Crystal Doors #1 (28 page)

As they closed in, Orpheon halted as the narrow path turned a corner. The traitorous apprentice found himself faced with an abrupt end to his path. The sheer black rock dropped away to deep water. Seabirds, a few clumps of moss, and succulent flowers found places in the lumpy stone wall, but no human could ever climb down the spray-slick cliff. Foamy waves curled against the jagged rocks far below.

Orpheon stared longingly down the cliff toward the deep water, then faced his two young pursuers as Sharif landed the carpet. Blocking off the spy’s escape, they stood together, but Gwen did not forget that Orpheon had already stunned a powerful sage like Rubicas. “Be careful, Sharif.”

The young man from Irrakesh showed no concern. “You have nowhere to run, Orpheon.” Piri’s shimmering ball hung in its pouch around his neck.

“Give us those scrolls back and nobody needs to get hurt,” Gwen added, recalling a hundred tough-guy movies she had seen. She tensed her muscles, remembering the
zy’oah
self-defense moves her mother had taught her. Special Elantyan training? So many things to wonder about… .

“You know nothing of what you speak.” Orpheon sneered at them as if they were no more than insects. “Elantya is doomed. The merlons will destroy you all. They will sink this island beneath the waves and return the ocean to its purity, as it was before filthy land-dwellers came through the crystal doors.”

“Get over yourself!” Gwen said. “Elantyans have done a lot of good here.”

Sharif added, “They unified the whole network of civilizations and stopped the dark sages’ armies with the Great Closure.”

“Great Closure?” A flash of fiery hatred ignited behind Orpheon’s eyes, an incomprehensible fanatical gleam. “Azric has made his promises. The merlons will kill all land-dwellers, destroy Elantya. Then the sealed crystal doors will once again be opened.”

“Azric!” Gwen cried. “With the merlons?
He’s
the one who’s been riling them up?”

“The merlons will help him reverse the Great Closure. Azric’s immortal armies have had centuries to grow more powerful, and once they are unleashed, all worlds will fall!”

Sharif let out a low growl. “Azric has been trapped outside ever since the Great Closure. In disguise, he walked among us on Irrakesh — and killed my brother.” Sensing Sharif’s outrage, Piri flashed blood red in her crystal ball, startling Orpheon. He raised a hand to shield his eyes.

Without thinking, Gwen seized the chance and yanked the scrolls out of the traitor’s other hand. Orpheon jerked backward, but Gwen wouldn’t let go. The two strained and tugged — until the parchments ripped.

Gwen stumbled off balance, but Sharif caught her. Triumphant, she held fragments of the precious scrolls, while the spy held the other torn scraps. “At least the merlons won’t get them now. Sage Rubicas can piece the rest together.”

Orpheon flung away the tatters in his hand, letting them blow over the cliff. But he still had several intact scrolls in a pouch at his waist. “You are fools, both of you! Naive dreamers.”

Gwen balled her fists. “I still don’t get it. Why would any human willingly serve the merlons?”

Orpheon sneered at this. “You assume I am merely human? That was your first mistake.” His body shimmered, his skin grew rough, lumpy, then scaly. His eyes enlarged, as did his mouth. His hands became webbed, and claws hooked out of his fingertips. “I was one of the original generals in Ulkar’s army, countless centuries ago. We sacrificed a Key after he opened a crystal door and the blood magic gave us the power to control the cells of our bodies. Now I can take any shape I choose.” His amphibious lips curved in a cruel imitation of a smile. “Azric is not alone in his fight.”

Shocked, Gwen and Sharif rushed Orpheon, hoping to seize the last scrolls, but the transformed apprentice easily dove backward off the cliff. His sleek aquatic body dropped downward in a clean arc.

The two looked over the cliff edge just in time to see the shape-shifter plunge smoothly into the waves and disappear with barely a ripple.

“Now that’s something you don’t see every day,” Gwen said.

WITH HIS FEET ON solid ground again after the pedal-glider flight, Vic turned back toward the harbor, where Tiaret and the Elantyan soldiers were still fighting the remaining merlons. Lyssandra surprised him by slipping her arms around him. “That was an excellent idea, Viccus. Your sunshine bombs saved many lives, and possibly turned the tide of the battle.”

