Disclaimer: I do not own Crystal Chronicles

Chapter 7: Mine of Cathuriges

After the caravan had seized the opportunity to get supplies in Marr's Pass, such as: an iron plate for Kris, an iron sword for Mike, and an iron belt for Rob. Tyran said he wanted to save up his money for some really good armor, and that his shield would be enough.

Now, 2 months after they left Mushroom Forest, they were only one day away from the Mine of Cathuriges.

"Hey, I just thought of something." Rob said when they were just as they stopped for dinner.

"Wow, Rob ACTUALLY thinking. Maybe we should hold a ceremony!" Kris claimed, jumping off the roof. Rob glared at her.

"I was thinking about how Tyran was able to stay out of the crystal's protection so long in Mushroom Forest."

"You just noticed that? I thought we went over this the day after we left it?" Tyran asked, taking some of the harnesses off of Papu.

"Yeah, we did go over this- Oh! I remember! We were going to see how long it took Rob to notice. Sorry Rob, but you just flunked." Kris said.

"What! Are you serious! You jerks!" Rob said. "… So what did you guys come up with?"

The three of them let out a small string of giggles.

"Um, we said that the mushrooms might have absorbed some stuff from the myrrh tree. They are fungi after all." Tyran lied. This IS what they had come up with, but Tyran knew differently.

"Yeah, though it hasn't helped any other caravan that we know of, we think that maybe Tyran is special or something." Mike informed.

"OK. Whatever. I doubt it, but what you guys think is fine too." Rob commented.

"Oh, and you think it's something else?" Kris challenged.

"All I know is that before Tyran had that thing, the miasma hurt him just like us. Now he wears that thing all the time, and he's fine! What's up with that?" Rob said, gesturing to Hannah's pendent.

"Hey, I never really noticed that before. Where did you get it? I know you didn't have it when we left…" Kris questioned.

It was true. Tyran had just started wearing the pendent out in the open a few days before Mushroom forest.

"Yeah, where did you get it? I didn't really pay much mind to it when you first started wearing it, but now I'm curious." Mike inquired.

"I uh, I got it at Marr's pass." Tyran lied. Of course it wasn't true, but it was good enough for them to believe it.

"Oh, we didn't know that. Cool." Kris easily accepted his answer. Mike nodded, also excepting the lie.

Rob hesitated. 'Why is he lying? I know he got it before we ever even stepped foot in Marr's Pass…' Being a natural thieving selkie unlike Kris, he had an eye for treasure. He knew Tyran got that pendent sometime after River Belle and before Marr's Pass. He chewed slowly in thought. 'Ah, I'm not smart enough to figure out what's going through Tyran's head.' Dismissing the thought, he then turned to his food.

-:-

They woke up fairly early and prepared a large, proportionate breakfast that would keep them full for as long as possible.

They walked a little further on until they reached the mouth of the mine.

"I know I can do this, I know I can do this…" Kris muttered to herself.

"Don't worry Kris, this will be fun." Mike said. She glared at him.

"Are we ready?" Tyran asked them.

"Yes." They all said in unison.

The mines were very dark, only lit by a few torches in each of the large rooms.

Kris was so nervous her knuckles were turning white from her grip on the chalice.

Snort.

"What was that?" Kris asked.

"Be on your guard. These mines are crawling with orcs, and that's what you probably just heard." Tyran said, brandishing his sword.

Mike did the same, and Rob grabbed his racket up off his back, ready for some action.

"Grrraaaaaahhhh!!" Three orcs ran out of the dark, stupidly arming their attacks at Tyran.

He swung his sword around, making the rest of his caravan back up, then jumped backward, his sword making a slight line in the dirt as the tip glided over it. He jumped across the ground, spinning and slashed at the orcs, pushing some of them back while knocking only one down. Kris and Rob fired a focus attack each at the closest orc, while Tyran stabbed the fallen orc. Mike held the chalice, ready to provide assistance to anyone who needed it. With two orcs dead, only one ugly orc remained. The three of them all shot focus attacks at the orc, colliding all at once, instantly killing the orc.

"Wow, you guys were great!" Mike said.

They searched the orcs, finding a fire magicite, a design for an iron plate, and some gil.

"Let's go." Kris said, wanting to finish the mines as soon as possible.

