Crystal Doors #3: Sky Realm (No. 3) (4 page)

“Is everyone safe?” Rubicas asked in a loud voice.

Lyssandra hurried over to check on her father, who brushed smoldering embers from his bushy black beard. While Tiaret scanned the room for enemies, Sharif checked the aquariums, and Gwen and Vic slipped and slid their way over to Kyara’s tank.

“Nothing serious this time,” Dr. Pierce answered Rubicas, “but that must not happen again. It could kill Kyara!”

Lyssandra helped her father sit up.

“A minor miscalculation,” Sage Groxas said. “I was attempting to denature one of the aja bombs that the merlons planted beneath the island. Ven Rubicas covered it with his most powerful shield spell before I read from my pyro neutralization scroll. It should have worked.”

“Hmm,” Rubicas said, tugging thoughtfully at his snowy white beard. “Henceforth, we will have to relocate these experiments to a less populated area of the island without buildings.” He got down from his high stool, went to a shelf, and rummaged for a spell scroll.

Groxas indicated a small crater that the explosion had left in the floor. “As you can see, the result was not what I expected.”

Rubicas read his spell scroll over the crater and said,
“S’ibah.”
The cracks and roughness in the broken rock began to blur and flow together to fill in the damaged area. While the destruction was healing itself, the apprentices explained Vic’s Key Ring theory to the sages — as well as the suggestion that the Air Spirits might be able to offer advice about restoring Kyara — and asked permission to accompany Sharif.

Rubicas cracked his knuckles. “Hmm. Yes, that might prove quite useful.”

Uncle Cap’s eyes were bright with new hope as he looked at Gwen, then Vic. “Yes, go to Irrakesh. See if you can help your mother.”

“And Elantya,” Rubicas added.

5

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Ven Sage Rubicas, Sage Pierce, and Vir Questas accompanied the apprentices to the docks, where they would board a ship that would take them to the crystal door that led to Irrakesh. The weather was fine and clear and not at all befitting the sadness of the occasion for Sharif.

The distress of having to leave Elantya surprised Sharif with its strength. The Elantyan port was alive with activity, with everyone going about their business preparing for war with the merlons. Just like any other day. Like a bodyguard, Tiaret strode beside the prince, using her teaching staff as a walking stick.

A few steps ahead of them, Vic joked with his cousin and Lyssandra. None of them seemed the least bit worried about this trip to Irrakesh. Perhaps they were confident that they could convince the Sultan to let Sharif return to Elantya. Whatever the reason, it was obvious that no one’s heart was as heavy as his.

A musical voice spoke in his mind,
Good friends,
Piri said.
Love you.

During her time in the searing lavaja, the nymph djinni had learned to communicate somewhat, though so far she had only spoken to Sharif. Her glowing sphere hovered next to his cheek to comfort him.

When they reached their ship, the
Song of Therya,
Ven Sage Rubicas read a spell scroll that would speed the trireme on its way out to the crystal door. Sage Pierce hugged each of the apprentices and gave Vic and Gwen several pieces of typically parental advice — “Trust your instincts,” and “Be polite. Remember, you’re guests in a strange culture,” and “Stay safe” — the sort of things Sharif’s father had never bothered to tell him. The two sages bade everyone farewell and returned to the laboratory, but Vir Questas, to everyone’s surprise, volunteered to accompany the ship as far as the crystal door.

When they all boarded the ship, Tiaret and Gwen began nibbling on bits of shinqroot to settle their stomachs for the voyage. As the
Song of Therya
pulled away from the dock and headed out of the harbor, Tiaret challenged her fellow apprentices to a group sparring match on the open deck. Sharif declined. Still not ready to let go of the island, he went to the stern rail to look at Elantya. Gwen joined him. She seemed to sense that he didn’t want to talk, and they gazed across the water in companionable silence. It was good to have a friend nearby at times like this. He wished he could just stay on the island.

