Flames of the Dark Crystal

by J. M. Lee

  “I don’t know what to make of any of it,” Kylan went on. “I don’t know how we’re going to rally the Spriton while everything else is going on.”

  “We will. Get some sleep.”

  Naia lay awake staring at the sky through the trees. Back in the pavilion, the hearth fire dimmed as the night went on, simmering to smoldering embers in the circle of big stones. The Spriton voices quieted, and before long everyone in Sami Thicket was asleep.

  Everyone except Naia. She couldn’t stop thinking about the Landstriders, despite Kylan’s reassurance. She tried to remind herself of what Gurjin had said. She had to trust that the Spriton didn’t want to fight the Drenchen. She had to believe that if neither of the clans attacked first, no one would be hurt. But the two clans had been rivals for as long as anyone could remember—just as the Spriton and the Stonewood, the Grottan and the Vapra. It had never been all-out war, but that was only because there had never been a reason.

  And now there was. Fear and survival instinct. Choosing sides. Was this, too, a part of the Skeksis’ long plan for the Gelfling? Drawing lines, separating the Gelfling into clans. Carefully calculated in a precarious balance that was kept in check only by the power of the Skeksis and the Crystal they held hostage. And now, pushing the Gelfling into a choice between attacking first or being ambushed themselves. Eat or be eaten. Strike first or lose everything. It was a cycle that begot itself, so long as fear played a part. The Skeksis didn’t even have to leave the castle to see the Drenchen and the Spriton destroy one another.

  She got up when she couldn’t lie awake any longer. Taking care not to disturb the others, she stretched her legs, walking the dirt path that wound on the thicket side of the village huts. Now and then she looked between the huts into the empty pavilion. Only the perimeter torches were lit, and she was the only one about. In the village, at least. No doubt the guards back in the valley were awake, sharpening their spears and making ready for battle.

  Whispering caught her ear and she stopped, waiting in the shadow of a hut, as a pair of Spriton entered the pavilion from the far end, the trail that led through the wood to the camp. When she realized they were heading toward Maudra Mera’s home, Naia skirted the huts to get closer. By the time Maudra Mera opened her door, Naia was close enough to see the intricacies in the maudra’s sleeping braids.

  The two Spriton were dressed in lightweight scouting gear. In the seemingly empty pavilion, they didn’t bother taking the conversation inside.

  “The Drenchen have advanced much further than we anticipated,” one of the Spriton reported, hushed but urgently. “They seem to be camped for the night, but at this rate they will pass through by morning.”

  Maudra Mera cursed under her breath. There was a long pause.

  “I didn’t want it to come to this. This is the worst thing that could have happened! How ready is Captain Arla?”

  “Ready as she can be. But we weren’t expecting to engage the Drenchen so close to Sami Thicket. Arla is worried about what might happen here if we wait until the morning. She recommends we strike first. Tonight.”

  Being right didn’t feel as good as Naia would have liked. It didn’t feel good at all.

  “What are we going to do?”

  Naia gasped loudly, nearly jumping out of her skin at the silky voice that whispered in her ear. Maudra Mera and the two scouts went silent, ears straining, and Naia clamped a hand on her own mouth to keep from making any noise.

  “Let’s take this conversation inside,” Maudra Mera said.

  Naia let out the breath she’d shut in her mouth with her hand once they’d gone. Then she punched Amri in the shoulder.

  “Don’t creep up on me like that!”

  “Sorry. Creeping is kind of my thing.” He rubbed his arm, and the humor faded quickly from his voice. “Naia, I heard what they just said. Should we go in and try to talk her out of it?”

  Naia’s heart beat quicker. She didn’t know if Maudra Mera would listen to her. She thought about leaving Sami Thicket and trying to find her mother and the Drenchen, but even with Amri’s help, finding her clan would be difficult. Maybe impossible.

  She and Amri froze when the door opened again and the two Spriton left at a fast pace. They were headed back to their camp, equipped with orders from the maudra that could determine the fate of Drenchen and Spriton alike. Naia watched them disappear into the wood, slipping out of her fingers. Everything was moving so quickly and wrongly, and she was helpless to stop it.

