Quest for the Arcane Crown

by Yajat Sharma

  “Whew! A close call! Great, we got the fifth piece,” Matt heaved as he collapsed on the deck.

  The Scavenger nodded. “Let’s move to get the sixth one.”

  He opened the scroll and read:

  “A place where everything is green,

  And where no darkness is seen,

  Find it in the Oak of Shadows,

  Where it will be unseen.

  Battle the guardian, don’t lose,

  First, find the Golden Moose.

  Tame it, and you get help,

  Get the piece for your shelf.”

  “The riddle is so simple. The piece is in the Oak of Shadows,” James said. “Protected by a guardian, but to defeat him, we have to tame the Golden Moose first.”

  “Where is the Oak of Shadows?” Archer asked.

  “It’s not far, a few hours at most,” the Scavenger replied as the ship started.

  The children rested and woke up when the ship had docked on an island.

  The Scavenger hung a ladder from the railing, and they all got down.

  Matt stretched his arms and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with clean, unpolluted fresh air on the island.

  “We have to search this island for the Golden Moose,” James said.

  The Scavenger led the way deep into the island, checking various spots all along, his ears cocked and ready to pick up any sound of the moose.

  At last, nature rewarded them. They heard a loud sound.

  The Scavenger rushed towards the voice. They all ended up in a clearing where a magnificent moose stood in front, with a shimmering golden hide.

  The moose lifted its head and, with nostrils flaring, it charged at them.

  Archer tried to summon fire, but the Scavenger checked him. “Don’t! We have to tame him.”

  Matt jumped to his right as the moose charged past them. It skidded to a stop, quickly turned and snarled at them once again.

  This time, when it charged, Matt jumped towards it, landing on its back. The moose shook itself hard, trying to throw him off, but Matt clung to its neck.

  The moose roared and jumped as hard as it could. A normal human being would have been thrown thousands of feet away by the moose, but Matt was using his Elemental Power. He focused to his level best as he used wind to keep himself on the back of the moose.

  The moose stopped, exhausted, and bowed. Matt dashed to the ground in front of it and put a hand on its head.

  The moose stood motionless. Matt glanced at the bewildered expressions on his friends’ faces.

  Suddenly, the moose roared and dashed ahead. The moose lowered itself and Matt found himself on its back. The moose raised his head, snorted and took off.

  “WHHOOOOOOOOOAAAAA!” Matt yelled as he desperately tried to hold on. The moose tore through trees and bushes until it screeched to a halt. Matt fell to the ground.

  There was a humongous tree in front of him with its branches stretched to the ground. Its bark gleamed in the sunlight and its fruits were incredibly large.

  A scroll lay on the ground, seemingly unguarded. Matt looked back, but he couldn’t see his friends.

  “Welcome, traveller,” a voice came from nowhere and startled Matt. “I applaud your bravery. You have managed to tame the moose. But the task is not over. My name is Dutch. And now you fight me.”

  The wind rustled and a man dressed in crimson appeared.

  The moose roared and charged at him. Dutch sidestepped casually and the moose struck the tree. He pulled out a sword and brought it down on the moose, but Matt deflected the attack just in time.

  Matt yelled as he and the moose charged at Dutch. Surprisingly, Dutch disappeared just before the attack happened.

  “Good work,” his voice resonated. “You are fit to take the piece.”

  A shining piece and a scroll appeared in front of Matt, hovering in the air.

  Matt snatched the piece and the riddle. He turned towards the moose and bowed to thank it.

  The moose snorted and then ran into the woods.

  His friends came to him running. “What happened?”

  “Oops,” Matt teased, handing the Scavenger the scroll. “Looks like you missed all the fun.”

  “What?!” a shocked Scavenger exclaimed. “How… when… why?”

  Matt explained to his friends about the fight and how the moose had helped him. When he finished, the Scavenger looked proud.

  “Good work!” he said.

  Matt grinned proudly.

  “What’s the next riddle?” Daniel asked. “My guess is that the last piece will be the most difficult to get.”

