by Yajat Sharma
“You need to remember that this is an active volcano. The altar is at the heart of the volcano. As soon as you remove the piece of the Crown from the altar, the volcano will erupt. So, do not waste a second after grabbing the piece.”
The Scavenger led the way to the volcano, cautioning the children to be careful. As they walked, Daniel remembered the Tiger’s Hide.
“Who has the Tiger’s Hide?” Daniel asked.
“Me.” The Scavenger pulled out the hide from his shirt.
The Scavenger handed each of them a rope with a hook attached to its end.
He swung the rope and threw it high. The hook caught in a crack near a cliff. The Scavenger pulled it to make sure it was taut and then started climbing. The children followed.
They climbed from cliff to cliff. Soon, they reached around the crater. The Scavenger muttered a spell and announced, “The shield is ready.”
The Scavenger jumped into the volcano. The others followed without any discomfort from the red heat oozing from all around them.
They saw a raised platform in the middle of the fire-breathing crag. It was the Altar of Arcane.
And, as usual, just when they were about to reach the altar, a voice reverberated, “Travellers, halt!”
The Scavenger stopped in his tracks and shouted, “Who are you?”
“I am the guardian of the third piece of the Arcane Crown. My name is Fire Skull.”
“But I have never heard of you before.”
“You were not supposed to either. I have remained a secret for centuries. But I know you. You are the Scavenger, the legendary man that Arcane talked about.”
“You are right. And these are the prophesied children. We need to get the third piece.”
“And why?”
“To complete the Crown, of course.”
“And you think I will give you the piece without putting up obstacles?”
“Well… yes.”
“Then go on,” Fire Skull said.
The Scavenger looked back at the bewildered children, beckoning them to follow. They reached without any hurdles. The Scavenger bowed to the Altar in respect and then looked at the scroll lying there. Something was shining inside the scroll. Daniel realized that it was the third piece of the Arcane Crown.
The Scavenger went to grab it. But the piece would not budge.
The volcano shook.
“HAH! I knew you were fakes. You haven’t got the Tiger’s Hide, the crucial step to get the piece from the Altar!”
The Scavenger cursed. “I forgot to use the Hide!” He pulled it out and put it on the Altar. This time, when he tried to get the scroll, it did come.
The Fire Skull spoke sadly, “I realize you are the real ones, but it’s too late. The volcano is about to erupt.”
The Scavenger separated the piece from the scroll and put the scroll in his pocket. Just as he was about to hide the piece, everything froze around him and time stood still.
Give me the piece.
Everyone was able to recognize the voice. It was the characteristic evil tone of the Death Lord.
There is no escape. My powers have frozen the time. If you give me the third piece, I will make a portal for you to escape. You and I both know that you cannot leave this volcano without my help.
“You are lying! You will make us the wrong portal!”
I won’t. Do not test my patience. Freezing time is not easy. It will only last a few seconds more. Swear a Blood Oath! Now!
“Don’t give him the piece! We will fight till our last breath!” Matt yelled defiantly.
But the Scavenger was a warrior. He was trained to think logically, not emotionally, and the facts were almost screaming that he had no choice. The Scavenger instinctively raised the hand that held the piece and shouted, “I take a Blood Oath that I will give you the third piece once you open the portal first!”
The Scavenger pulled out a knife and cut his palm. A drop of blood fell out.
Deal
A drop of black blood fell out of the wall, touching the Scavenger’s blood on the ground. The ground shook and a black swirling vortex opened in front of them.
The Scavenger and the children ran for it.
Time started moving again, the lava flowed freely, and the volcano began erupting vigorously.
The Scavenger threw the piece towards the walls.
A cloaked hand snatched it.
As they disappeared into the portal, they heard The Death Lord shouting, Wait! Give me the scroll!
The Scavenger grinned as he entered the portal. “That was not part of the Blood Oath!”
17
James fell on a hard ground and scrambled up.
The Scavenger tumbled out last and looked around. His heart sank. They were on an island surrounded by water.
The Scavenger stomped his foot angrily. “That liar tricked us.”
“But he had taken a Blood Oath!” James exclaimed.
The Scavenger’s rage was evaporating fast and he was already thinking of a solution. “I should have known better. The Death Lord is a force of evil. He doesn’t even care that he would be cursed by the Gods for not honouring the Blood Oath. He’s already cursed enough.”
“Don’t worry. We will find some way out. At least we have the riddle to the fourth piece.” James sighed.
They started reading the riddle.
Under the sea, the hidden treasure,
Guarded by various ways,
You find it, and it will give you pleasure,
But first, you have to find the race.
You win, and you get a hand
And get the fourth piece.
Find the warriors on the island.
But don’t order or seize.
“It seems the fourth piece is under the sea, guarded heavily. We have to get help from some warriors on an island who will challenge us to a race and, if we win it, they will help us get the fourth piece,” James elaborated.
“So where will that island be?” Daniel quizzed.
