Song of the Dark Crystal #2

by J. M. Lee

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Penguin Young Readers Group

  An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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  TM and © 2017 The Jim Henson Company. JIM HENSON’s mark and logo, THE DARK CRYSTAL mark and logo, characters, and elements are trademarks of The Jim Henson Company. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Printed in the USA.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  Ebook ISBN 9780399539831

  Version_1

  CONTENTS

  Map

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Glossary

  Appendix

  To make a sound is to trouble the roots of silence.

  The Dark Crystal: The Novelization

  CHAPTER 1

  “This way. Almost there.”

  Kylan pointed to where the path forked. One way led back to the village behind them while the other twisted down and away, under arched branches and beyond. He followed the latter, trusting Naia to keep up. All around them, the air was full of morning song.

  The Stonewood girl was waiting for them at the very edge of the village, where the trail changed from a row of flat stones to dirt and moss. She was young, still without her wings, and perched atop one of the many gray rocks that populated the wood. Hopping down when they arrived, she grabbed Naia’s hand.

  “Naia, you’re awake! I’m Mythra. We met when you were asleep. Did you rest well? Is it true you fought skekMal? Kylan told me you did. And escaped from the Castle of the Crystal! That’s so amazing and brave!”

  Naia rubbed her cheek. She said nothing, but Kylan could tell that they shared thought. Their flight from the Skeksis in the Dark Wood had hardly felt amazing or brave. Really, they were just lucky to be alive, but there was no point in frightening the youngling.

  “We nearly trampled Mythra on the Landstrider when we found Stone-in-the-Wood last night,” Kylan explained. “She brought us to her home for you to recover.”

  “So . . . you know about the Skeksis?” Naia asked. “And you believe Rian’s stories, even though the Skeksis have told everyone he’s a lying traitor?”

  Mythra was already skipping down the path, disappearing into the curtains of hanging foliage. Her voice echoed back as they followed her.

  “Of course I believe Rian. He’s my brother!”

  Kylan followed the girl through the Dark Wood, losing track of the path after one too many twists. Was this where they had come through on their flight from the castle? He probably wouldn’t even know the place if he saw it. Mythra stopped when they reached a small clearing overgrown with shrubs.

  “Rian!” she called. “It’s me—I’ve brought the others I told you about. Gurjin’s sister, and her friend!”

  There was no one in sight, and Mythra tried Rian’s name again. Naia stepped forward when no one answered, ears twisting about and eyes sharp. When Mythra went to call a third time, Naia covered the younger girl’s mouth.

  “Shh,” she hissed. “Listen.”

  Kylan perked up his ears. Naia’s instincts in the wild were strong, crafted and honed from growing up in the Swamp of Sog, where everything from the trees to the mud could be a danger. Sure enough, when he held his breath and listened, he heard a far-off snap and crash! followed by curses in a Gelfling tongue.

  “Rian,” Mythra gasped.

  “This way!”

  Kylan and Mythra followed Naia as she darted into the wood, hand on the hilt of the knife that was sheathed on her belt. Kylan lost track of the clearing as they hurried through the trees, bounding over rocks and thorned shrubs.

  Another loud crash sent birds into flight as they mounted an outcrop of rocks. Below them, a green-furred beast with whorled horns and a clubbed tail grappled with something much smaller. When the horned creature reared and let out a broken roar, Kylan saw massive flat teeth—and under its hooved front legs, a Gelfling boy armed with a stick. Lying uselessly on the other side of the glade sat a spear, likely his usual weapon.

  “Rian!” Mythra cried.

  The boy rolled away, out from under the beast, looking for the one who had called him.

  “Mythra! Stay back! This horner has seen the Crystal!”

  “A darkened creature?” Kylan asked, heart still pounding from their flight. “Like the ruffnaw?”

  “And the Nebrie,” Naia agreed. “But . . .”

  The last time they had come across darkened creatures, Naia had been able to heal them with dreamfasting, pushing the darkness from their hearts. It was something Kylan had never seen before. But despite her remarkable ability, dreamfasting with beasts still meant connecting with the mind and the heart. After all she’d suffered through so recently, Kylan worried. It might be dangerous for Naia to try healing a darkened creature if she was not yet healed herself.

  The horner bucked, uprooting a sapling in warning. It would not be long before it tried to do the same to Rian. Kylan caught Naia’s sleeve as she readied for a fight.

  “Don’t push yourself,” he said. “Please. I know you want to fix it, but you shouldn’t hurt yourself in the process.”

  She grimaced and hopped up onto a rock and drew her dagger.

  “At least I can help get him out of there.”

  Before Kylan could stop her, she leaped, wings unfolding just enough to slow her fall as she landed between Rian and the green horner. The creature plowed its hooves into the earth again, swinging its head and narrowly missing the two Gelfling that stood before it.

