Storm of Arranon Fire and Ice

by Robynn Sheahan

  She wondered about Cera and her crew. With their first day of braefin netting over, they would be settling into a hearty meal about now. The cramped space of the ship’s galley would soon ring with laughter and the telling of stories. Cera loved stories. Erynn could see Cera’s grin widen with approval as her teeth clamped tightly around the cidag. Brock was there, in her mind. His dour expression and dirty apron tied around his massive bulk. The rest of the crew’s faces cleared in her thoughts.

  Torey’s stood out. He was one among thousands that had escaped from the oppression of the alien ship. Erynn sensed his elation for the freedom he now experienced in life. Faylen’s ultimate sacrifice after accomplishing so much caused pride and sorrow to tug at her emotions, competing for control. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and hitched in a sigh, letting the breath out in a rush.

  The first large flakes drifted down from a sky that had promised snow all day. A gust rocked the transport and sent silver-white flecks dancing in the forward beams.

  She turned off the lights. Dark surrounded her, closing in. The sensation of being all alone that she’d kept at bay pushed in on her. “I’ll be back at the base soon. Home.”

  Jaer.

  From a tiny gap around the top right corner of the window panel, icy air whooshed inside and over Erynn. She shivered and unbuckled from the pilot’s seat, leaving the transport running. “Let’s see what Brock packed for food.”

  She pushed out of the small control compartment to the cargo hold. Boxes held by heavy straps lined the interior. Each was marked as to the contents. She unstrapped the one labeled “MEALS”. Erynn peeled off the top, amazed at what she found. Fresh fruit filled one quarter. Phocia made with achcear and vegetables wrapped in seasoned priute dough were already baked and ready to eat. They only needed to be warmed. At the bottom, in a round container, was a fruit tart.

  Erynn grinned and shook her head. “Brock must have been up all night. How can I ever repay all this kindness?” She straightened and nodded once decisively. “Help save Arranon—that’s how.”

  Erynn only traveled a short distance after eating. Thick snow fell, swirling in the transport’s lights. The effect was mesmerizing. Her eyes burned. Vision blurred. “Best to stop. Take a break. Then go on.” She shut down the lights and all power but the heat. A narrow cot along the rear wall of the cargo hold folded out and rested on crates below. She climbed into a thick caitni down bag to sleep for a while.

  Her thoughts circled, spiraling up and down. She had closed the portal of fire. She had watched the floating ring of ice-blue flames die and seal with a thin layer of dark, crusted stone. Erynn chuffed and squeezed her eyes shut. “A portal that was already of no use to Dhoran.” The accomplishment seemed a hollow victory.

  The spirits that guarded the access to the portal had placed an enchantment on the doorway. The guardians kept the entire fortress of Deanaim unavailable to Dhoran. Had he tried to come up from below, he would have found himself as Erynn did—stranded in a frozen wasteland and left to die. Once again, she had escaped death with Arranon’s help.

  She flopped on her side, lids drifting open. “But now, no matter what, he can’t use the doorway of fire—ever.” She had learned that Farglas Lake held the portal of air. When winter closed her icy hand on the upper regions, they would find a way to close that threshold, too. There was only one portal left its whereabouts unknown. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she whispered, “Where are you?”

  Keeping her mind focused on the portals was difficult. Roni was hurt, maybe dying. Jaer struggled with all that was happening. She wanted to be there for Roni. She needed to comfort Jaer. Let him know she understood. Even if they could never be together, she wanted him to know that she loved him. She needed to tell him she was sorry. She had only considered her own anguish when she should have recognized his suffering. His torment had been there all along. She’d recognized his sorrow soon after they’d met. When the reason for Jaer’s sadness was finally revealed to her, she had turned away from him.

  Dreams wove into her tortured thoughts, becoming fractured shadows of emptiness. Dark chasms loomed to swallow her, dropping her into a world where sunlight never reached. Alone. The separation from everyone she loved was a deep ache in her chest, tightening around her heart.

