The crystal moon, p.7
The Crystal Moon, page 7
The nervousness began to ebb away as Dusk realized the man was trying to be genuinely friendly.
“And this dusty stuff they gave us sure is a hoot!” Gideon laughed, patting the pouch at his side. “I’ve only gotten to try it a couple of times, but I could sure get used to it! Who knew it was possible to do magic anymore? I thought that was just a fairy tale! And now we get to be part of a brand new, super secret battalion of mages. Sounds like somethin’ you’d read in a book. Is that why you signed up too?” Gideon looked down at Dusk’s belt where there was no pouch.
“Yeah. But I... I lost mine.”
“That’s a shame. But don’t you worry about that,” Gideon chuckled. “There’s plenty to go around. If you’re worried about talking to your captain about gettin’ another set, I can go with you for moral support. Don’t want ya unarmed when we go on our first mission. That’s what we’ve been trainin’ for these past three weeks!”
“I should be okay. My captain and I are... good friends,” Dusk lied, watching Gideon for his reaction carefully.
“Oh, that’s great to hear! Always good when all the boys get along. You know these army things can be a little tough on everyone, so it’s good to have a few friends that have your back.”
“Definitely. So do you know anything more about the mission?” Dusk asked, changing the subject to something more useful. “I haven’t gotten a lot of details.”
“Well I know we’re goin’ to the mountain,” Gideon replied, pointing out towards Anthurium. “From what little I’ve gathered we’re expectin’ some sort of resistance. Apparently there are folks there that have their sights set on the king. And they’re livin’ there with monsters and things that fight alongside them.” He lowered his voice, leaning down towards Dusk. “I don’t say this to scare ya, but some of the boys have been talkin’ about spirits livin’ on the island too that kill anyone who comes ashore.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Ah but it’s probably just a buncha gum flappin’,” he chuckled, patting Dusk’s shoulder heavily. “With this dust and our weapons, nobody, spirit or monster, will stand a chance against us! We’ll have them runnin’ for the hills and then the general can do whatever she needs to do afterwards.”
Dusk dared for one more piece of information to solidify the situation. “Do you know much about the general?”
“Nah, not really. She’s pretty new in the military sector. But she’s well trusted by the king, so I figure she’s probably good people. She outfitted this little battalion of ours recently and says we’re on a special mission to win the war against Inahan. Apparently there’s somethin’ in the mountain that’s being protected and it could finish them off once and for all.” Gideon leaned his head back and beamed up at the stars. The glow of the fires had subsided and the scent of smoke in the air lessened. “After what they did to King Cecil, being part of their defeat is the least I can do for my country. But ya know, once this is all over, I wouldn’t mind shackin’ up with a pretty girl and startin’ a little family of my own. Who knows, maybe this peace will last for the rest of our lives.”
Dusk felt his skin crawling as he held back every word he wanted to shout to tell Gideon he was being duped. Nedarya had told her soldiers absolutely nothing. She’d armed them with magic they didn’t understand and filled them with false hope, using their patriotism to trick them into doing her bidding. He stared up at Gideon, his happy face illuminated by the moon against the night sky. If Nedarya was really in charge, he likely wouldn’t live to see his dream come to fruition.
“Well,” Gideon said, looking back down at Dusk, “you best be gettin’ back to your captain and gettin’ some rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow. Takin’ the island won’t be an easy feat.”
Dusk nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
Gideon rached out a hand again and put it on Dusk’s chest. “May the Crystal Moon shine upon you, Alex.”
“And you as well,” he managed to reply.
Turning away, Dusk headed back in the direction he’d come from. As soon as he was beyond the edge of the town square he broke into a run, cloak billowing behind him. He checked more than once to make sure he wasn’t being followed, passing through the remnants of campsites along the way. Desperate to share the news with Lyra, he beelined for the beach. But before he reached it a flash of bright red light caught his attention. Stopping in his tracks he ducked behind a small tree, worried he’d been spotted. About fifty feet away at the edge of the forest was a group of young soldiers laughing and carrying on. They sounded like they were drunk.
