Crystal Cache (Crow Hill Book 2)

by Tom Larcombe

  That's a wonderful idea. I'd already thought about it, but Anguis is yours not mine.

  Anguis is his own, Gudrun. But he is very fond of you, moreso than of me.

  Dad! Stop calling me that, and you know that Anguis is your friend as much as mine. He's used to being a babysitter for me. I'm sure that colors his impressions of me quite a bit.

  Rynn could picture the smile on her father's face when she heard his reply.

  What, can't a father call his daughter by her given— Wait, there's someone nearby. For now I need to go, there's much afoot down here and it may well affect you also. Expect a messenger about it sometime soon.

  A what? Rynn asked, but Merlin had already broken the connection.

  She woke, disoriented from the dreams and the mental communication. It was still dark out, but she was sure that she wouldn't make it back to sleep. Instead she sat down and arranged her thoughts. She knew right where her target was and he was even more powerful than she was at mental communication. They knew each other well since he'd been with her when she was an infant and all the way through her childhood until she left for school.

  Anguis? she sent towards the home she'd grown up in.

  That home was in the high mountains of Colorado, far closer to her than her father. The reply was nearly instantaneous and sounded very happy to hear from her.

  Rynn? Is that you?

  Anguis, yes it is. Would you like to come join me?

  A dejected feeling flowed through their link.

  I'd love to, but I can't. Merlin set me the task of guarding the house while all of you were gone.

  He's the one that suggested I bring you here. So I guess you've got his permission to leave off guarding the house.

  Oh good, it's very boring here when no-one's around. What do you need me for?

  She paused for a moment, trying to decide how best to phrase her response.

  Rynn? Are you blushing through our link? Anguis asked.

  I suppose I am. I have a man, one that I think may be my mate. I need to know how he'll react to a dragon and his response to you will tell me a great deal about how he'll react when he finds out that I'm one also.

  How wonderful! It's past time for you to mate. Then I'll have more children to play with... I mean guard, more children to guard.

  Come to me Anguis. It's been far too long since I've seen you.

  There was a brief pause before she was answered.

  I think it will take me an hour or so to get to you, he said.

  Then I'll see you in an hour.

  She went out into the back yard and waited. Sitting on Michael's stone, the one from where he tended his garden, she watched as the sky to the east slowly lightened.

  Anguis will be here long before the kids are back from Anne's. I wonder if I should have him hide himself? I know he loves children, wizard children even more than others. We've got plenty of those around here. No, he's not going to hide himself. He's going to be accepted for who and what he is, I'll make sure of that. He deserves that and so much more. Poor Anguis, stuck all alone for these past few weeks; he hates that.

  Rynn's eyes went to the sky when she felt a familiar presence growing closer. She smiled when she saw the silver form approaching through the sky.

  Anguis landed on the ground in front of her softly. He lengthened his neck as he approached her, then wrapped his neck around her in the hug he'd developed a long time ago, just to cheer her up.

  “Rynn, I have missed you,” the silver-colored dragon said, the tiniest hint of sibilance in his voice.

  “Anguis, I'm sorry that I haven't seen you in so long. I was teaching and couldn't leave, then everything fell apart and getting my students here took so much effort that I didn't want to leave.”

  “You have students here with you?” Anguis asked, “Are they children?”

  Rynn's smile grew.

  I knew he'd like that part.

  “Yes, they are children. Some at the age where they resent being thought of that way, but others much younger.”

  “Good, it's been too long since I've had children around me.”

  The dragon glanced back at his body, roughly the size of a horse when his wings were retracted.

  “Am I too large to play with them now?” he asked sadly.

  “No Anguis, you may need to be careful but I trust you to keep them safe. They might be frightened of you at first, but they'll come around.”

  The smile returned to the dragon's face. It might have scared some people, but Rynn had grown up with Anguis, she knew the smile for what it was. She quickly wrapped her arms around his body just below his elongated neck.

  “I'm glad, I love children,” he said.

  “I know you do. Are you hungry?”

  The dragon nodded emphatically.

  “Do you think you can still carry me? I saw some spots up top of that cliff where people partied and didn't get rid of their cans.”

  “Aluminum? Not my favorite, but it will do. I'm sure I can carry you, especially if you help like you used to.”

  Anguis's neck uncoiled from around Rynn, retracting to its normal size. He gestured to his back with his head.

  “Get on, we'll find out.”

  Rynn leapt lightly onto Anguis' back, all her cares forgotten for the moment in the presence of her oldest friend. The dragon launched itself skywards, Rynn's magic causing the air to support her weight and help her stay astride with less effort from him. The two headed up over the cliff, Rynn mentally guiding Anguis towards the metals she'd seen.

  * * *

  * * *

  Chapter 19

  Michael woke to the sound of someone knocking at the door downstairs. He rolled out of bed like a shot before realizing what the noise was that had woken him.

  He shook his head groggily and pulled on a pair of pants, grabbed a shirt, then headed downstairs. Anne was outside, with the children she'd taken to her place the day before.

