The Fire Crystal (3 page)

They set-sail after sunrise, and were soon out of sight of land. All that day they headed west. The sea became very clear, and was a deep blue now. Towards evening the breeze increased to a steady wind
, and the boat surged through the water. For five more days they continued their course. Each day Tom would tap their plastic water container and would say, “don’t worry we’ll soon see the island. According to my calculations we’re still headed in the right direction.”

By day six they were finding it difficult to stay cheerful. “Is there something wrong with my fishing
, or are there no fish in this sea?” Calvan asked, only half jokingly.

That night was one to remember. Neither of them got any sleep. Something had bumped the boat seve
ral times. They both cautiously peered over the side, but saw nothing on this moonless night. As the sun rose, Tom declared, “what ever it was has gone, and we seem to be alone again.”

Then the accident happened. Calvan had set the sail and they were surging forward, then suddenly the wind changed direction without warning, and a great gust of it caught them off guard. The boat was blown
-down sideways, with the end of its mast dipping into the water. Then most of the sail was under, and the boat filled with water and turned over.

Both boys were thrown into the rough sea and went under. The water became darker as they spun around, and
instead of rising to the surface they were sucked down by a whirlpool.

They were both getting short of breath now, and couldn’t last much longer. Calvan thought his lungs would burst, but still managed to hold his breath – for now. Suddenly almost together their heads broke the surface, like corks that had been held in water and then released. Both boys managed to gasp
some fresh air into their lungs before bobbing back down. But this time it was just a quick dunking, and their heads rose clear of the surface again.

Neither of them tried to speak
, and their chests heaved as they gasped for air. The feeling of relief seemed the best thing either of them had ever experienced. They were next to the boat, and grasped its wooden hull with claw-like fingers, knowing that a current must have carried them and the boat sideways together. Calvan finally managed to speak, still breathing hard. “I think that was a whirlpool, not sure.” Then after a few seconds, continued, “it’s gone, and that’s all we need to know.” Tom didn’t answer; he was too busy getting his breath back still.

Eventually they managed to right the boat
, by both ducking under the water, and getting a rocking motion going. After many tries they must have got the motion to a point of no - return. Just as quickly as the boat had turned over it now turned upright again. But it now sat low in the water, the top of the hull almost level with the surface. Luckily they found three water containers lodged in a compartment. These would be needed, and baling water from the boat took most of the night.

As d
awn arrived they had taken stock of what remained. It was an easy job. Two of the water containers were empty, and what food was left was wet. If they could dry it out, then it would be very salty now.

There was not the sli
ghtest breeze all that long day. They laid the sail across the hull, then spent the day under it resting, and slept through sheer exhaustion.

That night the sky was a strange purple color, and a strong wind began to blow again. For two days and nights the sea threw the small craft around
, as if it were a toy. Once a mighty wave crashed over the boat, leaving them soaked and shivering  - looking like half drowned rats. They both took a sip of water to flush the salt water from their parched mouths and throats. Tom up-ended the bottle with a grimace. “Empty?” Was all he managed to say?

“Rather strange to be soaked with water when you
’re dying of thirst,” Calvan replied ironically.

Then next day the end came, or what seemed like
it. They were caught in a huge waterspout that reached upwards into the dark clouds. The boat spun around and around, as their ribs knocked hard against the insides of the hull. The rising waterspout blasted them every time they tried to lift their heads.

Morning came, calm and bright, and the damaged boat rested on a sandy beach, high and dry, beyond reach of the breakers. Inside were the boys, their wet clothes caught up in the debris, and steaming in the hot sun. Both appeared to be dead, but then a miracle happened.

Tom stirred, opened one eye and leap
t to his feet coughing out water. He shook Calvan. No reaction! Then suddenly Calvan sat up, like a corpse rising from the dead. He looked around, as if wondering if this was the afterlife. “Lucky we took this trip in mid-summer,” he managed to wheeze between breaths.

Eventually they managed to move back from the beach and find a small pool of water. Tom dipped a finger into it
, and then licked it. “Fresh!” He shouted with joy.

They drank deeply until they could manage no more, and then washed their water containers out and filled them.  After some time and more refreshment from the pool, Tom even managed to shake a couple of coconuts off a nearby tree, and they ate
some of these.

“I know that this is incredible,” he said between mouthfuls, “but I have a feeling that we
’re meant to be here. THIS IS THE PLACE!”

Calvan shook his head sadly. “Tom we’ve had a really hard time
, and I’m still working on being alive, so please don’t mess with me. Your navigation is hopeless, and your steering is worse, so why in this vast sea should we be anywhere near where we should be?”

Tom wasn’t put off. “I don’t know, maybe its fate.” It seemed the best answer
, and the only one he could think of. “We’re here, this is the island, this is the beach, and if you can turn your head around to look you’ll see a path! It leads from the beach through the jungle, across the desert plain to the mountain. I think we’ll find the cave there, and then you’ll see fire crystal for the first time.”

They spent the rest of the day recovering
more. Calvan even managed to catch a fish, and they gathered more coconuts. Things were improving, and although it took hours of trying they finally got a fire started. Using a piece of broken glass to focus the sun on some dry grass. That evening, under a full moon, and by the light of their campfire, they ate well.

Next morning whil
e paddling in the sea and looking for shellfish, Tom happened to look back to the beach and the jungle beyond it. There above in the far distance was a mountain peak, half shrouded by blue haze. It looked mysterious and magical, and he had to admit, just a bit forbidding. The wind that had nearly killed them had blown them to the right place.

