The Crystal Dragon Again

Malik made the first few steps with a stumble. He wasted more of his energy attacking Sweet Tongue than he had initially realized. The more he thought about what he had done, the more shocked he grew at the brash reaction. The words from Sweet Tongue’s mouth had created a fire inside Malik that Malik could not quench. He heard the screams of his mother and father with every step toward the cave’s entrance. Had he even heard his mother or father during that night? All the screams sounded the same. There would have been no way to discern whose screams were whose. He could not remember the faces of the villagers or the men who had killed them. He could only remember the screams and the fire that grew as the bodies and homes fed it. 

Malik pushed the thoughts of his past to the back of his head. Whatever or whoever had caused the pain and death did not matter at this moment. At this moment, all that mattered was finding the entrance to the cave. Then they would have to trek all the way back across the rocks, the plains, and find the old man again. Could they ever locate him again? Malik was not sure he knew where the old man’s home had been. He was even less sure it would still be there when they arrived. 

Malik took another weak step. Would he even be able to make it from the cave? If he crumpled here, alongside Sweet Tongue, then he would not have to worry about Abrie, the relic, or finding the old man. He could fall into the long sleep and never worry again. The screams of his loved ones would fade into oblivion. He could rest there on the cave floor. Nothing would disturb him, and his friends had the relic. They could move on without him. They would be better off without him. All he would do now was slow them down. His eyes were open, and he stared at the wall, but all he could see was Abrie’s snarling face. Abrie’s drawn lips exposed pointed teeth. Malik knew this image of Abrie was nothing like the real Abrie, but he could not shake the image. The screams pounded his eardrums, although he knew they could not be there. He was in the cave. There was no way he could hear the screams of his parents. There was no way Abrie stood in front of him. Still, he could not shake them. The images and the sounds felt more real than they ever had before. He could see his burning village. The tavern his mother worked in was alight with the orange of flames. He could hear a woman screaming inside the building. Was it his mother? Had he tried to run to her? Had he tried to save them? How had he ended up on the road for Abrie to find him? He remembered the smell of smoke, or maybe it was there with him now. He watched the eaves of the tavern’s roof fall. Abrie jumped in front of him again. This time Abrie brandished a short sword, covered in the red of blood. Had it been Malik’s father’s blood? Had Abrie driven through him without a second thought? Was one of the screams his fathers’ dying breath? Had Abrie killed Malik’s family? Was Abrie the reason the Tempre were in his village? Sweet Tongue had said Abrie showed him the way or made him who had had become. Sweet Tongue said he would still be like Malik if he had not met Abrie when he had. Did that mean Sweet Tongue had only been a young coward? Had Sweet Tongue run away from his dying family? Had he abandoned his burning village? Did Sweet Tongue still hear the screams of those he loved? Did Sweet Tongue even love? 

Malik felt hands grasping him. Something shook him, but there was only one person in front of him. It was the ghost of the child he had once been. He was no longer staring out into the burning village. He hovered over the child that had to have been him. The matted, brown hair hung down into his eyes. The too small top hugged at his chest. His pants were up to his shins, exposing the dirty skin below. Had this been Malik? Had he really been this poor boy? 

He was shaking. The little boy below him was in no shape to help anyone. How old had he even been? Abrie could not tell him, not even now. He could not remember if he had been three or four, maybe even five. It had been such a long time ago and most of his memories before then had faded. What he knew was he had been afraid. He was frozen to the spot now. He could still hear the screams, but over them he heard voices. One voice above all he heard calling to him from somewhere else, somewhere not in his village. The shaking grew fiercer, and the voice grew louder. 

“Malik!” 

He could feel his body being gripped and rocked back and forth. There was something pulling at him. The screams faded and overlapping them was the voice of a woman. It took a few more moments, but Malik recognized the voice. He was not that little boy anymore. He was not in his village. He was in a cave far from wherever the village had been. 

Abrie was no longer standing in front of him with madness in his eyes. Mollie’s face replaced Abrie’s. She looked worried. Her fingernails dug into the tops of Malik’s shoulders, but he could barely process them. 

“Are you okay?” Mollie asked. 

Behind her Khris and Embre were motionless, staring at Malik. Malik closed his eyes tight. He could no longer hear his parents or the other villagers, he could no longer see the faces of the Tempre; he willed his eyes back open. 

“I am fine,” he lied. 

There was no reason to tell any of them what he had seen. They could not help him with his past or his future. He would have to do it on his own. This time there would be no one there to save him. 