  “I'm sorry,” Michael said, opening the door, “I was still in bed. I'm surprised Rynn didn't get the door though. Maybe she was exhausted too, she was still up when I went to sleep.”

  Anne smiled.

  “That's okay Michael,” Anne said. “I've only been out here a couple of minutes. From what Bobby told me I imagine being in a battle is exhausting.”

  Michael shook his head, not wanting to remember the visuals that her comment brought to mind.

  “It's not just that, but... I'm not going to go into it. Thank you for watching the kids.”

  “You're welcome, it was no problem at all. Jeff and the kids expanded his garden patch. He's thinking about trying to grow more than we need and trade some of it or something like that. I don't know if he'll be able to manage it, but it's so nice seeing him do something productive.”

  Michael closed his eyes and squinted, trying to finish waking up.

  “Well, thank you anyhow. If you or the kids need anything, just let us know and we'll see what we can do,” he said.

  She smiled again and waved before turning and heading back down the hill. Michael gestured the children into the house.

  “Don't be too loud. I think Rynn's still asleep.”

  “That's okay,” Sean said, “Randall and I were up late with Jeff, we're going to go take a nap if you don't mind.”

  “That's fine. I may end up taking one later on today too. Let me just check on Eugene first though.”

  “You found him? Andi too?” Cindy asked.

  Michael nodded.

  “Yes, doing something incredibly stupid that almost got them killed.”

  At the boys' perked up interest Michael turned to them.

  “Don't think that what they did was a good thing, or cool, or anything. It wasn't and because of it Rynn had to leave before the fight was over. It's possible that more people died because of that. I don't know when the men who were killed got shot, but...”

  Randall and Sean both took on a very serious look.

  “People died?”
<
br />   “Didn't you hear all the gunshots? What did you think was happening? People were trying to kill each other up here yesterday and Andi and Eugene almost died too. We lost four defenders here I think, and a lot of raiders were killed too.”

  “Good,” Sean said vehemently, “I mean, not good that our people died, but that you killed a lot of the raiders.”

  Michael shook his head wearily, unwilling to deal with that attitude at the moment.

  “Let me check on Eugene, then you can go down and nap if he's okay.”

  He turned and headed down the stairs. Eugene was still out cold, snoring away, when he checked, so he motioned the younger boys downstairs.

  “Go ahead and nap. I'm going to wake Rynn, she and I have a lot to do today.”

  Randall and Sean slid into their beds and were asleep in minutes. Michael waited until they were sleeping then went back upstairs. He knocked lightly on Rynn's door and, when there was no answer, opened it a crack and peeked in.

  She's not in bed, and it looks like she was tossing and turning when she was there. The covers and sheets are all twisted and turned. Maybe she's down with Andi.

  Michael closed the door and headed downstairs. He tapped on the door to the girls room down there, but there was no answer. Cindy had settled into a chair in the living room, so he went up there.

  “Would you see if Rynn is in with Andi please? I thought she was here, but she isn't in her room.”

  Cindy sighed heavily, but stood. Michael was a tad sharp, noticing her hesitancy.

  “If that's too much to ask, I can just barge in down there,” he said.

  Cindy's face fell, as though she were about to start crying.

  “It isn't that. I can feel them,” she said.

  “Them?”

  “Those men you said died, I can feel them, or their deaths, or something. My teeth feel like they're about to vibrate out of my head and my stomach is churning.”

  Crap, I didn't warn Rynn that healers need their shields even stronger than anyone else. Maybe I can help.

  “Did Rynn go over shields with you?” he asked.

  Cindy nodded.

  “Just an overview or intensive?”

  “Enough that I can shield at least.”

  “Okay, I know what the problem is. Would you like me to help?” Michael asked.

  “Could you? Please?”

  He nodded, then sat her back down. He sat down himself as well.

  “I'm going to shield you with a more advanced version that will help. I'll hand it off to you so it doesn't keep draining me, but sometime soon we'll go over the more advanced shielding a healer needs to know to avoid things like this.”

  “Thank you, I thought I was going crazy.”

  “No, you're actually feeling the energy generated by the deaths. It fades after a few days, but in the meanwhile...”

  He shook his head.

  “Let's just get you shielded.”

  He reached out a fragment of his awareness and used it to spin a shield that would protect her from the energies he'd told her about. Then he attached the shield to Cindy herself, so she'd provide the energy to keep it up.

  “Just concentrate on letting go of the shield if it drains you too much. Otherwise in a day or two you can let it go and you should be fine.”

  “Thank you so much, let me go see if Rynn is downstairs.”

  A minute later Cindy came back up.

  “She isn't down there, but Andi has these horrible burns. I couldn't see them, but I could sense them on her chest.”

  “Yes, she does. Like I told the boys, she almost got herself killed. Rynn had to restart her heart. The burns are from the electricity she used to do that.”

  Cindy's eyes went wide.

  “Oh...” she said.

  “We'll heal the burns after Andi gets up, it'll take a couple of days to get all of them, but we'll do it. The other aches and pains she feels we will not heal. I want her to learn that going off half-cocked like that could get her killed, so she'll have to heal those naturally. If you can't resist healing those, and I know some healers can't, then just stay away from her until she feels better.”

