Black Crystal

by R A Oakes

  “Crystal, what’s going on here?” Andrina shouted as the stench of rot and decay filled the air around her. Suddenly, the older warrior woman felt the warmth of another body up against her back. Glancing around, she saw a decrepit, elderly woman looking at her. The ancient hag put her bony arms around the warrior woman’s waist, and Andrina felt the heat of the evil, old crone’s face as their cheeks touched. Stunned, Andrina realized that this was what it must feel like to be possessed by something dark and evil.

  “Get away from me!” Andrina shouted putting all of her will power into the command. “Get away from me, now!”

  Fortunately, the demon vanished. The warrior women were staring at Andrina, but Jewel and Flame already knew what had happened. They’d seen the decrepit, old hag before, and she was the presence of evil itself. The old crone had come out of Crystal, out of the deepest recesses of the dark sword’s inner being.

  Only Baelfire can deal with this, Andrina told herself. And she was right. The old crone would have to be confronted by an old wizard, a magic horse, a teenage girl and her sword.

  Chapter 35

  Back at Crystal Castle, the good sword looked out into the night sensing something had changed. A new danger, something very alarming, was hidden within the darkness. Baelfire had felt this evil presence before, and its reappearance sickened her. Looking around at the battle in the courtyard, she saw that the reinforcements, the dozens of Flames and Jewels, had turned the tide in their favor. But another fight was brewing. One even worse.

  Will it never end? Baelfire asked herself while fighting feelings of despair and desperation.

  Aerylln, Zorya, Eldwyn and the good sword were still lying exhausted by the castle entrance. They no longer had the energy to maintain a protective force field over themselves, but they weren’t entirely defenseless. With the appearance of reinforcements, and with the methods Jewel and Flame had improvised for shooting fire and laser beams, the defenders had taken back much of the courtyard. Now, they were in the process of driving General Gornic’s troops back over the castle walls.

  The general was agitated and displeased with this reversal of fortune. Losing his sons, and now losing the battle, was proving to be too much for even this ferocious warrior. He’d attempted to rally his troops by staking himself out, so to speak, and refusing to retreat. Gornic had stood his ground and was determined to defend it or to die trying. It was a foolhardy display of courage that was meaningless, given that his troops had no hope of winning the battle. His behavior was more of a death wish, a simple desire to die before his time was over, before life as he knew it had ended.

  The warrior women defending the castle showed him no mercy. However, Jewel and Flame realized the general wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and in this they accommodated him. Flame paired up with a duplicate of herself, once more generating enough heat to become a humanoid flamethrower and hurled a stream of fire at a very dangerous, destructive warrior who, nonetheless, was seeking death with honor.

  Even after being set ablaze, General Gornic gripped his sword with all his strength and rushed at a group of Chen’s archers, the warrior women unleashing a torrent of arrows as a tribute to his bravery. When General Gornic dropped to his knees and fell face forward onto the courtyard floor, his body was riddled with over 20 arrows. With his last breath, he cursed the women who’d defeated him feeling humiliated by losing to Chen’s warriors. Women should know their place, General Gornic thought as he died, refusing to give up his prejudice.

  But for as much as he despised powerful women, his deep-seated insecurities preventing him from being open to change, the general was dead, and Chen’s warriors were alive. His death had a demoralizing effect on his troops, who shared his prejudice about warrior women being inferior. Their general’s death was a rude awakening. It seemed that women could defend themselves, and no amount of male denial could bring their general back to life. He’d died at the hands of women, which was a frightening thought, now that Gornic’s men were on the defensive with women raining hell and damnation down upon them.

  Chen’s warrior women, and the Jewels and Flames, gradually took back more and more of the courtyard, and they reclaimed it for Chen, all the women recognizing the black leather panther’s undisputed sovereignty.

  However, somehow, a few of General Gornic’s warriors had gotten past Chen’s archers, the Jewels and the Flames and foolishly tried to attack Aerylln, Baelfire, Zorya, and Eldwyn. But the men were instantly incinerated by a tired and irritable Baelfire.

