Chapter 17: Crystals

The sextet had a busy time ahead.

They spent most of the first week just sorting out who was to do what to get the girls set up. Aaden was a huge help as he outlined what was required and how Lord Storm ran his presses and printing shops.

One of the first things they decided to do was fix the road between the two cities, as it needed some serious work. Keven’s City, Rockville, was also on the coastline. The road from Greco her city was severely rutted and had to cross several low-lying causeways that often flooded.

The flyers that they planned to make first weren’t designed for high altitude flight. They were more a mode of transportation for produce and Ben called them air-trucks. A smooth road would be better even though they didn’t exactly travel on it. Plus the general population of the cities would also benefit.

They decided to upgrade the road from Greco to Oakville and then to Nickel City first. Then they would do the road between Oakville and Rockville. The magicians were surprised by how much just fixing the main road lightened the spirits of the population.

The loggers and miners could get their wares to Rockville and then onto Greco more efficiently. The farmers from Rockville could now get their produce to Greco faster. Those who lived along the main roads could also get in and out of the cities faster. The little towns in between also prospered as better roads meant more travellers.

Greco also benefited as farmers from the West could now get their products to market faster and in better condition thus improving quality and quantity. Deliveries could be done faster. Fewer wagons littered the roadside as smooth roads resulted in less wear and tear. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

Domo Leslie and her Council were surprised by how much the poor road conditions had affected business. They initiated their own people to fix the roads in their area and to the east. This provided employment and their Prols and Burgis races, in particular, liked this sort of work.

David and Kelli also instructed Leslie’s Pix engineers in how to design better sewerage systems. Explaining the health benefits and the fact it reduces the stink. With new money coming into town, the Council agreed this expenditure was worth it for the long term. More people suddenly had jobs.

Leslie was amused that more people in work also made the Council more money for other projects. She had never seen her Council so animated in improving things for the people. She was starting to wonder if they needed the other projects, but Aaden had informed her of the difference it had made in Trenton especially for operating businesses and for education.

He had reminded her that people liked to be able to communicate and find out what was going on in their regions. It helped the community feel that they were part of a whole and not just individuals trapped in their own little worlds.

The teams then split up to do their various chores.

JJ had Informed Ben where she believed the Transportation Ring was.

Storm had supplied her with the maps from Mage Davin’s notes making it easier for her. Ben and Raina collected some camping and climbing gear and headed into the mountains to the south-west. Ben was amused that Raina, once she knew the general direction, never consulted the maps again.

They spent the first three days hiking to the cavern. They could have gotten their faster, but they were both enjoying the walk and just being together. After having spent nearly over a month on a ship in space, they were more than happy to spend a couple of days communing with nature, plus some alone time never hurt.

They both tended to need it more than the others did. They were still coming to grips with the drastic changes in their lives. They talked about the dreams they had before and how they had changed. They found that their bond strengthened with every conversation they had.

They were both beginning to accept that this was their life now. It wasn’t the dream that they had envisioned, but this life was probably better, in that they both had a lot more to look forward to as long as they supported each other.

Raina was amused that Ben’s first goal was to get her pregnant as fast as he was physically capable. David had told him that when she came into heat, her smell would change and she would taste different, sweeter like nectar. So she wasn’t surprised that each night they stopped the first thing he did was bury his head between her legs.

She wasn’t going to complain, as Ben had gotten superb at finding her trigger points and sure knew how to suck and lick her to oblivion. What she really enjoyed was when he pushed his cock into her. She loved him being in her.

She was damn sure his cock had gotten bigger since he donned the wizards bling. She felt every millimetre of him when he was in her. Ben had mentioned that she was always tight on him and he loved feeling her muscles contracting around his cock.

He was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. He could only put it down to his desire to have Raina come with him, as it was always magnificent when she did. The head rush and feelings of joy and satisfaction were always more intense.

They both agreed that the sex was awesome. While Raina had no one to compare him to, Ben assured her that Justine, his only other experience, wasn’t even worth thinking about when compared to how much he enjoyed being with her.

On the fourth morning of their trek, they found the cavern. It was apparent to them both that no one had been here for a very long time. They did find some interesting tracks that neither of them could identify, so they decided it was wise to take their time and remain vigilant.

They activated their wands, so they acted like torches and cautiously entered the cave system. As they proceeded, they found their way into a lower cavern. Raina stopped him and pointed out the bones. They approached the bones to examine them.

This planet didn’t have a large variety of insects or reptiles. It did have a lot of mammals and birds. Some of the birds here were huge, but the mammals were more like what they had back home, except that none here, were as big as elephants.

At first, they thought the bones were the remains of meals had by a Catalo. It’s a large tawny cat like creature that they knew could be found on several of the continents. They did get quite large, as big as lions in some regions.

