The Seventh Crystal (5 page)

“What is it with you, Jimmy? That jerk tried to steal your money earlier and now you’re worried about him?”

“It’s just that this game is so real. Shawn doesn’t seem to know that it could kill him.”

The words of the wizard flashed through Chris’s mind. “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand and a fool’s heart is at his left.” He stopped. “We’d better go back for him. I think the wizard tried to warn me about that left trail.”

A piercing scream ripped through the misty air.
"It’s Shawn!” Chris moved as fast as he could through the thick mud. When he reached the dry path he started running.

Shawn was nowhere in sight. Chris retraced his steps.

“Help me!”

“There he is.” Jimmy pointed off to the side of the path. In a pond of bubbling black ooze they saw Shawn’s head and shoulders. A long, shiny red tentacle was wrapped around his body and was slowly pulling him deeper into the bog.

Chris drew his sword and jumped in. A tentacle snaked out and grabbed at his foot. He slashed at it and kept moving.

All he could see of Shawn now was the top of his head. The creature had pulled him almost completely under. Chris hacked at the curled tentacle. A warm, stinking green slime squirted out and landed on Chris’s face and clothes. He kept hacking until he could get a grip on one of Shawn’s arms.

When Jimmy saw what Chris was trying to
do, he waded through the bog and helped pull on Shawn’s free arm. A tentacle started for Jimmy, but Chris saw it coming and sliced the end off. The creature recoiled, let go of Shawn, and slithered away.

Chris took one arm, and Jimmy took the other. Shawn hung between them like a limp noodle as they dragged him back to the path.

Jimmy watched Chris roll Shawn over and push on his stomach, trying to get the boy to breathe. “Is … he gonna live?”

Shawn coughed and spit out a mouthful of mud and brown water. “Of course I’m gonna live, geekwad. What took you guys so long, anyway? I could have died out there.”

Chris sat back on his heels and looked up at Jimmy. “I say we throw him back in.”

“Are you sure you lost it?”

“I’m sure, Jimmy. I had it in my shirt right before I went in after Shawn.”

“What’s the big deal about a stupid compass, anyway?” Shawn pointed to the island in front of them. “We’re here, aren’t we? Let’s just get the crystal and get out of here.”

“You want me to go back and look for it?” Jimmy offered.

Chris shook his head. “It’s probably at the bottom of the swamp with whatever that thing was by now. I guess from here on we’ll just
have to rely on instinct.” He led the way across a stone bridge onto the rocky island. There were paths going in every direction. This time he chose the one to the right without any complaints from Shawn.

The trail took them up a rugged, tree-clad mountainside and stopped at the face of a glistening, sheer rock wall.

“What now, Boy Scout? You gonna fly over it?” Shawn reached out to lean against the wall. The rock disappeared, and he fell through.

“It’s an illusion!” Chris shouted. He cautiously stepped through the rock wall into a large cavern.

“What happened?” Shawn sat up and rubbed his elbow.

“A miracle—you finally did something useful.” Chris waited for Jimmy to come through the wall. “This must be the dragon’s lair.” He took out his sword. “You and Shawn don’t have to come. This next part could be dangerous.”

“Sounds good to me.” Shawn made himself
comfortable on the ground. “Call us when you get the crystal.”

“We’d better go with you,” Jimmy said. “You might need our help.”

“What is this we business?” Shawn asked. “If the hero wants to go alone, let him.”

“We started this together, and we’ll finish it together.” Jimmy folded his arms tightly across his chest.

“Geeeezz.” Shawn stood up. “You’d think we were the Three Musketeers or something.”

Chris smiled in spite of himself. He couldn’t imagine three more unlikely musketeers. “All right then, come on. I have no idea what’s waiting for us.”

They stayed close to the wall of the cavern and cautiously made their way to the back. Near the back a horrid odor filled the stale air, and they saw a strange orange light that would flare and then disappear.

“Ugh.” Shawn held his nose. “Somebody needs to empty the litter box.”

“What’s that light?” Jimmy whispered.

“Dragon breath.” Chris knelt behind a boulder.
He could see the dragon’s tail. It was long with a spike at the end. His heart started to race. He spoke in a low voice. “I doubt if it’s just going to let us stroll in there and take the crystal. We need a plan.”

“Plan? We need an army.” Shawn’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t that wizard tell you how to keep from turning into a shish kebab?”

“Not really. He just said to use the sword. I was hoping we might be able to sneak up on the dragon while it was asleep.”

“Be my guest, Chris. I’d have to be invisible before I’d try a stunt like that.”

Chris sighed. “Right now I wish I was invisible.”

“Chris! Where’d you go?” Jimmy reached for the spot where Chris had been. He could feel a shoulder and face.

“Stop that.” Chris pushed Jimmy’s hand away. “What are you doing?”

“I—I can’t see you. You disappeared.”

“Really?” Chris touched the chain he wore around his neck, whistling in disbelief. “It has to be these magic stars. The old wizard said they would come in handy.”

