The Crystal Dragon Series Collection

by Katie Cherry

  “What if she finds it before I do?” He inquires.

  “Then just go along with it. If you must, steal it from her as she sleeps and take it to me. If for some reason you cannot do this, then allow her to deliver it to the oversized fish. It will be a small setback, but once we get the girl to come to me willingly, the war will be over. This spark of hope she’s been attempting to spread will be smothered forever, and we will rule Zilferia!”

  Hunter doubles over and empties his stomach of his last couple of meals. “Urngh,” he groans, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He turns back to the Patrick on his other hand. “I won’t fail you.”

  “I trust that you will not. Oh, and next time you need to contact me and it’s too taxing- like this conversation- then stand before a mirror and recite these words: Llacym deehkc irtap. I shall replace your reflection in the mirror, and there are only minor effects to that spell. Farewell- and don’t forget to get Crystal to read more of the fake journal!”

  The orange-red outline of the man then swirls and is replaced with the eye, which stares at him once again. “…Thank you, Dravyn,” he says to the eye, which blinks at him before becoming inanimate once more, the ink cooling back to its original silvery-blue appearance on the back of his right hand.

  Hunter collapses to his knees and takes a shaky breath as he feels the strain of magic finally ease. He wipes his mouth again and grimaces. Llacym deehkc irtap. He would need to remember that. There was no way he was using the Eye again unless he had absolutely no other choice and it was a life or death situation.

  After putting his gloves back on, he ambles back to the Dragon mansion. The Hunt was about to commence. Hopefully he could find the Trident before Crystal did.

  <<>>

  I finish rebraiding my hair and begin pacing. What was taking Chet so long? What was he doing? The door then opens and I spin around. “Chet,” I gasp in relief, taking a few steps toward him. I stop when I see the look on his face. “Chet, are you okay? You look… sick.”

  “Just a bit of an upset stomach,” he replies. “I’m fine.”

  I hesitate. His face is grey, and he’s leaning against the doorway like he doesn’t trust his body to hold itself up for very long. “He said he’s fine,” Nora says. “Let’s just go before your parents get back.”

  “…Alright,” I concede, knowing we need to hurry. “Let’s go.” I brush past Chet with Nora flying above me. He falls in behind us, his breathing a little ragged. I wonder what happened to him. He seemed fine before he left, and then when he came back, he appeared exhausted and sick.

  “…Crystal, I’m fine,” Chet says, as if he knew what I was thinking about. “We just need to find this Trident of yours, okay?”

  “Yes, of course,” I concede, sighing. I look around. “…I have no clue where to start though.”

  “May I make a suggestion?” Nora asks.

  “Of course!” I reply gladly. “What is it?”

  “Thaddeus was an advisor and worked alongside the fake Vlad as well as the real one. And if we can find Vladimir himself, he should know a few hiding spots that he is privy to. We might be able to find it that way.”

  “Nora, that’s brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?” I chuckle. “Nora says we could just talk to Vlad or Thaddeus,” I inform Chet.

  “Great, that sounds like a good lead,” he says. “Show me the way.”

  I’m not sure where Vlad lives, so I head over to Thaddeus’s house. After knocking, I can hear him scrambling around inside for a few seconds before the door swings open to reveal his tall, lean shape. His beard hasn’t been trimmed for a while and has now advanced down his neck and become a little untidy, giving it a scraggly look. His face droops like he has little energy left. “Ah, Crystal. I wasn’t expecting a visit today. Come in, come in,” he says, gesturing Chet and me into his house. “Welcome, Nora,” he greets Nora, who favors him with a slight bow, wings outstretched.

  Chet hesitates at the doorway. “Hey, Crystal, I think I’ll see if I can go and find Vlad. Together one of us should be able to find it, right? Maybe two parties searching would be faster and more thorough than just one.”

  “Okay, sure,” I say. “That sounds like a good idea. Just meet me back here in two hours for lunch?”

