Black Crystal

by R A Oakes

  That is until Chen began to grow, and grow, and grow.

  Taking a good, hard look at her master, Gwendylln watched as the black leather panther turned into a female version of Lord Daegal while firelight from the Flames reflected off powerful black crystal biceps and thighs.

  Gwendylln was deeply concerned but kept her distance. Chen in human form was dangerous enough, but her master as a black crystal monster was even more terrifying.

  Chen’s features were recognizable, but her face had turned to black crystal like the rest of her, and she towered over everyone except Lord Daegal. The scarlet tunic once hanging below her knees was now a sleeveless blouse. The scarlet cape was also properly proportioned to her size and stretched out its full length rippling in the wind.

  Scarlet fire sprang into Chen’s eyes, and she began breathing out scarlet and yellow flames. When Crystal first surrounded the warrior woman with a force field, Chen’s stallion had disappeared into the darkness. But it galloped back to her having transformed into a giant, black crystal warhorse with a long, scarlet saddle blanket, which provided a striking contrast.

  Bending down, Chen, as Black Scarlet, picked up a huge mace that was lying on the ground. Her weapon’s handle was now the size of a small tree trunk, the metal links of the chain the size of horseshoes with a spiked metal ball at the end of the chain the size of a large boulder.

  Black Scarlet leapt into the saddle, swung the mace ‘round and ‘round above her head and let out a monstrous, billowing roar! She took a shield that was hanging from the pommel of her saddle and hoisted it up in front of her.

  Taking one look at Black Scarlet, Lord Daegal did something no one had ever seen him do before, he backed down. At least that’s what everyone thought he was doing, even Andrina. But that wasn’t it. Instead, Lord Daegal had finally wised up and was tired of being used and manipulated by Crystal.

  The warlord had started adding things up. First, it was Glenitant, with Crystal’s backing, who’d encouraged him to imprison their older brother, Ritalso. Their brother had always seemed incompetent, but the warlord had seen worse fools. Second, it was Glenitant who’d encouraged him to physically assault Chen, but the warlord realized this was Crystal’s doing as well. Three, the dark sword had encouraged Lord Daegal to attack Crystal Castle before he was properly prepared. Four, Crystal had obviously double-crossed him by backing Chen and providing her with ruby-red warriors and the women made of fire.

  Looking back to when he was a young man, Lord Daegal wondered if Crystal had been responsible for the death of his father, Lord Glenhaven. If so, the dark sword might also be responsible for the realm falling into civil war upon his father’s death.

  With a shock, the warlord realized he’d seen the decrepit, old hag once before, and he even remembered her name, Balzekior. Lord Daegal struggled to recall where he’d seen her, and then it hit him. When Lord Glenhaven had been pronounced dead, the ancient hag had been standing next to the court physician wearing the slightest hint of a smile, something a young Daegal found inappropriate given the circumstances, but now he understood.

  Feeling sick to his stomach, Lord Daegal realized both Balzekior and the dark sword had been his father’s enemies, and, way too late, he realized they were his enemies as well.

  The warlord thought, The old crone’s the one behind it all. Crystal’s just her puppet, and Glenitant was the dark sword’s puppet. And to some degree, I did Glenitant’s bidding, at least when it came to Chen.

  Furious with himself and feeling an overwhelming sense of frustration, Lord Daegal realized he’d been used and used badly.

  Looking off in the distance, the warlord saw the decrepit, old hag heading for Crystal Castle, and he shifted his anger from Chen to Balzekior. Deciding to go after the old crone, Lord Daegal urged his warhorse forward but pulled back on the reins upon seeing a black crystal warrior woman riding at him wielding a giant mace and spitting fire.

  As the monstrous apparition got closer, he realized it was Chen and tried veering around her, but the warrior woman cut him off. Backing up, he made another sweep hoping to slip past her flank, but Black Scarlet altered course blocking this attempt as well. Wanting Balzekior even more, Lord Daegal had counted on saving the destruction of his niece for later when he could enjoy it. But now, he prepared to fight to the death. Forgetting the attack on Crystal Castle was his doing, Lord Daegal thought, This confrontation is Chen’s fault not mine.

