Crystal Doors #1 (22 page)

Vic was pleasantly surprised when she moved closer to him without turning her head. “Tell me about the place you come from, Viccus. It must be full of wonders, since you and Gwenya wish so much to return there.”

“Not that your island is so bad, but it’s not home. And my dad’s there. I know I can’t go back right now, but if he could be with us, like he wanted, maybe I wouldn’t miss home so much.”

Vic leaned toward her until their shoulders were touching, and he thought of the things he missed about Earth. “I guess we do have our share of wonders, now that you mention it. Nothing like the nifty magic system here in Elantya, mind you, but we’ve got some pretty neat stuff.” He tried to think of his favorite kitchen appliances. “Like microwaves that can cook meals really fast, and they can make popcorn in three minutes. Everybody in the house can smell it!”

“Popcorn?”

He chuckled. Of course she didn’t know what popcorn was. “Just try to pick up as much as you can while I talk.” He described cars and jets and the amazing speeds at which they could travel.

She glanced at him. “Truly?”

“No kidding. And we have this power called electricity that
doesn’t come from crystals or magic or mirrormills. We use it all sorts of ways, like to make our microwaves run, light our houses, play music, talk to each other from far away, send email, refrigerate foods so they don’t spoil, even open and close doors. And we have lights you can turn on or off just by clapping your hands.”

Lyssandra’s shoulder was still touching his, and Vic could tell she was drawing the pictures from his mind as he spoke. The telepathic girl gradually began to relax. “And this eelegeeleg —”

“Electricity.”

“Yes. Could it power a ship such as the
Golden Walrus?”

“If the battery was big enough.” Then he thought of something else she would enjoy hearing about. “Another cool thing we can do is tell stories with pictures made out of light. We watch the stories in movie theaters, or we can watch them at home on something called television.”

“And these are also powered by eeleg-tricity?” Lyssandra asked.

“You catch on fast. We have lots of oceans, and I love to swim in them, especially during the summer. And we have mountains that are so high that they’re covered with snow in the winter. You know snow — ice, frozen water?”

Lyssandra smiled. “My mother came from a world that has snow and ice for many months of the year. She has told me, and I have seen images, but I have never gone through a crystal door to visit it.”

“In these mountains I like to go skiing or snowboarding.”
He remembered family vacations he had gone on years ago — Uncle Rip and Aunt Fyera sitting by the fire in the ski lodge, his dad holding his mother’s hand while they rode the ski lift to the top of the slope, his mother breezing down the mountainside without using any ski poles, Gwen struggling with her first skiing lesson, falling in the snow and trying to get up but only wallowing in deeper, his own early attempts at snow-boarding.

Catching an echo of the images, Lyssandra seemed fascinated. “But how —”

“We strap smooth boards to our feet and slide down snow-covered hills.”

“And these are powered by eeleg-tricity —”

“Nope. Skis don’t need electricity to run. Just gravity. But sometimes we use electricity — well, engines, really — to get to the top of a slope. We sit in special chairs that are tied to a rope and a pulley, like the ones that raise a ship’s sail. Once we get to the top, we can start the run back down.”

Lyssandra looked strangely at him. “But if you wish to be at the bottom of the hill, why do you go to the top of it? Simply to slide down?”

“You’re missing the basic concept here.” Vic laughed, lost in this reverie about Earth and family. “Because it’s
fun.”

Lyssandra’s face grew troubled again. “Does your world have wars? Or are you safe from enemies like the merlons?”

“Oh, I think every place has wars, sooner or later.” Vic decided the telepathic girl needed some serious cheering up. She had too many visions of terror swirling around in her head.
He would just have to provide some better images for her, so he hurried to add, “What if I tell you a story about a war you’ll be very interested in?”

The quiet girl’s eyes regarded him dubiously. “If you say so, Viccus.”

Closing his mind to storms and sea serpents, merlons and flying piranhas, Vic slid his arm around Lyssandra’s shoulders and concentrated. He hoped she would be able to see some of his favorite vivid pictures.

