I took a deep breath of cool air laden with the sweet smell of olive flowers above. I stood in a sunny spot to warm up while waiting for a Saursune to arrive. The map was in my hands along with some pieces of bark.

A hint of movement out of the corner of my eye had me turning my head. A dun-colored Saursune emerged from the bushes about fifty paces away. He tilted his head and looked around as if trying to locate the group that always accompanied a porter.

I examined the Saursune carefully—I hadn't been to this place before, so I wasn't sure how friendly the locals were—but his tentative step forward was clearly an attempt not to scare me. It seemed safe enough to ask this one for directions.

Map still in hand, I slowly walked toward him. His steps picked up speed as his head came up in excitement. As he got closer, I veered to the side to set the map on a waist-high rock, angling the map so the drawings lined up with the proper directions. I hoped he didn't think I was just here to share energy in exchange for a few animals.

He came over, more slowly now, and peered at the piece of leather. I set two pieces of bark down, one had a rough outline sketch of a Saursune on four legs and the other had a human outline and a smudge of blue on their chest.

His eyes widened as he glanced at me then back at the map. Using two fingers, I slid the pieces from the central sketch of a crystal to a second one in the northwest, pointing in the correct direction. I paused for a second, then moved them to a third crystal. I placed another piece of bark down, showing a human hand on a scaled shoulder with blue smudges going down the arm to the scales. Ariel's charcoal sketch was a bit streaked by the blue flower petals we used to make the blue marks, but the drawing was very similar to Citrine's tiles.

The Saursune examined the map in keen interest, glanced to the northwest, and back at the map. He looked at me and gave a series of hisses, hums, and rumbles. At a loss, I tapped an ear with my fingers, shook my head, and shrugged. I tilted my head and put on my best confused expression.

The sounds cut off as the Saursune's gaze returned to the map, eyes narrowed as if thinking. He turned his head and touched an oval device on his armband. I shifted my weight uneasily as he hissed and hummed without looking my way.

I was stunned when his jaws stopped and quieter hisses and hums came from the small oval. I'd known the Saursunes usually carried some sort of communication device, but I hadn't realized they could actually talk to each other! I had imagined some sort of screen thing like the phones in the magazine.

After a few more exchanges, he turned back to me and gave a slow and exaggerated nod. He began walking to the northwest with a faint keen, checking over his shoulder to see if I was following.

I hid a grin and walked behind my new guide. This poor guy had probably only been hoping to get close to a porter, but instead, he ended up getting a crash course in communicating with a human and the tedious task of guiding the slow two-legged creature on a long journey.

~

The Saursune's head lifted as he sniffed the air, and I cautiously examined our surroundings. He had chased off a couple of hyenas a while ago, although the lions hadn't left as easily, and I was pretty sure some were still trailing us. I chewed on a strip of dried meat while keeping watch for anything unusual.

We came over the top of a hill, and my footsteps paused at the sight of a small airship beside a crystal. My guide glanced back at me and keened softly. The three hour hike had convinced me that I wouldn't make it back to the Olive Hill crystal without Saursune assistance, not with so many predators around. That left just one option—the crystal that sat thirty paces from the airship.

I tucked the last half of the meat back into my belt pouch, my appetite suddenly gone. My footsteps dragged as I followed my guide, hoping he would keep any Saursunes from harming me. I didn't see any at the moment, but if there was an airship here, I suspected some were around. I just needed to get to the crystal, and if he wasn't willing to take me farther, or if the Saursunes were aggressive, I could port away. The size and color of the airship were oddly familiar though...

As I got closer, a dark brown Saursune emerged from the open doorway. The female promptly trotted over with a relaxed and friendly gait I immediately recognized. The scars on her arm and right hand confirmed the impossible.

It was Citrine.

I smiled in relief, grateful beyond belief to see the familiar Saursune. She greeted me with her usual hum and rubbed against my arms as she circled around me, taking her usual spot on my right side. My guide moved away, watching with interest as Citrine walked beside me to the crystal. A stick lay very conveniently on a scratched-up section of dirt.

I ran my hands along the crystal to familiarize myself with it. Using the stick, I wrote Four Olives in the dirt since I could see four olive trees nearby. When I turned around, a green Saursune—Jasper?—was setting up maps.

I really hoped they weren't about to ask me to share energy with the airship right now. There was no way I'd make it to the next crystal.

Citrine guided me over to Jasper—I was fairly certain it was Jasper—as he set three Saursune figures and a porter beside the woven airship. A small blue gem was passed from the green figure to the dun one, and the dun one was removed from the map.

Jasper bowed his head at my guide and passed him a polished blue gem the size of a chicken egg. A few hisses and hums were exchanged, then my guide dipped his head at Jasper, bowed to me, then trotted away with the gem held in his jaws, seemingly pleased. He disappeared before I had a chance to try and offer him some energy for guiding me this far. Maybe Jasper had paid him?

When my attention returned to Jasper, he put the porter and green and brown Saursune figures inside the airship—and picked it up and set it beside another crystal, the same one I'd been asking for guidance to. He took out the porter and placed it near the crystal.

My mouth went dry. Did...did he just suggest flying me there? As in, the airship would move and the door would close? Before I could dwell on that any further, Jasper moved all the figures back into the ship.

