A Way of Honor (Champions of the Crystal Book 2)

Chapter 11.3

Sabrina blinked, groggy and confused, as if she had slept too heavily. She sat up and looked around the dim room, unable to identify it at all. After a while she decided she was on a ship of some kind, or at least in some sort of artificial environment; the air had a recycled tang to it, and there was a background hum she associated with Khediva's engines.

She tried to slide out of bed only to discover she was inside a cabinet-like device. Memory returned with a rush: Malvarak's sardonic amusement at her fear of the stasis cabinet and her own choked-off cry as he closed the lid. She understood now why Mara was afraid of confined spaces.

"Well, my dear, at last. You took much longer to revive than I anticipated, but then, your race is so much more fragile than my own," Malvarak said, from the doorway across the room. "I am sorry about the stasis cabinet, but while we were still in transmission range of Praxatillus I wanted to be sure that Khediva could not find you—or the Great Crystal either, for that matter."

"Then we must be out of range now," Sabrina said, her voice hoarse from her parched throat. She accepted the cup Malvarak handed her and gulped down the thick, bitter liquid without hesitation.

"That should help matters," Malvarak said, sitting down nearby.

"Yes. Thank you." Sabrina glanced at him, then drew a deep, steadying breath, her fingers twisting together around the empty cup. "How long is the journey to Homeworld?"

"A matter of hours. But we have not left yet," Malvarak said. "Elusha still has some time to save you."

"He won't," Sabrina said. "Not by your terms, anyway."

"Sabrina," Malvarak said, his voice rich with sympathy. "Elusha and Mara have cozened you into believing that they can remain on their course without war. I do not fault you for believing them; after all, they should never have lied to you."

"They didn't," Sabrina replied. "They both told me what they believed in their hearts."

"Then they have fooled themselves as well. Sabrina, I don't want to see another war between Homeworld and Praxatillus. It won't benefit either race and could have some horrific consequences. For one, I am not at all sure I wish to trust our present government with control of the Great Crystal—and there is no doubt whatsoever who would be victorious in the war. I also have no desire to see Maratobia a captive puppet and to see my own kinsman executed as a traitor. It is so much better for him to undergo severance as a martyr and for Praxatillus to remain a free power. You see," he added with a bitter grin, "no government, no society, is beyond temptation. Without the Miahns to check us, we Wayfarers could all too easily become this galaxy's dictators. That is not what I want for my people. Sabrina, this dilemma goes so much further than one tragic couple. Can you not see that?"

"Yes, of course I do," she said. "You don't think your government will see reason at all about this?"

"No, I don't. Well, Sabrina, look at their reaction so far. They are perfectly willing to kidnap you, an innocent, and torture you to death. This is not an empty threat. They will drain every last bit of your knowledge from you before they allow you to die. You are, right now, their single most potent weapon against Praxatillus."

"Malvarak, if you believe this is wrong, then help me."

"Sabrina, I cannot break my oaths to Homeworld."

"I know you can't let me go free. All I ask is five minutes alone with a weapon."

He raised an eyebrow. "You would take your own life?"

"Rather than help start this war, yes, I would. I have oaths of my own," Sabrina said.

To her shock, Malvarak began to laugh. "No, Sabrina, not yet. Only think how horrible if Elusha should decide to give himself up, only to find he has done so for your corpse! Or worse, if a rescue party should reach us! No. I am afraid that, while you are out of the stasis cabinet, you must be under my eye."