The Dragon Crystal.

Chapter 10. A horse gives clues.

At first it was just noises. Callon shot his arrow at anything that moved. Something moved in the bushes. "Don't," Cameron said as Callon reached for his bow. Out comes a horse. "Wait, what? Why?" Callon says. "What do you mean why?" Cameron asked. "No, I just heard it talk." "Yeah right-" "Gah!" "Something you were 'sayin?" The horse asked. "Uh." The horse sat on Cameron. "Get me out!" I said muffled. "You're not in something you just happen to be under me!" Callon raised his bow. "Gah! Savages," It whispered under its breath. The horse scampered away. "Ok," Cameron said as he dusted himself off. "Who are you?" "Who are you?" The horse pointed its hoof into my face. "I asked first!" Cameron shouted. "He he he!" The horse snorted. "Who are you?" "I'm, ahahaha!" The horse kept on laughing. "Cut it out! Who are you!" Cameron pushed on. "I'm the wizard of oz!" This sent the horse spiraling to the ground with laughter. Cameron turned to Callon, and mouthed the words, "You try?" He raised his bow. "Savages!" The horse hid behind a bush. "Actually, I quite like that name. I might call you that from now on." He raised his bow again. "Fine! I'm Mary horse!" "Your last name is horse?" Cameron asked. He and Callon fell to the floor laughing. "Um yeah?" "Yeah, why are you laughing?" Mary horse asked. "Because you're literally a horse, ahahahaha!" The horse sat on them. Callon poked Mary's butt with the tip of his arrow. "Eeeeee! Ow ow Ow!" That just made it worse. The horse bounced on top of us until Callon poke it a second time. "Savages!" The horse said. "Where's the dragon crystal?" Cameron asked. "Why do you want to know that?" The horse asked. Callon raised his bow. "Oh come on!" The horse yelled. "I don't know exactly where it is but I do know some clues." "Speak." "A lot of people say that you guys get rid of dragons, but there's no dragon around. And you keep on going around asking questions about where it might be hiding. Where's it gonna end?" The horse hopped off Callon's legs. "If you know where it is, give us the crystal!" Callon said, pushing the spear against Mary's side. Mary rolled her eyes. "Ughh, fine," She sighed. "Well, uh, there is always a certain cave..." Callon raised his eyebrow questioningly. "Yes. The cave." Mary said. "We have another location for it." "That's great." Callon smiled. He lifted Mary off the ground. "Come with us. We have things to do."
They got on Mary's back. "So the Crystal's location is moved every week, and is almost always being guarded by dragons, 24/7/365, so, I'll distract them-" "Which you'll be really good at," Cameron pointed out. "And you guys will sneak in." "Yeah, let's just hope the crystal doesn't trigger any type of Indiana Jones trap." "Now that would be unfortunate," Mary said sarcastically. "Anyways, since the entrance of the cave is directly underneath the castle's foundations, the only way to enter is on the other side. Once we get inside we just have to find the crystal. Easy enough." "Right, easy enough," Callon said, sarcastically. "I guess that makes sense." Cameron said. "Alright, let's get moving before we freeze to death!" Mary said, hopping over the castle wall. After climbing across the wall, they headed for the forest, where the tunnel to the castle started. They had been walking for several minutes when they finally reached the forest. "I wonder what's in the forest?" Mary asked while looking around the area. "I don't know," Callon replied, equally confused. They continued to walk in the forest for quite awhile, occasionally stopping to look around. They stopped once they came across a stone bridge over a small creek. "This looks familiar. Do you guys know where we are?" Callon said. "Maybe it's your memory," Cameron suggested. "Hey, wait a minute," Callon said, turning to Cameron. "Didn't you hear that?" Up ahead, they found two dozen dragons guarding a stone bridge, leading to a huge cave. "There it is!" Mary said excitedly.
"I'll distract them." She calmly walked up to the guards and started doing the worm. Or she was trying to do the worm. The dragons laughed. "That's the best source of entertainment since... Oh well, we got to get a break somehow."Cameron and Callon rushed around the stone bridge, then went inside the castle. The Crystal
