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

Chapter 16: Way of No Return

Sabrina tried to hurry, but despite her best efforts, Seuréa kept having to stop and wait for her. At least it gave the Inheritor time to scan their surroundings, looking for friends or foes, she reflected as Seuréa peered up at the ridge behind them. Then she smiled.

"Mother's here. She's leading them away from us," Seuréa said when Sabrina was close enough.

"Great. Why doesn't she just transport us to safety?" Sabrina panted.

"They'd know. It wouldn't be safe," Seuréa said.

Great, Sabrina thought. What was normally their biggest advantage—the Great Crystal—was now a liability. They would have to do things the hard way. At least Mara was nearby and aware of their problem, which was comforting.

Seuréa suddenly grinned and waved at someone. Sabrina turned to look as she said, "It's Isiri. We can wait for her while you rest."

Sabrina lowered herself to the nearest bolder, glad for the respite. By the time Evis had made her way down the mountainside to them, Merith had also reappeared, approaching on the same path they had taken.

"Miah be praised!" Evis exclaimed, bending to hug Seuréa. "Good work."

"You too," Seuréa said. "Where are the others?"

"Waiting for us down by the creek," Evis said. "What about Kendara and Cynthia?"

"They're ahead of us," Seuréa said. "We're waiting for Doctor Merith, and then we can catch up with them. Mother's just over the ridge, keeping the Kyan away from us."

"Good." Evis turned to Sabrina. "Are you all right, your highness?"

"Just out of breath," Sabrina said. "But very glad to see you! What happened after we parted?"

"There was a Kyan chasing Ranja. She ran it past one of the outer checkpoints and it blew up," Evis said. "I caught up to her and we went to warn Rutha. She wanted to come with us rather than stay in the village and hope the explosives were enough defense, so we all headed for the mine."

"Ranja's all right? Not infected?" Sabrina asked urgently.

"It never had her; she screamed the minute she saw it, to warn people," Evis said. "Also to see if she could get it to follow her instead of coming after us. They must not have known for sure where we were, or it wouldn't have worked."

"Oh!" Seuréa exclaimed, suddenly twisting around and digging in her pack. Snowball leapt onto her shoulder, mewing in distress. "Sorry, Snowball! I put her there so she'd be quiet when we were hiding, and I forgot. She's lucky she didn't get smushed when the Kyan grabbed me."

"Poor Snowball," Sabrina said, reaching out to rub her finger against the kitten's nose. She purred and pushed her head against Sabrina's hand, asking for more attention.

Merith arrived a few minutes later, breathing hard but looking relieved. "That was a close one. Where is everyone else?"

"We need to catch up," Evis said. "Let's go, if you're ready, your highness."

"Yes." Sabrina gratefully accepted Evis' help getting to her feet. "Too bad Snowball can't smell the Kyan coming, the way she can smell the parasites."

"I think she's mostly cold and hungry," Seuréa said, settling the kitten into her coat, where Snowball tucked her head under the girl's chin.

"We all are," Sabrina admitted as they began moving down the trail again.

They were startled by a loud boom from the other side of the ridge, and Sabrina looked over her shoulder to see a thin stream of smoke trickling up into the pink sky. "Does Mara have Scotty with her?"