Chapter 15
"What's going on? Calythé hasn't come back, and now Mona and Rae are gone too," Emi mused as Saffa stared at the girl in the bed. She was unconscious all the time, but her fever was gone and her ribs and body were now sound and well-fleshed.
"I have no idea," Saffa murmured, stroking her hair.
"And Thunder's gone too. It's down to the three of us," Emi continued.
"Mm-hmm," Saffa muttered absently.
"I'd better do something about this. I'm going to find them," Emi finished, picking up her staff.
"Bye," Saffa mumbled.
Emi grabbed his shoulder. "And you are coming with me."
"Awww…" Saffa scowled as she dragged him out of the room.
"Where are you two going?" Topaz demanded of them as they began to leave.
"We're off to see what's going on," Emi announced.
"I'm coming too," Topaz said, shouldering his tin staff, and they pushed open the doors and went into the wild open.
Once they entered the forest, Emi pointed her staff in the air and commanded, "Seek." A green bolt rocketed up the tungsten rod and exploded into a thousand glittering shards in the sky. Then the shards re-formed into an arrow, pointing east. "It's a nifty little trick Embrea taught me," she said smugly. "I used it to sniff out Ametha's trouble. Kind of showy and extremely flammable, but worth the risk." They set off in the direction of the arrow.
"You know, by now you'd think we would have found them," Emi scowled as the arrow led them farther east. "We've almost reached the ocean."
"You're right," Saffa agreed brightly. "Let's go home. I think that the girl needs us to defend her-" he was stopped by Topaz hoisting him into the air by the back of his robes.
"Oh no you don't," he said threateningly, golden eyes sparkling with menace. Saffa trembled so violently his teeth chattered.
"Set him down," Emi commanded. "I hear something." Suddenly she flattened herself against a tree as golden dagger thudded into the ground next to her.
A blood-curdling war shout rang out in the bush. "Come out here, you cowards!"
"Wait a minute," Emi whispered. "That sounds familiar."
The attacker ran partially into the open. "YARR! Come get a taste of my… dagger?" Emi saw a pair of violet eyes sparkle in the darkness, and a familiar, timid voice said, "Emi? Saffa? Topaz?"
"Ametha," Topaz breathed. "AMETHA!"