The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 15: Into the Arms of the Enemy

The shuttle was small, fast, and well-armed. Sabrina settled into the first passenger seat; Darice took the pilot's controls, and Farco Varsanyi, whom Sabrina vaguely remembered as a functionary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, took the co-pilot's seat. Mireth took the rear seat, and Tassan, after a moment's hesitation, sat beside Sabrina.

"I can't believe you're doing this," he said, too low for the others to hear.

"I can't either," she said, hoping her smile looked confident rather than blitzed with panic.

Darice said, "We have clearance for liftoff. The battle cruiser Sentinel has given us docking coordinates. Everybody strap in."

Sabrina obeyed, her fingers shaking as she fumbled with the safety webbing. She started to clench her fists in her lap, then laid her palms out flat on the seat instead. Tassan's hand covered hers as the shuttle sprang into the sky.

"Wow," Varsanyi said. "It looks a lot worse from up here, doesn't it?"

Sabrina looked out the viewport at the rapidly receding palace. She saw clearly where the Reissian attack had been concentrated; everything around it was crumbling, and parts of the garden outside the Little Ballroom were still on fire. The roof of the Royal Residence had gaping holes in it. Sabrina wondered if her conservatory was still standing. She couldn't identify it at the speed they were moving; soon the island was a speck in a vast sea, and then the planet hung beneath them, a glowing green and blue ball against the dark field of stars. She wondered if she would ever set foot on its surface again.

"Listen up, team," Sabrina said, turning away from the view outside. "I believe they will keep their word and let us leave safely when we are finished. But in case they do not, I'm going to give you your orders now. I may have some help among the Wayfarers, through Tirqwin's family. If they take me prisoner I will try to rally that help. But you four are not to be throwing your lives away in any futile attempts to save me. There will be a cruiser full of soldiers up there; the four of you can't make any real difference. I want you to get away, to go quietly if they will let you, and carry on the fight back on Praxatillus."

Darice threw a glance over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'd far rather die in a fight than go back to the Commander without you."

"I agree," Mireth said.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't ask you what you'd prefer, I gave you an order," Sabrina said.

"Well," Darice replied, "I always follow orders—but I wouldn't be an officer if I couldn't use my own initiative to interpret them according to the situation as I find it."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Which is your polite way of saying you're not going to obey that order no matter what I say?"

"Pretty much, ma'am."

"And what about you, Varsanyi? Are you going rogue on me as well?"

"Major Darice is in charge of us," he said. "I'll follow her lead in your absence."

Sabrina sighed and eyed Tassan in resignation. "I'm not even going to ask you."

He laughed. "Well, that saves me a speech in praise of insubordination, at least. Face it, my lady, this time you do not get to play the martyr. At least not a solitary one."

"I wish I found that comforting," she retorted.

"Look at that thing. It's huge!" Varsanyi exclaimed as the Sentinel loomed up in front of them.

No one said anything else as the battle cruiser filled the shuttle's viewports. Darice completed docking maneuvers, hesitating only when the Sentinel directed her to shut down the shuttle's engines. "My lady?" she said.