly. He didn’t want Merrick to feel guilty about being attracted to her—that was just normal because of Firefly’s magic—but Balach did want to openly declare his love for Firefly to his brother, the one person whom he felt he could trust.
Of course, Balach trusted his parents as well, but he was afraid they would not be happy with his choice of a mate. Then again, Balach remembered his father’s words when speaking about the great Ohman. He had told Balach that true love was above the laws of the clan. If he had really meant it, maybe his father would understand that Balach had to marry Firefly no matter the cost.
Balach couldn’t wait to get out and find Merrick. He leaned back against the bumpy stone wall and smiled as he imagined the look on Merrick’s face when he found out what an amazing creation name Balach had been gifted with.
CHAPTER 30
MERRICK LAY on his bed, worrying about what the morning would bring. He was sure that one of the Keepers had seen him and that he would suffer some kind of repercussion for his actions.
He pounded his fist into the bed by his side and sat up. Why had he been so stupid? If he had stayed put like Fenton had said, none of this would be happening. As it was, he was more ashamed of betraying Fenton and Balach’s trust than anything else. If he had waited, Balach probably would have told him what his creation name was anyway.
Merrick thought back to Balach declaring his undying love to his future wife and knew right away that Balach could be talking about none other than the beautiful Firefly. If he was right, Merrick didn’t know how he was going to tell Balach that his true love had tried to seduce him in the woods and get him to go back to her tribe with her.
Of course, Balach would probably already hate Merrick after finding out that he had spied on him during his naming ceremony. And, when Fenton found out…Merrick shuddered as he thought of Fenton’s anger and, even worse, his disappointment. Fenton had treated Merrick like a son and welcomed him into his home when others in the clan wanted him dead or gone.
Merrick tried to think of some way, any way, that he could make up for what he had done. Nothing came to mind. Maybe he should leave and never face any of them—not Fenton, or Balach, or the council, the Queen, or even Cara. For the first time since his arrival, he longed for his home back in the real world. He wanted nothing more than to go back to his boring job writing computer code and to his normal girlfriend. Merrick hoped she would forgive him one day for leaving her at the hospital and disappearing with no warning. She had probably worried about him for the first week, and then forgotten about him as soon as possible.
As Merrick was trying desperately to decide whether to leave or not, he felt his house vibrate. He looked at the far corner of the floor and saw several thick roots breaking through the surface. The only explanation was that they were from the giant tree he had planted outside—but why were they tunneling into his home? Merrick listened closely to the silence of the night. Before he had come to the Earth Clan, he might have heard nothing at all, save an occasional cricket chirp. When he listened now, however, he heard myriad subtle noises and rhythms in the night air. It was like the entire world spoke to him in sounds that he recognized as language, but that he didn’t yet fully comprehend.
He rushed over to the roots and touched them with his hands, murmuring the tree’s name while he did so. In his mind, he saw images of men in hoods outside his home. The tree was trying to warn him of danger, but when he ran to his living room to look out his window, he saw nothing outside but blackness.
Trusting his instinct and his yew tree, he walked back into his bedroom and pulled his bed away from the wall. When Balach had shown Merrick the secret entrance to the Keeper’s Chambers, he had gotten the idea to build a hidden passageway to his home, and where the bed had covered the wall, Merrick now placed his hand on a large, flat boulder.
Merrick whispered the name for the stone and commanded it to roll away. To his relief, it quickly obeyed, as if the rock sensed his growing panic. Merrick quickly slipped into the small tunnel that the boulder had revealed and, once inside, he told the boulder to roll back and cover up the tunnel’s entrance once again.
Merrick inched his way inside the mountain wall that abutted his domicile. He had constructed just enough of the walkway to go around the first major curve in the cavern wall. Once he made it to the end of his escape tunnel, he emerged into the night, crouching on his hands and knees like a wild animal, listening with all his might to everything around him.
He poked his head around the curve of the cavern wall just in time to see three dark robed figures break down his door and run inside his house. He knew in an instant that they were Keepers looking for him. His decision had been made—he would leave right now—tonight while he was still able.
Before they had a chance to realize that he was not in the house, Merrick sprinted as fast as he could back toward the clearing outside the council chambers.
He thought that he heard footsteps following him, but he dared not slow down to take a look behind him. He reached the clearing and quickly turned down the road that he knew so well, on his way to the cavern’s exit where Fenton always took Balach and he for their lessons.
The night air inside the Earth Clan caverns was chilly, and Merrick wished that he had had time to put on something warmer, but within seconds, his body was throwing off plenty of heat as he ran full speed down the road. He tried to stay to the edge of the road whenever possible, looking over his shoulder when he thought he could manage it without tripping and falling flat on his face.
