The Cursed Crystal

    In the east there are mountains.      Steep, craggy rocks that towered so high, it was as if the sky was pierced. Misty clouds rolled by in the mornings like swirling wisps. The mountains are inhabitable. There is no soil for crops or level land for making houses. The dry rock-     “Get to the good part,” a boy of twelve, named Ulrin, said with a grumble.      The bar-master paused his story, glancing at the man next to Ulrin, leaning up against the bar.      “Now, Ulrin,” the man said, pushing off the bar and turning to face the bar-master. “That’s no way to speak to your elders.”      Ulrin lowered his head and nodded, quickly giving the man an apology as the bar-master looked over the man. He blinked, then slightly inhaled. “Your Highness,” the bar-master muttered, nodding his head to the man. “Prince Fonz Dirk Van Jessen.”      The prince tried to stop the bar-master from revealing who he was but after his title, people near them had stopped their conversations with their attention on them. “Please,” the prince, having turned twenty just three months prior, begged, “Call me Fonz.”     “Prince Fonz,” the bar-master repeated, lowering himself for a bow. “What in the devils are you doing so far from the kingdom?”     The prince shrugged, his pale blond hair touching his shoulders as he moved them. His green eyes shined with hope and pride as he gathered the courage and answered, “I was told of a certain...problem here in your mountains. I’ve come to help.”     The bar-master furrowed his brow. “Pray you can. Those beasts kill our livestock every day.” His tired old eyes glanced at the harrowing mountains in the distance and said, “They come from the mountains.”     The prince nodded. He glanced out the window to the early morning light and muttered, “I’ve trained all my life to protect the people of my kingdom.” He carefully grabbed the hilt of his sword and added, “If I can’t do that, I can’t be a good king.”      “Wise words,” the bar-master said, nodding his head. “I wish you safe travels. If you come back with one of their fangs I’ll let you stay here for free; lifetime guarantee.”      Fonz grinned at the promise and replied, “I will. Mark my words.”      Ulrin grabbed the bowl of oats and eggs before the bar-master noticed and shuffled after the prince towards the door.      As the door squeaked closed, muffled conversation resumed within the inn, no doubt talking about the prince and his mission.      “Why don’t you ever like to tell people who you are,” Ulrin asked as he climbed upon the saddle of his blond mare.      Fonz groaned as he hoisted his leg up over his horse’s side, placing his boots securely into the stirrups and gently slapping the reins; Ulrin followed.      They began trotting lazily up the winding dirt path towards the mountains when the prince answered. “I don’t like to be bothered by it.”      “I don’t understand,” Ulrin said. “You’re a prince. Don’t you like to be given special treatment?”     “No,” the prince answered. “I will never know who my true allies are if they are clouded by a title.”      “Interesting,” Ulrin muttered, furrowing his brow as he stared off into space.      “Now, sing me a song to pass this long journey,” Fonz suggested.      Ulrin chuckled and began to sing.                                                                                          *     The prince and boy stood beside their horses at the entrance to the mountain pass. It seemed gloomy, mysterious and spooky. The cliffs created a path too narrow for horses to enter and Fonz sighed when he said, “I guess we’ll have to leave the horses here for now.”     A crease in Ulrin’s forehead formed as he warily asked, “Are you sure there’s no other way into the mountains?”     A powerful gust of wind suddenly came upon them, causing them to immediately duck with their arms flying up above their heads. They tried to look at what had caused it but with the sound of something large flapping away, it had already gone.      “W-Was that-”     “Shh,” Fonz whispered, slowly approaching the mountain pass. “They’re watching us.” He glanced at Ulrin and said, “Come. They can’t touch us on the path.”     Ulrin stayed in place for a moment, considering all the options. “What if we get to a spot where they can?”     “Then we will wait until we can move again.”     “What if we just decide to come back and they’ve eaten the horses?”     Fonz tried not to roll his eyes. “You already know they don’t like horse meat. They like cattle, or goat meat.”      Ulrin seemed unconvinced and said, “Then why would they want to hurt us if they don’t like to eat us?” Fonz forced a smile and said, “Ulrin, now is not the time to be milk-livered. You do want to be named a knight when you turn fifteen, right?”     Ulrin’s eyes searched Fonz’s for any type of lie but when the prince showed no falsity, the boy groaned in exasperation and followed him into the mountain pass.                                                                                                  *     Fonz and Ulrin tread lightly and quietly as they climbed the mountain pass. Every breath seemed loud, every slip seemed to echo and all the while, they watched their heads in case something from above tried to attack them. After several hours, they took a break in a small cave where Ulrin pulled out loaves of bread for them to share.      