  The Scavenger rolled down the scroll and read:

  “Go to the Temple of Gold,

  Find the stone and behold,

  The seventh piece, covered by a bait,

  Use the stone to get the wraith.

  Death awaits for those who lie,

  Do not hear the Silver Cry.

  Respect those who respect thy

  And find the key that breaks the tie.”

  “I guess we first need to find the stone, then the wraith and then the key that will lead us to the seventh piece,” James said as soon as the Scavenger finished.

  “And what about the Silver Cry?” Matt pointed out.

  “Step by step,” the Scavenger said. “First let’s go to the Temple of Gold. We will find the stone there and then figure out the other things later.”

  “Where’s the temple?” Daniel asked.

  “In the Desert of Grief,” the Scavenger replied.

  “Let’s go,” Matt said, turning to the deep forest. “I wish the Golden Moose was here to take us across quickly,” he said as they started to follow the Scavenger.

  After a long walk, they burst out of the clearing and emerged on shore of the island. The Sails of Time was waiting for them. They got inside and the Scavenger piloted the ship towards their destination.

  A while later, Matt spotted the outline of something in the far horizon. As they drew closer, he realized they were pirate ships.

  The bandit leader they had thrown into the sea could be seen standing on the mast of the leading ship. His face wore a grim smile.

  “Oh no!” the Scavenger screamed, clutching his head. “I should have killed him when I had the chance! He must have alerted every pirate ship in this whole ocean! Activate the defences! Check the cannons! Quickly!” he commanded the children.

  Matt scooped up all the grenades in a bag that Daniel had produced and handed it to Archer. He also gave Archer hundreds of small knives.

  Archer took them up and put them beside the grenade bag.

  The defences were triggered, the masts and sails were unscratched, the cannons and ballistae were all set and ready to fire.

  “This is exciting, isn’t it?” Daniel said, rubbing his hands.

  James looked at him in disbelief. “What if the pirates capture and kill us?”

  “You need to enjoy life, James,” Archer said. “After all, what’s life without the risks?”

  Matt seemed to agree there. In their city back on Earth, their day was set. School, lunch, homework, play, dinner and sleep. Nothing new, nothing exciting. In the Dark World, there were new challenges every moment.

  His thoughts were disturbed by a horn.

  Three pirate ships were coming toward them. Each of their sails had the symbol of a skull with cross-bones.

  “Ready?”

  The children nodded and hastily armoured themselves.

  More horns sounded and three more ships sailed to attack them.

  “ATTACK!” the Scavenger roared.

  The ship gently swerved to the left as the Scavenger rotated the wheel.

  The children had already planned their moves. Archer, Daniel and James would continuously fire the cannonballs. Matt would use wind to guide the cannonballs to the target.

  The trio fired the cannons, and balls of fire whizzed towards the ships. Matt used wind to line them up with their target.

  They st
ruck, burning away the ships’ fronts. The pirates roared in anger as many of their mates fell into the sea.

  Already sharks were starting to arrive as drops of blood littered the seawater. The pirates in the sea screamed as they tried to escape.

  Cannonballs were hurled at their ship by the pirates too. But the ship’s automatic defence system popped up nets that caught the cannonballs, repelled and shot them back towards the bandit ships.

  Suddenly, a pirate ship came to the left of the Sails of Time. A rope was thrown to their ship’s mast. The Scavenger, busy in steering the wheel, and the children, busy in controlling the cannons, got wind of the attack too late. Pirates clung to the rope as they swung and made their way onto the Sails of Time.

  Matt turned and saw gangs of pirates approaching them. Suddenly he was struck with an idea.

  A second later, the deck was full of hundreds of tigers, kneeling before Matt. Matt grinned, looking at the Tiger’s Hide in his hands.

  The tigers growled. As if they knew what to do, the tigers spread out everywhere, securing the whole ship. The tigers lunged at the enemy, and most of the pirates fell in the sea.

  Archer climbed over the mast and shot fire. The rope burnt and fell away, and the desperate pirates who were still halfway in their attempt to cross over to their ship now lunged towards their ship.

