The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 7.1

Scotty wriggled his toes, which were now completely covered in water. It was cold, and his feet were going numb to the ankles as the water splashed around them. A couple of Stanosians had already fallen, unable to stand against the shallow but rapid current flowing into the tunnel. But no geyser had erupted through the rock, and Scotty wondered if perhaps they hadn't tapped merely a small pocket of water, not the main aquifer.

Nearby, Aurora stumbled as she tried to get out of the way of the Stanosian hauling away the mud from their excavating. Scotty reached out to her, but he was too far away, and she went reeling into the wall. She seemed stunned; she stayed there, leaning against the rock, for a long time. Her trousers were soaked, and he wondered if she'd lost the feeling in her feet already.

"Aurora?" he called softly, under the cover of the pickaxes striking rock.

She didn't seem to hear him. Slowly, she bent down, stretching her hands out to the water swirling around her legs. Scotty frowned, trying to see what she was doing, and caught a quick glitter of something in the water, something reflecting the light of the guards' torches.

One of the guards grunted and moved closer, then shouted something. The prisoners all froze, dreading an outburst, then went into action again as the guard snarled at them. Then Scotty saw a chunk of crystal, pebble-sized, float past him. The water was washing bits of k'brith into the tunnel!

The guards shoved more prisoners down into the water to gather the k'brith, and Scotty pushed his pickax into the hands of one of them and bent to scoop up a handful of the crystal, moving toward Aurora as he did so. Before he could reach her, she overbalanced and sat down in the water with a splash, looking startled. Then she brought her hands up out of the water, and Scotty saw that she was holding a piece of k'brith roughly the size of a baseball.

"Aurora?" he said. "Are you hurt?"

She looked at him, and he saw that her expression, though still confused, was no longer blankly calm. She looked thoroughly alarmed, and her hazel eyes glinted with rapid thought. He held out a hand to help her up, and she grasped it immediately. "Captain?" she whispered.

Scotty's face lit with a grin of triumph, but he quickly said, "Ssh. Don't let on you're back."

He helped her to her feet, and she handed him the k'brith as if glad to be rid of it, darting a quick glance around them as if she'd never seen the tunnel before. Then she looked a question at him.

"We'll get out. Just stay close to me," he said.

Aurora nodded, then glanced at the guards and quickly bent to scoop up more crystal.

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By the time Sabrina emerged into the ruins of the former laboratory, she was exhausted, both physically and mentally. She knew she didn't have the strength left to continue her charade in front of Varla without being caught—her mind was in turmoil. She would have to have time and quiet to regain her shielding. And she must tell Tirqwin what she had seen.

She found her way to Emalicia's room after several wrong turns. Her scanner and suit had not fully reactivated once out of the creature's presence, though the flashlight still worked, with a few other emergency functions, such as her locator beacon. The suit's higher functions needed repair by someone who knew more about it than she did. Maybe Khediva would have some ideas, she hoped.

The capsule was still there where she had left it. With a sigh of relief, she hurried forward—and stopped short as a guard emerged from its shadow. Sabrina brought her stunner up and fired, ducking to avoid a strike from his staff. He staggered back but didn't lose consciousness, and she aimed again. But before she could fire, a shadow fell across her, and she started to turn toward the new threat. But she never even saw the guard who brought his pike down across her skull and sent her reeling into unconsciousness.