Quest for the Arcane Crown Yajat Sharma (most popular ebook readers .txt) 📖

“I had a dream about a tomb,” James said and narrated the whole dream.

“So,” the Scavenger said, “according to your dream…”

“We have to go to the Mud Marsh,” James finished.

Daniel frowned. “But if we go to the Mud Marsh, won’t that be playing straight into the enemy’s hands – well, assuming they are the enemy? Shouldn’t we pick another route?”

“No,” the Scavenger said, surprising the children. “We will go through the Mud Marsh.”

“But why?” Archer asked.

“There are only two routes to reach the Tomb of Death. One is through the Forest of Gloom, which we just passed. Another is in the east, via the Volcano Smoke Wave, but that is dangerous. The Volcano may erupt at any time. That leaves us only with the Mud Marsh.”

Daniel nodded, and the Scavenger started to mount a horse.

“Why the hurry?” Archer asked. “Can’t we rest for a while?”

“Every second we lose,” the Scavenger said, “makes the Death Lord closer to getting one of the pieces of the Arcane Crown.”

Matt had a doubt pricking him. “You said the Death Lord is chasing us and trying to find the seven pieces of the Crown. How could he be at two places at the same time?”

The Scavenger’s face grew dark. “He is a Necromancer and can create his duplicate. Use of Necromancy turns one’s soul dark. Now enough of the questions. Let’s leave.”

***

“We are almost there,” the Scavenger announced, pulling the reins. The horses stopped and in front of them was the Mud Marsh, full of sticky and smelly mud.

“Ew!” Daniel said, swatting a mosquito aside. “Disgusting!”

“How do we cross this?” Archer asked.

“Well, we can’t fly over it,” the Scavenger said.

“Why not?” Matt asked.

“Obvious, isn’t it. Neither are we birds, nor do we have those machines… What do you call them? Oh yes, airplanes. And we can’t try to cross it by taking a turn around it. It will expand itself with magic. That leaves only one option for us. And that is to swim.”

“Are you crazy? We can’t swim through… through that!” Daniel shrieked.

“Of course we can,” the Scavenger said as he readied himself. “And we will! It’s your choice. You can come with me or you can wait here until something kills you.” With that, he jumped into the Marsh.

8

The Marsh was cold. Daniel felt his arms grow heavy. Voices seemed to whisper to him, telling him to give up, stop struggling and sink in the marsh. Daniel shook himself hard. He just had to concentrate on the swimming. Each stroke felt like a huge weight that hurt and pulled down his arms. He urgently needed air, and so he moved up. The mud fought against him, but he refused to give up and struggled harder. His head broke through the surface and he inhaled profoundly, but then again got pushed in the marsh.

His leg got caught in something and he panicked. He struggled to break free, but the more he moved, the more the vines tightened around his legs. His lungs screamed for air. He knew he needed to act fast if he wanted to live.

Completely ignoring his burning lungs, he let his body go limp. The idea worked like a charm. In another ten seconds, the vines fell away. Just as the last of the vines fell off his leg, Daniel swam upwards, his mouth almost opening for air.

He broke the surface of the water, made it to the shore and lay on the ground, completely exhausted. He took deep breaths.

“We crossed it,” he said finally and grinned when he saw the others waiting for him, regaining their strength.

The Scavenger allowed them the luxury of only ten more minutes to recover.

“Where now?” Daniel asked the Scavenger.

“The Well of Eternal Misery,” the Scavenger replied.

“Who chooses these names?” Daniel muttered, groaning with frustration.

“You need to respect them,” said the Scavenger, frowning. “These are ancient names which have power. The Well of Eternal Misery is named so because misery rules it! Sad spirits wander there, suffering eternal misery.”

“Refreshing,” James said.

After a few minutes of travel, Daniel said, “Let’s rest now.”

His legs were burning with fatigue.

“We don’t have time,” the Scavenger said, looking at the sun, which was beginning to set. “We have to cross the Well of Eternal Misery before it is dark.”

“Just give us five minutes,” James said. “We need to recover.”

The Scavenger couldn’t stay still for long and, after five minutes, he stood up. “Time to continue.”

The children pulled themselves up and readied their backpacks.

James asked, “You know magic, don’t you?” The Scavenger nodded.

“So why don’t you summon some horses? We can ride them!”

The Scavenger looked surprised. “Hey, why didn’t I think of that?”

He closed his eyes and chanted some spell. He opened his eyes – and… lo and behold! Five white horses with golden manes stood there waiting for them. He saddled the horses.

Daniel hesitantly asked, “Are they safe?”

The Scavenger helped them mount the horses, but Daniel’s horse didn’t seem to like him; he neighed loudly and stamped his hooves.

Nevertheless, Daniel didn’t feel deterred as he walked towards the horse warily and, in a flash, jumped on its back.

The horse shook itself violently in an attempt to shake Daniel off its back – and then shot off.

The air whistled past him as if they were riding on the wind. He didn’t know how much time had actually passed, but it seemed like only a minute when the horse finally stopped.

The horse shook itself again, and this time did manage to throw Daniel off. He came crashing onto the ground, and the horse disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The others also reached beside him and got off their horses, watching them disappear too.

“That was amazing!” Archer commented.

James paid attention to his surroundings. The trees had grey branches and leaves, and the grass was also grey. No birds were flying over. Everything looked gloomy and sad.

And in front of them was a deep well.

The Scavenger walked up to the well and cautiously looked inside. Suddenly, he