  Now, the good sword realized General Gornic’s remaining warriors were the least of her worries. A far more dangerous opponent had materialized. Looking out into the darkness, Baelfire could smell it, rot and decay.

  “Aerylln get ready. You might need to take me out of my scabbard,” Baelfire said, and the young woman got to her feet and picked up the good sword. However, sensing the sword’s state of exhaustion, Aerylln protested saying, “Baelfire, you can’t do more. You’re worn out. We all are.”

  “Zorya, get on your feet,” the good sword commanded, too tired to argue with Aerylln or explain their predicament.

  “What’s wrong now?” Zorya asked. “Jewel and Flame are making progress containing General Gornic’s men, and they’re also guarding the entrance. The tide has turned in our favor.”

  “At the moment, I’m not worried about the castle. Darker deeds are afoot this night, I’m afraid,” Baelfire said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Balzekior!”

  “Oh not now, not today!” Zorya wailed.

  “Crystal must have taken the Crystal Medallion from Lord Daegal,” Baelfire said.

  “It seems like only yesterday that we took the medallion from Glenitant and gave it to Lord Glenhaven for safe keeping,” Zorya said.

  “Lord Daegal was never the man his father was,” Baelfire said displeased that a young Daegal had inherited the medallion.

  “We should have taken the Crystal Medallion from Lord Daegal and given it to someone else,” Zorya said.

  “But who?” Baelfire asked. “Lord Daegal and Glenitant were always at each other’s throats. Lord Daegal may not have had his father’s sense of honor, but he was always determined to keep the Crystal Medallion away from his sister.”

  “And now he’s lost the medallion! If Chen puts it around her neck, then Balzekior will try to get the warrior woman under her power,” Zorya said.

  “Only the Creative Light can save us now,” Eldwyn said while lying on the courtyard floor, his face ashen and his eyes puffy and bloodshot. “It’s unpredictable, and I have no idea when it will next show up, but without it, there’s nothing more we can do.”

  “Eldwyn, I don’t understand,” Aerylln said. “If the creative energy’s so powerful, why doesn’t it take some kind of action? It must know the problems we’re facing.”

  Having reached her breaking point, Baelfire almost gave up. The good sword didn’t have the strength to explain their relationship with the Creative Light, and she wasn’t really sure how it worked. It just did, usually.

  Looking over at the teenage girl, Zorya wished she had more faith in the power of good over evil like Aerylln did.

  “I’ve lost my way,” Zorya lamented. “I used to see so clearly, but now I just don’t know what to believe.”

  “It’s your fatigue talking,” Eldwyn said, his voice weak, barely a whisper.

  “No, it’s not. What if we’ve been wrong all along?”

  “We’re not wrong.”

  And with that said, the old wizard drew one last, ragged breath, let it out slowly and died.

  Baelfire, Zorya and Aerylln were stunned.

  “You can’t leave us now, not now!” Baelfire shouted.

  ◆◆◆

  Marcheto was in the courtyard with his brothers and father battling General Gornic’s men when he heard a voice calling to him, Eldwyn’s voice. The young man looked around but didn’t see the old wizard.

  “Go to Aerylln
, Marcheto. She needs you, and she needs you now!”

  The young warrior looked around once more but couldn’t see Eldwyn anywhere. However, the voice had the desired effect, and fear for Aerylln’s well-being gripped Marcheto.

  Running to his oldest brother, Kirnochak, Marcheto shouted, “Aerylln needs me!” That was all the young man said, and it was all he needed to say.

  Kirnochak quickly ran to Xandaric, Adexsus and their father, Tark. The eldest son told them what Marcheto had said, and they watched as the young man began fighting his way through General Gornic’s remaining warriors. Banding together as a family, as they always did in times of adversity, a father and his sons ran after the most intuitive member of their clan.

  Fighting past General Gornic’s warriors, Marcheto’s family made their way behind the safety of the hundreds of Jewels and Flames who were now dominating the courtyard, and they reached Aerylln, Baelfire, Zorya and Eldwyn almost the same time as Marcheto. All stood around the dead wizard who lay crumpled on the courtyard floor.

