Chapter Thirteen
I gave a mirthless laugh as the deep hole in the ground came into view. It was all coming together in my mind and I was watching it unfold in front of me. The warriors tensed around me as they all started to understand what was going on.
"There will be holes like this all the way through the forest right up to where the prison was. That's how so many of them survived the fire. All they had to do was find one of these holes and drop down into the chamber."
"What about the tunnel, though?" Ty asked, "You were so wrapped up in feeling like it took you further than you thought. Did you feel like you walked this far?"
"Definitely not. The Klimnu definitely put a transporter in that tunnel that brought us from there all the way to here in between steps. But I don't think that it was meant to be used for getting the Klimnu from there to here or the other way around. If it was, you would have noticed them coming from that side of the compound."
"Why did they put it there?"
"I think it was for whoever was helping them along with Ullie. It had to be someone small enough to get through the tunnel easily and someone who would have access to another transporter that wouldn't be noticeable. Someone that no one would notice and no one would miss."
Suddenly Zuri's eyes widened.
"I know exactly who it was," she said, her voice sounding gravelly with fury, "Does anyone know what time it is?"
"Mid-afternoon," Ero told her.
"We don't have much time. Ero, I need you to get to the launch platform now. Don't let the shuttle leave."
Ero took off with such intensity that he was invisible within seconds.
"Do we all need to go?" Pyra asked.
"Two of you come with me to the launch platform. Some of you start finding as many of these holes as you can. The rest of you, find every warrior in the compound and get them to the meeting hall. Leia and Samira will meet you there and fill you in."
I watched as everyone dissipated to follow Zuri's instructions. Ty held my hand for a few lingering seconds and then gave it a squeeze.
"I'm going to help them find the holes," he said.
"No, we need you in the meeting hall."
"Why?"
"You said you wanted to fight. This is your chance."
We met eyes and without saying anything else, we started running toward the meeting hall. Soon I was stumbling over my own feet trying to keep up with him, and he swept me up to put me on his back so that he could carry me the rest of the way. I didn't know if I was ever going to get used to being carried around like a rag doll, but part of me loved feeling so small and having him take control like that.
By the time we got to the meeting hall, the main room was loud with the voices of all of the warriors of the clan except for those who were back in the woods finding all of the holes that led down into the forest chamber. Pyra hadn't bothered to go the stage on the other side of the room. Instead, he was standing in the middle of one of the long tables, staring down at the warriors.
"Listen to her!" he shouted, "All of you be quiet and listen to her!"
Finally the warriors quieted down and started to settle onto the benches. I saw Leia sitting at one of the tables, her illustration of the underground forest in front of her. She was adding labels to it, pointing out what we had realized each of the elements was.
"Ty?" Pyra said when he noticed him standing there beside me.
"I want to fight," Ty said.
"You aren't a warrior, Ty. You don't have to do this."
"I want to. I think that I could make a difference."
"Show him," I said to Ty.
"Show me what?" Pyra asked.
"I'm not sure," Ty said to me.
"This is your chance, Ty. You were born to do this. You have a gift unlike anyone else on this planet and you owe it to your father to embrace it."
"What is she talking about, Ty?" Pyra asked.
I saw Ty turn back to the warrior and then look over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed as I had seen them do earlier. An instant later a massive sword fell from the hooks holding it on the stone wall and shot forward, narrowly missing hitting Pyra. Ty snatched it out of the air and lowered it slowly to his side. The warrior's erupted in shouts and Pyra struggled to get control of them again.
Before he could respond, the doors to the meeting room swung open and I heard the scuffle of people entering. I turned around and felt my heart constrict painfully.