The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 7.3

The Wayship shuddered, mentally and physically, and Tirqwin's head snapped up from where he had fallen asleep at the main control console. "Khediva! What was that?"

"Tirqwin...." She sounded unusually subdued, aghast. "I...I became attuned to Sabrina and Scotty, all that time they lived with us. You remember?"

"Of course I remember!" Tirqwin snapped, then stopped, paling. "Khediva, you are not saying—"

"It is the creature, Tirqwin. I am sure of it now. It is like the last time. Only...only this time it has one of the Devons."

"Which one?" he demanded hoarsely, though really, it didn't matter. Whoever it was had to be rescued.

"I think...oh, Tirqwin." Khediva's voice broke. "I think it was Sabrina."

Tirqwin pushed himself out of his chair and ran for Mara's room. The door slid open at his touch, and he nearly ran into Mara, who was evidently on her way out.

"What was that?" she demanded, pale and horrified. "That...that awfulness I felt! So much worse than before! What was it?"

"Mara," Tirqwin said, taking her shoulders, "that was Varla's creature. The one that killed Sribarak. It has Sabrina, and it is killing her, feeding off her. Mara, we cannot let her die. I do not have time to explain, to tell you all the countless reasons why, but we cannot let her die."

"She's my friend. You've shown me that," Mara said, gesturing to the vidscreen where she'd watched hours of her own recorded history. "But what can I do?"

"Fight. We have to go down there and fight, right now, while there is still a chance," Tirqwin urged.

"But...but I haven't remembered! And you haven't taught me anything," she protested.

"I know, Mara. But we have to try. Do you understand? We have to try."

She looked at him searchingly with wide violet eyes, taking in his desperation and urgency. "Yes. I will try."

He nodded, then took her hand and led her to the control deck. "Khediva?"

"Tirqwin, take the android with you. It should be impervious to Varla and her creature," Khediva urged. "I can continue my repairs on my own now."

"Very well. Send it along with us," Tirqwin said.

"Good luck to you," Khediva said, and transported them over to Ford's ship. Tirqwin busied himself at the console as Rudolf appeared.

"How may I serve?" Rudolf asked.

"Varla is holding Sabrina, and probably your master, prisoner. You are to help us free them in any way possible," Tirqwin said, as he recalled the transport capsule. "Secondary to that, you are to guard and defend Queen Maratobia. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Rudolf replied.

Tirqwin took Mara's hand and guided her into the capsule, with Rudolf following.

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Scotty and Aurora's coating of dust had long since turned to mud in their soaked clothes and hair, hardening into a crust from their body heat, by the time they reached the mouth of the tunnel. Scotty sincerely doubted even his sister would recognize him, and if he were on Earth he'd expect to soon be gracing the cover of a supermarket tabloid as some kind of bizarre swamp monster. If he didn't get beat out by the hideous, snarling creature guarding the entrance, that is.

They found the other prisoners huddled several meters from the tunnel entrance. None of them had managed to hang onto their pickaxes, much as Scotty had lost the guard's pike during the cave-in. "Toren?" he called out, looking around.