Crystal Doors #2: Ocean Realm (No. 2) (30 page)

“Ven Rubicas and I met all night with the Pentumvirate, explained to them about Kyara, talked about the merlons’ stockpile of lavaja bombs, and discussed how far Azric got training you and Vic to break crystal door seals.”

“Sheesh,” Vic said, “that’s a lot to hit the Pentumvirate with all at once.”

His father nodded. “But it’s surprising how fast a bunch of bureaucrats can make basic decisions when the reason for their very existence is threatened. They started making emergency duty assignments right away.”

Vic glanced around the room at all of the workers and nodded. “Looks like a lot of us apprentices are gonna be learning our skills on the job.”

His father obviously admired the great efforts being made. “And we’ve got three times this many people assigned to us, working in shifts round the clock. A journeysage and a neosage are out collecting materials for the equipment the anemonites think we’ll need to rescue your mom, but it may take a week or two. Meanwhile the whole island’s on alert.”

Beside him, Gwen stared through the curved clear aquarium wall into the microcosmic ocean. The tanks were completely restored now; during the time when the five friends had been held prisoner by the merlons, neosages had restocked the aquarium with plants and fish, careful not to disturb Ven Rubicas. At the moment, the anemonite Imbra was testing her new bublett, playing hide-and-seek with the five aquits who now lived in the tank.

Vic limped his way along the side of the workbench. “And this time they’re attacking us from beneath the water. We apprentices still have our gills, so we can breathe under water. But if we don’t get these suits and bubletts and Ven Rubicas’s shield spell working, Elantya has no way to protect itself from undersea attacks.”

“Hmm, perhaps not,” Rubicas said, overhearing their conversation. He was bleary-eyed from all the work he’d done on his spells. “But we have made a good start. Sage Pierce has helped us immeasurably, as have the anemonites.”

“They feel a personal responsiblity for helping design weapons for the merlons,” Gwen said, “even though they were forced to do it.”

“Just like we could have been,” Vic said, wondering uncomfortably how long they could have lasted against Azric’s threats and pressure. He thought of the terrible things Orpheon had done to Sharif, and how much more pressure the dark sages could have brought against the cousins. If he and Gwen had been held captive by Azric for another week or month, he wondered how long they could have lasted. Would they eventually have been coerced into breaking a crystal door seal for the dark sage?

“They didn’t have a choice,” he said in a low voice. “If they hadn’t cooperated, they would have been killed.”

Rubicas tugged thoughtfully at his fluffy, white beard. “Nevertheless, they bear responsibility for the consequences of their actions.”

“I’m afraid he’s right, son,” Vic’s father said. “The old I-was-just-following-orders defense is just an explanation. It doesn’t pardon anyone’s guilt.”

“But it’s not fair to blame someone when they don’t really have a choice,” Vic objected.

“Mmm,” the Ven Sage said. “A choice may be unfair, unbearable, unreasonable, dishonorable, painful, awkward, complex, unethical, or impractical. It may even seem impossible. But there is always a choice, even if it is a bad or pain-ful one.

“In any case, we did not cast blame on the anemonites. They themselves understood their responsibility and have vowed to make amends if they can. You, your father, your cousin, the anemonites, and your friends are all allies of Elantya for one reason or another, and we are proud to have you.”

“Speaking of which, Sage Polup and several other anemonite scientists went on a mission to scout at the base of the island,” Dr. Pierce said. “Would you two please see if they’ve found anything out yet?”

Still deep in thought, Vic left the laboratory, limping along beside Gwen.

THE WATER SURROUNDING THE island was deceptively calm today, as if there couldn’t possibly be any threat lurking beneath it. The cousins found Lyssandra installing a wind crystal in one of the watchtowers that Vir Helassa had ordered be erected on the shore.

A score of anemonite scientists were in similar watch stations well beneath the waves, keeping an eye out for any merlon scouts. If an aquatic warrior came close to the shore, the anemonites would light the sea crystals in their towers, which would alert the Elantyan watchers, who would in turn light their beacons and sound an alarm.

“Hey, Taz, look what the cat dragged in.” Gwen pointed toward the ocean. Vic saw Tiaret’s head emerge from the waves. Their friend from Afirik swam toward them and then walked as the water grew shallower, carrying an anemonite under one arm. Tiaret still had splotches of angry-looking lavaja burns on her skin from their escape, but they were healing nicely.

“Ironic, is it not,” Lyssandra murmured, leaning against the crystal watchtower, “that Tiaret has become such an excellent swimmer. That is one good thing that came out of our captivity.”

“Yup. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘immersion method’ of learning.” Vic fingered the faint slits at the base of his neck. “Plus, the gills help a lot.”

Gwen nodded. “I doubt that Azric or the merlons meant to help us by doing that, but on a world that’s mostly water, it’s certainly an advantage.”

Vic called out to Tiaret, “So what’s the news from down there?”

“A good many interesting chapters are about to be added to the Great Epic here in Elantya,” Tiaret replied, sloshing up onto the shore.

