The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 27: The Return

Sabrina woke with a sense of anticipation, without quite knowing why. It took her a moment to remember; the medication the doctors had given her for her vivid, sleepwalk-inducing nightmares often produced disorientation on waking.

She had been on Allyria for more than a month now—nearly fifty days by Praxatillian time. They had come here to lose the effects of the Pharon crystal, and she and Tirqwin had immediately been hospitalized in the only modern settlement on the planet. Nllata had been isolated for observation; Scotty had put the Hand of Mara on course for the Allyrian sun and then left it in his EVA suit for pickup by the Wisdom's Heart, which had arrived to ascertain their conditions for both Homeworld and Praxatillus. He had briefly spoken to Haaron and Ambassador Olviron via the ship's com system, since it was judged dangerous for him or Sabrina to be in proximity to any Miahn, or even Praxatillian, right now.

Then Scotty had hung restlessly around, visiting his sister, harassing the doctors about Tirqwin's condition, and railing against the rule that he not visit Nllata. He had been hospitalized himself for a short while until the doctors found medication to suppress his nightmares; then he had been given a small house, and his hospital visits were restricted to twice a day. Sabrina had joined him there a week later, but her trips to the hospital were more frequent as she underwent therapy to help her regain normal use of her reconstructed right arm. She complained even more bitterly than her brother about not being able to visit Tirqwin, until the doctors finally allowed her to observe him from an adjoining room, separated by a thick plasticrete wall and sealed door.

The physical damage to his brain had been repaired, but there was extensive trauma that expressed itself in amnesia and what the doctors named "temporal dyslexia"—the inability to distinguish past, present, and future—all complicated by hallucinations and even worse versions of the Devons' nightmares. He was not the Tirqwin they had known. Mara and Khediva, who spoke to the Devons via interstellar link at least twice a day, reported their links active but blocked at his end, except for brief, distressing contacts as he slept.

But today, Sabrina remembered at last, was the day the doctors had reluctantly appointed to see if meeting the Devons could shake some of Tirqwin's memory and personality awake from whatever corner of his mind it hid itself in. He seemed a blank slate, and efforts to re-teach him even such simple tasks as feeding himself were slow and frustrating. He seemed to absorb nothing. Finally the doctors decided that the only hope was to revive his personality, to give him some motivation to learn.

Time was running out, Sabrina was aware, particularly when she spoke to Khediva. Still in spacedock at Homeworld, the Wayship was fully repaired, but if she and Tirqwin did not exercise their link soon she would lose her ability to navigate Ways. For once, Mara was the patient one, counseling the doctors not to rush his recovery against their better judgment. She arranged for Mukryilla to provide Scotty some study materials and a curriculum to bring his military education up to par with his service experience, with a promotion held out as lure if he should pass the examination at the end. And she occupied Sabrina by asking her advice on state matters, though, Sabrina noticed, Mara kept the ongoing negotiations with Homeworld strictly in her own hands.

As she dressed in the simple Allyrian robes, Sabrina heard the comconsole chime in the room she and Scotty had designated their living room. Scotty yelled out, "Get that, willya, Rina?" from the direction of the bathroom.

Raking a hand through her hair, Sabrina hurried to the comconsole. "Hello?"

There was a pause; Sabrina was by now expert at telling by the length of the delay whether the call was from Praxatillus, Lthos, or Homeworld. This was from Praxatillus, she knew before the picture stabilized and coalesced into Rassir's face.