Black Crystal

by R A Oakes

  How do women get away with hitting men like that? Marcheto thought feeling the welt on his cheek rising.

  Aerylln hopped up, looked down at Marcheto and hated him for no other reason than because he was a man, which had been a good enough reason for other young women for hundreds of years and suited her just fine.

  Marcheto looked at Eldwyn and Zorya seeking a friendly face. Being a woman herself, Zorya showed him no sympathy and thought, Men deserve to be taken down a notch or two for any reason, at any time, and now’s as good a time as any.

  Desperate for some show of support, the young warrior looked hopefully at Eldwyn who shook his head and said, “Son, I’m afraid you’re on your own. I’m a wizard, but no magic on earth can make a woman’s wrath disappear. Maybe you should’ve let Aerylln kill you, then these women might have felt some regret, or if you’d been severely wounded, they might have come to your aid. But you’re a healthy young man, which makes you a prime target.”

  “But I didn’t do anything,” Marcheto protested.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Eldwyn said. “A woman can decide you’re wrong and come up with a reason why later, if she feels like explaining herself, which she might not.”

  “So, I back down and let them run all over me?”

  “No, they won’t respect you if you do that.”

  “Should I jump up and defy them?”

  “No, that wouldn’t be wise under the circumstances.”

  “So what do I do?” Marcheto asked.

  “Pretty much just lay there in the dirt, until they decide what they want to do with you.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “Maybe a lifetime. I hope you’re not in any rush.”

  “This is infuriating,” Marcheto said.

  “Now you’re catching on,” Eldwyn said smiling ruefully.

  Lying on his back looking up at the women, it suddenly dawned on him, and he knew how to respond, the only correct response available to a man no matter when, where or why.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Zorya and Corson looked at each other, and the warrior woman said, “Well, at least he’s not as dumb as he looks.”

  Aerylln stood over Marcheto savoring the victory. It was her first apology from a man, and she liked it.

  Marcheto got to his knees, then sat back on his heels and waited, somehow knowing that doing nothing was the best course of action.

  His grandmother had once told him that sometimes doing nothing is the best activity. It had made no sense at the time, but now he realized that in this highly charged, estrogen-filled environment around him, quiet was the correct response.

  Things were emotionally crowded enough already. There wasn’t any room for him. No space was available for his thoughts, opinions, feelings or even his inner spirit. The only acceptable response was nothingness. Marcheto felt a sense of peace and tranquility descending upon him. He was no longer aware of those around him. He was alone. Even he was not there. Only nothingness. He’d never experienced anything like it before.

  Realizing what was happening, Eldwyn was impressed and said, “It appears the young man knows how to meditate.”

  “Do you really think so?” Zorya asked as the women began looking at Marcheto with renewed interest.

  “Yes, he may have a gift for it. And I believe it’s a new awareness for him. An epiphany of sorts. It seems the young man has stumbled upon himself.”

  The women forgot their anger, and curiosity replaced it. Watching him carefully, they wondered how Marcheto would handle this new experience.

  “How long will he just sit there?” Aerylln asked.

  “It’s hard to say. He seems to be flowing with the Xao,” Eldwyn said.

  “The what?” Corson asked.

  “The Xao, a universal life force that flows through all things.”

  “It’s an ancient religion,” Zorya added.

  The small group focused again on the silent young man at their feet.

  Marcheto had inadvertently discovered one of the two main rules men should follow when dealing with women. Don’t bore them. And, secondly, don’t make them mad.

  The women accepted his meditative state and moved away to give him room. It was unnecessary. Marcheto had entered a vast inner world greater than any personal space they could have afforded him. For the first time in his life, Marcheto felt at home and at peace.

  “How does something like that happen?” Corson asked. “How can he just sit there? It seems like his spirit has left his body.”

  For Corson to notice it, Marcheto’s gift must have been substantial. Ordinarily, the warrior woman focused exclusively on the physical world, and her attention span for spiritual matters was short.

  “Let’s get moving,” Corson said as her interest waned.

  When Aerylln, Zorya, Baelfire, Eldwyn and Corson began moving further down the path, Marcheto didn’t move. He had no need to move. He had found all he needed.

  Corson tossed a stone at Marcheto hitting him gently on the back and causing him to come out of his reverie.

  “Let’s go!” the warrior woman commanded.

  Marcheto got to his feet but was a little disoriented, and his legs felt heavy and lifting them took effort.

  Aerylln stood next to him leaning her body up against his for support and putting an arm around him. Marcheto looked at the teenage girl but didn’t quite see her.

  By accident, the young man discovered one way of getting close to a woman. That is, having his own identity and letting the woman choose to approach him, if and when she got around to it. And always to be grateful that she did. Always.

  Without realizing it, at least for now, Marcheto needed Aerylln. And from that moment on, he always would. For though inwardly full and spiritually whole, he would never completely pay attention to his physical environment again. Aerylln sensed that Marcheto was feeling distracted, that the young warrior hadn’t totally left his meditative state behind, and that he would need someone to keep an eye on him. Not too much, nothing suffocating or dependent, but he needed her.

