The Equilibrium of Magic

by Michael W. Layne

  Next up were two more of the team members—one man and one woman—who circled each other in the middle of the stage. Each was wearing the equivalent of divinium brass knuckles, their fists enclosed around the magical stone, while their fingers were still able to move freely about.

  The man lunged at the woman who easily leapt high above his head to avoid his attack. She landed on the other side of him and came down with her fist in the small of his back, causing the man to wince in pain and to fall to one knee.

  The man opened his mouth in the silent ballet of battle as he reached down to touch the wooden stage floor.

  The wooden planks he touched rose up behind the woman like a wave made of wood, encasing her feet and making it impossible for her to move. The man, seeing his advantage, spun around with a roundhouse kick, but the woman screamed something, and the pieces of debris that still floated in an invisible sphere above their heads erupted from their holding cells and flew in-between the two opponents in the form of a makeshift wall.

  The pain of landing his kick into the wall of debris was evident, as was the man’s scream.

  The woman opened her mouth again, and the wood in which her feet were trapped turned to sawdust. This happened just in time for the man to bust through the wall of floating shrapnel and lift the woman above his head. She wriggled helplessly, but then she grinned, and her mouth started to move again.

  It was clear that the man intended to throw her, but his arms began to shake, and his legs buckled as if the woman’s mass had suddenly increased tenfold. In a second, he dropped the woman who landed solidly on her feet. The man was much slower to recover this time. Before he could stand up all the way, she held out her hands and shouted a word that caused a large fireball to form at the tips of her fingers.

  The man appeared to curse out loud as he fell backward, landing on the ground—the fireball hovering just inches from his face.

  He held out his arm, tapped the floor twice, and the fireball disappeared.

  The woman held out her hand and helped the man up. They both turned to the audience and bowed.

  The Emperor was still intensely watching the display, but he was no longer clapping, and his smile had dimmed.

  Merrick’s smile had faded as well.

  He and Master Banzo had always encouraged free will and improvisational fighting skills among the members of Alpha Team, but he had expressly told them not to demonstrate to the Emperor the Rune Corp divinium’s ability to store and use Fire Magic. That little mistake had just provided the Emperor a key piece of information that he had not had before. If he had not already discovered it through his examination of the stolen cube, the Emperor now knew for certain that Rune Corp’s divinium was different from the divinium used by the other families.

  Despite this major mistake, Merrick knew that he had to continue on with the visit as if nothing had happened.

  “I hope our display has entertained you,” Merrick said as he turned to face the young Emperor.

  “Indeed, it has,” the Emperor said, not bothering to look back at Merrick. “The Earth Clan is fortunate to have one such as yourself as their Ard Righ.”

  Merrick debated on whether this was the right place or time to discuss the realities of his future with the Earth Clan, but in the end, he decided that there would never be a perfect time for the discussion and that he might as well begin warming the Emperor up to the topic.

  “Your Imperial Majesty, if I may have a word with you?” Merrick said.

  “Of course,” the Emperor said.

  He waved one hand at his entourage.

  “Leave us,” he said.

  Without question, the visitors from Wind City stood up to leave the auditorium. Merrick turned to Mona.

  “Would you mind giving us a few moments alone, Mona?” Merrick said.

  Mona nodded and got up to escort the visitors from the Wind Family. Merrick was relieved that she looked only mildly annoyed.

  The members of the Alpha team bowed deeply and left the stage as well. Merrick made a mental note to talk to them at his first convenience.

  Merrick and the Emperor were now alone.

  “What is it you wish to say to me, Ard Righ? Do you wish to explain to me why you do not desire to be the ruler of the Earth Clan? Or why you feel your place is here, among the humans with whom you still identify?”

  “You make my task so much easier,” Merrick said with a polite grin. “You are perceptive beyond your years, Your Imperial Majesty. And you are also correct. I have no intention at the moment of taking the throne from the Earth Queen.”

  “The Earth Queen is your mother if I am correct?” the Emperor said.

  Merrick nodded.

  “I know that I seem as a young boy to you, hopelessly unprepared for the mantle of leadership that I bear, but I assure you, my mind is much older than yours or that of anyone you know. I have seen many things throughout my lifetimes and have been present for key milestones in the history of our people about which you have only heard. The experience from which I draw is vast.

  “I have learned two lessons thus far. There is no escaping one’s fate, and the universe always seeks its balance. And in your case, I believe those two lessons are inexorably linked—that your fate is directly tied with the equilibrium of the world and of magic itself.”

  “My destiny was tied to the survival of the planet,” Merrick said. “But I defeated my brother and turned back Sigela from her path of destruction.”

  The Emperor sighed.

  “That was merely a temporary delay for the ultimate fate of the planet. Chaos and entropy are eternal—their influence is ongoing. You merely slowed their progress.

  “However, you must not misunderstand me. My family is grateful for your triumph. Even though we would have survived in the sky, my people still would have suffered greatly, and I am thankful for your actions and your sacrifices. Your success is one of the main reasons I am here today and why I persist in believing that, regardless of your personal desires, you are the rightful Ard Righ of the Earth Clan.”

