Storm Fall

by Tracy Banghart

  As she followed Daakon down the hall, Calix tagging behind like a lost puppy, she fantasized about pushing them both out of a moving terran. The thought calmed her.

  In the Equipment Room, they filled packs with nutrigels and water-treatment gel, ready-to-eat meals and mender gear. From the armory, they collected solaguns, utility knives, and sythins—the narrow rods would incapacitate but not kill, which could be useful if they needed to capture a Safaran for interrogation. Dysis refused to speak to Daakon or even look his way. She couldn’t. If she did, she’d remember his ice-dragon tattoo, the warmth of his skin under her fingers.

  Gods, she still wanted him. But she hated him now, too.

  After they’d collected their supplies, they suited up in body armor and met Major Vadim on the landing pad. The wind whipped around them as they walked out into the night, sending a chill down Dysis’s spine.

  “We can’t risk flying into enemy territory to search for Lieutenant Haan by traditional means,” Major Vadim said. “I’ll get you as close as I can to the border, then you’re on your own.” He nodded to Daakon. “The Lieutenant has the coordinates of your search area. We were able to narrow it down some, based on wind currents at the time of the crash.”

  Wind currents? They’d be searching for weeks if that was all they had to go on. “What about her emergency transponder? Shouldn’t that give you a precise location?”

  Major Vadim cleared his throat. His hand pounded against his thigh, over and over. She wondered if he’d have a bruise. “She hasn’t activated hers yet.”

  Dysis’s stomach sank. That wasn’t a good sign. “Why aren’t you going with us, sir?”

  His mouth tightened. “I have to run operations here. As much as I’d like to be on the ground, it’s more important that I make sure you can get back out. Nothing can go wrong on this mission. You understand? Nothing. We have to find her.”

  Dysis nodded. The look in his eyes told her everything. She had no idea if Aris was in love with Major Vadim, but Major Vadim was definitely in love with Aris.

  “Do not contact me until you find Lieutenant Haan,” Major Vadim continued. “We’ll have only one shot at a retrieval after your signal—we can’t be sure our comm lines are safe right now. It is imperative they don’t know she’s alive until we get her to safety. As soon as you find her, hit your emergency transmitters immediately. We’ll get you all out of there, whatever it takes.”

  “So we’ll have no way to communicate, except with our emergency beacons?” Dysis asked, touching hers gingerly. “What if you get more intel or a better location after we leave?”

  Beside her, Calix and Daakon said nothing. She glanced at Calix; he, at least, looked equally unhappy with the plan.

  Major Vadim bent to grab a bag and tossed it into the transport. “I’ve assessed the risk. Until we’ve verified that our comm security is safe, we have to assume all of our transmissions will be intercepted. We suspect Elom and his men were actively targeting the Lieutenant. If they know she’s alive, they’ll go after her. And with their resources and knowledge of the region, they’ll find her first. Get it, Specialist?”

  Dysis nodded, even though she’d rather go in, guns flaming, and leave destruction in her wake.

  You better be out there, Aris. Dysis heaved her bag onto her shoulder and stepped into the transport. Calix did the same, his expression filled with determination. Such a shame he hadn’t shown that kind of commitment four months ago.

  In silence, everyone took their seats and strapped themselves in. With Daakon up front as Major Vadim’s gunner, Dysis sat in the open cargo area on an uncomfortable chair that unfolded from the jet’s wall. Facing Calix.

  She kept her gaze locked on the ridged metal flooring between them. She couldn’t help bouncing her knees. Energy coursed through her. The trip took just under an hour, and she spent the time clearing her mind, focusing on the mission. It didn’t matter than she’d be alone with Daakon and Calix for days, maybe weeks. It didn’t matter that Aris hadn’t hit her transponder.

  Dysis was going to find her. She was going to bring Aris home.

  Chapter 18

  With her meal eaten and the fire put out, Aris stuffed a couple small chunks of piggin into her emergency pack. She was still weak, even with the food. Her swollen wrist and the oozing cut on her forearm sent heat rushing through her whole system. Even her toes felt too warm.