  Staring hard at his niece, Lord Daegal drew his sword, and Black Scarlet responded by whirling her mace around over her head. Mounted on fire-breathing, black crystal warhorses, uncle and niece glared at each other, then nudged their animals’ sides and charged.

  Black Scarlet’s mace slammed against Lord Daegal’s shield with such force it almost knocked him from his saddle. Quickly recovering, Lord Daegal spun his horse around and lashed out at Black Scarlet with all his might. However, pulling hard on her reins, the warrior woman sidestepped the blow.

  The black crystal warriors separated, rode a short distance apart, turned and charged once more. When almost upon each other, Lord Daegal made his warhorse rear up but acted completely surprised and pretended to lose control. Black Scarlet swung her mace again, but Lord Daegal immediately regained control of his horse and ducked under the flailing chain and iron ball that barely missed his head. Before Black Scarlet could swing the mace again, Lord Daegal leapt off his horse, lunged at the warrior woman, grabbed onto her left leg and dragged her from the saddle.

  Tumbling to the ground, Black Scarlet rolled over and over finally ending up on her stomach. To her surprise and chagrin, Lord Daegal landed on top of her and began grinding his pelvis against her and said, “Seems like old times.”

  “Stop it! I’m fed up with old times!” the warrior woman shouted.

  Lord Daegal’s drunken visits to her bedchamber held no fond memories, only pain and desperation. Reaching out and grabbing the chain part of her mace, Chen dragged the weapon towards her. Then, as Lord Daegal was kissing her neck, she took the iron ball with the sharp, pointed spikes and slammed it against her uncle’s face. Lord Daegal yelled out as a spike jabbed into his right eye.

  Rolling off Black Scarlet, the warlord staggered to his feet and put a hand over his wounded eye. Wracked with pain, he stumbled and appeared disoriented. Taking advantage of this, Black Scarlet swung her mace over her head, brought it down where the spikes brushed the ground before arcing upward and catching her uncle between his legs. Black crystal shards flew everywhere, and Lord Daegal screamed while bending over in pain.

  The warrior woman paused and savored the moment. Next, she swung her mace ‘round and ‘round above her head building momentum and smashed the iron ball into her uncle’s face. The warlord’s head exploded into dozens of shards, and Lord Daegal fell to his knees looking at his niece with his one good eye that had somehow avoided destruction. Red flames were still flickering within it.

  The warlord drew a few ragged breaths, collapsed onto the ground and rolled onto his back. Black Scarlet watched the red flames flicker and go out. Her uncle was dead.

  Leaping back onto her massive warhorse, Black Scarlet raced towards the castle. As she passed Andrina, she shouted, “The old hag is our worst enemy!”

  All the warrior women spurred their horses and followed their leader, a black crystal giant wearing a scarlet blouse and cape.

  But ever the realist, Andrina thought, What can we possibly do against the hag?

  Chapter 37

  Back at the castle, Marcheto watched Balzekior getting closer and gripped his wizard’s staff trying to draw courage from it. Earlier, peering into the night with the eyes of a mystic, he’d seen the dark sword turn Chen into Black Scarlet. Then, after the black crystal woman had crushed Lord Daegal and began chasing Balzekior, the apprentice wizard realized a major confrontation was inevitable.

  By the time Black Scarlet caught up with the hag, Balzekior had reached the entrance to Crystal Castle. Turning around, the decre
pit hag smiled at the black crystal warrior and said, “How nice of you to pay your grandmother a visit.”

  “You’re not my grandmother,” Black Scarlet said disgusted by the idea.

  “I’m not? I could have sworn your granny was around here somewhere.”

  “Why would she be?”

  “Many of your relatives live with me.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Would you like to join them?” the hag asked in a caustic tone of voice.

  Hovering nearby, Eldwyn saw that things were rapidly coming to a head. Floating closer to his young apprentice, the old wizard said, “You must challenge Balzekior.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, you’re invisible,” Marcheto mumbled. But then, to the apprentice wizard’s surprise, he opened up spontaneously to an infusion of creative energy and with it came a new understanding. Calling out to Black Scarlet, Marcheto shouted, “Chen, if you take off the Crystal Medallion, the hag will disappear. She can’t maintain physical form unless you’re wearing it.”

