"Opal 02" by Sara Dungavell

King Emerald found his beautiful golden daughter in that condition.  He thought for a moment that the Carbles were attacking her, but as he came towards them they separated to let him through to his darling child.  He managed to calm her, and he saw the anguish in her eyes as he hugged her slim form to him.

“My poor baby,” he said as he rocked her back and forth.  “I’m sorry you have to go through this.  Tch, tch, don’t worry, it’ll be better, eventually.”  He hugged her again then let her go.  “Today I think you should ride to Queen Violet’s kin by the sea side.  I’ll send plenty of guards with you so you won’t have to fight any bandits and as soon as you feel more like yourself and think you can come back to us here and the battle, you’ll be welcome.”  He wasn’t sure they could manage without her, but he knew he’d do anything to make her better.

“Thank you father, I, I’ll go tomorrow, today we have walls to repair,” Opal said managing a weak smile.  Brushing a stray blond hair from her face.  “The journey can wait till tomorrow, and if the wall is repaired, and strong, I’ll be able to rest easier. . . . If only this place were completely secure, then we would never have to fight anymore battles.”  Opal drifted off to sleep, exhausted from her sleepless tear filled night and the stress of that morning.  Her last words had been more a part of that sleep than the waking world.  Emerald smiled down at her as he carried Opal to her room in one of the smaller towers in the cluster of pale green towers that made up his castle.  Peace was everyone’s dream.  It wasn’t likely to happen though, he thought with a sigh, battles happened nearly twice a week, once a month at least they penetrated the city walls, and so many lizards were injured, or died in each battle.  He missed the peaceful life he had enjoyed on the islands, and when Forest Land had first been founded, those had been golden years.  The Carbles followed the King and refused to leave Opal.  She slept in her room with a full guard of Carbles surrounding her.  The cat’s eye Carble made Merlyl sleep as well, for the little red Carble was shaking with grief.

When Opal woke they were still there.  She recruited them to help with the repair of the wall around her father’s city.  Merlyl remained behind sleeping.  The city had been named a week before, possibly what had provoked the rebel attack, they resented her father claiming the land when he had done nothing more than land on it after having been driven out of the islands.  The city was called Emerald’s city (most people had already called it that since Emerald had founded it).  The wall, and the towers, and most of the houses were made of the green stone that was found in the quarries around the city.  The lake next to the city was named the Emerald lake, the river coming out of that lake was called Emerald’s river and the forest surrounding all of them was named the Emerald forest (these weren’t named after King Emerald, they were just very green, having rich emerald deposits all around there, which was why Emerald had settled there).  As the wall was built, some of the stones shaped and lifted by lizards, others by magic, Opal, with a Carble circle to strengthen her, wove a spell into it.  No enemy could pass over that wall as long as the King was there.  It was a peaceful spell and assured safety for those within without death to those without.  And it assured Emerald’s life, for no one could kill him without losing the spell.  Not unless they themselves were the King, and that was impossible, Emerald having no sons.  He had no other children besides Opal.  Opal was satisfied with her work, and left for the coast contented the next day.  She had dispersed most of the Carbles that had been following her, she rode with only a quarter of the ones she had started with.  Opal was certain her mother and father would be safe when she left, unless another magician was in the battle, who might be able to send bursts of fire or lightning over the wall.  Because of this fear she left a quarter of her Carbles in Emerald’s City.  There were of course magicians in the King’s court but most of them had moved away from the centre of battle.  Reports had been made to Opal that a lovely mountain range had been found in the north, up above the capital.  In the centre of these mountains, which were reported to be blue, probably caused by sapphire deposits, they had found a large empty valley that would work beautifully as a place to build a town.  It would be called the City of Sapphire, the walls and towers would be built of rock gotten from the mountains, and therefore the city would live up to it’s name.  The King of Forest Land had given permission for the magicians, priestesses and priests to take possession of the mountain range.  They had named them the Sapphire mountains.  Opal had given them permission to build their magical city, and that was where she had sent the other half of her Carbles, to guard them and help with the building of the city.  The Keeper had first decreed that no Carble give their name to anyone, it had been accepted with little fuss by the Carble community, another thing that contented Opal.  Merlyl sadly watched Opal depart for the sea side through a tower window.  She had not been allowed to come with Opal, for she was still injured and Opal feared for her safety.  As soon as she was well again Opal had informed Merlyl that she was to go to the Sapphire City and help with the construction there.  Opal thought that would be the safest place to send her.  The cat’s eye Carble had also wished to come with Opal but he also had been denied permission, Opal wished him to remain by Merlyl and keep her safe.  Merlyl had become very dear to Opal and if Harring had sacrificed his life for her safety, the Princess was going to be sure that she continued to be safe.

