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The Healing Crystal
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Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: Michele Poague via IUniverse
ISBN-10: 1450278809
Type: Fiction
Pages: 550
Copyright: 1985, 2010
ISBN-13: 9781450278805
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
What happens when a backward village discovers they hold an object of unimaginable power, a power other men covet, a power that might save or forever damn the human race?
Kairma would rather go spelunking with her brother and his best friend, Collin, than study ancient medicine and religious laws, but as the eldest daughter, she is heir to the Healing Crystal and destined mate with the handsome Naturi, becoming the leader of the reclusive colony of Survin.
For more than four hundred years, the small colony has been hidden in the mountains, shielding the Crystal from evil men who would steal or destroy the relic. Disease and infertility have decimated Survin, but bigotry and religious laws forbid the introduction of new members or the departure of any Survinees. Kairma and her closest friends discover a tomb containing artifacts from the Ancient Ones, leading them to question their religious beliefs and the true purpose of the Crystal.
This story is filled with sibling rivalry, a splash of romance and more than one battle to save the small colony of Survin.
Excerpt
When Kairma and Kinter reached the Godstones, the sun was at its zenith and the morning’s chill was a memory. Now the sky was a clear and brilliant blue that almost hurt their eyes. After carrying the cart up the wide stairway to the great temples, the girls pushed it through the long passage that led to their place of worship. On the mountain crest, four carved granite faces stood majestically against the broad sweep of sapphire sky, looking to the east. Observing the Godstones, she shuddered. They were magnificent, and each head was more than sixty feet tall. Kairma couldn’t fathom how they came to be.
The girls emptied the cart and set the baskets of food on the altar. The tribute food was divided into four sections: meat to the north; bread to the east; cheese to the south; and fruit to the west.
Kairma untied the leather thong that secured the multifaceted crystal in its soft suede sack. The palm-sized crystal only weighed a few grams in her hand, but the weight of the responsibility was something that could not be measured. She gingerly took the artifact out and placed it in the center of the wide granite and quartzite block. Brilliant rainbows danced across the altar.
Kairma and Kinter knelt at the base of the altar and with two fingers of their right hands they touched their foreheads and said, “Remember.” Touching each of the four corners of the altar they said, “North, east, south, and west. Father Nor, please accept these sacred offerings of your humble Survinees.” Bringing their fingers to their lips they said, “Thank you. May we always be worthy of your grace.” It was an abbreviated version of the religious ceremony. Kairma knew it really bothered Kinter when she didn’t say the entire twenty-minute sermon.
“Kairma, we have to say the whole thing. What’s the point of coming all the way down here if we’re not going to do it right?”
It wasn’t like Kairma to renege on her duties, but right now she was more interested in finding Collin and Zedic. She blew out a sigh. “Okay. We’ll do the whole sermon.” Touching her forehead, Kairma began again. “Remember. North, east …” Kairma had relented, not because she felt it was that important, but because she knew Kinter would tell her grandmother, and Kairma hated disappointing Isontra.
As she said the words she’d repeated more than a hundred times before, she wondered what Collin and Zedic were doing.
When they finished the sermon Kinter went to sit on the large block wall that separated the temple landing from the hundreds of seats of the majestic amphitheater. “How long do we have to stay here?”
“I want to find Collin and Zedic and see what they’re doing.” Kairma looked around, searching for a sign of the boys.
Pulling out the small set of pipes she liked to play, Kinter began blowing a soft melody. “Don’t get lost,” she said. “I have better things to do than sit here all day, you know.”
“Yes, I know. I won’t be long.”
Kairma wandered down the steps toward the base of the great monument. She gingerly stepped over broken stairs and weed-infested seats. Look at all the grasses and shrubs growing in the cracks of the rock walls. With care, the temples could be returned to their original splendor. I wonder why we let it fall to such disrepair. She decided, as she walked, that when she became the Miral she would rebuild the Temples of the Godstones. She looked up at the gods of the mountain. Is that why I am heir to the Healing Crystal? So your altar will once again be a place of beauty and splendor? The Crystal is such a great responsibility for someone like me. I just don’t understand sometimes.
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