Grandfather stood awestruck. “How did you do it?”
“How?” rasped the voice of Ratchet. “You are asking me how? The same way you did it, of course! Through a catalyst of PCL. Does it gall you to know that you were not the first to do it? That you were merely a follower, not a discoverer?”
“Yes,” replied Grandfather. “Yes, it does.”
“I see you haven’t learned much, Prancer. You are as honest as ever.”
“And you are as spiteful as ever.”
“That is the prerogative of the greatest scientist who ever lived.”
“So the whole fire in the laboratory was just a ruse?”
“To disguise my exit,” agreed Ratchet, cackling proudly. “I am sure there was ceaseless debate over its true cause.”
“Yes. But none of us ever guessed that you had found a way to free your heartlight and travel to Trethoniel.”
“Or, even better, that I had discovered the path to immortality!”
Grandfather’s eyebrows lifted to their maximum height. “You mean that you have merged your heartlight with Trethoniel’s?”
“Yes!” Ratchet’s voice was triumphant. “At last, to leave my wretched and decaying body behind. To be free, finally and forever! That is my reward for those many years of torture.”
“So you have ceased to exist as an individual being?”
“What value is individuality when it is, by its very nature, limited and temporary? Now I am part of something much bigger and far better: the infinite life of a glorious star. And my great intelligence has enabled this star to flourish when it otherwise would have died.”
“Fool!” bellowed the Voice, ending its silence. “You are only a tool to Trethoniel! I am growing tired of your endless arrogance. You forget that I have preserved a portion of your ego solely so that you can be more useful to me. But you have served your purpose! However important you might have been once, now much more important is your student. He alone holds the power to save Trethoniel from annihilation.”
“Only because he learned a few things from me,” snarled Ratchet. “And you have certainly changed your tune, O Voice of Trethoniel! You sent me all the way back to Earth just to prevent him from coming here! Now you are begging him for help.”
“Prevent me!” exclaimed Grandfather. “Ratchet! Was that you who ruined my laboratory?”
“You’ve only now deduced that? You haven’t gotten any smarter since I saw you last.” Ratchet’s hoarse laughter rose above the winds. “I actually quite enjoyed being a ghost.”
“You might have killed my dog, you assassin.”
“I wish I had. If there hadn’t been more important matters to tend to—”
“Important!” Grandfather retorted angrily. “Like stealing an empty, worthless box! I do say, Ratchet, you are easily fooled. You haven’t gotten any smarter since I saw you last.”
“Silence!” commanded the Voice. “While you two are bickering, my very life is slipping away. And your life as well, Doctor Willard Ratchet.”
“Why did you want to prevent me from coming here?” demanded Grandfather. “Answer my question, or I will never help you.”
“Because I feared you would be captured by the Enemy, and made to give them your heartlight.”
“But heartlight can only be given freely,” objected Grandfather. “I would never give them my heartlight!”
“They would have tricked you!” bellowed the Voice. “They will say anything and do anything to annihilate Trethoniel. Just as I need one more drop of heartlight to survive, the Enemy needs it to destroy me.”
“Prancer,” croaked Ratchet’s voice. “It was my idea to prevent you! I figured you might be getting close to making your own PCL by now, if you were lucky. You were never very smart, but you always had more than your share of perseverance. I couldn’t take the risk you might be duped into giving your heartlight to the Enemy. And besides, what right do you have to make use of my invention? I was the only human ever to have experienced the power of PCL—until you had the audacity to follow in my footsteps!”
“Silence!” ordered the Voice. “I should never have listened to your foolish plans! It is clear to me now that your former student is far too intelligent to fall under the sway of the Enemy. And what is more important, I see now that he was destined to help Trethoniel in my moment of greatest need.”
The Voice paused, gathering all its energy. “Doctor Miles Prancer, I have been joined by the heartlights of many wise beings throughout my realm. Now there are no more heartlights within my reach who have not sided either with me or with the Enemy. Your heartlight is therefore my only hope! Unless you join me very soon, the forces of the Enemy will triumph—and all my magnificence will be lost forever. I ask you now: Will you do your part to save Trethoniel?”
“What about saving the Sun, too?” asked Grandfather. “If I help you, will you give the Sun some of your pure condensed light? Its supply is dwindling fast.”
“It is too late to save your Sun,” declared the Voice. “But Trethoniel still has a chance to survive! And if Trethoniel can be saved, it will open the door to a universe where every star can live eternally, ascending to the heights of glory that stars were meant to achieve!”
A sudden pang of doubt struck Grandfather. “A universe where every star can live eternally? But what happens to the recycling of energy? What happens to the conservation of—?”
“Prancer!” cried Ratchet’s raspy voice. “Have you not moved beyond those simplistic laws of physics? You were a fairly good student. Now you’re sounding like a brain-dead Neanderthal. Don’t you understand that immortality is within your grasp?”
“Yes, but—”
“We need your heartlight, not your questions!” interrupted the Voice. “You could not save the young one, and you could not save the Sun, but you can still save Trethoniel! And in doing so, you will save the heartlight of many others as well. Will you join us?”
“Say yes!” urged Ratchet.