“Then let’s get out of here,” Khris said, looking around the blacked-out room. 

Malik took another step forward. Khris was at least right about that. They had no more reason to be here. Egg held the box, Sweet Tongue was out of the way, and he had done them the favor of taking out the dragon. 

Malik had to take three or four steps before his legs regained feeling. When they did, he wished they would have stayed numb. It felt like a thousand tiny pinpricks spiked through his legs. With each footfall his face scrunched, his eyes winced, and he bit his lip to keep from hollering out in pain. 

“Are you sure you are okay?” Mollie asked him again. 

This time she stood closer so the others could not hear her. Malik gave her a stained, half lipped smile. “I will be great when we get out of here.” 

Mollie obviously did not like the answer, but she did not pressure him. She knew time was limited. Even without the dragon or Sweet Tongue, this cave did not feel like a place to linger in. 

Malik pushed himself through the painted mural rooms and back out into the hallway they had left Sweet Tongue and his crew in to fight the dragon. The walls felt closer this time as they walked back toward the grated entrance. Malik felt like it was harder to breathe. Almost like something had taken the oxygen from the room. Many of the lights had fallen from their brackets, but they had not gone out. Their angle created shadows and illusions. Some shadows reminded Malik of reaching hands. Hands that would cup them and keep them inside the cave for the rest of their days. Others seemed to run along the walls ahead of them to tell the others they came. Were the shadows setting up a trap for them to fall into before they could escape? Malik shook his head. He was being paranoid. There was nothing left in the cave to stop them. The dragon had killed the mercenaries, Sweet Tongue killed the dragon, and Mollie had knocked Sweet Tongue out. There was nothing left but Malik’s aches and pains to slow him down. 

They rounded the last curve before the metal grate and Malik witnessed firsthand the destruction the dragon brought. Bodies scattered limb and torso across the ground. There was no identifiable way for Malik to tell whose arm belong to who and what leg attached to which body. The only thing to tell for certain was that there would be no recovering from the damage done. Each one of these mercenaries was well and truly dead beyond repair. 

Malik did not see any sign of the dragon amongst the littered floor. A creature the size of the dragon should have stuck out like a beacon, but there was nothing to point to a dragon having ever been here. Malik was not about to go looking for it. If Sweet Tongue had killed it somewhere else, then so be it. It did not matter what the corpse looked like, so long as it was dead and out of the way. 

Malik stepped over the torso of a woman, or what had been a woman. He could feel the sticky blood under the heel of his boot as he placed it down. He tried not to think of it. He just needed to keep moving. He would move through the treasure rooms and then toward the entrance and leave this place. There would be no reason to mourn those who had died here. They would not have mourned him if Sweet Tongue had killed him. Malik stepped over another body. This body had sizeable chunks taken from his shoulder and neck as if ripped away by teeth and claws. Malik did not envy any of the mercenaries’ deaths. 

A few more bodies piled up by the doorway into the treasure rooms. Malik was glad to see them. Even if he could not hold the treasure, it was worth so much to him. It meant they were close to the end of this place. 

Before Malik could reach the arching entrance, he heard Embre fall behind him. Lost in his own thoughts, he had not noticed if the others followed him. Now he could see Khris still stuck by the grates. He could see Embre sprawled on the ground, and he did not see Mollie anywhere. 

“Mollie!” 

She did not answer, and he called for her again. “Where did you go?” 

Mollie again did not answer. Malik sighed. He would have to backtrack. Even if he did not want to backtrack, and even if he did not have the energy to do so, he would have to find Mollie. Malik stepped over the corpses again, this time going the opposite and wrong way. 

“Mollie!” 

Still there was no call back. Malik looked around for any sign of Egg. There was nothing showing the little monster had come this way. That was at least good to know. That meant Mollie was not alone. 

“Have you seen Mollie?” Malik asked, helping Embre back to her feet. 

Embre glanced around as if she had just realized there were other people in the cave with her. 

“She was behind us, or in front of us, I don’t remember.” 

Mollie had not gone ahead, had she? Malik doubted Mollie would leave them behind. That was not like her. He resolved she had to be behind them somewhere. Malik pulled Embre along. There would be no use separating and losing someone else. 

“Khris,” Malik called out. 

Khris stepped over another body coming toward them. 

“This is a disaster,” Khris said, as Malik and Embre reached him. 

Malik could not deny it. There was nothing good about this mess. He could hate the people all he wanted, but there was no way he could enjoy the carnage the dragon had left behind. No matter how bad these people had been in life, they did not deserve to go out this way. 

