The Dragons' Crystal

Chapter Nineteen ~ Darius

It had been far closer than I first imagined. We arrived at the woman's hut in minutes. While she let me inside, I took a brief moment to glance around. It was only one circular room that had everything she would ever need. There was a bed on one side, a fireplace on the other with a cauldron hanging above the fire. The walls were filled edge to edge with pictures, decorations, and strange looking artifacts that I dared not question. The overall room was dark. 

"Take a seat, my boy, while I get some light for us." She reached up for a candle from one of her shelves that was hidden upon the globs of stuff she kept around. She held her pointer finger and her thumb over the wick. When she let it go, the candle was lit. 

"You have magic." I stated, a smile taking hold of the side of my face. My doubts began to fade. If she knew magic, there was no question in my mind. She would be able to tell us exactly where the crystal hid. I attempted to keep my excitement at bay, already trying to decide how I would break the news to Odelle in the morning. I couldn't wait to see the smile she would get. 

She grabbed a pot from the floor, placing it on a table next to the bed, where I had decided to sit. It was the only place available for sitting. She didn't seem to mind. She pulled another pot from the wall and sat on it. Several potions and jars were moved to the table by her hand while she hummed, searching effortlessly for her ingredients. "Something like that, yes. You didn't think I was going to just pretend to know what I was talking about, did you?" She chuckled, pulling the damp rag from her head. She had a bun at the top of her head, though it was messy and dozens of long strands hung out of it. "Tell me, my boy. What all do you know?"

I took a deep breath, knowing this was going to be a lot of information at once. Hopefully she could understand it all. "My father is currently the King of dragons in our land above the clouds. I am his youngest, and only surviving, child. Do you know of the crystal we once had in our possession?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Allira, wasn't it?"

"Yes." I didn't question how she knew that information, simply placing it on her being infused with magic. "Allira left my father after he planned a mass murder. She disappeared when I was a small child. My father had a decoy made to fool our people into believing that he still carried it with him. I tried to cause an uprising several years ago, but they didn't believe me and my father caught me. I knew my punishment would be too severe, so I left. I came to Earth to find Allira. My friend and I have searched in the three places my father was certain she escaped to, but we came up empty handed. I'm searching for the crystal so that I may overthrow my father and regain the trust of the crystal and my people. I want a better life for them, but I can't do that without the power of the crystal. My father has far more experience than I do. I can't depend on luck to beat him." I explained. 

The woman began to chuckle beneath her breath as she threw the contents of the vials together. I couldn't sense a pattern to it, or any reason why she was mixing them all together, but I didn't question it. I was her guest, not the host. I needed to be patient and see what she revealed to me, no matter how long it took. I was desperate. "You can sense the crystal, no?"

I nodded. "I know it's nearby. I know it's this land at the very least. I can feel it the energy faintly, but it's nothing strong enough to give me a strong lead."

Her smile grew wider. "Have you ever wondered how close it is?" She momentarily stopped mixing to spare me a glance, or to catch my reaction.

"I mean, sometimes? I'm not sure what you mean."

"Sometimes, the things we value most in life are directly under our feet but we can't see them. Or, perhaps, we pass by the same spot everyday and go our entire lives believing there is nothing special or important about it, yet we discover later that it was what we were looking for the entire time." She sniffed one of her vials, then put the contents in the pot.