Between The Crystals

Ch 10 A Hidden Map

My eyes remained locked on the crystal as I impatiently waited for the porting strain to fade and then a bit longer for good measure. I wasn't going to win this bet by rushing—and the patience it forced me to use was possibly why Grant kept agreeing to such things. Now I was beginning to wonder who was really going to "win" this bet.

Shaking my head, I went to the crystal and thought of an abandoned village I hadn't visited for over half a year. The air hazed around me, then cleared to reveal piles of rock rubble along a dried-up riverbed that hadn't held water in well over a century. The rubble had once been houses, surrounded by dry red dirt as far as the eye could see.

This place held nothing worth coming here for, with one possible exception. Crystal shards. Once planted, it took several years for them to grow big enough to port to—roughly three years in damp soil or five in dry desert dust—although they took decades to reach their full, waist-high stature. Then, about every two to four years, the mature crystal would shed a single shard.

I crouched down and inspected the crystal. Nothing. Most villages, even abandoned ones, had at least two crystals, so I walked over to the other one and examined it.

A grin split across my face as I picked up a finger-long chunk of crystal lying on the dirt. I carefully wrapped the shard in a piece of soft leather and tucked it into my shirt.

Most porters didn't care about the abandoned villages, but Grant had asked the other porters to show me every one he knew of. He liked to plan decades in advance, and he knew we'd eventually need the shards and the areas they opened up. And what better way to safely preoccupy a teenager with a ton of porting power than to have them check all the crystals in deserted villages?

I visited these locations every few months, sometimes more if I saw a hairline crack forming on a crystal. Other villages also watched for shards, so we had to be quick in collecting them. They wouldn't grow if we broke them off early.

The next village was on a huge ledge halfway up a rather large cliff. Finding nothing, I sat for a few minutes to enjoy the view before going to the next place.

By the time I had checked eleven villages, I was feeling rather winded and tired, despite my increasingly long rests. The trip had been worth it though. I had two shards, which was startling since the crystals dropped them so infrequently. Other porters must not be checking some of these places.

I debated checking another village. Rule number one in survival said that one didn't port unless they knew, without a doubt, that they'd have enough energy to bounce the second they arrived.

I decided to quit while I was ahead, before I got sloppy. These villages were abandoned, but jackals or snakes occasionally moved in. I could always continue my search tomorrow afternoon. And I had won my bet with Grant. A longer rest before porting back was prudent. Falling face-first into the sand wasn't exactly an elegant way to win.

To keep boredom at bay, I wandered up a cliffside path and glanced into the small one-room caves as I went by. The unending dry heat had preserved most items, even decades later.

Most rooms were a mirror image of the ones back home. Dried grass mattresses which were missing any bedding that might have once been there, and there were gaps where small wooden chests would have sat on the floor. Empty rickety shelves adorned the storage areas.

Nothing of value was left. Even the old tattered doorway coverings had been taken. Thankfully, any bodies would have been buried by the first groups to risk returning, else the desert heat would have mummified them where they lay.