The Goddess Crystal

Chapter 15: Cursed Shards

The door flings open and two guards walk in. I must have fallen asleep at the table after reading the poems. The poems. I scramble to gather the papers and manage to hide them under the left over cloth bandages as Leith walks in.

Dressed in black army fatigues, he doesn't look all that different from yesterday. He smiles ironically at me. "Good morning, Jill."

I yawn, though I'm practically wide awake. "What time is it?"

"Six A.M. sharp." With that, he looks at the soldiers and opens his mouth to say and order.

I get to my feet on shaky legs. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Leith looks back at me, Gem pulsing black. "I thought you said were going to have to drag you with us."

"Leith, it's six o'clock in the morning. I'm not in the mood for being dragged. I'd rather walk and say you had to drag me."

Leith smirks, gesturing to the still sleeping Skye. "Good, because these guards aren't for you." He watches, smiling slightly, as the two soldiers rudely wake Skye up by literally tipping him out of bed. Skye, half-awake, tumbles to the ground.

"He has nothing to do with this! Why are you doing that?" I yell, jolting to full consciousness as Skye lets out a groan. My cheek has started to throb again.

"You thought I didn't know of his knowledge of the Goddess Crystal?" Leith gives a sharp bark of laughter before turning towards me with a satisfied smirk. "Don't think me stupid, Jill. You are sorely underestimating me."

The two guards heave Skye to his feet so he's putting at least some of his weight on his own legs. Leith gestures towards the door and watches as they lead out. He smiles at me. "Shall we?"

I brush past him without another word.

It's been long enough since I've been outside. The sunlight nearly blinds me. The fresh air is enough to make me forget about worrying about the poems.

Then I realize I recognize the path we're taking as we head out of the base. The Crystal Gardens. To the path that connects it to the waterfall.

"Why are we going this way?"

Skye is too far ahead of us with his guards to hear me. Leith seems surprised by my statement. "Don't you know where to go?"

I rub at my wrist, even if there hasn't been a cuff there for a while. Leith let me change in my room before we left. "For a mythological piece of crystal? Insane, maybe?"

"Diamond," he admonishes. "It's diamond."

"Is that why you want it? Because it'll make you rich?"

Leith laughs, looking ahead to something in the distance. "Hardly. Like I said before, you wouldn't understand my reasons."

His reasons? Didn't I ask him why he wanted to know about the Goddess Crystal, not why he wanted to find it? Odd.

By then, I can hear the rushing of water. I remember back to the last time I was here, at the excavation site next to the waterfall. To stop a thief. The time before that, to get back some ruined kitchenware.

There are shouts near Flora and Carter's tent. I vaguely hear the words 'artifacts' and 'damage' before everything goes quiet besides some soft mutters and stifled yells.

We walk into the clearing. Skye and his two guards are already near the mouth of the cave-excavation site. Flora and Carter are nowhere to be seen, but there's an extra pair of soldiers at the front of their tent. We walk into the cave, everyone deathly quiet. Skye limps between his guards.

They stop Skye in the cave, turning him around to face Leith, who looks around the cave with something between awe and anticipation. "Now, what do you know about this place, Thief?"

"My name's Skye."

Leith sends him an exasperated glance. "Does it look like I particularly care? Answer the question."

Skye sighs, wincing as his guards tighten their grip. "Fine, fine. Father took me here once, when I was very young. It has something to do with the Goddess Crystal, but that's all I know concerning the cave."

"You seem to know an awful lot about the Goddess Crystal," Leith remarks, restarting the procession to the third mine entrance. "Continue on the subject."

I can't see Skye's face as he replies. "My father's ring's jewel was made of the Crystal. Don't ask me how he was able to obtain such a large piece, because I don't know."

We're on the lift, going down, down, down as Skye continues. "The Goddess originally let the Crystal exist because it could heal all wounds and illnesses."

The thirteenth floor breezes past.

"The Goddess, after realizing what the Crystal could really do, hid it somewhere. Only the Legendary Sword could point a person to its location and unlock the passage to it."

Leith cuts him off there, just as the thirty-fourth floor wheezes past. "Ah, the Legendary Sword. Where is this Sword, Thief?"

Skye pauses and I hear his breathing catch for a split second in the darkness of the lift, even if two people separate us. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

Another pause. "No, I don't."

Obviously, Skye isn't a good liar. There's a click, like a gun cocking, and suddenly the cool metal of a handgun's muzzle is pressed to my leg. "Jill will be shot if you lie again. Do you know where the Legendary Sword is?"

I can hardly hear Skye's response through my swimming thoughts. "It's in one of the mines."

Did Leith just threaten to shoot me? Why did I just stand there?

The gun leaves my skin. "Good. But, next time, there won't be a warning, Thief."

Am I just a thing Leith can use to get at Skye? People seem to do that a lot. Use me, that is.

I've lost count by now of the floors. We get off at what I can only guess is at least a hundred floors deep. The floor is empty, except for a bare bed with a sign next to it.

The sheets are gone, and the mattress looks like no one has slept in it for a while. Skye sighs in what sounds like relief. Leith, on the other hand, seems perturbed.

"Where is she?" he growls, walking quickly to the bedside. "Where is the Princess?"

He turns to Skye. "Do you know anything about this?"

Skye laughs. "Quite a predicament, huh? Since Keira isn't here, who will show you the way now?"

Leith blanches. "There has to be another way! I know there is. Tell me!"

Skye seems to remember Leith's threat, glancing quickly at me. "...We have to go to the second mine, level two hundred fifty-five."

Leith smiles. "Good." So into we lift we return, ascending creaky floor by dusty floor. We briefly walk through the excavation site on surface level, but we head right back into another lift, going down again.

