The Equilibrium of Magic

by Michael W. Layne

  When Adriana blinked her eyes, she kept them closed for just a second too long.

  Balach responded for her.

  “Thank you for your kind words, Cara,” Balach said, with a forced smile. “Please know that...I don’t...what I’m trying to say is that both you and Merrick are always welcome in our home. Please don’t take our somber moods for lack of joy at seeing that you are here and doing well.”

  “Is Merrick thinking about coming to the Earth City and taking his place as its ruler?” Adriana said abruptly.

  “I’m not sure what his plans are,” Cara said. “I think there are Drayoom in the Earth Clan, and even in other families, who believe he should sit on the throne as Ard Righ. I know many in the Fire Tribe feel this way as well. The Emperor of the Wind Family also refers to him as the Ard Righ.”

  “And Merrick?” Adriana said.

  “He does not respond to the title yet, even though I know he’s trying to figure out what is best for the clan and for himself.”

  “As hard as it would be at first to see Merrick every day,” Balach said, “I believe that he has an obligation to this family and to Terrada herself...And I believe that our clan needs him. Will you please tell him that for me?”

  “I will, but the Queen still holds the throne,” Cara said.

  “That may not always be the case,” Adriana said, leaning forward and whispering to Cara. “Merrick would only have to state his intentions and much of what would have to happen to unseat the Queen...would unfold of its own accord. She still claims to represent Terrada and that she communicates with the Earth Dragon, but most of the city doesn’t believe this to be true any more. I’m not even sure it ever was the case.”

  Adriana turned away from Cara and looked at the floor.

  “As much as Merrick may have been the instrument of my husband’s death, I am not a fool. I blame the Queen for my husband’s passing—not Merrick. If she had not deceived the entire clan and seeded our city with her treachery...my Fenton, a man who gave his all in service to her, would still be with us.”

  Cara nodded. She was silently thankful to learn how Balach and his mother felt, but she could find no words to convey this to Adriana—so she said nothing, and the room remained silent.

  Balach stared off into the distance, looking like he was searching for something to say as well.

  “I have no love for the Queen,” Balach said. “And given my name, that is saying quite a lot. I would support Merrick if he wished to hold the throne, and I would give him my sword. I am sure that is what my father would have wanted. Is he arriving soon?”

  “He’s still at Rune Corp,” Cara said, “preparing for a visit from the Emperor of the Wind Family. I do know that before he makes any kind of decision regarding the throne, he is committed to finishing a quest that he believes Terrada tasked Ohman with long ago.”

  Balach turned to Cara, then stood up and paced about the kitchen

  “On which quest does Merrick find himself now?” Balach said, even as his mother reached out and gently touched her son’s arm.

  “He believes that Ohman had once been tasked by Terrada,” Cara said, “to unite the four dragon tongues into a single language once again.”

  Both Adriana and Balach focused intently on Cara now.

  “That would be as dangerous as when the humans created the first atomic bomb,” Adriana said, her face showing patches of red against her fair skin. “It was a great achievement, but it also set the entire world further apart and on the path to its own destruction. The four languages have not been as one since Abred. And there is a reason for that.”

  “I understand, Adriana,” Cara said. “I’ve warned Merrick about that as well, but if Terrada did indeed ask my father to undertake this quest, I can only imagine she had a reason beyond my ability to comprehend.”

  Adriana fixed Cara in her gaze.

  “If Terrada asked Ohman, then that is one thing, but she did not ask Merrick. And as much as I love that boy, he is not Ohman. At least not yet.”

  “I agree,” Cara said, “but Merrick is trying to do what he thinks is right.”

  “Then why is he consorting with the Emperor? That family and their leader are not to be trusted—something that Ohman knew full well.”

  “The Emperor claims that he wants to visit my company to pay his respects to Merrick as the new Ard Righ...and to acknowledge Rune Corp as an official part of the Drayoom world.”

  “If the Emperor is calling Merrick the Ard Righ,” Adriana said, “there is evil behind his intentions, even if you cannot see it. He does nothing save for his own advancement or that of his family. Of all the Drayoom leaders, he is the one I most worry about.”

  “Merrick has grown quite a bit since you last spoke with him,” Cara said. “Between Merrick and me, we’ll be able to handle the Emperor with no problem.”

  Adriana grunted, and a tear welled up in one of Balach’s eyes as a silence overtook the room again.

  Cara decided to change tact.

  “The Emperor is arriving tomorrow, and I don’t want Merrick dealing with him on his own. I was hoping to enlist the services of your healers for Bradley before returning to Rune Corp this evening. If Balach will go with us to see the healers, I think they might be willing to help him without the Queen’s express permission.”

  “Of course,” Balach said, “and my apologies to your colleague for us going on like this when he is in need of help. Let us go directly to the healers and get you taken care of, Bradley.”

  “Thank you,” Bradley said, as Cara and Balach helped him to a standing position and walked him out of the house, with his arms around both of their shoulders.

  As they made their way slowly down the road away from Balach’s house, Balach laughed for the first time since they had arrived.

  “Something funny?” Cara said.

