The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 6

Iris couldn't find a cave. Night fell, and the rain stopped, and she huddled in the dark under the trees, hugging her knees to her chest and sobbing into her drenched skirt. She was cold, tired, sore, hungry, and, most of all, scared to death.

Nothing made sense anymore.

The amulet was just a clear glass stone now, dead weight around her neck and completely useless. She tried using it again earlier, holding it tightly in her right hand and willing something helpful into existence - a cave, a meal, a blanket. Nothing happened. The amulet was cold and lifeless. She tried wrenching it from her neck to throw it away, but something stopped her. Her hand froze at the point where the chain dug into her neck. She sighed and stuffed it back into her dress.

The war started. The dreaded war, the one where the rarely seen dragons attacked for no apparent reason. Not apparent to her, anyway, but she was far from the kingdom's capital, where all the political nonsense took place. Why hadn't they attacked there first? Maybe they did. She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore.

A stranger who was a dragon in disguise. A mage who saw her as a threat. An amulet that saved Kayla, and her, without her even knowing how to use it.

Was Kayla still alive? Did the church survive the battle, or did the massive old stones crumble and bury them all? Did only one building in town burn, or did the whole town go up in flames, taking with it the people she knew and loved?

She wanted - needed - to know. But she couldn't go back. For one thing, she had no idea which way was back. Her panicked escape had taken her far from what she knew of this forest, and she didn't know which direction led back to town. East would get her to the tree line, eventually, but was it straight east from this point, or was it northeast, or southeast? If she could even find a way up or around that cliff.

But what about the mage? The anger in his eyes, the venom in his voice when he said he found her. What did that even mean? Had he been looking for her? Why?

She couldn't go back.

And the stranger - the dragon. He warned her. Why her? Why just her? There were so many people who didn't deserve to be caught up in that battle. Or was he warning her away from something else - someone else? Like the mage?

He warned her twice. Saved her twice. Before and during the battle.

She didn't know what to think anymore.

That was the longest, most miserable night of her life. The air was cool after the storm, chilling her wet clothes, preventing her from the blessed release of sleep. She was too exhausted to keep moving, but too cold to sleep. It was pitch dark under the trees, anyway. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. So she shivered through the night, crying until the tears were gone and all that was left was a throbbing headache, waiting for morning to come with its new miseries.

The sun's rays at least brought warmth.

She opened her eyes and rested her chin on her knees, listening to the early morning chatter of birds and the rumbling of her stomach. The forest was actually very pretty in the daylight. Tree trunks, thick, gnarled, twisted, crowded each other for room on the forest floor, far below the trees reaching over the edge of the cliff above. Bright green leaves carpeted the mossy ground, knocked loose by the storm. Vines wound around a tree here or there, climbing up the trunk to wrap around branches and reach back down to the earth. Flowers bloomed in the patches of sunlight filtering through gaps in the canopy. Mushrooms crowded around the roots weaving in and out of the mud.

Edible mushrooms.

Jonah taught her about edible plants when she was little. She would follow him around the forest west of the church, listening with rapt attention as he named each tree, each shrub, each flower, pointing out what was safe to eat and what was poisonous. He collected plants for the grocer in town. She hadn't seen him in years, not since he decided the town wasn't big enough for his ambitions. He kept a portion of his earnings back from Father John, saving until they thought he had enough to start out elsewhere. She vividly remembered the day he left. He picked her up, hugging her tightly and telling her to listen to Father John, and then he handed her off to Father John and was gone.