The Crystal Curse

by Gin Hollan

  The Crystal Curse

  By Gin Hollan

  Series Order:

  Book One – The Gadgeteer

  Book Two – The Crystal Curse

  Coming Soon:

  Book Three – The Martyr’s Betrayal

  Book Four – The Labyrinth Machine

  Book Five - The Babbage Theorem

  Book Six – Unnamed

  Dedicated to my Mom, Dixie.

  Thank you for your gentle wisdom and endless encouragement.

  And

  Everyone who believes adventures make life happen. You're amazing.

  If you want to know when the next story will be out, or when I give stuff away, please let me know you're interested here: http://eepurl.com/biB8zb.

  All rights reserved. Except where permitted by law, this book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author.

  © 2018 Gin Hollan

  Introduction

  Dear Reader,

  This is near-earth, but still not quite here. As is common in Steampunk, certain liberties have been taken, both with timelines and inventions. I have moved the development of radio waves, radar, and related technology (such as transistors) up by 50-100 years depending on the item in question. Under that premise, established radio communication is a solid technology by the mid-1850s and supports the use of commercial radio stations, and ham radio operation.

  I also hope you'll forgive that instead of TV following within 20 years of the first commercial radio station starting up, it will be quite some time before that happens, but that technologies we still dream about are alive and well.

  That’s the boring stuff over with! Please enjoy the story!

  // Chapter 1 //

  Arabeth stood and stretched. A long, uncomfortable night of not-quite sleeping on the hard-packed forest floor left her with kinks and aches that only a hot bath cured. She pulled her pocket watch out and wound it, staring at the action of the miniature gears a moment out of habit.

  She and Marble had barely escaped with their lives. Had the others made it out? Darn Graham and his inclination to solve everything with explosives! At least it was… solved. The tunnel was definitely closed now.

  Behind them stood an immense cliff wall, and where the cavern exit had once been was now only rubble and dust. A portion of the mountain had collapsed, adding to the debris, as though to protest and protect. Beside the exit stood the body of a different automaton, differing from the one she'd disabled by the fact it still had a head. The legs were broken and twisted, though. It was no threat.

  She put her watch away. Now, in the early sun, she took a long look around. There was one narrow dirt road leading into a forest of thin, tall trees, reaching great heights, but with short pointy needles where broad leaves normally were. These were the trees of true wilderness, Arabeth thought.

  As a feeling of helplessness tugged at her she blocked it, preferring to think through the logic of this problem. She sighed. It was a real problem.

  If getting back home was the goal, she needed to follow the mountain east, but the only path out was a long dirt road through the trees, directly away from the mountain, to the north.

  If her goal was something else… well, she didn’t have enough information to do something else yet. Still, that was the open path, and she was no woodsman.

  Her gut tensed a moment - had Sam, Melanie, and Graham made it out of the cave? They must have. They were the ones who collapsed the cavern, setting explosive charges off to prevent an enemy incursion. They must have gone out the other way, toward home.

  Marble looked none-the-worse for the experience, at least. Arabeth reached down and picked the little fox up, curling her arms around to hold her close, petting her a moment before setting her back down, her nerves calmed now. The little fox looked leaner these days, but she hadn’t gotten lighter.

  They had a few provisions, due to her habit of packing dried chicken for Marble, and fruit for herself. Her stomach grumbled at the thought. Not yet, she grumbled back.

  On this side of the mountain was a country called Vensay, if she remembered her grandfather’s map right. She hoped that Tanner Stein’s plot had died with him. He was most likely from this country, and having to travel here meant more than the danger of being in a strange land if there were more here who thought as he did. There was no pity for his kind, and she was not in a forgiving frame of mind. Rationalizing violence against others was a sign of a weak will, a weak mind.

  "Ready Marble?" Marble looked up at her, quizzically.

  Enemy territory or not, she’d prefer to face other people than dodge bears and wolves and other creatures of the wild. Those would be the least of her worries if stories about life on this side told of a vast, roaring land were true. There were no giants here, laying waste to towns and villages, right? It was only stories, fairy tales.

  Home felt continents away suddenly. Did her family think her dead? Even Maralise, as antagonistic as she was toward Arabeth, her only sister... she shouldn't wish her dead, right?

  Then again, Maralise had the singular view that her opinions were the only correct ones, and hated Arabeth pointing out truths she found inconvenient. She'd probably feel nothing short of relief.

  That didn’t matter. She had to protect them from Betsy’s fate. The technology behind the implant they put in Melanie’s head would not be isolated to one crazy man in a cave. She had to heal the chaos and distrust that had become part of Blastborn.

  This was the perfect opportunity to find out who was really behind the attack on Blastborn. She hated to pass it up. Delayed justice meant Tanner’s cohorts had time to regroup and rethink... and that meant they might try again. She couldn't let that happen. Hefting her satchel strap up, over her head, she shifted into a traveling state of mind.

