Between The Crystals

Ch 121 Unexpected Destination

The morning sun shone on the upper edges of the cliffs as I chewed a strip of dried crocodile meat and waited for my group to gather. The earliest hunters were already lingering nearby.

When Grant came out of the cave where all of his records were kept, I asked him, "Do you still plan on sending me to Beyond The River for wood?"

"That's the idea. If the Saursunes show up and still have those live chickens—presuming you're okay with trading—that would be an ideal time to get them."

I smirked at him. "We'll be playing with axes. At this point, if they didn't show up, I'd start to worry."

"Be careful if they ask you to do anything unusual. I don't mind if you port the Saursunes to abandoned villages, but I advise avoiding Sunrise Village for the foreseeable future. I'm not sure how they moved that crystal, but the timing makes me uneasy."

Cruz joined the conversation from where he sat nearby. "They found us out in the middle of the desert trying to reach a distant crystal and then saw us staring at the collapsed cliff at Landslide Place. Even an alien could have figured out that we were disappointed."

Grant said, "From what Natalie described last night, they pretty much built a village, but they're currently missing the key ingredient: people, and more importantly, porters."

Cruz nodded amiably, not as concerned as Grant was. "At least there was a crystal and trees, so it doesn't match the location the kidnapped children described. My guess is that they built it and are hoping we'll move in since we were clearly looking for a new spot."

Grant frowned. "That's my guess, but they picked the Sunrise Village crystal—the same one Natalie tends to use a lot. I can't see that being a coincidence. Are they just going to leave it as an option or will they try to force us to move? If they can move one crystal, they can move more, and that particularly worries me."

I pulled my knees against my chest. These points and observations had all been made last night, and caused more than a bit of minor panic among the villagers. When I had taken the warning to other villages, none of them had noticed any other crystals being moved, but if the Saursunes had done it once, it was probably just a matter of time until it happened again.

"Please be careful," Grant quietly told me. "They didn't pick that crystal randomly."

I thought back to my unintentional trip with Jasper—which they didn't know about—and nodded wordlessly. Others assumed the Saursunes knew I used that crystal because I'd ported the weapons there or because some undetectable trackers had gone there a few too many times. Regardless of the reasons, I had no plans to go back to that crystal.

The villagers were even more petrified after hearing a crystal had been moved elsewhere, yet none had tried taking me to the side for a quiet chat. Grant had flatly refused to keep me in the village, and Orson, Edna, and my hunting groups had backed his decision. The whole situation just gave me a headache although it seemed to be dying down. Finally.

As more people arrived, Grant split everyone into groups. I had ten strong individuals to chop wood, all of whom had been brave enough to help with the croc hunts when the Saursunes were around. Grant sent the rest of my regular group with other porters.

The diggers gathered to the side, so I began ferrying them to Eastern Star while the other groups went out. When I finished transporting the diggers, I sat on the resting hide for a quick break.

After a while, I got to my feet and said, "Let's get going. I can rest by the crystal since I know you won't let me help."

Liam gave me a half smile. "You can help by keeping that cat away from the logs. She likes the strapping on my boots a bit too much."