“Watch this!” one of them cried, handing a tankard to another nearby.
They stepped forward and threw their hands up towards the nearest pine tree. There was a shower of brilliant white sparks that erupted from their hands and the tree immediately ignited. The needles burned fast and Dusk could hear the crackling of sap as the fire took hold. Drunk soldiers with magic powder explained how the fire got started. But he wondered why nobody had stopped them yet.
Dusk took a single step back toward the beach before he heard another shout, answering his previous question.
“What the fuck are you idiots going?” a woman’s voice cried off to his right.
He turned back and saw a furious looking woman flanked by several other soldiers. All of them had their weapons drawn, leveled at the drunkards in front of them.
“You will surrender your dust now and get back to your tents before I have you all killed for treason!” she yelled.
“Aww come on Captain,” one of them replied, slurring his words. “We’s jus havin’ a little fun.”
“You’re giving away our position to the enemy,” she hissed. “You’ve already done more damage than you know tonight. We’ll be taking your weapons and you will follow us. If you resist, you will be killed. Am I understood?”
With a simple hand motion from her, the other soldiers rushed forward and relieved the drunks of their weapons and their magic. Behind them she lifted her hands that began to glow a pale blue. Slowly the flames died away, leaving nothing but naked trees littered with embers. The group was lined up, surrounded and they all began to march back towards the camp. Dusk, assuming the danger had passed, moved from his spot. His hour was running out and he needed to get back to Lyra.
“You there!” the woman called after he’d turned his back to them.
He stopped dead in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder. She stood, her sword drawn in his direction, the rest of the group coming to a halt behind her.
“Bring your dust here and return to camp. I already warned your friends. I will not hesitate to kill you here and now if you don’t comply.”
“Uh... I’m not with them,” Dusk called back, unable to think of anything else.
He watched as she dipped her fingers into the pouch at her side.
“You will come here now or I will eviscerate you where you stand, soldier!”
Dusk, without a second thought, reached to his forehead, placing two fingers over the rune and threw his left arm skyward. With a small jolt through his arm, a brilliant red ball of fire flew into the sky and arced over the ocean before crashing into the water silently. He looked back and saw the woman staring at him, her hands poised in a casting position to strike him down.
“This is your last warning,” she growled.
He took a step back and saw her fingers begin to move, drawing patterns in the air in front of her. Dusk knew he wouldn’t be able to escape before she finished the spell. He clenched his eyes shut, hoping it would be over quickly and praying Lex would forgive him.
But before she could finish her spell there was an ear splitting roar from above them. All of the soldiers, including her, looked up to the sky to see a massive dark figure silhouetted against the moon. None of them had time to react before a large gout of flame came down from the heavens, engulfing all the seagrass around them. They threw their arms up, shielding themselves from the sudden blast of heat as Lyra slammed into the ground next to Dusk.
“Get on!” she cried, holding her arm out.
Dusk scrambled up quickly, throwing himself between her spikes.
“Go!” he shouted, looking back as the woman began to tame the flames down, her hands glowing blue once more.
Lyra ran forward, flapping her wings hard to get off the ground. She began to lift as they reached the beach, rising slowly into the air. She strained to gain speed, her wings beating like thunder all about him. Dusk looked back again to see the golden glow of a rune being traced in the air. He knew what was about to happen.
“Incoming!”
Lyra banked hard to the left. Dusk gripped the spike with all his might, the muscles in his arms tensing so hard he thought they would tear. A bright ball of flame flew by Lyra on her right side, the heat from it singeing Dusk’s hair. It blazed past them, making a wide arc until it crashed into the ocean with a huge plume of steam in its wake.
