The Green Crystal - a Dark Crystal fanfic (COMPLETE)

Chapter 12, Part 1

Shale leapt outward at first, and then fell in a long, wide arc, diving just as I'd seen some of the more graceful Gelflings dive into the river outside my village. He swooped downward, straight into the mud. Brown bursts of steaming mud splashed up in his place.

"No!" I screamed.

Although I'd only Shale a short time, I shuddered at the thought of never seeing him again. Never having the comforting feeling of him at my side, never hearing his music again, never seeing him sitting on the bow of the ship every morning.

Then, he emerged. He was far away, on the other side of the clearing, but I saw him still, rising out of the mud. Brown, wet clumps of it falling from his bare chest, back and arms, his smooth clean skin was now dark red, burned and steaming just as much as the rest of the clearing.

He moved forward, half walking and half swimming, until reaching the rock wall at the other side. Shale climbed up it easily, or at least making it look easy.

On the other side, Shale faced what appeared to be a large barren stick, protruding right out of the ground. He pulled on it, and I now saw that it was a switch.

The ground shook again, but unlike it had before. This was no violent thrashing of steam pockets fighting their way to the surface. This was a rhythmic, patterned hum vibrating the ground. I walked to the surface of the pit and looked over the side, careful not to fall or singe myself on the hot steam. The switch began a mechanism of sorts, with circular gears pulling lengths of rope, all covered in black sludge so as not to burn. I'd seen things like this in some of Natoum's drawings, but seeing them twist and turn in action was something else altogether. The ropes pulled a large object up and out of the mud, a massive plank that stretched across the pit, leading to the other side, a bridge.

Hot mud sloughed off the side of the bridge, and the entire structure hissed with steam. Kwad took a tentative first step onto it, then drew his foot back.

"It's hot," he said, "but not unbearably so. We can cross it if we walk quickly. Don't keep your foot in place for too long, or it'll burn." He picked up Shale's discarded robes and started to jog across.

"You walk, I will glide." With that, I extended my wings, heavy as they felt in this heat, and jumped. I only fell for a second, fearing for a moment that the white heat would burn my flesh as it did Shale's, but then my wings caught the updraft and lifted me high.

All girl Gelflings wish for true flight over merely gliding, and in this one moment, I achieved it. I soared up over the fast and light, and then swooped down, flying right over the bridge and onto the other side. I could not have enjoyed this flight as I wanted, for I never forgot Shale was on the other side, in pain.

I landed, a little hard on my feet and ankles more than I usually land, thanks to being propelled by the pit's heat. I ignored the pain and ran to Shale. His formerly stark white skin was now pink with some bright red splotches. He was stiff at first, but then shivered as I approached.

"Shale," I said. "You burned yourself. Why?"

I hoped he would speak again, but he did not. Instead, he raised an arm and pointed, upward to the north, to the mountain in the distance, where we were told the Green Crystal resided.

Kwad ran up behind me, a few Sollicles not far behind. The bottoms of their feet were covered with sand, just like the rest of them, which seemed to protect them adequately from the bridge's hot surface.

"Can you carry him back to the ship?" I said to Kwad. "Get him into Ritt's pool? Ritt's water will help with these burns."

Kwad nodded. "I will run like a beast."

He carefully wrapped up Shale in Shale's robes, with Shale flinching at every touch. He then lifted Shale up and returned to the bridge.

"Get back, all of you," Kwad commanded the Sollicles. "Back!"

The hopped away from him, giving him a path to the bridge, he spirited across it, and I was alone there, with all the Sollicles. The chief made his way through them and faced me. He did not speak, but instead seemed to know I wanted to speak.

"That's it, then," I said. "The final challenge is to climb the mountain. I'm a skilled climber. I'll get to the top and the Green Crystal is ours."

The chief frowned. "No. There is the challenge, and then you claim the crystal."

"Exactly. I'll take the challenge, and it's mine."

"The Gelfling misunderstands. You," he pointed right at me for emphasis, "you will claim the crystal at the end. So the other among you is the one who faces the challenge."

My mind raced. "You mean Natoum." 

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Next: "These are our ways."