The Crystal Dragon Series Collection

by Katie Cherry

  Chet smiles a little nervously. “Um, no, it’s okay, actually… see, I bandaged it up…” I don’t listen, grabbing his elbow and hauling him with me to find a doctor. I locate one quickly and show him Chet’s wounded arm. He takes Chet into another room to fix him up. I head back to join the others. I peek in and see that they are all fine, so I then go back to Chet to make sure he’s really going to be okay. There was a lot of blood…

  He’s sitting on a chair with the doctor wrapping a clean white bandage around his forearm. He glances up at me and smiles. “See? I told you it was fine,” he says.

  The doctor shakes his head. “No, it’s not. The knife scraped your bone. I gave you something to help it heal faster, but it’s not ‘nothing’ like you claim. Not only that, but there seems to be a poison in your bloodstream. The knife was probably coated with it.” Chet goes pale, and so do I.

  “What kind of poison?” I ask hesitantly.

  The doctor frowns. “I’m not sure yet. I gave him something that should slow its progress enough that I can hopefully figure out what it is and how to prevent it from harming him, though,” he assures once he sees the panicked look on my face. I nod, only slightly relieved. The doctor leaves, and I turn to Chet again. His face is a sickly white, but he pretends what the doctor said didn’t unnerve him- although obviously it did.

  “I’m sure he’ll figure it out,” he soothes, standing and guiding me toward the door. “Let’s just go check on the others, alright?”

  “Yes… of course,” I reply, following him down the hallway.

  <<>>

  Curse that woman… of course, she just HAD to poison that knife she threw at me… and now no one knows what the poison is exactly or what the cure is… I’m willing to bet that she knows. I will wring it out of that blasted woman, I don’t care if she gets hurt or not… Crystal would get over it, even if she died. First, though, I suppose I’ll just ask nicely… to give her a sporting chance. Although if she doesn’t tell me, or insists that she doesn’t know, then I’ll just have to pry it out of her mind with my new Gift of ‘reading minds’… I will enjoy making it hurt for what she did to me… He grimaces as his arm throbs with pain, as if responding to his thoughts. Crystal glances over at him, worry written on her face.

  “…Is there anything I can do, Chet?” she asks. He almost laughs at the thought. No, not unless you know the cure for this poison that’s slowly creeping up my arm, he thinks sarcastically. Why does she think she can help anyway? She’s completely powerless- I have all of her Gifts, and then some! I do not need help. His heart softens. Although it’s kind of her to be concerned, I suppose. I don’t need her help, but it’s a nice gesture.

  Out loud, he merely says, “I don’t think so. Thanks, though.”

  She nods, trying to hide the worry on her face. She isn’t very good at it. Not nearly as good of an actor as I am, he brags to himself. No one has any clue who I really am… the one who came closest was Susan, and that wasn’t because of any fault of mine- in fact, it was my quick thinking that saved my own skin… although she’s likely still suspicious of me. She seems like one that is slow to buy anything that anyone says to her. …Which is probably why she’s lasted so long, fighting against our group for so many years. Most of the Dragon Hunters have no idea of her reputation, but I know differently. I’ve heard tales from Patrick of how deep this woman was able to burrow into our secret operations… which is another reason I should just kill her… after discovering the location of the cure, of course.

  He follows Crystal into the room and acts casual, managing to not glare at Susan. Crystal sits down, following his lead. Susan glances at Hunter. “What’s wrong with him? He doesn’t look so good,” she comments. He barely contains a sneer. You know why, you evil little conniving woman, he thinks angrily. However, Hunter just offers a tight-lipped smile in return, hiding his true feelings.

  Crystal frowns. “There was poison on the knife that stabbed him, I guess. That’s what the doctor said. Although he also said… he doesn’t know what the poison is, so he doesn’t know the cure either. And he has no idea what the symptoms will be. He slowed down the spread of the venom, though, so he can have time to research the poison he found in Chet.”

  Reed’s eyebrows knit together. “Wasn’t it Susan’s knife that cut him?” He turns to her. “You know what the poison is, don’t you?”