  Walking, the dusty, rough road wound out through the trees, making it seem forever. The sun sat high overhead when a sound deeper down the road drew her out of her thoughts. She ducked back into the tree line. Distant voices, arguing. The cadence of their speech seemed familiar, but she couldn’t pick out any one voice at this distance.

  // Chapter 2 //

  “Arabeth!” Melanie screamed, running to pull her into a quick hug. Sam’s eyes were glued to her as though she might vanish if he looked away. The second Melanie let go, Sam pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

  "We couldn't find you. Some of us thought the worst had happened," Melanie said, half-turning to scowl at Graham.

  The moment stretched into two and Graham cleared his throat.

  Sam stepped back, looking her over. "Are you alright?"

  Arabeth nodded, clearing her throat. "Rattled, but unhurt. You?"

  "A little deafer than we used to be," he said, glancing sidelong at Graham. “We had to use one of the ventilation shafts to get out, and the sound really echoes up those.”

  "We waited for you once we got out, but it started to get dark,” Graham's smile was weak but steady.

  "When we saw the cliff face, we knew this was where to wait, at least for a while," Melanie said, smiling.

  "I had to agree. If there is art, you'll be magnetically drawn to it," Sam said, eyes fixed on her as he ran a hand down one side of her hair in an unexpectedly intimate caress.

  "Well, it's all good now. We can concentrate on finding a way back," Graham said.

  "I was thinking..." she hesitated. They had unusual bad luck for anyone that came with them, though. The fact they were separated from her when the cave fell in was proof they were safer apart.

  “We can follow the mountain east to the ocean. The mountain drops off a mile before that, so we can go around… unless anyone has a better idea?" Arabeth asked, then inhaled slowly hol
ding it a moment before letting it out. Tracking the automaton took second seat to risking her friends. If it was just her and Marble, that was different.

  "I know that look," Sam said.

  "Me too," Melanie added. "You’re not planning to go home with us. You’re going to explore. I can tell."

  "Me?" Arabeth laughed. "No... I have no money, no map, and now that the cave is closed, no good reason to stay.”

  “But...” Sam prompted.

  “We know there’s a ‘but’ coming,” Melanie added as Graham nodded, scowling.

  “You want to chase that automaton, don’t you?” Melanie continued.

  “No, it’s just that... It’s been a couple centuries since anyone from Blastborn was on this side. I’m... curious. It’s been generations."

  "At least three," Sam said. "My grandparents were the last people to move over."

  "Doesn't that strike you as odd? No one new moves in, no one leaves. I mean, don't you want to know why? The mountain range has the toxic gas problem, but we get shipments every month, so there has to be a way around. That’s why I think it’s by the ocean, where the mountains drop down."

  Graham shrugged. "There's nothing interesting over here."

  "What? You've been on this side before?"

  "No, but as a kid, I pestered the train conductors," he explained. "Their stories were many and dull."

  "This road turns and follows the mountain for a while. We can follow it until we find a way back through or find civilization," Sam said, petting Marble this time.

  "Wait... what art?" Arabeth asked, realizing she'd been too happy to see them to think about that.

  "Oh, you'll love this - there are painted images carved into the cliff. Some of them look real," Melanie shuddered. "Like people were trapped in the stone."

  "I hate to ask, but is there a chance you have food? I'm starving." Graham wondered.

  "A little," she pulled out a small, round yellow pear and gave it to him. "I'm sure we all have a little coin on us. Do you know where the next town in? I'm sure there's someone who will take our coins in exchange for supplies."

  "I hope so, too," Melanie said, eyeing Arabeth's satchel. "Let's eat by the cliff."

  Arabeth hesitated a moment before she opened her satchel wide. She packed her sling satchel before she left the house for more than an hour. Her job meant there was no way to guarantee food or water, sometimes for hours at a time. Bail Enforcement was a good profession, but criminals ran on their own timetable.

  She looked for a flat surface. A large rock would work, but the only thing here was the road. Sighing, she pulled out a thin sheet of baby blue fabric. Lily gave it to her as proof that a thin weave could also be a durable one. No time like the present to test it. She took one edge and swung the rest high into the air, unfolding like a bed sheet. It covered about six square feet, she guessed. It would have made a nice table cloth.

  Squatting at the edge, she pulled the food she carried out into a small stack in the centre. Three more pieces of fruit, several nut-filled oat bars, and a package holding about eighteen crackers. It didn't seem like much when four hungry people stared at it.

  "We'll take turns. Graham has already taken his first. Melanie, you're next."

  Her friends hesitated.

  "It's this or tree bark. Hurry before some wildlife sees this as an offering," she snapped.

  "When you put it that way...." Melanie knelt at the pile and picked her first.

  After the sorting, Arabeth picked up the fabric and tried to get the dirt off. It was a little reluctant. She folded it top-side out before putting it in her bag again. She hadn't pulled out Marble's chicken, instead, sneaking some pieces out for the fox to take in quick portions. Arabeth hoped Marble would hunt for her own dinners, for the most part. She'd done it before.

  "It's awfully quiet here, right?" Sam said.

  "There is a distinct lack of aviary life. One would think every forest had at least a bird or two."