  Swinging around and staring at Marcheto, Balzekior realized the young man was wearing Eldwyn’s wizard robe and was also in possession of the crystal-clear staff filled with prism light.

  “You’re new to all this, aren’t you?” Balzekior shouted to the apprentice wizard who was standing on a walkway above the main entrance.

  Stretching out her right arm, the old hag pointed a finger at Marcheto, and the castle wall in front of him exploded hurling huge blocks of black crystal high into the air.

  Quickly creating a force field to protect himself from the blast, Marcheto was nonetheless shaken by the sheer intensity of the attack. Eldwyn tried calming his apprentice’s nerves by once again reminding him not to panic. This time, Marcheto understood the reason for his master’s advice.

  Pulling himself together, Marcheto shouted to Black Scarlet, “You’ve got to take that medallion off!”

  The black crystal warrior began struggling with the Crystal Medallion trying to pull it over her head, but she couldn’t remove it.

  “Are you trying to defy me?” Balzekior screeched. “Maybe it’s time you learned more about where you come from, more about your roots!”

  With that, a huge pit opened up under Black Scarlet with smoke and ash billowing upward and flames leaping far into the nighttime sky. The black crystal warrior looked over her shoulder at a shocked Gwendylln before falling into the inferno and disappearing from view.

  The raging pit of fire continued spewing out its blistering heat, but, undaunted, Gwendylln headed directly towards the flames. Although in the form of Black Scarlet, Chen was still her friend, and Gwendylln was going in after her. That Gwendylln would be instantly incinerated hardly seemed to matter, she was going in!

  Racing to block the distraught Gwendylln, Andrina knocked her to the ground with one solid blow of her fist, hopefully bringing Chen’s best friend to her senses. Then, Andrina spun her warhorse around and galloped through the castle entrance. It was not a retreat.

  The older warrior woman rode her horse up the stairs to the walkway where Marcheto, Aerylln, Baelfire and Zorya were now standing by the battlements. After dismounting, she approached the young mystic.

  “What can your wizard’s staff do exactly?” Andrina shouted over the roar of the inferno.

  “I don’t know,” Marcheto shouted back trying to be heard over what sounded like a volcanic eruption.

  Before any more could be said, a huge explosion rocked Crystal Castle, and Balzekior appeared in the form of a 30-foot tall creature made of red-hot lava. The flaming demon scooped up a handful of molten magma flinging it over castle’s outer wall onto the courtyard below.

  Then the demonic, lava woman lashed out at Marcheto covering him with a flood of liquid fire. Balzekior smiled expecting the human to disintegrate, but instead she heard a fearsome incantation, words the evil demon hadn’t heard since before Baelfire and Crystal were forged over 500 years ago. The lava woman began writhing in agony.

  “Internu maduchez incarnum extrapitor!” Marcheto shouted. “Illuminnor embrachtus kartum equasitatious!”

  The young wizard’s prism staff began shining brightly, and as Eldwyn had done before, Marcheto stretched his arms straight out in front of him holding the staff in a horizontal position and braced himself. A thin, multicolored beam of light shot out from the entire length of the long, crystal cylinder. Rays of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light cut through Balzekior slashing her across the chest. Screaming in pain and frustration, the demon fell back into the volcanic pit.

  Quickly materializing next to Marcheto, Eldwyn shouted, “Seal the pit, and the monster will disintegrate!”

  “How do I seal it?”

  “Dive into the center!”

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Marcheto stepped onto the battlement and leapt into the volcanic mass of flame, smoke and ash.

  “I was about to say I’d go with him,” Eldwyn said surprised at his apprentice’s bravery.

  “Well, I’m going after him,” Aerylln declared stepping onto the edge of the castle wall.

  “Please, don’t!” Eldwyn yelled. “We can’t afford to lose both you and Marcheto!”

  “I’m not remaining behind!” Aerylln shouted ready to leap into the pit.