“Yup, and I think we’ve been responsible for adding, uh, more than our share to the epic recently,” Vic said.

The girl from Afirik quirked an eyebrow at him. “Perhaps our ‘share’ of the epic is larger than we wish to believe.”

“In other words, it’s like that old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.” Gwen said. “None of us has had much of a chance to get bored recently. Our lives have been a bit too interesting, I think.”

“But I got my dad back . . . and learned that my mom is still alive,” Vic said. “That’s certainly good news to make up for all the bad stuff that’s been happening.”

“Indeed, my friends,” Sharif said, landing his newly repaired purple carpet beside them on the beach. The boy from Irrakesh also had several lavaja burn marks on his skin, but most prominent was the angry and indelible mark of the brand Orpheon had pressed into his shoulder.

Sharif stood, stepped off of his flying carpet, and tossed Piri’s eggsphere into the air. The nymph djinni caught herself and hovered in the air beside his ear, glowing pink. “From my scouting flight, there is little evidence of merlon activity.”

“Gedup tells me the merlons have not finished creating their catacombs or deploying the lavaja bombs,” Tiaret said, setting the anemonite back in the shallow water of the cove. “Sage Polup concurs. We have some time to disrupt their plans, if we can locate all of the explosives. Gedup and Sage Polup do not believe that even at their fastest pace the merlons will be able to carry out their plan for at least ten days yet.”

“So we’ve got time to find the aja bombs, maybe even evacuate the island if we have to.” Vic grinned as his ever-present optimism took hold. “That sounds doable, don’t you think?”

“Evacuate Elantya?” Gwen said.

“Why not? Aren’t there plenty of crystal doors to choose from?”

A low rumble produced a strange, ticklish feeling in their feet that started to grow stronger. The island began to shudder beneath them, and the ocean suddenly grew choppy.

Gwen recognized it first. “Earthquake!”

Tiaret scowled. “The merlons are at work again.”

The ominous rumbling increased, and the ground beneath them gave a strong jolt. One of the half-built watchtowers down along the beach teetered and fell over with a loud clang. Then, abruptly, the ground stopped shaking.

“I believe, my friends, that much of the future of Elantya will depend on us,” Sharif said. Piri flashed orange. “So does Piri.”

“Because of the prophecies?” Vic asked.

“I am beginning to think that the prophecies indicate more than only you and Gwenya,” Lyssandra said. She sang the children’s fingerplay song for them and explained that the Pentumvirate now considered it a prophecy. “The Virs believe that all five of us are involved.”

Gwen found she was almost relieved at this revelation. Other people had prophecies about them now, not just the cousins. In fact, everything was beginning to fit together like the pieces of a puzzle: two sisters, twin brothers, “twin” cousins, five apprentices. “Then it’s a good thing we work well together,” Gwen said. “I can’t deny that there’s something special about the connection we all have.”

“Yup,” Vic chimed in. “And I’d sure hate for Gwen and me to be in this prophecy thing all by ourselves.”

Sharif put an arm around each of the cousin’s shoulders. “No, we are all in this together.”

Piri gave off a friendly yellow glow, brighter than the afternoon sunshine.

About the Authors

REBECCA MOESTA (pronounced MESS-tuh) is the daughter of an English teacher/author/theologian, and a nurse — from whom she learned, respectively, her love of words and her love of books. Moesta, who holds an M.S. in Business Administration from Boston University, has worked in various aspects of editing, publishing, and writing for the past twenty years and has taught every grade from kindergarten through college.

Moesta is also the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Little Things, and the award-winning Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights series, which she cowrote with husband and New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson. A self-described “gadgetologist,” Moesta enjoys travel, movie-going, and learning about (not to mention collecting and using) the latest advances in electronics.

KEVIN J. ANDERSON is the author of more than eighty books, including Captain Nemo, The Martian War, Hidden Empire, Of Fire and Night, and many popular Star Wars and X-Files novels, as well as bestselling prequels and sequels to Dune, cowritten with Frank Herbert’s son Brian. He has also written dozens of comics and graphic novels for Marvel, DC, IDW, Wildstorm, Dark Horse, and Topps. He has over seveteen million books in print in thirty languages. His work has appeared on numerous “Best of the Year” lists and has won a variety of awards. In 1998, he set the Guinness World Record for “Largest Single-Author Book Signing.”

For more information on

Rebecca Moesta or Kevin J. Anderson, see

www.wordfire.com

or

www.elantya.com

or

www.myspace.com/rebeccamoesta

or

www.myspace.com/kevinjanderson

Born beneath the selfsame moon,

Only they may bind the rune,

And create the Ring of Might,

Right the wrongs, reverse the rite.

Sharing blood, yet not the womb,

Two shall seal the tyrant’s doom.

Darkest Sage, in darkest day,

With his blood the price shall pay.

Don’t miss the magical conclusion

to the Crystal Doors trilogy:

Sky Realm