“This war starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”

IN THE STORY, the hero had just entered a deep, dangerous trench and was attempting to destroy the villain’s fortress. Evil henchmen chased the hero, intent on killing him. All seemed lost when —

Something hit the side of the ship with a
thump.

Instantly alert, Vic and Lyssandra scrambled to their feet and looked over the rail. Tiaret came running. They were relieved to see that the noise had been caused by a broken yardarm that the churning waves washed against the ship.

Then Lyssandra gasped, and Vic’s breath left him in a rush. Immediately below them, a merlon climbed onto the broken yardarm and floated there.

Tiaret sounded the alarm with a loud, piercing whistle. “Merlons!”

The unnatural storm was almost upon them. Cold droplets spattered from above. The ocean had turned a dark gray, and in it Vic could see the shadows of swimming merlons. The sea
serpents were closer now, much closer, yet they hovered at a distance, waiting.

Shouts carried the word around the ship. All remaining students, sages, and crew took up whatever weapons they had and stood ready to fight. Just before the wallowing ship slid into the trough of a wave, Vic caught a glimpse of something large in the distance coming toward them. A sea serpent? Another school of flying piranhas? He couldn’t be sure. A distinct chill was in the air. Rain began to fall.

At a signal from the merlon on the floating yardarm, scores of aquatic warriors surfaced and swam toward the ship. It looked like a final assault.

As the ship crested the next wave, several merlons began to scramble up the hull. With dread, Vic glanced out toward the additional looming threat of the sea serpents, but the rain fell harder, and he couldn’t see the enormous creatures clearly. The raindrops were fat and cold and heavy, like a barrage of small water balloons. In less than a minute his hair and tattered clothes were drenched.

With a sound like two cars colliding, something large and heavy crashed against the side of the ship. The scaly, sharp-jawed head of a sea serpent rose up. In a flash of lightning he saw that armored plates were strapped to its head. The serpent had rammed the training vessel.

Another impact struck from the opposite side. Vic could see three more greenish sinuous serpents streaking in, guided by merlons. A sailor called from belowdecks, “That last one cracked our hull! We are taking on water.”

“Get everyone out of the hold!”

“We are sinking fast!”

The
Golden Walrus
dropped into another trough in the waves, and the first merlon set foot on deck. As before, Tiaret welcomed it with her teaching staff. Reeling from the blow, the creature stumbled backward and grabbed a handful of Lyssandra’s long wet hair, yanking her off her feet on the rain-washed deck. Vic’s reflexes took over. Without thinking, he sprang forward and kicked the attacker soundly in the center of its forehead. With a high-pitched squeal, it let go of Lyssandra’s hair. Tiaret smashed the merlon again with her teaching staff.

Another merlon appeared over the side of the ship, and Lyssandra snatched up a chunk of broken wood and clubbed the creature, while Vic pushed it backward. The merlon toppled into the ocean just as the
Walrus
floated to the top of another wave.

“Sheesh, why don’t they just wait an hour?” Vic panted. “We’ll all be down under the water soon enough.” The sinking ship already tilted at an alarming angle.

“Look there!” Lyssandra pointed off into the storm.

Vic squinted through the punishing rain. A great
boom
echoed across the water, followed by another and another. Water ran into his eyes and mouth and streamed down his back. But what he saw made him laugh with relief.

“Look — they’re here! They made it.” Vic gave a joyful shout. In the distance, but getting closer by the minute, a group of Elantyan guardian galleys sliced like swift knives through the rough water. They were firing bright flashes, like
magical cannons, at the sea serpents that drove toward the disabled ship.

At the prow of the lead galley stood Sharif and Gwen, waving to them. As the boom of cannon fire came closer, the merlons gave up the battle and dove back into the ocean. The survivors aboard the
Walrus
cheered.

“Well, I asked for the Elantyan cavalry.” Vic grinned. “Looks like they’ve arrived.”