  Following Erynn’s escape, Dhoran stayed on for a couple of leantas. He enjoyed the return of warmth before leaving through the transition station. The portal appeared before him. A stone monolith rose and bridged his underworld with the surface. He climbed the ancient wooden rungs entwined in the rock, into icy, bright sunshine. Dhoran shivered and frowned. He longed for the day he when would never have to come above again. This leg of the journey from the portal to the base would take at least two days.

  Dhoran’s lips turned in a mocking sneer. The trip back to the base would take Erynn much longer. He understood that he should be there when she did return. Jaer would be there. He needed to break up the happy reunion before anything more permanent took place between Erynn and Jaer.

  This wasn’t over, not even close.

  His transport was where he’d left it, tucked between towering stone columns. He hadn’t doubted it would be. From all around him, a barren stretch of arid red-gold sand was dotted with sparse outcroppings of ruddy-tan boulders. They stood sentry against a clear blue sky.

  Dhoran grinned. No one would ever find this portal. Arranon held many remote areas. As far as he knew, this section of Arranon had never been explored. Immense windstorms scrubbed any life that foolishly attempted to inhabit this desolate land. A dangerous desert waited to prevent passage to anyone who dared enter. There was nothing here but death, slow and certain.

  He brushed a layer of sand and dirt from the front panel of the transport with his hand. After wiping his palms together, he opened the door and slid into the seat. Dhoran’s deliberate grin widened into that practiced, charming half smile. He had a plan to steer Erynn into his arms, driving Jaer from her heart. Shan had agreed to help him. He liked Shan. She appealed to him on a darker level. Once he had Erynn by his side, and the war for Arranon was won, he would take Shan as a consort. He chuckled. The sound grew into a harsh roaring laugh. He could have any female he wanted. And he would, after Erynn was his alone.

  His chortling quieted. “Variety is good. I will have many sons and daughters to aid in my bidding.” He nodded. “But Erynn’s children will rule beside me.”

  An evil guffaw jerked Erynn awake. She tumbled from the narrow cot, landing in a heap on the metal floor. She scrambled out of the caitni bag on hands and knees. She searched the dark and peered into shadow-cloaked corners, seeking the source of the wild laugh. Wind slammed against the transport, screeching and rocking the vehicle.

  “The wind. Not a laugh. Only the wind,” she panted, pulling up on the bunk. Erynn picked up the bag and tossed the bulky heap on the cot. “No use trying to sleep now.” Her heart pounded and rushed adrenaline through her body. “Might as well keep moving.” The nagging impression that the high cackle had not been the wind troubled her. Instead of pushing the idea away, she sought confirmation and found nothing. The presence, if there had been one, was gone.

  Erynn realized when she climbed back in the driver’s seat that she’d slept longer than she thought. A gray radiance tinged the edge of the vast white expanse before her. Snow still fell, but not as hard. The flakes were more like icy pellets, silver orbs in the beams of the transport’s lights.

  Dawn came and chased the storm away. Instead of white-gray clouds filling the horizon, bright blue sky and brilliant sunshine met the edge of snow and ice. Erynn squinted against the glare. Ahead in the distance, to her right and left, the blue-green of water lay to either side of the snowbound land.

  Anaekta Strait.

  A strip of ice and frozen ground joined the two landmasses and narrowed to one hundred meters across at the center. Erynn stopped the transport. She got out and studied the land bridge before moving the heavy vehicle
over the possibly fragile link.

  Wind sighed across the barren plain, picking up powdery crystals and swirling them away. The blue-green sea lapped at the shore of ice and snow. The gentle susurration of water added a soft, steady beat to the unhurried song of the breeze. She had assumed that traveling straight down the middle would be the wisest course. Upon inspection, she found if she stayed to the right, the ice appeared more solid than in the center or the left.

  Sunlight glittered like diamont jewels on the waves. A mound bulged up, breaking the surface about ten meters off to her right. A pod of milamora rose. Black heads and backs over white bellies and throats glistened. They twisted their huge bodies in a graceful arc, crashing down and sliding effortlessly beneath the waves. They surfaced again coming closer, watching her from dark round eyes.