was right in front of them. "Levitatia!" Callon whispered. The Crystal floated out of the glass protecting it. Alarms blared. They could hear Mary Horse yelling, "Stop!" while the dragons ran after them. One breathed fire at Callon. He sidestepped, the fire going right through the crystal. Another flew at Cameron. He dodged left just in time. Callon picked up the crystal, then jumped off the ledge just as the dragon fired another blast at them. Cameron and Callon were running towards Mary as the dragon was flying off. "Hold on to this!" Mary grabbed Callon and pulled him in front of her. Before the dragon could attack Cameron and Callon, they ran off and out of the castle as quick as they could.
The sun was getting close to setting by the time the trio finished their trip to the cave. They climbed down a steep slope and stood near a large hole in the wall. A glowing light shined from inside. "Let's take a peek," Callon said, jumping into the hole and pulling the rope back to make sure nobody else follows. The rest of the team slowly crawled through the hole. They landed inside the chamber with their weapons drawn. "It's alright," Callon whisper, lowering his weapon. The room was covered in cobwebs. A faint glow glowed from one corner. "I think I see some gold." Cameron said. "Wait! Hold it!" Mary called out. "What?" Cameron asked. Mary held up a piece of paper. "A map?" "No, another note." He held it up, and this is what the note said. 'Follow the green glow in the center. You'll understand when you reach it. -L.P.' "Is this supposed to help us?" Cameron asked. Mary shook her head. "Looks like whoever wrote this wasn't much of an explorer." "Yeah, that would fit," Cameron agreed. "We're not going to find anything, here." "Yeah, not unless we go in the right direction," Callon said. He took a step back and stared deep inside the walls. The walls were coated in dust. As if there used to be something on there before. Callon leaned down, touching the dirt beneath the wall. There was something. "Guys," Callon whispered. He wiped away the dust covering the wall. "What do we have here?" "A treasure chest." Cameron muttered. He looked around the chamber. "Looks like there's nothing here except for this." He pointed at the pile of treasure next to Callon. "Yeah, that's probably just another trick," Mary said. "I wish we brought some tools or something," Cameron said. "Do you know any spells?" "Not for this occasion." "Um, guys, I think I found that green glow.". Cameron pointed too a small crevice on the wall, and it indeed had green light filtering through it. Another note appeared. "Woah, it just came out of the crevice." He picked it up and examined it. "Congratulations!" He read. "You have succeeded in retrieving the dragon crystal. All you have to do now is go to old crusty's shop and place the crystal in the most expensive headboard. Best wishes, L.P." So they teleported to the shop, where Mary hadn't been. They had to tell her what had happened. Anyway, the placed the Crystal on the headboard, what happened will shock you. The crystal started to glow and expand. The headboard grew bigger. It Right side up. All until it was placed perfectly on one side. Then, a dragon appeared in it. "Take the Crystal," It said in a squeaky voice. "And use the Extracting spell. Good luck." It then disappeared. They teleported back to Callons cave for the moment of truth. "Extrahere!" Callon shouted. The crystals glowing dissipated. Then, a dragon appeared in front of them. But it wasn't a normal dragon. This one radiated power, not evil. They all had a feeling it was good. It began to speak.
"Welcome back, my children. Thank you for your sacrifice."

The Dragon spoke again. "I am L.P." Callon turned to Cameron who shrugged his shoulders. "What does that mean? And, how did you get here?" Callon asked. "My name isn't important right now. The Crystal has been taken care of. Your task is finished," The Dragon answered. "Thank you," Callon bowed. "No, thank you." The dragon smiled. "I have to go now. Goodbye, children." Suddenly, it vanished. "What do you think he meant by it having been taken care of?" Callon asked, looking at Cameron, Mary. "Maybe that the Crystal wasn't destroyed after all? That the crystal was still here? That L.P. was alive? And that we can use the Dragon's powers to stop the war?Maybe it's the first part, and maybe it's just a bunch of stuff the Crystal already told us about?" Mary suggested. They didn't know how long it took to get back, but when they entered the cave once more the crystal shone brightly. Mary and Callon made their way toward it.