AFTER WHAT THEY HAD ALL been through, Gwen was sure the voyage back to Elantya would seem like a vacation.

The Elantyan navy swiftly drove away the merlons lurking around the damaged
Golden Walrus.
Loud cannons scared away the sea serpents. When the weather sorcery no longer held, the rain and wind suddenly died down, and the storm clouds dissipated.

Weary novs, apprentices, sages, and crew were taken aboard Elantya’s lead guardian galley, the
Bright Warrior
— and not a moment too soon. The damaged training ship wallowed and tilted from all the seawater rushing in through its broken hull. Splintered masts dipped toward the water. Shortly after the refugees and a few valuable possessions were taken aboard the galley, the
Golden Walrus
sank quietly beneath the waves, leaving only a spreading wake of debris on
the water. Captain Dimas’s crew watched with dismay as the vessel disappeared into the realm of the merlons… .

But at least the survivors were safe.

The rescue ship was roomy and well-lit, and their host Admiral Bradsinoreus saw to it that the bedraggled survivors received clean, dry garments. On deck, Elantyan sailors bustled about, turning the fleet around. Lyssandra’s mother had already taken over the military kitchen, handing out mugs of mos ale and blackstepe and bowls of thick, hearty stew.

Gwen and Sharif sat at a wooden table and exchanged stories with their exhausted but exhilarated companions. The friends compared scratches, bruises, and cuts as if they were badges of honor. With a heavy sigh, Sharif spread out his now-ragged flying carpet, unwrapped a bundle of purple fiber and gold sun crystal thread from his pack, and began the painstaking process of repairing the damage the flying piranhas had done.

“Sheesh,” Vic said, “I’m glad those munching fish didn’t take a big bite out of you or Gwen.”

Gwen shuddered. “Not that they didn’t
try.”
She watched Sharif’s laborious needlework. “Are you sure you can fix that?”

“Fortunately, yes. I have no great skill at weaving, but all I need to do is sew any holes closed, and the magic in the carpet should finish the repairs — or so I am told. I have never tested its healing properties before. It has never been so terribly damaged before.”

“I wish I could repair our clothes that easily,” Gwen said. The cousins had finally had to give up their tattered Ocean Kingdoms clothes and dress like Elantyans. Gwen wore a
drapey robe of soft white material that was gathered at the waist and came with a loose drawstring capri to wear underneath. A lavender cloak hung over her shoulders. Vic wore similar garments in cream and turquoise, though they were not gathered at the waist.

Gwen pointed to his toga. “I’ve got a pair of earrings that would be really cute with your dress.”

Vic punched her lightly on the arm. “Okay, but I refuse to wear high heels.”

In spite of the joking, Gwen missed their tee shirts. She felt as if she were leaving a part of herself behind. With each day, each amazing or frightening experience here, her life was changing. The Elantyans welcomed the two, and their new friends had — literally — put their lives on the line for them. But she feared her life would never be normal again.

GREAT CROWDS GREETED THE ships’ arrival back in the Elantyan harbor. Families and friends of those who had been on the teaching voyage gathered on the docks. The five members of the Pentumvirate stood at the forefront of the crowd, wearing their bright robes.

“We rejoice that so many of you are still alive,” said Etherya, the Vir of the Arts and leader of the council. The white-robed woman had dark hair caught up in ringlets high at the top of her head. “And we grieve for those who have died.”

“They were murdered by our enemies!” said Helassa, the
stern Protective Vir. Anger colored her cheeks as red as her robe. “First Captain Argo’s ship, and only a few days later, the
Golden Walrus.
The merlons have declared outright war.”

Sage Polup clanked toward the end of the docks in his steam-powered walker. “The merlons have come to hate all land-dwellers and resent the very existence of this island in their oceans. It grieves me to know that I am the only anemonite ever to escape their bondage.” Gwen watched the floating jellyfish creature inside the head tank. She could understand Polup’s distress, knowing his people were held captive while he remained free. “Even now, my enslaved people are being forced to create new weapons for the merlons.”