  But she had to keep moving. She needed to find water and get closer to the border, in case her transponder wasn’t working because it was out of range. At the very least, she needed to put some distance between her and the campsite. If the Safarans sent out search parties, it would be obvious someone had been here.

  As night fell, she set off into the trees, her medpack cinched to her waist, torch in hand, and the chute under her arm. She walked as steadily and quietly as she could. Every few minutes, she risked shining the torch ahead to check for ravines and looking down at the compass to be sure she was still heading east.

  The dark and the forest pressed close, and every noise sounded loud as thunder. The rustle of an animal became the stomping footfalls of an army. The chirp of a bird became a scream in her ears. The isolation tore at her resolve, fear and doubt niggling at her to stop, convincing her that this strange, black forest would be where she died.

  Aris had never been one for hiking or camping. In Lux, she’d taken slow, careful walks on the beach with Calix, or twilight flights in her wingjet to watch the moon rise. Her nights were illuminated by the cool glow of Lux’s raised pathways and peopled by the familiar faces of her friends and family. Her world had never been as black and featureless as this desolate, uninhabited tract of land.

  The harsh beat of wings echoed above her. She ducked, heart racing. A few seconds later, a creature screeched as the bird moved in for the kill. Aris pushed herself forward. She didn’t shine her light toward the sound; she had no desire to see the monsters that walked with her.

  Her mind clung to the memory of Milek’s arms. Milek’s kiss. The way he looked at her, as if the world began and ended in her eyes. She would make it over those blighted mountains because she had finally found the life she wanted. A calling, a job she loved, friends she respected, and a man who appreciated her strength. She refused to let this nightmare tear her life away.

  Meanwhile, the questions surrounding her present circumstances dogged her. She should never have been shot down. No one had any idea she was even there. She was in an invisible wingjet, for Gods’ sakes. Following covert orders. Everything had happened so fast—the storm, the cloaking tech failing, the attack—there was no way a Safaran jet or emplacement could have caught sight of her at that exact moment. They had to have been looking for her.

  How would they have known?

  And where was Elom?

  She’d seen no evidence of his camp, beyond the attack itself. Still, if the intel was correct, Elom and his men were out here somewhere.

  Aris clenched the torch tighter, fear feathering along every nerve at the thought.

  Night brought a chill to the air, but the dry heat of the desert still lived under her skin. Her arm pulsed in time with her heartbeat, and a haze further confused the strange forms of trees and boulders that rose in front of her as she walked.

  Suddenly, the dry, graveled dirt slid out from under Aris’s boots. She went down hard on one knee. Her panting breath filled the darkness, excruciatingly loud. A muffled thud behind her sent ice down her spine. Was it a footstep? Was someone out here with her?

  Her vision warped and wavered. She licked her cracked lips, dying for a sip of water.

  Maybe she was dying.

  Behind her, another thud and a rustle. Something was chasing her. She didn’t have the courage to turn on the torch and find out what. Instead, she staggered to her feet and ran.

  Somehow, in the heat of her fever dream, every noise took on the weight of running feet. The wind became Elom’s breath on the back of her neck. He was after her, he’d found
her, and he wanted to make her pay.

  Aris whimpered as she slid awkwardly down another incline, jarring her already bruised body. Trees loomed at her, yanking the chute from her arms, cracking against her injured wrist. She cried out but kept running, chased by a demon with Elom’s face. The torch disappeared, torn from her hand by a claw of branch.

  For hours, or maybe it was days, she ran. Her chest burned. Her arm went numb.

  And then she saw it. A tiny light flickering through the trees.

  In that moment, Aris forgot she was in enemy territory. Forgot that a light, in Safara, almost certainly meant danger. She tripped, righted herself, and took off toward the small break in the sinister dark.

  A few minutes later she stumbled out of the trees, into a clearing lit by several dim lights. Aris pulled out her solagun, her blurred eyes searching for movement. The world undulated before her. Shadows formed and dissipated like giant snakes slithering across the ground. In the sky above, a strange crimson and orange light echoed the swirling chaos of her mind. How had she gotten here? Where was she?

