꧁ The Crystal Cave ꧂
The magician led them through the warm corridors of the palace to a wonderful library. Elizabeth lost her breath when, entering the room next to Caspian, she found herself surrounded by an infinite number of bookshelves full of books. Lifting her gaze, she saw galaxies and constellations, among which other volumes fluctuated. Just like Hogwarts, she thought, the ceiling was an illusion.
Soon Coriakin called their attention to the center of the room, where he unrolled a huge magical map of all Narnia. The group stood around it, waiting for an explanation.
"That's quite beautiful," Eustace suddenly stated, drawing on himself the surprised look of all. "I mean, for a make-believe map of a make-believe world," he hastened to clarify.
His companions laughed lightly, before turning again to the wizard.
"There is the source of your troubles," Coriakin said, pointing to a black spot, which started to become bigger as he continued to talk. "The Dark Island. A place where evil lurks. It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true. It seeks to corrupt all goodness, to steal the light from this world," he explained, beginning to walk closer to each one of them, to look them in the eyes, "to extinguish all love," he eventually added, stopping in front of Caspian.
The King felt he knew within himself why the magician had addressed those words to him. When Coriackin walked away, he turned his face to Elizabeth, whose eyes were already staring at him. Their exchange of glances lasted only for a moment, as their attention was immediately drew back to the meeting, but that moment was enough to give both to reflect.
"How do we stop it?" Lucy asked firmly.
"You must break its spell." the wizard told her. "That sword you carry," he said, turning towards Edmund, "there are six others."
"Have you seen them?" the boy immediately inquired, receiving a nod in response.
"The six Lords, they passed through here?" Caspian supposed.
"Indeed." the magician replied
"Where were they headed?" the man then demanded him.
"Where I sent them." he quickly answered. "To break the spell you must follow the Blue Star to Ramandu's Island. There, the seven swords must be laid at Aslan's table. Only then can their true magical power be released." he explained. "But beware, you are all about to be tested," he added.
"Tested? What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked him.
"Until you lay down the seventh sword, evil has the upper hand. It will do everything in its power to tempt you," he responded, starting again to approach each of them. "Be strong. Don't fall to temptation. To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself." he concluded.
✵✵✵✵
With that knowledge they had resumed their journey to the east, but there was no sign of the Blue Star that day, nor in the days that followed. Nevertheless, on the morning of the fifth day after they left Coriakin Island, land was sighted. This appeared very strange, as it wasn't drawn on any map, but Caspian decided to go ashore: they might have found some traces of Lords or supplies.
The beach on which they left the longboats was very different from the one where they had been a few days before. Instead of fine golden sand, here the sea met only gray rocks.
The party soon set out to explore the interior of the island, which resembled a tropical rainforest, with dense and lush vegetation.
"It's beautiful," Elizabeth murmured, walking alongside Lucy.
"It is, isn't it?" she replied smiling, "I wonder why it wasn't on the map," she added.
"Perhaps we are the firsts to arrive here," Edmund suggested from behind.
"Or maybe it just came out from the blue," Eustace spoke up, in a sarcastic way, receiving some glares from his companions, "you know, since we are in..." he started do explain.
"Look!" Lucy interrupted him, calling everyone attention, "what's that?" she asked, pointing to some rocks between the trees.
The group approached the point to take a look. They found a stone arch carved by numerous runes, which seemed to give access to an underground tunnel.
"It's a cave?" the girl suggested.
"It seems so," her brother said, leaning forward, "but how do we get..." he couldn't continue the sentence as he fell into the hall, letting out a scream.
"Edmund!" Lucy yelled, as Elizabeth hastened to circle her waist to prevent her from following him.
It was only a few moments before a thud reached their ears, soon followed by the voice of the boy. "I'm all right!" he shouted. The girls, Caspian and Eustace let out a sight of relief, even if the latter would have never admitted it.
"Ed? How is it down there?" the man asked him.
"Ehm, it's dark. I can't see a lot. And wet." he responded. "O my god!", he then exclaimed.
"What is it? Ed? What's happening?" Lucy immediately inquired.
"You have to see this!" he answered, "Come down!" he then added.
The three exchanged confused looks but eventually decided to do as they had been told and slipped into the tunnel. They landed in a thin mirror of water and, once they were back on their feet, the sight that appeared to their eyes was truly stunning. The cave housed hundreds of crystals of all shapes, colors and sizes, illuminated by a blue flame that danced in the center.
"The fire lit from nowhere, it wasn't here before," Edmund told them, hugging his sister.
"My name is Hirluin," the flame spoke solemnly, calling their attention, "I am the guardian of the Crystals," it said.
Hearing its voice the group walked closer to it. They were all amazed at the sight of the spirit, all except Elizabeth, she was paralysed.
"What is this place?" Lucy gently asked it.
"You are in the Crystal Cave, the place where all knowledge of the world is preserved," it replied. "When a crystal glows it shows events that were, that are, or that are yet to occur. Beware, for the crystals show only the truth, but future truths are not as solid as a rock, they are flowing like a stream, whose course can be modified." it explained.