James and the Scavenger looked at each other and cried, “Here, of course!”
“But how are you so sure?” Archer asked.
“This island could be the best place that fits the bill. Let’s explore here first before ruling it out,” James said.
“I have a strong intuition that this island should be the place.” the Scavenger smiled, “That’s the curse by the Gods on the Death Lord! It indirectly helped us!”
He had just said this when the sound of a whistle came from deep inside the island. They all ran towards it.
They saw warriors dressed in blue and white, sporting quaint athletic shoes, lined up some distance away. A man stood on the side and blew a whistle, and the runners took off at a very high speed – as if at the speed of sound. They were covering hundred meters in less than a second!
The man with the whistle noticed the Scavenger and the children watching the runners. He walked up to them and asked, “Who are you?”
The Scavenger replied, “These are the prophesied children and I am the servant of Lord Arcane. We need to get the fourth piece of the Arcane Crown and for that, we have to race with you.”
“Oh, of course, we know our role assigned to our forefathers by Lord Arcane. Welcome,” the man said, calling his warriors to him.
Four of them drew close. “Who will race?” the man asked, and the Scavenger stepped forward.
The man said. “Lin, you will race with him.” One of the runners nodded. The man turned to the Scavenger. “We will start tomorrow morning at five. You have time to rest and practice at our facilities.” The man left with the runners.
“We have time till morning. Let’s rest,” the Scavenger said to the children.
James had a grim look. “There’s no way you can defeat them. You all go take rest. I need to watch how they run so fast.”
“As you wish,” the Scavenger said and left with the others, accompanied by a guide.
As James watched the runners, who were practicing a distance away,
suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
He raced back to the Scavenger. “I have figured out how they run so fast. I am going to craft something similar, but if I don’t return by five, you need to forfeit the race. I repeat, YOU HAVE TO FORFEIT. Delay them or something, but don’t attempt to race. You’ll just lose.”
“All right,” the Scavenger said with a puzzled look.
James ran into the woods with just one thought ringing in his mind – shoes…
He had seen that their shoes had a blade attached to the sides, front and back. When the runner ran, the blades flapped. The blades were angled so as not to stop the runner, but give him significant forward propulsion. Some special magic was working apart from the blades.
James grinned. He would make the blades, and the Scavenger would take care of the magic part.
James set to work.
At dawn, the Scavenger woke up to find his shoes missing. He had no choice but to approach the man and the runners barefoot.
“Shall we start? The five-kilometre track is ready,” the man said.
The Scavenger hesitated. “Can’t we postpone it? For a few hours?”
The man shook his head. “No. This is it. If you want to race, you can. It’s not possible to delay the race.”
The Scavenger remembered James’s warning but he had no choice. Trying was better than not trying at all. He braced himself and nodded. Just then, a loud voice cried out, “Wait.”
The Scavenger turned and sighed in relief as he saw James running towards him with his shoes.
“His shoes… I was readying his shoes!” James hurriedly explained.
As James handed the shoes to the Scavenger, he whispered to him, “Listen carefully. I have put some blades on the shoes, which will give you the required propulsion. But you need to apply some magic, which you know better. My work is done.”
The Scavenger nodded. He made an excuse and went to observe some of the runners who were practicing. He could identify the magic they were putting in the shoes through some spells.
He closed his eyes and focused. A blue light appeared over his foot, and he could instantly feel his legs becoming more powerful.
The Scavenger took his mark beside Lin.
“Ready… steady… and… go!” The Scavenger took off. James’ mechanism worked brilliantly. The blades and the Scavenger’s magic, when combined, proved invincible. The Scavenger reached the finish line at least a few seconds before Lin got there, making for a convincing victory on the five-kilometre track.
“I won,” the Scavenger said elatedly. “Please help us get the fourth piece.”
The man bowed to them. “You have proved your intelligence. I salute you.” He gave them five pills. “The piece is in a treasure chest, which we have hidden underwater. Please go ahead. Take this, and you will be able to breathe underwater. But remember, its effect wears off after half an hour.”
They swallowed a pill each and jumped into the water one after another.
Underwater, James could see everything. He was breathing normally and no water came into his mouth or nose.
He swam towards the Scavenger and his other friends and asked, “We need to find the treasure chest before half an hour.” They had no difficulty talking underwater as well.
The Scavenger pointed to a spot on the seabed. An outline of a treasure chest was clearly visible.
Before they could reach it, a voice called out, “Halt! I am the guardian of the fourth piece. I am known as the Eater. Beat me, and the piece is yours.”
The Scavenger nodded. Almost as if on cue, something huge swam through the water towards them. It was a big shark with huge dorsal fins that gleamed brightly. James leapt aside as it almost collided with him.
It turned and came back at them. James accidentally slammed against Matt and was pushed aside… and, at the same time, he found himself atop the shark.
The shark roared and swam away. James was paralyzed with fear. He looked back and saw his friends swimming hard. But he knew that they wouldn’t be able to reach him in time.