Each time he looked back, he saw nothing. Even though it was dark, he easily made his way through the forest path at the end of the road and then to the base of the switchbacks embedded in the cavern wall that would lead him to the outside world.
/>
He started up the path—his lungs burning with exertion. Soon, he was halfway up the switchbacks. When he turned to look down at the road he had been on moments before, he saw three robed men running as they crisscrossed from side to side, checking obvious hiding places along the way.
Just as Merrick was about to turn back to the path, one of the robed men stopped and pointed directly at him. The three figures dove into the ground, and Merrick knew that they were traveling within the land itself, catching a ride, as Ohman had called it, on Terrada’s back.
Merrick climbed as hard as he could, ignoring the burning in his lungs and his thighs. Just a few meters more, and he would be at the cave’s exit.
As he reached the final switchback, he heard a rumbling sound behind him, and he forced himself to run harder. He knew what he would see if he looked over his shoulder—his pursuers emerging from the rock pathway, only an arm’s reach behind him.
Merrick scrambled to the top of the cliff and hurried to get to his feet. Just below, he heard the sound of the three Keepers grunting as they fought to pull themselves up over the edge of the cliff.
The dark blue night sky shone through the enormous arched entrance to the mountain as Merrick raced into the open air of the Highlands. Merrick noticed all the pieces of nature that he knew by name, automatically going over their names as he ran, his heart beating so hard that he was afraid it would burst.
Suddenly, by the light of the moon, Merrick saw a wall of earth speeding straight toward him. Merrick yelled the name of the ground as he dove directly into the approaching wall. To Merrick’s surprise, he passed right through it and fell, rolling onto the ground on the other side. Looking back only briefly, he saw the wall of earth continue, as it passed through the three figures that were now walking methodically toward him.
Merrick started running again, recklessly jumping over boulders and sliding down a grassy hill that led to the valley below. He heard something whiz past his head and then felt the pain of a small boulder slamming into his ankle. The impact knocked Merrick off his feet, and he went rolling down the steep slope, ever closer to the cliff’s edge where he had taken his first lesson with Fenton and Balach.
He tried desperately to grab hold of something that he could use as a weapon, shouting out random names of rocks and moss, but to no avail. Suddenly, the noise of his feet slapping the ground as he ran was replaced by the whoosh of his body sailing through the air.
As he torqued his torso around in mid-air, Merrick could see the three robed figures standing at the top of the cliff, watching him as he fell. He forced himself to look down at the quickly approaching ground as he shouted out what he hoped was the name of the dirt below. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the sickening crunch of his own bones, but instead felt himself gradually slowing to a stop. When he opened his eyes again, he could see only blackness. But, the smell of raw dirt all around him told him that he was now inside the earth—a part of Terrada herself. The ground had welcomed him inside its bosom.
Merrick felt warm and at peace with everything, even himself. Even though he knew he needed to keep moving, that the Keepers would be upon him any moment, he didn’t want to move. There was no need. Here, everything was safe. He was in the earth—he was a part of the earth—he was the earth. Steadily, the boundaries of his self began to dissipate into the soil around him.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Merrick could hear Ohman, his father, speaking to him—warning him not to lose himself while traveling with Terrada—to concentrate on a memory unique to his life that would remind him of who he was.
The image of Mona’s face appeared in his mind, slowly becoming more vivid as he thought more about her. It was the same memory he had used when traveling with Ohman. Because of Mona, Merrick began to exist once again.
He was whole, but had lost his momentum. He could not remember how to move. Merrick pretended to see Mona’s face in the distance and focused on reaching her. As he did so, he could feel his essence moving again through the ground, getting farther away from the Earth City with each thought of her—the one he had left behind—the one who probably loved him for what he was, faults and all, more than anyone else.
Suddenly, Merrick shot out of the land and rolled across the ground a few times before hitting his head on a pile of stone and coming to a halt.
He sat upright, ready for the Keepers’ attack, but he was alone. Warily, he got to his feet and spit out wet dirt from his mouth. His tested his leg and found that he was unable to put any weight on it without experiencing nauseating pain.
He limped to the top of a nearby rolling hill. From his vantage point, Merrick could see a small house not too far away with dark gray smoke coming from its chimney. Merrick hopped down the hill and painfully made his way to the small cottage.
When he arrived at the door, he knocked quickly, but not too hard, so as not to frighten its occupants. To Merrick’s relief, the door swung open to reveal a wiry young man with tussled brown hair and rosy cheeks.