  The four of them looked around and Arabeth quickly packed up the fabric. "We better get moving. He said there was a cliff he wanted to show me?" She looked at Melanie.

  "Yes, right. You're going to love this. It looks like seeing... Actually several seemed have been captured artistically in this cliff wall."

  "A brief history lesson might be useful right now," Sam added.

  "Yes, I for one don't buy Graham's 'bored to sleep' story. People move. There's even a town on the south east end of our region now."

  Even in the silence, a nervous anticipation filled the air around them. As one, they all started walking down the trail. It did seem to explain the lack of paths in the undergrowth that would've been created by deer and other wildlife. That was judging by her experience in their own woods.

  Arabeth pulled out her pocket watch and checked the time. It’s early - not even breakfast time back home, she thought.

  "I was sure I heard animals yesterday. Last night, as I was trying to sleep. I could hear the sound of branches rustling and little animals, like squirrels,” Arabeth nearly whispered to herself.

  "It's only a few more minutes until we get back to the cliff."

  When the cliff came into view, Arabeth stopped a moment. She thought Melanie was exaggerating when she said the artwork was lifelike. This was eerie. Colours, shapes, even textures were as though frozen in time. She noticed the others looking at her and started forward again.

  How can this be? The nearer she got the more realistic they seemed. "They seem a little too real, right?"

  The tallest depicted was a foot shorter than Sam, but no less detailed than a real person. The images stood as a group would when having their photo taken. Arabeth shuddered but drew closer anyway. She reached a hand out to touch the sleeve on a woman's dress, half certain the stranger would turn to scowl at her. Of course there was no reaction. Arabeth backed up again, looking for more of this peculiar art.

  "At least it doesn't look like their eyes are following me," Graham clucked.

  "Let's keep moving. We can come back after we have re-provisioned and come up with a plan," Sam to took a light grip on one of Arabeth's elbows, trying to guide her away.

  It took a moment, but slowly she nodded. "We have to come back. I need to understand what I'm looking at."

  "Which way should we go?" Melanie stared off toward a wide dirt road. "And why is there a wide dirt road coming this exact spot? How many people travel here, and why?"

  "It could be a simple memorial, and the road is maintained out of respect for those engraved in the cliff." Graham gave a shrug.

  "Still, it's eerie quiet. Let's get moving," Melanie said.

  Looking ahead, the road lay out in front of them in a precisely straight line, up and down hills, looking as though it eventually went off the end of the world.

  It was different than looking off across fields to the ocean. It felt more final.

  "Yes, let's."

  They chose an easy pace, not wanting to break unless they had to. Arabeth checked her pocket watch, thinking to gauge their distance by time.

  Within a half hour, the forest thinned and began to drop away. The air here seemed to crack and pop around them, but the air continued to be temperate and slightly humid as they stepped out of the trees.

  Arabeth paused to make a note in her pocket journal then jogged to catch up. When she reached them, they were standing still, each staring ahead.

  "What is it?" Arabeth said as she drew near.

  The road narrowed to a simple path. On either side lay acres of stone crystals of varying shapes, sizes, and colours, standing up as though they grew up out of the ground. The stones started out small and well-spaced, but looked to grow in both size and quantity as the path went on.

  "Amazing," she said, pulling her journal out again. When she looked up, Sam had taken a few tentative steps down the single-file path.

  "The ground seems stable," he called back. "The air is unchanged." He turned to face them.

  "It's not like
we have a choice," Graham added, "But I need a minute."

  Arabeth looked out across the horizon, seeing trees resume about an hour's walk away. Each side was about the same distance left and right. She sketched it, making distance estimates, noting colours and shapes. They were in a graduated pattern, it seemed, with only a few intermingled. The field went from one end of the colour spectrum to the other, varying by hue but staying within their colour.

  Melanie walked in, pushing past Sam.

  "Hey, careful! These look sharp," he said.

  Melanie continued walking another twenty paces, slowly raising her arms out as she went.

  "What are these things? I feel amazing," she said, turning back.

  The look of bliss on her face was made stranger still by the slow wash of a coloured mist that wafted toward her from the nearest crystals. Soon she was shrouded in a swirl of sparkle and haze. She knelt down and touched the crystal closest to her. "Such beauty," she sighed as her fingers ran down the side of a foot tall purple crystal. As she did, her face went blank. When she didn't move again after a few minutes, Arabeth became concerned.

  "Melanie, snap out of it. We have places to go," Sam said, tapping her shoulder. A moment later Melanie sat down on her heels and yawned.

  "Wow, I'm...." She drooped as she sat the rest of the way then fell over on to her side, barely missing the crystal with her head.

  Arabeth couldn't shake the feeling that the crystal had seen her coming and leaned away, just in time.

  // Chapter 3 //

  “Mel!" Arabeth shouted and ran forward. Sam reached her first and checked her wrist for a pulse.

  "She's alive," he said. "But her pulse is really soft."

  "Mel, stay awake!" Arabeth yelled, shaking Melanie's arm.