Chapter 48
The Broken Capital
The seven pillars flew in formation, like an archipelago in the sky. They beat their powerful wings with the currents in the wind that flowed far above the sea. Kutz rode on the neck of the dragon in the lead. Jozo, carrying Wataru and the others, brought up the rear. He pushed himself to the limit so as not to fall behind the group.
They were making straight for Solebria, the capital of the Northern Empire. The wyrmking had told them that the Mirror of Eternal Shadow lay in the very center of the capital’s palace.
“The Northern Empire protects the mirror not just with the Crown of the Seal but with powerful magical barriers. As it stands, no one without knowledge of these barriers may find it. But your friend—the other Traveler—is a powerful sorcerer. He will do whatever it takes to dissolve any obstacle in his path. Undoubtedly, he will break through to the chamber wherein lies the Mirror of Eternal Shadow. Before he destroys the wall of magic, we will not be able to find it. Yet if we wait too long after he destroys it, we will be too late. Our window of opportunity is brief.”
The dragons flew at a tremendous speed. Wataru clung tightly to Jozo’s back. Faster, faster! To Mitsuru!
Before long, the coastline of the north appeared on the horizon. The calm sea and the ground below them looked as peaceful as it did in the south, yet the sky above them was thin and frozen.
“What…what’s that?” Kutz pointed ahead, shouting.
In the distance several lines of smoke were trailing up from the ground into the sky.
“That’s the direction of the capital!” one of the seven pillars said. “It’s a fire! The city’s on fire!”
The dragons increased their speed, and before long, they could see the giant capital city, the walled metropolis of Solebria. It was falling apart. The great gates set into the castle walls had burned down and people could be seen running in panic. Dust and smoke rose from the many-colored roofs of the clustered houses beyond the wall.
“What’s going on down there?” Kutz growled, leaning forward over the dragon’s head. The dragons pinned back their wings and picked up speed as they descended. They dropped until they were directly over Solebria.
Buildings had collapsed into the streets and flames shot up from the rubble. Smoke flowed through the air like a noxious river. To the right, a section of the castle wall itself had collapsed. Directly beneath them, houses were toppling to the ground. The echoes of destruction and the hot wind blasting past mingled with the people’s screams.
“What’s going on?” Wataru stuck his head over the edge of Jozo’s wing, and spotted several things moving through the vast city below. They looked like people, but they were far too large—larger even than the dragons. Wataru watched, speechless, as the giant gray beings thrashed through the city streets.
What are they? They look like giant robots made out of rock. Their heads were round, their shoulders broad, and their torsos impossibly thick. They swung massive arms and legs and crushed houses with a single swipe of a fist. People couldn’t escape getting trampled underfoot. The screams and cries flowed together into a cacophony of noise, all swallowed by the thunderous crash of mortar against cobblestone.
“Those are golems!” Kee Keema shouted. He was looking down at the destruction beneath them with wide eyes. His body shook with rage.
“Golems?”
“Giants of rock crafted by sorcery! Whoever made them is their master—they do whatever he says!”
“I thought those things were from fairy tales!” Meena cried, her face pale. “I can’t believe they really exist!”
“Me neither. But they’re doing way too much damage to just be a fairy tale!”
The golems looked much like stone statues with smooth, featureless faces. Their hands, too, were more like lumps of rock than anything human. They continued their rampage, ripping the city apart.
“It’s Mitsuru,” Wataru said, his eyes streaming with tears from the smoke. “Mitsuru made the golems—he’s controlling them!”
And he’s destroying Solebria. Where are you, Mitsuru? Where?!
Off to one side, a great column of fire rose from the city. The impact of the wind from the blaze made the giant dragon lose his balance, and the tip of his right wing caught on the shell of a ruined townhouse. Meena screamed and nearly fell off his back.
“How many of those creatures are there? I can’t even count them!”
“Look at that!” one of the other dragons shouted. “There are even more of them up there! Their numbers are increasing!”
The golems were everywhere throughout the city. Some even stumbled into each other and began fighting. Even when they lost an arm, or their head fell to the ground, they seemed to feel no pain. They continued moving through the city as though nothing unusual had happened. Everywhere Wataru looked new golems continued to spring out of the wreckage with a noise like thunder, one after the other.
“We have to destroy them!” Meena shouted, hitting Jozo’s back with her tiny fists.
“Sure, but how?” Jozo shouted back, his voice a half-whimper. He opened his mouth, and flames began to lick past his fangs. Wataru hurriedly crawled up onto his neck. “No! If you breathe you’ll roast the people along with them!”
The dragons cast their collective shadows on the chaos below as they circled the city. The people of Solebria were scared to death, yet the golems stood their ground, waiting.
“Help! Help!”
“Mama? Where’s my mama?”
The screams from below reached Wataru’s ears as they cruised only inches over the tops of buildings. A young man clung to the chimney of a steepled roof, crying for help. Jozo whipped back around, and Wataru reached his hand out for the chimney. Though his eyes were filled with fear, the man extended his arm. Wataru was about to grab the man’s wrist when a golem punched its heavy fist through the wall of the house. The roof collapsed and the man flew through the air in an arc. Wataru lost sight of him beneath the wreckage and billowing dust.
Why? Why? Why?
“Traveler, look with calm eyes. The golems make for the palace,” one of the seven pillars called out to Wataru. Kutz rode on its back. She was gripping the base of its neck tightly between her knees, brandishing her black whip in one hand.
“Wataru, look!”
The golems had formed a circle as they advanced through the city. As they moved forward, the band tightened. At its center stood the core of the Imperial Capital of Solebria: the milky-white stone palace.
“That’s the emperor’s castle, the Crystal Palace!” Kutz shouted over the roaring the flames below. She put a hand to the side of her mouth. “Your friend Mitsuru is heading for the Crystal Palace, destroying the city as he goes!”
“A golem-mage cannot stray too far from his creations, lest he lose control of them,” one of the seven pillars said. “He must be nearby. We will do all we can to slow their advance. It is up to you to find this Traveler, Mitsuru. Stop the golem-mage, and you stop the golems!”
“R-right!”
Wataru followed Kutz’s example and stood up on Jozo’s back, gripping the dragon’s neck tightly between his knees. A gust of wind blew, rocking him, and the smoke made him cough. Kee Keema moved his body to serve as a shield, and Meena wrapped her tail around his waist to hold him steady.
“Mitsuru! Where are you?”
Jozo flew just ahead of the golems, gliding above the mountains of rubble. More than once a golem’s fist nearly clipped him, but he avoided injury by darting and squirming through the air.
“Mitsuru!” screamed Wataru as loud as he could.
Just then, through a curtain of smoke and dust, Wataru saw him. He was sitting on the shoulder of a stationary golem. His black robe fluttered in the wind, and as always, he gripped his magical staff in his hand.
“There!” Wataru pointed. Jozo saw him too and headed in his direction. When they were as close as they could get, Wataru leaped from Jozo’s back onto the golem’s shoulder. He landed right next to Mitsuru.
“Be careful!” Meena shouted after him.
Wataru stood on shaky legs, to see Mitsuru looking at him with that familiar cold stare. The eyes of the two Travelers met from across the lump of stone that formed the golem’s head.
“What are you trying to do here?” Wataru asked
“What does it look like?” Mitsuru spread his arms. “Pretty cool, huh?”
Wataru felt his knees buckle beneath him. I’m not scared. I’m angry. “Cool?! This? This destruction?”
“Ah, the great capital of Solebria, home to the emperor himself!” Mitsuru’s voice rang out like a song. “Solid as a rock, yet see how it crumbles!”