  “I don’t need your help!” Rian shouted. Then he saw her clothing, her green skin and dark locs. “Wait, are you—”

  “Introductions later!”

  Naia and Rian dove to either side when the horner charged. Unlike the thrashing, maddened beasts Kylan had seen before, it did not seem wholly out of control. When the creature saw Naia, it paused before lowering its horns, almost as though it recognized her. It snorted, pawing the ground and unearthing rocks and roots.

  “Get out of here,” Naia ordered. “While I have
its attention!”

  “I said I don’t need your help!” Rian spat back, though he took the opportunity to move closer to his spear. “This one’s different than the others—I don’t know how, but it’s different!”

  Kylan’s fingertips hurt where he gripped the stone in front of him. Naia stepped steadily, drawing the horner’s red gaze away from Rian. If he went down to try to help, he would only get in the way. His fingers found the rope of his bola, and he pulled it from his belt.

  “I know you’re full of darkness now,” Naia said to the beast, holding out her empty hand. “But please, remember! Remember what you were before!”

  Rian reached his spear and with only a moment’s pause to aim, he threw it toward the beast. It sank into the horner’s exposed flank, but the beast barely reacted. It was fixed on Naia, and with thundering hooves, it charged. The breadth of its horns was so wide, there was no way she could escape in time and at such close range. Rian shouted after the horner in dismay, and Kylan let his bola loose. It nearly missed, bouncing off the horner’s back like a pebble.

  Naia didn’t need saving. As the horner neared, she sprang, grabbing one of the beast’s horns as it swung toward her. There she clung, stubborn eyes bright with determination while the horner wailed in anger. Kylan’s breath rushed out in relief just in time to be caught again. The horner was clever, even in its rage, and instead of being lost in confusion, it changed its attack. It sighted a tree and headed for it, angling its head to strike as soon as it was in range. If Naia dropped to the ground, she would be trampled, but if she didn’t get out of the way, she would soon be crushed between the horn and bark.

  “Naia,” Kylan shouted, because it was the only thing left he could do. “Naia, hurry!”

  She scrambled along the beast’s horn as the others watched. She had almost made it along the horn to the beast’s head when she slipped, her shoes sliding against the rough bone. She nearly lost her grip, dangling from the spiraled horn as it swung through the air and brambles toward the tree that would be the end of her.

  Something dark and serpentine shot out from under Naia’s hair, diving into the thick green mane at the nape of the horner’s neck. Startled, the horner jerked. Instead of striking the tree full-on, only the tip of its horn glanced off the trunk, throwing the beast off balance. Naia yelped and let go, flying through the air and tumbling into the brush. Kylan watched with her as the horner stumbled, nearly toppling, then screeched and thrashed.

  “A muski?” Mythra asked, eyes wide.

  The black eel that had come to Naia’s rescue darted in and out of the horner’s fur like a water serpent leaping through ocean waves. The horner threw itself against the tree, trying to squash the little flying eel, but Neech was too agile. Naia and Rian regrouped, readying their weapons, knowing it was only a matter of time before Neech’s distraction wore off. There was no way the little eel’s teeth, as sharp as they might be, could penetrate the horner’s thick hide.

  Just as Naia and Rian were about to renew their attack, the horner’s thrashing stopped. Its cries and bellowing ceased, and the glade was quiet as the great creature’s knees buckled and bowed. Then it fell, bloodshot eyes closing. At first Kylan thought it had passed on, but as Neech surfaced from its mane, he saw the beast’s side rise and fall. It was unconscious. He and Mythra climbed the rocky hill to meet the other two below.

  “What happened?” Kylan asked.

  Naia wiped her forehead and tossed her locs behind her shoulder.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it heard my plea without dreamfasting and let go of the darkness . . . I can only hope. Oh, Neech. To the rescue again. Did you find a snack in there?”

  The flying eel drifted through the air and alighted on Naia’s shoulder. A black, arthropodic leg stuck out of the eel’s weasel-like mouth, still twitching. Kylan didn’t want to know how many other bugs lived within the horner’s dense coat. With a last few crunches, Neech finished his victory treat with an audible gulp.

  “You’re Naia. Gurjin’s twin.”

  The hardened voice was Rian’s. He was tall for a Gelfling, with olive skin and dark eyes. His thick dark brown hair was tousled and wild, broken by a single streak of blue above his right eye. His face was young and kind, though his eyes were weary and his lips were pressed in a tired line.

  “And you’re Rian,” Naia said.

  They had heard his name so often since they had begun their journey. In fact, at many times, his name was almost all they’d had for guidance. To finally meet him in person had seemed impossible, yet here they were.

  “Another darkened horner!” he said. “They dig where the Crystal’s veins are buried, and they’re too dim-witted to look away when they uncover it.”