  In her young heart, Aerylln realized this would give her some control over the young man. It made her feel powerful, and she liked that. Aerylln had fallen in love. Marcheto hadn’t noticed, but it wasn’t necessary. He would do what she told him, Aerylln decided. All he needed to do was listen to her.

  She thought, Life would be so much easier for a man, if he just followed one rule, always do what a woman tells you to do.

  “Hey, everyone, let’s focus,” Corson said bringing them all down to earth. “We need to find Balder and his men. Let’s move.”

  As they headed on, Eldwyn turned to Zorya and said, “Should we ask the young man who he is, and what he was doing here?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Whoever he was before this moment is already in the past for him,” Zorya said. “He’ll never be who he was before. All that is changed forever now.”

  “That’s true,” the wizard agreed.

  “All my life, I’ve been aware of the Xao, and I doubt this young man has even heard of it. Why should he be given the gift of such total awareness and not me? Why did it just come to him?” Zorya asked feeling a little confused.

  “Who can say? Maybe some people are chosen,” Eldwyn said.

  “Why?” Zorya persisted.

  “He probably had nothing meaningful in his life, so the Xao only had to wait for an opening to flow into him,” Eldwyn speculated.

  “Why now?”

  “He was alone, out of his element, a bit scared and the last of what little identity he did have went away. The Xao just flowed in,” the wizard said brainstorming out loud.

  “I’ve wanted the Xao to flow into me like that all of my life,” Zorya said.

  “Your wanting it was a conscious act that might have blocked it.”

  “And the young man was clueless?” Zorya asked.

  “He probably didn’t even know any better. He was just an empty vessel ready to be filled.”
r />   “That’s all it took? His being ready?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “It’s not fair,” Zorya said.

  “Your being a horse is what’s not fair. How did that happen?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Yes I do.”

  “I don’t know how to get back to being myself,” Zorya said in frustration. And for the first time Eldwyn heard a bit of fear in his old friend’s voice. “I don’t know how to get home, so to speak.”

  “Be like this young man, possibly.”

  “Just let it happen?”

  “Let’s watch him and see how he does it,” the wizard advised.

  Chapter 10

  Only a short distance away, and on the same path, Balder could have used Corson’s help. Fighting for his life, the warrior woman’s friend and his band of men were engaged in a ferocious battle.

  Ducking as a sword swept over his head, Balder pulled a knife from its sheath and stuck it in his opponent’s right thigh. Howling in pain, the opposing warrior yanked out the knife with one hand while, to Balder’s amazement, continuing to press the attack with another vicious swing of his sword. A second warrior joined the other and both faced Balder, smiling grimly and exuding confidence. The warriors who’d attacked them along the path weren’t amateurs but seasoned professionals.

  Someone’s been watching us and keeping close tabs on our movements. And this ambush was so well-planned, who else but Chen could have orchestrated it? Balder wondered. But where is she? I don’t see her anywhere.

  As the two opposing warriors prepared to rush Balder, the men hesitated as one pointed towards a woman sprinting down a path and into the small clearing. They smiled and waited for her to reach them as one said to the other, “This should be fun.”

  From the rise of a nearby hill, Corson had seen Balder’s warriors being ambushed and had come running. Balder was her man, and she would help defend him. In a few moments, no one was laughing.

  Unsheathing her sword, Corson threw herself at the two warriors threatening Balder without a moment’s hesitation. Her opponents had expected a faceoff and counted on the four of them exchanging words and taunting each other prior to combat. Unfortunately for them, Corson never engaged in pleasantries.

  Leaping at her two opponents, she thrust her sword into the heart of one and brought her weapon down hard between the neck and shoulder of the other. Both men were dead before they hit the ground. After turning and giving Balder a quick kiss, she rushed forward taking another man down before her boyfriend gathered his wits about him. Corson’s prowess in battle always left him speechless, but following her lead, he threw himself into the fray.

  Seeing so many of the ambushers dropping to the ground, his men looked on in relief as Corson evened the odds. Feeling much more confidant now, Balder’s men seemed to grow in both size and stature. The warrior woman had that effect on men fighting alongside her. But the opposing warriors weren’t so happy about Corson’s arrival. Two or three of them turned tail and ran. And as more attackers fell to the ground in a heap, others ran for their lives as well. Soon the battle turned into a rout with the enemy scattering in all directions.

  “Don’t follow them, stay together,” Corson shouted as some of Balder’s men began to give chase. At the sound of her voice, her boyfriend’s men instantly obeyed having fought beside Corson before and knowing her to be an excellent leader. The few who didn’t fully respect her judgment obeyed nevertheless, not out of trust but out of fear. However, all obeyed her command.

  With the situation under control, both Corson and Balder sheathed their swords and embraced. Balder was special, she believed, in that he had courage, great skill with a sword, wasn’t afraid to take initiative and was a born leader. And Balder wasn’t insecure, which was good because Corson outclassed him in all the aforementioned areas. Snuggling up against him, she took his earlobe in her teeth and bit down hard tasting blood.

  Balder remained still and didn’t cry out. Corson had done this before, and he knew it was her idea of displaying affection. Forcing himself not to pull away, he accepted the pain. Balder was eager to show Corson he cared because he did. Very much so.

