The Year of the Dragon Omnibus by James Calbraith

Author:James Calbraith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Young Adult, Sword & Sorcery, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Steampunk, samurai, Japanese, Myths & Legends, Dragons, Science Fiction, victorian, Fantasy, Asian, Historical, historical fantasy, Japan, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 9788393671311
Publisher: Flying Squid
Published: 2014-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IV

Torii Heishichi, the Arch Wizard of Satsuma, had no way of knowing whether the spell had worked. He had been designing the pattern ever since he had received Lord Nariakira’s mysterious order, four days ago. Two more days it had taken himself and six of his best students to weave it into place, infusing the bars of the great iron cage with complex magic. He could only hope it was enough to hold the beast down.

It lay asleep peacefully in its cage, but it could have been a hunger and weariness-induced lethargy, rather than effects of his spellcraft. Heishichi knew enough of the Rangaku scientific method not to put too much trust in a simple correlation of facts. The Court zoologist had found records that seemed to confirm his fears — there were dragon-like creatures living in the rivers of Bharata which could survive for weeks without food in this dormant state... They could only wait and observe.

An old scholar who had once helped Lord Nariakira’s father with his financial and agricultural reforms was now tasked with calculating how much a beast of this size would need to eat, and how often it should feed. It was all guesswork, based on old legends, ancient chronicles studied by Lord Hosokawa in Kumamoto, and secretly smuggled bits of Western knowledge. Was the dorako’s metabolism more akin to that of an ox, or a wolf? Or maybe a giant snake? In the end, the scholar cautiously estimated that it should be fed a wild boar or a deer at least once every three days just to keep it alive.

This posed another difficulty. Should they wake the dragon to feed it? If they hadn’t, would it perish of hunger in its sleep? He could only guess the extent of Lord Nariakira’s wrath if the beast died through neglect of its keepers. Getting away with a disembowelment order would be lucky. The dragon’s well-being was his own responsibility — whether the beast perished of hunger or ran away, his blame would be the same.

Heishichi hated the dragon and the new situation he had found himself in because of it. He held the post of a Daisen, the Arch Wizard, but now he had been turned from an academic to a farmer. As one of the few who had unlimited access to the beast, he had to take care of its needs. His hands reeked of raw meat. And he was running out of time.

They were scheduled to leave soon for Kirishima, where he hoped to utilise the power of the magic nexus to make the binding spell stronger and reduce the number of wizards needed to sustain it to a more manageable number. But to make it to Kirishima, the dragon had to feed.

“On a count of four, disrupt the channelling,” Heishichi commanded and winced, seeing hesitation on the faces five of the wizards. Only Sugimoto, the young Earth Wizard, remained composed.

Four was an unlucky number, foreboding death. He had chosen it deliberately; there was nothing he disliked more than foolish superstition.

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