by Tom Larcombe
Crystal Cache
Crow Hill #2
By: Tom Larcombe
Text copyright © 2017, Tom Larcombe
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, businesses, places, and events
are the products of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
or actual events is purely coincidental.
The town of Crystal Beach, Colorado does not exist except in the imagination of the author and the pages of this book.
Find Tom's other stories on his Amazon Author Page:
Tom Larcombe's Amazon Author Page
* * *
Chapter 1
Michael Hart sent a fragment of his consciousness skittering about the house. It explored all the nooks and crannies a person couldn't get into, seeking the source of power for the ward that kept him trapped in a twenty-five mile radius. When he'd exhausted all of the areas he could find, the fragment rejoined the rest of him.
“That's the third time I've checked in here, Rynn. It's not in the house. It's not in the mine offices either, I've checked those repeatedly as well,” he said.
“You're sure it can't be in the mine itself?” she replied.
“I'm positive. The ground, especially the raw energy in the crystals there, would keep it from working properly.”
“So what's that leave us with? You're sure it's centered on the house?”
“As best as I could tell it's within a quarter mile of the house. I came up with slightly different measurements each time I tried to pinpoint the center of the ward. I always assumed the source was in the house or offices and I just didn't know what it was. I would've had a hard time explaining to my guards what I was doing if I started looking for it.”
“So, it could be somewhere else as long as it's close by. Another building or out of doors someplace?”
Michael shrugged.
“There aren't any other buildings I haven't checked that are close enough, except my garden shed, and I'm pretty sure a crystal holding a spell of that strength would glow. I haven't seen any glows outside at night that I couldn't account for.”
Rynn started walking for the back door and Michael followed.
“Well, let's assume that they put it on land associated with the mine,” she said. “What are the boundaries on it?”
“The parcel of land we're on starts at the road in front of the house. It's roughly a square with about forty acres in it. We've got most of the cliff and a little bit on the other side, and we run well back into the fields behind the house and mine.”
“So what parts of that are within a quarter mile?”
“All of the improved areas: house, office, mine, gardens. Plus most of the cliff and part of the fields out beyond the mines.”
Rynn went through the door. Michael stepped onto the back porch behind her and found Calvin staring at him.
“Caw!”
“What Calvin? I already fed you today,” Michael said.
Calvin stared straight into Michael's eyes.
“Caw!”
“I wish I knew what he wanted.”
“Ask him?” Rynn said.
“What do you want Calvin? Can you tell me?”
Calvin took wing off the porch rail and flew towards the trees on the portion of the cliff closest to the house.
“I guess it wasn't that important,” Michael said. “Now what about the cache? Have you had any luck finding it?”
“No, I remember you had to go into the mine and across the stream, but there are so many tunnels back there that I can't remember the whole path.”
“Maybe I should help you for a while. Take a break from looking for the source of the ward. I'm stumped at this point, so...”
“I'd love your company, and I was going to go back to looking soon, so why not?”
Michael reached into the kitchen and grabbed the large sun crystal he kept next to the door.
“Let's go,” he said.
Out of the corner of his eye Michael saw Calvin land on a pine tree at the base of the cliff. Calvin stared at him for a moment and he heard the crow cawing again. Michael shook his head.
Didn't Gerry say something about my being able to communicate with Calvin? he thought. As soon as I have some time I should work on that. It'd be so much easier if he could just tell me what he wanted.
Michael followed Rynn into the mine and the sun crystal came to life, illuminating the tunnel in a six foot radius around them.
* * *
Rynn led the way through the tunnels. The walls were dry near the entry, but as they approached the stream drips of water ran down the walls and off the roof, occasionally striking one of them.
“Alright, here's the stream,” Rynn said. “I know we crossed it and went into that tunnel.”
She pointed towards the central tunnel of three on the other side of the stream.
“But after that, I'm not so sure any more. I thought there was a room with a small pond and the cache was located off of it, but I couldn't find a room like that when I was searching yesterday.”
“I might be able to help more than I thought then,” Michael said. “I should be able to find a pond easily if there's one there. Was the water still or flowing?”
“The pond was still. I was hoping you could help, but I didn't want to interrupt your search for the ward crystal.”
“You should've just asked. I would've been happy to take a break and help you look.”
“Well, now I know. It's just been so long that I'm not sure if what I remember about you is true or if it's embellishments that I added to my memories of you.”
“I understand. Although with what you've told me since you got here, I've already had to reevaluate what I know about you. On top of wondering how accurate my memories of you are. Now, give me a minute and I'll see what I can do about finding the pond.”
