Page 28 of Orange Lake
Coone looked at the three of us. His stare lingering on Zirc.
“I must have taken a wrong turn on my way here Zirc. This must be the most combobulated shit the galaxy has thrown me into,” Coone spread out his arms on the back of the lounge chair.
Zirc sighed. “Tell me first about Kilo and his gang Coone.”
It was Coone’s turn to sigh. “Ah, where to begin?” He looked up at the ceiling for a short pause. Then he looks straight into Zirc. “You’re not going to like it Zirc.”
“Everything about him is bad news. Just tell it to me straight.”
He sighed again. “Shit. After what happened in Contrero, the group went further south. We think they are looking for you. They did not know where you went. By the way,” Coone looked at Roqs. “That is some serious crystals you’re rocking Roqs.”
I heard Roqs smirked.
“No one can scry where you guys went. They did not realize you went West. And that is some distance! All they saw was this bright light, similar to the ones held by Nialla. It wasn’t white but it was a brilliant ray of green, blue, red and green. There was nothing like it. I heard all tribes are buzzing about you and Roqs. That the Silver Tribe is harboring crystals that the Galactic Council are not aware of.”
Roqs snorted. “All tribes have their secret crystals. It’s an open secret.”
“Yeah,” Coone chuckled. “That is what I thought as well. But it was funny, looking at them, gossiping like old men about mysterious crystals that can make you travel more than lightspeed. On a winox.”
“I’m glad we entertained you on your way here,” Roqs said dryly.
“So Nialla is still alive?” Roqs moved forward, his hands clasped loosely in front of him, his forearms resting on his thigh.
Coone looked at Zirc and nodded. He straightened in his seat a little. “He is hurt but he will survive. However, when they went south, they raided more towns, killed more people, enslave what remains of the towns’ population.”
Zirc and Roqs absorbed this news with a silent pause.
“No one is stopping them Zirc,” Coone said solemnly. “The Galactic Council, for whatever reason, are staying quiet about this. They entered into a closed door session.”
All of their faces fell. It seems significant that something is going on as well in their Galactic Council, their type of government.Closed door session might literally mean, they closed their door for any type of outside business.
“Only the united front of the tribes can stop Kilo,” Roqs said.
“You forget, that there are other gangs aside from Kilo,” Zirc leaned closer Roqs.
Roqs just sighed in response.
“Even if,” Coone said. “Kilo’s gang has the calcifying crystal.”
“Calcifying crystal?” I queried.
“Little one,” Zirc said and placed an arm around my shoulder. Good thing I’m used to its heavy weight. “I would rather wish you do not know about such matters.”
I was about to retort but he continued, “But you are with me. The calcifying crystal can not only render a manasty immobile, but it can also, given the frequency, calcify our body. The calcium salts in our body are enhanced making our bones brittle. What Nialla has is called the Shura.”
“In other words, it can kill us in a matter of seconds,” Coone said with glee in his eyes.
I chose to ignore him. “The same with Crix’s crystal?”
“No,” Zirc shook his head. “That is only a petrifying stone. A crystal but we call it a stone because it’s more dense than a crystal. Crix’s petrifying stone, though, is the most powerful in the planet. The one that is mined so far. What he had earlier was only a chip off that stone.”
“But it will not kill a person?”
Roqs beat Zirc with an answer. “Well, if the other person will not cut off your head or any part of your limbs, or throw you off a cliff, then no. It won’t kill you.”
Zirc rolled his eyes. It made me giggle that tugged a smile at the corner of his lips.
“But how did you break Crix’s petrifying stone?”Coone was looking at me with an open curiosity. I do not know if I prefer this or his usual disdain for me.