Raina looked at Ben, “The teeth pattern is not Catalo. These are more serrated like a beak full of teeth. They remind me of the animals that Trixy said was a relative of her raptors, but they are smaller. I can’t discern large bite marks.”

Ben also examined them. “We never asked the locals what the predators were here. Not smart on our part,” he said with a wry grin.

Raina nodded, “I agree. However, these carcases suggest that occupancy wasn’t that recent, months at least. The bones are of small mammals like the rabbits, bandicoots and the rat type animals that we have seen. It doesn’t mean if they come back that they won’t harm us, especial if they have young. With any luck, they moved north for the winter.”

“Well, once we have found the cavern we want, hopefully, we can blink in and out of it without disturbing the local wildlife,” Ben replied.

Raina looked around the cavern, “That way, for some reason I want to go that way.”

Ben shrugged and brushed off his hands. They had three options out of this cavern, and Raina had picked the least obvious. He wasn’t worried about them getting lost. One, they could blink out and two, Raina never got lost.

She had her father’s ability to memorise everywhere she has been and could walk you back without even thinking about it. He had seen her do this before, so he just followed her lead. He had learned the hard way not to second-guess Raina’s sense of direction.

Ben opened his senses as he followed. He didn’t want whatever the predator was sneaking up behind them. He had even palmed the pistol just in case. They had to get down on hands and knees as they navigated one tight section. Raina created a soft pink coloured ball of light that she pushed ahead of her as she crawled.

The light ball was a trick that Daniel had taught her. It was very handy for this job. It was a spell that sucked heat out of the air condensed it and radiated it back at as light. Daniel believed it worked a lot like what the crystals they were looking for did.

Ben kept the pistol in his hand but put his wand away. Raina stopped at the entrance to the next cavern. Ben listened, and to his surprise, he heard a soft peeping noise. Raina dropped down over a short ledge and brightened the ball of light sending it higher, so the small cavern was flooded it with the soft pink light.

Ben watched Rania as she approached a pile of leaves and fur. She knelt down and said, “Hi sweetie, how come you have hatched? I don’t think your mummy is here.”

Ben knelt down beside her to see what she was talking at. “Damn, that looks like the wyvern’s that we have eggs for,” he said in surprise.

“Yes, I think she is this planet’s version. The eggs are of similar size and colours to ours, I bet she can mate with them when we hatch them,” Raina said. She put her hand out, and the little creature happily hopped onto her hand. It peeped again like a baby chicken. “She is hungry.”

“The best we have to offer is those snags in your freezer pack,” Ben suggested. Raina kissed him and placed the wyvern in her lap as she let Ben remove her pack. He scrounged for the preservation box that held their meat and removed a raw sausage for the baby.

The little creature pounced on it, ripped into the thin skin and gulped down the meat from inside. Ben was distracted when the fur in the nest shivered. He gently parted it to reveal the second egg. They both watched in awe as it trembled and cracked.

Raina smiled at Ben who was looking at the egg. She got up and checked the other nests, but they were all empty. Three of them had parts of shells in them suggesting the other babies had hatched about the time they believed the parents had last been in the cavern system.

She wondered why these two eggs had been left behind. The parents must have thought they weren’t going to hatch or they were left to hatch when they got back. Trixy had said the other eggs they had wouldn’t hatch until they could bond with someone suitable.

She had also stated that the wyverns and dragonets did do some strange things and she was still learning about her favourite animals. One day Raina might work out why the eggs were left, but for now, the babies were their problem. She sat beside Ben with her baby and watched as the other little creature pushed out of its shell.

Her baby wyvern was mostly covered in soft white down with small thin grey stripes over her back that were darker in the centre and faded into the white. She had a dark grey tuft of feathers on her head and two little horns. Her wings were a more bat-like membrane with tiny white feathers along the top ridges of her limbs.

Long fingers and claws were on the end of the second limb. Her tail was long and serpent like, with a double row of little ridges on top and she had a small fan of white feathers on the tip. Her large hooded eyes were set more forward, but Raina decided she had good side vision as well.

Her ears were very short and board at the base, similar to cats ears and her beak was high and wide, but not as long as she would have thought. The serrated backwards facing teeth were already evident. Raina guessed that they were designed to strip the meat off a carcas.

The wyvern had a long thin serpent like tongue, which flicked out to taste the air. Her neck was surprisingly long and slender, and the double row of ridges that Raina suspected continued down her back under the down to her tail was evident.

Her back legs were strong, with a backwards knee and finished in feet with three forward toes with long claws and one back like a bird. The pads under the long wide toes were thick suggesting a lot of strength.