Dusk looked back once more, but he couldn’t make out any of the figures in the dark. He assumed the captain had overdone it a bit and used up all her powder, but he kept a wary eye on the shore for a minute longer, just to be sure. Lyra continued beating her wings hard, reaching the mountain within a few minutes and then circling it to gain altitude. After what seemed like an eternity of deafening wind in his ears, Lyra finally came to the edge of the plateau and landed, her heavy tail skittering stones and obsidian across its surface.
Lex came rushing up to them both as Dusk climbed his way down. It looked like he’d never left the plateau.
“What happened?” he asked, grabbing Dusk by the sleeve. “I saw the fires and feared the worst! Were you found out? Was it Nedarya?”
“Nobody realized who I was,” Dusk replied, putting his hand on Lex’s. “But we have a big problem.”
Nine
“How is she doing this?” Lex sighed, cupping his face in his hands. “It’s only been a month and now she’s a general in the army, she’s got Arius in her back pocket, and nobody knows she’s their dead princess. That’s absolute insanity.”
“She’s probably doing the same thing Tiernan did,” Dusk replied, pushing food around his plate.
It was well past midnight and he was too stressed to eat any of it. Lyra insisted that they had a meal, saying they’d need the energy, but he couldn’t find the will to take more than a few bites. There definitely wouldn’t be any sleep before dawn.
“She’s got her brother in a trance of some sort, so she can do whatever she wants. If he tells people to trust her, they will. You heard the things Tara said about being in the Ditanian military, they don’t think for themselves. They just do what they’re told and that’s it.”
“And they just accepted magic? No questions?” Lex asked, shrugging his shoulders.
“If you suddenly found out magic was real and accessible, would you turn it down? And Nedarya has promised them, with this power, that she’ll end the war forever. But I have a feeling the eternal peace of death is not what the soldiers are expecting.” Dusk glanced up at Lex, shaking his head. “Anyway, Gideon said they were a special battalion and had been training for a few weeks. I imagine Nedarya doesn’t have enough resources to go around indefinitely, but she’s got enough to amass more mages than anyone in this world can handle all at once.” Dusk stabbed a piece of broccoli on his plate. “They’re expendable. She’ll just keep replacing them until she gets everything she’s after, which won’t take her long to do with that kind of backup. And she’s coming here for the heart and the eye, I guarantee it.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know if there’s much we can do,” Dusk replied, his voice faltering slightly. “But I... I feel like we have to try. For Lyra’s sake. She’s been trapped on this mountain for over a thousand years trying to protect this thing, but the day has finally come. The heart is too big for her to move by herself and even if we somehow managed to get it off the island, Nedarya would hunt us down before we could get away. The least we can do is try to make sure Nedarya has a hard time getting to it.”
“Do you think Tara will be with her?”
“I don’t know... but if she is, we’ll have a formidable opponent on our hands. We both know that.”
“I can’t fight with you,” Lex said, looking down at his bandages. Dusk could hear the defeat in his voice. “I’m useless.”
A thought popped into his head. “No, you’re not. You might end up being the only thing that keeps the eye away from Nedarya.” Lex looked up at him quizzically. “We can’t hide the heart, but hear me out. She’s going to expect me to still have the eye and she probably thinks you’re dead. Given the wounds she inflicted on you, you should be. If you keep the eye and stay out of sight, you can get away if something happens to me. That way she won’t get it.”
“Don’t talk like that...”
“I don’t plan on dying tomorrow,” Dusk replied, reaching out and taking Lex’s hand. “But we have to play it safe. The eye is dead, it’s power possibly broken beyond repair. But with the heart in her possession, who knows what she’ll be able to do. Besides, the heart is still broken and Lyra said the only thing that can repair it is the eye. We have to keep it away from her. I don’t know what she could do if the two pieces are reunited.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to stand against her?”
“I’m not sure of anything,” Dusk sighed. I’m just following my gut at this point. And my gut is telling me to make a stand, even if it’s in vain. At the very least we can damage what she’s been working so hard to build, and buy ourselves some more time.”
