Sacred Ground. Alex Archer

on. We’re almost there, I’d say.”

      “So close we could almost walk,” Annja said. “Except if we did that, we’d freeze to death from exposure, huh?”

      “Yeah. We need the truck. That’s for sure.”

      Annja walked farther up the ice road, studying the ice underneath her feet. It seemed so weird to be standing on the middle of a huge river like the Mackenzie. She could see deep cracks and fissures in the ice, and yet, none of them looked as ferocious as the one had that had forced them off the road.

      She wondered what could have caused it. Was it the giant rig from earlier? And if it was, how had it managed to send a fissure rocketing at them like that?

      Maybe it was the wave that built up under the ice like the man at the inn had explained to her.

      Annja shook her head. If getting there was half the fun, she must have been having the time of her life so far.

      She heard Godwin swear and walked back. “You okay?”

      He was sucking his thumb. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just been a while since I tried torquing bolts off in the frigid tundra, that’s all.”

      “Let me help,” Annja said.

      Godwin smiled at her. “You?”

      Annja cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t even think about saying anything you might really regret.”

      Godwin held up his hands and stepped back. “Hey, be my guest.”

      Annja walked over to the shredded tire and picked up the wrench. She clamped it over the closest bolt and then twisted. Godwin was right; the bolt was frozen solid in place on the tire. He joined her and together they were able to loosen the bolt. They worked quickly and removed the remaining bolts from the tire. Then she stepped back and let Godwin take over again. He heaved the tire off and it toppled away. It slid some distance before at last coming to a lopsided stop in the snow.

      Derek was still looking at the horizon. Annja approached him. “You all right?”

      He nodded. “Thought I heard something.”

      Annja frowned. “What now?”

      He shook his head. “I don’t know. Just thought it sounded vaguely familiar.”

      “In a good way or a bad way?”

      Derek shrugged and walked back to the SUV. “Maybe I’m imagining it. I don’t know.”

      Annja watched him go. She smiled. The trip was getting to Derek as much as it was her. Godwin, despite the moments of intensity, seemed all right, all things considered. But then she figured there must have been something about him that kept him pretty even-keeled. She wondered if his father had something to do with it.

      Maybe I’ll ask him later, she thought.

      “Got the tire mounted,” Godwin said. “Another five minutes and we’ll be on our way again.”

      Annja smiled. The sooner they got off the ice road and back onto dry land, the happier she’d be. Their brief respite on the shore had shown her how impossible it would be to travel over land unless there was a road.

      She started to walk back to the SUV.

      And then she stopped.

      The sound came to her like a low growl somewhere far off in the distance, lurking at the edges of her subconscious like a bad dream. She turned around and stared off down the ice road.

      A black speck stared back at her.

      “Guys,” she called out. “I think we’re going to have some more company.”

      Derek looked back. “So, I wasn’t mistaken.”

      “Wish you were,” Annja said. “But it looks like you weren’t.”

      Derek rushed to assist Godwin. “Better hurry up with that tire. We’re going to need to be mobile pretty damned soon.”

      “If the bolts aren’t tightened down just right, the wheel will come off and we’ll crash.”

      Annja stared at the black speck. It was getting larger. Much larger. And she could already tell it was the same giant rig that had nearly run them over before.

      She doubted very much that it would let them survive this time.

      “How long?” she called out over her shoulder.

      “Four minutes,” Godwin said. He grunted under the effort to get the bolts fastened.

      “We need some time,” Derek said. “Can you do something?”

      Annja looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

      But something in Derek’s eyes told her he wasn’t kidding. Not one bit. She frowned. Just how much did he know about her?

      Annja looked at the giant rig. It was barreling toward them. It looked as if it had spotted them and seeing them at a complete stop, its front end had zeroed in on their location. It was locked in and nothing could stop it.

      Annja walked away from the SUV. She needed some distance from Godwin and Derek if she was going to pull this off without letting everyone know her biggest secret of all.

      But would it work?

      The giant truck surged closer. Annja could see it looming in front of her. She felt a measure of calm come over her despite the impending doom she faced. If she stayed in position and did nothing, she’d be little more than a smear on the ice road. And soon enough, just a forgotten remnant of the white landscape.

      But she had no intention of going so quietly into the night.

      She ran away from the SUV, gathering her speed. She could feel the energy from the sword and her connection to it flooding into her body.

      Her muscles felt as if they’d been shocked full of juice, as if a huge current of electricity had touched her.

      The truck continued to bear down on her position. It looked like a giant seething machine, belching smoke and steam as it tore up the ice road. She could see its tires and the dented red front fender.

      I’ll have just one chance, she thought. Only one chance to get this right.

      She ran harder, feeling the icy cold bite into her lungs and her face. And yet, somehow, the cold temperature fell away, replaced by the sensation of heat spreading all over her body.

      Seen from a distance, Annja looked as if she was going to commit suicide by running right at the mighty truck.

      One machine.

      One human.

      I hope this works, Annja thought.

      8

      As Annja raced toward the speeding truck, she closed her eyes and saw the sword in her mind’s eye. She reached into the otherwhere for it, felt her hands close around the hilt and then she opened her eyes again.

      The sword was in her hands.

      She flipped it over quickly, aiming the tip down below her. She could feel her heart thundering inside her chest. The sword’s energy coursed through her entire body, mind and spirit.

      She briefly hoped that her action would go unnoticed by Derek and Godwin. Perhaps they wouldn’t be able to see the sword.

      With no time to worry about it just then, Annja felt her breathing come in fast spurts. She jumped up as high as she could. And then the ground was rushing up at her fast, almost unnaturally fast. And the truck was still rushing at her.

      Annja touched down and drove the very point of her sword into the thick ice beneath her. She exhaled with a loud shout as she drove the metal deep into the ice floe.

      From somewhere far beneath her, she heard a deep cracking sound issue up from the ice-cold inky depths and then spread out from her sword blade