James was riding a bloodthirsty shark that was whisking him away to a secluded place, where it could kill him, and there was no one that could help him.
James mustered all his courage and tightly grabbed the shark’s fin.
Using his Elemental Powers, James concentrated hard and summoned water, lifting him and the shark out of the sea. The shark was now enraged, but before it could do anything, James shot a massive jet of water at it, flinging it on land. The shark leapt towards the water, but powerful wind gusts thrown by Matt prevented the shark from entering the water. Daniel too was swift in binding the shark with seaweeds. After about a minute, the shark disappeared, as it could not breathe on the land for long.
A voice echoed, “Well done! You deserve to get the piece and the riddle.”
A chest emerged from the sea and flew towards James. Meanwhile, the Scavenger and Archer joined them.
Everyone congratulated James on a job well done. James grinned modestly and the Scavenger opened the chest. In it lay a riddle and the piece of the Crown.
The Scavenger immediately pocketed the piece of crown and read the riddle aloud:
“Journey on the Sails of Time,
Try to find the Ship Divine.
Get the piece from the maze,
Directions written in the haze.
That’s it.” The Scavenger paused.
“It sounds meaningless to me,” Archer said.
“I disagree. The Sails of Time is a divine ship in the Dark World. The White Sorcerers once guarded it, but they were captured by the Death Lord. He controls it and evil pirates now sail it.”
“And then?”
“We will think about that later. First, think of getting away from this island?”
“How about summoning a boat?” James suggested.
“Boats are not like chariots, my dear. Although I can summon a chariot-like structure that we can convert to a boat,” the Scavenger said.
The Scavenger chanted a spell and a heavy wooden structure appeared. “Let’s work on this. Matt and James go and find some suitable wood from the forest on the left side. Archer and I are going right. Let us meet here after an hour,” the Scavenger directed.
Daniel could make things easy by just summoning the wood, but he was already snoring.
“Let him rest,” the Scavenger said to James and Matt. “Let’s begin.”
An hour later, they reassembled and found Daniel still sleeping.
“Good. The wood should be enough. I will have to use a lot of magic in making the boat,” the Scavenger said.
They spent hours in making the boat. Daniel woke up in between and used his Elemental Power, which helped in assembling the wood to form a boat.
Finally, there stood an incredibly magnificent looking boat. Going by its size, it was more of a ship, complete with masts and sails and a control with a steering wheel at the helm. The Scavenger also arranged an armoury inside.
Daniel grinned at the masterpiece. He had done most of the work, lifting huge logs of wood and transporting them, and everyone thanked him.
The Scavenger wiped the sweat off his brow and said, “Come on, boys. It’s time to go.”
They set off towards the sea and, once aboard, all the children wearily set off towards their rooms to rest.
***
James stood in a barren field facing two fighting warriors.
One of them struck the other with a punch that sent him flying. He got up and pummelled the other with kicks.
“This is what happens to those who fall in greed,” a voice said to James.
James turned to the right to find a man in regal attire. “You are…?” James asked.
“Don’t you recognize Lord Arcane? I am here to tell you something,” the man smiled.
Arcane pointed to the two warriors, who were fighting vigorously.
“Once great friends, one day they found a treasure and see them now… the result of pla
in greed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I am showing you this as a lesson. It’s greed that destroys everyone. That is why I chose you to be the One.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“It’s easy to turn foul due to greed. It takes someone strong to resist it. And I sense it that you are powerful, strong and fit to be the One.”
“But the Death Lord came to Matt in his dream and said that he was the One.”
“I know, but the Death Lord was wrong in his assumption. Matt is equally good and pure, but greed can lure him, and your other friends too. But you will remain unshaken by greed, and so I chose you as the One.
“But that’s not all. You also have a big role to play later, but first promise me that you will not tell anyone about this conversation, not even the Scavenger.”
“I promise.”
“Then listen. In the battle that will come, Matt will believe himself to be the One and he might insist on fighting the Death Lord. And that decision could be his end. When that time comes, which I’m sure will be soon, you will have to stop him.”
“So will I have to wear the Crown?”
“No. There is only one person who has the power to harness the power of my Crown, and that is my loyal servant. You have the job to ensure that only the Scavenger wears the Crown. Only he will be able to sustain the magic of the Crown.”
“Thanks, Lord Arcane. I have so many more questions.”
“You will know what to do when the time comes. And remember not to breathe a word about our conversation.”
“But wait…” James tried to continue but found himself awake with a start.
18
James woke up in his room in the boat.
His friends were standing with binoculars. They all seemed tense, and their boat was not moving.
James asked the Scavenger, “What’s wrong?”
The Scavenger handed him a binocular. “See for yourself.”
James put the binocular to his eyes and gasped. He could see a massive ship in the distance. It looked magnificent, but the dangerous looking men on the deck were spoiling the beautiful picture.
“That’s the Sails of Time,” the Scavenger said. “And the people on it are pirates. According to the riddle, we have to defeat the pirates.”