Opal rode off on the dusty, unfinished path that led the way to Violet’s kin’s town.  It had been given various names but none of them had lasted long, at the moment it was known as the Crystal City, because many of the houses had been built from quartz that had been found in hills close to the city, no name could be decided on for all the people there thought they had the best one and refused to budge when it came to that topic.  The forest Opal rode through to get to that city of a thousand names was dark, and the early morning sunlight barely penetrated the trees.  It was an unsettling forest, and one always had the impression that something was following you, lurking just out of sight in the gloom under the trees.  Suddenly out of that same gloom appeared a creature that was unidentifiable in the sombre morning light.  It’s appearance terrified Opal’s corse, the corses’ sudden movement away from the creature startled Opal and threw her from its back.  Opal landed with a bone crunching thud on the ground and the guards quickly gathered around her, prepared to defend her to the death from whatever the creature was.  The creature remained standing where it was, neither attacking or retreating, it almost looked like it was nibbling something on the ground.  This gave the guards a definite clue as to what it was, and they managed enough courage to risk bringing a torch over to it.  As they had suspected it turned out to be nothing but a larger than normal slate grey hare.  In the gloom it had appeared monstrous.  The guards laughed, but their laughter soon died as someone turned back to Opal to inform that they were in no danger.  The Carbles had gathered around her and were humming.  But even with their interference it could be seen that Opal was injured.  The Carbles started humming louder, and they whirled in a large circle, then suddenly they were no longer there.  The guards, terrified and quite bewildered, turned around and headed back to Emerald’s city.  The King was not going to be pleased with the disappearance of his daughter.

In the City of Sapphire, in one of the only completed buildings a healer tended to the injuries of a young lizard.

“The Carbles did a good job of transporting her here,” the healer said to a lizard that had just walked in.  “None of her broken bones were rearranged, all the breaks should heal nicely.  In two days all that will be left to heal will be her wrist.  She put that one out to stop her fall and it was pretty much shattered.  The rest of the breaks were neater.  Even her ribs will be healed in a day.  The wrist shouldn’t take more than two weeks though.”

“Do you believe the story the Carbles told?” the lizard that had entered asked.  “I wouldn’t think our Keeper would have suffered such injuries simply falling from a corse, she was always a good rider.”

“Bad luck I guess,” the healer said.  “I don’t see why the Carbles would lie to me, they care about the Keeper, and they helped me heal her.  If it hadn’t been for their help it would have taken a month at least for all the Keeper’s injures to heal.  With the Carble circle though, it was amazing, I could feel their energy pouring into me as I healed.  My powers must have been doubled or tripled at least.  Really, Carbles do seem to be quite useful creatures.  We should encourage those with us now to remain after the city is built.”

“I still don’t trust them,” the older lizard said.  Her scowl softened though as she bent over the hurt Keeper and brushed a stray golden strand of hair off of her face.  “Are you sure she’ll be all right?” the magician asked the healer, in a worried voice, very much opposed to her normal gruff tones.

“Yes, she’ll be fine, no fear Killi.  The Keeper will grace us all with her presence outside of this building in no time.  Until then though she needs quiet, so shew.” The older lizard left and the healer composed herself for some meditation.  Maybe while I’m on the higher plain I can ask the Keeper what happened to her, the healer thought.  I don’t completely trust those Carbles either.  On the spiritual plain though she could not find Opal.  Must be in one of the lower plains, the healer thought.  Maybe she’s woken up.

In Emerald’s City the King received distressing news.  His daughter had disappeared, she had been whisked away by a group of Carbles.  Odd, Emerald thought, he had never thought of the Carbles as being enemies.  They were valuable allies in battle and he had always welcomed them.  But this attack on his daughter?  What else could they be but enemies?  King Emerald pitied his child.  She had been through so much, and now to be betrayed by friends?  He would get revenge on any creature that caused Opal anymore pain.  The King’s thoughts of revenge, and treachery disappeared though when he received a message from a magician informing him that the Princess could be found in their city.  It seemed a cloud of Carbles had brought her there for healing.  The King thanked the magician for her message and asked that he be informed as soon as the Princess was well enough to travel so that he could send a proper escort to bring her home.  Soon after this though he received a message stating that the Princess had disappeared again, this time while her healer was meditating, and that she could be found no where.  The Carbles again, the King was certain.  They must be behind this, he thought crushing the parchment the message had been written on in his hand.  The King vowed revenge upon all Carbles.  Soon two announcements were sent throughout all of Forest Land.  One was a call to all guards.  Search parties would be formed to find the Princess.  The second was posted everywhere in the kingdom.  All Carbles were now exiled, any Carble found inside of Forest Land would be killed, any lizard found harbouring Carbles would be sent to the north and the volcanoes.  Panic ensued.  Carbles fled the three cities of Forest Land in a mass exodus.  All those who were friends to Carbles fled with them.  They did not leave Forest Land though.  They were lizards from or descended from the Islands.  They had been driven from their land once and would not let anyone do it to them again!  In the middle of Forest Land, a little above the exact middle, but pretty good for lizards who can’t actually tell exactly where they were, they set up camp.  This was their protest to King Emerald.  All the Carbles that were in Forest Land were there, and they were all determined to defend their friends.  There was no thought of defeat in the minds of the Carbles and their companions, there was no army in the world that could defeat a city defended by the amount of Carbles this one boasted.  They would not flee again!  When the notices had first appeared in Emerald’s City Merlyl had been too stunned to do anything.  The cat’s eye Carble had had to drag her out of the city by the tail to save her life from the avenging swords of the tower guards, who had many times been saved by Opal’s magic, and cared about her a great deal.  Merlyl had not been surprised by the notice about Carbles, that was nothing to her, what she had been surprised by was that Princess Opal was missing.  It seemed that she was losing all the creatures she cared about.