He felt torn. What did he have to complain about? He had enjoyed the carefree life of a Prince and the freedom of doing all that he wished to do. He had been spoiled. On the other hand, because he knew that his mother and brother were dead, and that his father and sisters thought little about him, he had come to think of Elantya as the home of his heart. This was where he had met people who accepted him as a friend — not for his title or his wealth, but because they genuinely cared about him whether he was Prince in another land, a student in Elantya, or a slave in the merlon city of Oo’regl.

And in that captivity beneath the sea, he had learned about the true wealth he possessed: the magic carpet with its semi-sentient dogged loyalty; his education at the Citadel from gifted sages from a hundred different worlds; the wisdom of his people that had sustained him as he remembered their insightful sayings, both in good times and in bad; the friendship his fellow apprentices had bestowed on him; and the unconditional love of Piri, who had been willing to sacrifice her very life to save him under the sea. How glad he was that she had survived and been strengthened by the magical aja!

How could he have learned or experienced even half as much if he had stayed home in Irrakesh? It wasn’t that Sharif didn’t care about his people. He cared more than ever. Now that he recognized how truly wealthy he was, even without gold or jewels or palaces or servants, he felt the clear obligation to fight evil and keep his people safe.

In fact, he felt responsible for more than just his people. At one time he’d been unable to face the sheer boredom and drudgery of being tied down to one city on one world, to watch over the common people who were so far beneath him. Now he could not imagine staying there, but for a different reason: it would be selfish to let himself be sheltered and pampered while world after world fell to Azric and his power-hungry minions. If he truly had a special gift and was a member of the Ring of Might, as Vic believed, it was Sharif’s duty to protect all people — to stand against Azric and his armies and defeat them, even if it meant that Sharif might die in the process.

New you,
Piri observed.
Different now. Show Sultan.

“You’re right, Piri,” he replied. “I’ll have to make him understand.”

GWEN FOUND HERSELF WONDERING why the Vir of Learning had decided to accompany them on this short trip. When the blue-robed Questas gathered the apprentices at midday to speak privately with him, his wise face was grave. “Viccus and Gwenya, do you believe that you are the children of the prophecy?”

Vic scratched his nose. “Yup. It looks that way. We weren’t totally convinced at first, but —”

“The evidence is pretty overwhelming,” Gwen finished for him. “First, we were born under the same moon, like in the prophecy Lyssandra is always quoting.”

At Gwen’s cue, the copper-haired telepath recited,

“Born beneath the selfsame moon,

Only they may bind the rune,

And create the Ring of Might,

Right the wrongs, reverse the rite.”

Gwen nodded and held up two fingers. “Second, Vic’s father and mine were identical twins and our mothers were sisters, so our blood is really the same. That’s part of another prophecy that starts with ‘Brothers twin and sisters twain.’”

“Eighth,” Vic interrupted, trying to throw her off track, as he often did.

She punched his arm. “Third,” she went on, putting up a third finger, “these medallions we wear are made of xyridium, which isn’t found anywhere on Earth. Neither is the design. The question is, are the medallions part of the Big Plan, whatever that is? I get the feeling this pattern could be the ‘rune’ in the prophecy. Fourth, Azric is convinced that we’re the children of the prophecy, and he’s had five thousand years to think about it, and —”

“Umpteenth,” Vic put in.

“Fifth, if Taz is right and we manage to forge this Ring of Might among the five of us, there won’t be any doubt left at all.”

Vir Questas ran a thoughtful gaze around the circle. “How did you first recognize the special connection you all have?”

“We always knew we made a good team,” Vic answered immediately, “but it didn’t really sink in until the day we were tested as Keys together.”

“Yes,” Lyssandra agreed, thinking back. “Sharifas and I already knew we were potential Keys, but Tiaretya, Gwenya, and Viccus had yet to be tested.”

“Our crystals lit, proving that we were Keys,” Tiaret went on. “
All
of our crystals — all five at once.”

