– CHAPTER NINE –
“That’s weird.” he thought out loud. “The handprint is the same size as my hand. Hhhmmmmm.”
Looking right and left and back to the disk, Keegan tentatively placed his hand in the handprint. Nothing happened. He placed his hand in again and felt a slight tingling sensation. He sprung back as a loud musical chord rang out and the disk slowly rose up from the rock and the handprint changed into a diamond shape. “Uh Oh!”
Keegan squinted his eyes looking at the disk with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. He narrowed his eyes and studied the diamond appearance in the disk. Suddenly, the disk began glowing. Keegan jumped back again. Magically, twelve round crystal-looking objects rose up out of the disk, each with a different color. Six glowed with pale warmth. Hieroglyphic-type markings, lines and geometric patterns appeared and connected all the crystals to the center slot. Keegan reached out and tentatively touched one of the glowing crystals. An eerie musical chord rang out and he instantly pulled his hand away but the chord continued.
“Hey, hey. Stop that. That’s too creepy.”
Keegan backed away from the stone disk but one by one, the six glowing crystals began to glow brighter. With the brightening of each crystal, the eerie musical chord climbed another octave. Finally when the six crystals appeared fully illuminated, Keegan noticed a dark green radiance shining through the fabric of his backpack that he had removed and placed on a nearby rock. He looked in slack-jawed amazement at the glow from the pocket in his backpack.
“Holy cow. This is too awesome.”
Overcome with curiosity, he opened the pocket flap and touched the stone gingerly. After making sure it wasn’t too hot or too cold, he picked up the stone and held it out at arms length. He then saw that hieroglyphic markings had appeared on the stone disc and it had changed shape. It too began to glow in a random sequence and lines of light pulsed toward the recess in the stone. As the lights began to throb rhythmically, the stone in Keegan's hand gave off a steady light-sequence and within a split second, the six glowing crystals and the hieroglyphics all began throbbing at the same rate. Keegan looked at the hexagonal hole in the centre of the disk then looked at the stone in his hand. The outline of the hole seemed to match the green glowing stone perfectly. “OK. I can take a hint...but I don't know if I can take what's coming after.” Shielding his eyes from the light with one hand, he reached out and slotted the green stone into the hole. The musical chord rose to a beautiful crescendo and suddenly the six glowing crystals and the green centre one exploded out of each position with a musical sound. As they flew through the air, one by one they morphed into small, multi-colored dragon-like creatures. One, a little larger than the others was bright green. Once apparently fully formed, they immediately soared to the cave roof and executed an aerobatic formation of wild precision flying. Then with a chorus of exultant squeals, they streaked in the direction of the cave entrance with the green creature bringing up the rear. The little green creature glanced down at Keegan as he passed by. Keegan lay motionless, flat on his back with his eyes wide open. As he stared upward he was unaware that a fissure had opened up in the cavern wall behind him. Shafts of lurid red light began to shine through the fissure and then, very slowly, a large scaly claw reached out and towards Keegan.
Keegan watched open mouthed as the small green creature suddenly stopped in midair and then flew directly down towards him. If he had looked behind, he would have seen a long jagged claw with a long lethal-looking talon reaching out to snag the strap on his backpack. Keegan was suddenly jerked backwards.
“Hey. What the …………………..”
At the same moment, the green creature grabbed his shirt with two paws and he was lifted off the ground. A brief tug of war ensued. Then, without warning, the straps on Keegan’s backpack broke and it was dragged back towards the opening. Keegan and his rescuer flew the other way, up toward the tunnel roof with Keegan wind-milling his arms and wishing he had chosen an occupation other than treasure hunting for his summer vacation.
Halfway along from the cave entrance, Reywal and Datslob were gingerly making their way when suddenly, a flight of multi-hued creatures bowled them over on their backsides as they flew towards the cave entrance. As he lay flat on his back, Datslob covered his head with his arms.
“Aaarrrgh! Bats! You promised me no more bats. “aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgg gggggghhhhhhhhhhh.”
“Oh goodness sakes. Be quiet you big baby. Anyone would think that …… yikes!!!!!”
Reywal was dusting himself off and getting to his feet when he glanced up and was bowled over yet again as Keegan zoomed by in full flight, carried by his new companion. Flat on their backs, Reywal and Datslob watched Keegan and Greanwold fly in the direction of the cave entrance and then they both sat up with alarmed looks on their faces when a thunderous voice boomed from below. “Return now!!! The Krystils belong to me!!! They are MYdarling jewels!!!!” Cupping a hand to an ear, Reywal turned to Datslob.
“ Jewel? Jewels Did you hear that, Datslob, I do believe we are on the right track! Gadzooks, look!”
The arch-criminal pointed downward toward the reddish glow. “Yes indeed, the right track. Great.
Datslob peered skeptically in the direction Reywal pointed and muttered under his breath. “ I just hope the light isn't an oncoming train.” and quietly.
“……… Herbert.”