by Jasmine Walt
I spared one last look at Annia and Fenris, then bounded forward, heading up into the tree-dotted hillside. Dirt and rocks shifted beneath my paws as I ran, and I opened up my senses to the wilderness. Birds twittered overhead, branches rustled as a squirrel hopped from one tree to another, and the scent of deer droppings mixed with the fresher scents of evergreens and shrubs urged me onward.
I tracked the deer droppings further north to a clearing, where a herd of deer grazed. I crouched in the tall grass for a little while, scoping out the options, and my eyes settled on an older female with a limp in her rear right leg. Settled on my choice, I sprang from my hiding place and bounded straight for her. The herd immediately took off, galloping to safety, and the female tried to follow, but her leg slowed her down as I’d expected. Within seconds I was on her, taking her down, my claws digging into her hide as she struggled vainly. Clamping my jaws around her long neck, I shook her neck to break the spine, the killing blow. A crack rent the air, and as the deer went limp, I pierced her jugular with my fangs. As her sweet blood coated my tongue, I was briefly overwhelmed by the urge to feast right then and there, but I held back. This kill wasn’t just for myself, after all – it was for Annia and Fenris as well.
“Wow,” Annia remarked as I dragged the deer back to camp. “You really know how to impress a girl, don’t you?” She was sitting on a log in front of a campfire, stirring something in a pot.
“I told Annia to wait for you, but she insisted on using some of the rations,” Fenris responded as I tossed my head, annoyed that Annia was cooking something else. He was sitting next to her on the log, though at a respectable distance. To the left, I noticed that the tents had been set up, and the balloon was properly secured.
“Oh well. More for you and me, I guess. Come on then, let’s eat.”
Something very much like reluctance crossed Fenris’s face, but then he nodded and stood. I dragged the deer carcass aside out of respect for Annia, and waited until Fenris had changed into wolf form before ripping into it. Shifters need a lot of food to begin with, and on top of that I’d been using my magic all day, so I was ravenous. Between the two of us, we managed to pick the bones clean in short order.
“Enjoy your meal?” Annia asked after we’d trotted back over to the campfire.
I bumped my head against her leg and made a purring sound in answer, then curled up by her feet and stared into the fire. With a full belly and nothing pressingly urgent to do, sleeping in front of the campfire sounded like a really nice idea right about now.
“I’m going to explore for a bit,” Fenris told me. I cracked open an eye to see him standing under the trees, swishing his tail. “You’ll be staying here with Annia?”
“Yeah. I’ve had my share of exercise, thanks.”
Fenris inclined his head once, then bounded off into the forest. I didn’t know where he got his energy from, but then again I’d done most of the steering today, so it stood to reason he wasn’t as pooped as I was.
“So,” Annia said just as I was about to drift off, “what’s the deal with Fenris?”
Huffing, I lifted my head to glare at her. Couldn’t a girl take a catnap? It wasn’t like we could actually communicate while I was in beast form.
Annia only lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, give me a break and change back already. I’m not sitting out here by myself and talking to the air when I’ve got you for company.”
I made a disgruntled noise in the back of my throat, but did as she asked and changed back into human form. Once I was on two legs again, I sat down on the log beside her and stared up at the sky. The sun had fully set, leaving only a tinge of purple at the edges of the dark sky. Out here in the wilderness, I could see more stars than sky, many of them more luminous than even the waxing moon hanging above our heads.
“Not sure what you want me to tell you about Fenris,” I finally said. “I don’t really know much about him.”
“You have to know something,” Annia said, looking at me curiously. “From what I understand, you two are the only shifters who spend any substantial length of time in the Palace. What’s up with that?”
“Well, I know why I ended up in the Palace,” I said, playing with the ends of my ponytail. I’d scooped my hair back and tied it with a leather band hours ago – the winds had kept blowing it in my face and making visibility difficult while I was steering the balloon. “The Chief Mage took an interest in my abilities, and he hasn’t gotten tired of me yet. But I have no idea why he and Fenris are friends. It’s not like Fenris is half-mage like me.”