  She rocked on unsteady legs. And that was it, her undoing.

  When she stopped running, the demon caught her.

  Elom reached out, his bald, brown head lit by the glowing sky, and wrenched her bad arm. Pain exploded through her, so fast and fierce she couldn’t possibly stay conscious, however desperately she wanted to save herself. She screamed as she collapsed, the sound chasing her into the black.

  Chapter 19

  “What exactly are you saying?” Pyralis gave Lieutenant Jax Latza a hard look. The spy sat across from Pyralis at the conference table, flanked by Commanders Freni and Quin, two of Atalanta’s senior Military officials. Latza had recently been reactivated, and this meeting had been organized at his request.

  “I’m saying that we have no idea where the resources are going. Ward Balias has been diverting funds and supplies for months, but despite all of my digging, I can’t figure out what the hell he’s doing with them.”

  Pyralis drummed his fingers on the table. “Are Meridia and Castalia sending him more resources?”

  Commander Freni shook his head. “If they are, we haven’t found evidence of it.”

  “And your sources have given you nothing?” Pyralis asked.

  “There have been disappearances, more than usual.” Latza’s brows drew together, creating deep furrows along his forehead. “Some unexplained deaths. I’ve lost two of my best contacts within the last month, and the others aren’t willing to talk. I know the money has to be going somewhere.”

  “Thank you for the information, Lieutenant.” Pyralis stood. There wasn’t much he could do with the intel, but it was certainly troubling. “I’ll ask my tech specialists to try to run down what they can on their end.”

  Lieutenant Latza bowed. He left quietly, his steps still a little jerky. The man had been through hell; Pyralis would always be grateful for the part he’d played in Galena’s rescue.

  After Commander Freni updated him on the mission to recover Aris Haan, the latest troop positions, and other pressing intelligence, Pyralis dismissed his commanders. With a sigh, he sat back in the stiff chair. Outside the wall of windows, the lights of Panthea glittered.

  He’d been staying at the capitol the past few days and was already tired of the city. It was all so frenetic: Metroline trains streaked across the landscape in too-bright sweeps of light, while shopkeepers’ voices created a cacophony as they hawked their wares. The war hadn’t yet touched the gleaming skyscrapers and busy streets, but his nightmares were haunted by the day it would.

  And somewhere deep within the high-security prison that huddled at the edge of the city, his wife wrote him endless letters he wouldn’t read. They arrived almost every day, sometimes several at a time. At first, he’d read them, poring over Bett’s large, sloppy handwriting as he tried to decipher her rantings. He hoped she might offer some bit of information that could help them fight Ward Balias. But it was all accusation and demand and persuasion. Begging him to visit her, swearing that she still loved him, ranting at him when he didn’t answer.

  Now whenever a new letter arrived, Pyralis let it sit on his desk for hours before throwing it away, unopened. He’d almost asked his assistant, Kellan, to stop delivering them half a dozen times, but he hadn’t quite brought himself to do so yet. Galena understood why he couldn’t. Without that last, tiny connection, it would be like Bett had died. And as angry as he was, as little as he cared for her, he didn’t wish her dead.

  He pressed a button in the recessed control panel of the conference table. “Kellan, could you come here, please?”

  The door slid open immediately to admit his russet-haired, whip-thin assistant. “Yes, Ward Nekos?”

  “Any word from Ward Vadim yet?” Pyralis asked. Outside, darkness had settled fully over Panthea.

  “She’s expecting you in Sibetza tomorrow morning.” Kellan’s neutral voice betrayed nothing, but he had to know Pyralis and Galena’s relationship was more than the politely professional one they cultivated for news vids.

  Pyralis appreciated his discretion. “Perfect. Please arrange a terran to the airfield for first light.”

  “Certainly, Ward,” Kellan said.