Straightening his tall frame, Grandfather peered into the impenetrable mists swirling about the great globe. He could not even see the outlines of the fiery bowl below, let alone the circle of Celethoes, if they were still there.
“I am prepared to help you, but only on one condition.”
“I do not accept conditions from lesser beings,” thundered the Voice.
“Then I will not help you,” came Grandfather’s clear reply.
“What is your condition?” demanded the Voice impatiently.
“That if any of Kate’s heartlight has somehow survived, even if it is many eons before she is discovered, you will promise to return her safely to the planet of her choice.”
“Nothing at all will survive unless you help me!” exclaimed the Voice with a force that shook the globe and nearly knocked Grandfather over backward.
“And I will not grant you my heartlight unless you accept my condition,” he called back into the churning clouds. “While I still have my free will, that is what I demand.”
“She has been extinguished!”
“Nevertheless.”
“This is nonsense!”
“Nevertheless,” insisted Grandfather. “I want your promise.”
“Did you travel all the way here and leave your mind behind?” derided Ratchet. “Why don’t you join us?”
“I only know that if my heartlight is to be given away, it must be given freely. And before that can happen, I must have Trethoniel’s promise.”
“Very well,” agreed the Voice at last. “You have my promise!”
The old man raised his hand to look at the remains of his lusterless butterfly ring. Only a small portion of one wing remained; before long, nothing more than a turquoise band would be left. “Once there were two of these,” he thought sadly. “Now only one is left. What do the laws of physics matter if I can help stop the forces that destroyed her?”
“We must act!” roared the Voice. “Will you join us?”
“Join us, Prancer!
” called Ratchet. “Make a decision for once!”
The winds swirled about Grandfather.
“I will help you,” he declared at last. “I will do as you wish.”
XV
Apple Cider
What happened?” cried Ariella. “Why is there so much pain in the air?”
Her mother waved one of her long arms. “Quiet, Ariella! Go back to sleep. We are working very hard.”
But the young snow crystal could not sleep. Something important was happening. She could feel it. She rubbed her round eyes and poked her head out of the pouch on her mother’s back.
“It’s so dark out here,” she exclaimed. “Where has all the light gone?”
“Our light has been dimmed,” answered her mother in an exhausted voice. “And the light of our snow as well. We gave it up to save the Creature.”
“The Creature?”
“Come see for yourself,” said the Nurse Crystal.
“But please, Ariella, don’t get in our way. We barely rescued it and we still have much work to do. Twice during the battle I thought we had lost it.”
“And we may lose it still,” added another Nurse Crystal who was bending over the Creature. “It remains very weak.”
Ariella spun down one of her mother’s arms and landed on the velvetlike floor of Broé San Sauria. So dark was it inside the crystal dome that she could only barely discern the green color of the dome itself. Cautiously, she moved closer.
The dim illumination of the Nurse Crystals’ bodies cast a wavering light on the Creature, who lay sprawled on the floor. Attentively, they massaged the limp form, all the while singing softly.
“Kate!” exclaimed Ariella. “It’s Kate!”
Her mother stopped her work. “Kate of the Ring?”
“Yes!”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes! That’s her.”
“Ah,” nodded the Nurse Crystal, her silver eyes examining Kate closely. “That explains much.”
“Is she going to make it?” asked Ariella, twirling closer to her side.
At that instant, Kate of the Ring opened her eyes.
“Where am I?” she mumbled.
“You are on Nel Sauria,” answered a gentle voice.
Suddenly Kate saw the huge, hulking shapes bending over her in the half-light. She grabbed her throat in fright.
“No. Stay away!” she screamed. “You can’t have me!
“Don’t be frightened, Kate. I’m here.”
“Ari-Ariella? Is that really you?”
“Yes. It’s really me.”
“How did I— Where is—” Kate struggled to sit up, then collapsed backward.
“Oh, Ariella! It tried to kill me again.”
“Just be still,” whispered another one of the Nurse Crystals. “You are safe now. Do you feel anything yet in your limbs?”
“Y-yes,” answered Kate, her thoughts still whirling. “They feel heavy. Almost numb.”
“Is the numbness moving into your chest?”
“I don’t know! What happened to me? How did I get here? Where is Grandfather? Where is The Darkness? How did you—”
“Hush, hush,” said Ariella’s mother. She gently stroked Kate’s furrowed brow with the tip of one of her long arms. “We will have time for explanations later. Now you must rest, or all our efforts will have been wasted. You are still in danger.”
“I’ll stay right here with you,” whispered Ariella. “Don’t worry about anything.”
The Nurse Crystal reached into a small silver satchel dangling by her side. Out came her cup-shaped hand, with a sparkling dew upon it.
“This will help you,” she said, as she touched Kate lightly upon the lips. “This is the same dew we use to nourish our most fragile baby crystals, when they are so small that even a beam of light weighs heavily upon them.”
Kate felt instantly warmer, deep inside herself. Gradually, her questions gave way to a feeling of quiet comfort. An image danced across her memory of curling up beside Cumberland in front of Grandfather’s kitchen fireplace, birch logs crackling, firelight dancing on the wooden walls. The room smelled of autumn leaves and apple cider. She lay her head upon his flowing red coat, and felt the dog’s rhythmic breathing and warm body beneath her.
