The Chaos Crystal Read Online Free Page B

something nobody else did. 'The Chaos Crystal will show you the way. As it always does.'
    'Assuming we ever find the damn thing,' Taryx said, frowning.
    'It's in Glaeba somewhere.'
    Declan looked at Kentravyon in astonishment. 'You know where it is?'
    Kentravyon shrugged. 'It was stolen by the Cabal several thousand years ago. Not long before these other ungrateful sods here, ganged up on me and put me on ice.' He glared at Arryl and Taryx for a moment before returning his attention to Declan. 'I'd made a few mortal enemies by then, as well as immortal ones. They mistakenly thought they could use the crystal to destroy me.'
    'The irony, of course,' Taryx added, 'being that far from destroying any immortal, by losing the damned crystal they made certain we could never be gone from their lives.'
    Kentravyon turned to look at the Immortal Prince in the distance with a scowl. 'Not going to be happy if I find he's managed to drown it at the bottom of one of the Great Lakes with his little tantrum over that wretched child.'
    Declan realised the Tide Lord was referring to the legend about the Immortal Prince, and how his tears of grief over the death of his mortal daughter, Fliss, had
    supposedly flooded the massive rift valley separating Caelum and Glaeba, turning it into the Great Lakes. He wondered what they'd do if the talisman they sought was buried at that bottom of the Great Lakes of Glaeba. The waterways were as large as an inland sea.
    'So Maralyce is in on this too?' Declan asked, as it occurred to him why his own great-grandmother had made Glaeba her home. He should have suspected as much. 'That's what Maralyce is looking for, isn't it? She's not mining for gold. She's looking for this wretched crystal of yours. Who else knows about this?'
    'That's everyone,' Kentravyon said. 'Are you done sightseeing?'
    'I've got another question,' Declan said.
    'There's a shock,' Taryx muttered. Declan ignored him.
    'You said "as it always does". You've used this crystal before?'
    Kentravyon hesitated for the barest fraction of a second. 'We've experimented with it in the past, yes.'
    'That's not an answer. I want to know how you know this crystal will even work,' Declan said. 'I mean, you're standing here telling us we have to find some talisman stolen by the Cabal. Well, I'm sorry. I was a member of the Cabal and Lukys was posing as one of the Pentangle. I never heard anything about a magical crystal capable of destroying an immortal.'
    It was Taryx rather than Kentravyon who answered him. 'You heard about it every day, Declan. You just didn't know it, that's all.'
    Declan glared at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
    'The Tarot, you fool,' Taryx told him impatiently. 'It was never about telling fortunes, any more than it was about documenting the story of the immortals. It was, and always has been, the key to the location of the crystal.'
    'You can buy a Tide Lord Tarot in any marketplace on Amyrantha,' Arryl said, sounding almost as puzzled as Declan felt. 'Why haven't you found it before now?'
    'Because the Tarot has changed over time and a different version seems to surface after every Cataclysm,' Taryx explained. 'It's been embellished beyond recognition; endlessly amended to fit the romantic notions of good story telling. Now — if you want the location of the Chaos Crystal — you need to get your hands on an original. Or at least a copy of the original.'
    'How?' Declan asked.
    Kentravyon smiled. 'Ah ... and therein lies our dilemma ...'
    'I have another question,' Declan said. 'Lukys claims the process of focusing the Tide will kill any immortal standing too close to the portal when it opens. But how ...' Declan stopped abruptly and turned toward the sea, his skin prickling with the now familiar feel of someone swimming the Tide.
    Kentravyon and the others felt it too. Even Cayal straightened in the distance, raising his arm to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. He sensed rather than felt another Tide Lord in the