Between The Crystals

Ch 24 A Theory

The man fell to the ground, his momentum from the lunge carrying through. I breathed a sigh of relief, more grateful for the dry desert air than I had been in a long time.

"Are you okay?" asked the guard on shift from our village as he ran over.

"We had a small airship circling," I said, leaning over and resting my hands on my knees while trying to catch my breath.

One of the women took my arm and pretty much dragged me over to the hides to rest. I refrained from commenting on the forceful "assistance". A couple of others quickly brought the guards up to speed. The lights on the scanner remained green.

My eyes searched the empty blue sky as I did an internal status check. I was definitely tired, although my long hike and subsequent hour-long run, followed by over a dozen ports explained why my muscles wanted a break.

The porting strain was just a mild discomfort.

I quickly tallied up my trips so far. Fifteen ports, five of which had been with a group of eight. I should have been flat out on my back with that many passengers. Even a week ago, taking ten people to Orange Flower had caused unignorable discomfort and forced me to take a break. Today, I'd ported groups of eight around several times without really noticing the "weight". Admittedly, the trips had been really spread out, which would have helped.

One of the guards scratched his head. "Didn't you have a different group earlier?"

As much as I wanted to ignore his comment, the answer was obvious and would only lead to unwanted rumors, so I said, "Yeah, we figured some of the stronger porters would take two groups out, but as you just saw, the Saursunes are out in full force. Leaving a group unattended, even for half an hour, is inadvisable."

There. Grudging admission of what we had been doing, that it was a mistake, and why it was unwise for any to try it.

"You're a fool to have even tried," the guard replied with a dismissive snort.

Even as my companions bristled at the insult to their porter, I frowned at him and said, "Don't tempt me to port you to where that airship is. It'd be worth the porting strain to give you an up-close look at the lesson we just re-learned the hard way."

The guard scowled but wisely kept any further comments to himself. Corrections and feedback were a part of life, but true insults or utter contempt were different. Only the most foolish offended a porter. Unless the Saursunes attacked early in the morning while everyone was fresh, no village had enough porters to transport the entire population to safety. A full evacuation needed the assistance of other villages, and no one wanted to be on a porter's least favorite list.

An uncomfortable silence fell.

"Thanks for waiting for me," the running man quietly said as he dusted off his knees.

"It was only right," I murmured, my gaze once more scanning the horizon. "We'll leave after I rest."

They settled down to wait, far more patient than I was. Most looked around in curiosity or wandered around the small ledge since it was their first time here. The guard with the scanner was far friendlier than the person he was on shift with, and he happily showed them how the device worked.

Eventually, I stood up, making a face at how quickly my muscles were stiffening. "Ready to go?"

They were already grabbing the carry nets, so the question was a moot point. I stretched, twisting and turning as I limbered up. Fatigue lingered in my muscles from my earlier hike. I'd have to be careful not to stiffen up too much, or Grant might think I'd reached my porting limits.