After sitting in silence for a moment, Ulrin asked, “So, why have you taken it upon yourself to rid the world of these beasts?”     “They’re dangerous, whether they eat us humans or not,” Fonz answered simply. “If they kept to themselves, there could be a possibility that we all could live together peacefully; I highly doubt that though.”     “There’s a part of me that hopes we don’t see one,” Ulrin admitted. “Yet, there is a part of me that hopes that we do.”      “I feel the same,” Fonz said, stuffing the last of his bread into his mouth while looking out to the mountains that loomed over them. “They are fascinating.” He cleared his throat and carefully stood up. “We should head out before it gets too dark.”     Ulrin stuffed his share of the bread into his pocket to eat on the way, gathering their things and clipping them to his travel sack.      As they climbed even higher, the air became colder and Ulrin’s body shook.      “Just a bit further,” Fonz promised, scaling the face of a cliff to climb over a crag where a large cave nestled.      He had spotted the cave while hiking up the mountain hours before and knew the mountain’s secret had to be in that cave.      It overlooked the east sea where the calm waves lazily rolled against the late afternoon sky. It was the perfect spot; if he was wrong, then everything he had researched was a lie.      “Come on, Ulrin,” Fonz encouraged. “You can do it.”      Ulrin struggled, grasping onto the spongy rock so tightly his knuckles became white.      Fonz quickly crouched into a crevice of the cliff and held out his hand to the boy, to which he desperately grabbed. After being hoisted up by the prince, he inhaled and exhaled slowly once his back leaned up against the wall and struggled to say, “I don’t think I can go any further.”      Fonz patted Ulrin’s cheek and replied, “Yes you can. You want to be a knight, and you will be one. All you have to do is climb this mountain with me and I’ll tell my father to knight you a year earlier than your class.”      Ulrin’s eyes shined with newfound hope and determination. “Okay. I’ll do it.”      Fonz grinned and grasped the edge of the crevice, carefully hoisting himself up over the edge and helping Ulrin as well.      Once they climbed over, they stood up and peered into the large, dark cave before them.      “Do you think it’s still in there,” Ulrin asked in a hushed whisper. His heart thumped in such a rhythm, he assumed the sound echoed and bounced off the cave walls.       “No,” Fonz said. “Or we would have been dead before we got to the crevice beneath us.”      Ulrin gulped, thinking of that possibility as Fonz carefully stepped into the cave. Just as he stepped in, the sound of large, heavy, flapping wings echoed around them, announcing the arrival of something massive.     They both turned in the direction with fear. Fonz grabbed Ulrin’s hand, darting inside the cave and quickly finding a spot between two large rocks to hide behind as the sound of claws scraping against the rock echoed loudly within the cave, making Ulrin put his hands to his ears in fear.      The boy immediately thought of his parents as his chest tightened in terror as the hiss and snarl of the creature was loud against the rocky interior.     Fonz breathed deeply in anticipation mixed with fear as he peeked around the boulders, catching a glance of the enormous reptilian entering the cave.      Iridescent scales; sharp, long claws; powerful muscles; horns adorning the spine and head. They were the only features the prince’s eyes could glimpse before the hiss and snarl of the dragon sent chills down his spine, making him turn back to hide behind the boulder.      The dragon was larger than he expected. All his research had told him it was supposed to be a small to medium sized dragon. A size Fonz could take down by himself if need be.      This massive beast required an entire company of knights Fonz would need. Ulrin wasn’t enough aid.      The prince’s chest rose and fell heavily as he weighed out all the options, considering if he had made a mistake or not. His body shook involuntarily as the odds were stacked against him.      The dragon hissed like reptiles in swamps as it entered, it’s heavy, scaly tail dragging on the rock. A stench of rotten meat enveloped the cave, making Fonz and Ulrin want to vomit. Their hands covered their mouths to keep the contents of their stomach within them.      A lighter growl was heard in the cave, echoing against the rocky walls.      Fonz paused, listening again. The light growl was followed by a whine, then a purr like a cat but loud enough to make Fonz and Ulrin’s chest vibrate.      Fonz motioned for Ulrin to stay put as he carefully peeked around the boulder one more time. The light from outside the cave was enough to illuminate what was happening in the back of the cave and there, alongside the large dragon was a smaller dragon; a baby.      Dragons were a natural part of their world yet still so mysterious. Not many knew too much about dragons, other than that they liked cattle or goat meat; they rarely ventured to rivers or lakes for water and all had different colored crystals on their chests.      