  The warrior woman gave him a long, rough kiss, then swept the battlefield with her eyes and asked, “What started all this?”

  “For several weeks, we’ve been observing Chen’s actions. It appears she’s killing randomly and for no apparent reason.”

  “Chen did that a few years ago, but she eventually settled back down,” Corson reminded him.

  “Being Lord Daegal’s niece, Chen feels like she’s allowed to do anything, anything at all,” Balder said in disgust.

  “Chen’s full of anger, and I can identify with that,” Corson said.

  “Yes, but you don’t go around killing innocent people for pleasure.”

  “Well, it doesn’t take much to get me upset.”

  “Chen’s a breed apart though,” Balder insisted.

  “Do you think she was behind this fight here?”

  “More than likely, but I’m not sure.”

  Off in the distance, on a cliff high above them, there was a brief flash as sunlight reflected off armor, a sword, a bottle or something. Looking up, they saw a dark figure dressed in black leather leaping onto her warhorse wrapping her long legs around the animal’s sides. The woman had short, dark-brown hair and wore a black cloak that was billowing all around her.

  Corson’s sharp eyes noticed two female warriors serving as bodyguards for the cloaked figure. One sheathed her sword, which apparently had been the source of the reflection.

  “They wanted us to see them,” Balder said.

  “I suppose so.”

  “It’s Chen,” Balder observed.

  “Black cloak and women as personal guards. Yea, that was Chen.”

  “So, what happens now?”

  “Anything and everything’s possible, if she’s willing to be seen openly at this point,” Corson said.

  “It seems like Lord Daegal allows Chen to kill at will and without provocation. But why would he go along with that?”

  “There’s more going on here than meets the eye.”

  “What do you mean?” Balder asked.

  “Wait till you see what’s tagging along behind me.”

  At that moment, a little band of travelers arrived including a horse, an old wizard, a young warrior and a teenage girl carrying a sword.

  “And these are your companions?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you think they’re part of what’s going on here?” Balder asked.

  “In the grand scheme of things, though I’m not sure exactly how or why.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “Well, the horse talks and hints that she once was a woman. The old man is Eldwyn the wizard and the boy and girl, well that’s when things get really interesting.”

  “How so?”

  “Ask her to take her sword out of its scabbard.”

  “Okay,” Balder said as he headed over to the little group.

  “No Balder, I don’t really want you to fool with the

  sword.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “You’re smiling!” Balder said in amazement.

  Just then, Corson let out a laugh that shook her entire body. She laughed so hard that she leaned forward putting her hands on her knees to support herself.

  “What’s so funny?” Balder asked in alarm being aware of Corson’s perverse sense of humor. “And what’s so important about a teenage girl and a sword?”

  “Only everything,” Corson said, as she held onto her ribs laughing so hard her chest hurt.

  “What are we getting into here, Corson?”

  “I’d say it’s the end of the world as we know it, and maybe the beginning of how we want it to be.”

  “Say what?”

  “That little group gives me hope,” Corson said.

  “They give
you hope? Who in god’s name are these

  people, miracle workers?” Balder asked taking a greater interest in the newcomers.

  “Yea, I think so,” Corson said laughing.

  “Well, with Chen on the loose, we’ll need a miracle.”

  Balder looked up at the cliff where Chen and her personal guards had been standing. He felt a sense of dread. A teenage girl with a sword might be helpful somehow, but what he did know was that a woman with a taste for blood had crawled back out of a nightmarish pit and was on the loose. Heaving a sigh, he watched as off in the distance Chen and her warrior women were galloping along a hilltop while silhouetted against the sky.

  “Don’t worry, this will be fun,” Corson said putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

  “You’re enjoying all this, aren’t you? Now, I’m worried for sure.”

  “It’s okay, really, it’s good that things are finally coming to a head,” Corson said.

  “Good? How?”

  “Maybe it’s time to shake things up.”

  “I don’t know, you’d be playing right into Chen’s hands. She thrives on chaos.”

  “Chen’s just the tip of the iceberg. I think Lord Daegal’s manipulating her.”

  “If you’re right, we could be walking right into hell.”

  “Who cares? What’s it really matter?”

  “Well, there you are, my eternal optimist.”

  “Chen’s hell on a horse,” Corson said as she watched the black-cloaked woman riding away. “But if she’d known you were here, Balder, she’d still have run you off, but that’s it. Chen wouldn’t have ordered an attack.”

  “Why not?”

  Corson remained silent for a few moments, but then she avoided the question saying, “To trigger such retaliation from Chen, you must have been doing some pretty bold reconnaissance. How close did you get to Lord Daegal’s castle?”

  “Pretty close.”

  “Well, maybe that’s what set her off.”

  “Are you making excuses for that madwoman?”

  “Of course not, I know she’s half insane.”

  “Half insane? Chen’s totally insane, but I’ll give her one thing, she is beautiful.”

  “Oh, I’ll give her more than that,” Corson said. “She’s sensuous, elegant, deadly, unpredictable and totally without any sense of boundaries.”