“Sure.” He flushed in embarrassment but hoped she wouldn’t let go of him anytime soon. He had no idea how even the greatest sages and warriors could defeat the gigantic armored squid. “I don’t suppose Elantya has any, uh, super weapons stored in a warehouse somewhere?”

The telepathic girl cocked her head as if listening to something inside her mind. She pulled away and turned to the steep harbor road. “Maybe. Here comes Sage Polup.”

Several struggling novs — students he had met in the anemonite sage’s “chemistry” class — worked together to carry a hollow tube the size of a telephone pole. Leading them was Polup’s clanking, hissing walker.

Vic took Lyssandra’s hand and ran with her. “Come on, let’s help! I can’t wait to see what crazy things Sage Polup came up with.”

As the anemonite genius guided his apprentices forward with their heavy metal tube, Vic took a handhold next to the sweating novs. “I’m guessing this is like a big cannon?”

The jellyfish brain drifted inside the aquarium container. “I did not wish to create weapons, but Elantya must be defended.”

Lyssandra touched the robot to pick up images from the anemonite brain. Her cobalt eyes sparkled. “Ah, I see. I hope it will be effective.”

“What is it?” Vic asked. “Some of us aren’t telepaths, you know.”

Lyssandra slipped in next to him to help carry the weapon just as Polup answered. “I have created a dangerous mixture of chemicals and magic. Crystal dust and spells, all ready to be activated with a powerful symbol.” In one of his thick artificial hands, Polup held a disk inscribed with a design in aja ink. Vic wasn’t sure, but he thought it was one of the dangerous symbols the anemonite had warned them never to use.

“I had the spell and the recipe for a long time, but never have I risked concocting it. Now the threat is great enough. This cannon will launch a ball of Grogyptian Fire, which burns hot. Water does not extinguish it. The monster cannot
seek safety under the waves, for the chemical will continue to burn.”

“Sounds like Greek fire,” Vic said, remembering a chemistry experiment he’d always wanted to try, but his father wouldn’t let him have the materials. “Phosphorus or magnesium, a metal that burns hot under water and —”

“It is Grogyptian Fire,” Lyssandra repeated. “Think of what you know, Viccus, then multiply it by a thousand through the addition of magic.”

“Cool.”

She gave him a curious sidelong glance. “No, it is extremely
hot.”

With the exhausted and frightened novs, Vic and Lyssandra carried the heavy metal cylinder toward the end of the dock. The battle kraken advanced, smashing everything in its reach. Seeing them, especially incensed to notice the anemonite escapee, the last merlon general, once more in control, used his goad to drive the monster closer to the main wharf.

Though Sage Polup was afraid of being recaptured and enslaved with his people, his heavy walking body stood its ground. Behind the cannon, Polup fumbled with his symbol disk. “When I ignite the crystal dust, the cannon will launch our projectile,” he said through his speakers. “We have only one opportunity.”

The apprentices struggled to hold the heavy cannon steady. The battle kraken raised its tentacles. By now the suckers were covered with splintered chunks of wood.

Polup extended his symbol disk to the crystal-dust fuse, but before the anemonite genius could touch the powerful design to the fuse and fire the weapon, a tentacle slammed into the wharf pilings. The whole dock reverberated; two of the struggling novs stumbled. Vic planted his feet, straining to keep his grip on the heavy cannon.

Jarred loose, the symbol disk slipped out of Polup’s artificial hand. He clumsily tried to grab it, but the ignition key tumbled to the dock boards, struck the splintered wood, bounced, and fell through a wide crack into the water.

The anemonite let out a wordless, bubbling cry. The students gasped in astonishment. “Now how will we fire the cannon?”

The kraken came closer. Another tentacle slammed the wharf. When two merlon soldiers clambered onto the dock and lurched toward the cannon, one of the novs let go and ran. The others were stranded. Polup stood stock still, as if he had forgotten how to make his artificial body function.

“Wait!” Vic yelled. “I’ve got an idea!”

The merlons swung their spiked clubs. One more nov fled, and the others could barely hold the heavy cannon. The hissing undersea invaders came within striking distance, ready to cut down the students and Sage Polup.

