Alien Chronicles 2 - The Crimson Claw (44 page)

He lay there, panting, his eyes squinted with pain. He had already packed snow on his leg wound, the best possible emergency treatment. “I think it’s a graze,” he said, wincing. “Didn’t take my leg off.”

Relieved, Ampris pressed her hand to his shoulder, letting the gesture convey what mere words could not. Kneeling there in the snow, while the lab burned steadily, shooting up smoke and ashes, she felt as though she had reached a distant place after a long, long journey.

Elrabin touched the Eye of Clarity swinging around her neck. “We did it,” he said, trying to laugh and wincing again. “We’re free, Goldie. Just got to climb a mountain with my busted leg and yours, and what’s that? Hey, freedom. Sounds good, don’t it?”

“It sounds very good.”

He sighed, parting his jaws in a grin. “It’s over at last.”

Ampris straightened. “No, Elrabin,” she said gently and lifted her gaze toward the mountains looming dark and massive beyond the flying snow. Her heart swelled with emotion. “Freedom means it’s far from over. We are just beginning.”