Minutes pass by in silence. Leith keeps a hand on my shoulder, like he's afraid I might try to run. But where would I go? As we pass a floor, something slams into the rusting lift's door. I yelp but Leith just laughs, like he just met up with an old friend.

"What was that?" I whisper, staring wide-eyed at the door as the light fades.

"Probably a Cursed," Leith answers nonchalantly, studying Skye like he's gauging his reaction.

"A what?" I squeak. That doesn't sound too friendly.

"A Cursed. A creature, usually an animal, sometimes an unlucky human, cursed then charged to protect the Legendary Sword." Ignoring my disturbed look, he nods to himself. "We must be getting close."

"What, you mean there's going to be more of these things?"

He smiles. "Well, certainly." The lift jerks to a stop, squealing on rusted gears and cables. "Ah, here we are. Level two hundred fifty-five."

As we step out, there's a savage growl. Standing in the middle of the room is a cow. Seriously. The only thing distinguishing it from a regular cow is its brown-reddish tint and dead eyes. A Cursed.

Leith does not seem to notice the terrified looks everyone—including the guards—has as he takes off his necklace. The Goddess Gem swings back and forth, slightly dimmer than it was when it was around his neck. The light changes to something resembling a rainbow.

I remember back to the night Skye stole from the Blue Bar, how his ring looked just like that. How the Gem looks identical to the way the ring resembled just as he was about to use its power.

Leith doesn't show any visual indicator of what he does. The Cursed cow, about to charge, just suddenly collapses to the ground, unleashing an otherworldly howl and crumbles into dust.

The room resounds with a thunderous cracking noise. Skye looks shaken. "If that was the only guardian—"

A stumbling shadow tumbles into the room. It's a human. Cursed. I squeeze my eyes shut as the thing walks in, sick to my stomach to think that it was a human, once. Its sickly pale skin and slight resemblance to my cousin Jack only makes me want to heave.

There's another howl as it goes down. The ground shivers under our feet and there's a grinding noise. Leith starts and begins to drag me along. When I open my eyes, I notice the giant rock on the opposite wall has split apart and revealed a doorway of some sort.

As we walk, a paper crumpled into the corner catches my eyes. I remind myself to somehow grab it before we leave. Will I be able to leave?

In the off-shooting cave we walk into, there's a single rock. It's obviously been carved—its perfectly straight and square sides and corners couldn't have been worn down by time or nature. It has a slit on the top, perfectly centered in the stone. But nothing's in the cut—a pedestal for a sword, maybe.

Leith swears under his breath. Skye laughs. "Things aren't going too well for you, are they?"

Leith looks at Skye like he would love to hit him, but he must know he can't find the Goddess Crystal without him. But he doesn't need me, does he? Instead of hitting someone, he walks over to the pedestal and kicks it violently.

Skye doubles over like he's the one that got hurt. I have to stop myself from running over, remembering Leith's threats.

Leith's head jerks up as Skye mutters something. Walking over, he heaves Skye up so he's standing upright. Something in Skye's pocked has started to glow turquoise. Why happiness?

"What is that? Are you keeping secrets, Thief?" Leith snaps angrily, waving his gun at me, casually reminding me and Skye of his death-threat.

Skye simply glances down at his pocket, seeming confused himself, the light seeping through the fabric turns purple. Confusion. A Goddess Gem. "I thought it was broken—"

Leith shakes him. "What was broken? Tell me!"

Skye shakes his head slowly, almost amazed. "I kept a shard of my father's ring...I thought it didn't work anymore."

Leith stares at him for a few seconds. "Give it to me."

Skye opens his mouth. "I wouldn't do that if I were y—"

"Give it to me now!"

Skye shrugs lightly, and, after his guards let go of his arms, he digs out a thin shard from his pocket. It doesn't pulse like Leith's Gem, but gives off a constant stream of light.

Leith snatches it from Skye's hands, eyes slightly wild. There's a weird popping noise and Leith drops the shard like it's burned him. Swearing, he starts waving his hand frantically like you do when you've touched something unbearably hot.

Everyone just watches the spectacle, smirking slightly until Leith looks up at Skye. "The stupid thing burned me! What did you do?"

Skye, being held back by the guards again, shrugs. "I told you not to do it."

I'm standing near the entrance, and since everyone's focus is on the shard, I sneak out of the room and scoop up the paper that's tucked in the corner. It's covered in the same looping cursive I've come to know as the Goddess' very own hand writing.

I search for gold

Timber of such

Hidden well

Find it by touch

Finest delicacy of its kind

Find me this spiced dish

Your prize in this mine

You shall find

A gem of clearest

Amethyst I seek

And, my friends

Bring it to me

A relaxing drink

Warm and welcoming

The ones responsible

Those, to me, bring

I hear yelling again and tip-toe quickly back into the room, heaving a sigh of relief when I see that I've gone unnoticed.

Leith's usually pale face has gone red. "What did you do?"

"I have done nothing but follow your demands," Skye replies.

"Well, then, I demand you fix this!"

Skye sighs and, glancing at me after being released, picks up the Goddess Gem. It doesn't seem to hurt him, which makes Leith just a bit more irritated. Still limping, Skye makes his way over to the pedestal. With a final glance at me, he touches the Gem to the slit and the room fills with light.

When I can see again, the Gem is floating at about chest level and its sharpest end points to the lift, pulsing strange colors.

We do not take the time to stare at the spectacle before Leith ushers us back into the lift.

Tempest Bound: Hiya, guys! I can't really say anything about what's going to happen, or else it will spoil it, so I just can't wait to see what you guys think! See you next chapter!

(This is actually the longest chapter I've written. O.o)