“We can’t worry about that right now.” Malik looked around again, hoping to see Mollie coming around the corner. “Did Mollie come out of the hallway?” 

Khris shrugged. “I don’t remember.” 

Had anyone paid any attention to where they went? Malik could barely remember the trip from the mural painted room to this room, but he knew he had made the journey. His own thoughts and fighting against the words of Sweet Tongue clouded his mind. It distracted him from what he needed to do. 

“We have to go back and find her,” Malik said. 

“Are we sure she did not go on without us? Maybe she is already at the entrance and is wondering where we got off to,” Embre said. 

Malik did not blame her for not wanting to go back. There was no telling what they would come across. 

“You and Khris can go check the entrance if you want,” Malik said. 

He left the rest unsaid, but they got the meaning. He would go on with or without them. 

“Let’s go get it over with,” Khris said, resigning himself to the trek back through the hallway. 

Malik started back over the strewn limbs and bodies. Hopefully Mollie had just gotten turned around a little way into the hallway. They still could redirect her and get back to the entrance before nightfall. 

She was not just around the bend. She was not just further, where the lights had fallen to the ground. Malik walked the full length of the hallway, coming to the paintings room. He had not seen Mollie. Maybe Embre had been right. Maybe Mollie had beaten them to the entrance. Had she been so caught up in her own thoughts she did not realize no one was with her? Or maybe she had finally grown tired of carrying them. She could get the relic back to the old man and then she could strike off on her own. Malik would not blame her for it. If he had been her, he may have done the same thing. 

Malik took a few deep breaths. He could not believe his thoughts. Mollie would not leave them. He knew that deep down. Even if she had every right to do it, she would not abandon them to this cave. She would not strike out on her own. She was still here somewhere, and that meant Malik had to continue looking and find her. She could be hurt. 

“Mollie!” Malik hollered out for what seemed like the hundredth time. 

Still she did not respond. Could she hear him? Was she just out of his reach and she could not reply? Malik took a step into the room. The eyes of the monsters seemed to roam toward him with every step. The Saints were disposed of by these beasts. Malik focused on them for so long one of the massive shapes looked like it moved. He blinked the bleary tears from his eyes, but it did not stop the creature from moving. 

Malik stumbled back, running into Khris and Embre. 

“Is that…” Is all he got out before the painting growled. 

Malik threw his hands before his face. He may have screamed, but he could not tell over the cries from the two behind him. The creature was no painting. It stepped forward from under the hands of the Saints. It was an exact replica of Egg and his mother, except this creature stood double the size of the largest monster Malik had yet seen. 

It would have been enough to worry about if just the creature showed up. They could have run and screamed fine without Zimbre approaching from around another bend Malik had not noticed on his first glance. Zimbre had cuts and scrapes all over him. Blood trickled from his chin onto his chest and it looked like he was free from a few of his teeth. Zimbre stepped forward into the room. 

“Embre,” he said. 

Malik figured Zimbre had not yet seen the massive moving monster. What had he thought they screamed for? When Embre did not turn her attention from the monster, Zimbre scanned the room seeing the creature. His face lost all color, and his breathing stopped for a few seconds. The monster turned its attention to Zimbre when he yelled for his sister. Now the monster’s focus was not on the three of them. 

“Let’s go,” Malik whispered, pushing Embre toward the entrance to the hallway. 

He knew Mollie was not this far back. She would not have turned toward the entrance without them, but she also would not have gone back to Sweet Tongue without letting them know. 

Zimbre lifted his feeble sword. The monster’s claws were bigger than the sword by at least two times. Zimbre shouted something, trying to intimidate the beast, but it had no effect. Malik turned, with the others, before he heard the sickening crunch of Zimbre’s bones. The monster did not emit any noise. It was efficient and killed without the added frivolity. Malik ushered the others into the hallway. They were back to square one. They still had to decide. Mollie gone, and Malik did not believe she left them to their own devices. 

“We still have to find Mollie, but I can understand if you both want to head toward the entrance and wait for us there, or not wait.” Malik motioned over his shoulder. 

Malik doubted Zimbre’s dead body would hold attention for long. 

“We came this far,” Khris said. 

Malik looked to Embre. She held up well considering she just heard her brother ripped into shreds. She only nodded, probably too tired to speak. 

“There was another path Zimbre just came from, which means there is another entrance into the painting room. Maybe Mollie accidently stumbled down it thinking she was following us,” Malik suggested. 