  “It’s nothing,” Balach said. “I just don’t think you’re going to need my help as much as you think you will with the healers.”

  “Why is that?” Cara said.

  “You’d be surprised how well liked Merrick is right now,” Balach said. “Once the healers know that Bradley is one of his people, I believe you will find them more than eager to assist however they can.”

  CHAPTER 8

  HEININ HADN’T SEEN his mother and father in six months, but it felt longer. All his life he had dreamed of leaving the Highlands and his father’s farm, but when it had actually happened, he found that he missed his quiet existence more than he thought possible.

  He was still happy that he had decided to join Merrick and the people at Rune Corp for an internship, but he had felt guilty about leaving his parents behind to rebuild their home after Merrick and the Queen’s personal guards, the Fianna, had destroyed it during one of their battles.

  As he neared his family’s homestead, his dog, Bitsy, ran up to him, barking wildly with a level of excitement that only dogs could produce. Heinin bent down and rubbed Bitsy’s head and then her stomach as she rolled over onto her back, her tail wagging fiercely back and forth.

  Standing up, and with Bitsy now at his side, Heinin continued on to his family’s home. Even from a distance, he could tell that it was different—larger than before.

  As he approached and heard the bleats of the family goats, his mother and father came out to greet him, smiles on both of their faces. They looked older to Heinin, but they also looked happy and healthy.

  “Mum! Dad!” Heinin called out. “It’s so good to see you both!”

  Before he knew it, he was in the embrace of both of his parents, his mom shedding more than a few tears as she released from their hug and just stared at him.

  “You look like a man, Heinin,” his mother said. “I can’t believe that you’ve grown so much in such a short time.”

  “Mother’s right,” his father said with a deep laugh. “If I hadn’t known it was you a coming, I might have asked who this stranger was on our land.”

  “The house looks great,” Hein
in said. “How long has it been finished?”

  “Oh, with the money your new friends sent along, we had it complete not long after you left,” his father said. “Even added a few things. Figured it couldn’t hurt to be a little more in touch with the rest of the world, you know?”

  Heinin looked up and saw a large satellite dish mounted on their roof and smiled.

  “You should see your room and your new bed,” his mother said. “I’ve got it all made up for you with fresh sheets.”

  Heinin looked down at his feet.

  “Not sure how long we’re staying, Mum, or if I’ll be staying with the rest of the group tonight or not.”

  “Don’t be foolish, now,” his father said. “You’ve been gone half a bloody year, and we’ve got lots to catch up on. You’ll be staying here tonight, if you know what’s good for you.”

  His father laughed, but Heinin knew that he was being completely serious.

  “Of course,” Heinin said. “I just have to check in on one of my friends from Rune Corp in a few hours, if that’s all right. Then, I’ll come back for the night—hopefully longer.”

  “That’s better,” his mother said. “And invite anyone you’d like to dinner this evening.”

  “Cara’s leaving this evening to go back to Rune Corp for a day, and my other friend’s recovering from an injury, Mum,” Heinin said.

  Heinin’s mother seemed unfazed.

  “Did your friend, Merrick, come with you?” his mother said.

  “He’s arriving later.”

  “Well, he will definitely have to come visit, to see the new house that he paid for. If we had known how nice it would have been, we would have asked him to destroy our home a long time ago,” his mother said with a laugh. “After all, living like this has made me feel a bit more modern, and I think I might like the feeling.”

  Heinin laughed as his mom danced a little jig in the middle of the kitchen. It was good to see both of his parents so full of life, and Heinin was silently thankful that the new house still felt like home.

  CHAPTER 9

  WHEN DIGGS WOKE UP in the stillness of early Tuesday morning, she was still seated at her dining room table with her face flat on the placemat.

  She yawned and groaned at the same time as she sat up, arched her back, and rubbed her face. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping. Maybe a few hours. Maybe for only a few minutes.

  Even though she had drank mostly coffee, she felt like she had a hangover. For a second, she wondered if it had all been a dream, but the pulsating cube sitting in front of her told her that everything had been real.

  She shuffled over to her coffee maker and started up yet another pot. She dropped a couple pieces of bread in the toaster so she’d have something in her stomach to soak up all the coffee.

  While the pot was brewing and the bread was toasting, Diggs went to use the bathroom.

  As she was washing her hands, she looked up at her face and was horrified by what she saw.

  Her hair had turned gray and she had wrinkles on her face that had not been there the day before. The tutorial had said that practicing that single verb would not drain her internal energy that much.

  She hung her head wearily.

  Of course, she had done a lot more than just memorize a single word. She had worked her way through all twenty of the tutorials, and by the end of the night, she was experimenting on her own with new words and phrases. Luckily, she was very good at process and paperwork and had followed all of the warnings precisely—other than the one about not using the cube too much in a single sitting. At one point, she had asked a small rock from one of her plants to float, and had been astounded when it had lifted into the air.

  During a moment of paranoia, she had also set up some basic wards to protect her condo unit. This guy, Chris, had covered all the bases, and one of his tutorials had instructed her on what phrases to use to mask the use of magic in her condo, just in case someone from Rune Corp was searching for the cube.

