She Who Sees Through Darkness

Part Twenty-Six

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 space.

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 MountOrso 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."

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