  “Alright, sounds like a plan,” he says, waving to me as he turns and heads away. Thaddeus shuts the door behind him and turns to me.

  “What are you two searching for?” He inquires curiously as he sits down across from me at his little wooden table, brushing aside a pile of old, musty books.

  “The Mermaid King’s Trident,” I reply.

  Thaddeus raises a grey eyebrow at me. I suddenly realize that there are a lot more white hairs then there used to be. Not too long ago, it was all grey. Now there’s a dusting of white. It makes me sad, like somehow age didn’t apply to Thaddeus, it wouldn’t affect him. It wasn’t allowed to. Now I see the evidence that even Thaddeus can be weighed down by age and stress.

  “Why would you be looking for that?” he inquires.

  I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s kind of a long story.”

  “I have all day,” he says.

  “Well, I need to hurry,” I murmur, almost talking to myself. “So I’ll just shorten the tale.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Thaddeus says, settling into his seat. “Go ahead.”

  “Okay… well, I think I know how to get my Gifts and maybe my dragon part back,” I begin.

  “What? Really? How did you discover this?”

  “Um… I went to see the dragons yesterday,” I say. “As well as the Sohos.”

  “Ah, right. I heard about that. What did you learn?” He’s now leaning forward, anxious to hear what I have to say.

  “Well, Gale suggested that neither my Gifts nor my dragon part should really be able to be removed from me. He speculated that perhaps if the Mermaid King had his Trident back, he could use its magic to help remove whatever is blocking me access to my Gifts. As for my dragon part, he suggested that I go to see the Sohos since they know more about dragons than any other human… So I went to them, and they had their dragon find Eric, who then gave me some of his blood to drink…”

  “Wait, you did what?!” Thaddeus exclaims, standing and looking me over. “And you’re okay?”

  “I didn’t have very much,” I clarify. “And I’m fine now… but these weird things happened when I swallowed it.” He sits back down and watches me intently. “…My eyes were a mix of both dragon eyes and normal, and claws replaced my fingernails.”

  “However neither of these symptoms seem to be present at the moment,” he notes, still just watching me.

  “Yes, they receded after I went to sleep in one of their huts. But when I got angry, the claws came back, as did the eyes. I lost control of myself and killed two Dragon Hunters.”

  “Did Chet see this transformation?”

  “No, he was dealing with other Dragon Hunters,” I reply. “And by the time he got back, my anger and faded and the claws and eyes went back to normal.”

  “Hmm,” he murmurs thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair and stroking his beard with one hand. “That is interesting indeed. I have never heard anything of the sort. Of course, there’s never been another Dragongirl since Alex’s time. This is all new experimentation.”

  “So we don’t know if it will end up working or not,” I sigh. “Or if I’ll end up being stuck like this forever.”

  “Well, we can always try our best,” He comforts, standing. “And I think I may know where the impostor Vlad hid the Trident- granted it hasn’t been disturbed since he left it there.”

  “Well then let’s go!” I exclaim, rising with him and heading to the door with Nora perched on my shoulder. He chuckles a little and opens the door, following me out. “I sure hope the Trident actually works.”

  “I do as well,” Nora replies.

  <<>>

  Hunter casts about the nearby houses with his
mental probe, searching for thoughts that would reveal where Vlad is. He needed to find him, and quickly. Luckily, he was nearby, so he locates him without much trouble.

  He walks up to a hut that looks the same as Thaddeus’s and knocks. He hears a surprised exclamation from within before the man scrambles for the door and unlocks it. “Chet?” Vlad peers around him, as if looking for someone else to be with him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Crystal and I are looking for the Mermaid King’s Trident,” he explains, stepping past the man into his house. It’s not nearly as tidy as Thaddeus’s place.

  “The Trident?” Vlad repeats, closing the door and turning to him. “Why are you suddenly interested in that?”