A pale yellow sun rose over the breakers. Two boys rose, rubbed the sleep from their eyes and walked up from the beach. They were loaded with coconuts, dried fish, and water containers so climbed unsteadily. Then they paused to look back for a moment, and then seemed to disappear as if swallowed by the jungle.

Two hours later, and things were getting tough. It was hot, and the bugs were biting. “Lets stop for a minute,” Calvan said, “I know I said that I would join the quest, but I never knew this would be part of the deal.”

“OK let’s rest under this big tree,” Tom replied.

They leaned back against the trunk. Calvan was just about to catch his breath when something large green and heavy dropped on him. It was a large snake, maybe a python he though
t in terror. It immediately started to coil around his body, its head level with his face, green serpent eyes staring. Its forked tongue flicked over his face now, as he shouted “Tom, help me!” It squeezed hard so that Calvan couldn’t breathe, let alone shout now.

Tom leaped to his feet and touched a hand to the snake’s head. It turned around, and stared at him with serpent eyes. Tom stared back, and a kind of electricity seemed to pass from him to the snake. Amazingly, the snake dropped limply to the ground, and then recovering, slid meekly into the jungle.

Tom waited a few seconds for Calvan to get his breath back, and then said smiling. “In case you’re wondering, that wasn’t a magic trick. I still have the locator in my pocket, and it’s still got some power left.”

Then he added. “Move
-on fast. This isn’t a good place to rest. Magic takes energy, and my batteries are feeling flat!”

The Jungle seemed endless
, as they trudged along the path for three more days.

“How much more of this can we stand Tom?” Calvan asked.

Tom pretended he didn’t hear; there was really no good way to answer that question.

It was hot and steamy, and extremely unpleasant as there was nowhere to wash. Their legs were covered in bites now. Once they
’d crossed a swamp, and both of them had to remove leeches from their skin. Tom even had one in his shoe. “When I get away from this planet I won’t be coming back for a long time,” he remarked.

It was even worse at night. They tried to sleep, but after dark the jungle came alive with slippery slimy things. There seemed to be an order to it
: Things that fed on the slimy things, and then things that fed on these things, then there were the things that feasted on Calvin and Tom, as they tried to catch some sleep. In the end they learned it’s possible to get through almost anything, as long as you have a drink of water, and manage to stay breathing.

Finally they learned to sit in trees at night - leaning back on stout branches, but even these seemed to teem with nocturnal ants. Calvan thought about a hundred times every night, “what if we fall in our sleep?”

Towards the end of the third day they made a discovery. Tom had tripped and rubbed his face in the dirt. There embedded in the path was a block of square stone. It seemed a good time to take a break, and they soon discovered that this wasn’t the only stone. They were in the middle of a buried wall made of them. Clearing away the foliage and leaf mold, they uncovered some stone steps that lead underground. “Well,” Tom said, “unless you have a better idea, we’ll find out where this leads. We might even find a nicer place to stay for the night.”

They descended the steps, and entered a narrow passage, and had only gone a short distance when they came to a heavy door. They both leaned their weight on it, and it opened with a loud creaking.

“Come on,” Tom said, gesturing towards the dark opening, “it’s getting dark outside, and I’ve a bad feeling about being caught in this place at night.” Suddenly they heard a blood-curdling howl from somewhere close in the Jungle above, and behind them. They both hurried through the door and into the passage, and the door swung closed behind them.

T
hey could make out a soft glow from the walls of the passage. It was better than nothing as the boys hurried onwards into the gloom ahead. The passage sloped downwards, and as they went further it got cooler. It was a relief to them both, and the first time they had felt comfortable since entering the jungle. They marched for hour after hour, losing all sense of time. It was if they were marking time in the same spot.

“Lets stop for a while,” Calvan
suggested.

“Just another short walk,” answered Tom, “nothing can go on for ever.”

At last they reached the end. The passageway had ended in a huge circular chamber. They both caught their breath. There was a trickle of water coming from a place in the rock wall, and making a small pool. The roof was so high that they couldn’t see it. This place had a sense of majesty. It was just beautiful – made even more so after the gloom of the passage.

They could
n’t make out where light was coming from, but the whole lower part of the chamber was bathed in it.  A soft white glow, as if worshippers had lit hundreds of hidden candles. They both stared. “This reminds me of a gothic cathedral,” Calvan said. Tom didn’t know what that was, but nodded anyway.

On some of the rocks they noticed that a soft fluffy fungus grew. It looked like the candyfloss that Calvan’s father used to buy him, when as a child he would go shopping with his parents. They were both starving now. He dabbed at some and licked it cautiously. It was the best thing that he’d ever tasted. Both boys ate until they were full, and drank from a crystal clear pool of water.

“Maybe the Ancestors used this place for shelter,” Tom said. He had the feeling that fate connected him with these Ancestors of the first spaceship crash,

They explored the chamber, and then Calvan noticed a recess in the nearby rock. On closer inspection it looked liked it had been deliberately made, and had small cracks all around the edges, as if the rocks had been affected by intense heat. “I’ve seen this before on a
geology trip,” Tom said. “This was made with a laser. We use them a lot on Two Stars - for things like tunnel making and mining minerals from the ground.”

Both boys gasped in amazement. There inside the recess was a small round container. I was perfectly rounded and smooth
, its surface gleaming as they moved their torches around. It
looked
new, as if someone had recently placed it there, although everything here had a feeling of great age. Tom lifted the container out carefully with both hands, and placed it gently on the rocky ground. The lid slowly opened. Calvan jumped back in alarm saying, “Careful this could be a bomb.” Tom shouldn’t have laughed, but couldn’t help it. Maybe it was just relief.