by Liz Ellor
South, along the border. She turned her head northward, following the rounded mountain peaks as they swept around, cradling the valley. Thousands of shadowy crevasses lined their sides, cast in relief by the setting sun. The mountain hosting the fortress rose nearly twice as high as the surrounding peaks. Katrina wondered if it truly was natural.
Your government built the facility. Perhaps they built the mountain as well. It was accompanied by a conspiratorial tone. Katrina made note of the ‘your’. Well, I can hardly claim them as mine. Your constitution doesn’t give citizenship to wyverns. She extended the vertically-oriented membranes on the tip of her tail and banked into a sharp turn.
The motion threw Katrina sideways. The safety harness cut into her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs. She gasped in pain.
Sorry! Payaa thought. I thought you were ready!
Tell me before you do something like that, Katrina thought. With her thoughts held back, she couldn’t detect Payaa’s intentions.
Payaa leveled out, keeping her flight path steady and her speed even. Katrina drank in the cold, fresh air as it poured over her. Payaa’s heat warmed her legs, and her beating heart chased off the rest of the pain the temperature might have caused her. She was tempted to stay quiet and enjoy it, but she knew what her job was. How much do you know about my government?
I know it has three branches, a powerful bureaucratic arm, a more powerful military, and it’s considered the most powerful government in the world. Payaa paused. That intrigue in your mind tells me that you know more about it than I.
Shit. She’d overreached—everything was wide open, ready for wyvern access—but Payaa withdrew, sliding her thoughts back into her body, reminding herself where her boundaries lay.
I meant it, Katrina, I won’t push you. We all have our secrets. This connection—it’s new to me, as well. It’s not like talking to another wyvern. It’s okay if you want to put up some walls.
Katrina swallowed. Heat rushed to her face. “I just …” she muttered, and realized how stupid a gesture it was, asserting her independence from Payaa by speaking out loud, rubbing in something Payaa couldn’t do. Would the scientists have kept mistreating her if Payaa had cried out in a human voice?
Probably. They aren’t very good people. Flashes came of white lab coats, pictured from the eye level of a young wyvern crouched on cold tiles. Most of them were expelled from academia for unethical experimentation. Why else would they isolate themselves from the rest of the world to study here? Could we think of something more pleasant?
Katrina’s mind went to her house in the Adirondacks, the feel of her feet on the hiking trails. Payaa welcomed the memories, though she held herself back, not prying. She’d never left the borders of Wyvernhall, and seeing the outside world on a screen wasn’t the same as remembering it. A screen had no context; a memory told you how you could feel.
Where’s our destination? Payaa asked as she glanced southward. To Katrina, the flat landscape appeared much the same as it spread outward. But in Payaa’s thoughts, a firm line cut the land in half, marking where they could and could not go. We’re almost at the southern border.
Katrina smiled, donning bravado like a cowboy in a movie. We’re crossing.
Payaa mistimed her next wing beat. They dropped five meters. A flurry of frantic flapping kept them airborne. But—the border! Dr. Harper’s armed the border with short-range missiles, and if anyone tries to cross—Veick’s tried! He’s still covered in shrapnel wounds! He nearly died!
There’s a gap, Katrina told her. Along the southern border, marked by an icy rise. They couldn’t find enough solid ground to sink the launchers close enough together to get full coverage. It’s over a hundred feet wide. We can fit.
There’s a dozen other places within the border we could go. Are you crazy? Dr. Harper had demonstrated the missiles for her and her siblings when they grew large enough to fly long distances alone. If they didn’t kill a wyvern outright, the missiles would knock them from the sky and let the ground do the rest. You’re risking—
Relax, will you? Katrina thought. It’d be my skin, too. The icy rise in question lay just ahead. This relationship goes two ways. I can’t be comfortable with you if you don’t trust me. It was a mean, manipulative tactic, but enough to make Payaa turn southward, hesitating. Katrina slipped her mind into the wyvern’s, grabbed control of her wings, and used the muscle movements she’d picked up to propel them through the gap.