  “Crystal wants to return it to the Mermaids,” Hunter replies. “She wants to unite them, the Sohos, and the dragons, but doesn’t want to go back without their Trident. It’s kind of a peace offering so they don’t kill us,” He explains with a small smile. Those fish couldn’t harm him. He’s practically the Prince of the Dragon Hunters. Invincible. Powerful. Cunning. “Would you happen to have an idea of where the Trident could be?” He presses.

  “There are a few spots I could think of,” Vlad replies. “But if Crystal’s the one that wants it, why are you here and she isn’t?”

  “She’s with Thaddeus. We figured if we split up it was more likely that one of us would find it, plus it would be faster to scour the Village in two groups rather than one.”

  “Ah, I see. In that case, come with me,” Vlad replies, leading the way back out of the cluttered house.

  Hopefully we can find it before Crystal does… I need to present it to Patrick. I would rather it not end up back in the hands of those fish. That could cause a kink in our plans, despite Patrick’s assurances that it won’t make much of a difference. If only Crystal would read that journal. I’m not getting very far in causing her to doubt herself. If anything, she’s more driven than before to fight- which is the opposite effect that Patrick predicted.

  She seems to make my life a lot more difficult than it needs to be, he sighs.

  <<>>

  “Every once in a while, I noticed the impostor Vladimir sneaking away into the woods. That’s probably when he contacted Patrick and the two transferred information. However, I do believe that there was one other place he might have gone. The Trident may be hidden there,” Thaddeus says as Nora and I follow him through the Village toward the edge, near the forest. Thaddeus stops just before an old, dilapidated building. “Here we are.”

  “…You think he hid it in here?” I question dubiously, wiping dirt off a window and peering through. The small building seems to have a bunch of boxes stacked all around. Dusty cobwebs cling to just about everything.

  “No,” Thaddeus explains as he unlocks the door. “I think he hid it in the area that the tunnel beneath the store leads to.”

  “A tunnel beneath the store?” I repeat as I cautiously step inside. The air is stale and musty here, and there is a layer of dust on everything, including the floor.

  “Watch,” Thaddeus says, waving his hand at the dust on the floor. Patches of it, each about the size of a footprint, begin to fade away, then glow a light, faint green.

  “The impostor?”

  “Yes,” he confirms, carefully following the tracks through the maze of boxes. “These are his footprints.”

  I suddenly notice something. “They only go in one direction. …He never came back out…”

  “Oh, he came out alright, just not the way he went in,” Thaddeus explains.

  “Wait, why do the footprints disappear there?” Nora wonders, flapping over to where the tracks do indeed vanish.

  Thaddeus approaches the spot and crouches. “This is the entrance to those under-ground tunnels,” he says, touching the spot of the floor where the tracks end and closing his eyes for a few seconds. There’s an audible click, and a section of the floor slides back, revealing an opening just wide enough for a person to squeeze through. Thaddeus turns back to me. “Ready?”

  I take a deep breath. Ready to get my Gifts back? Definitely. Ready to help unite Zilferia? Yes. Ready to plunge into uncertainty to retrieve something that the Dragon Hunters are also searching for? Ready to face an unknown, potentially dangerous future? “Yes,” I say with confidence. I’m prepared to no longer be so afraid. I’m ready to take the next step.

  “Then after you, Princess,” he says, stepping back and leaving the way open for me. I take a deep breath and approach the hole in the ground. I only see darkness below.

  “Um… there’s no ladder or anything…” I point out.

  “Just jump. It shouldn’t be far,” he assures me. Shuddering, I turn back to the hole… and jump.

  I fall quickly before landing on the hard ground. I land a little awkwardly and roll my ankle. I gasp and fall to the side to get out of Thaddeus’s way. I pull my ankle closer to me and examine it with my fingers since it’s too dark to see much but the faint light from the square of light above. Sure enough, I sprained it. I carefully stand and gently put some weight on it. It may hurt a little, but I can walk.

  “Come on down,” I call out to Thaddeus. Nora flies down to me before Thaddeus jumps. He lands perfectly.