Lex pushed his plate full of uneaten food away. “We should go see Lyra. They’ll attack at dawn now that they know we’re here. Although hopefully the idea of a dragon makes them a bit more cautious.”
Dusk took an offered hand from Lex and together they exited the kitchens, heading for the platform. Lyra was still at the top of the mountain, resting her wings for the coming battle. Dusk saw a few of the caretakers dashing up and down the stone walkway with supplies cradled in their arms, dodging the ruined portions from the previous attack. One of them came out of a long tunnel, a stack of ancient-looking books belted and slung over his shoulder.
“I never got a chance to really look through the library here,” Dusk said absentmindedly. “There’s so many more books I want to read.”
“You’ll get the chance to read them,” Lex replied, squeezing his hand. “I promise.”
They reached the platform and activated the rune, the stone shooting them skyward. As they came to the top and the stone cracked loudly back into place, Dusk heard crashing from outside the stone walls. He looked at Lex with fear in his eyes and immediately slipped off his bow, nocking one of the obsidian arrows he’d made. With a finger to his lips he crept forward, the sound of shattering glass filling the air. The night was deep and dark except for the light of the moon. Pressing his back to a large stone he peeked around the edge.
There, in the middle of the plateau, was Lyra. She threw her large tail from side to side, smashing the sheets of obsidian that reached for the sky with their razor sharp claws. Dusk didn’t understand what was happening at first. Lyra had told them the glass was all that remained of the fight with Nozzera and therefore he assumed it was a relic of some kind. A great reminder of things that had happened in the past and what could happen again if magic were returned to the world. He let the tension out of his bowstring and stepped around, motioning for Lex to follow him. Lyra swung her tail again, destroying another section of the stone. The pieces scattered across the plateau and a few of them fell over the edge into the dark abyss beyond.
“Lyra?” Dusk asked, fearful she’d gone insane. “What’s going on?”
“I’m doing what I should have done weeks ago,” she called back, aiming her tail for another. “I’m making sure nobody can sneak up on us again.”
Dusk watched as she continued to smash sheet after sheet of the volcanic glass. He and Lex moved out of the way so she could finish the last sections around the ring of the volcano, destroying the hand-carved archways that used to shimmer in the sun. Then she turned her sights on the large mound where the other half of the heart was kept. She readied her tail, then paused for a moment, staring into the almost black glass.
“I sealed the heart in here a thousand years ago, hoping it would never see the light of day ever again.” She lowered her head, staring at the ground, her tail still poised to strike. “But it seems that’s not what destiny had in mind. I hope this decision is the right one to make.”
Walking up beside her, Dusk placed his hand on the side of her neck. She was warm from the exertion of breaking every reflective surface on the mountain. There were small cuts and chips in her scales from all the fighting and bad landings she’d experienced in her lifetime. Centuries upon centuries of history was etched across her hide for all the world to see should they look close enough. For the first time Dusk realized how truly old she was and how much she’d been through. He hoped this would be the last time she ever had to make a hard decision. After all that time, she deserved to rest.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect it. That’s all we can do,” Dusk said, patting her. “At least this way it will be harder for them to take away.”
With a deep sigh Lyra lifted her head. “You’re right. This will slow them down at the very least. Maybe destiny has other things in place that we don’t know about.” She looked back at Dusk. “Step back.”
Dusk did as he was told. Lyra wound herself back, lifting her massive tail. Turning it over so the spikes faced the glass, she swung it forward with all her might. The bony plates struck the stone, web-like cracks spreading through the surface with loud popping as the spikes stuck in several inches. With a yank she tore them free. From within the puncture Dusk could see a familiar sight, a bright white glow like Tephyss’s skeleton the day he discovered it. The black stone had been hiding it all this time. Lyra swung again and again, shattering the obsidian piece by piece. After a few minutes she took a step back, panting. Blood dribbled from wounds in her tail and Dusk caught the metallic scent in the air. They didn’t seem to bother her though.
