Sapphire (10 page)

“Let us go!”

Kryos stared down at her, then one massive paw
stepped back.

“I am
not
weak, and I am
not
afraid!
Let us go!”

Don’t pass out, don’t pass out,
she chanted
to herself.

The ropes of lightning vanished, releasing Lula and
Mira, and Kryos took two very long steps away from her. The
necklace slowly drifted back down, feeling warm upon her still
intact collar bones. She was shaking with fear, but she tried to
hide it, tightening her grip on the shard. Lula flew over and in an
instant transformed the crystal splinter into a sword. Shawna
stopped shaking and nearly dropped it. Lula looked, if possible,
even more amazed at what she’d done.

“I was just going to make it longer,” she whispered,
looking at her hands like she’d just noticed they were hers.

The foot long piece of broken crystal had elongated
into a yard long transparent crystal blade, while an intricately
carved black iron handle appeared in Shawna’s palm. She did not
have the time, nor the interest, to look closely at the carving
with a three-ton electrified feline fixated on her. Mira cantered
over to stand with them, shaking her mane and brandishing her
horn.

“It’s not
pink
,” Lula said, still
open-mouthed at the sword.

“Do you doubt now?” said Mira, tossing her head
high.

The tension that once saturated the cave began to
dissolve, and Kryos slowly lowered to his haunches, then spread his
paws before him while he lay down Sphinx-like. Lula was still
staring, dumbfounded, at the non-pink sword.

“My apologies. It would have been a shame if you
were torn to pieces,” said Kryos like the thought had never been
his. “We have waited a very long time for a spirit such as
yours.”

She looked down at herself like she would perhaps
see her ‘spirit’ glowing, but only saw dirt caked all over her.

“I must inform you that we were visited by one other
merely a day ago,” Kryos said. “He did not come with the intentions
that you possess.” Kryos flexed his enormous claws and growled. “He
came to try and destroy the realm.”

Mira struck her hoof against crystal at these words,
sending sparks. “Tell us who he is, and how he escaped?”

“I do not know the human’s name. He came with malice
and arrogance.” He rotated his head towards Shawna. “And
dark
intentions.”

He swished his tail and light crackled in its wake.
“He vanished with his tricks, slipped away, but not without first
using a powerful spell and releasing the rest of the creatures we
have helped guard.” He looked severely offended at being thwarted
by a mere human, even if he was a sorcerer. “If you are truly a
daughter of guardians, Ava, they will come for you.”

“What will?” she asked, dreading what he might say
next.

“Molochs. We have contained a number of them for
hundreds of years, but over the last sixteen years, more and more
have been escaping. Now that one of the guardians of the fourth
realm has entered the world again, everything will change. Your
birth-right, is your curse.”

Guardian? Birth right?

Before she could let his words worm into her
thoughts, lightning shot forth from every crystal in view.
Materializing out of the electrical storm, came the other soleons.
They were nowhere near the size of their lord and guardian, but all
could have looked Mira in the eye. Their coats, also striped in
electricity, were an undulating gray wave of varying shades. The
sparking crystals ceased their performance when all the soleons
stood before them. Lula flew closer to Shawna. She smiled faintly
at Lula, and tightened her grip on her new sword. Its weight and
razor sharp edge comforted her. She noticed Kryos was staring at
her neck, and she covered it protectively with her free hand.

He laughed. “Do not fear me, daughter of
destruction.” She frowned at his last word. “If you are truly the
one we have been awaiting, those black shards will protect
you.”

“All the realms will open when the five shards, or
stones, hold power once more,” said Mira. “Most importantly the
last realm. Shawna, there is one that could help prevent a
devastating fate. Pray it is you.”

Shawna stood paralyzed into silence.

“Pray?” she whispered. She grit her teeth at Mira’s
distressing and cryptic explanations.

Kryos turned his attention to Mira. “You put your
hopes in this human?”

“I do not doubt her,” Mira said, looking at
Shawna.

Something stirred in Shawna’s chest at these few
simple words, but she couldn’t say if it was determination to prove
herself, or fear of complete disastrous failure, or perhaps
both.

“Do you believe, Lord?” Mira said, stepping closer.
“Do we have your allegiance?”

Shawna and Lula looked first at Mira then at each
other.
Allegiance? Was he coming with them?!
She didn’t have
to read minds to know Lula was thinking the same thing.

For a moment Kryos didn’t answer, then he inclined
his head.

“Thank you, Lord Kryos.” Mira inclined her own head
as she stepped back.

“Antares!”

Shawna jumped at Kryos’ bellow.

A handsome soleon loped forward. He reminded Shawna
of a young lean lion with the first scruff of mane, though he was
probably twice the size of any lion she had ever seen in the zoo.
His coat was a dark grey, his scruffy mane black, and his body was
surrounded by fiery-red streaks of light that constantly curled
around him and culminated into an orb of fire at the tip of his
tail. He had dark red cat eyes very unlike his Lords.

“Antares will help you on your journey.”

Lula gaped as if he had added,
and most likely
eat you for breakfast.

Mira swished her tail, seemingly at perfect ease
now. Shawna looked between them, and her knuckles turned white
around the sword hilt.

