ELEMENTAL
Part One: By Mountain and Monolith
Chapter 1: "Geodes"
Planet Rock
T minus 39 days and counting
"Mistress Onyx!" Realgar's call echoed through the twisted corridors of the palace. "Mistress Onyx! Confound it, where is that girl?" He marched down the corridor muttering under his breath. "I swear, she hasn't been on time for her lessons once in her entire lifetime..."
"Sir?"
The old man gave a yelp of surprise, then whirled around to see Major Feldspar standing behind him. Next to the Major stood a young woman with violet eyes, long obsidian-black hair, and a very sour look on her face. "I found her wandering around outside the Control Core," Feldspar said.
"Oh--erm--yes, thank you, Major," Realgar said, regaining his composure somewhat. "You may return to your post. And you," he said with a sharp look at the girl, "are coming with me to take care of today's lessons."
Feldspar saluted, then turned on his heel and marched off around the corner. Realgar watched him go, then turned back to the young woman with a gasp of exasperation. "The Control Core! Onyx, what on Rock were you doing--" But she was already striding resolutely down the corridor away from him. "Now, don't walk away from me, young lady, I asked you a question!"
"I'm just going to class like you told me to," Onyx replied without breaking stride or even glancing back at him. "And as for your question, I wasn't doing anything in the Core, because those stupid guards wouldn't let me in."
"And well they shouldn't," the old man said, having finally caught up with her. "The Control Core is no place for a young lady, particularly not under present circumstances."
"What about Commander Jade?" Onyx countered. "She's a lady and they'd have to let her in."
"That is not the point! You are heir to the throne of Rock, and with the privileges of royalty--"
"--comes great responsibility, I know," Onyx finished. "You've only told me that five million times already."
"Then why can't you ever act on it?" Realgar sounded even more exasperated than usual. "You skip almost every lesson to go trapising around the city without any kind of escort--do you have any idea what could happen to you out there?"
"Realgar, I'm seventeen years old. I think I can take care of myself for a few hours at a time."
"That may be," the old man replied, "but your father has charged me with protecting you from all harm, and--"
"If my father cares so much about me, why doesn't he take care of me himself instead of making you tag along after me all the time?"
"Now, Mistress, you know your father is a very busy man. The pressures of ruling our world allow little time for--"
"So he can't even take five minutes of his precious time to get off his royal rear end and come see his own daughter?" Onyx scowled. "That is the biggest crock of--"
"You watch your language, young lady," Realgar cut in. "So help me, I am going to make a proper princess out of you or die trying." As he spoke, they reached the door to the classroom. "Now, take your seat and we will begin from where we left of yesterday..."
***
Eight hours and an eternity later, Onyx entered her room and flopped down on the bed with a sigh of frustration and exhaustion. Another day of Realgar droning on and on about the history of Planet Rock and how much more powerful and advanced it was than the rest of the Cluster. Onyx was sick of it--sick of memorizing the dates of battles and raids, sick of lessons in etiquette and protocol, sick of having to get approval from ten layers of command before she could even set foot outside the palace, and most of all, sick of being told how the future ruler of Rock was supposed to act.
The future ruler, she thought bitterly. What if I don't WANT to be ruler? Have they ever considered that? She stared morosely out the window at the darkening sky. There has to be more to life than this...
She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the shadowy figure slip out of the far corner of the room and approach her from behind. Before she could tell what was happening, a strong hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her back roughly. "Say goodnight, Princess," a voice hissed in her ear.
Onyx choked and sputtered, then yanked the hand off and shoved the figure away. "Flynt, you little twerp!" she yelled, though she was smiling as she said it. "You really enjoy trying to scare me to death, don't you?"
Flynt grinned. "Hey, you've said yourself that I make life more interesting for you." As he stepped out into the light, his features became visible: patchy red-brown skin, unruly rust-red hair, grey eyes that twinkled mischeviously. He was dressed, as always, in a loose tunic and leggings that looked as though they should have been thrown away years ago, and had a rough leather bag slung over his shoulder.
"And I love you for it." Onyx gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "So, what brings you up here?"
"This." Flynt reached into his bag and pulled out what Onyx recognized as a rations packet. "Will you join me for dinner, Your Highness?"
Onyx smiled as she sat down next to her friend. Flynt was one of the few things that made her life bearable. He may have only been a poor commoner--a fact that Onyx's father had pointed out to her countless times--but he had taught her far more than her teachers ever had.
Onyx pointed to the insignia on the cover of the packet. "You got this one from the miners' rations?"
"Yeah. Took a lot of work to get it, too. They're guarding the supplies better now. It's getting harder and harder for an honest thief to make a living these days."
Onyx sighed. "You know, Flynt, I could just give you some food. I can spare it--"
"I've told you before, Onyx, I won't take charity from you or anyone else," Flynt said between mouthfuls. "If I can't get it myself, then I'd just as soon go hungry."
"Yet you don't mind letting me distract the guards while you steal the stuff."
