Conquest of Shadows Chapter 8

The hot sun beat down on Richard’s back as he followed Rachel on Thunder’s back into a small stable, its floor was covered in fresh strands of hay and troughs of fresh cool water in the stalls. Dismounting Thunder Richard along with Rachel led their horses to their stables.

The whole ride there Richard and Rachel hadn’t uttered a single word, the cold silence now tugged at Richard making him feel uneasy as he followed Rachel to a small cave opening. It’s not like he minded he liked having no conversation and just listening to the sound of hooves…but it’s unlike Rachel to be so quiet.

Looking up He saw her walk towards the cave entrance. If it wasn’t for Rachel leading him he wouldn’t have known the cave was there. Long strands of green leafs draped over the opening making it hard for the naked eye to catch, the cool breeze rustling the leafs.

“My cave is through here.” Rachel said over her shoulder, lifting some vines out of the way stepping into the darkness.

Letting out a low sigh Richard followed after her, he couldn’t understand her sometimes. She knew that jewel was important to him and that he had killed to get it, and yet she thought it would be fine to hold onto it for a bit, and what’s worse is he didn’t even notice before it was too late.

Richard ran a hand over his face while letting out a low groan, now he knew what Ryan was talking about. If he was going to be out there getting himself into things like he always did, he needed to read people and not get things such as that jewel taken from him without his knowing. Ryan was right he needed to train more, a lot more.

“Hey, are you coming or not?” Came Rachel’s harsh whisper as she poked her head through the vines, a frown planted on her delicate, pale face.

Looking up now out of his thoughts Richard waved his hand at her. “Yeah, yeah I’m coming, sheesh.” Putting a hard face on, he walked into the cave opening after her.

Upon entering cold darkness surrounded the two as Rachel walked down the large hall out of memory. Richard had to stay close otherwise he would have lost his way. Running a hand along the wall a cold, wet substance covered his fingertips. Up ahead he could hear Rachel mucking around with the key, then the sound of a heavy door being opened echoed throughout the tunnel. Sharp blades of dusty, light split through the air like steal knives as the door was opened ajar.

Letting out a heavy sigh Rachel turned to face Richard. “Now don’t get freaked out by what you see when you walk into this room.”

Richard walked up to her and stopped standing next to her, a hard frown planted on his face. “Uhh, okay? Not like I’m not already worried.” Pushing the wooden door open he walked inside, but what he saw was not what he expected. Black scorch marks stained the rock walls as every item in the room had been blown to splinters. Gaping Richard asked. “Wha…what happened?” his eyes landing on the clear blue jewel sitting in the middle of the room, clearly resting on a table that is now clumps of black wood around it.

A light laugh made its way out of Rachel as she began to twiddle with her fingers. “Now this is where things get interesting.”

A hard scowl made its way onto Richard’s face as his eyebrows creased together. “Really? And what would be fascinating about this?” He asked pointing towards the mess.

Rachel sighs. "Well if you let me explain, you will soon find out won’t you?" She walked past him into the room her feet stepping over the scattered wood.

Mumbling something over his shoulder Richard slowly followed after her.

Picking up the Gem Rachel tossed it over to Richard who caught it in one fluid motion. Looking down at it he could see nothing had happened to it, not a scrape or even a smudge of ash.

Sighing Rachel kicked some wood out of her path. “When you showed me that...” She waved her hands in Richard's direction pointing at the jewel. “Gem, I got a little curious about what it could be and why the king would want it so much so...I did a little bit of experimenting.”

Richard's eyes widened. “And that made this mess?!”

She gave him a sheepish grin. “No…?” She began to fiddle with her fingers like she always did when she had Richard’s hard glare on her. “Well not on purpose.”

Tapping his foot Richard put one of his hands on his hip arching an eyebrow waiting for her explanation, while the other hand reached behind him and slipped the Jewel into one of his pouches.

“You see I got a little frustrated so I began to list off things the king would need, like soldiers, and weapons, and umm, B.O.M.B.S if he wants to take over the other nations.” She began to explain, but she saw the look that came onto Richard’s face when she spelled out one of the words.

Richard sighed and asked, “Why aren’t you saying bo-”

“DON’T SAY IT!!!” Rachel yelled slamming a hand over his mouth. “Just let me finish.” She said a little calmer. “So as I was rattling off words such as the once I just said I saw something change in the Gem when I said…you know. A few seconds afterward I’m running out the room because that thing is about to explode!” She finished, a huff escaping her.

Richard’s eyes widened, he removed Rachel’s hand from his mouth. “Are you saying if you give the command it will just blow up?” As he said those words he could feel the pouch attached to his pants begin to get warm. Frowning he reached in and removed the Jewel only it was no longer blue but a deep red, as yellow sparks could be seen flying through it.

“Oh no, it’s happening again!” Rachel hissed.

Reacting quickly Richard quickly rolled the Jewel across the room the icy outside making a tinkling noise when hitting the stone floor. He rapidly shoved Rachel through the door following close behind shutting it behind him.

BOOM!!!!!!!

Soft puffs of black smoke crept through the space between the floor and the door slowly traveling along the hall. Not sure what to think Richard looked over at Rachel who was standing up from the floor.

“That is what happens in you use any word related to explosions.” Rachel huffed. “I guess I should have told you before I let you see the Jewel.” A guilty expression made its way onto her face.

Richard didn’t have the words to express what he was feeling. What just happened? He hadn’t heard of anything that could do that. There were history books back at the mountain he had read a thousand times, and he was sure there wasn’t anything like this in them.

With a shaky hand, Richard opened the door only to see everything scorched completely black other than the Jewel to the far off corner, back to its calm blue color. “If this is what the king wants…” Richard shivered. “We have a bigger problem at hand than I thoughts.”

Rachel only nods her eyes wide. “What are we going to do Richard?” She looked up at him her eyes a little wider. “If the King knows it can do this he must have his men after you! You do realize you’re a known criminal?”

Richard shook his head. “They can’t know it’s me. I’m not that good.”

Sighing Rachel placed a hand on his shoulder. “You're better than you think, and they don’t know it’s you, only the masked you. So, what are we going to do?”