  “Thank you.” With a sigh, Pyralis stood and stretched his stiff legs. He looked out over the city for another few minutes before heading several floors down to his suite. All the while, Lieutenant Latza’s words echoed in his mind. Missing resources, mysterious disappearances. Add that to the too-frequent sightings of Ward Balias throughout Safara, and Lieutenant Haan’s attack. . . . He shook his head wearily as he sank onto his bed.

  It’d be a miracle if sleep found him tonight.

  Chapter 20

  “So,” Dysis said, hauling herself over another pile of boulders. “Just so I’m clear. If we’re hurt or attacked by Safaran soldiers before we find Aris, we don’t hit our emergency beacons. We just . . . deal?”

  Her pack wrenched her shoulders as she jumped from the last rock to the ground. Major Vadim had dropped them just over the Safaran border at the foot of the mountains the night before. They’d been up with the dawn and had been hiking for hours.

  Daakon and Calix didn’t answer her. Just like they hadn’t answered her last five questions. And the silence was getting to her.

  There wasn’t a chance in hell she’d hit her transmitter before she found Aris. But she had to say something. All this macho, stoic business wouldn’t cut it. They had to work together. Communicate.

  Daakon paused to consult the map on his digitablet. The morning light gave his skin a grayish cast. She hurried to his side and peered at the digitab. “Have we reached the search zone yet?”

  He started to pull the device away, but at the anger building in her face, he thought better of it.

  Smart man.

  Instead, he pointed to a black circle on the map that looked to be several miles north of them. “That’s where the wreckage of Lieutenant Haan’s wingjet was found,” he said grudgingly. “We’re only a few miles away from the edge of the search area.”

  Highlighted in pale blue, the search area was not as vast as she’d originally feared, but it was still plenty big. It arced east from the wreckage toward the mountain, and south toward the blinking red dot that indicated their location.

  “Is it all just empty land, like it is here?” Calix stepped up next to Daakon’s other side so he could look at the map, too.

  Daakon ran a fingertip across the blue, zooming into the map. “There’s a single village to the east, at the base of the mountains. Here.” He pointed. “Otherwise, yes. It’s just more of this.”

  Dysis looked around. Scrubby, gnarled trees. Sandy dirt. Rock falls every few yards, like the mountains had started to crumble. “Let’s keep going,” she said, trying to ignore the sense that eyes were watching them from the shadows that climbed the hills.

  As they crossed into the search area, they headed farther west, skirting the village.

/>   Dysis studied the terrain, the twisted branches of the trees, searching for signs of Aris or her chute. “It’s been three days,” she said, more to herself than the others. “What’s she eating? Drinking? There’s nothing here.”

  Worry ate at her as they made their way, slowly and methodically, toward the crash site.

  “She’s likely in rough shape, whether she was injured or not,” Calix said, deigning to reply at last. “But she’s clever. She’ll find a way to collect enough water to stave off her thirst. And we’ve passed a few plants that could be eaten, if necessary. She’s surviving.”

  Dysis scoffed. “You have quite a lot of faith in the skills of a girl you think should be sheltered away, boxed up like a doll.”

  Calix whirled toward her and barked, “Aris is not a doll.”

  Dysis didn’t back down. “Did you ever tell her that? Treat her like that? I don’t for one second think that you actually believe—”

  “You don’t know anything about what I believe,” he growled. “You don’t know anything about me at all.”

  “I know everything about you!” Dysis hissed, mindful that they were in enemy territory. She stepped up to him, invading his space. “Who do you think listened to her cry in the dark, worrying over you? Say what you want about her moving on quickly. You totally rejected everything she became. You made it easy.”

  His face went red. “I know! Don’t you get it? I know. I messed up. I . . .” Suddenly, all the fight left him. His shoulders slumped. “I know it’s too late for us. I’m not trying to win Aris back. I just . . . I want to apologize.”

  Dysis’s mouth fell open. “What?”

  “Is it really so hard to believe?” Calix glanced at her, an odd arrogance filling his expression. “You think you know Aris . . . after what, a few months? She and I have known each other since we were children. We were friends first, before we loved each other.” He cocked his head. “Do you even know what that kind of love is like?”