  Or was she?

  Naia tried to be as honest and quick as possible as she faced her Shadowling friend.

  “The fires of resistance are about unity. I don’t understand everything, but I know there’s no way we’ll be able to light them if our two clans are at war.”

  “But if we warn the Drenchen, we’ll just be helping them hurt the Spriton. And if we help the Spriton, we’ll be hurting the Drenchen. And either way, it’s not going to stop them from fighting each other.”

  War begot war. Eat or be eaten. Naia grimaced, knowing what she had to do.

  “That’s why we need to stop them both. Now. Before either of them can make the first move against the other.”

  Amri nodded slowly, ears rising as he understood what she was about to do.

  “What about Gurjin and Kylan?”

  “We don’t have time to get them. And I don’t trust Gurjin to help. He’d be against this. I’ll understand if you decide not to come with me.”

  Naia braced herself for disappointment, though every nerve was coming to life in her fingers and toes. Ready to run, as fast as she could. Ready to do the only thing she could think of to prevent the Spriton and the Drenchen from going to war.

  Amri only shook his head, serious eyes flashing in the moonlight.

  “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. But I know that I believe in you.”

  Though she had hardly expected to be so elated by such simple words at a time like this, Naia’s heart sang.

  The two of them ran along the dirt path into the wood, hoping they could beat the scouts back to the camp. Naia strained to be as quiet as Amri, who seemed to fly over the brittle twigs and dry leaves that covered the forest floor. Though they’d often joked about his strange, creeping way, she realized as they darted under the sparse trees that he was really rather graceful. Silent and sure-footed, just another dash of black and silver in the twilight wood.

  When they reached the hill overlooking the camp, Naia could see the Spriton scouts calling for their captain. Soon, the orders would be given, and it would be too late. Once the Landstrider riders charged, there would be no stopping them until the Drenchen camp was defeated.

  “I’m going down,” she said to Amri.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Do whatever you can to spook the Landstriders as far from the camp as possible. You can do that, can’t you? With your creepy Grottan ways?”

  He flashed a smile. “Oh, yes.”

  “Great. Then do that.”

  “Naia.” He grabbed her arm just before she was out of reach. “Please be careful.”

  She didn’t know how to respond to that, or the intense look he gave her as he said it, so she just nodded and turned away.

  The Spriton didn’t notice her until she was nearly in their midst, bursting into the camp where the Landstriders flocked to feed. She grabbed a large torch from where it was thrust into the earth, whipping it back and forth so it showered the grass with embers.

  “What’s going on— Stop her!”

  The Spriton and the castle guards scrambled to react, but they were too late. The embers struck the grass and the skins of the tents, and the Landstriders reared and bucked as Naia waved the torch wildly. Hooves and long legs as dense as trees thrashed in the air, the valley erupted into the whistling and baying of the spooked beasts.

  When thre
e of the Landstriders crested the hill that surrounded the valley, they slowed, as if reconsidering their escape. Then the echoing call of a Grottan hollerbat rippled across the clear night. The haunting cry seemed to come from hundreds of voices all at once, and the Landstriders bolted, galloping away over the lip of the valley.

  Naia leaped on top of one of the supply tents, kicking up the hay that thatched the roof until it showered across the feed area. Bola whizzed by her head and feet, but she was used to sensing the movement of the rock-and-ropes in the air. She danced from tent to tent, lighting them as she went. The flames devoured the dry thatching and the equipment within—crates of Skeksis weapons and Landstrider riding tack. Gelfling ran below her, both escaping the growing fire and trying to chase the Landstriders that were quickly bucking their riders and bolting from the camp.

  A bola finally caught her, tangling around her ankle and throwing her off balance. She flung the torch into the center of the camp as she fell, clobbered by Spriton and castle guards.

