The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 9: Victory's Sacrifice

Scotty woke with his head pillowed on Aurora's stomach. He remembered the terrible earthquake, and some even worse upheaval that had knocked him out, but the cavern was quiet now. He sat up and looked at Aurora, making sure she was still breathing. She looked dreadful, her hand lifeless in his.

"Aurora," he called softly, squeezing her hand. "Aurora, come on, wake up. Are you all right? Please wake up."

She came to with a heaving gasp, her eyes wide and frantic. "Did we—" she began hoarsely, then broke off with a little gasping laugh. "We did it! We're back in phase. Oh, Scotty. The Crystal—I can feel it—"

"Great!" he said. "Are you okay?"

"Just...tired. We have to get out of here while it's recovering. Lndor knows the way out."

Scotty frowned. "Lndor? But—"

"He's down there. Help me." Aurora was crawling toward the pit. Scotty hurried to help her, and now that the light was reduced to a dim glow he could make out Lndor's still form.

"Aw, man," he said softly. "Here, I'll go down and push. You pull." He slid down the side of the pit, careful not to touch any crystal, and began heaving at Lndor. "Is he still alive?"

"Yes," Aurora panted, grasping one of Lndor's arms and pulling.

Scotty got under Lndor and used his whole body to lift. As he did so, he saw the machine, with Major Ilyanan's corpse behind it. "The Major!"

"She's dead," Aurora said. "Scotty, we have to get Lndor away, and the machine must be destroyed before the creature can take us back out of phase."

"Right," Scotty said. "You go on. I'll catch you up."

"But—" She looked dubiously down at him, her expression shadowed with concern.

"It's okay. I'm good at smashing things," he grinned. "Go on. I'll be right with you."

"All right," Aurora said, and bent to lift Lndor over her shoulder, staggering a little under his weight.

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Sabrina at first thought the room was on fire. There was heat and a dazzling light, and it was only when she struggled to her feet that she realized it was Mara.

"Mara!" she cried joyfully.

Mara was in the middle of the glow, her hair and skirt streaming wildly out in an unseen wind, reveling in her immersion in the Great Crystal. Sabrina felt tears come to her eyes, and she knelt beside Tirqwin, who was still unconscious. He seemed all right, breathing steadily, so she went to where Ford lay on his stomach. He seemed to be coming around, which surprised her. Evidently going back into phase wasn't as traumatic as being wrenched out of phase.

"Ford!" she said, taking his shoulders and helping him to his hands and knees. "Are you all right?"

He looked up at her, his bright blue eyes dancing with triumph, and grinned. "Thanks," he said, then looked over at Mara. "Now we'll be all right."

"You think?" Sabrina agreed, chuckling a little. "Welcome back."

Ford chuckled too, getting to his feet with a little help from Sabrina. He laid his arm across her shoulders and gave her a friendly hug. "Thanks," he said again.

"I thought you were a goner," she admitted.

He smiled down at her. "Anything but. I'll explain later. Right now let's—" He broke off with a frown and shouted, "Mother! Look out!"

Mara snapped back into awareness and threw a stream of energy at Varla in mid-pounce. For a moment it seemed as if Varla was beaten; then she rallied, pushing the energy away with a stream of her own, and the two women were locked in an almost equal contest.