A wave of shock swept through Payaa’s mind as they passed through unharmed. Katrina used that to take the next three wingbeats. Payaa reached for control and Katrina relinquished it before Payaa could push into her mind and unveil her purpose. Warmth spread through Katrina’s chest.
I can’t believe you just—
Come on, Katrina thought. You’re out. For the first time in your life, you’re out. Fly on back to your cage if you want. Me, I’d suggest we continue southward. Let’s go see Mount Orso—it’s the biggest peak in the area, and it’s barely an hour away. Let’s go have some fun.
Fun. Payaa turned the word over in her head, thinking of Veick, her children, the rules she’d never dare break. Maybe things had changed. They wanted wyverns with pilots. They wouldn’t dare hurt one of the wyverns who they’d managed to bind. And here was her chance—her pilot wanted this. Her thoughts flew to Tayamlaa, and Quickfingers. She’d named him, claimed him. To have someone on your side like that … Can you promise me you’ll tell Dr. Harper this was your idea?
Katrina pulled on a smile. Next time I see her, I will.
The strokes of Payaa’s wings fell into a harsh, predictable rhythm. The shadows and dark rock drew apart from one another as Katrina’s eyes became more accustomed to the high-contrast environment of snowy tundra. Katrina felt tiny variations in the air as it slid under Payaa’s wings, warm and rising, cool and falling. Dryness built in the back of both their throats. The sun sank, the sky darkened, and a thousand stars swarmed above her. She’d never seen so many stars.
Then I don’t care much for this city of yours. Payaa shivered under her, though not from cold or fatigue.
What’s the matter? Katrina asked.
The wyvern paused and gathered up her courage. I can’t keep going. I don’t feel comfortable, doing this. The consequences to my family—
Wimp, Katrina thought, boiling over with self-loathing, trying to hide that hate as anger at Payaa.
No. Enough. I—
And Katrina felt Payaa’s muscles bulge as she preparing to pivot. They were minutes from their destination; Orso reared on the horizon, tall and proud. She saw the position she’d fought for—her job, right or wrong—slipping away from her, and she did the only thing she could think of.
Shock ran down Payaa’s spine as Katrina pressed a gun to her neck, followed by a crushing, painful blow of betrayal worse than getting body-slammed by another wyvern. Deep-rooted fear followed in its path, and Katrina tried to ignore that. She hadn’t come to Wyvernhall to make friends.
“Keep flying,” Katrina growled over the wind. “I know the sensitive spots, the spots I can hit without bringing you down, and don’t doubt for a second I can hit them. Dr. Harper made me an excellent shot. Make for the base of the mountain.”
Like hell I will. Payaa reached through the bond between them, fighting for control of Katrina’s hand.
Katrina had expected that. She dug deep, grounding herself firmly in her own mind. I will show them I’m worthy. Every sacrifice, all the pain, all the time spent fighting and training and sulking and lying! I’m a warrior, I was born to fight, and I will fight here and win!
But Payaa had her own fuel: fear of this danger her pilot had brought to Wyvernhall, a burning desire to protect herself, Veick, and her children. Underneath it ran a deep-rooted, stubborn refusal to ever let anyone push her around again.
Katrina found herself staring down the barrel of her own gun, her finger curled around the trigger. Then her hand turned and flung the firearm away into spa
ce.
I’m better than you, Payaa thought, and dove.
Katrina’s stomach shot up into her throat as Payaa plummeted earthwards. The wyvern stretched her wings to their full length, her tail streaming out like a banner, neck held firm by iron muscles. Payaa made no effort to reduce her speed, and Katrina’s universe shrank to a pinpoint. We’re crashing.
With a chest-tearing heave, Payaa leveled out, swinging across the barren icy plain. Her outstretched talons dug small ruts in the snow as she skimmed above it. She flared her wings backwards, stopping so suddenly that Katrina slammed into the front of the saddle and tumbled off the side. The harness tugged at Katrina’s chest, squeezing the air from her lungs.
Get off me, Payaa said as Katrina dangled from her side. I don’t know what you were after, but I want you off. Do I have to bite through your harness myself?
“No!” Katrina gasped, gloved fingers fumbling clumsily with the carabineer holding her in place. It came free, and she dropped, landing on her back in a snowdrift. Quickly, she scrambled away from her wyvern.