Soon she was fast asleep.
XVI
The True Music
Hello.”
Kate looked up, her eyes filled with sleep.
“Hello.”
She sat up straight and called into the semi-darkness. “Who is that? Where are you?”
“Here,” announced a small voice behind her. As Kate turned her head, the voice broke into a sweet, lilting laughter.
“Ariella!”
“Right,” beamed the snow crystal, her six ornate arms glittering. “I couldn’t wait any longer.” She laughed again, like legions of little bells pealing.
Kate found herself smiling. How good to hear Ariella’s laughter again! Then, like a steel trap suddenly sprung, her thoughts returned to her own predicament.
“Why am I smiling?” she moaned. “Ariella, what happened? How did I get here?”
“You were saved by the Nurse Crystals.”
“Saved from The Darkness?”
“Saved from annihilation.” Ariella’s voice was somber. “The Nurse Crystals said you almost didn’t survive. They said it was the worst battle they have ever had to fight in all the eons they have healed the wounded and tended their young. To save you they sacrificed most of their own light … and until it returns, the green dome and all of Nel Sauria will remain in shadows.”
“That’s why it’s so dark?”
“Yes. Before the battle, the Nurse Crystals blazed with light, and the green dome of Broé San Sauria radiated their energy.”
“I remember … And all to save me?”
Ariella nodded. “And Nurse Nolora will never make any light again.”
“Why, Ariella? Why? I’m just a visitor to this place.”
“I don’t know exactly why, but I am sure they didn’t sacrifice so much without a good reason. They must have known The Darkness was after you. If The Darkness wanted so badly to extinguish you, then your heartlight must pose a great threat to its plans.”
Kate sucked in her breath. All at once, the horrors of her struggle came flooding back to her.
“Oh, Ariella! It was terrible!”
The snow crystal twirled to her side and nudged her arm. “I know.”
“Grandfather!” cried Kate. “I’ve got to get back to him. He’s in trouble. I’m sure of it.”
She braced herself and tried to rise to her feet. Suddenly she felt very weak and dizzy.
“Too much too soon,” chided a mammoth snow crystal rolling toward them. “Sit back down again.”
The command was unnecessary, as Kate’s legs collapsed under her. She fell back onto the soft floor.
“Ariella,” spoke her mother sternly, “I told you not to disturb her.”
“But I was only—”
“She was only helping me understand what happened,” interrupted Kate, her head still whirling. “She meant no harm.”
Ariella’s eyes glowed with gratitude.
“Very well then,” spoke the Nurse Crystal. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, I think. Less dizzy now. But I’m still awfully weak.”
The Nurse Crystal’s six arms quivered. “Understandably, given all that you were battling against when we came to your rescue.”
Kate reached out her hand, and a long, glistening arm stretched to meet it. The arm of the snow crystal radiated a soft white glow, and as it moved, thousands of tiny crystalline points radiated rainbows in all directions. The outermost tip touched Kate’s middle finger.
“Thank you,” said Kate softly.
“You are welcome,” replied the Nurse Crystal. “We will miss our light, and the dear friend we lost, but you are out of danger. At least for the moment.”
“Why did it want to kill me?” crie
d Kate. “All I did was point to the Celethoes—they were trying to tell us something—when suddenly The Darkness was right there. It surrounded us, then it attacked me.” She shivered at the memory.
“It was not The Darkness who attacked you,” the great snow crystal replied.
“But I saw it. I felt it!”
“That much is true,” the Nurse Crystal agreed. “But The Darkness is only a slave. You fought it once before, we learned from Ariella. However, your last battle was not with The Darkness. Your last battle was with its master.”
“Its master? Who is that?” Even in the near darkness, Kate felt a shadow fall upon her as she asked the question.
“We dare not speak its true name. It calls itself many things, all of them false. Most often it pretends to be the Voice of Trethoniel.”
“The Voice!” Kate exclaimed. “I knew something didn’t feel right about it. I just couldn’t figure out what. But it kept saying it spoke for the entire star. I was starting to doubt my own instincts—to wonder whether I was crazy to be so suspicious.”
“Trethoniel has many voices,” declared the Nurse Crystal. “Every living being that is part of this star or its planets, no matter how small or insignificant, has a voice of its own. My little Ariella has a voice, I have a voice, and even The Darkness has a voice. None of them can speak for the star. The Voice that pretended to do so only kept you from hearing the other voices. But it could not speak for them.”
“What about the music? The beautiful music we heard?”
The eyes of the great crystal danced. “If there is any true voice of Trethoniel, that is it. For eons and eons, the music of Trethoniel has grown in majesty and meaning. Each new voice that was added brought a new measure of beauty, a new moment of wisdom, and the song of this star became the most exquisite in the galaxy.”
The Nurse Crystal leaned back to face the dark clouds swirling above the green dome, and her eyes darkened as well. “Until the Voice grew to be so strong! Then it began to block out our music, just as it blocks out any competing voices.”
“But the Voice said it wanted the music to survive,” protested Kate. “It said it wanted to save the music from total destruction.”