  “At least take your father with you,” Eldwyn pleaded. “He has considerable experience with Baelfire.”

  Pensgraft stepped forward with a no-nonsense look on his face, but everyone could see the gleam of pride in his eyes over Aerylln facing danger so bravely.

  “My father?” Aerylln asked glancing up at the tall warrior.

  “No time to explain,” the old wizard said.

  “I’m coming, too,” Zorya stated firmly. “Pensgraft, climb onto my saddle. I’ll protect you from the fire.”

  Eldwyn’s physical appearance began to dim and falter, but his friends became even more alarmed when the elderly wizard almost faded completely from view.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not as dead as I look,” he reassured them. “I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”

  Greatly relieved, Baelfire turned to Aerylln and said, “Take me out of my scabbard.”

  Pensgraft braced for the explosion of power that always leapt from the good sword whenever she was unleashed, but he needn’t have been concerned. Having used up much of her energy, and unable to renew herself without a reappearance of the Creative Light, Baelfire’s strength was greatly diminished.

  “My energy’s badly depleted, but we still have to try,” the good sword insisted. And so, steeling themselves for whatever lay ahead, Aerylln, Baelfire, Zorya and Pensgraft leaped into the pit.

  Shielding his face from the flames with one arm, Pensgraft looked around for Chen, but she was nowhere in sight. Instead, Black Scarlet was far below in the very depths of the inferno. The warrior woman was alone, and there was no one to help her, no one to count on.

  Well, almost no one.

  ◆◆◆

  Black Scarlet felt an arm sliding around her waist and gripping her tightly. The warrior woman stopped falling, but her warhorse fell from between her legs plunging deeper into the flaming abyss. Black Scarlet watched the animal into the fire below, but she found herself being whisked away from the main chasm into a narrow passage.

  Red-hot lava was streaming down its walls while a river of molten magma flowed beneath her feet. Black Scarlet and her protector flew into a large cavern where the flames weren’t so intense and all consuming. At this point, the river of lava turned into a waterfall dropping several hundred feet to the cavern floor below.

  As Black Scarlet’s eyes began to adjust, she noticed the waterfall was pouring down into a lake of molten fire serving as the source of several rivers flowing along the cavern floor.

  Between the rivers were sections of land made from cooling lava that had turned to solid rock.

  After reaching the cavern floor, Black Scarlet was relieved to have her feet back on solid ground. Turning
to see her rescuer, she found herself facing a woman made of molten lava engulfed in flames. This was either her guardian angel or guardian demon, but Black Scarlet wasn’t sure which.

  Quickly evaluating her own condition, Black Scarlet realized her cape and blouse had been burned away, and firelight was flickering all along her polished, black crystal body.

  “Though you’re very pretty, black crystal won’t last long down here. It’s not durable enough for these temperatures. I’m afraid we’ll need to alter your physical form once more,” the flaming, lava woman said.

  “We? You mean there’s more than one of you?”

  In answer to her question, it seemed, a dozen red-hot lava women climbed out of the closest river of molten magma. And they all watched as the woman who’d rescued Chen gave her a big hug. Black Scarlet wanted to pull away, but she made herself accept the affection. The black crystal warrior didn’t want to alienate these women, at least not until she found out what they were after.

  “So what do you want?” Chen asked bluntly.

  “As soon as possible, we must get you back to the surface.”

  “Why help me?”

  “Balzekior tricked my friends and me into voluntarily entering this volcanic pit. There’s no hope for us, but you deserve a better life.”

  “Why should you care?”

  “Chen, I’m your grandmother,” the lava woman said. “My name is Risella. Grandma Risella.”

  Chen was shocked but quickly recovered.

  “Okay, Grandma Risella, how do you plan on getting me back home to Crystal Castle?”

  “To start with, your friends are attempting to rescue you,” Grandma said. “In fact, a young man is just about to join us.”

  Grandma Risella pointed up at the passageway, and Chen watched as another flame-covered, lava woman carried Marcheto into the cavern.

  “Step one is to transform both of you into lava. Then, you’ll find it much more comfortable here,” Grandma said.

  “What if I don’t want to be more comfortable?”