His Elven Crown (An Aladdin Retelling)

Part 3

Dian crept up towards the cave, then followed inside in slow, careful steps, looking out to catch whoever just came in. Then he saw the big door, now unlocked and open wide. In front of it, stood a young girl, probably his age, two blonde braids sticking out from under her hood, a small lantern in her hand.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm Janelle. Who are you?" she said warily.

"Dian."

She frowned. "Who sent you after me?"

"No one."

"Adeline didn't send you?"

"How do you know Adeline?" He asked.

"I asked first."

He rolled his eyes. "No, she's asleep. Only I saw you coming in."

Janelle seemed relieved. "Well, Adeline is my sister."

"Are you half-elf?" The question tumbled out of his mouth, and he immediately blushed.

She seemed to understand what he was thinking. "No, but I have elven friends, who let me borrow their clothes and jewelry," she said, showing her shirt, necklace, bracelets, and rings.

"Why are you helping Adeline?" She asked.

"Didn't have much of a choice. And I need money." He admitted sheepishly.

"You don't really want to give her that diamond. She'll use its power to destroy the elves." She hesitated for a second before adding, "But I came here to stop her. You can come along, I'll explain everything."

"Maybe she should destroy them," he mumbled, immediately regretting it upon seeing Janelle's surprised look. "But I'd rather go with you. Let's go." He walked past her, hoping she wouldn't ask about it.

The room was huge, filled with crystals of all colors and sizes. Quite the place to hide a diamond.

"How did you open the door?" He asked while looking around.

"It simply opens at night. I bet Lina didn't know that."

He crouched to examine the crystals on the floor. Janelle sat down next to him. "Dian," she called hesitantly, "Why would you want your own people dead?"

He froze. "They're not my people. They cast me out before I was even born."

"I'm really sorry," she reached out to squeeze his hand, "I know some elves in the north aren't very friendly with humans. But down in the south they're much more accepting."

As they chatted, he told her a little about his mother, and their life in the forest.

"You and your mom should come to the south, we'd love to have you."

He smiled as she told him about the southern village she came from. She was the middle of three sisters, Adeline being the oldest. They lived with her grandmother, that was until Adeline left a few years ago.

"She lost a person she had loved so deeply, in a feud with a south-western clan of elves, and she hasn't given up on the idea of revenge since then." Janelle explained. "When I knew she was after Avak's diamond, I followed immediately."

"Avak's diamond?" Dian repeated the name.

"The black diamond she's after is Avak's diamond. Avak was an ancient wizard. As powerful as he was evil. Elven sorcerers fought him, but they couldn't defeat him, so they imprisoned his soul in a diamond. They say the darkness of his soul turned it black. The elves hid the diamond in this cave, to prevent anyone from using its powers and setting him free."

"So, are you here to destroy it?" He asked.

"I'm afraid I can't, but I can hide it away from her, and hope she can never know I took it away."

Dian nodded. "Adeline taught me some magic, actually." He said, in an effort to not let the conversation die away.

"She did?" She sounded alarmed. "You shouldn't really learn from her. Her ways can be.. somehow, detrimental."

"Detrimental.. how?"

"Drawing power from within is really dangerous. You might have more power inside of us than you'll ever find in a stone. But if you ever lose control, you'd be literally sucking the life out of your body. Stones have a limited amount of power, which makes them safer."

He nodded, glossing over the words.

Their little chat ended there, and they began their diamond hunt. Janelle insisted that they go room by room, together, emphasizing that caves can be such treacherous mazes.

After some time of exhaustive search, Dian found curiously neat creaks in the form of a rectangle in one of the walls. He tried pushing it, knocking against it. When he put his ear against it, he could hear the sound of running water.

"Hey, Janelle?" he called. She appeared next to him in an instance. "I think I found a door, but I can't move it." She put her hand forward, and moved the giant stone away, as easily as Adeline would have, leaving them standing in front of a dark, narrow tunnel.