It was not much to go on, but it was more than they had moments before. They would just have to go back to the grated door and enter the path. 

No one objected to his suggestion. Malik made for the bend in the hallway he was coming to know all too well. There he maneuvered over the littered body parts. He made for the hole in the cave wall where the door had once been. He remembered Zimbre and the others trying to rip the door free from its resting place with no avail. The monster had made quick work of the steel, pulling away a section of the wall with it. 

Malik stepped into the room and found a few more bodies scattered there. There were even older bones strewn across the cave floor. Malik could not tell if they were human or animal. 

“It is cold,” Embre said, breaking the silence. 

Malik did not feel any colder. He felt almost nothing. His body ran on adrenaline and the will to find Mollie. Even if they got out of this cave, he was not so sure he could make it back to the old man’s home. The prospect of the long trek back across the rocks and plains almost made him stop right there. 

“It is just your nerves,” Malik replied. 

That was probably closer to the truth. The temperature in the cave had never been warm, but as exhaustion set in, it became a lot more to handle. 

The first thing Malik noticed about the rooms beyond the grate was the ceilings. They were so high it was impossible to see them. Here, the monster would have been able to roam freely. The walls were so far away from one another it would have taken a hundred people to stretch across the room. He also noticed there was nothing in the room. It reminded Malik of a castle prison cell. The monster had been trapped here. Although, it could have left with a minor effort; Malik turned back to the ripped doorway. Or maybe the monster was too big to fit through the opening. 

Malik guided Khris and Embre through the open room. Here, every footfall echoed. Malik wanted to call out for Mollie, but the thought of the monster finding them held his tongue. There was no way he would find Mollie in this if she had come this way. Why would she not have noticed she stumbled into the massive room? She could not have missed the fact she was no longer following the others. Something else had happened to her. Malik stopped moving when he came to the decision. There was no use following this path. He did not know where it would lead. He did not know how to find the tunnel Zimbre had come out of. He did not want to end up in the painted room again, with the monster. He just wanted to leave this cave with everyone in tow, but it seemed less likely with each passing minute. 

“Why did you stop,” Khris asked, trying to keep a steady voice. 

Malik turned around. He would not take another step further. 

“She is not in here.” 

Khris did not argue. None of them were keen on continuing this path. Wherever Mollie was, she seemed to be out of their reach. They would die with her if they kept going, and yet Malik found he did not want to live with no one left. If he lost Mollie, then he would truly have nothing. 

“What do we do now?” Khris asked. 

Malik gave one more glance throughout the cell. He did not know what to do now. For so long he had only done what Abrie had told him to do. Play in this inn, eat this meal, travel on this road. Now he did not have Abrie. Did not want Abrie, he amended to himself. He just wanted to save Mollie from this place and then leave it all behind. How he got there, he did not know. 

“I don’t know how big this place is,” Malik said. 

He worked things out in his mind. He did not expect a reply from Khris or Embre in return. 

“It could go on for days, weeks, or forever. I don’t know how to navigate the tunnels. We have no food and water for an extended journey. Anything the mercenaries brought is ripped and tattered with their bodies,” Malik imagined the water and food strewn in with the blood and limbs. He was not hungry after the thought, but his throat still itched for water. 

“Are you saying we should turn around and give up?” Khris asked. 

He sounded half reluctant and half relieved at the prospect of leaving Mollie behind. 

Was that what Malik was ultimately saying? Was there no other option but to accept defeat and get out with their lives? Maybe they could gather up a party with supplies and return to the cave. Malik shook his head at the childish thought. By the time they returned Mollie would be long dead. 

Malik took another deep breath, letting it out through his nose. The noise emitting did not match what his mind told him it should sound like. It sounded like a much larger creature blowing air. Malik felt a slight breeze behind him. There had been no wind in the cave, no draft, or any sign of weather. When his hair moved from the force, Malik tilted his head. Above him was the last thing in the world he wanted to see. 

His feet did not need to be told; they were already moving as fast as they could away from the monster. 

“I think that may be the dragon,” Khris said, running alongside him. 

Malik had never seen a dragon, but that did not match what he imagined they looked like. There were no wings, no massive horns protruding from their skulls, and the monster’s skin was fur and not scales. However, Malik figured Khris was probably right about the name. This was the Crystal Dragon, and it was the guardian of whatever relic Egg had found. 

Malik did not reply. There was no reason to debate the monster’s name. If they stopped, they would die and there was no way of doubting that.