  “Without him, it’s going to be hard to create a Trinity,” Zorya said, weeping over the loss of her friend.

  “Crystal has unleashed a devilish enemy, and we need the Trinity,” Baelfire explained. “Without Eldwyn, there’s little hope of defending ourselves against a demon as powerful as Balzekior.”

  “Who’s Balzekior?” Tark asked.

  “She’s the complete opposite of what we call the Creative Light,” Baelfire explained. “Up until now, a dark trinity has never successfully materialized, but now, all that may change. Chen’s a protégé, and she could be dangerous, very dangerous.”

  Kneeling down next to the dead wizard, Marcheto put a hand on Eldwyn’s chest and said, “I heard him calling to me, and he told me that Aerylln was in trouble. It sounded like the old wizard was right behind me.”

  “That’s not possible,” Zorya said.

  Suddenly, Marcheto began feeling very heavy, like his body was made of iron. Then, losing his balance, the young man fell facedown onto the dead wizard. Immediately, prism light shot out of Eldwyn’s body, and the purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red colors enveloped Marcheto. Xandaric tried pulling Marcheto away from the dead wizard, but Tark stopped him.

  “Let him go, Marcheto must discover his destiny,” Tark said.

  But the prism light intervened becoming blindingly bright and exploding with radiant intensity knocking everyone away from the old wizard and the young man. And before anyone knew what was happening, Eldwyn and Marcheto vanished. The wizard’s wooden staff and his threadbare robe were all that was left behind.

  However, after just a few moments, a human form filled with prism light materialized. There wasn’t an actual physical body, just a crystal-clear shape filled with all the colors of a rainbow. At first, the human form was lying on the floor next to Eldwyn’s robe, but soon it sat up, and then stood up.

  With a blinding flash, prism light shot out in all directions filling the courtyard with vibrant colors, instantly followed by a tremendous clap of thunder reverberating throughout the castle. Next, a powerful force field blasted out of the humanoid form knocking down almost every warrior within the castle walls.

  After the blinding intensity of the prism light subsided, the human form had transformed and taken on a familiar appearance. It was Marcheto, a rather naked Marcheto. In the next instant, Eldwyn’s old robe began radiating multicolored light and lifted itself off the courtyard floor. Marcheto raised his arms and slid them into the sleeves as the robe lowered itself onto him.

  The wizard’s robe looked good as new. Well, not quite new, but it wasn’t more than 100 or 200 years old. However, to the humans standing around the young man, the robe looked sparkling and fresh.

  Glancing around with vacant eyes, Marcheto seemed to be in a daze. But as his eyes cleared, the young man reached out for the wizard’s staff lying on the courtyard floor, and it leapt into his hand.

  “We will take back the night!” Marcheto declared. Yet after looking around, he asked, “But who am I? Where am I?”

  “You’re my man, that’s who you are,” Aerylln said going up on her toes and kissing him full on the mouth. And, wow, that woke him up!

  “Why am I dressed like this?” Marcheto asked feeling rather confused.

  Before anyone could even attempt an answer, another humanoid form materialized next to the young man followed by another blinding flash of prism light. When it subsided, a faint image of Eldwyn was standing next to Marcheto.

  “That’s a very nice robe,” Eldwyn said feeling one of the sleeves. “When it was mine, I really should have taken better care of it, but I won’t be needing it now.”

  “Eldwyn, what’s going on?” Marcheto asked.

  “Well, I was literally exhausted to the point of death, and given that there wasn’t time for me to recuperate, I realized my only option was to pick a replacement, and to do so quickly,” Eldwyn said. “And with you being close by, the choice was easy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Since you first exhibited a natural ability to meditate, I’ve been keeping an eye on you. Meditation is vitally important to the development of any new wizard.”

  “New wizard?”

  “Yes, we’re facing another challenge, an extremely daunting one, and I fear I’m not up to it. I’m sorry to be saddling you with so much responsibility so quickly, but it can’t be avoided.”

