The Cold Light Fades - Book 1 of the Crystal Chronicles

Chapter Seventeen - The City at the Top of the World

Linta's mind wandered in its fatigued slumber, and she witnessed a strange dance of lights behind her eyes. At first, all she could see was black, but soon the dark expanse began to break as colourful points of light cut through the black curtain. The dots swelled in size, some expanded brightly while others dimmed and disappeared until all that was left was one bright white light in the middle of the dark plain. The light shifted into the shape of a man, but before Linta could recognise who it was, the man exploded, and the darkness cracked into pieces. The chunks of darkness fell away to reveal a dark blue sky and a few sparkling stars. Then she heard the sound of many feet crunching over snow and her mind became aware that her dream was over and she had woken up.

The princess was lying across the flatbed of one of the dogsleds that were swishing along the snowy trail between the Frost Spires. The gigantic stalactites pointed accusingly up at the blue cloudless sky, almost as if they were daring it to drop more snow down upon them.

Linta struggled to lift her head up, she saw that her brother was lying on the sled next to her, he did not seem to be hurt and his sharp pointed face seemed totally relaxed. Then her tired hazy mind recalled a single thought from the previous night, the shadowy ghoul Kashant. She sat upright suddenly and looked around for any sign of their foe.

"Ah you're awake," said Deltain from behind her.

Linta looked at the weary old man, he also seemed fine, and he was smiling at her warmly. "What happened Deltain?" she asked quickly, still worried that Kashant was chasing after them.

"Be calm my child," Deltain answered soothingly. "It's ok, Kashant is gone and it's all thanks to you, Alesson and that strange essence inside of you."

"What?" Linta said as she tried to remember what had happened. "The last thing I remember is Alesson grabbing my hand and then the Soul said it wanted us to get angry, and then I guess I must have fainted."

"That's right," Deltain said, "And then after that the Soul left your bodies and cast Kashant away."

"It left our bodies?" Linta said wondrously as she looked down at her gloved hands.

Alesson then mumbled in his sleep, his eyes popped open suddenly and he too sat up quickly. His expression was wild, and his head swung sharply from side to side until Linta put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry he's gone," she said comfortingly.

Linta watched her brother's shoulders droop noticeably when he discovered they were no longer in danger. Then his head snapped back up and around to stare at Deltain.

"Are Rakk and Garlent ok?" he said urgently and Linta suddenly remembered that they had both fallen before Kashant's attacks.

"Rakk's fine," Deltain said smoothly. "He's been awake since this morning, unlike you too who've slept most of the day. He has a slight bump on his head, but it's nothing serious. Garlent however has a broken collar bone and more than a few cuts and grazes, but Narlia's taking care of him and he's getting better."

The twins both felt the weight of their worries lighten considerably and Linta felt her heartbeat slow back down to its normal pace. She swallowed hard and then she heard her belly growl loudly.

"I agree Linta, I'm starving," Alesson said, and he giggled lightly beside her.

"I suppose, it is time to stop for supper," Deltain said and he raised his hand to signal the other sled to stop.

Alesson quickly jumped down and went to see Rakk, which made Linta a little jealous that she did not have any other young girls to talk with. She watched the two teenage boys talk and act out their encounter with black Kashant and she sighed deeply.