Michael pulled a smaller crystal from his pocket. It was fully charged and the only magic on it was the ward he'd placed to keep it from draining off its energy. He dipped his finger in the stream and wet one end of the crystal, then focused on it. In his mind he held a picture of a still, underground pond in a dark room, then transferred the essence of that picture to the drop of water he'd placed on the crystal.
He imposed his will on the energy stored in the crystal.
Like to like, he thought. Guide me to what I've shown you the essence of.
The end of the smaller crystal flared to life with a blue-green glow. He moved his hand around, changing the direction of the crystal. It glowed strongest while pointing at the tunnel Rynn had mentioned, but it also glowed when pointed in two other directions.
“It looks like there's more than one pond down here,” he said. “But the closest one is in the tunnel you specified.”
Michael carefully made his way across the stream, using several wet rocks as stepping stones. Then he stepped off towards the middle tunnel. Rynn was right behind him as he entered it.
“Here, take the sun crystal,” he said. “Stay back a few feet so I can see this one better.”
Rynn paused as Michael walked down the tunnel, then followed when he was at the edge of the pool of sunlight. At the first intersection, he continued straight on, but when they came to a turn in the tunnel, he stopped.
“According to this, we need to keep going straight. But the tunnel stops here. Do you remember if this tunnel turns again soon?”
She shook her head.
“No, I don't know. It's a labyrinth down here. I can't keep all the tunnels straight in my head and when I tried to make a map, I kept messing it up, showing tunnels that intersecte
d where they don't.”
“That's fine. We'll follow it for a bit and see where it goes.”
Three turns later they were still moving farther away. The light on his location crystal dimmed more with each turn.
“We'll go back to the stream, maybe one of the other tunnels gets us there,” he said.
Another half hour of searching revealed that the other tunnels didn't even come as close as the first one they'd tried did. Michael led them back to the closest point to the pond as indicated by his smaller crystal.
“My locator spell isn't going to last much longer. But I'll try probing the rock, maybe there's a blocked off tunnel here.”
Michael concentrated and sent a fragment of his consciousness into the rock wall in front of him. That was his intent at least. After a moment, he stopped and shook his head.
“It isn't there,” he said.
“The pond isn't there? What's your spell showing then?”
“No. The wall isn't there.”
Michael pushed his hand out. It passed right through what looked, and had felt, like a rock wall of the tunnel. He beckoned to Rynn to join him, then stepped the rest of the way through.
He turned and, from this side, the illusion wasn't visible, it was just an intersection in the tunnel. As he watched, Rynn scrunched her eyes shut and stepped forward. When she opened them again she was next to him.
“I can't believe my dad did that,” she said. “Why would he put up an illusion and how did he get it to last so long?”
“I'd guess he was trying to protect the cache. As to how it lasted this long? This hill is packed with crystals, all of them we pull out are filled with energy. He probably just connected his spell to the energy in the hill to keep it powered. Gerry tells me we're over intersecting ley lines here, so there's always a lot of power available.”
Rynn shook her head.
“I hope the cache is still intact,” she said. “It's been a long time.”
“If he used illusions to guard it, I imagine he was careful when he made the cache itself also.”
Michael turned and followed his fading locator spell down the tunnel. After about fifty feet, the tunnel opened out to a large room. The center of the room was filled by a pond, with a rock jutting out of the very middle of it.
“Does this look familiar?” he asked.
“Yes, it does. A little anyhow. That rock wasn't there before and I'd swear that the pond went right up to the far wall back then. The door to the cache should be in the far wall.”
They edged around the pond towards the far side. The far wall was blank with no sign of a door. This time Michael immediately probed it.
“Not here,” he said. “That's solid rock for at least twenty feet back.”
“I can't believe it. How would you hide a huge room? I remember it as huge at least, but I was a lot smaller then.”
“You said the rock wasn't in the pond before, right? Lets go take a look, as long as the pond isn't too deep anyhow.”
“I remember it as knee deep on dad, so it should be fine.”
They waded out to the rock. It was a boulder, larger than the size of a man. There was a flat spot on top of it, with two indentations. Michael peered closer.
The indentations were identical stretched ovals. Each had a different pattern etched in its bottom.
“Look here, I recognize these symbols,” he said.
Rynn brought the sun crystal down and looked closer.
“They're runes,” she said. “It looks like one's set in a binding ward and the second in an alteration ward.
“A lock maybe?” Michael asked.
“The binding is probably a lock, but I think that using the alteration ward first would bring the door back to be unlocked.”
“So, what you're saying is we need a pair of keys to get into the cache?”
“I think so,” Rynn said.
“What keys though? Do we just use the runes, maybe on a crystal or something?”
“I don't know. I don't think that would work.”
She ran her fingers around the elongated ovals.
“I think,” she said, “that the keys are going to be something physical, something in this shape with the runes on them.”