  Merrick took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

  “Forgive my bluntness, Emperor,” Merrick said. “What is your interest in whether I am the Ard Righ or not?”

  “That is simple,” the young Emperor said. “I believe that a time of disaster is coming when all of the families will have to act as one to survive. I would rather work with one such as yourself than—and I mean no disrespect to your family—than your mother.”

  “You believe Sigela is going to try to return again?” Merrick said.

  “Sigela’s return would mean a quick end to this planet, but with all of the dragons being together once again, it would restore a certain type of balance to our part of the universe as well.

  “However, my seers have seen signs, foretelling of a danger, not fully clear, that would doom both Drayoom and humans alike and possibly even the dragons themselves.”

  “I thank you, Emperor, for your candor,” Merrick said. “If what you suspect truly does come to pass, then I understand and agree with your desire to work together. I’ll have to speak with Cara, but I believe I can say that we would be open to working with you and the Wind Family to help avert that level of danger if it shows signs of approach. I will be doing so, however, as a leader of Rune Corp for the moment—not of the Earth Clan.”

  “Very well. But you are an intelligent person, and you must know that the future will be what it will be, regardless of our wants. For now, I respect your decision. I do have one suggestion for you, however. As you have been such a gracious host today, please consider an invitation to join me in our fair city in the clouds. I would consider it a further entrenchment of our partnership—or our potential partnership, if you like.”

  “I think Cara would be happier if we referred to it as our friendship for now,” Merrick said with only the slightest hint of a chuckle. “At least until I have a chance to discuss this with her.”

  “Your subtle choice of words d
oes not concern me,” the Emperor said, sounding slightly irritated for the first time that day. “I invite you to join me in the Cloud City as the Ard Righ, or as a leader of Rune Corp, or even just as Merrick. It is my understanding that you have spent most of your life believing yourself to be a member of the human species. If I were in your situation, I would be more than eager to learn as much as possible about the new world into which I had stumbled.”

  Merrick pretended to mull over the Emperor’s offer, but he already knew what his response would be. Once Cara returned, he could work out the details of how to keep things running at Rune Corp, but a trip to visit the Emperor in his own land was something that Merrick could not turn down.

  While he was there, he could pick up on more of Araki’s language and perhaps study the Wind Family divinium more closely. More importantly, he could retrieve the cube the Emperor had most likely stolen from Officer Diggs, or if that was not possible, he could disable it by executing the kill-switch sub-routine that was programmed into each of the cubes.

  Merrick looked across at the seemingly innocent face of the young Emperor. He had to remind himself once again that the Emperor was not his friend, no matter how comfortable he continued to feel around the young leader.

  At the same time, Merrick knew that it was wiser to keep your enemies closer than your friends.

  “I would be honored to accompany you back to your fabled city,” Merrick said, “but I must confer with both Cara and my fiancée, Mona. If you have lived as long as you say, I am sure you understand the need to deal properly with personal relationships.”

  The Emperor’s face slowly fanned out into a broad smile as he removed a thin black box from his inside jacket pocket.

  “Of course,” the Emperor said, opening the box. “In the meantime, please take this as a small gift from me in honor of our new friendship. It is a miniature flute made from our finest divinium.

  “I am looking forward to the remainder of my day with you, but afterward, I will retire for the night to our outpost in the clouds above your fine city. In the early morning, I will depart for my home. When you are ready, simply blow into the flute, and it will summon Mr. Kawagishi to come for you.”

  Merrick accepted the box and bowed his head deeply.

  “Thank you, Emperor. I am honored,” Merrick said as he too produced a small black box.

  He held the cube-shaped box in the palm of his one hand and removed its top with his other hand. Inside the box was a near-perfect facsimile of a bonsai tree statuette, made from the finest of the Earth Clan’s divinium. He handed it to the Emperor.

  “I have never seen the equal of its craftsmanship,” the Emperor said.

  “It was sculpted by a fabrication module running on one of our super computers,” Merrick said.

  The Emperor nodded, apparently pleased with Merrick’s gift, even though Merrick suspected he did not fully understand how it was created.

  Merrick knew that the Emperor wouldn’t have been so pleased if he knew that the gift was laced with a variety of listening wards—a few that were easy to detect as decoys, but others that were far more subtle and complex. There was even one ward that relied on the power of Ohman’s creation name to remain hidden and which Merrick was sure would remain undetected.

  CHAPTER 17

  MERRICK AND MONA’S living room was arranged with clean lines and modern furniture that would at first seem out of place and much too orderly for two people so closely tied to the Earth Dragon. But upon closer examination, their condo was also decorated with sculptures and knickknacks made of wood, stone, and other minerals and rock.

  Mona had just finished washing the dishes from the evening meal and now sat in their comfortable white leather couch, waiting for Merrick to return from the bathroom.

  With Cara not scheduled back until the morning, Merrick was in charge of the company and as such, she knew that he would have a difficult time relaxing. As it was, she was impressed that he had left work at all that evening.