“If he’s not a mage, then how is it that he was able to help you steer the balloon?” Annia asked, puzzled. “I thought you had to have magic in order to do that. Isn’t that what Noria said?”
“I…” I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. I didn’t have an answer for that. “He must have picked up some kind of trick from Iannis.”
“How do you know he isn’t a hybrid like you?”
“He’s not.” I shook my head emphatically – of this I was certain. “He smells like a full-blooded shifter to me.” I slanted my eyes toward her. “Why are you so curious, anyway?”
“I like to know who I’m working with.” Annia’s lips curved into a small smile. “And besides, I’m curious as to why he’s so stiff and fidgety around me. If it weren’t for you, I’d think he’d never been around a woman before.”
“I think he’s just not used to new people.” But my own lips twitched, and I had to stifle a laugh. “Just how ‘stiff’ was he under that blanket anyway?”
Annia snickered. “He wasn’t that kind of stiff, you pervert.” Her dark eyes twinkled with mirth as she shook her head at me. “In fact, I have to wonder if he’s even into women.”
“Wait a second.” My mouth formed a little ‘o’ of horror as the implications of that dawned on me. “All the time he and Iannis spend together…do you think…?”
“Do you think what?” Fenris asked, emerging from the forest in human form.
“Nothing,” Annia and I said in unison.
“Hmm.” Fenris’s yellow eyes narrowed, but he didn’t press the matter further. “I suggest we get to sleep soon, so we can get an early start in the morning. The sooner we find Iannis, the better.”
“Right.” We cleaned up what mess we’d made from dinner, then established a watch schedule – Fenris was first, I was second, and Annia was taking third. Fenris settled down by the fire, and Annia and I bedded down in the tents, which were each only large enough to accommodate a single person. As I fastened the tent’s entrance, I took a moment to study Fenris’s profile. I’d always thought of him as Iannis’s stalwart companion, a trusted advisor and friend. But what if they were more? What if Fenris’s motivation for finding Iannis went beyond simple friendship?
But if that’s the case, then why would Fenris have encouraged Iannis to exchange serapha charms with me?
“Do you need something, Sunaya?” Fenris asked, turning to look my way.
“No.” I shook my head, my cheeks flushing a little at having been caught staring. “I just…it’s nothing. Goodnight.”
I finished zipping up the tent, then flopped back onto my bedroll. I was chasing my thoughts in circles around my head. If Fenris was in an intimate relationship with Iannis, he wouldn’t have wanted us to exchange serapha charms. I hadn’t known this at the time, but serapha charms were usually exchanged between engaged or married couples – they were a semi-permanent method of binding two souls together, so that each would always be able to find the other. Even though I hadn’t known that at the time Iannis and I had made the charms, Fenris had. In fact, it had been his suggestion.
The only explanation that made sense was that Fenris and Iannis weren’t lovers. I was worrying about nothing.
It doesn’t matter, I told myself firmly. You’re all in this together regardless. Wondering about Iannis’s relationship with Fenris wasn’t going to help me find him. Putting the matter aside, I forced myself to relax into slee
p. There would be plenty of time to think about these things once Iannis was safely recovered. Or so I hoped.
7
The next day started off well enough. We rose early, broke camp, and managed to get the balloon into the air with only two false starts. Not too bad for a couple of amateurs. It was just as cold up in the air as it had been yesterday, but Fenris and I took turns sharing the bedroll with Annia and we made do.
As I steered the balloon again, looking out over the rugged Aziana landscape, I wondered how Iannis was faring. I assumed he was with the other delegates, but of course I could have been wrong about that. The rest of them could have all died, or they could have been separated somehow. Worse, the Resistance might have taken them alive to be tortured for information.
They’d have to have a very strong mage on their side to pull that off, I mused to myself. I still couldn’t imagine someone as powerful as Iannis being taken captive by human means. A renegade mage on their side was the only logical explanation for how they’d taken a whole dirigible full of mages captive, if that was what had happened.