  “It was certainly darkened, but something felt different,” Kylan said.

  Naia agreed.

  “It was focused. Like it recognized Rian and me . . .”

  Rian watched the sleeping horner, brow drawn tight.

  “If you’ve seen the darkened creatures, then the darkness is spreading. Maybe it’s changing, too. Just last season we saw our first glimpse of it in the wood. At this rate it won’t be long before all of Thra is gazing into the shadows and turning on itself.”

  Rian shook the thought off and pulled his spear from the poor horner’s hide. Mythra climbed up with a bundle of forest moss and pressed it against the bleeding wound as Rian hopped down.

  “You look just like Gurjin . . . Is he with you?”

  “He didn’t make it,” Naia said flatly, as if to deliver the sad news as quickly as possible and be done with it. Maybe it was for the best. Kylan had no idea what to say to her about it, and he imagined Rian would feel even more at a loss if they dwelled on it too long. “This is Kylan, a song teller of the Spriton clan. We’re here to . . .”

  No one wanted to say what needed to be said next, though it was the reason they were meeting here so secretly. The reason neither Gurjin nor the Vapran princess who had also helped them was here with them. Kylan chewed on his lip, pushing back the feelings of remorse over their friends who hadn’t escaped.

  “We’re here to figure out what to do about the Skeksis!”

  The bright voice came from above. Mythra finished dressing the horner’s wound and climbed down. She pushed Rian and Naia together, close enough that they could clasp hands.

  “You two should dreamfast. Then we can make a plan.”

  Rian’s ears flattened a little, though he wiped his palm off on his tunic in preparation. He held it out in offer, neither eager nor reluctant.

  “She’s right. It is the fastest way.”

  Kylan watched Naia, feeling a pinch of protectiveness. If she had not felt well enough to dreamfast with the horner, was she really in a safe place to open her heart to another Gelfling, to share what had broken it? They had heard Rian’s name many times, and sought him for days, but he was still a stranger. An ally, but not a friend.

  When Naia glanced at Kylan in hesitation, that was all he needed to know. He stepped forward and offered his own hand.

  “Naia’s heart is broken now,” he said. “But I was there, and she told me what she saw. I can’t give you her memories, but I can give you mine and my memory of her tale.”

  “Very well,” Rian said.

  He didn’t seem to care either way, all action and little emotion. Kylan reminded himself that Rian had gone through his own trials since his escape from the Skeksis—trials Kylan was likely about to be witness to himself.

  He braced himself. They grasped hands, and the dreamfast began.

  CHAPTER 2

  Dreamfasting was like diving into a pool of water without knowing its depth or what might wait below. Kylan remained at the surface at first, sensing Rian’s memories and knowing at the same time Rian could peek into his. It was often disorienting in the beginning, to dreamfast with someone for the first time. Even when
they had agreed to dreamfast, there were still so many thoughts and visions, protective barriers and waves of wariness.

  After a moment the waves calmed, and Rian began. His mental voice sounded far away and inside Kylan’s mind all at once.

  I was a soldier, like my father . . .

  The vivid image that came first was of the Castle of the Crystal, obsidian and magnificent, towering over the Dark Wood like a claw and crown. Rian’s memory of the castle was powerful and detailed. He knew every spacious hall and stately room, had traveled and patrolled every spiraling passageway. The only chamber he had not seen was the center pavilion, forbidden to the Gelfling guards and servants. Only the Skeksis Lords, the raptorial velvet-cloaked keepers of the castle, were allowed to enter that place. There, they and they alone communed with the Heart of Thra—the heart of the world. After they heard Thra’s song, they entered its words in tomes and sent out orders to the maudra of each of the Gelfling clans. So the will of Thra was passed on.

  Or so it seemed. Kylan already knew the terrible secret the Skeksis kept. He had seen its evidence himself and in dreamfast with Naia after the nightmare they had survived. Now he waited to see it as Rian had.

  Our friends went missing, one by one. When we asked the Skeksis, they paid no heed. Then they called for Mira . . .

  Kylan saw a flash of a Gelfling girl, all winks and tall tales. Rian walked with her, back to the castle after an evening patrolling the wood that bordered the grounds. In Rian’s hand, hidden in his uniform cloak, was a glowing bellflower. He would give it to Mira when they said good night. He would tell her that even though they had been on duty, he had enjoyed their time together, and perhaps they could enjoy time together some other evening . . .

  Two Skeksis were waiting at the castle, the decorated Chamberlain and the Scientist, Lord skekTek, a shrewd, tendony beast with a metal-and-glass eye. They crowded around Mira, the Chamberlain beckoning her for official business.

  “Vapra, are you? Oh yes, lovely Silverling . . . come for orders . . .”