  Her mind spun with thoughts about the Wind Family’s invitation and the missing cube. She wanted Merrick to do what was right for him and for the company, of course, but she also didn’t want to have him leave when she had just found out about being pregnant with his child. If anything, she craved more of his time right now than ever before.

  Still, she knew Merrick sometimes better than he knew himself, and she could see the scene playing out in her head already. Merrick would be at work just around dawn, and Cara would arrive, back from the Earth Clan. He would update her on everything that had happened during her short absence. Mona wasn’t jealous of the relationship the two of them shared, but she sometimes envied how they communicated so freely with one another. Mona knew without a doubt that after Cara’s debrief, the two of them would spend hours analyzing every word and nuance of the situation, playing off of each other, and trying to formulate their plan about what to do next.

  Merrick never cared about his previous job the way he did about working with Cara at Rune Corp. And since they had returned from stopping the prophecy of the Sons of Earth and Fire last year, Merrick’s mind had been suddenly turned on and running at full speed.

  She saw the spark in his eyes when he told her about the invitation to visit the Wind City, and knew that he would do anything he could to convince Cara that it was a good idea for him to go.

  If Cara refused, the new Merrick would probably go anyway, and that was why Mona had decided that she was going with him.

  She heard Merrick walking down the hallway and readied herself as she went over her argument in her mind.

  Merrick came around the corner and plopped down next to her. He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss.

  “Sorry again about earlier today,” he said. “I was trying my best to use proper decorum around the Emperor.”

  “And that included being a misogynist...” Mona said.

  “I had to talk to him alone,” Merrick said, “and besides, someone had to escort his people while I wasn’t there. Couldn’t let them wander around the building on their own. You’re not really mad about that, are you?”

  Mona couldn’t help but show a small grin. In fact, she wasn’t really that mad about the incident at all, but she still liked pulling the mighty Merrick’s chain once in a while.

  “I’m not angry with you, babe,” Mona said. “But we do have to talk about something...”

  She could see him immediately tense up—not as much as he used to, but the reflex was still there.

  “It’s about your visit to the Cloud City,” she said.

  “Listen, Mona...”

  “I think you should go.”

  Merrick looked surprised.

  “I also think I should go with you, and before you say anything, let me tell you why. First, we never spend any time together any more, and in this crazy world you’ve drawn me into, this might be the closest thing we get to going on a vacation together. Secondly, you know we make a great team in case anything goes down. And lastly...it’s a city in the clouds, for Pete’s sake. I can’t let that pass me by. If for no other reason than that, you have to let me come with you.”

  Merrick looked at Mona, waiting for the argument to begin.

  Instead, he just smiled.

  “I actually think that makes sense. I’m pretty sure that the Emperor won’t risk an all out war with the Earth Clan and Rune Corp by trying anything rash. I’ll have to pass it by Cara tomorrow, of course, but I can be very persuasive. She’s going to be a little upset about missing the Emperor, but after she calms down, I’m sure she’ll agree with us going. Then all we have to do is use the Emperor’s little gift, and away we’ll go.”

  Mona looked over at the perfect wooden sphere sitting on their dining room table. Before they had left Rune Corp earlier that evening, Merrick had encased the Emperor’s gift of the divinium flute in solid wood, not because he thought the device would cause any harm, but because he assumed that it was imbued with wards designed to collect int
elligence and to send reports back to the Emperor.

  “What did you think about all that Ard Righ talk this morning?” Merrick said.

  “Six months ago,” Mona said, “I would have thought you’d be crazy to even consider something like that, but I’ve seen a real change in you. Everyone has. As frustrating as it can be not spending a lot of time together, every day I see you becoming more and more of a leader. You make wise choices. You act...rationally.

  “Don’t get a big head, but I think I could actually see you as the King of the Earth Clan, if that’s what you want to do.”

  Merrick looked up at her, surprised once again.

  “I’m not saying that I’m ready to move to Scotland,” Mona said with a laugh. “But you know I’ll support you in whatever you do. As long as we’re together.”

  “You are absolutely the best,” he said, as he placed his hand on her thigh. “You know I appreciate how supportive you are. For now, being the Ard Righ is at the bottom of my list, but don’t worry, I’ll let you know when I’m ready to be a king.”

  They both laughed as Merrick reached over to the remote and switched on the nightly news.

  The network was airing yet another feature on the increasingly erratic weather patterns all over the world, and in the Washington, D.C. area in particular. Mona watched in awe as video footage from a reporter’s cell phone showed a twister setting down right in front of a nearby grocery store in Tysons Corner. In the distance, just beyond the whirling torrent of wind, she could barely make out the shape of a woman running toward a group of trees.

  She leaned forward as the video zoomed in on the mysterious figure. Suddenly, the living room went completely dark.

  The room was silent for two seconds before she heard a far-away rumbling, like a freight train getting closer.

  CHAPTER 18

  AS SOON AS THE POWER went out, Merrick uttered a few words from the Fire Dragon’s tongue that produced a floating ball of light that lit up the room. It threw long shadows everywhere, but at least they could see.