Free The Crystal Mountain by Thomas M. Reid Page A

that he was afraid of saying the wrong thing. “Leave him be,” she admonished when Kaanyr started to stomp toward Zasian. “We’ve got enough to worry about without you putting him in a panic again.”
    Kaanyr stopped, but he continued to glare at the priest. “He’s lying. I know it. I just can’t figure out what he’s up to.”
    Aliisza sighed. She had long since given up trying to figure out the veracity of Zasian’s behavior. If it was a trick, nothing they had said or done yet had caused him to slip up.
    She turned back to the view beyond their little shelter. They had stopped spinning, and everything beyond her jagged little window remained in view. When she spotted
    something dark on what might have been a horizon, she blinked in a double take. Could it be?
    She waited and watched, not trusting her own vision enough to call Kaanyr over. After a few more moments, though, she was certain.
    “Kaanyr,” she said. When he joined her, she pointed. “What is that?”
    Kaanyr stared at the darkening line for several long moments before he spoke. “It looks like land,” he said. “And we’re drifting right toward it.”
    “This doesn’t make any sense!” Eirwyn shouted, slamming the book down upon the table. Her voice echoed through the great chamber and came back to mock her. “In my mind, I can see this place as clearly as the Court, and it’s not to be found anywhere in these books. Why not?” She closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her lids, rubbing them.
    Beside her, Oshiga shifted. “Perhaps we are simply not meant to find this information,” he said. “Not all divinations are meant to be.”
    Eirwyn lowered her hands and glared at the celestial being. “You’re not helping,” she said crossly. “I know this is part of the dream I’ve been having. Even though I can’t recall anything else about it, I know it has something to do with this place. Maybe we’re just not hunting for it the right way. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
    Oshiga drew himself up and said haughtily, “Quite certain. But let’s start again, from the beginning. Describe the place
    you see in the most exacting detail as you can muster. Leave no feature out.”
    Eirwyn sighed and calmed herself. Yelling at him isn’t helping either, she told herself. “Very well,” she said. “Up close, it appears to be a crystalline fortress, roughly formed. It sits dark and brooding upon a plateau. Although it is night, a green glow fills the sky. It’s very eerie. The glow comes from what I can only describe as a snowstorm composed of jagged green shards or flakes. The place feels very sinister and… alive. It’s hard to explain any better than that.”
    “Go on,” Oshiga said, furiously scribing into a blank book that rested before him. “Tell me more.”
    “From a greater distance, the plateau is actually a floating island, much like many of the places here in the House. But this feels dark and sinister. It also feels abandoned, or… incomplete.”
    “Which is it?” Oshiga pressed. “Abandoned or incomplete?”
    Eirwyn sighed. “I’m not sure. I can’t tell. It’s just not clear enough. But I know it has something to do with my lost vision!”
    Oshiga held up his hand to forestall another outburst and continued to write. Finally, when he was finished, he set down the quill he had been using, held his hands over the page, and began to chant.
    Eirwyn watched the archon, careful to remain quiet to avoid disturbing him. He had used that method three times already to attempt to discern where in Erathaol’s great library they should research her mysterious fortress, but every time, they had hit a dead end.
    Oshiga finished his chant and turned the page. A listing
    of texts and their locations within the library appeared on the page. The archon scanned them for a moment, frowning.
    “We have three new sources to examine, plus five more that appeared previously. I’ll retrieve the new ones.” He rose