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

Chapter 15.2

Sabrina tried to calm herself enough to think clearly. She had to assume Kendara was incapacitated, then. Of the three of them, she probably had the most combat training, but she was not physically able to intervene. At least Merith had the war training of her youth. "Doctor, follow them. Get word to someone when you can. We'll need as much data as possible for a rescue."

"Yes, ma'am." Merith nodded crisply, then moved away, quickly vanishing among the trees.

"What rescue?" Cynthia asked.

Sabrina tried the link again, hoping her desperation would be strong enough to overcome the interference. No such luck. "Isiri will have heard that," she said, to comfort them both. "And Ranja has some training. They'll try something."

Cynthia looked dubious. Then she handed Sabrina the blaster. "I'll go see about Kendara."

"Don't get caught," Sabrina warned. "In fact, I'll come with you."

"I'll be faster on my own."

"Faster's not necessarily better. They might have taken Kendara with them, after all," Sabrina pointed out.

"They got what they're after, right?" Cynthia said hopefully as they crept through the trees.

"We can't know that. They may have secondary goals," Sabrina replied. "Do you smell that?"

"Something's on fire," Cynthia agreed. A few steps later, they realized the top branches of the trees were smoldering, beginning to throw off visible smoke.

Sabrina noted the scorch marks from blaster fire. "We're getting close."

"There she is. You stay here under cover," Cynthia whispered, looking around the open area for enemy activity. Sabrina crouched beside the biggest of the small trees, trying to make out whether Kendara's crumpled form was showing any signs of life and praying silently.

As Cynthia moved cautiously toward Kendara, Sabrina suddenly felt a strange tingling, as if the air around her were full of static electricity. Instinctively she drew in a breath, trying to gather what energy she could, and blasted a thought down the link: Ford, the Kyan have Seuréa!

She felt him startle at being interrupted and quickly repeated herself. We're in trouble! Send help! We're in the valley behind the farm, heading for an old mine.

Help is on the way! he responded after a moment. Are you safe?

For the moment, but they've got Seuréa!

I'm coming. Hold on!

Pressure began to build, breaking Sabrina's concentration and pulling her back to her surroundings. The soundless explosion of energy made her duck, but she realized that Cynthia was still working over Kendara's body, heedless of whatever was happening. Then Sabrina blinked and bit back a cry as Seuréa appeared in front of her, bedraggled and tearstained.

"Bree!" the girl cried hoarsely, flinging her arms around Sabrina.

Sabrina hugged her hard, looking up the hillside where the Kyan had last been. She couldn't see them any longer. "What did you do, sweetheart?" she whispered.

"I don't know. I just had to get away. I hit as hard as I could and then I wished myself back to you."

Sabrina swallowed hard. The Inheritor was too young to have learned to transport herself yet, but obviously terror made a good teacher. Still, the thought of all the things that could have gone wrong chilled her.

"I heard you and Ford and I knew where to go," Seuréa added.

"Good girl," Sabrina said, summoning a smile.

They both jumped as the sound of blaster fire echoed through the valley, immediately followed by the sound of tumbling rock. One of the outcroppings at the top of the ridge fell in what looked like slow motion to Sabrina, so far away. In the next moment, she realized what had happened: Evis must have realized Seuréa was safely away and attempted to finish the Kyan off while they were immobilized.

"We need to go. There'll be more," Seuréa whispered.

Sabrina blinked back tears of relief as she noticed Kendara stirring; after a moment, Cynthia helped her to sit. "Wait a moment," she said. "Doctor Merith should be coming back; I sent her to follow you. I got through to Ford, so help is on the way."

Seuréa nodded, but she looked unconvinced. "Are you and Lily okay?" she whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"We're fine," Sabrina assured her, ignoring the way her stomach was churning. "You did the right thing."

Cynthia had half-stood but was hesitating, listening to Kendara. Then she nodded and helped Kendara to stand, the bodyguard leaning heavily on the doctor. They began slow progress away from Sabrina and Seuréa.

"Where are they going?" Seuréa asked.

"They don't want to give our position away. We'll wait a little while for Merith. Don't worry. We'll catch up to them," Sabrina said. "Can you clear up the interference so I can talk to Ford again?"

Seuréa concentrated, closing her eyes and scrunching up her face adorably. Sabrina felt the energy around them, less fierce than before, and tried opening the link. We got her back, but we still need help, she thought.

Miah be praised! How?

She transported herself from them to me.

We're on our way. The militia units near you have been sent to Vahreen and I'm in a flyer now.

Be careful, she thought, alarmed at the thought of him flying through a combat zone.

Don't worry. Sastarn's actually enjoying this, and Lyrabeth refused to stay behind so he's being extra careful. Plus Stecklan said if we get shot down, he'll kill Sastarn before we can hit the ground. She could hear Ford's grin. Just stay safe, sweetheart. Buy us some time to take care of this.

We'll get you as much as we can, she promised.

Seuréa sat back and blew out her breath. "I'm sorry. I can't keep it up."

"It's okay; I got through. Anyway, the Kyan might be able to sense you using the Crystal, so we shouldn't do it for long. And we should move." Sabrina looked around, hoping to spot Merith.

"Yes, we should go now," Seuréa urged, tugging at Sabrina's arm.

"Can you sense them?"

"Those ones are dead for now, but there are others coming," Seuréa replied as Sabrina straightened.

"And they all talk to each other, so they know which way we're headed," Sabrina frowned. "And I don't. We need to catch up to Kendara and Cynthia."

"We can go faster now while there aren't any watching," Seuréa said. "Out to the path."

"Will you know when the others are getting close enough to see us?"

"I think so."

Sabrina looked down at her goddaughter dubiously, but she didn't argue as Seuréa led her toward the path that ran just above the tree line.