  Erynn laughed, clapping her gloved hands.

  Several milamora floated, buoyant on top of the water. Their mouths parted, showing a row of sharp white teeth.

  She stepped back, concerned at first, until she realized they were smiling at her show of amusement. She continued to watch the rise and fall of their water dance for several long, carefree moments. “I gotta go,” she finally called.

  As if the milamora understood, they rose one last time and dove, disappearing beneath the sparkling water.

  Erynn returned to the transport, energized by her encounter with the milamora. They had imparted some of their joyous existence to her. Life on Arranon was good. Not always easy or kind, but good.

  She made the trek across the Anaekta Strait and followed the NAV line that Cera had charted for her to the Maithlams. This second day of her journey remained unchanged. The scenery was the same unrelenting flat expanse of ice and snow. Shortly after crossing the Anaekta, even the view of the sea vanished.

  On the third day, the deep brown of soil and the gray of large rocks began to show through the snow in patches. There was still no communication with the base or anyone. Rugged mountain ranges, EMF interference, and just the vastness that remained between her position and the nearest outpost kept her in isolation. She couldn’t easily forget how large and unpopulated Arranon was.

  By late afternoon small trees dotted the land and the NAV directed her to turn right. The terrain was no longer relatively flat, but sloped downward at a sharp angle. The spicy, musky scent of needle leaves and bare soil returned. This was where the going would get tougher, though. More hills and uneven ground, and then on to treacherous mountain passes. She was close. Another day, if she pushed it, and she’d be back at the base. Home.

  Jaer.

  Night crept across the hillside. Shadow fingers stretched from thick stands of tall trees clumped in ever widening swatches of forest. Erynn found it necessary to go off course to traverse around them.

  Day relented, orange-red on the edges. The sun threw a final burst of fiery gold light across the top boughs. Aleuns wheeled in the sky, hurrying to sheltering limbs.

  She didn’t want to stop. Not yet. Her hands gripped the controls. Tendrils of blue static arced around her fingers. When the light was fully gone, she would have to end her journey for the day. The irregular push of rock thrusting from the soil under soft snow would catch the transport, high-center the vehicle, and possibly do irreparable damage. She needed all the light available to watch for this danger.

  As if reading her thoughts, the right track of the transport caught, squealed, and threw the vehicle left a quarter turn. Erynn stopped the forward motion. With a light touch, she feathered the throttle and turned to the right. The transport complied and rolled over the obstruction, edging ahead, back on course.

  “Okay. Time to stop.” Erynn searched for a level site to stay the night. To the left, between a stand of trees, the snow-covered ground smoothed. Glancing right, she saw the line of rocks that had grabbed at the transport. “Stay away from the right. Just a few more meters—”

  The transport lurched and tipped on its nose. She continued to slide forward several meters, the vehicle leveling at the bottom. The snow depth was misleading here. Before reaching the area beneath the trees, the right track screeched. A heavy cable from inside the tracks snapped in two. The end slammed the driver’s side window, breaking the thick panel.

  Erynn ducked below the length of swinging cord. The metal cable continued on its trajectory, whipping through the cab, smashing the front window, and wrapping around the left doorpost. Icy air rushed into the space.

  Erynn rose slowly, her heart pounding against her ribs.

  If I had been a fraction slower…

  She shuddered. Her breath frosted before her in icy plumes.

  The transport screamed, the harsh roar of the engine echoing against stands of timber and hills. She quickly shut down, hands trembling. The transport rumbled, jerked, and stilled. Quiet rushed in with the chilling breeze. Only a soft sigh of wind through trees buffeted the hush around her. Headlight beams met the dense face of the forest and stopped, unable to penetrate. Her shudder turned to a shiver. Cold pushed in and replaced the heated air in the cab.

  She flipped off the lights and diverted the heat to the cargo hold, brushing bits of glass from her hair and clothes. Erynn stared out the broken side window at the track. Dark gained power and overruled the waning light. Deep shadows from the trees made the extent of the damage uncertain. She would have to wait until morning to determine if the track could be repaired.