"OK, what's up with the cart?" Rob said, pointing to the coal cart.

"How should we know? Let's just bring it with us, just in case we need it for some thing. It might come in handy." Kris said as Rob gave her a confused look.

"Well, at least this place will probably have a set trail, unlike Mushroom Forest. So now all we have to so is follow the tracks." Tyran pointed out.

"This thing is heavy!" Rob said as he pushed on the cart, though it wasn't going very far.

"That's probably because it's filled with coal." Kris said.

"Oh." He tipped the cart over, and after most of it had emptied, he brought it back upright. "Much better!"

For about thirty seconds after they had moved on with Rob steadily pushing the cart, Kris pushed him aside and whacked the cart with her racket. It sped forward, and soon was out of sight. Rob looked at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

They encountered some more orcs, which the mine was overflowing with, hit the cart a few more times, and got some more treasures from the monsters. Rob was about to hit the cart again when Kris stopped him. She walked forward and pulled a lever, which then switched the tracks. She walked back, shoved him aside again, then hit the cart, sending it crashing through the numerous boxes that had been stacked up.

They walked into the next room, which stunned them by the amount of Bombs that were waiting for them. They had still gone unnoticed, so Mike and Kris drew their blizzards, which they had found in a chest.

They both focused, murmuring a few random words, a blue aura surrounding each of them. The room was small for the amount of Bombs in it. Kris and Mike were perfectly in sync, and when they cast, an abnormally large blizzara engulfed the entire room, killing all but a few Bombs that had narrowly escaped the magic.

Kris quickly killed one with quick-as-yuke magic skills, while Mike killed another with almost as good magic. Only one was left with a lot of health, though its countdown had already begun.

Kris and Mike tried to cast at the same time Rob and Tyran went to attack it. Their attacks and magic combined, though Tyran and Rob didn't notice at first and missed the bomb. As the two hit the ground on either side of the bomb, creating a large wall of thick ice on both sides of the bomb.

"Oops, sorry guys!" Kris yelled.

"No do that again!" Tyran yelled as he dodged an attack from the Bomb who was on the verge of exploding.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Rob understood right away, both him and Tyran running in front of and behind the Bomb. They created a box of ice around the bomb, and just before it exploded they ran away from the icebox.

It exploded and they all were went tumbling backward, Kris's legs went just out of the crystal's circle. She quickly recovered and went back to the boys.

"You know it would be a lot easier to just kill it, right?" Kris asked them.

"Yeah, but it WAS a lot more fun, besides, it was great practice on how to improvise." Tyran said, holding his sword up to a torch in order to melt the chunks of ice on it. Rob however left his racket alone to power it up.

They walked into the next room. Which was extremely large compared to the other rooms. It had a large platform above another doorway, though the room was very dark.

They started toward the doorway. Rumble rumble rumble.

"An earthquake, now?" Mike said while holding his shield up like an umbrella.

Crash! A huge figure appeared before them, bringing up a cloud of dust.

When it cleared, the Orc King and all his ugliness showed itself to them.

"Gosh dang it! Do all of the bosses have to be so freakin' BIG?!" Kris yelled.

Then they got to work.

"Mike!" Kris held up her fire.

"Right!" The two were now in perfect sync.

He grabbed his blizzard. Blue and red auras shone around them.

The Orc King was stomping around with Tyran and Rob scurrying across the floor.

"Gravity!!" They yelled. Its feet were now glued to the ground.

"I'll be right back Mike, just be ready with your fire." Kris told him as he nodded.

"Tyran, I have an idea. Give me your sword." Kris said.

Tyran hesitated, but finally gave Kris the sword.

"Thanks." She put it on her back after trading him, and ran toward the Orc King.

"What the…?" Rob said, seeing her run by.

She jumped up on the Orc King, easily hoisting her nimble self up onto its shoulder. It was flailing around, but not getting very far with gravity still in effect.

"Mike, now!" He charged up the fire magicite, and within seconds it was prepared.

Kris swung the sword with all of her might. It caught the fire instantly, and slashed away at the Orc King's flesh around its jaw, now showing bone.

It screeched in pain while Kris almost fell, and Kris took a few more fire powered whacks at it. She finally hit it with one last slash in the back of the head.

