Large, white eyes bore into me like stakes, piercing my soul and burrowing deep into my mind. I didn’t blink. My body was crouched low to the ground, knees bent and feet spread wide in a catlike stance, and my fingers were splayed across iced snow as though they were claws. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and kept my gaze fixed on the opponent before me. I was prepared for the fight.

He struck first, springing into the air with agile grace. His wiry form twisted as he descended, and his fist crashed into my temple, blurring my vision slightly. I flattened my chest to the ground to avoid the second blow and rolled head-over-heels between his legs until I was righted again. His sheet of pearlescent hair twirled out around him as he spun to face me, but I had the advantage. My hand was around his throat before he could react, and I threw him to the ground like a piece of cloth.

It wasn’t over so easily. He curved into a graceful arc, leveraging his weight on the back of his shoulders and vaulting up onto his feet. A low growl rolled from his throat, which I matched with one of my own, and we began circling one another, eyes locked and muscles flexed. This time, I lunged first. I leapt forward and plunged my fist toward his jaw, but he dodged the attack and swooped low to catch me by the knees. I felt his arm hook around my legs and wrench, and I was thrown onto my back to the brick of snow beneath me. Breath rocketed from my lungs, leaving me gasping, but I rolled to the side in time to avoid his next onslaught. His knees cracked against the unyielding ice, and he roared in pain.

I hopped upright and swiveled to launch myself at him. My movements were quick and seamless, allowing me to curl my arm around his neck and press the crease of my elbow into the thick of his throat. His arms shot up, his fingers embedding into my mane, and he slammed my forehead into his skull, but I held tight. I felt his nails raking my scalp, tearing at my flesh and follicles. My eyes swam as I secured my free arm over my other and tightened my vise, and I heard his breath becoming shaggier and shallower with each passing second.

Suddenly, a shadow flooded over us, drowning us in dimmed light. I whipped my head around to see a pale-skinned and limber someone approaching, and, in my moment of vulnerability, he jerked my head down again. This time, it was enough to jar me into releasing him. He scrambled away on his hands and knees, and then we were eye-to-eye once more. We stared at each other, hackles raised and teeth bared. Then, without warning, I relaxed and straightened up.

“Good,” I said approvingly. “Very good.”

The warrior lowered his defenses, though his shoulders remained tense. “Thank you, Chief.”

“Your strike is strong and fairly polished, but we need to further develop your defensive skills,” I told him. “For now, you may return to the barracks. I will pass my assessment to your headman.”

“Thank you, Chief,” he said again, inclining his head respectfully toward me before exiting the arena.

I turned to address the bringer of the shadow and saw it was Silah, my Chief Regent. He watched me scale the arena railing with a small smirk on his thin mouth and a sparkle in his ivory eyes.

“I was watching you,” he said with a hint of aggravating amusement in his tone. “It pains me to say so, Lokos, but I think you may be losing your touch. Heddek could have had you several times over if he had recognized the opportunities.”

“We were training. I would have no warriors if I killed them all in drill,” I replied dismissively.

I began walking, my boots crunching the chunks of ice that littered the stone path into flakes. Silah fell into step beside me. “I was sent to tell you the next group of colonists is due to arrive shortly. The ship has been sighted in orbit, and they are preparing to breach the boundaries of the atmosphere. Dane has asked we be onsite for the landing.”

“Elder De’inde,” I corrected, throwing a sharp glance in his direction.

Silah frowned. “I apologize. It has been difficult to adjust to Dane becoming Elder and you Chief.”

“You have had a year to adjust, Silah. Even if you fail to properly address me, I insist you demonstrate due respect to our Elder,” I said sternly.

“I will do better in the future, Chief,” he countered, the smirk back on his face.

The path came to a fork, and we simultaneously swerved to the left. While Silah was brawny and built, I was lithe and lean, but our strides were matched and our footfalls synchronized to echo a single pair of steps off the steep mountain faces surrounding us. If not for the snow, it would have sounded as though we were traversing a wide, open expanse, but the wintery blanket beneath us and the thick clusters of conifers decorating the landscape instead provided a rather cozy series of reverberations.

We continued in silence until we reached the clearing designated as the landing zone. Once there, we took point behind two particularly large trees with needles as long as my palm for safety and prepared to witness the ship’s incoming.

“I assume the Fifth Ward has been readied for the new arrivals?” I asked absently, my gaze fixed on the clearing’s centermost region.

“Yes,” Silah replied. He tugged several needles from a shimmering green sprig dangling near his cheek. “And the Colonist Headquarters finished construction yesterday.”

“Good.” I peered through the canopy of peaks above me, squinting through the blinding white sunlight for any sign of the ship. “General Morgan has been no less difficult despite the finished Headquarters, I presume.”

“Not in the least,” he said sourly.

“Perhaps the newcomers will change his attitude.”

Silah snorted. “I doubt it. Although, he has been going on about finally having some women of his own kind around. As if we need the likes of him breeding.”

I opened my mouth to reply with an equally sarcastic comment when a dark, hazy dot pierced the smooth, turquoise heavens. Lifting a hand to shield my eyes, I watched it grow from the size of a speck to a fingernail, but its details remained unidentifiable. Silah glanced upward as well, and we awaited the ship’s descent to the clearing together without further exchange.

All at once, a brilliant orange glow burst out from around the craft and blossomed across the aqua welkin. There was a moment in which the ship seemed to freeze in midair, simply hanging motionlessly, and then it started to fall. With each passing second, it gathered more and more speed until it was careening toward us like an arrow to prey, and my heart jolted as my impending peril dawned on me.

“Move!” I shouted, seizing Silah’s arm and yanking him forward.

A high-pitched tinny filled the air, growing louder until it was a painful, incessant shriek in my ears. I heard the bass notes of roaring flames beneath the screech as Silah and I sprinted through the thicket of trees. Compared to the noise of the hurtling ship, our pounding footsteps were inaudible, and I was barely aware of my hoarse, heaving breaths.

Then, there was a great blast, and I was thrown off my feet completely.