Wanting to reassure myself that Iannis was all right, I tugged my serapha charm from beneath the collar of my jacket and focused on it. At first, the little white stone did nothing, but then suddenly it burst into a brilliant glow.
“Guys!” I shrieked, so excited that I nearly dropped the steering rope. “Guys, look!” I turned to show them the blazing stone.
Fenris sat up straight. “That’s great news!” he exclaimed, hope brightening his eyes.
“What’s great news?” Annia wanted to know.
“The stone’s glowing brightly again,” I explained, grinning at her. “When we set out it was only giving off a dull light, which meant that Iannis was injured or sick. The fact that it’s glowing so brightly must mean that he’s healed. He must have found help or something.”
“Well on the one hand, that’s a relief, but on the other that might mean one of the search parties has already found him,” Annia said with a huff. “I’ve heard many of them have brought healers. And if that’s the case, I won’t get any prize money.”
Fenris glared at her. “I hope you didn’t embark on this mission solely for financial gain.”
“Well, Naya is my friend and I want to help her out, but so what if I did?” Annia argued. “I’m an Enforcer. It’s a money-motivated profession.”
“Umm, guys,” I interrupted, pointing to the sky. “We’ve got some bad news too.”
“What – oh.” Fenris went silent as he stared at the black clouds gathering in the sky. “We can’t fly through that.”
“We definitely can’t,” I agreed, worrying my bottom lip as anxiety began to brew in my gut. The fragile balloon wasn’t meant to withstand a storm, but I didn’t want to stop because it would mean losing at least half a day. Iannis might be feeling better, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still in some kind of danger or in need of help.
“Annia, can you drag out the map?”
“Sure thing.” Annia reached for her pack and withdrew the map of the Northia Federation that Elania had given us. She spread it out on the floor, and I muttered the Words to a location spell Fenris had taught me – something he’d claimed to have read from one of the Palace’s library books. A greenish-blue dot lit up on the map, showing our exact location just inside the Mexian border.
“Hey! I didn’t even realize we’d crossed the border,” Annia exclaimed. “We must only be a few hours away from our target.”
“Yeah.” I glanced at the gathering storm clouds again. They were still some distance away. “I think we can get another hour of use out of this balloon.”
“Sunaya.” The warning tone in Fenris’s voice was clear. “We’re of no help to Iannis if we get struck down by lightning.”
“I know, but that storm isn’t on us yet.” I put the map away and renewed my efforts in steering the balloon. “We can make it a little further before we have to land.”
“Okay, so maybe I was wrong.”
“Maybe!” Fenris shouted over the howling winds. “Your recklessness is going to get us killed!”
The storm clouds, it turned out, were not the only thing we had to worry about. As we drew closer to them, the winds started to pick up, and soon we were fighting a ridiculously strong, cold current that was pushing us in the opposite direction. The storm clouds were coming in a lot faster than I’d expected – if I didn’t land the balloon soon, we were going to get caught in the middle of a lightning storm.
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Tightening my grip on the steering rope, I focused my attention on bringing us down. “We’re going to land this thing safely, okay?”
A flash of lightning lit up the sky, and two seconds later a crashing boom of thunder raised the hair along my arms. Biting my lip, I concentrated on bringing the balloon down, trying to find a safe place to land. Unfortunately, we were passing over a mountain range, and the trees made it hard to figure out where exactly to aim for. I was going to have to get closer.
“Sunaya!” Fenris shouted. “Incoming!”
I looked to my left, then cursed at the sight of a huge flock of large, black birds with yellow bills headed straight for us. Rushing to the burners, I turned the knob to decrease the heat, and the balloon began to drop, putting us below the level that the flock was flying at.
“Phew –” I began to let out a sigh of relief, but froze as the little bastards changed altitude as well. “Oh, shit. Take cover!”
I crouched down inside the basket just as the flock hit us – and by that I meant literally. The sound of wings beating and beaks cawing created a cacophony that made my ears ring, and I resisted the urge to clap my hands over them to block out the noise. The balloon jostled and swayed as several of the large creatures bumped into it, and my heart dropped as I heard a loud ripping sound.
