“Do you think they’ll succeed?” Iliyal asked Arascus. The God took a while to respond.

  “With Luck.”

  Above the frozen wastend of Artica, a desert of ice that was ft and stretched into the horizon no matter which dire ourned in, flew five intruders. Five oversized jets, white and striped with gold made their slow journey from Olympiada to Olephia’s Prison, flying in a V. They painted a clear white line behind them, as if an artist was dragging his paintbrush across a blue vas. Five fat seagulls, gently gliding through the air. And behind them, chased two birds of prey.

  “Raptor-Ohis is Raptor-Two, I have visual.” Edmonton listehrough earpie his ear. He stood in the holds of Raptor-One. Arascus had sent him off with a team of men, although they weren’t here for much other than moral support. They were all dressed in thick coats, lined with fur. The dark goggles on his face dulled the blinking lights in the pne’s partments, but looking through the windows, he would not take them off. The ground below was a blinding white sheet of paper that reflected sunlight too brilliantly. He rubbed his hands together, eager to put some gloves on and clicked the earpieonitor the chatter.

  “Copy you Raptor-Two, same here.” His pilot repeated. The voice of Seer-tral came on. Edmonton was sure he had heard it in headquarters, but the poor e quality distorted the at to little more than a robot’s speech.

  “Raptors cut the chatter. The Peli is a half-hour behind you. Close the distance.” Seer-tral took a heavy breath. “Sorcerers, you’re free to engage. Make it t.” Edmonton grabbed a steel bar as the pne jerked. It twisted sideways and began to desd.

  Alsaria sat with Leona in a poo cramped for her. Leona had no issue of course, her did the minor Divines Alsaria had called on to act as a shield for them, but she herself was just too tall to sit fortably. She slouched in the seat, better this undignified posture than ing her neck for the twelve-hour flight.

  The pne wasn’t even unfortable. With leather seats and carpeted floors and a et for drinks, but it still made Alsaria anxious. She had never liked flying in vehicles when she could fly herself, but jets were undeniably faster and they undeniably did not get tired. In the past, she would have carried Leona on her arms and the trip from Olympiada to Artica took a week. Now, it took a half day of sloug.

  Leona looked around nervously, she touched the temples on her head and wiped sweat off the brow. She had been like this ever sihey stepped on the pne back at Olympiada’s skyport, if she were a mortal, Alsaria would have thought her to be ill.

  “Alsaria…” The pilot’s voice broke the monotonous silend Alsaria immediately sat up, she ed her neck forwards and pulled herself out of the seat. In the back, the seven Gods on this pne had sat up too. They were only minor iions, but iions were better than mortals. “We… ugh… we have a situation.” Alsaria only shouted a response, she was sure the pilot would hear her.

  “What?!”

  “We are being pursued, look through the windows.”

  Fleur stepped to the side door of Raptor-Two’s cargo hold, heavy coat around her. Mikhail had e to before Operation Misfortuarted and said that the pnes were barebones, little more than tubes with jets attached to them, but she had expected heating. Lights at least! Instead it was a series of tiny blinking red mps, and they were there to merely indicate that the pne was turned on. Why even have such a feature? She could look outside the window for that! “Sorceress. Final checks.” The man at her side said.

  Fleur shook her head and did the final checks. Mufflers, on, hat, on, oxygen mask, w, goggles, on, parachute, on her back, coat, buttoned-up, shoeces, tied. Done. He opened his mouth to say something else, saw Fleur’s angry eyes and decided against it. Smart choice. The pilot’s voice came over, through the earpieces in her mufflers. “Raptor-Two team, hold on, beginning dest in three, two, one.” Fleur grabbed one of the steel bars interspersed throughout the hold as the purned.

  It was a steep and fast dest. More like a giant had merely flicked the po a tumble rather than it being guided by a pilot. “We’re in firing rahey’re below us. Open doors.” Two of the men turhe heavy red wheel on the door, Fleur gave a final tug to the cable going from her belt to the ceiling, gave them a thumbs-up and stepped forwards.

  Were it not for that cable, the wind would have instantly ripped her away from the pne, instead it only tugged and tried to crush her chest. Fleur filed in the air, held onto the bar and regained her footing. Fresh oxygen started to flow in her mask, it almost made her lightheaded, almost. The pilot’s voice came on again. “Raptor-One is in position, doors open, Seer-tral has given permission to fire. Sorceress, it’s all on you now.”

  Alsaria pushed her fato a window as Leona screamed out ao the floor. There ne above them. One Alsaria had never seen before, triangur, with the entire wing fixed into the body. Huge too, with jets in the wings and two more on its back. It was more akin to a rocket used to unch satellites than anything to transport men. It ainted bck, apart from a yellow beak and red eyes above the pilot’s .

  Alsaria narrowed her eyes and then she felt her breath stop. One of the pne’s doors en. There erson standing there, obscured by thick winter clothes, with a cable struggling to hold them in the wind. The person raised their arms and Alsaria’s instincts kicked in. “DIVE!” She shouted and turo grab Leona. A bubble of light shielded them, she felt her own pne jerk downwards and looked through the window with Leona in her arms.

