CHAPTER 25
INÉZ ARTIFACTS
Mayhem tore all through The Xaringmere Cragg Rise camp that had been sleeping. Fires were snuffed. Tents were torn down. The sky had ripped open and shown its allegiance. The constellation seared its crest across the cloudless moonshine.
A moon ray speared straight through the leaves in a single icy blue shaft and struck the glade. The world went silver-blue even as the air tasted like fresh frost.
“It wasn't a cup,” Goldwynn whispered. Her breath, fogging. “It’s a time keeper of the skies.”
The Locke Jewel was a perfect moonstone disc, palm-wide, no thicker than a thumb. A flawless otherworldly crystal, cold to the eye, warm to the touch. Its edge had caught the lantern light and had thrown it back in sharp rainbow colored arcs.
Hundreds of sculpted facets hummed beneath the surface turning the Jewel into a star field. The glow was steady, the color of moonlight through falling snow. Deep in its core, a jade laurel wreath was frozen in mid sway, the very wind preserved in the Jewel's heart. Each leaf was distinct, carved from a green gem so dark it was almost black, traced with hairline gold filigree at the veins.
Suddenly, the wreath stirred and Goldwynn’s breath caught. The Jewel burned warm against her palms, and for one wild second she forgot how to exhale. Her eyes were glassy with disbelief. “It’s real,” she whispered, then louder, like she had to hear it to believe it.
Dapper went still. Then he whooped — a raw, ragged sound that cracked the silver hush. He bounced on his heels, claws raking the air like he could catch the moment.
Papa Koala pressed a paw to his chest, eyes shut tight. When he opened them, they were wet. He just nodded at Goldwynn, once. A benediction. A gratitude too big for words.
Chipper wordlessly just dropped to one knee, head bowed, fist over his heart. A knight’s salute to the thing they’d bled for. To the girl who’d found it.
Even the Apple Tree seemed to lean in, roots creaking, thanking the Knights for their brilliance in solving the cipher. They did it!
A horrendous bellowing from the south made their blood run cold. The Beast reigning over the valhalla of Xaringmere Cragg Rise was on hot coals! It was a battle cry of the ages!
Meanwhile, the Locke Jewel had a mind of its own. Without losing a moment it surrendered itself into the slot like a glove.
The moment it touched the seventh hollow, the knoll bucked like a heart shocked back to life. The apple tree arched and in a split second, the bark of the trunk parted and a doorway breathed inwards where the trunk of the tree had been. Cold. Vast. Smelling of gemstones and stardust.
The cleverly camouflaged dimly lit tree vault was a labyrinth that seemed endless inside the hollow of the apple tree. Corridors of old roots spiraled down, down, even further down on the terraced catacombs. The air was a reverence. The kind that comes before a just verdict.
Goldwynn’s lantern flickered still full of life, casting dancing shadows on the gnarled walls as she pushed aside the cobwebs.
And there, floating in an incandescent pool, cradled by nothing and everything, pulsed the artifact they’d bled for to the end.
The Starwood Crystal....!
It didn’t glow. It lit up the labyrinth like a second full moon underground.
A delicate lattice of a crystal septagon snowflake yet it seemed to contain layers of prisms. Auroras swirled within its facets, caught in a filigreed cage.
Chipper leaned in, his breath misting the crystal's surface.
Dapper’s eyes gleamed with a mix of awe and fear. "They say it holds the threads of time itself. Touch it, and you'll unravel the fabric of what's yet unseen."
The voices swelled, urgent and mournful, as if the crystal was in sync with the very heartbeat of Mistwood. Goldwynn felt a shiver run down her spine. This was the power the Boar sought – to rewrite pivotal moments, to sculpt the future to their evil designs on the reign.
Chipper's eyes darted to the crystal, then back to Goldwynn, his expression twisted in a mix of fascination and warning. "If they get it, the whole world could collapse like a house of cards."
The auroras within the crystal seemed to writhe, as if alive. Goldwynn's resolve hardened. They wouldn't let the Pigs wield this power.
The Starwood Crystal with its sacredness, would stay locked, its secrets safe, and the timeline intact.
The voices inside the crystal swelled, then faded to a gentle hum, as if sensing Goldwynn's decision.
The lantern light pulsed in rhythm. A quiet ticking to the countdown....10...9...8...7...hasten please it seemed to hiss.
Goldwynn deliberated. A melancholic glance at Papa Koala and his comforting nod were overlayed with 6...5...4...make it count...a voice thrummed and bounced off the ribbed walls of the catacomb.
And then, the call was made. It wasn't a decision. It was prophesized. A part remaining to be played out. The most crucial...
A gentle paw was laid on Goldwynn's wrist. A moment that she dreaded but the inevitable ---was here. She willed herself to look into those gallant eyes. Of a cherished member of her Knights cavalry...
And then she broke down. The others looked on---puzzled...
3...2...1...
To Be Continued...
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This post is part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.
https://www.theblogchatter.com/blogrolls/in%C3%89z-artifacts-day-25-letter-i
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