Chapter Twenty-ThreeKelia had drifted off into a dreamless sleep mere moments after Maeve and Nyla left the crew quarters. The thin mattress beneath her, though not as soft as the lyrax pelts she normally slumbered on, welcomed her aching body comfortably. Her last thought before succumbing was to say a silent prayer of gratitude to Arantha.
Waking was far less pleasant. The hum of the Talon's engines gave way to an earsplitting cacophony that jolted her awake. The sound, which her exhausted mind likened to a rockslide, was accompanied by a jarring crash that threw her body into the air several inches. The lights flickered on and off, creating a nightmarish world of metal and shadows.
She clutched the metal bedrail beneath her mattress, clinging for dear life as the crunching, scraping s