He picked it up yet again and moved it to a second map beside the first, placing it beside a crystal that sat on a picture of what looked like a thick jungle with fruit trees. The porter was put beside the crystal and placed back inside the airship.

It was whisked to the third map with a picture of pine trees. The porter was set by the crystal, then back in the airship. This time, it was moved to the last map, where a much larger woven airship sat.

Jasper moved both Saursunes and the porter into the big airship—thankfully, it didn't show any blaster cannons—and set down a tile showing energy sharing with an airship crystal. Then he moved all three back into the small airship and moved it back here, where we currently stood.

My mind felt numb as he set down five braided circles and lined up over twenty round picture tokens to pick from. He tilted his head and looked at me, although I was still staring at the map. He repeated everything again, which only confirmed the suggested trade.

He was offering three new crystal locations and my choice of five items if I'd ride in the airship and share energy with a bigger airship's crystal. They'd also promised to bring me back here.

So much for my break away from Orange Flower and airships.

Sliding the previous setup to the side, he set the brown Saursune and porter at our current location and slid them across the map to the third crystal I'd originally wanted to go to. He touched the porter's hands to the crystal, then removed it from the map, leaving just the brown Saursune there. No trade items or braids were set beside it.

Sitting back, he tilted his head as he regarded both set ups.

I was being given a choice? It seemed like it. I could either take the larger trade or opt for a walking escort to the other crystal. My eyes strayed to the round pictures, halfway hoping the choices would convince me to walk to the distant crystal. I should have known better.

There were a variety of items; from large sacks of grain, vegetables, and fruit, to various animals, and more tools like shovels and axes for chopping wood. I leaned over to peer at one image; five spears and several coils of rope in front of a faded image of a big fish and a boar. If the spears and rope were as sturdy as the shovels, we could probably use them to catch one of those big jungle crocs instead of a wild pig. That was tempting.

Another image showed three clam shells with brown stuff inside; below it showed an unfortunately realistic picture of a human arm with what looked like dog bites, an arm covered in the brown stuff, and an arm with faded scars. My breath caught in my throat. It was healing salve, possibly the same type used on Janette's arms.

The Saursunes seemed willing to tend porter injuries, but others might not be so lucky. The value of this salve was beyond measure if a hunter or someone else got hurt. Janette's group had been bitten by the feral dogs, which were healing well, but otherwise, there hadn't been any injuries among the hunters or foragers lately. That small miracle was almost certainly due to the Saursunes chasing away predators. Still, injuries happened, and infections could easily be fatal.

But such valuable items came at a cost, and the price was that I had to ride inside the airship. I sent the machine an uneasy glance. The door was still open, and as best as I could tell from here, the interior looked the same as the last time I'd seen it.

Had my dun-colored guide or any other Saursune tried orchestrating this trade, I would have flatly refused. Which was probably why Citrine and Jasper had shown up, and possibly why they had arranged similar trades before, slowly working their way up to something like this. I'd just given them the perfect opening to offer this trade by asking for help reaching other crystals.

My gaze returned to the various crystals and circle pictures. I really didn't want to ride in the airship, but each of those stops benefitted me and the village. Any attempt to shorten the trade or try to negotiate out the bigger airship crystal would likely cost me a new crystal location. Right now, those new locations could be our key to feeding ourselves without relying on the Saursunes.

I exhaled slowly, my heart already pumping harder at the thought of flying in an airship. I had to be insane, but the new locations were more than what I had been asking for. The salve itself would be invaluable. The spears and rope would let the hunters catch the big crocs, which would provide a ton of meat without trading for it each day. Axes would make collecting firewood much easier. And there were so many options for food.

All I had to do was ride in an airship and share energy with a bigger ship crystal.

It sounded so simple. I glanced at the airship again. These aliens were going to give me an anxiety attack at this rate.

Taking a deep breath, I reached out with shaking hands, hardly able to believe I was doing this. The salve was my first choice. Leaving the weaponish things for last, just so they didn't make any assumptions, I picked a sack of almonds. Next was a sack of barley. Both were extremely nutritious and packed full of calories.

I gingerly picked up the picture showing three axes chopping into a log. My eyes flickered across the remaining pictures, really hoping this wasn't a test. I chose the hunting gear as my final item.

Holding my breath, I looked up at Jasper, who merely nodded while seeming pleased, possibly because he had managed to bribe me into this arrangement. Citrine nudged my arm and stepped toward the airship.

What had I gotten myself into?

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Update: Wattpad has temporarily removed the last ten paywalls on Between The Crystals from Feb 3 to Apr 1 as part of its most recent promomotion! So you can read the latest new chapters for free!

(And, no, the story won't be completed in April. After, the last ten chapters will once again be paywalled until completion, but if it helps, the phone app can earn coins in the coin pouch by watching ads or playing games to help you unlock new chapters if you don't want to wait for them to become free!) Happy reading!

On a different sidenote, Wattpad has also informed me that the very last ten chapters of Between The Crystals will never become free - but I will post a shoutout about a month in advance so you can save up coins and make sure you catch up to the free chapters before paywalls cover 80% of the story, which will happen about a week after it's fully posted/completed.