  She ignores him, examining her fingernails nonchalantly, picking out dried blood. “I don’t know. Maybe Hunter poisoned the knife before stabbing Chet.” You know that’s not true, woman! This is all your doing! …She’s testing me, he realizes. Crafty woman… well, I’m smarter than she is. I’m not falling into her little trap. I’ll never give away my true identity.

  “I saw him right after he left the clearing,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I don’t think he had the time- or the foresight- to poison it himself.” Crystal nods, agreeing with him. He can’t help but smile a little. She has no idea what she’s doing, backing me up, he thinks. I really am Hunter… she’s so trusting, he smirks on the inside. She almost makes it too easy.

  Reed joins in, also coming to his defense. “Come on now, Susan. Why are you trying to hide it? We all know that you are the master hunter. It’s only logical to assume that you have some nifty tricks up your sleeve. If you’re worried about your secret poison getting out, I’m sure everyone here will promise not to tell anyone about it,” he coaxes. Everyone nods, including Hunter. He doesn’t intend to hold to the promise, but no one can know about that. Not even Miss ‘I-read-minds-and-throw-knives’ since he figured out how to manipulate the Gift of mind reading so he can also divert or even block another mind reader’s mental ray as they send it to him. He can make her see whatever he wants her to see in his head. At the moment, he’s displaying a feeling of truthfulness and innocence. He’s just an unlucky, injured boy- as far as she knows.

  Everyone’s eyes are on Susan, waiting for her to say what her decision is. Finally, she sighs. “Alright. I’ll go and get the cure- stay right here and don’t move,” she tells him. He nods solemnly while silently gloating inside. He had tricked her- and everyone else in the room as well.

  Crystal sighs in relief. “Well, I sure am glad she has the cure!” He nods. Although really, she should be glad she decided to give it to me… or else I would have had to extract it from her- painfully.

  <<>>

  Once Susan comes back with a murky green liquid in a needle, Chet insists that I leave the building while she applies it. She says she has to put it in where the poison started- meaning directly into his cut. Chet asked me to leave so I didn’t have to watch- or hear- anything. I step outside, enjoying the fresh spring air and the beautiful sky as the sun rises. Then I remember that I should go and tell the council of what came of our mission… and how we failed. I sigh and start heading over to Thaddeus’s house to break the news to him. He opens the door on the first knock, immediately sighing with relief. “Oh good, you’re okay.”

  I nod. “…Can I come in?”

  “Of course,” he replies, a look of understanding in his eyes. He closes the door behind me, then quietly mutters a spell to make it so no one can eavesdrop on us. Then he sits me down at his table and encourages me to tell him everything- and that’s just what I do. When I finish, he stares down at the table, a frown on his face.

  “…I’m sorry,” I finally say. “I thought we could do it…”

  “No,” he interrupts, holding up a hand to stop me. “It’s alright. I wasn’t so sure you would be able to find them anyway… I’m just relieved you got away safely,” he says. I nod in response. He stands and sighs. “I suppose we should go inform the King and Queen of the fate of your mission.”

  ******

  “…This is terrible,” Alexander sighs, running a nervous hand through his hair. “Now how are we ever going to get Zelda and Y’vette out of there?”

  “I’m sure we’ll find a way,” Pearl soothes, putting a comforting hand on her hu
sband’s arm. “…A way that will not include putting our daughter in danger once again,” she adds, glancing at me.

  I immediately start to argue, but Thaddeus cuts in. “Yes, I believe that would be wise. We have Chet with us once again, and he knows the castle’s inner workings. There is no further need to endanger Zilferia’s only Princess.” He turns to me. “…There will be no arguing about it, Crystal. You are overruled.” I frown, but don’t say anything. They’ve made up their minds, and there’s no way I will be able to change them. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I will stay behind every time my friends go out and risk their own lives to clean up a mess that I had worsened. I won’t always stay back and entertain my parents’ hopes to keep me out of danger. That’s never been an option for me. I have to do my part to keep Zilferia from falling under Patrick’s crushing grip. I cannot do it alone… but with the help of all the friends I have made here, we can beat the Dragon Hunters, I know it.