I should have seen it from the start! Guarding your mind, your questions about my loyalties to the government, luring me out here—you’re a spy, aren’t you?
Katrina gulped. This wasn’t the kind of thing you wanted to admit while facing down an angry wyvern, especially when your gun was gone. She’d never reach the butterfly spike on her back in time, and the knife stuck in her belt would do nothing against a creature with a body the size of a car and a fifty-foot wingspan. “Yes, but—”
Payaa lowered her head and roared. The deep, rich tone echoed across the wide-open landscape. Katrina’s bones vibrated. You brought me here to abduct me! The wyvern had glimpsed the cargo plane in her thoughts.
“Payaa, listen!” Her hopes clung to life. She’d show Payaa the truth, how vital it was that she go along with the plan. Thousands of lives hung in the balance. “I’ll open my mind to you—just let me explain!”
The time for explanations has passed. Payaa shifted her weight back onto her hind legs and began to run. Desperate, Katrina threw open her thoughts, exposing everything in the bond between them: Shawn flinging fire, her broken leg, that brawl at that Christmas party.
The time has PASSED. Payaa leapt into the sky, scattering snow under her wings. You can freeze to death for all I care.
“Damn it!” Katrina shouted as the wyvern rose into the sky. She slammed her fist into her knees and gasped in pain as a bone cracked in her hand.
Maybe I’ll watch, Payaa whispered. Wait until you fall, and eat your body. A fit reward for everything you’ve said and done to me.
Katrina closed her eyes and tried to filter the wyvern out. The base of Mount Orso was ten miles away. She swung off her pack and pulled out the snowshoes they’d given her. Thankfully, Payaa had already reached an altitude high above her, lessening the pressure of her thoughts into a small trickle of information. If she was going to make it, she didn’t need any distractions.
Director Fairfax won’t be happy with me. She could feel the deal slipping through her fingers, and it made her want to scream and curse at the sky. But she’d paid attention when the security officers had talked about Arctic survival, enough to know she was deeply ignorant of the skills it took to survive in this environment. If she didn’t make it to the evacuation point by morning, her job would suddenly cease to matter. I’m bringing back prototypes of their weapons. That might be enough.
She pulled down the butterfly spike from her pack, held it like a ski pole, and set off. Her feet skimmed over the snow. Dr. Harper had made her so light that breaking through hidden ice crusts wouldn’t be a problem, and her new lungs were plenty large enough to hold all the air she needed. But the procedure had leeched away all the endurance she’d built up over the years. She’d been working out every chance she had, but not enough time had passed for her to recover even a fraction of what she’d lost, and that was what worried her the most. Could she make it?
“I am a warrior,” she whispered into the fabric of her ski mask. “On my way, big brother.”
Katrina’s face felt frozen and stiff, even with her mask. Her heavy breathing had left a circle of wet cloth around her mouth that rubbed painfully against her lips. Her legs felt as heavy as lead. The distinctive broken ridge that marked the peak of Orso had drawn closer, but remained distressingly tiny. She estimated she’d gone five miles. She felt like she’d run a marathon.
Remove their muscles. Excellent plan to design the ultimate soldier, Dr. Harper. Her snowshoe snagged on a hidden rock. Gravity tugged her forward. She stuck out the spike in an attempt to halt the fall. It skidded on a patch of ice. She landed in a puff of snow. When she stood, snow slid down the neck of her shirt. Fuck. Cold was deadly enough. She didn’t need moisture on top of that. Fuck you, Dr. Harper, and fuck me for being stupid enough to underestimate Payaa.
Katrina pressed onward. Once or twice, she thought she heard the engine of a snowmobile humming in the distance, but her ears remained as normal as they’d always been, and the landscape had grown rockier, blocking her sight in most directions. I must be imagining things. She had no clue why any of Shawn’s people would come so close without offering aid. Payaa still hovered nearby—Katrina occasionally glimpsed her distant shadow sliding across stars—and looking through her eyes might have told Katrina if she was alone or not, but she didn’t dare reach out. She’d only end up begging Payaa to come with her until she lost her way and dropped into some hidden crevasse in the ice.