Flynt shrugged. They'd had this conversation before, and it always went the same way. "It's all stolen goods anyway. When His Lordship the Rock of Rock stops raiding the rest of the Cluster, then you can preach to me about stealing food to keep from starving." He looked thoughtful. "And after what happened yesterday, that seems even less likely."
"What? What happened yesterday?" Onyx said, suddenly eager.
"You mean you don't know?"
"I know the raiding party that was going to Ice never came back, but that's it. Now spill it. I want details."
Flynt grinned broadly. If there was one thing he really enjoyed, it was telling a good story. "Well, to start with, you're only partially right. One guy did make it back."
"Really? Who?"
"Graveheart. He was the head of the mining team during the raid. King Cryos brought him back here and--"
"King Cryos was HERE?" Onyx gasped, eyes wide. "Did you see him? What's he look like?"
Flynt shrugged. "Like a great big blue bug, I guess. I didn't get a very good look at him."
"But what was he doing here? And why--"
"I'm getting to that. Anyway, your dad obviously held Graveheart responsible for the failure of the raid, so he got arrested for treason."
"Did he give any kind of defense?"
Flynt hesitated. "You're not gonna believe this..."
"Just tell me."
"Okay...well, according to him, they were attacked by the advance scouts from the Beast Planet."
Onyx chuckled. "The Beast Planet. Right. And then the boogeyman jumped out from behind an iceberg."
"I'm serious."
"What? You're telling me this guy actually believed that the Beast Planet was coming to get us? That's crazy."
"You can laugh all you want," Flynt said with a straight face, "but right after Graveheart got back, something really weird attacked the Control Core and destroyed most of the equipment. Nearly took out the Battle-Moons completely."
Onyx's eyes went even wider. "You're kidding."
"Nope. If it weren't for Graveheart and Commander Jade, we would have been in deep trouble. They showed up at the last minute and got the manual control working. They basically saved all our butts."
"Wow," Onyx murmured. "So...what happened to Graveheart?"
"Well, your dad was still pretty pissed about the raid..."
"My dad's always pissed. Be more specific."
"Okay. To make a long story short, Graveheart has been exiled from Rock...and Commander Jade went with him."
"What?! What did she do?"
"Nothing. From what I gather, she chose to go with him and join the Alliance."
"The what?" Onyx frowned. "I think you skipped something."
"Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you about that, did I? Well, that's why Cryos and Graveheart came to see your dad in the first place. They said they wanted to form an alliance with all the planets in the Cluster to fight off the Beast Planet."
Onyx let out a low whistle. "No wonder they thought it was treasonous." She stared out the window for a moment, lost in thought. "Flynt? Do you think it really was the Beast Planet that attacked?"
Flynt sighed. "Frankly, I don't know what to think right now. All I can say is, whatever this new enemy is, it's bigger and more powerful than anything we've ever dealt with before. This Alliance thing may seriously be our only chance of survival."
"Maybe...but a common miner trying to get planetary rulers to listen to him? What kind of chance does he have?"
"Hey, don't underestimate the common people," Flynt said with a smirk. "They just might surprise you. Speaking of which..." He fished around in his leather bag again. "I brought something for you."
"I'm not hungry."
"It's not food, it's--ah! Here we go." He opened his hand to reveal a rounded, greyish rock slightly larger than a closed fist. "It's a geode," he said, as if that explained anything.
Onyx gave her friend a funny look. "Um...Flynt? It's a rock. There are a million more just like it outside."
Flynt smiled inscrutably. "You think so? Maybe you need to take a closer look." Abruptly, he turned around and smacked the object in his hand against the wall. Onyx jumped in surprise.
When Flynt showed the geode again, there was a long crack down the center, splitting it in half. "See, on the outside, it looks just like any other rock," he said. "But on the inside..."
He pulled the two halves apart, and Onyx gasped. What she had thought was a solid rock was just a hollow shell lined with a carpet of purple crystals that glittered in the dim twilight.
"It's...it's beautiful," she murmured.
Flynt leaned close to Onyx, his grey eyes gazing into her violet ones. "We're just like geodes, both of us," he whispered. "People think we're hopeless, that we won't amount to anything, because they can't see past the surface. But it's what's inside of us that really matters." He pressed half of the geode into Onyx's hands. "So whenever people treat you like a hopeless case, remember, they're just seeing the surface. Try to get them to crack you open and take a look inside."
Onyx smiled. "Thank you."
The tranquility of the moment was broken by the sound of a hand pounding on the bedroom door and a voice calling Onyx's name. "That's my cue to exit," Flynt said.
Onyx turned to the door and called, "I'll be out in a minute!" Then she turned back to her friend. "Can I see you next--"
She stopped abruptly. Flynt was already gone, as were the remnants of the rations packet. The only signs that anyone had ever been there were the broken geode in Onyx's hand and the memory in her mind. She wasn't too surprised; he usually left the same way he came, silently and without warning.
Before turning to answer the door, Onyx leaned out the window, into the shadows where she knew Flynt was still lurking, and whispered three words: "I love you."
End of Chapter #1
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