“Fuck!” I jumped to my feet, then hastily grabbed the edge of the basket for balance as we dropped several feet in altitude. Leaning out the side, I saw a flap of fabric whipping around in the wind, and gritted my teeth. One of those bastards had ripped a hole in our balloon! Frantically, I tore my knife out and sawed off the ropes holding the sandbags, hoping the loss of weight would help slow our descent.
Thunder rolled across the sky again, but I didn’t even bother to look at the storm clouds now – we had bigger problems. Despite lightening the load, the balloon was dropping at an alarming rate, much faster than I wanted it to. I grabbed the steering rope as the mountainside we were headed for came closer and closer into view.
“Steer it that way!” Fenris had jumped to his feet to stand next to me, and was pointing to a patch of land on the mountainside that looked clearer than the rest. “If we can avoid the trees we might be able to patch the balloon up!”
“Okay!” I shouted over the roaring wind, and tugged the balloon in that direction.
“Isn’t there any way to slow this thing down?” Annia asked. She was scrambling about on her hands and knees, securing our baggage as best she could in preparation for what was looking like an imminent crash-landing. “I’d rather not have my bones pulverized, thank you very much!”
“I’m doing the best I can!” I shouted back, keeping my eyes focused on our destination. We were close enough now that I could see the individual branches on the pine trees. My stomach twisted as the ground rushed into view and I realized we were headed straight for a very steep, very narrow ravine.
“Brace yourselves!” I cried as we cleared the treetops, and I ducked back down and grabbed onto the edge of the basket. I squeezed my eyes shut right before we crashed into the hard, unforgiving rock, and prayed to Magorah that we would survive this so that I could see Iannis again.
“Well that went well,” Annia said dryly as we stared up at the smashed remnants of the balloon. We’d hit the rocky wall of the ravine hard enough that the basket had been smashed beyond repair, and it had been wedged so tightly in the rock that we’d been trapped a good twenty feet off the ground. Even in pan
ther form it had been challenging for me to climb out and make it to the ground, and once I did I’d had to help fashion a makeshift pulley system from a coil of rope and some bits from the balloon itself. Engineering wasn’t exactly my strong suit, and I’d been sweating bullets as I’d lowered Annia and Fenris down, but we’d eventually managed to make it out safely.
“At least we have most of our supplies,” I offered, hefting my pack a little higher on my shoulder.
“Yeah, but we’ve probably added several days to our journey.”
“We survived,” I pointed out. “We could have easily ended up as pulverized as the balloon.”
“True.” Annia shuddered a little as she glanced up at the contraption. “I’m not entirely sure why we weren’t.”
“It’s a mystery,” I said dryly, slanting a narrow-eyed look at Fenris. I’d scented magic just before we’d crashed into the rock face, and I had a suspicion he’d had something to do with it. But Fenris simply gave me a bland look before returning his yellow gaze to Annia.
“If you’re worried about food, feel free to help yourself to most of the supplies,” he said. “Sunaya and I will be able to hunt game, and we should encounter streams along the way to refill our canteens. In the meantime though, we should focus on finding Iannis. Sunaya, where does your serapha charm tell us to go?”
Closing my eyes, I focused in on the charm around my neck, paying careful attention to the tug at the center of my chest. “That way.” I pointed, and then opened my eyes to find that I was jabbing my finger directly at the rock wall.
Fenris sighed. “We’d better figure a way out of this ravine, then.”
We followed the ravine long enough to find the stream and refill our water bottles and then, with me in the lead, forged an impromptu trail towards Iannis.
The next couple of days were long and grueling – the mountainous terrain was challenging, with plenty of gorges and rocky ground to traverse, and little water to be found. Fenris and I spent more time than not in beast form, finding it easier to travel across the unforgiving landscape on all fours, but Annia didn’t have that luxury, and we often had to slow down and wait for her.