—from the diaries of Priestess Nomu of the Fire Order
It was impossible to distinguish the smell of rancid metal from that of burning flesh. Elena pressed herself against the canyon wall, trying to breathe through her mouth, but the stench crawled down her nose and sat in her throat. She could taste their fear. Her people, already dying.
Carefully, Elena scaled the canyon, the fine webbing of her gloves and kneecaps sucking onto the rough faces of the rocks. The cliffs of southern Ravence towered above her, red and severe, their stiff, craggy faces unlike the soft, ever-changing curves of the dunes. Their silence swallowed her. She felt like a beetle. Small. Inadequate.
She paused on a ledge and flexed her tired arms, wincing. They had been climbing for hours. Behind her, the others vaulted softly onto the ledge. Visha did not stop to rest. The strategist was already flicking openher pod with a gloved hand, studying the maps. The holos cast a pale blue light on her face, leeching the color from her cheeks and making the sharp angles of her nose and chin as stark as the cliffs.
“I say we have about a few more minutes’ climb before we reach the base of the tower,” she said. She elongated hers’s, savoring them like morsels of meat caught in her teeth. Behind her, the twins, Akino and Akiri, were unbuckling their pouches, sliding out various weapons: stun grenades, hand-sized explosives, pulse guns, and of course, their daggers. They were Black Scale issued, with a winged serpent on the hilt.
Elena had warned them not to carry too much weight. The climb was long and narrow, but while she leaned against the wall, trying not to pant, the Black Scales moved with calculated ease, each move measured, bouts of energy managed. Visha was barely sweating.
“We’ve lost connection to the comms,” Akiri said, checking her pod.
“So… it’s only us… from here,” Elena said.
Akino glanced at her and must have noticed the sweat on her brow, for he turned away, frowning.
“Lucky bastards,” he said. “They’re down there while we have to deal with this smell.”
“Skies above, it’s horrid,” Akiri said. Her eyes avoided Elena’s. “And we’ve been movingso slow. And taking too many breaks. If I have to smell this another minute—”
“Quit prattling,” Visha snapped. The twins immediately quieted. “Phoenix set the pace. We’ve made good time, even if we are on the later side.”
Elena’s cheeks burned, but she ignored the slight. “I say… we rest another minute. Then head up. The tower is just ahead of us…” She sucked in air and blew out slowly. “So that means the rocks above will be crawling with Jantari. I can take lead and—”
“Let me,” Visha interjected.
Elena paused. Though Visha met her eyes, there was a force in her voice that left Elena unsettled, like someone had run a wet rag down her sweaty arms.
“I did recon. I know the area. I can scout the cliffs ahead and make it back without losing too much time,” Visha continued. “I’ll move… quicker.”
Elena wrestled the urge to panic.They aren’t disobeying me, she thought. This was her mission. Her orders. Her team. After two months of studying Black Scale military tactics, suffering their grueling training, and planning the operation down to every single minute, every second, she hadearnedher right to lead. Never mind the fact that every Black Scale, including the three before her, had once vowed to serve her and her kingdom. They were her men, in name. But in spirit? Elena felt that same odd uncertainty, the unease that skittered like the fast-fading vestiges of a dream. Crouched before her, dressed in their black battlesuits with their silver horned shoulders, the Black Scales looked like sleek, vicious gargoyles. Demons of a god.
Theywillfollow me, she thought furiously.
“We’ll move together,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t betray her misgivings. Visha’s face remained carefully neutral, while Akiri scowled, and Akino glanced at his sister.
Mine, she thought desperately.
Something flickered at the edge of her vision. Elena whirled, but the soldiers flew into movement. Their speed astonished her, even now. Visha with her throwing knife, poised and ready; the twins with their guns, one red, the other blue, both stamped with the seal of their leader. The black serpent.
The shadows flittered again. Elena was reaching for her gun when the shadows paled, then diminished as a bright, searing light flooded the top of the canyon.
“Get down!” Visha hissed.
Elena shrank back. The searchlight skimmed over them, every indention, every nook in the wall, suddenly bright and visible, before the light passed and the shadows rushed back with uncanny swiftness.
She waited a beat, then straightened slowly. Visha checked her pod.
“The tower is on,” she said.
“But I thought—” Akino began.
“We’re late,” Akiri said flatly. Though Elena was facing away from her, she could feel her glower. “And those fucking junk brains are right on time.”
They were supposed to have reached the tower base before the searchlight activated. Elena had made it a point in her briefing. Planned it, in theminute-by-minute breakdown. And nowit’s on me. I moved too slow, took too many breaks. She watched the rocks above, heart bleating.Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“We can still make it,” Visha said.
