The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 3: The Chase

Sabrina realized her mouth was hanging open, so she shut it with a snap. Then she said, "You're out of your mind, Malvarak. No way. Whatever it is."

"Don't be so hasty. Our kinsman looks very ill, Sabrina. How long do you think he can withstand this magnitude of Pharon resonance? Every moment the bombardment continues adds to the length of his exile from home, you know. But of course you do. Your own exile was nearly a century long."

"How do I know you're controlling this?" Sabrina demanded. "Prove it to me. Shut it off for a moment."

Malvarak shook his head, laughing. "Probing for that slight opportunity, Sabrina? I warned you; I'm not going to allow you one. No. You will have to draw the logical conclusion from the evidence at hand, circumstantial though it may be. I don't need him alive, you know. And this is the one place in the universe where he's vulnerable. We both know it."

"What do you want, Malvarak?" God, please, let it be something I can give!

"I've taken good care that my erstwhile allies have never seen my face. To make good my escape, I need a decoy, someone they can mistake for me."

"And that would be Ford. Oh, no, Malvarak." Sabrina folded her arms and glared at him, her fear fading in the rush of indignation the suggestion provoked. "I'd rather see him dead at my feet than hand him over to the Reissians."

"But that wouldn't help me," Malvarak pointed out. "Though I could, of course, oblige you, just to call your bluff. Let me make this more palatable for you, my dear. I will set the prince down on the planet. He's got as good a chance as anyone of avoiding them down there until they give up and go away. By that time, you will have propped up my cover as the prince, and I will set you down on some friendly planet where you can call for help in retrieving him."

"Ford? On Pharo? Are you mad?" Sabrina demanded. "If he's this bad up here, what do you think he'll be like down there? Besides, Malvarak, I'm no help to you! The Reissians want to kill me. The minute they know I'm here they're going to be all over this ship trying to carry out the old assassination contract. I'd call that a needless entanglement at best, wouldn't you? I mean—"
She broke off as Ford fell heavily against her, too late for her to turn and catch him. She tried anyway, ending up sprawled on the deckplates congratulating herself that she'd at least kept him from smacking his head against the metal. "Ungh!" she exclaimed, struggling to shift his weight so she could breathe.

"Don't," Ford whispered, so softly she wasn't sure she'd really heard it.

"What?" she whispered back, but there was no response. He was unconscious. Sabrina managed a mostly upright position, cradling his head in her lap with one hand and anchoring his upper body with the other. She was reluctant to stand up again and leave him helpless and alone. Dead at my feet. That was a bad, bad thing to say.

"He's getting worse," Malvarak said, sauntering over to them and shaking his head in mock concern. "And we have a limited time before the Reissians discover that the life sign they are detecting aboard my ship is faked. You have a simple choice: I can put the prince aboard my ship for the Reissians to find, or put him on the planet for them to chase. Which?"

Sabrina's grip on Ford tightened instinctively. This was no choice, really. "On the planet. But I go with him!"

"No, my dear. That is not part of the menu. You're too likely to find some ingenious way of stopping my escape. The thought of turning you loose on a planet full of ancient but advanced technology is not a happy one."

"He's incapacitated, Malvarak! He can't defend himself, or even hide, in this state! I go with him."

"I can't imagine what gives you the notion that you are in a position to debate this, Sabrina."