  Meanwhile, the enemy ships were catching up, getting closer and closer to them.

  Archer suddenly spotted the bag of grenades.

  He went down. Picking three grenades from the bag, he hurled them towards the ships. When the grenades were barely a few metres away from their target, Archer shot fire at them in mid-air, and they blasted with a deafening sound.

  A protective dome formed around the Sails of Time to repel the shrapnel and the smoke. A second later, it disappeared, its work done. When the smoke cleared, they saw a demolished ship. But several other pirate ships, however, seemed unscathed by the blast.

  Suddenly, a voice resounded, “SURRENDER!”

  Matt swung back and realized that a robust-looking bloke, maybe the captain, was on the loudspeaker.

  The Scavenger barked back on his speaker, “NEVER!”

  “Consider this as final warning! If you don’t surrender, we will eliminate you,”

  “Then do it!” The Scavenger laughed.

  “You dare to defy us,” the bandit leader shouted. “It’s the end of you. ATTACKKKKKKKKKKK!”

  Matt ran up to the Scavenger. “What do we do? Do we retreat or fight back?”

  “We will be surrounded in no time. Let’s make a strategic retreat.”

  The Scavenger rushed to the wheel and increased the ship’s speed.

  Matt was busy readying his weapons when he suddenly grasped that James was not around. His heart fluttered as his eyes searched the deck, and there he saw James beside the Scavenger, almost hidden, his eyes closed. He went to wake him, but the Scavenger halted him. “Let him do that. He told us that he would give a surprise.”

  Matt shrugged and went back to his position.

  The Scavenger shouted, “A little ahead, the sea current takes a roundabout. I will turn the ship into that path and will direct the ship behind the pirates. Once I do that, I need you to fire as much ammunition as possible.”

  Matt nodded and set about readying the cannons.

  A path appeared straight ahead and they turned. The ship gained speed dramatically and steered out of the path.

  Matt saw more bandit ships ahead. “AIM!” the Scavenger yelled. “FIRE!”

  The cannons shot several rounds of fire.

  Archer tossed four grenades at the ships, and they blasted. “STOP!” the Scavenger shouted.

  The smoke cleared and they saw that only three ships remained, far away from the attack zone.

  The ship went forward. Archer saw eight more ships coming in their direction. Seriously! he thought to himself. How many pirates are there?!

  The Scavenger pulled out his Lightning Sword. “Get ready,” he called back. “We need to fight.” The pirate ships neared.

  Eight pirate ships now surrounded the Sails of Time from all directions. It was a critical situation. Cannons aimed at the Sails of Time from all sides.

  The Scavenger gritted his teeth. No matter how powerful the Sails of Time was, it wouldn’t be able to sustain that amount of damage.

  Then, suddenly, James opened his eyes. The seafloor shook.

  Waves as high as hills rose. They hit the pirate ships. No ship could have survived that force. There were screams and yells as the ships overturned under the power of the waves.

  Nothing was visible now, not even the remains of the pirate ships.

  “Amazing work, James!” the Scavenger marvelled.

  Matt was almost sure that no ships remained, when he saw a massive pirate ship coming towards them.

  The leader of that ship shouted, “I am Hook Blade, the leader of all the pirates. You will not be able to escape. I give you one last chance. SURRENDER!”

  Matt didn’t like this.

  “Demolish the pirate ship!” the Scavenger thundered.

  Archer threw all the grenades that he had. Meanwhile, the Scavenger increased the speed of the Sails of Time. The grenades blasted behind them. The Scavenger and the children cheered as they saw the grenades destroying the pirate ships.

  The Sails of Time safely sailed away.

  20

  After blasting the pirate ship, the children wasted no time in celebrations. They were completely exhausted and therefore they retired to sleep.

  Their vessel reached the Temple of Gold without any further hurdles. Anchoring it on the shore, they walked up to a shining doorway. The door led them into a well-decorated and massive hall.

