Way of No Return (Champions of the Crystal Book 8)

Chapter 13.5

"You smell like smoke," Sabrina murmured to Ford. She pulled back to see his face. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, if you are," he replied. "You gave me a quite a scare."

She tried to smile. "Sorry. I'm not sure what happened. I looked up, and it was standing right there. Then when I looked back, it was gone."

"I do not sense the echo of another presence," a young voice said, and Sabrina looked down at the image of her goddaughter.

"Hi, Mara. Wow, I haven't seen you do the disguise thing since Zenalren," Sabrina said, giving her friend a hug.

"That was much easier," Mara said, throwing off the disguise and looking like herself again. "I cannot be sure mental projections will work on the Reissians or Kyan, so I had to actually build the image around myself this time. It is exhausting. Where is my daughter?"

"Doing schoolwork down the hill," Sabrina said.

"I'll fetch her," Merith volunteered.

"Nice show, by the way," Sabrina said to Ford, beginning to feel more like herself again. "I'm just glad Kendara spoiled the ending before she let me see it."

Ford chuckled, sliding an arm around her waist. "Good."

"Mara," Sabrina said plaintively, "can't you do something to clear up the link?"

"Not without endangering my granddaughter," Mara replied. "I have left this area mostly alone while clearing dissonance from the planet's surface so as not to put her at risk." She sat down, looking tired. "Of course, that also makes it difficult to ascertain what just happened. Were you thinking about the Kyan?"

"Not any more than usual," Sabrina said. "I was having a quiet moment. I was actually trying the link."

"Hm." Mara frowned but did not comment, and then she was distracted as Snowball jumped into her lap.

Mukryilla came back in, looking less grim. "There are no signs of Kyan in the immediate area," she reported.

"Good," Ford said.

Sabrina smiled at her. "You're looking much better."

"Thanks to the Guardian," Mukryilla said. "And you, Sabrina? You are well?"

"Yes." Sabrina stepped away from Ford so she could give her a hug. "What do you think of our new place?"

Mukryilla looked around critically. "Practically indefensible, I am afraid. I trust you have a safer place to fall back to if necessary?"

"Kendara and Cynthia are out scouting an abandoned mine that has an emergency shelter we may be able to use," Sabrina replied. "How are things in the city?"

Ford said, "We've retaken the entire Academy and put out most of the fires. We're still working on clearing the rest of the city and deciding where we want to lure the enemy to finish them off. And I think I've almost narrowed down the Kyan's communication frequency."

"That's wonderful," Sabrina said.

Scotty came in the door, stomping on the threshold to clear mud off his boots. "Goats? Seriously?" He grinned at his sister.

"Everyone who's anyone has goats, didn't you know that?" Sabrina replied with a smile. "They're just like the Earth ones: they eat almost any plant life, and you can milk them or cook them. Preferably with lots of herbs." She sobered. "Scotty, have you heard from Aurora or the kids?"

"No, but Mara says Aurora's all right," he said, "and the kids are with Leran and Selémahs, who know their way around a battle zone. There's not much happening in Tythir anyway, from what we hear. Don't worry."