Piri, who was resting lightly on Sharif’s shoulder, seemed to burn with a bright yellow-white fire at the memory.

“And even more strangely,” Sharif said, “the crystals continued to glow brighter and brighter.”

Vic smiled. “Sheesh, with the way all the people in the Crystal Doors Center reacted, you would’ve thought we just created a lake on Dune — uh, in the desert, that is.”

“It was as foretold in the prophecy,” Lyssandra said.

“Crystals five will shine like suns,

Thus reveal the Chosen Ones.

When the learning time is done,

Chosen Ones may choose as one,

Heralding the final fight,

Sages Dark with Sages Bright.”

“Vir Pecunyas said it had never happened before,” Gwen said.

“Yes,” Vir Questas said. “I recall that he was most impressed. That incident was what first convinced him there was more to your small group than met the eye. There are those on our council, however — Helassa and Parsimanias — who do not believe that children, for that is how they see you, can have any significant role to play in saving Elantya from Azric. But Virs Etherya and Pecunyas and I are of a different mind. It was at their request that I came on this voyage, in the hopes that I could help you in whatever small way.”

“Parsimanias and Helassa, huh?” Vic said with a frown. “That explains a lot already.”

“And so, children of the prophecy, with dire times approaching, now would be an excellent time to forge that Ring of Might.”

Vic groaned. “But didn’t that one prophecy say ‘when the learning time is done’? We’re nowhere close to knowing everything we need to know.”

“It seems that
my
learning time may be done,” Sharif pointed out.

“True,” Lyssandra said. “The prophecy was not specific about whose learning time.”

Vic slapped himself on the forehead. “Sheesh. Every time you think you know what a prophecy means, another part of it sneaks up on you like that.”

Gwen nibbled at the edge of her lower lip. “I’ve been thinking. Taz, you remember when you and I were trying to open a crystal door to Earth? We went to the Cogitarium, studied spell scrolls, and collected a variety ofingredients, including star aja.” She looked guiltily at Vir Questas. “I’m still sorry that we ruined two of your crystals.”

“It was the doing of that traitorous Orpheon,” Sharif growled.

“You were attempting to increase your knowledge,” Vir Questas said, “so I cannot object too greatly.”

Gwen nodded. “Still, I’m sorry. Anyway, you wrote a spell, Taz, and we set up the crystals, and we measured and re-measured and —”

“And your point is?” Vic broke in.

“My point is the two of us worked
magic,
” Gwen said. “We decided to do something, and we tried, and we did it — well, almost.”

“I still don’t grok what you’re saying, Doc,” Vic said.

“I mean, Vir Questas is right. It’s time for us to forge the Ring of Might, and we can’t just wait for something to happen. We’ve got to figure out how to do it ourselves.”

Piri twinkled her encouragement, and Sharif translated. “My friend reminds me that my people have a saying, ‘Make no wish unless you follow it with action.’”

Vic shrugged one shoulder. “Sure, I’m game. Maybe we should stand in sort of a circle or pentagon, since it worked so well when we took the Key test.”

Vic and Gwen shut their eyes and concentrated.

Nothing happened.

“Are you really focusing?” Gwen whispered to her cousin.

“Maybe we need a spell,” Vic suggested.

Gwen was relieved. “Of course. Maybe some crystals would help, too.”

Vir Questas, watching from beside them, said, “Alas, I have no star aja to offer you this time.”

“I have a crystal, however,” Tiaret said, pulling her dagger from a fold of her animal skin outfit. “We all received them from Vir Helassa herself.”

Sharif pulled his from the pocket of his pantaloons and held it up.

“Cool,” Vic said, producing his crystal dagger. Lyssandra and Gwen did the same.

“Okay,” Gwen said, “now hold your dagger in your right hand, then clasp hands with the person next to you around the hilt.” She faced her cousin with a serious look in her dramatic violet eyes. “This is important, Taz. We can’t just ‘attempt’ to do it. We have to actually
do
it.”