Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for the battle to come. Then he saw the bright light and was instantly relieved to see that the light was only the candle at the top of the hill—and to his surprise, there was no sign of Eustace anywhere.
Quiggly smiled as he proceeded up the path. "Where's Eustace?" he called to the candle, a little annoyed that he had to find out from some little kid. But he was relieved to see Eustace sitting in the candle.
"What are you doing up here?" Quiggly asked.
"I heard the fire and came to investigate," said Eustace.
Quiggly said, "Can't you just look into the crystal?"
"Sure," Eustace said, and he leaned over to see inside the crystal. "Wow, there's a lot of colors in here, especially for a piece of rock! There must be something worth finding," Eustace commented excitedly.
"Yeah, there's something valuable in there," Quiggly said as he studied Eustace. "But I thought you had to be six feet tall to enter the cave," Quiggly said as he noticed that Eustace wasn't nearly as tall as him.
"You don't have to be six feet tall," said Eustace. "I just have to be eight years old to enter the cave."
"Eight years old?" asked Quiggly, still looking for the thief. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm hunting a thief," Eustace said. "Aren't you?"
"I guess," said Quiggly. "Who told you there was a thief in here?"
"The Great Master."
"Hmm. He must have gotten the wrong impression," Quiggly said as he looked into the cave again.
"I knew it," Eustace said. "The Great Master doesn't know what he's talking about. He likes to say a lot of things just to hear himself talk."
Quiggly stared at the little boy with an expression of annoyance on his face. "What do you mean?" Quiggly asked.
"He says a lot of stuff like 'the only way to be cool is to become a warrior'—but that doesn't mean he ever knew what he was talking about, either. I mean, all he knew about swords is how to whack people with them. All he did was beat people up because he didn't know how to use them. What do you think of that?" Eustace asked.
"I think that he knows what he's talking about—so you have to pay attention to what he says," Quiggly said.
"What? He talks a lot but doesn't say anything!" Eustace exclaimed.
"He talks a lot about stuff that happened in the past, not about stuff that's going to happen," Quiggly replied. "But he's been here a long time, and the more time that passes, the more he will know about the future. He just doesn't talk about the future yet."
"Well, that's not right," said Eustace. "But since he knows the future, why doesn't he tell us what it's going to be like?"
"Because he knows there is no future, and he knows there is no past, either. So he says a lot of stuff, but he doesn't say anything that's very important to us."
Eustace was silent for a minute as he studied Quiggly, trying to get a good look at him. He sat there thinking about what he had heard and finally asked, "Who are you?"
"What do you mean?" Quiggly asked. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"I saw you in the Great Master's workshop earlier," Eustace replied. "Who are you?"
"I'm nobody," Quiggly answered, though that wasn't really true. He was in fact a real nobody, as he had been told by the Great Master.
"You know a lot about stuff. I don't see any wisdom coming from a person that is so wise."
Quiggly frowned. He had a lot of wisdom—a lot more wisdom than this kid that stood before him. Quiggly suddenly realized that he was not the smartest guy in the cave. "I guess you're right," he said. "I am really wise."
"You are?" asked Eustace. "Can I be just like you?"
"What do you mean?" asked Quiggly. "Just what do you want to be like me?"
"I want to know what you know," said Eustace.
"That's impossible," said Quiggly. "Why would you want that?"
"Because I don't want to stay here all day."
"Then be a warrior," Quiggly suggested.
"I'm too small for that," said Eustace.
"Okay, be a wise person like me," said Quiggly, but he was wondering why it was that he always felt so disappointed whenever people asked him how to become a warrior. He felt like he wasn't doing any favors for anybody by giving advice. He had never cared much for wisdom, and he was feeling that he was doing wrong by being around these people. They were all wrong; they all should be warriors. That was what he wanted to be.
"You're here in the cave right now," Eustace said. "So why aren't you a warrior?"
Quiggly looked into the darkness for a while, then turned back toward Eustace. "I'm trying to figure it out," he said. "You know, I've tried to read the crystal over and over and over, but I just can't figure out what it says."
"Well, you know the Great Master doesn't know what he's talking about," Eustace said. "He's just making up stories."
"He thinks he knows what's going to happen to the world," Quiggly replied.
"But that's not right," said Eustace.
"Of course it's not," Quiggly said. "But he's a little dim-witted."
"A little dim-witted?" Eustace asked.
"Yeah, he's stupid," Quiggly said.
"That's not right," said Eustace. "The Great Master's smart. He's really smart."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Quiggly said. "I'm smarter than he is."
"No, you're not," said Eustace. "You just know more things than he does. You just know about yourself, so you're smarter than he is."
Quiggly felt as if his heart had just sunk in his chest, and he felt a sudden pain in his chest. This little kid was just looking for a fight. He was the only kid in the cave that didn't think the Great Master knew what he was talking about. He didn't know what the Great Master knew and didn't know. The Great Master knew the answers and Quiggly didn't. In fact, Quiggly wasn't even sure he knew anything at all. Why was he lying and pretending to know things he really didn't?
It was a long time before Quiggly could speak to this kid. "Well, I guess you are a great warrior. I guess you'd make a great warrior." Quiggly looked into the cave again and thought about this whole thing for a few seconds before looking back at the boy. "Well, what do you think I should do?" he asked.
"Why don't you ask the Great Master?" Eustace suggested.
"I'm asking you," said Quiggly.
Eustace smiled. "What would you do if the Great Master told you what to do?"
"I would thank him and leave," Quiggly said.
"What would you do if he told you to be something different?" Eustace asked.
"I don't know," Quiggly answered. "What would I do?"
"You'd do what he said," said Eustace.
Quiggly thought about this for a minute. He had never thought about what he would do if the Great Master told him to be something else, but it made sense. What else would he be but something else? That was what he was always being told. Quiggly laughed as he realized what he had to do. "I guess I should go tell the Great Master what to do," he said to himself.
"Well, I'm going to tell you what to do," said Eustace. "You'd make a great warrior."
"It's nice to know that I'm smarter than the Great Master," said Quiggly.
Eustace smiled as he held his side.
Quiggly was still confused, but he decided to listen to the kid for a while.
"Who is the Great Master?" Eustace asked.
"He says he was a warrior that fought against a man named Able. That's all I know about him."
"Are you going to try to