No one knew what they were meant for; a way for communication, a sign of the different species but the crystals on each dragon were always a different color, setting all of them apart.      The large dragon had a bright royal purple crystal on its chest, casting purple hues wherever it walked. The infant that bounced around happily at the arrival of its mother had a pale pink crystal on its chest. With the mother and infant’s crystals shining in the back of the cave, it looked like a soft light show of a sunset dancing on the walls.      Ulrin tugged at Fonz’s tunic, making the prince back down behind the boulder. He motioned for the boy to be patient, yet the only emotion Ulrin had was utter terror.      The mother and infant played and ate for what seemed like hours. Sounds of them interacting and conversing was enchanting to the prince as he listened to them.      The sun had already set and darkness came upon them. Ulrin’s nerves were spilling out next to Fonz as he sat patiently, waiting for the perfect moment.      Just as the thought passed his mind, the infant whined and with a deep groan from within the mother’s thick neck, she climbed to her feet and trudged out of the cave, peeking her large head out first before opening her wings with a gust of wind the same as what Fonz and Ulrin had felt before at the entrance of the mountain pass and the mother flew off into the night in search of food.      “This is it,” Fonz whispered excitedly. “Get up. Get up, Ulrin!” He shook the boy’s shoulder as he stood to his feet and rounded the corner.      The infant was walking farther into the back of the cave but when it heard the distinct crunch of a footstep on the cave, he turned around, thinking it was the mother.      Fonz stood in front of the infant dragon, staring into the pink colored eyes that matched the color of the crystal on the chest.      One large pink eye inspected Fonz curiously. It didn’t bear its sharp teeth, hiss or try to attack; it turned its head from side to side as if it was confused by the creature standing before it.      It made an inquisitive purring noise in its throat as he took a tentative step towards Fonz.      “It’s quite adorable,” Ulrin admitted, stepping around the boulder to stand next to the prince. “If only the creatures continued to stay this size, perhaps we wouldn’t ever have a problem with dragons.”     “We could only wish,” Fonz muttered, keeping his eyes on the dragon in front of them.      Slowly, Fonz unsheathed his sword, positioning it out in front of him to make the infant freeze with uncertainty.      The pink eyes trailed up the sharp sword and settled on Fonz’s, as if trying to speak to him but Fonz couldn’t understand. He lifted the sword and Ulrin grabbed his arm.      “Stop! Prince Fonz-what are you doing!” Ulrin gasped, trying to pull the prince away from the baby as it scuttled a few paces away from them to watch warily from a distance.      “This creature isn’t hurting anybody. The mother’s only feeding it. How about we just leave them alone?” Fonz brushed off the boy with a quick jerk, gripping his hands onto the hilt and facing the dragon. “You wouldn’t understand, boy,” the prince said.      "You had just told me today that you thought we could perhaps live in peace with the dragons," Ulrin protested, keeping his grip on the prince's forearm. "You were understanding and compassionate! Please! Don't do this!"      Fonz shoved the boy away from him and began to raise his sword once again when Ulrin stopped him once again. "Please, think about this, my prince. It's an infant."      "The matters I have with these dragons do not pertain to you," Fonz warned, his green eyes glaring at Ulrin. "Do not get in my way."      Ulrin ignored him and tried to stop the prince again and they began to shuffle about the cave, their grunts and heavy breaths bouncing off the walls loudly while their boots scraped and crunched the rock floor.      Fonz dropped his sword beside him so he could use both hands to clench Ulrin’s neck. The boy’s eyes widened in fear as he quickly brought his hands up to claw at the prince’s grip.     Ulrin began choking, his mind was racing; he kicked, he tried to wail, he tried to pry Fonz’s fingers from his neck and even tried to dig his thumbs into the prince’s eyes but with a quick shake of Fonz’s head, Ulrin’s fingers lost their grip and he gave up; the last thought of Ulrin’s life was his father and the light in his eyes burned out.      Fonz was shaking as he held Ulrin’s lifeless body by the throat. Without a second thought, he released him, unflinching when his body crumpled to the floor with a heavy thud. Fonz turned to the dragon, staring at him with terror stricken eyes.      The wings on its back were pressed tightly against its body, almost like a dog with its tail between its legs. Its head darted from side to side with its gaze to the entrance of the cave. It gave out a small, fearful whine as Fonz stepped closer to it, leaning down and picking up his sword.  The infant backed up against a wall as Fonz approached, a grin stretched out on his handsome face as he raised his sword and let it fall with all the force within his arm into the dragon. *