  Don’t try to kid yourself—it can’t be fixed. The cable snapped. I saw the frayed end smash against the side panel. Had it been only a sheared bolt, I could have repaired it. But the cable…

  “I don’t know for sure.” Erynn pushed out of her seat. Her shoulders slumped. “But I do know. Without the cable, the transport is dead. I’m on foot the rest of the way—a very long way.” She stepped to the cargo hold, securing the door between her and the cab, keeping the cold night out and the warmth inside.

  Chapter 27

  WIDE AWAKE MOST OF THE night, Erynn lay on her back, watching pale gray light soften the inky dark inside the transport’s cargo hold. Outside, the gentle sigh of wind through the dense woods was the only sound, except for the intermittent cycling of the heater.

  She’d tried to force sleep to come. Her attempts failed. The best she’d managed were short intervals of light dozing, jerking alert to once again examine her situation and the resolution. She put her hand over her eyes and pushed hair from her face. The sunlight necessary to check the damage done to the track was still some time away. She turned to the open hold. Shadow shapes hulked against the inside walls. The unfamiliar silhouettes were only strapped crates.

  When I leave, I’ll need to carry a shelter—the caitni down bag—water and food. Not the good stuff Brock packed for me, either. Back to protein bars. For how many days?

  Calculations began again. She huffed out a breath and tossed to her other side to stare at the dark gray bulkhead.

  I need to sleep.

  She closed her eyes and remembered Jaer holding her as they both slept. His warmth wrapped around her. His slow, steady breaths washed over her. His heartbeat soothed her.

  She drifted away with this memory.

  Erynn grimaced, squeezing her lids shut against the brightness. Brilliant sunlight glared through the cargo hold’s small windows and flickered across her face. Her eyes popped open, and she bolted upright.

  “What? Oh no. How long?” she groaned. Kicking free of the caitni bag, she slid her feet to the floor. She had slept deeply and dreamlessly.

  Morning was gone.

  Her stomach tightened and gurgled. “Well, I may not be able to take much of the food with me, but I can eat some now.” She dug into her supplies and settled in for an indulgent feast.

  Seated on the narrow cot, Erynn ate her fill of warm phocia. She wiped the rich sauce from her chin and licked her fingers. She ended the meal with the last of the fruit tart. She stood up and brushed her hands down her pants, clearing away crumbs. Erynn pulled on her coat and studied the area outsi
de the hatch. “All clear,” she whispered, tapping the controls. The ramp slammed down, sinking into deep snow and sending icy crystals swirling in the air.

  Sunshine sparkled over the pristine white landscape. Dark shadows rested, waiting under the deep-green boughs of needle leaves. The scent in the cold air was spicy and crisp.

  Erynn trotted down the steep slope of the ramp. She walked around to the front of the track in snow that had a thin frozen crust. With each step, she broke through that upper layer, sinking in to her knees. The effort jarred her joints. Walking very far in this would test her endurance.

  She crouched and studied the damage. Tracks circled two drum rollers. The cable kept the tracks moving on the rollers. She glanced back and sighed. A severed cable extended several centimeters from under the back of the track. The tip was stretched and frayed beyond repair. Her attention slipped forward to the cab. The other tattered end bounced erratically in the icy breeze where the braided wire had wrapped around the doorpost.

  Erynn bent farther at the waist, peering under the transport and into the track’s interior edge. Just visible in the shadows was a second braided wire rope set deep inside. She straightened and smiled. There was another cable on the inner perimeter of the track—a backup. She wasn’t on foot yet. The trip from here on out would be cold. Frigid with the windows smashed from the cab. “I can handle a little cold. Just turn up the heat.”

  She unwound the ruined cable from the doorpost and laid the length forward in front of the track. When she got moving again, the heavy wire braid would slip under the transport. After the cable was clear of the track, she could roll up the stiff wire rope and throw it in the cargo hold. She would be on her way again.