  But now it was the Spriton who were too late, their operation ruined. As they hauled her up, dragging her away from the smoking, flame-engulfed camp, she could see the spooked Landstriders galloping up the hill, reins and rigging in shambles, scattering across the night-blanketed plains. Guards shouted for more water from the river to quench the flames, which were already dying in the damp night air and under the buckets from the Landstrider watering troughs.

  The guards who held Naia bound her wrists. They had no words for her, and she wasn’t surprised. What was there to say? She watched silently and passively as the chaos melted into steady action, the air clouded with smoke and ash instead of the bright tongues of fire.

  The guards wrestled her upright when fresh torchlight glowed, coming down the hill from the direction of the thicket.

  “Maudra Mera is coming,” one of the guards finally said to her. “You’ll get what you deserve.”

  Naia kept her breathing steady, though her heart was racing in anticipation of what was to come. She would tell Maudra Mera the truth. There was no reason to lie. She’d done what she’d done to save the Drenchen and the Spriton. To buy time to reason with both her mother and with Maudra Mera. It was the safest way to protect as many people as she could.

  Her heart calmed, at least a little. She’d done what she’d done for a reason. She had been careful to destroy only the supplies from the castle. She had made sure no one had been hurt. She didn’t expect Maudra Mera to be happy with her—far from it—but she didn’t need her to. She only needed her to understand.

  Naia prepared those words, and others, as she waited for Maudra Mera to arrive. Readied them on her tongue for when the maudra inevitably asked her why she’d done it.

  But for all her effort, Naia’s knees still wavered as the maudra’s entourage entered the center of the camp. Not because of Maudra Mera, but because of the two Gelfling who stood at her shoulders. Kylan, gaping in disbelief—and Gurjin, gray-blue eyes hard as a river stone and angrier than she had ever seen.

  CHAPTER 14

  “I had hoped maybe, after traveling the world beyond your putrid Swamp of Sog, you might have learned some common sense!” Maudra Mera exploded. She looked like she wanted to grab Naia in her thin hands and shake her. “I have been so kind to you. Even the first time. I let you rest in Sami Thicket. I gave you shoes. For Thra’s sake, I gave you Kylan!”

  The Spriton maudra’s exclamations felt like pebbles, bouncing off Naia’s chest. She felt them, but they were insignificant compared to the growing tension between her and Gurjin. His fists were clenched at his side, ears flat and cheeks pinched. She waited, and it came.

  “Naia, what were you thinking?”

  Even Maudra Mera quieted, stepping aside when Gurjin stormed forth. Naia met him, back straight, eyes level.

  “I overheard her guards in the middle of the night,” she replied. “They were going to attack the Drenchen.”

  “So you did this?” He flung a hand, gesturing to the smoke and shouting that had become of the Spriton camp. “Naia! You could have hurt someone!”

  “But I didn’t.”

  “You betrayed Maudra Mera’s trust . . . You betrayed my trust!”

  “I had to,” she retorted, trying to keep any emotion from her voice. Trying not to show how much the last bit hurt. All around them, the Spriton watched. Even Kylan, who knew better than to get in between her and Gurjin. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react like this!”

  “As if I’m the one overreacting! You launch yourself at every shadow, dagger drawn. Like you’re looking for a fight to—I don’t know, prove something. You leap into danger without worrying what might happen—”

  “I can’t worry!” Naia cried. “We can’t win if I hesitate like you. At every turn, you balk! Back on skekSa’s ship. Earlier tonight. You’ve changed, Gurjin. Since when are you scared of jumping into a hole before you know where it leads?”

  Gurjin stared at her with cold eyes. “Since Mira did that and it ended up getting her killed!”

  Naia snapped her mouth shut at the name. Mira, the Vapra soldier friend of Rian and Gurjin’s, whom Naia would never meet. Her life had been lost. Even the last vial of her life essence had disappeared down the throat of the Skeksis Chamberlain. Imbuing him with her power. Absorbing her life essence for himself, if only temporarily, before she vanished altogether.