“Great, so we found the cache, or at least where it's supposed to be, but we can't do anything more without the keys?”
“We could try to finesse the spells.”
“Your dad laid these down, right?”
Rynn nodded.
“I don't think I want to mess around with any spells laid down by Merlin,” Michael said. “He's a great guy, from what I've seen, but I think trying to do a workaround on his spells might be a bit beyond me.”
“There is that,” Rynn said. “I don't want to either. He's got a habit of booby trapping things he doesn't want messed with.”
Michael shuddered at the thought.
“Well then, I guess we'll just have to find the keys if we want to get into the cache. Any ideas?”
“Not offhand, well, except for one. I can do a divination spell to get us pointed in the right direction, hopefully anyhow.”
Michael sighed.
“I don't suppose you can contact your dad and just ask?”
“I could, but I'd really rather not. I don't have enough power to do it unless I do something I'd rather not,” Rynn replied.
“So, divination? We're down to that?”
“You sound just like my dad. Anytime divination comes up, in any sort of context, he feels the need to let the world know that he doesn't think too highly of it.”
“I agree with him. If it gave any sort of useful information I'd be all over it, but it's always riddles, hints, and clues. Sometimes it's so obscure that I can't even figure out how to tie what it reveals in to the original question.”
“Well, I'm not fond of it either, but do you have a better idea?”
“No,” Michael said, sounding defeated.
“Then let's go and I'll see what I can do to get us some information about it.”
* * *
Michael squinted as he left the cave. The sun was bright and there were no clouds in the sky.
“I need to check on the garden,” he said. “The fae are great on helping it out, but there's only so much that magic can do to keep plants healthy.”
“While you do that, I'll see what I can do about getting some information on the keys. I'll probably do the spell itself this afternoon, but you'll need to keep the kids occupied so they don't disrupt me.”
Michael smiled.
It's hard to believe just how much I enjoy having all these kids around, he thought. Even so, the house is badly crowded. I need to decide what to do about that. I don't want to kick anyone out, but it might come to that.
“No problem at all. I'll take them down to the lake again or something.”
Rynn strode off towards the house while Michael walked over to the garden. He sat down on a rock and sent his senses into the soil beneath the plants.
They've got all the nutrients they need, but it's a bit dry down there. I'll need to water today. Let's see how Jeff's section is doing.
He chuckled when he noted that the fae, while still increasing the yield on his own gardens, had been very busy with Jeff's. Things that had been seedlings less than a week earlier were at almost full growth, ready to start fruiting. The quick yielding plants they'd selected for Jeff to plant first were already due for harvest.
I'll have to let Jeff know he can start harvesting, Michael thought.
He stood and got the hose.
Time to practice with my Water Magic again. After so many years without it I need to work on the more delicate things. Earth tends towards brute force, not delicacy, so I've fallen out of practice with it. I think reversing some water flow, sending it out of the stream and through the hose to the garden would be a good way to start. I'll make sure it mists out so I don't compact the soil also.
* * *
After watering both Jeff's and hi
s own gardens, Michael rummaged through the shed.
I know I've got those in here somewhere. I haven't used them in a couple of years though, so they're probably in back.
A few minutes later he triumphantly exited the shed carrying two fishing rods.
Maybe the old stick and string for the others. I've got a bunch of fish hooks in my tackle box, so they can have a chance to fish also if they want.
He went down to the basement and found that Eugene's idea for getting everyone some more room had changed the area significantly. Where there was once a long hallway with doors to either side, there was now an open room at the base of the stairs. The hallway was much shorter, exiting the other side of the room, and now there were only three doors.
The kids were in the new room along with Bobby and Rynn.
“Bobby knows the basics for Spirit magic,” Eugene said.
Michael shook his head for a moment. He still wasn't used to the way Eugene spoke. Although the words seemed to come from his mouth, his throat didn't move when he spoke.
“That's great Eugene. I think we have all your skills covered then. Bobby for Spirit, Rynn for Fire, and me for devices.”
Eugene nodded and turned back to Bobby. Michael stopped and listened to Rynn for a moment. She was teaching Sean and Randall some of the very basics of magic. Apparently Cindy and Andi were sitting in for the recap.
He continued into the small hallway. There were two doors on the right and one on the left. He opened the single door and saw that Eugene had consolidated a couple of the rooms. Now there was a set of bunk beds on one side and a single cot on the other. The desk and chair were located between them. It was still tight, but there was more room to move around than there had been when they were single rooms.
The other side of the hallway had two of the single rooms. They looked nearly identical to how they had before, but the furniture looked to be in better shape, and the rooms were clean.
He went back out to where everyone was and cleared his throat.
“Can I interrupt for a minute?” he asked.