Storm of Arranon Fire and Ice Read Online Free PDF

the end of the wide corridor, and the door ground
open.
    Snow piled against the stone barrier cascaded
over the smooth rock floor. Large crystalline flakes whipped in on
the wind, stinging her unguarded face. She pulled on the helmet,
lowered the visor, and secured the heavy white coat over the bulky
jumpsuit. She depressed the red key on the panel to close the door
and pushed the speeder into deep snow. A button next to the starter
lowered the skis, two out front and a broad one in the rear, while
retracting the two wheels. She climbed on, punched the starter, and
took off fast.

Chapter 4
     
     
    WIND DROVE THE HEAVILY FALLING snow sideways
as Erynn raced into the storm and down the mountain. She opened
vents on the sides of her helmet to prevent her breath from fogging
the inside of the face shield. Icy air rushed in, numbing her
cheeks. She sped around boulders, sliding out of turns. She
relished being outside and doing something useful. These two enemy
soldiers had probably had enough of Arranon’s extreme weather and
dangerous wildlife. They would gladly come with her. She could
bring them in peaceably.
    The tree line loomed ahead. She slowed the
speeder, banking to a stop. Powdery snow fanned away, landing with
a soft plop in the growing drifts. She cut the power to the
speeder, and the humming engine whined to silence. A deep quiet
that only comes with snow followed. An occasional gust of wind
whistled around the high boughs, adding a lonely voice to the
soundless forest. Erynn raised her visor and gazed through the
trees. The faint, spicy scent of needle leaves swirled in. She
smiled. “Beautiful.”
    “Now, where are you?” Her whisper plumed out,
darting among the dancing flakes to be spirited away. She faced
forward, then right, then left. Nothing. “Hmmm. Did you leave?” She
started the speeder, deciding to go deeper into the woods, straight
ahead but slower. Dark shadows scurried, keeping pace with her from
beneath drooping, snow-laden boughs.
    Thoughts of meervorines, with their razor
teeth and claws, clamped an icy hand around her spine. No aleuns flew from tree to tree or chirped a song among the
branches covered in their thick white blanket. No maejen prowled the outer boundaries of the heavy boughs, yellow eyes
gleaming, their great heads low, muzzles sniffing at the snow,
tails tucked between long sinewy legs. Nor did they howl a greeting
from the tops of ravines. Not even the katjaramuud , with
their large, thick bodies poked massive round heads from the trees
to watch her progress.
    “Where is everyone?”
    A sudden icy gust pushed through the forest.
Limbs rose and fell, swaying under their mantle of white.
    “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Erynn
lowered the helmet’s face shield and activated the infrared sights.
If something or someone was out there, she would see a heat
signature through the sensors imbedded in the visor. She continued
to creep down the mountain, rising up and over drifts, scanning the
area under and around the trees.
    “Nothing.” She sighed. “Okay, so what has my
awareness on alert?” Her stomach tightened and rolled. She stopped
the speeder, cut the power, and threw her leg over the seat. She
stumbled through uneven drifts, moving only a few meters from the
ski-speeder, listening to the unusual silence while peering into
the storm and around the trees.
    “What is going on?” She spun back toward the
speeder, staring beyond the vehicle and into the swirling snow.
Flakes skipped and darted, creating an illusion of flittering
shapes closing in. Her breath caught. Nothing lit up the sensors,
but something watched her. She could sense eyes, their gaze burning
into her like dagger points, sharp against her back. That feeling
of ice along her spine spread, tightening her chest.
    She pushed through the deepening snow pack to
the speeder, jumped onto the seat, and hit the starter. Her gloved
thumb slid off, jamming against the speeder’s frame.
“ Batias !”