  “At least I’m trying to do something,” Naia growled. “Even after you stole my—”

  “This isn’t going to help anyone!” Maudra Mera shouted. “When your mother finds out we’re without our Landstriders, she will attack—ruthlessly, and swiftly. How do you plan to make reparations for what you’ve done?”

  Naia put her fight with Gurjin behind her. Where it belonged.

  “My mother has no quarrel with the Spriton—even if you did side with the Skeksis. If you don’t point your spears at her, she won’t bring hers to you. She is fair and honorable.”

  “Honor is a petty thing on the battlefield. You were not born yet when your mother was proving herself as a Drenchen warrior fit to be maudra after your grandmother. When Maudra Laesid hears what you’ve done and brings her Drenchen brutes through Sami Thicket to disband us as a lesson to the Skeksis, she will not call it dishonorable. She will call it strategy.”

  “You’re wrong,” Naia said. Her mother was coolheaded. Stubborn, yes, but reasonable. Yet Maudra Mera was so convinced, it was hard not to imagine, if just for a moment, that she might be right.

  Maudra Mera was not swayed.

  “Open your eyes, Naia. There is only one path here, especially after what you’ve done. If you would open your eyes, you would see it so clearly and accept the direction in which it leads.” Maudra Mera turned sharply away to address the Spriton. “Back to Sami Thicket, my Spriton. My honorable guards of the castle. We must prepare. For if I am right, the Drenchen will be here by morning with spears drawn.”

  “What about her?” asked Lun, pointing a spear at Naia.

  “I’ll take responsibility for her.” Kylan stepped forward, addressing Maudra Mera directly. “Your soldiers don’t have the resources to guard her. Not if the Drenchen will be here soon. So at least let me take this responsibility. I give you my word I’ll protect the Spriton operation the best that I can.”

  Maudra Mera hesitated only a moment.

  “Very well, Kylan. You may be the only one who can control her, anyway. Now, come along, the rest of you.”

  Orderly and without question, the Spriton obeyed, marching up the hill, back to the village. Gurjin gave Naia a last glance before turning his back on her and going with them.

  Kylan stood beside her as the Spriton parted around them, leaving them in the smoldering remains of the camp Naia had ruined.

  “Kylan . . . ,” Naia began. She couldn’t tell how he was feeling, but the longer they stood there in silence, the more
she realized he was angry. He hadn’t yelled like Gurjin had, and he had even volunteered to become her warden, but he wasn’t happy with her. “Listen. I know you’re not pleased with what I did. But we need to figure out how we’re going to light the Spriton fire—”

  “We? Seems to me you had no trouble coming up with a plan on your own.”

  She huffed. “I’m sorry. But—”

  “Apologies don’t have buts.”

  Naia focused on unclenching her fists and taking a deep breath and letting it out. She was going to do this properly.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, making sure she meant every syllable.

  Honesty worked. Kylan let out a big sigh.

  “It’s not even what you did,” he said. “It’s that you did it without telling me and Gurjin. After all we’ve been through together. I thought you trusted me. I thought we were a team. But you really made me feel like a stranger tonight.”

  His voice cracked a little at the end. Naia felt awful, more awful than she had when Maudra Mera had yelled at her or when she’d fought with Gurjin. This, of all things, was not what she’d meant to do. She’d felt as if everyone was withdrawing from her, ever since the Mystic Valley. But now she wondered if maybe she was the one pushing the others away.

  Shadows moved in the smoky air, and Amri slipped out of the darkness between two tents.

  “Everyone’s gone back to the village,” he said. “Naia, are you all right?”

  She nodded. “Good job with the Landstriders.”

  “Thanks. Though I’ll admit, I always wanted to ride a Landstrider. Not spook the ghost out of them.”

  The three of them followed the path away from the camp, back to Sami Thicket. The pavilion was crowded with the soldiers and the other Spriton hurrying to prepare for a battle Naia felt was more and more imminent.

  “Do you really believe your mother won’t attack?” Kylan asked.

  “I don’t know what I believe anymore,” Naia replied. “Kylan . . . I really am sorry about not telling you before.” Kylan bobbed his head.