Between The Crystals

Ch 62 Return to the Town

Mere minutes after I got back, a shrub rustled as an armored brown Saursune emerged. I wracked my brain—had the suspicious fighter I'd encountered here before been brown? I thought so. Either way, it was a Saursune who wasn't acting aggressively.

After bowing my head, I gestured to the stretcher and held out my hand. He regarded me before dropping to all fours—much to my relief—and padding closer. The way his head avoided my hand convinced me it was the same one I'd first met when bringing Janette here.

His armored shoulder slid under my hand. It would have to do. Even as I felt my energy shift with his delicate siphoning, I followed the feeling and very, very carefully poured some energy through the link. His head, which had been looking over my shoulder, turned to stare directly at me.

I shifted uneasily under his intent gaze, yet he didn't pull away or even growl. It was hard to share energy with the armor between my hand and his hide, and when his siphoning slowed, I struggled to maintain it.

As if feeling the difference, he tilted his head and shifted to the side, letting my hand touch the much thinner armor at the base of his neck. That made it easier, and I tried to keep the flow steady.

He regarded me for a while longer, then lowered his head slightly and took a step to the side. My hand slid onto the unprotected hide on his neck. The direct contact was like night and day.

The energy moved far more readily; instead of me mostly trying to hold onto the connection, I just had to control the flow. It still wasn't easy, but it wasn't nearly as difficult.

I kept careful tabs on my body at the same time. It was early in the day, and I was fresh, but I didn't want to share too much. Someone would definitely notice if I was yawning.

I shared as much as I dared, and the moment my legs felt the least bit tired, I stopped. Despite trying my best, I couldn't measure or even understand how much energy I had left. It was still a mystery.

Lowering my hand, I bowed my head. "Thank you for helping her."

The fighter stepped back and sat on his haunches, and now that I wasn't distracted, I noticed several others watching from around the crystal. When had they shown up?

They might have been watching peacefully, but there were still too many Saursunes for me. Crouching down by the crystal, I grabbed the stretcher handle and touched a spire as I silently directed my mind to Sunrise Village. The air around me hazed over, obscuring my audience from sight.

The abandoned cliffs appeared, and the soot drawings caught my eye. I gazed at what should have been dire warnings. Mere months ago, I would have considered them an accurate foretelling of what would happen if any village were found or if any human was caught away from the crystal. But now...

I looked down at the stretcher still grasped in my hand. Perhaps the elderly porter was right. Perhaps there were more changes in the future.

It wouldn't erase the dark past, nor the pain I'd felt when losing friends to their claws. But the chance for a brighter future beckoned to me. One where my hunters didn't have to run the second they thought a Saursune was in the vicinity.

I couldn't change the past. Nor could they. But they seemed to be trying to make up for it. They had saved one of my hunters, guided two back, saved my friend from her deathbed, and had provided enough food to keep the rationing from reaching starvation levels.

What was Liam's favorite saying? Actions speak louder than words? I pursed my lips as I recalled how many raiding villages had been decimated recently. Which actions should I focus on the most?