The flame said no more, but continued to dance in the center of the cave without ever dying.
"So?" Eustace asked, "What do we do now?"
"Have a look?" replied Edmund, approaching a crystal.
His companions followed him, forming a circle around one of the stones. In a moment they were hit by a dazzling light and the landscape around them changed totally. A glade had taken the place of the cavern, dark and damp grass now reached their knees and a clouded sky overhung them. In the distance they could see the shape of a medieval town, partly hidden by fog.
"Where are we?" Lucy asked, looking around.
"It looks like..." Caspian began.
"A cemetery." concluded Elizabeth in a serious voice, approaching a tombstone.
There were graves all around them, confused in the fog, in a much higher number than anyone would have expected to find in Narnia. The air was heavy, almost unbreathable, as if imbued with the suffering of all souls whose corpses now lay beneath that earth.
"But it can't be," Lucy murmured with a broken voice, "there are no cemeteries in Narnia," she said.
"Perhaps not now, perhaps there will be," replied Edmund, remembering the words of the spirit.
The group advanced among the tombstones. None of them could, wanted to believe his eyes. If such a bleak future had come true, all the magic, the wonder, the love that made Narnia special would have disappeared, replaced by an endless sadness and pain. Anyone would have lived in darkness and fear, victim of their own nightmares. Terror would have lead to hate, hate to war, war to loss and suffering, which would have brought regret and loneliness, and finally death.
"Cas," Elizabeth called, almost whispering, stopping at a grave.
Sensing the terror in her voice, her companions hurried to her side. The five were paralyzed at the sight of the monument a few steps away from them. It was a large marble sarcophagus, with the body of a young king carved on the lid and a side engraving. Like the edges of the grave, the inscription had been ruined by time, but it was still legible
"Here rests Caspian X, King of Narnia." Edmund read.
It seemed completely impossible but it was right there, before their eyes, the proof that a horrible fate would befall Narnia and its ruler.
"Well, at least it's a nice tomb," Eustace said sarcastically, earning nasty looks from everyone.
Lucy, on the verge of tears, took refuge in her brother's arms, in search of comfort. Elizabeth, instead, sought Caspian's hand to hold it in hers.
"You are not going to die," she said in a firm and sure voice.
"You don't know that," he sighed, looking forlornly at her.
"Yes, I do. I'm not loosing anyone else." she retorted, throwing a last glance at the grave, before this began to fade, as well as the landscape around them.
"We're back," Edmund whispered, relieved to be back in the crystal cave.
"Finally," Eustace added, obtaining another angry glance from the others, "what? Did you prefer to stay among the tombs? I certainly did not!" he then said, exasperated.
"Now let's just find a way out of here," Elizabeth asserted seriously, moving away from Caspian's side to the opening from which they had fallen.
"What do you think she meant before, when she said she didn't want to lose anyone else?" Lucy asked, when the woman was distant enough not to hear her.
"I have no idea," answered her brother, a sincere sorrow could be sense in his voice.
"But we haven't lost anyone so far, have we?" asked Eustace naively.
"We haven't," Caspian replied in a serious tone, implying that there was much of the woman's past that was still unknown to them.
"There's no way for us to go back from here," Elizabeth told her companions, when they joined her under the hole.
They couldn't climb the tunnel without ropes or picks, there were no holds of any kind and the draws were too steep.
"Um, guys," Lucy called them, "why don't we go back from there?" she suggested, pointing to a lateral opening that seemed to give access to a gallery leading on the surface.
"That wasn't there before," Edmund said, surprised and annoyed at the same time.
"Well, it is there now," replied his sister, heading towards it, soon followed by the others.
Lucy was right, following the tunnel the group soon found themselves outside the cave and again among the green trees of the forest. The five breathed a sigh of relief, and then began the search for the crew.
Finding no one near the stone arch that marked the entrance to the cavern, they opted to return to the longboats: certainly, not seeing them return, the party had headed there.
And so it had been. Once they reached the shore, they saw Captain Drinian, Reepicheep and the other sailors landed with them waiting for them, sitting on the rocks.
Seeing them coming, the mouse ran against them, "Your Majesties! Miss Elizabeth! Eustace!" it exclaimed.
"Hello Reep, it's a relief to see you again," said Edmund.
"Never as much as it is for me, sire," it politely replied, "we were beginning to be concerned." it explained.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Drinian intervened, addressing Caspian, "we have been looking for you for hours, but to no avail." he told him.
"For hours?" he asked, surprised.
"But we couldn't have been away that long," Edmund immediately added, equally confused.
"I fear the Captain is right," his sister murmured, "it was high day when we entered the cave, while now the sun is setting," she pointed out, looking up at the orange colors of the sky.
Caspian nodded at her words, "We'd better get back to the ship then, I don't intend to spend the night on this island," he stated, and walked quickly towards the boats.
Elizabeth couldn't have agreed more: that place had traumatized her enough already, she wouldn't have waited to discover other bad surprises. The image of the cold marble tomb was still vivid in her mind, and would not be out of focus anytime soon.