Free Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Author Quest by J. M. Lee

me like a waterfall. I wanted to stop watching, but I couldn’t; my eyes were glued to Aedan’s empty ones. He stared right through me without ever seeing me. SkekVar swooped down and snatched the vial in one claw, emptying it into his beak. His scabrous black skin began to stretch as his muscles bulged. He was changing, gaining everything Aedan had lost, but the difference was less for him than it had been for Aedan. To the Skeksis, what had been a Gelfling’s whole lifeblood was just the youth of a few trine. He roared with new strength—Aedan’s strength.
    â€œBefore the Skeksis had even turned around, while they were still ogling skekTek’s diabolical machine, somehow I found the strength to make it out of the tunnel, out of skekTek’s laboratory, out of the castle. I stumbled to the nearest copse of trees at the edge of the Dark Wood, and as soon as I got there, I started weeping. I was safe.”
    Rian choked over those last words, and I knew that he was thinking of Aedan. I walked over to him and leaned my crutches against the windowpane. “There was nothing you could have done to save him.”
    He pretended not to hear me. “Safe. That was my first thought when I reached the Dark Wood: my own safety. After everything that happened to Aedan, after seeing all those other Gelfling and Podlings robbed of essence, all I could feel was relief that it wasn’t me. No selflessness, no heroism. Just a Gelfling child with a sharp stick trying to save his own skin.”
    I didn’t have an answer for that. If even a warrior like Rian couldn’t be a hero, I knew there was no hope for a cripple like me. We stood there in silence, staring out at the darkness and hating ourselves.
    â€œI should have died with the rest of them,” said Rian. “I should have died trying to save Aedan.”
    â€œAnd if you had died,” said Alethi from the hearth, “what would that have changed? Nothing. By bringing everything you’ve learned back to the clan, you’re honoring the ones who died. Aedan would have wanted you to stay alive, to spread the truth.”
    Rian spun to face her, his temper sparked. “You think Aedan would have wanted me to be a coward?”
    â€œYou’re the bravest Gelfling I know.” Alethi walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “But bravery without wisdom is just dressed-up pride. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stay alive to fight another day.”
    â€œI will fight,” said Rian firmly. “If nothing else, I promise you that.”
    â€œYou won’t fight alone. I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” Alethi gazed into his eyes so deeply that I again felt jealousy growl inside of me.
    â€œAnd so will I, of course,” I interrupted. “I would beat down the Castle of the Crystal with my crutches if I could. But we’re not strong enough. The Skeksis are twice our size, and they have weapons we don’t even understand. There’s no way we can defeat them.”
    â€œYou’re right, Kaelan,” Rian agreed. “We can’t defeat them, not alone. Even if we had the whole Harath clan with us, we would be no match for the Skeksis. But if we could unite all seven of the Gelfling clans—if we could bring all of Thra together to fight—then maybe we would have a chance.”
    â€œBut the clans haven’t been united for almost a hundred trine,” Alethi said, frowning. “My father told me that all the clans used to gather for a festival every trine while the matriarchs of each clan held council with the queen. Over time, the rivalries between them became so fierce that they chose to stop gathering in order to preserve harmony. Now the clans live as peaceful strangers, indifferent to one another. We trade with each other, and the matriarchs still submit to the queen’s authority, but we’re not the unified race we used to be. We