  We just have to stand united.

  ******

  “So, where are we going?”

  I turn to see Chet, dressed in his armor with a bandage wrapped about the still-healing wound from the knife, a backpack slung over one shoulder. He has a hand on one hip as he watches me, waiting for my answer. I turn from the door, releasing the handle. The backpack on my back swishes quietly through the air as I turn around and peer at him. “We aren’t going anywhere,” I reply in a hushed voice. It’s not that I don’t want the company… the things I’m about to do just aren’t safe for others to accompany me to.

  He raises an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that you don’t want someone with the Gift of Fighting to have your back- wherever you’re going?” I wince. I hate it when someone mentions Gifts… ever since that dreadful day that Patrick… I take a deep breath, pushing back the tide of sorrow. I really need to get over this. I can’t react this way whenever someone mentions Gifts- I cannot wallow in depression and self-loathing when there are things to be done.

  “It’s not that…” I start, then stop, unsure of how to word this. “It’s just… what I have to do… I have to do alone.”

  He strides forward, coming close to me. He’s so close I can see the light from the morning sun cause his green eyes to sparkle. “And why is that, Crystal? What on earth do you have to do that requires you to do it alone? You may deny that you need protection… but I can’t help but feel I should be protecting you nonetheless. Not just because you are the Princess, either…” His voice fades out uncertainly.

  My heart softens. “I… I suppose you could come… it’s just…”

  “What?” he asks intently. “What is it? I want to help you.”

  I swallow. “Um… it’s just… I don’t know how my friends will react to you,” I meekly attempt to explain.

  He looks confused. “Well, if they’re your friends, then why would they harm me? I’m your friend too,” he adds.

  I sigh. “…Because my friends are the Sohos, Dragons, and mermaids that sometimes eat people,” I simply state.

  A small frown furrows his brow. “…I see. And why are you going to such ferocious friends so early in the morning? …Do your parents know about this little adventure of yours?” I turn away from him, hiding my face. “Ah, I see… you didn’t want to tell them because you didn’t want them to stop you,” he surmises.

  I spin back to him, a pleading look on my face. “Please don’t tell them! Please don’t make me stay! I have to help!”

  “Help with what?” he asks curiously.

  “…I have to help in this war,” I state. “It’s my fault things have gotten this bad… I’m the one that figured out how to fix the Gift Stealer… and now Patrick is laying siege to all of Zilferia… I have to stop him, Chet,” I plead, grabbing his hand and peering up into those deep green eyes of his. “I have to stop him, because every life lost is a life on my hands…” I can feel tears welling up in my eyes, and I blink them away. Now is not a time for crying. I’ve done enough of that already. There’s no need for more tears. They don’t solve anything.

  Chet’s face softens. “…Surely you don’t blame yourself for this war?”

  “No, not the war… just the advantage I gave Patrick,” I explain.

  He frowns. “…So just what do you mean to do to turn the tides?”

  “I’m going to see if I can get us all united. Patrick can conquer every one of us because we are all divided and see little hope. I need to gather my friends, get it so we can all work together, and save hope once more.”

  “Hope cannot win a war, Crystal.”

  “Hope grants power beyond what would be possible otherwise,” I argue. “Hope is what keeps us going beyond what the enemy believes we can go. Hope gives us an advantage. Hope, and friendship. There is strength in numbers- but there is greater strength in the bonds between individuals. Then we do not fight simply for ourselves, but for more. We would be fighting for this entire realm.”

  He nods slightly. “I am touched by your speech,” he says, smiling. He rubs his hands together. “So… where do we start?”

  I smile up at him. “Probably the Sohos. I haven’t seen them in quite a while.”

  He grins back. “Sounds great.”

  <<>>

  As Hunter follows his sister out the door, his mind is whirling. She plans to unite everyone and empower them with hope? Hope can easily be crushed with enough pressure from fear… but still. This isn’t good… just how far should I go with this pretense? …Should I just grab her now and haul her back to the hideout? …Patrick told me not to… but he has no idea of her determination to stop us. He told me that the fake journal would convince her to come to us willingly… He stops walking suddenly.