  She had learned so much in such a short period of time. Her entire concept of the world and how it worked had changed.

  Today was a new day for a new Diggs.

  She still hadn’t figured out how to make money off of it, but that was mostly because her mind had changed from being greedy to being fascinated with magic and how to use it. She had even thought about teaching herself as much as she could and then walking into Rune Corp and asking for a job. She knew she could only go so far by herself, and she was craving knowledge more than money.

  So many things made sense now. The lightning strike out of nowhere that had occurred with Merrick and Mona last year and Merrick’s odd behavior that first night Diggs had encountered him. That whole incident had been Merrick coming into his power for the first time. From bits and pieces in Chris’s tutorials, she was able to discern a lot about Merrick, Mona, and Cara.

  Chris had obviously had a thing for Cara, who was now the CEO of Rune Corp. Now that Diggs understood more about the world that these people, and now she, lived in, she could only guess what kind of bizarre fate had actually befallen Chris.

  Maybe he had been destroyed by Merrick’s evil brother, Eudroch—the one who worshipped Sigela, the Fire Dragon. Maybe the Queen of the Earth Clan had poisoned him for trying to help Merrick. The most informative tutorial of all had been the one where Chris presented a history lesson on the Drayoom and the dragons. If she had heard his stories before witnessing the reality of magic to back it up, she would have just thought that he was crazy.

  But, given how everything else he talked about was true, she could only assume that there really were four large families of a species called the Drayoom who lived secretly in our world, each worshipping one of the four elemental dragons—Terrada of the Earth, Sigela of the Fire, Araki of the Wind, and Lagu of the Water. According to Chris, these weren’t dragons like big, giant lizards, but were instead elemental forces that were all around us and sentient at the same time.

  In addition to following their individual dragons, each of the families was led by a ruling family. The Earth Clan had Queen Nabharia, and, as far as Diggs could tell, Ohman used to be the Earth King. The Fire Tribe was ruled by a king as well. The Wind Family was lorded over by an Emperor. And the Water People…Chris hadn’t seemed to know much about them.

  Daring to look at herself in the mirror again, she decided that she needed to figure out a solution to using the cube without draining away all of her life force. At this rate, she wouldn’t make it through the end of the week.

  First, she would eat a quick breakfast and get some proper sleep in her bed, and when she woke up she would focus on using the cube just to read and learn. She would not use the cube for any magic, no matter how tempting it would be.

  She ran some cold water in her hands and splashed some on her face. The coolness felt good.

  She was starting to get hungry, but first she had to call work. She prided herself on never taking a sick day, but today was different.

  She picked up her cell phone from the coffee table in her living room and dialed her department to let them know that she was sick and would not be showing up for duty. She laughed after the call was over. If they could see her now, they’d probably insist that she check herself into a mental institution right away.

  She sighed as she poured herself a cup of coffee and bit into a heavily buttered piece of toast.

  Just as she was about to sit down in front of the cube, she heard a powerful thud against her front door. And another. Her front windows began to vibrate uncontrollably.

  Out of instinct, Diggs reached for her Glock and trained it on her front door in an instant.

  All was suddenly quiet.

  Suddenly, her front door burst open, and a man barreled into her condo.

  She squeezed off three rounds, but her gun discharged with no sound at all, and the bullets curved unrealistically away from the intruder who was still headed directly at her.

  In the instant it took him to c
lose the gap between them, Diggs registered that he was dressed in a tight-fitting white body suit that made him look like a modern day ninja. She also could have sworn that neither of his feet touched the ground as he ran.

  Before her brain could process anything else, the man’s foot shot forward and cracked one of her ribs as she was propelled back into her kitchen with the force of the blow. Diggs discharged her weapon again, and this time the crack of gunfire rang out in her small condo. Even though her shot made the right noise, the bullet curved away from her attacker once again, almost hitting her in her own ear as it flew past.

  A split-second later, she dropped her gun when the man punched her hand, and her wrist went numb.

  Diggs always made a point to never rely solely on firearms for her protection and had trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat. She had excelled especially at close-in fighting techniques, but she could tell that whoever this guy was, he was highly trained as well.

  As he closed on her again, she managed a quick knife hand to his throat that did some damage before he instinctively lowered his chin to shield the soft spot of his unprotected larynx.

  He coughed once or twice, giving Diggs just enough time to pick up the cube and the headset. Luckily, she was still wearing the enunciator collar, and she ran down her short hallway and ducked into her bathroom.

  She locked the door, leaned against it with all of her body weight, slipped on the headset, and activated the cube.

  Now she was glad that she had spent so much time going over the cube and its repository of magic words. Whoever this Chris had been, he had been an amazing programmer and had made the interface to the cube very user friendly.

  Even as she fought down her panic, she queued up several attack words, turned around, and stepped away from the bathroom door.

  In an instant, the lightweight door burst open as the man kicked it in.

  As soon as she saw him, she opened her mouth and commanded the wood in her condo to launch at her attacker. He clearly was taken by surprise as her wooden bathroom blinds launched from the window and hit him in the face at the same time that several pieces of trim and a dining room chair hit him from behind. Under the onslaught of wood, her attacker dropped to his knees.