Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Author Quest by J. M. Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

evenings and tell stories of his exploits. He was dangerous with almost any weapon, but his weapon of choice was a broadsword that I forged for him on my own anvil.
    Rian was known throughout the clan as a brave and experienced warrior; one of their finest. But those who knew him only as a warrior didn’t know the same Gelfling that I did. The Rian I knew was peace-loving and jovial, with a quick wit and a smile that could light up his whole triangular face.
    On that night, though, he wasn’t smiling. That night, the only light on his face was the reflection of the blazing furnace. I threw two more logs into the flames when I saw him shivering—the fire burned so hot that streams of sweat ran down both our faces, and still he shivered.
    â€œRian,” I said again. “Are you ill? Should I fetch a healer?”
    He shook his head. “I’m just cold,” he said quietly. “Cold, and tired.”
    â€œBut it’s burning up in here,” I protested. I pressed my fingers to his forehead to check his temperature.
    As soon as my skin met Rian’s, a tug like a lightning bolt jerked through my arm and I felt myself falling. My body stayed completely still, but Rian’s memories pulled on my mind, drawing me in like a whirlpool. We were dreamfasting, the Gelfling way of sharing memories by touch. The blacksmith’s shop faded away as I let Rian’s world consume me.
    I was in a cold stone hallway lined with smoky lanterns. My hands held the short spear of a castle guard, and I paced the hallway easily, without crutches. Both my legs were whole and healthy. Rian’s body was my body, and I felt myself reliving his actions as his voice echoed in my ears.
    Today the Skeksis held council, and I was assigned to stand guard in the secluded wing of the castle that holds skekTek’s laboratory. Midway through my shift, I was standing across from the laboratory door when a thin beam of blue light burst through the keyhole, shining so brightly in my face I couldn’t ignore it. I heard a click like the sound of a key turning, and suddenly the door swung open. Wondering what strange magic was afoot, I followed the beam of light into skekTek’s laboratory and saw what no Gelfling has seen before.
    Foul-smelling potions boiled in cauldrons and sat in flasks along the walls. In the middle of the room stood a large desk covered in a rich burgundy cloth. The desk held a stack of yellowed parchments, with ink and a quill beside them. On top of the stack was a sketch of a Gelfling like me, standing inside a circle wearing only a loincloth, his arms and legs outstretched. There were numbers written around the circle, complex calculations and measurements of each limb and joint. I realized that this Gelfling had no name, only numbers as his identity. That thought made me sick to my stomach.
    Beside the parchments I saw a small crystal vial, stoppered with a leather peg and full of pale blue liquid. Rose sunlight streamed in from an upper window, striking the vial and shining a slender refracted beam into the hallway. This was the source of the light that had caught my attention, the light that seemed to invite me into skekTek’s laboratory as if by magic. When I held my breath, I thought I could hear a faint humming coming from the vial, like music without notes.
    As I watched, the sunlight crept away from the vial, hiding it in shadow. But the blue light kept glowing with an incandescence of its own. It drew me in. It was alluring, beautiful, so beautiful it hurt to look, and still I couldn’t turn away. I stretched my fingers out and brushed them against the crystal.
    That was when I felt it.
    Evil.
    Death.
    Suddenly a scream tore through the dreamfast, filling up my ears, my mouth, every nerve in my body. I couldn’t tell if the voice was Rian’s or mine. I didn’t know if we were screaming in dreamfast or inside the blacksmith’s shop. Rian’s memory ripped to