“Thank you for your offer, Kryos, and thank you,
Antares,” said Mira.

Antares bowed his head, and Shawna noticed he had no
natural armor or spines like Kryos.

“You must leave now,” said Kryos. “The sorcerer
means to destroy the other realms.” He glanced at Shawna. “He also
may be able to control the molochs. He is your greatest threat
right now. Do not underestimate him, for he escaped even
our
claws.”

She was about to ask how he was controlling the
molochs, but the rest of the soleons began roaring and slashing the
air with crackling lightning. They created such a cacophony of
sound that Shawna had to throw her arms over her head to protect
herself from falling pieces of crystal. Lula shot into the
backpack. The uproar abated, and Shawna saw that her arms were cut
and bleeding a little. She looked up at Kryos, or at least at the
underside of his jaw.

“The man,” she yelled. “The one who came here, who
is he? How will we know who we’re looking for?”

“Be assured he will find you.” His upper lip curled.
“He is most likely headed for Karuna, so you must get beyond the
Monoliths before next sunrise. Take the ravine through the Agonian
range. I would give you the aid of my entire clan, but our power
has been diminishing since the massacre. Antares alone remains the
strongest of us. I fear there are others at work against you,
against all of us. You
must
succeed, girl.”

“We understand,” said Mira. “On my back,” she
commanded a befuddled Shawna.

“We do?” she said as she clambered on, holding the
sword carefully.

“Wait,” Kryos said, and Mira pranced impatiently.
“He was wearing a shard of golden light. I am sure of it.”

Mira stopped prancing and a shiver rippled across
her hide.

“A golden shard?”

“Yes. I am truly sorry.”

Mira tossed her head, baring her teeth. “We will
find him. His entrails will hang from the end of my horn…along with
hers.
”

Shawna wondered if the unfortunate
her
was
her mother, but knew now was not the time to ask.
Guess I was
wrong about unicorns being all pure of heart and
sparkle-farts.

Lula poked her head out from the pack’s flap and
sneezed. “What? More running?
Towards
monsters?”

Mira ignored her, pivoted, and dashed away from the
Guardian of the Monoliths. Her hooves clattered down the crystal
path towards sunlight, and Antares was right on their heels, ruby
lightning flashing all around him.

“Ah!” gasped Shawna when something flared on her
chest.

She looked down and quickly lifted her necklace up,
amazed. Where one of the dull stones had been was now a black star
sapphire. It looked like the sun itself was radiating from within
the gem.

Just as they galloped into the open, the volcanic
roar of Kryos erupted from the monolithic crystals. Giant pieces
cracked off from the spires and crashed to the ground.

“Warn Karuna!”

The last word he said was a tremendous roar, but
Shawna was sure it had been,
‘run!’
Mira neighed in response
and veered for the vast mountain range before them.

Deep within a distant crystal canyon, dark forms,
dormant for ages, crept from shadowy fissures. Their eyes burned
like fire as they snarled and slavered savagely, drawn to the black
sapphire.

A shadow watched their reflections in a still
mountain pool; the images of a bossy unicorn, a snotty girl, an
obnoxious fairy, and a soleon were traveling through a deep ravine.
The young man scowled and dropped a stone into the image which then
rippled and vanished.

“We need to be more careful.” He seemed to be
talking to himself as he straightened and stared towards the
mountain pass.

It was drizzling, draping the foliage in glimmering
liquid diamonds. The man was soaked through, drab garments blending
with his drab surroundings, but he cared nothing for comfort. His
mind was focused on only one task: the girl.

“We
must
get to her before the second realm.”
He said to the air. “She surprisingly made it through the first.”
He scowled. “She may even be beyond
your
power if she
reaches the last realm.” His green eyes shot over to a blanket of
overhanging branches.

“Hmm,” answered another voice from beneath the
dripping leaves. “
If
she gets there. It’s been shielded like
the rest. They were lucky finding the soleons. No one can find the
realms.
You
could hardly find the first one. I’ll give you
my best horse if you find the second. Oh wait, I don’t have
one.”

“You arrogant ass
,
” said the first man. “The
molochs were released, were they not?” Only a scoff answered from
the shadows, making him clench a fist to keep from replying with
violence. He inhaled. “They weren’t lucky. The unicorn’s with them,
you idiot, and she’s up to something.” He glared into the trees.
“We
have
to get to her before they reach the Dragon. It will
be far more difficult to get those stones once the Dragon’s
involved. He’s not very…sympathetic to our cause.”

“He may not be to theirs either.”

“But if the snake is?”

Crouched in the branches, his younger brother did
not reply.

“It’s time you do what you do best.” He tossed a
stone high into the air.

It fell towards his palm, but instead of the smack
of stone against skin it halted and hovered an inch above his hand.
He flicked his wrist, and a nearby tree exploded into kindling
before groaning and collapsing sideways. He grinned.

A twig snapped in the thick undergrowth, but neither
of them flinched.

He peered into the gloom and raised his hand.
“You’ll have her soon.”

The moloch snarled and melted back into the
darkness, both drawn and repulsed by the golden object around the
man’s neck. A hundred thousand pairs of crimson eyes glowed in the
darkness of the mountainside.