  A force Alsaria had not seen in nine hundred years came out of that person. A force that ripped through the po them a it crashing towards the snow and ice below in a ball of fme.

  Sorcery.

  Edmonton moved his fingers as ice started to form ohirty seds he had been told before frostbite would ki. Thirty seds was more than enough. He pressed them forwards, trated just like during Arascus’ training and elled sorcery. It came easily so easily he may as well have been riding a bike. Two months of training and he had surpassed whatever magical prowess he held before.

  There was no charge time, no accelerating flow of power, o deer from the air. One instant, his hands were bare, the , red sorcery out of them in a beam. He felt spear on his brow and his arms grow weak aalled the flow. It was enough anyway.

  The red beam had cut through the wing of the closest pne like a khrough butter. Fuel leaked out, caught fire, the body of the pne exploded, its trajectory faltered and it fell to the ground in a ball of fire. The white trail of densed air it was leaving was repced with bck plumes of terrible smoke. Edmonton took a breath and looked up at Raptor-Two. Fleur was there, looking at him, her own kill falling to the ground below her. Two out of five done. Edmonton was disappointed, he wao best to her, he knew she wao best him, and he khat she thought the same.

  The pne in the middle, the ohey had settled on privately for first-e first-serve, began a dive. The pilot’s shout came on in his earpiece. “Get that one be-“ His voice cut out as Edmonton and Fleur both fired upon it. Each got a wing, and the pne became a spear that fell towards the ground.

  Edmonto his fingers again and aimed at pne. He wao get his gloves on. It was cold.

  “Seer-tral, this is Raptor-Oing. Five birds are down. I repeat, Five birds are down, no casualties on our side. Mission succeeded.”

  “Roger that Raptor-One. Peli is moving in.”

  Alsaria did not scream, she had lived too long to be pa this point. Her body moved on instinct, one arm held Leona, the other spun, cast beams of light, caught the pne and stalled its fall. It was an impossibility for her to stop the pne from crashing into the ground but maybe she could slow it down enough for them not to be crushed in the wreckage. With Leona here, it was a ce she was willing to take.

  The ods braced for a crashnding as Alsaria cast shield after shield. The pilot… He was too far away, the seven behind her were more valuable than the one in the front. A world of white engulfed them. An imperable shell as Leona cried into Alsaria’s white dress. They would not die in this pne crash, it was humiliating. The Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Luck? In a pne crash? It simply did not befit them.

  Metal screeched as the pne impacted against the snow. Alsaria had steeled and prepared herself for the crash, she and Leona were not rocked in the slightest, the Gods behind her weren’t so lucky though. They crashed forwards in a series of cries and screams. Alsaria opened her eyes and saw them, scratches and bumps, but they were all alive. “trol yourselves!” Alsaria shouted and they began to settle down.

  Alsaria waved her hand, the shell of white expanded around them, pushed the wreckage of the pne away and then disappeared. The four other pnes had crashed around them. The two bes that had huhem down were already in the distance, making sl turns. Were they going to go for a pass on them? Impossible.

  The seven Gods behind Alsaria grew silent as Leona threw up on the ground. “Leave Alsaria!” Leona shouted.

  “What?”

  “Leave! You! LEAVE!”

  “I’m not leaving you here!” Leona shook her head and fell over onto the ground. Alsaria would not leave the woman, no matter what happened, but with two enemy pnes in the air… Alsaria tried to think of reasoning. Sorcery meant Anassa. Anassa was not free though. Essa had seen her sister only retly, it would take weeks to train to that level. Months realistically. How did… Alsaria shook her head and made a silent decision.

  Anassa had only survived because Essa had a soft heart a thousand years ago. If she still wao keep the woman around, then it would be in the Lower Prison and not in Arcadia. If she refused, then Anassa would die. It was that simple. But Anassa was not the issue now. Olephia was. A free Anassa was a headache, a free Olephia was a threat. Not to the world in particur, but to the Gods of the Pantheon.

  Alsaria thanked herself that she always came two months early for Olephia. Pnes could be called from there. The two pnes circled around them stayed far away. So they did not want to engage. Alsaria turned and looked behind herself. In the distance, a third pne roag them.

  “Seer-tral, Seer-tral, this is Peli.”

  “Copy Peli, what’s the issue?”

  “We’re nearing the crash-site. The cargo wants to jump.”

  “……. Copy that Peli ……. Are you sure?”

  “I am positive Seer-tral, it’s the…”

  “Peli?”

  “You know, the cargo with yellow hair. Just refuses to.”

  “And the other?”

  “Has absolutely no opinion on it.”

  “….. I see Peli.”

  “Should I let them?”

  “….. Permission received from Headquarters. Let them jump then circle around and nd to pick them up.”

  “Copy Seer-tral. Will do.”

  Alsaria squinted as the pne passed above them, it started to dive sharply, then smoothed its flight into maintaining steady altitude close to the ground. A cloud of snow pushed up by its jets obscured the pne, very smooth. A fog for hiding, very smart. Too bad Alsaria had seen it already.

  Two silhouettes had jumped out of that pne just before the snow obscured it. Two very tall silhouettes.