Vic let go with one hand, eliciting moans of dismay from the trembling helpers. “I need to try something.”

Suddenly Tiaret rushed in among them, slashing from side to side with her battered teaching staff. The startled merlons turned toward this one-girl whirlwind. One blow from her
staff cracked an attacker’s ribs even through its seashell armor; another swing shattered a sea-urchin mace. She called in a hoarse voice. “Viccus, whatever you intend to do — do it now!” She grabbed one of the cannon handles, planted her bare feet, and struggled to hold the weight.

He dug in his pocket and drew out his keychain, the five-sided pendant his mother had given him — the powerful design that had caused such a surprising reaction in the chemistry class. He knew it was just instinct guiding him, but somehow the instinct seemed
right.
“I sure hope this works.”

Lyssandra rallied the terrified apprentices. “Hold the cannon steady! We have one more chance.”

Sage Polup looked at the medallion. “Be cautious, Viccus. A symbol of such great power may be quite unpredictable in unskilled hands.”

“Do you have anything else to fight that mega-squid?”

The sage swiveled his aquarium head. “No.”

The kraken reared up, and the last merlon general stood tall, like an overconfident conqueror. Spike-armored tentacles waved about, and the sharp beak of the monster’s mouth clacked, hungry for the taste of more flesh.

Vic slammed his mother’s medallion against the crystal dust fuse. The pattern glowed intensely hot, burning his fingers, but he did not let go. The crystal dust ignited. With a deafening roar, an enormous molten projectile of Grogyptian Fire shot like a comet from the cannon.

“Ha! Take that!”

The recoil and shockwave knocked all of the students to
their knees, and the massive cylinder clanged to the dock. Even Sage Polup reeled for balance in his heavy body.

The blazing torpedo streaked toward the battle kraken and exploded in a direct impact. Beneath the monster’s remaining unblinded eye, the flame burned like a torch, digging deep into the soft flesh — driving the monster squid wild. Its tentacles thrashing, the creature churned the water, but the sun-hot flames just burned whiter and more fiercely.

The spiked greave on one of its lashing tentacles bent back and smashed the pavilion where the last merlon general stood. The bone struts snapped. The shell covering shattered, and the tentacle grasped the merlon commander. The kraken flailed the struggling general, then smashed him into the water.

Sage Polup regained his balance and his senses enough to clomp to the edge of the dock. Vic, Lyssandra, and Tiaret went with him. They watched the squid writhe until it dove beneath the surface, where it pumped jets of water through its body, retreating from the harbor at top speed. The sun of Grogyptian Fire remained embedded in its body, still burning in spite of the water. Weaving and swirling, the kraken finally disappeared from the harbor.

“An impressive weapon,” Tiaret said.

“Will the fire ever burn out?” Lyssandra asked the anemonite scientist.

Sage Polup swiveled his jellylike body in the tank. “I do not know. This is all an experiment to me. I fear I have killed the creature, and that makes me sad, for it is yet another beast that the merlons have enslaved for their war effort.”

“It had to be stopped,” Vic said. “Do you know how many lives you saved?”

“I know,” Polup said in his bubbly voice. “I feel no guilt, merely sadness.”

Vic held the still-warm medallion tight in his hand, thinking of his mother, and Gwen’s, and of his dad’s crystal door experiments. He still had so many questions.

He and his cousin had a lot more research to do.

THAT EVENING AFTER THEY had both eaten and washed up, Gwen came into Vic’s small chamber and sat at the end of his sleeping pallet.

She studied the floor for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence, then asked in a low voice, “Are we human?”

“Of course.”

“But our moms weren’t from Earth.”

“Nope. That part I’m pretty sure about,” Vic said. “What I want to know is why our parents never mentioned it. Seems like a pretty important piece of family history to leave out.”

“Maybe they thought they could protect us from whoever killed my mom and dad.” Gwen sighed. “You know, I always thought that losing them would be easier if I could make some sense out of it. But now that I know my parents were
murdered,
it’s worse. Azric wanted them dead — and wants
me dead, too.” Her head snapped up, her violet eyes narrowed. “But not you. Or your parents… Why? Are you immune, or —”