Kris quickly jumped off the fiend before it fell, and slowly glided to the ground.

"Here's your sword back." She said, handing Tyran his sword.

"Wah, but you, how did you?"

"Don't ask questions Rob. Just look down in shame as the weakest member of the caravan just kicked that things butt!"

"Um, guys?"

"What?" Tyran asked.

"I don't think it's dead yet…"

They all looked at where Mike was pointing.

The Orc King was on its hands and knees, glowing.

"What the crap is it doing al-" but Kris was cut off.

Suddenly the thing exploded, slamming the caravanners against the stonewall.

"AHHHHHHHH!!" They yelled as the explosion not only pinned them against the wall, but also burned their skin. It slowly scraped them against the wall upwards, and when it finally stopped they fell from a high distance to the ground.

"Ah!" Kris said as she scraped her chin, elbows and knees on the rough stone floor.

"… I kind of wish I had gotten that armor right now." Tyran said, slowly pulling himself up.

"Is-ugh-everyone all…right?" Mike said as he tried not to think about the bones that were most likely broken at the moment.

"I think I officially hate this place." Rob said as he slowly got up.

"Kris, you OK?" Mike said, looking at Kris who was still lying on the floor, her bareback bleeding badly.

"…Cure…" She said faintly.

Mike tried to cast normally, but he had fractured his arm and could only move it in a slow, stiff motion. Rob, who was in the best condition, though the worst with magic, healed Mike as quickly as he could. As soon as Mike regained control of his arm, he quickly took the Cure from Rob and cast the best he could on Kris. She was loosing blood quickly, with her whole back torn and ripped apart. Mike wasn't fully healed, but his arm was working well enough for him to cast normally. He cast many times until her back was completely back to normal and all scrapes were gone, and she was standing like nothing had ever happened, then healed Tyran, Rob, and himself some more.

"Well, none of us died, and I DID totally kick that thing's butt. The explosion was just a sort of last stand thing before it completely died." Kris said, ignoring the fact that she WAS about to die a minute ago.

"We could have killed it without you taking that risk though. Why did you do it?" Tyran asked.

"You guys attacking its legs would have taken hours, if ,of course, we didn't die before that. I figured that attacking its head, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE BODY, would be the best way to go. The fire and sword combo was the only way to go though. My racket could never slice through flesh the way your sword did." Kris said as if it made all the sense in the world.

"Why didn't you tell us what you were doing though?" Rob asked, a little annoyed.

"I told the clavats, just not you."

Sigh "Whatever. Let's just get what we came for."

They walked though the door with Tyran holding the chalice. The myrrh tree was inside, standing in all of its glory within the dark confines of a mine.

He placed the chalice in the middle of the pedestal, adjusting its position ever so slightly.

The myrrh tree shivered up to its branches, the light casting a gorgeous glow against the blue and green surface. A drop of myrrh slowly formed, then dramatically fell into the chalice, which was now completely filled.

"Home." Kris said.

"Mail moogle!" It said as it fluttered over. "You guys are Kristine Lophrine, Tyran Nygien, Michael Phyrein, and Robert Jinell, right?" They nodded. "Good! 'Cause this place gives me the creeps! Here's your mail."

Kris

You're finally coming home! I've really missed you! Joshua is so boring, and he's been picking on me with you gone! Mom told me to tell you that buisness is FINE, and to stop worrying about it! I can't wait to see you!

Sarah

Tyran

Hey son. We know you'll be coming home soon, so we want to let you know that any scroll you bring home I can make, and special requests are never turned down. I myself am working on a design for the ultima sword, and I think I can be finished with it and make it by your second year! I hope Excaliber is working well for you, but this sword will be even better.

Missing you, Dad

Mike

Oh Mike. Things have been crazy without you. Karen and Diane are getting pretty good at alchemy, and your father has been helping Tyran's dad with something a lot lately.

Miss you, hope to see you soon, Mom

Rob

So you'll be coming home from your first year soon, hunh? Not to be weird or anything, but I kind of like this girl in town. I won't tell you who it is. Bye.

Jackson

They then quietly went back to their wagon.

I won't be mean and leave a cliffhanger, yet. I already have a pretty good idea of how I want this story to end, it's just a matter of getting there.