The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 11.1

By the time Mara, Aurora, and Scotty returned, Sabrina was able to sit up and even walk a few steps, if there was something nearby to grab when she lost her balance. She was determined to have the shortest recovery possible.

"Hey!" Scotty grinned as he strode into the sitting room, where Sabrina was ensconced in a comfortable chair with Tristan in her lap.

"Scotty!" she exclaimed in return, holding out her arms.  They embraced, and Scotty said, "You look much better than the last time I saw you!"

Sabrina asked, "How did the summit go?"

"Well," Scotty sighed, dropping into a nearby chair, "it depends on who you ask, I guess. From our point of view, it went okay. They're not making us hand over Ford for study or anything. But Mara had to agree to impound his ship and to restrict his movements. They don't want him running loose out there."

Dismayed, Sabrina said, "But it wasn't his fault! How can they punish him like that? They may as well throw him in prison!"

"Believe me, that wasn't an improbability," Scotty said. "Relax. He isn't in any shape to go anywhere right now anyway. Mara can renegotiate later, when everybody's calmed down a little. She's in a tough spot. I mean, it's not like we can say he's not a threat, because obviously he is."

"He's not!" Sabrina protested.

"Sabrina, he was the reincarnation of the Pharon Emperor," Scotty pointed out. "You can't get more dangerous than that. Anyway, it's done. We managed to find The Adventure based on Ford's report—what little of it there was—and tow it back here. The crystal matrix has already been removed, and it's being mothballed."

Sabrina gave a little groan. Scotty said, "It was either that or wait for Homeworld to do it. And he'd never get it back that way."

"I know. It's just, it suddenly occurred to me that Malvarak was probably behind the attack on me on that planet. They took me straight up to the infirmary on the Reissian ship, and of course Ford went with me. We left orbit and I don't think either one of us really thought about the ship again—we were trying to deal with other things. I'll bet that was part of the plan. Oh! What happened to Rudolf?"

"He's fine. He's down with Ford, actually. The doctors thought it might be good for him to have a buddy who's incapable of emotion or moral judgment."

"Scotty—"

"Don't start with me. Aurora and Mara went down to see him, and then they're coming straight here. I told them you were going to be a pain in the butt about this until they let you see him, but this was as good as they could do."

Sabrina sighed and looked away, out over the sea. After a moment, she turned back to him with a little smile. "Speaking of being a pain in the butt, you'd better lie low. Cynthia has sworn dire revenge."

"I know," he grinned. "But she won't kill me yet. I'm her ticket home."

"Oh?"

"Well, as far as she needs to know. Mara says Tirqwin will take her home just as soon as he's done with Homeworld. They were considerably less cooperative than our uncooperative allies." Scotty grimaced.

"This whole mess was their fault!" Sabrina said indignantly.

"Try telling them that. I gather Tirqwin and Khediva did, and it didn't do any good. But listen. I have some news."

"What news?"

Scotty's grin grew. "You would've been among the first to know if you'd been conscious."

"Scotty...just because I'm a little weak at the moment doesn't mean I can't make your life miserable," she warned.

He laughed. "Aurora and I put in our petition to the Council of Trême."