  “Are you alright?” he asks.

  I nod. “I just twisted my ankle a little. It’s okay though. I can still walk.”

  “Good,” he says before closing the hatch above with a flick of his wrist. A faint light can now be seen to Thaddeus’s left.

  “I’m assuming that’s where we have to go now?” I ask.

  “No,” Thaddeus says, turning to face the opposite direction. “That’s to fool others who come into a trap. The true direction lies this way.” He once again waves his hand and reveals the continuing green footprints.

  We follow the prints for a while until we come to a thick wooden door. “Isn’t it odd that we haven’t encountered any traps yet?” Nora notices.

  “Yes, it is,” I confirm. “Thaddeus is there a trap behind this door?”

  “Not exactly,” he sighs. “It’s more of a test.”

  “…A test?” I repeat, confused. “What kind of test?”

  “A test that I cannot pass, nor Nora…”

  “Let me guess. Only I can do whatever is necessary on the other side of this door.” I sigh. “Why is it always me?”

  “Well because I must use my magic to hold the door open for you so you do not remain trapped in there forever should anything go… awry, and because Nora is a bird and a human must enter.”

  “…What will I have to do?”

  Thaddeus hesitates. “I’m not entirely certain.”

  “Wait… so you knew about the rest of this place but not this part? Why is that?” I question him.

  He sighs. “Because I created this place. However, the room inside changes to defend whatever is inside. It doesn’t defend every item the same way, you see,” he explains. “Just… remember what I taught you last year,” he offers as a last bit of advice before grabbing the door handle and heaving it open with an obvious amount of effort. “…And please hurry,” he grunts as he holds the door open.

  I nod and step cautiously inside.

  I instantly come face-to-face with a large… man… dressed in black armor. He has bulging muscles and a hood covering his face, but the thing about him that most attracts my gaze was his large, white, feathered wings. His head slowly lifts and his eyes open, revealing glowing white orbs that seemed to pierce into my very soul. My mouth falls open as I attempt to say something, but words seem impossible.

  His voice is deep and shakes the ground beneath me. “I am Tzadkiel. I am the archangel that represents Justice, benevolence, and grace. You have come to me seeking a weapon of great power.”

  “Y…yes,” I manage to squeak out.

  “I am the guardian of this object that you seek. How do you intend to win it from me?”

  “I… I don’t know,” I murmur, feeling helpless tears rise to my eyes. “I
cannot and will not fight you for it, for I know I would lose. I will not attempt to find it without your aid, for I know you will not allow me to. …I suppose the only thing I can do is to beg for you to grant it to me. Please trust me when I tell you that I mean to use it to bring about Justice.”

  The archangel pauses. “I can sense that you are telling me the truth… however, can you bring about Justice while also being benevolent?” I don’t reply. I’m shaking in the frigid air that permeates the area. I cannot think of an acceptable answer for him. If I tell him yes, I definitely can, then that will seem prideful and make me seem less likely to be telling the truth. But if I tell him no, he will definitely not grant the weapon unto me. “Well? Do you believe that you would be benevolent to those whose lives you will hold in the balance while you control the Trident?”

  I force myself to say something. “Oh, Tzadkiel… I know not how to answer you. I only wish I could show you… is there some way for me to prove myself to you? To show that I can be benevolent?”

  Tzadkiel’s eyes gleam from under the hood. “You impress me, Crystal Dragon, with your words, but mostly with your purity of heart. However… there is one test I must administer unto you to test your worthiness of this great weapon.”

  “Anything,” I pledge.

  “Very well,” he says, flapping his wings and rising into the air. He then spreads his wings so each tip reaches the far walls of the cave-like room. “This is your test. I will be watching how you conduct yourself. …Close your eyes.”

  I obediently close them, waiting with baited breath for my ‘test.’ After a few seconds, I feel the rumble of Tzadkiel’s voice once more. “Open your eyes. React to the situation as you normally would. I will be watching.”