The Crystal Mines

9 Nik

I watched Callion's chest rise and fall as he slept. I could tell by the stiffness of his head against the wall that, he hadn't been asleep long, and it was so hard to sleep as it was. I had woken up reliving the whipping in my dreams. Trife didn't stir in my lap when I shot awake in a panic. I craned my neck t see the moon outside. It would be morning soon. We only had today and tomorrow to finish planning and I could only speak to Faolan through Trife at night. Over the last three days, Trife had fed us and Faolan's mystery person and passed along as much information as we could before we all collapsed from exhaustion.

The plan we had so far, was a reach, and probably wouldn't even work. But we were going to try. With the strength Ameer sent me when he contacted me, I was able to fill about a third of the rose quartz with magic. The magic was raw, unconverted into elemental. I wasn't sure what it meant, and Callion had little idea as to what it could be used for. But storing it, seemed smarter than ending up in a weakened condition again.

At some point I had dozed off long enough for me to see the sun begin to change the black sky to purples and dark blues when I woke again. Trife stretched in my lap, smacking his mouth like a babe. I scratched his head, feeling pleasure roll across our strange new bond. He blinked his big eyes open and flew up. With a wink, he disappeared with a small 'pop' to retrieve us some food. Callion was still sleeping. Enough so, that he had finally fallen over to the floor. I stood up, working my arms to test my back muscles. There was no stiffness, and my skin didn't pull like it had only a couple days ago. I had a feeling that I had had two mirrors, I would see that my skin was smooth.

Trife returned many minutes later than he usually did. His small arms full of fruit instead of the usual jerky. I looked at him, curious. As if sensing my question, he bobbed in the air and shrugged saying, "The fat man didn't have jerky today. So, these brightly colored fruit is-"

"Wait." I put my hand up, halting his sentence. His hand froze between his legs. "You're stealing food from Viorica's husband?"

Trife scratched his balls. "I guess so." He hovered and then sniffed his fingers, nodding as if pleased by the aroma he found. I turned away, trying not to gag.

"Did the monkey just scratch his balls and sniff his hand after?" Callion scowled form the floor in disgust. I nodded, mimicking his face. He flopped his arm over his eyes in frustration. "You do not get me any more food until those tiny things are squeaky clean."

Trife looked at me, pleading with his eyes. "Agreed," I said covering my mouth, trying not to laugh at his big innocent eyes. Changing the subject I asked, "Did you bring Faolan and his companion food too?"

The sprite clapped his hands. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Was that before or after you scratched your balls?" Callion asked while standing up. Trife's hands froze, and he sunk lower in the air, ashamed. Callion looked to me and said, "I won't tell your friend if you don't."

I couldn't help it. In the middle of solitary confinement, after nearly being whipped to death, I burst out laughing. The sound was surprising in such an environment. Callion's head tilted and his eyes bore into mine. I coughed, choking down the amusement. I must have pissed him off. He turned away, disgusted, arm above him on the wall. Fine. Guess we were going back to silence. I sat down and for the rest of the day, any magic I could muster, I shoved into my crystal.

Each passing hour, Callion and I sat in silence. When night approached again, I felt Ameer touch the other side of the diamond wall I kept in place in my mind. I hadn't yet spoke to Ameer in front of Callion. I made myself as scarce as I could, moving to the far corner, taking my rose quartz with me. I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes so that Trife's incessant zooming around the room didn't distract me as much.