The Forgotten Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 6)

Chapter 13: Ancient Enemies

Scotty was sound asleep until someone began rudely shaking him. "I'm up, I'm up," he muttered.

"Scotty!"

He sat straight up in his bunk. "Mara! What are you doing out here?"

"Something is wrong." She looked as worried as he'd ever seen her. "There has been unusual activity in the Great Crystal. I have not been able to trace its source, until just now."

"What's going on?" Scotty struggled to reorient himself. "The Crystal? What's it doing?"

"Someone has been accessing it. I had only just recognized who it was when his link was abruptly terminated. Scotty, you must find Niavar quickly. He is in trouble, and I cannot sense him any longer."

"What?" Scotty exclaimed. "You mean—you don't mean he's dead?"

"I—I do not think so. But something is blocking me from sensing him, and there are few enough things that can do that."

"Like Pharon crystal."

"Yes. Only I do not think it was that, this time." Mara paced the few steps the small cabin allowed her. "You must find out what is happening!"

"We'll find him, Mara." Scotty assured her. "We won't stop until we find them. Um...are you coming along?"

"I cannot. But I will monitor the Crystal closely and let you know of anything further I learn."

"Right. Try not to worry—Ford's pretty damn hard to kill, you know."

Mara gave him a weary smile. "I cannot decide which I find more alarming—the fact that Niavar is suddenly so adept at navigating the Great Crystal and covering his tracks, or that someone succeeded in breaking such a strong link."

"One nightmare at a time," Scotty said. "Thanks, by the way, for giving mine new material!"

"I am sorry I woke you," Mara said. "Go back to sleep. I fear you will need it." She vanished as quickly as she had appeared.

"Right," Scotty sighed, flopping back down onto his pillow.

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Sabrina's first sensation was of being cold. Movement only made her head explode with pain, so she lay still and tried to figure out the situation. The room was pitch black, and her lower half was lying on a freezing cold surface. Her upper body was draped across someone; after a moment, she identified Ford by scent. He was breathing, but he did not respond to her voice or touch.

She tried to remember where she was, or even how she had gotten there, to no avail. Then, suddenly, she remembered the link and how it had shattered. That could not have led to anything good, she realized with a groan.

Taking a deep breath, she managed to push herself up into a sitting position. After her head cleared again, she extended a hand and felt around, but all she could find was more cold metal flooring.

"Hello?" she said, quietly so as not to make her headache worse. There was no echo, but she got the sense that they were in a fairly large room. She was reluctant to leave Ford and explore more thoroughly; without a light source, she would have a hard time finding her way back to him. He has to wake up soon, she thought. It'll be easier to figure this out with two of us.

Settling herself into a comfortable sitting position, she pulled his upper body into her lap, trying to warm him.  "Come on, Ford," she murmured. "Wake up so we can get out of here." Gingerly, she tried the link, but she couldn't feel anything.

The door slid open so quickly that she didn't see it moving, and she had to close her eyes tightly against the onslaught of light. She blinked, trying desperately to see, as measured footsteps sounded against the deckplates. She finally managed to make out a tall, shadowy form a few feet away, silhouetted against the light flooding in from the open door.