“What’re you doin’ up here this time of night, stranger? You’re like to catch your death up here with nothin’ on your shoulders.”
Merrick smiled and asked if he could please come in and rest. He had fallen and was sure his leg was broken.
The boy let Merrick inside and offered him some tea, which Merrick gratefully accepted. The warm pungent liquid soothed as it went down his throat, but Merrick was afraid to relax, still listening closely for any noises outside that might herald an attack from the Keepers.
As the two sat in the small living area and sipped their steaming green tea, Merrick learned that the boy’s name was Heinin, and that he was watching his family’s home and the herd while his parents visited his aunt who lived in town.
Heinin quickly became interested when he learned that Merrick was from the United States and began questioning him about the big city where Merrick worked.
Merrick almost stopped Heinin a few times to ask for a phone, but he had no idea whom he would call. Finishing his tea, he asked if there was any way Heinin could take him to the town where his parents were staying. If he could only get him somewhere where he could find medical help and some transportation out of the Highlands, he promised to pay Heinin whatever he wanted for his time.
As Heinin was about to answer, the windows of the small cottage imploded, showering them both with broken glass. A hundred tiny cuts erupted on Merrick’s body as he covered his eyes from the glass shards. Before he could look up, he was thrown through the opening where one of the windows used to be, and once again he felt himself rolling in dirt, breathing in its sweet odor.
Forcing himself to stand, Merrick saw one of the Keepers just as he was lunging at him. Merrick threw up his leg and caught the Keeper square in the stomach with his foot as the Keeper’s air was forced out of his lungs. Putting his weight on one of his hands, Merrick tried to get up, but he was knocked down by another one of the Keepers.
The Keeper pushed his attack and followed Merrick to the ground, but he was suddenly pulled away, his eyes wide open in surprise. Merrick fought his instinct to rub his own eyes as he saw Fenton, protecting him, breathing hard and turning to face the third Keeper.
“I made a promise to take care of ya, lad, but next time try not to run so fast,” Fenton said, without looking away from the Keeper.
All around, the earth and different pieces of the house and the wooden fence flew madly about, as the Keepers and Fenton began their deadly match. They were all masters of their craft, and Merrick could do nothing but stay on the ground and hope something didn’t hit him. Quickly, Merrick thought about Heinin, hoping that he was unharmed and safe in what was left of his family’s home.
The three Keepers moved to surround Fenton and Merrick, each shouting words from the Earth Dragon tongue that Merrick had never heard before. Stones became deadly flying clubs; pieces of fence were turned into wooden spears; and the ground welled up and crashed back down as the four men fought their deadly gam
e with magic and muscle. It was as if gravity had been turned off in the house and everything had become a weapon. Fenton was amazing, dodging or destroying everything that was thrown at him or Merrick, but despite his power, he was slowly losing ground. As Fenton turned to deal with the Keeper behind him, the Keeper in front of Fenton launched projectiles from all sides. Fenton, unable to dodge all of them, was pierced by a large piece of wood right through his thigh.
Merrick reached out to the falling Fenton, but to no avail. The Keepers saw their chance and rushed in from all sides, just as Fenton reached out to Merrick with something pinched between his fingers—it was Merrick’s divinium pendant.
Without thinking, Merrick grabbed the pendant and put it around his neck in one fluid motion. As soon as the divinium touched his chest, an immediate internal charge hit him like a thunderclap. In a split second, the skies opened up with a flash that turned the night into daytime as bolt after bolt of lightning struck the ground near the Keepers’ feet. Within two seconds, the fight was over. The three Keepers were no longer standing. Merrick could see dark black smoke coming from their prone bodies and could smell the putrid odor of burnt flesh, the same as he had smelled back in the alley in Alexandria. With his mouth open and his eyes wide, Merrick looked down at the glowing stone hanging around his neck.
He had defeated three of the Earth Clan’s best in less time than it took to swallow. Grunting as he shakily stood up, Merrick turned to offer Fenton a helping hand, but he almost fell back to the ground when he saw Fenton’s lifeless face staring up at him.
A deep ferocity rose in Merrick. He screamed louder than he ever had and fell to his knees sobbing uncontrollably, trying not to vomit. This could not be happening. The wound in his mentor’s leg had not been enough to kill the mighty Fenton. There was only one answer—Merrick had killed Fenton, his friend and mentor—drained him of his remaining energy by using Fenton’s magic to call down the lightning bolts that killed the Keepers. With a sudden spasm in his stomach, Merrick leaned over away from Fenton’s corpse and violently threw up.
The Conservation of Magic Page 27