  Crystal turns around. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

  He smiles calmingly at her. “Oh, nothing. …I was just wondering what happened to the journal we found at the Dragon Hunter’s hideout,” he asks innocently.

  She grins at him and pulls the little book out of her backpack. “I kept a hold on it the entire way back to the Village. I packed it so it would be safe with me.”

  “Have you read any of it yet?” he asks urgently.

  “Well… no,” she slowly replies. “Why?”

  “If it contains clues to Patrick’s plans, then we can tell the Sohos of them, as well as begin preparing to fight back,” Hunter replies, making it up as he goes along.

  She takes the bait. “Oh! That’s true! …Should I read some of it now?” she asks. He almost laughs out loud. It sure is a good thing I thought of having her read it. Even if it doesn’t convince her yet, it should slow her down long enough for me to toss more doubt into her mind or find another way to sabotage her plans.

  “Sure, why not?” he replies nonchalantly, once again doing a fabulous job of keeping his real thoughts and feelings buried.

  “Do you want to hear what it says?” she asks, sitting down on the grass. He sits next to her and can feel her nervousness increase as the distance between them diminishes. It’s so obvious that she likes this ‘Chet’ character, and using the Gift to amplify it was honestly such a stroke of genius. She’s so easy to manipulate now…

  “Why, yes, I am very interested in what Patrick has written in there.” It’s not a lie. He really is intrigued by what he thinks will cause Crystal to be buried in doubt and eventually come to them willingly. “If you want to read it out loud, you can, although I can see it just fine,” he continues, scooting even closer to her. Their clothes brush and the blush on her cheeks turns to crimson, although she pushes through it, pretending it wasn’t there.

  “I… um… well, do you want me to read it?” she asks nervously.

  He smiles reassuringly at her. Their faces are mere inches apart. It’s quite odd pretending to have a crush on his sister, but he’s done stranger things. “I would love to hear your sweet voice even more,” he murmurs. As predicted, this causes her blush to spread all the way down into her shirt. The tips of her ears are dark red.

&n
bsp; “I… I…”

  “…Or I could read it, if you wish.”

  “I… I think it would sound better if you did,” she finally squeaks out. Smiling a little, he nods and accepts the book from her, making sure their hands brush while doing so. He catches a little shuddering gasp from her as he does so. She’s so easy to manipulate…

  He opens the little leather book to the first entry. “Might as well start from the beginning,” he explains. She nods, seemingly having lost her voice. Her hands are clenched in her lap, betraying her inner war while the rest of her seems at ease. He grins. Maybe Patrick was right… she will not be hard to convince.

  “Dear new Diary… or Journal… whatever thing others call these infernal booklets that contain my inner thoughts.” Hunter almost laughs. He can hear Patrick’s voice in the journal as though it was his actual one. He sure did a good job forging it. “I have decided that I should record the things I have done recently- and will do in the future- for others to read of my accomplishments later. Hunter could benefit from what I have to say. I shall give him this booklet at a later point, I suppose.” He glances over at Crystal. She’s frowning, but doesn’t say anything. He’s frowning too- but for an entirely different reason than she. This… this is almost uncanny how much it sounds like Patrick… could I have grabbed the wrong journal? Scoffing at himself, he brushes off these worries and continues reading. Patrick was a mastermind, he’s sure he meant for it to sound like this.

  “For now, I shall speak to you as though I could be reporting these things to anyone. For who knows when Hunter will be disposed of anyway…” He stops reading. What did he mean by that?? He panics.

  “When Hunter will be disposed of?!” Crystal repeats. Please, repeating it doesn’t lesson the confusion. “He’s planning to get rid of Hunter? …I should have rescued him while I was in there… who knows if he’s even still alive?!” she starts panicking. He quickly reaches out and grabs one of her hands, attempting to comfort her.

  “Crystal, I’m sure he’s fine…”