  They gasped in wonder. The walls were made up of shining diamonds and ornately carved sapphires. There was a huge shrine where they saw striking effigies made of pure gold. A giant gold statue of Lord Arcane stood there. They bowed in respect before the magnificent statue.

  The Scavenger pointed to the statue’s head. “I see a Crown there. That must be the symbolic Crown of Magic. Maybe we should climb up there. We might find a clue. Matt…”

  Matt raised his hands and wind lifted the group upwards.

  In a few moments, they reached the head of the statue of Lord Arcane.

  As soon as the Scavenger touched the crown, the air around them seemed to vibrate. The giant statue started to shrink. Matt lowered himself and his friends back onto the ground, and waited.

  The statue finally shrunk, until it was reduced to the size of Archer’s palm. The statue slowly converted itself into a black door with a lock on it.

  The Scavenger tried to snatch the lock, but it didn’t break.

  The children tried their Elemental Powers on it, but it refused to come out of the door.

  The Scavenger shook his head. “It’s no use. That’s powerful magic. I am guessing the piece is inside there. But how do we reach it?”

  As everyone thought, James snapped his fingers. “Now I understand! The seventh piece, covered by a bait. This lock is the bait. To enter this door, we have to find the stone, then use the stone to find the wraith, then use that to find the key, and then finally use the key to open this door that will get us to the seventh piece!”

  “So where do we find the stone?” Archer asked.

  “Let’s explore the place,” Daniel suggested.

  Everyone nodded. They went around and on the wall and then noticed a dimly lit tunnel lined with several frightening sculptures. They all entered the tunnel.

  As Matt walked pass the statue of a dragon, he suddenly saw its eyes flicker. Matt stopped.

  “What happened?” the Scavenger asked.

  Matt pointed to the statue of a dragon. “I just saw its eyes blink.”

  The Scavenger went closer to examine it. He spotted a quaint red spot on its tail, which he pressed instinctively.

  The statue rotated as it sank into the ground. A moment later, a stone popped
in its place, with something inscribed on it.

  The Scavenger held it and read aloud, “SEEK THE BRONZE STATUE.”

  “That’s easy,” Archer said. “We just need to find a brown statue.”

  James shook his head. “Not necessarily. It could be coloured gold.”

  As they walked past the various statues lined against the wall, they saw that each one of them were brown.

  “That’s a problem,” Daniel said gloomily. “How do we figure out the bronze one?”

  James smiled. “I know what to do. I will spray water over these statues. If the paint goes off, and if the colour of the statue is still brown, then it is that statue we need.”

  The trick worked, and they found the bronze sculpture almost at once. The Scavenger pressed its head. It rotated, sank into the ground, and a wraith popped out along with a piece of paper.

  The Scavenger read from the paper, “BESEECH THE GUARDIAN OF EDEN, TRUTHFULLY.”

  “Who is the Guardian of Eden?” Matt asked.

  The Scavenger shrugged. “No idea. Maybe we will find something ahead.”

  Matt closely observed the statues, and among them, he spotted an angel. He pointed it out to everyone and they went towards it. After carefully examining the statue, they found the words ‘Guardian of Eden’ inscribed on the feet of the statue.

  As soon as Matt touched it, a voice echoed, “I am the Guardian of Eden, the protector of the key. No one who has spoken any lie in his life can take the key. I will test you. You will hear a cry. If you have ever lied in your life, it will grow louder and louder – until you can bear it no more. But if you have always been truthful, it won’t hurt you. If any of you prove to be ever truthful, you will get the key.”

  Daniel remembered the hundreds of small lies that he had told in his life.

  Suddenly, there was a piercing cry that went deep down into his bones; it continued to get louder. He covered his ears and sank to his knees.

  When the torturous shrill ceased, he fluttered his eyelids, only to find the Scavenger holding the key in his hand.

  “You are truthful,” the guardian’s voice came. “You deserve the key.”

  Daniel realized that the Scavenger had never lied in his life!

  From seeing the faces of his friends, Daniel could make out that they all had heard the cry too. He was relieved to see that he was not the only one who had lied in his life.