Excerpt: Pendragon Crystal

The towers of the castle gleamed in the morning sun. Melwyn watched the stones that they were constructed of begin to crumble and break. Like before, they began to fall, some making momentary towers of water as they hit the moat that surrounded the castle of Camul. It seemed like only seconds before the castle lay in ruins where it had stood. At the center of the ruins hovering as if suspended from the sky itself was the crystal. It was larger in these dreams, but in reality was the size of a man’s fist. It was a clear crystal that had only one imperfection. Encapsulated at the center of the crystal was a blood red, tear shaped rock. Even in his dream, Melwyn knew the crystal’s name.

Melwyn woke with a start. His bed linens were drenched with his sweat. He had shrugged off the first of these dreams, but they had become more numerous over the last few revolutions of the moon. He rose from his bed and started a tea on the stove. It hadn’t done any good to ignore the dreams. Time was running short now. The crystal's appearance could only mean one thing. The King must be made aware.

Morning broke quickly. Too quickly for Melwyn, who hadn’t slept the rest of the night. He dressed in his court robes and descended the stairs to the king’s study. The king turned as he heard Melwyn enter the study and a smile broke out across his square face.

“Melwyn, it is good to see you this morning.”

The king was a large man. Broad across the shoulders and tall. The years that he had spent hunting game in the king’s woods had given his body the appearance of a column of rock. Many of his enemy’s had broken themselves against that rock after he had become king.

“Good morning sire.”

The king noticed the look on Melwyn’s face and his smile faded as quickly as it had come.

“What troubles you this morning Melwyn?”

“I’ve been having dreams sire. Dreams of the destruction of Camul.”

“That would trouble even me Melwyn, but who could destroy Camul? We have beaten back even the oldest enemies of the crown.”

“Not who sire, what. Each time that I have seen Camul destroyed, only one thing remains in the ruins. It is the Pendragon Crystal sire.”

The king turned and walked over to the window over the gardens outside. It had been nearly a century since the Pendragon Crystal had been disposed of. His grandfather had been the king that had commissioned the group of men that disposed of it. When they had returned from their journey, his grandfather had an entire battalion of his men waiting and before they could utter a word of where the crystal lie, the battalion set upon them. His grandfather had been chastised by his people for the act, but only he had known the true powers of the crystal and had realized what it would mean if it was ever found again. The dreams of the king’s wizard could hardly be pushed aside. If the crystal had resurfaced somewhere, it meant great danger to the people of Edicronia.

“How do you think that it will come about Melwyn?”

“How exactly I do not know sire. But that it will is certain. I have dreamt of it many times and now regret not telling you earlier. I had to be certain it was not just the imaginings of an old man.”

The king chuckled a bit. “You are hardly an old man for someone of your nature Melwyn. I’ve heard tales of your kind living to be twice your age. Why, you don’t even look any older than I remember you from when I was a child.”

The memory of the king as a child brought a smile to Melwyn’s face. The king had been very carefree and fearless then. Unlike most men, and despite the weight of the crown, he hadn’t lost much of it in growing up.

“The eyes of my king have aged with me I think. We are both quite a bit older than we were and I think that we both show it well enough.”

In truth, Melwyn was indeed only middle aged for a sorcerer of his power.

“If indeed the crystal is to be rediscovered it could mean many things Melwyn.” The king motioned to one of his servants standing by the door. “Jabeer, bring my scribes. And have them bring the histories of the Pendragon Crystal with them.”