  “Uhhh...” Cindy said.

  “Likewise, Eugene will not have his aches and pains healed, they'll heal naturally. Same reason. Do you understand me?”

  “Yeah, but isn't that a bit harsh?”

  “You were there when I told the boys that Rynn had to leave the battle to save those two. I think they really need to learn a lesson and I don't know of a better way for them to do so, do you? They already ignored Rynn and I when we told them we didn't want them fighting so they're not likely to listen, now are they?”

  “Okay, okay, I understand. I don't like it, but I get it.”

  “I don't like it either, but I can't think of another way to get it across to them. I feel their pain too, you know? But I've learned to lock other people's pain away when necessary.”

  “I guess I get to learn that too, eh?”

  Michael nodded.

  “Sadly enough, yes. Now I have to go try to find Rynn. I thought she was planning on staying here when I went to bed last—”

  Michael felt Calvin urgently trying to talk to him and opened his mind. Almost as though he were seeing through Calvin's eyes, Michael saw Rynn, with a dragon about to attack her. From what Calvin showed him he recognized the area right behind the house and went racing off through the kitchen, Cindy following along. He slammed through the back door and skidded to a halt on the steps.

  What Calvin had shown him was accurate, but hadn't included the look on Rynn's face. She obviously saw the dragon, it was right in front of her, even right on top of her, but she had a smile on her face.

  The dragon, a silver one the size of a horse, reared up on its hind legs and wrapped its front legs around Rynn, who started laughing. When she heard the door crash open, she looked over at Michael and her face grew more serious.

  “Michael, what's wrong?” Rynn said.

  “Umm....” Michael said. “I couldn't find you? Then Calvin showed me a picture that looked like a dragon was attacking you. It wasn't though, was it?”

  “No Michael. This is my oldest friend. His name is Anguis. Anguis, meet Michael.”

  The dragon turned and went back down on all fours. His silvery head looked at Michael, then cocked to one side.

  “Michael, pleassed to meet you,” the dragon said, a hint of sibilance to his voice.

  Michael took a deep breath, stepped down off the porch and walked over to the dragon. He held out his hand.

  “Anguis was it? The pleasure is mine. Any friend of Rynn's is a friend of mine, if they so desire.”

  The dragon looked surprised, but raised his claw and placed it in, or more properly around, Michael's hand. They shook, the dragon being careful of the pressure he could apply, then Anguis lowered his claw.

  “And you were worried,” Anguis said, directing his words at Rynn.

  She shrugged.

  “About what?” Michael asked.

  “She worried about how you would react to me,” Anguis replied

  “Trust me, I've seen stranger creatures around here recently. I was, at least, fairly certain that dragons existed. I always thought the little Fae were just stories though.”

  “The Fae are here?” Anguis said, “How wonderful. I've not seen many of them recently.”

  “Oh yes,” Michael said, “and there appears to be someone or something in my mine as well. I've no idea what that is, but it's paying rent of a sorts. It left two of the largest crystals I've seen in the mouth of the mine for me.”

  “There's a Dverger here too?” Anguis asked.

  “A what?” Michael replied.

  “A Dverger, a delving sort of Fae.”

  “It might be, I haven't seen it yet. I've just seen the crystals and heard the sounds of a pickaxe deep in the mine.”

  Anguis nodded, the motion looking strangely human-like.

  “That sounds like them. They
don't actually need to use a pickaxe, but might well make the sound to warn you that they were there.”

  Michael shook his head again, wondering if maybe he were still asleep and his mind had finally snapped. He looked over at Rynn, who was grinning happily.

  “Why are you so happy?” he asked grumpily.

  “I was worried about how you might react to Anguis, but it looks like you two are getting along just fine.”

  “Assuming I'm actually awake and not trapped in some crazy dream,” Michael muttered.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.”

  “He said something about being trapped in a crazy dream,” Anguis corrected.

  Calvin chose that moment to start flying in circles overhead, cawing madly as he did so. Michael sank his head into his hands.

  Me and my big mouth. I need to be more careful of what I wish for. I wanted more excitement. I wanted to have more people around. Now look what I've got.

  Calvin was sending again, another image of the little nightlights adorning one of the trees up on the cliff.

  Calvin, I don't know that this is the best time for this. If it isn't your home, why did you put the nightlights on it? Michael sent.

  A picture of Michael's own face flashed into his mind.

  Because of me? I don't understand, he sent.

  Calvin's circle tightened until he was definitely circling only Anguis. The dragon yawned, his jaw cracking, then spoke.

  “He says you've got it all wrong, that you wanted to find that tree. It's something you've been looking for, for a long time now,” Anguis said.

  That I've been looking for a long time. The only thing I've been looking for is the ward that keeps me trapped here.

  Calvin cawed excitedly and came down in a screaming dive. Michael put his arm up at the last moment and the crow landed heavily on it. Calvin then turned to face the cliff and cawed.

  “You know where the ward is Calvin?”

  “Caw, caw!”

  “It's where you're looking right now? And you marked the tree with the nightlights so I'd know which one it was?”