Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

“Has no one ever triedbefore?” Garth asked.

“Oh, yes, some have tried,”sighed Julio. “And they died trying. No one has gone into the coneand come out alive. Treasure does you no good when you aredead.”

“Is the treasure vaultaccessible from this cave?” Garth queried.

“If my theory about the cavemeeting the cone is valid, it must be,” Julio suggested. “Theproblem with that approach is that the vault was built of solidstone many feet thick. A bunch of dwarf miners would take years toget through it.”

“I haven’t given my people anylessons in mountain climbing yet,” confided Garth. “It looks like Iwill have to go in alone.”

“We don’t train for mountainterrain in Kantor,” admitted the General. “With the exception ofthis one mountain, Kantor is as flat as a calm sea. Let me hostyour group for this evening and I will take you into the cavetomorrow so you can see for yourself.”

General Fernandez escorted Garth intothe sitting room and was introduced to the Alcea Rangers. AfterGeneral Fernandez explained the situation, the Rangers discussedthe various approaches. After a lengthy discussion, they decidedthat General Fernandez would escort them into the cave in themorning so that they could assess the possibility of using magic tobreak through the stonewall. At the same time, Midge would fly intothe cone and see if there was an opening through the center of themountain. By the time the discussions were done, the hour had grownquite late and the Rangers opted to retire. Garth stayed up withGeneral Fernandez for several additional hours discussing theevents of the last seventeen years.

In the morning, the group assembled forthe trip to the cave. Niki professed to not feeling well anddecided to stay in town. Actually, Niki was depressed again. If theRangers were going to use magic to open the vault, it would beeither Kalina or Fredrik that would wield the magic. They certainlywould not need to heal the cave, so Niki felt useless once again.Everyone else was too excited about gaining the Crown of Light toworry about Niki’s feelings.

Midge was sent on his way and the restof the group proceeded to the cave entrance. After they left, Nikidecided to leave the mansion and do some shopping in the city. TheGeneral’s men had been told that Garth’s party were guests, so noone stopped Niki from leaving the mansion. Niki changed into a reddress and donned her cloak before strolling towards the waterfrontand finding an open market with dozens of shops and stalls. Niki’sspirits immediately lifted. Niki’s red dress and red hair drew alot of attention, which lifted her spirits even higher. She wasdrawing so much attention, as a matter of fact, that she did notnotice the man with long black hair and black eyes who wasfollowing her.

* * * *

The Rangers stood and stared at themassive rock wall. “I can certainly shatter the vault wall,” Kalinasaid absently, “but the force necessary would probably bring themountain down on top of us. It’s not going to work.”

Fredrik stared at her in amazement. Theamount of control and power required to shatter the vault wallshould take an army of Black Devils and Kalina had just said thatshe could do it herself. She hadn’t even thought of asking Fredrikto join with her. He was inclined to write it off as being boastfuluntil he saw Garth nodding and frowning.

“I was afraid of that,” Garthstated. “Bringing the whole mountain down does not get us closer toretrieving the Crown of Light. I hope Midge is having more luck onthe inside of the mountain.”

“Was someone talking aboutme?” Midge called as he flew into the cave and settled on Arik’sshoulder.

“What does the other side looklike?” Arik asked.

“There is no way in,” sighedMidge. “The vault probably is the reason that the dragon left,though. It protrudes into the bottom of the cone where the dragonhad his lair.”

“Can you show us?” inquiredTanya. “Perhaps we will see something that will give us someideas.”

Prince Midge nodded and closed hiseyes. He started thinking of his journey and projected the imagesabove a clear spot on the cave floor. The group watched as Midgeflew down the cone and the scene grew dimmer. It seemed to takeMidge a long time to reach the bottom and when he did it was quitedark. They watched as Midge created a fairy light and the imagegrew brighter. The floor of the cave was littered with gold andsilver objects as well as several piles of bones. Tedi’s eyeswidened as he saw the vast treasure the dragon had left behind. Healso noticed what appeared to be a small tunnel burrowing into theside of the cave.

“That looks like a tunnel,”exclaimed Tedi. “Similar in size to the one at the back of thiscave. I think we should explore it.”

Midge’s image flickered momentarily andthen stabilized again as someone ordered quiet. Everyone focusedtheir attention on the image as Midge rotated and looked around thedragon’s lair. Protruding into the lair were two sides and a cornerof the roof of the vault. The sides of the vault were tiltedslightly and the roof was cracked as if the weight of the mountainwas too much for the vault to support. There were also severalstalactites touching the roof. Most of them had been broken off,but one of them appeared to pass through the crack in the roof. Theimage of the crack in the roof came closer as Midge moved towardsit and searched for a break that would allow him to enter thevault. While the roof was cracked, it was not cracked enough toallow entry even for one so small as Midge. The image of the laircontinued for a while as Midge checked every inch of the exposedsurfaces of the vault and eventually flew back up thecone.

“As you can see,” Midgedeclared, “I was not able to find even the smallest hole to gainentry.”

“Let’s go back to the mansionand get something to eat,” Garth said suddenly. “We can discuss ouroptions tonight and retrieve the Crown of Lighttomorrow.”

The group filed out of the cave andheaded back to the mansion. Nobody noticed that Tedi had notemerged from the cave. Tedi stayed behind and was crawling into thetunnel in hope of finding an entrance to the vault.

* * * *

Niki was enjoying the open market andwhen she saw a food peddler with a couple of tables set out, shedecided to get something to eat. Niki sat down and the peddlerhanded her a chalkboard with the day’s specials. Niki could notread the script and sat there staring at the chalkboard.

“Perhaps I can help,” offeredthe man with long, black hair and black eyes as he sat at Niki’stable. “His specials are all seafood. Today he has crab cakes,jumbo shrimp, which are really quite small, I promise you, andmussels. I would recommend the crab cakes.”

“Why, thank you,” Niki gotout. “You must live around here to know so much.”

“Actually, I am from Trekum,”the dark man said. “My name is Dalgar.”

“Oh, I am also from Trekum,”chirped Niki. “What a coincidence. Have you been herelong?”

“I have been wandering eversince my wife died,” Dalgar confided. “I have been searching for mylost daughter.”

“Your wife died and you lostyour daughter?” Niki exclaimed. “How terrible that must be foryou.”

“It is terrible for everyone,”Dalgar explained. “You see, my daughter must be found so she canlead her people to greatness.”

“Lead her people?” Nikiinquired. “Can’t you lead the people? Who would she lead inTrekum?”

“Ah, you have many questions,”Dalgar smiled. “My wife was the Empress of Sordoa and our daughtermust be found to unite and rule over Sordoa once again. I cannotlead them because I am not entitled to. Only my daughter can dothat.”

“I do not understand,” Nikiqueried. “I thought the Empress was married to the Emperor and herdaughter was also the daughter of Sarac. What you are saying makesno sense.”