Read Online The Crystal Mountain by Thomas M. Reid - Free Book Online Page A

right.”
    “How so?”
    Eirwyn frowned and shrugged. “I shouldn’t be here,” she said finally. “All this”—she gestured around herself at the sumptuous chambers that had been prepared for her stay— “is too…”
    Oshiga gave her a puzzled look. “I do not understand. The rooms are not to your liking? How can we make you more comfortable?”
    Eirwyn sighed. “No, the accommodations are wonderful. That’s the problem. They are too nice.”
    Oshiga looked more confused.
    “Something terrible is coming,” Eirwyn said. “Something I need to be a part of. I shouldn’t be here, enjoying such luxuries, when trouble is brewing.”
    “Erathaol believes that you cannot find yourself until you release this anxiety. You will not know your role until you stop fighting it.”
    “I know,” she said. “It’s quite a conundrum. The more I remove myself from the threat—the more I escape my troubles and cares in order to make peace with my unconscious and unearth this mystery—the more confused I become.”
    “I will speak to Erathaol about this at once,” Oshiga said, rising. “Perhaps he can offer you some sense of how better to proceed.”
    “No, do not trouble the Seer with this,” Eirwyn said. “I will muddle through it somehow.” She stretched and rose. “But let us leave off from playing board games for a while. I must seek some other ways to relax.”
    Oshiga bowed. “As you wish.” He turned to go. “If you have any need, I am at your disposal.”
    “I know,” Eirwyn answered, and she smiled in appreciation. “You are most kind, generous, and patient with me.”
    Oshiga bowed again and departed, leaving the angel to her thoughts.
    Eirwyn peered around the chambers once more, trying to decide what she wanted to do. Fly away, she thought. Return to the surface. Find something meaningful to do. Help.
    She threw her arms up in frustration and decided to swim. She moved to the pool. As she entered the water, Eirwyn thought of Tauran. She remembered how he rarely chose to swim in the Lifespring merely for pleasure. She could see
    him, in her mind’s eye, diving from high above the enchanted waters, honing his skills, practicing.
    He never let up, the angel recalled. He was always preparing for the next development. That’s what I should be doing.
    Much later, Eirwyn awoke in darkness, panicked. She fumbled to rise, could not, and finally realized she had become entangled in the covers. She was drenched in sweat, and her heart pounded.
    Another nightmare, she thought. About what?
    She sat in the darkness of her chambers and concentrated, trying to remember anything at all.
    Images flashed through her mind. Pictures of danger, of dark creatures. Of prisoners. There!
    Eirwyn focused on one particular image, a place that seemed somehow familiar, yet not a place she recognized. I must go there, she understood. But what—and more importantly, where—is it?
    She rose from her bed and dressed. I must do some research, she thought. Somewhere in this massive library is the answer I seek. I need Oshiga.
    Eirwyn left her chambers and went in search of the trumpet archon.

Chapter Five
    Aliisza watched Kaanyr pace from one side of the rotunda to the other. She could see the cambion’s mood grow fouler with each lap. Beyond him, barely visible in the dim light, her arcane cage still stood, holding the creature that had once been Micus and Myshik. The aberration had finally ceased his attempts to batter his way out. He sat near the back of his enclosure, watching Kaanyr.
    Aliisza rested against one of the columns between Tauran and Kael, with the planetar nearby. Zasian stood over all three of the wounded companions, watching over them.
    Aliisza and Kaanyr had decided to move the three unconscious forms into the center of the chamber, where the priest could tend to them more easily. Kael bucked and groaned when they removed Aliisza’s sword protruding from his gut, but he did not otherwise awaken, and Zasian