“You want me to do it too?” Jimmy reached for the necklace.

“Not this time. You guys wait here. I’ll be back in a flash with the crystal.”

Before Jimmy could talk him out of it, Chris crept closer to the dragon’s nest. The creature was sound asleep, nestled in a mass of dead thorns and brambles. It was covered with green scales and bigger than three elephants. Every time it breathed out, flames shot from its nostrils.

Chris tiptoed around the beast, searching for the crystal. He spotted a stairway cut into the wall behind the dragon and started up it. At the top he discovered a glass case on a marble pedestal. Inside it was a single large crystal, surrounded by six slight depressions on a red velvet cushion.

The Seventh Crystal was bigger and more beautiful than Chris had dreamed. He took it out of the case and held it gently in his hand. The crystal sparkled with every color of the rainbow.

“Hurry, Chris. It’s awake!”

Chris looked down. The dragon was getting
to its feet. Shawn and Jimmy were hemmed up in a corner behind some rocks. The fierce-looking dragon stood up on its hind legs and blew a long stream of blue fire into the air.

Chris stuffed the crystal inside his shirt, drew his sword, and jumped off the rock, landing on the dragon’s back. The dragon was furious. It shook, twisted, and turned, trying to throw off the intruder. Chris stabbed at the rocklike scales, but the sword just hit with a clank and bounced off.

The dragon turned its monstrous head and blew more fire. It roared more loudly, swung its mighty tail, and stamped the ground in anger.

Stalactites fell from the cavern ceiling, narrowly missing Shawn and Jimmy. The dragon turned its head again, and this time Chris struck, thrusting the sword deep into the dragon’s soft throat. He drove it in all the way to the hilt, and the dragon fell to one knee.

Chris pulled out the sword and stabbed the beast again and again until he could hardly lift his arm. The dragon swayed and then started to fall.

Sweat ran down Chris’s face, stinging his eyes, and at last the monster went down.

“Where are you, Chris?” Jimmy shouted.

Chris made a silent wish to be visible again.

Jimmy rushed to him. “Are you all right?”

“Tired, but still here. How about you?”

“Great. Did you find it … the Seventh Crystal?”

The crystal sparkled in the dim light of the cave as Chris held it out for them to see. Shawn scooped it out of his hand. “So what do we do now? Click our heels together and tell it to take us home?”

“I don’t think it works that way.” Chris took the crystal back and gingerly put it inside his shirt. “If we want out, we have to finish the game.”

“I just hope you’re not taking us around in circles again.”

“Oh, give it a rest, Shawn.” Jimmy glared at him. “Chris is doing the best he can.”

Chris stopped. “Somebody’s coming.”

“Good.” Shawn moved to the center of the road. “We’ll flag them down and ask for directions to the palace.”

“No. Get off the road. Now.” Chris grabbed Jimmy’s arm and pulled him behind some trees.

Shawn didn’t budge. He waited until the riders came thundering around the corner.
There were five of them, towering knights on black horses.

The horses skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust. Three of them circled around behind Shawn. The leader studied him. “Are you the warrior?”

“Me?” Shawn squeaked. “N-No. I’m just a kid.”

The leader drew his sword. “Tell us where the warrior is. Mogg will reward you well.”

Shawn looked for a place to run. There wasn’t one. “I don’t know nothin’ about a warrior. I was just walking …”

The leader raised his sword and swung at Shawn’s head. Halfway to its mark the sword clattered harmlessly to the ground—along with the leader’s hand.

“What magic is this?” the leader screamed, cradling the bloody stump of his right arm. “Kill him!”

The other knights urged their horses forward. Suddenly saddles turned and bridles were cut. Two horses reared up and dumped their riders hard.

The leader managed to climb back on his
horse, using his one good hand. “This wizard is too powerful for even Mogg to defeat.” He sank his spurs into the horse’s side and galloped down the road. The knights who were left scrambled to their horses and followed, riding with no saddles and holding on to their horses’ manes.

Shawn felt himself being pushed hard. He fell backward. Chris reappeared standing over him, holding the green sword. “The next time I tell you to get off the road—do it.”

“We made it. This has to be the Valley of Zon, and that”—Chris pointed to an ancient structure with tall columns and several stone statues in the front—“has to be the palace.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Shawn asked. “Let’s go down and get it over with.” He looked at Chris sheepishly. “That is, if you say so.”

“I don’t think we should charge right up there and go in the front door.” Chris rubbed his chin. “The note that came with the game said to take the secret path to the palace.”

“I remember that,” Jimmy said. “It also told you that the stars would show the way.”

Chris fingered the gold necklace the wizard had given him. It didn’t feel any different. “Maybe we have to get a little closer to the palace for it to work.”

Staying under cover of the trees, the three boys advanced to the palace grounds and hid behind a tall hedge.

“Man, those statues look like real people,” Shawn whispered.

“That’s because they are, or at least used to be before Mogg got them.” Chris held out the necklace. When he faced north, the middle star began to glow.