Some small part of her was relieved the wyvern had discovered her ruse. This was Payaa’s home. No matter where Indigo sent her, she’d never be permitted to fly free. She knew how important flying was to Payaa. And what do you care about her for? You easily abandoned Quickfingers, who you’ve known your whole life. But while Quickfingers was her oldest friend, Payaa was a part of her mind. So? What’s your mind, or a wyvern’s, or the lives of all the wyverns, compared to the Universal Vision?
Katrina jerked her chin up towards the horizon. Sweat tricked from her arms, more than she’d sweated since they’d transferred her. The wind sunk into her bones.
Two more miles passed. She counted her steps, filling her skull with numbers instead of fears. Darkness settled around her like a heavy down quilt. The stars glittered like diamonds, and patches of ice reflected their light and the light of the waxing moon. Cold wind blew snowy dust off the ground, tracing graceful sketches in the air. The Northern Lights danced high over her head. For a moment, one shimmering teal veil slipped into the shape of a wyvern.
You could slip into death here without even noticing. The thought startled her. Vasilyev would have noted it as a red flag. Her legs screamed for a break, but stopping meant never starting again. Five marathons had taught her as much. Her eyes tried to pick apart the distant shadows surrounding the base of Mount Orso, scanning for any sight of Shawn and his promised plane. She could radio for help, but the radio they’d given her was attuned permanently to Wyvernhall’s frequencies. She could have fixed it, given time and tools, but those were nowhere to be found.
She was about to start screaming curses again when her vision caught a pair of parallel lines: snowmobile treads, fresh ones at that, mostly unmarred by the wind and fresh snowfall. I’m not alone. Even if Shawn’s men hadn’t left this track, machines meant people and people meant heat. Heat meant life. The track pointed towards the mountain—an arrow, leading to hope.
She pushed forward. The land rose up around her, closing her off from the outside world as scrub bushes grew more and more frequent. Her eyes flickered over details in leaves and woody stems. Without open spaces, or the sky, Dr. Harper’s augmentations were all but useless.
The snowmobile lay abandoned in a thicket, clumsily covered with branches in a hasty attempt to disguise signs of passage. Katrina looked it over for salvageable parts, but nothing immediately stood out to her, and she couldn’t waste more time looking. A pair of bootprints lead away from the machine and towar
ds Mount Orso. Her heart lightened as she pushed forward. The second wind she’d come to count on in marathoning washed over her—she could make it, she would make it—
The boots lay abandoned atop a bare outcropping when she stepped out of the forest. She pushed to the top of the ridge—further, further—and a scream of disbelief rang from her mouth as she found the still-flowing river that shaped the point and cut her off from Mount Orso. The peak was still a mile away.
“Fuck!” she shouted, and slammed the butt of her spike into the ice. Nothing changed. Entering the water meant she might freeze to death before reaching the mountain. Captain O’Brien had told her a method for how it could be done, which required making a torch so a fire could be quickly assembled on the other side. She had her fire kit, but doubted she’d be able to get a fire going with only the wet, dying bushes that lined the banks. I have to risk it. The adrenaline was leaking from her limbs, and her head was nodding, but she simply had no other choice.
Katrina turned towards the river.
“I didn’t expect you’d come this way,” said a familiar voice.
She pivoted. It was Vasilyev, naked and soaked, his milk-pale skin curdling in the darkness. Muscles bulged under his bare skin. This was the same man who’d offered her tissues when she’d cried in his office. She hadn’t realized the full impact of his second-generation status until now.
“I didn’t expect you to come. At all.” She gripped her spike tighter, cursing the loss of her gun. “How did you find me?”
“I paid a local pyromancer to find your destination. She said the odds were fifty percent you’d arrive at Mount Orso. It sounded like my best chance.”
To do what? she wanted to ask, but she had a damn good sense of the truth. “You came to kill me.”
“I wanted to see my son again. I can’t do that if you blow my cover.” He stepped forward. “I thought you’d outfly me, even with my head start. I didn’t think you’d come alone. I’ll have to take care of Payaa when I’m done with you.”