  “What sort of responsibility?”

  “You’ll know soon enough, I’m afraid. It will come to you. Just wait here.”

  “What’s coming?”

  “You’ll see, very soon. And it’s important that you trust your heart. Let it guide you. I’ll direct your steps, too, at least I’ll try,” Eldwyn said as he began fading from view.

  “But I don’t know anything about being a wizard,” Marcheto protested.

  “Just don’t panic.”

  “Why would I panic?” Marcheto shouted at the disappearing figure.

  “Just don’t. And don’t go into that field of black crystal shards either. Let this trouble come to you,” Eldwyn said as the last of his faint image disappeared from view.

  “What’s happening? I don’t understand,” Marcheto shouted, but Eldwyn was gone, at least it seemed so. Taking a deep breath, the apprentice wizard looked out of the castle entrance into the darkness. In the distance, Marcheto saw a black crystal Lord Daegal breathing fire. And there was something else.

  In the shape of a decrepit, old hag, Balzekior was walking towards the castle. Sensing the old crone’s malignant evil, Marcheto shivered.

  “Yes, I’m coming for you, young man. And for your pretty girlfriend,” a voice in Marcheto’s mind said to him, though the ancient hag was still hundreds of yards away.

  However, making such a threat was a mistake on Balzekior’s part.

  Had the old crone only threatened the new apprentice wizard, Marcheto could have handled it and stayed calm. But the evil, old hag had just threatened Aerylln. Now, the young man was prepared to fight.

  Hovering invisibly nearby, Eldwyn smiled.

  Chapter 36

  Out in the darkness, amidst broken shards, shattered warriors, torn human flesh and dashed hopes, Lord Daegal had discovered he was no longer bound by Crystal’s force field, but that did little to calm his anger. If inner rage, if inner fire, could consume one’s body, then the warlord would have melted into nothingness.

  Lord Daegal looked around at the wreckage of his black crystal army. He’d thought it was an invincible armada but saw it fall prey to Crystal’s treachery.

  Looking back at Crystal Castle, Lord Daegal was surprised to see the outside walls being consumed by fire. But after a moment, he realized that wasn’t the case. Instead, hundreds of Jewels and Flames were on the walkways spewing fire everywhere and forcing his warriors to retreat. Almost in a panic, his men were climbing back over the outside walls and scrambling down the siege ladders.

  Back out in the field of bl
ack crystal shards, Lord Daegal realized the 14 Jewels and 14 Flames near Chen were only a small part of the overall fire consuming his reign. Looking at his niece, the warlord was both resentful and amazed that she’d pulled off this dramatic coup.

  But very soon, Lord Daegal would envy her a whole lot less.

  Drawing upon the evil that Balzekior had brought forth, Crystal harnessed its power and poured it into Chen causing the black leather panther to retch from the vile, suffocating darkness.

  The warrior woman began to age dramatically looking more and more like the decrepit, old hag that had crept up on Andrina. In a few seconds, there was nothing left of Chen’s former beauty. The only remaining remnant was her black leather outfit, and it was no longer skintight. In fact, Chen appeared anorexic.

  “You really should take better care of yourself,” Crystal said laughing at the gaunt, haggard face of the emaciated woman. “Well, some of us age better than others, I suppose.”

  Finding this anything but amusing, Andrina asked, “Do you expect Chen to fight her uncle looking like this? Why, she couldn’t lift a sword, let alone wield one.”

  What does it matter? the dark sword thought. I’ll do anything I please with her.

  But saving this torment for another time and getting back to business, Crystal said, “Okay, try this on for size. Here’s Black Scarlet!”

  Chen began changing, rapidly filling her outfit once again. Then, as her muscles and overall body continued growing, the outfit became so tight the leather started ripping across her back, shoulders and thighs. Next, appearing out of nowhere, the warrior woman found herself covered by a huge, scarlet tunic hanging down below her knees. Attached to it was a scarlet cape so long and massive that the material flowed across her shoulders, down her back and piled up in folds on the ground.