Qoryxa’s Canyon was beautiful and dangerous. The Everice tapered into a narrow schism cutting between two towering ridges. The eastern ridge glittered with white crystals, its dense gelubor forest a sea of frosted diamond stretching endlessly. In contrast, the western ridge was a stark, barren expanse, with hundreds of waterfalls eternally frozen mid-cascade along the canyon’s walls.

The last time Zyryxa had traversed the canyon, her mother led an attack to cull a white wyrm that had claimed the narrow byway. With the war and without Zyrthalla as knight of Loxzua, wyrms and their wyrmling swarms could control the pass unchecked. Zyryxa relished the challenge. Abominables, drakes, direwolves, sabretooths—they were easy prey. A wyrm would be a worthy foe for a future champion like herself. But the decision wasn’t so easy when traveling with Lexyn.

Lexyn studied the eastern ridge. The dense forest meant no large beasts and shelter from wind. Plentiful gelubor meant good vantage points, archery perches, and tinder for warmth. It was not Zyryxa’s preferred route— slow and unsteady, going around rather than straight through. Worse, small, annoying creatures could ambush them. Still, it was better to get started than to stare at the scenery, no matter how beautiful.

“What do you think of the terrain, Lexyn?” Zyryxa asked.

Lexyn’s mischievous grin was a warning. “We know the way back is safe, and we know the world is round. Maybe if we turn around, we’ll end up at Riverwatch.”

Zyryxa laughed. “What if we reach an impasse at southern sea instead?”

“Then we’d know the way behind us is safe, and we’d travel back here.”

“And then?”

“Turn around again, of course.”

“Of course,” Zyryxa echoed. “And wander the Everice forever, depriving Hatrox of our charming company.”

Lexyn’s voice turned girlish, “Mm-hmm.”

“I like it,” Zyryxa said, a part of her wishing life could be that simple.

“Me too. Or,” Lexyn paused dramatically, “we blast right through the middle because there’s nothing you can’t handle.”

“You wouldn’t be flattering me, would you, Lexyn?”

“Never!”

Zyryxa bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Of course. I should’ve known you wouldn’t dare try to butter me up.”

Lexyn shook her head. “I couldn’t.” She fluttered her eyes. “It simply isn’t possible to flatter one so perfect.”

“Ah!” Zyryxa grinned like she’d just won a tournament at a Festival of Melding. “If it were possible to flatter someone as perfect as I, you’d be doing it rather well.”

Lexyn giggled, forcing Zyryxa to bite her lip and suck in her laughter. “Then again,” Zyryxa continued, “if I were as perfect as you propose, would I not be above making such wild accusations of flattery? Shouldn’t that very imperfection render this entire scenario impossible?”

Lexyn shrugged. “I suppose we’re at an … impasse.”

Zyryxa rolled her eyes but couldn’t fully suppress a chortle. “I suppose it is … impassable,” she giggled, “to decide which way to go or whether you might be flattering me.”

Zyryxa admired the view of Lexyn’s broad smile more than the canyon. Qoryxa’s flaming eyes! She would protect this woman’s heart as if it were her sacred duty. She was breathtaking and anyone that did not treat her how she deserved would get her sister’s boot in the arse.

Lexyn sighed, the fleeting humor passing. “Not impassable. I trust you to take us safely through the canyon. Besides, even if you aren’t perfect, you’re closer than anyone I’ve met.”

Zyryxa choked up, nodded, and led the way into the schism. Their passage through the canyon was marked only by the shifting angles of the sun; there were no tracks, no signs of life. Zyryxa doubted predators could thrive here without food. Yet, as dusk approached, the first stirrings of excitement arose from the western ridge. The clash of a man’s battle cry melded with a chorus of bestial growls, creating a savage symphony in Zyryxa’s ears. What was music without dancing?

She glanced at Lexyn. “A proud warrior battles multiple gooras.”

“Gooras?”

Zyryxa guided Zyrxl to the canyon wall. “Hulking yeti-like beasts, with hunched, muscular frames and sky blue fur. Grotesque faces adorned with glowing red demon eyes, horns, and sharp, yellow fangs. Their massive clawed hands and feet can rend flesh and crush bones with ease. Agile with powerful legs and arms, they can scale cliffs or jump across canyons. They smell like sulfur and death, and that’s what we’ll give them, Lexyn.”

Lexyn nodded, her eyes wide as she studied the cliff separating them from the battle. “How in Qoryxa’s name are we getting up there?”

Zyrxl’s claws dug into the wall as Zyryxa stared up at the sky, holding to the coldscale’s back with one hand and clutching the wyrmbone lance with the other.

“You can’t be serious,” Lexyn muttered. Still, never one to disappoint, she urged Dryxl to climb.

Zyryxa grinned from ear to ear, watching Lexyn maintain a death grip around Dryxl’s neck as they ascended vertically. Above, the sounds of battle intensified. The man’s roars were eminently masculine, and judging by the sound of the gooras’ responses, he was putting up a fierce fight.

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Zyryxa reached the crest of the canyon, her eyes scanning the scene atop the ridge. The sight of the lone warrior decapitating one of the four hulking gooras with his axe set her pulse racing. She glanced down at Lexyn, sharing a brief, determined nod before urging Zyrxl into the fray.

One of the gooras vaulted onto the man’s back. He bent forward and hurled the eight-foot-tall, seven-hundred-pound beast over his head, impressing Zyryxa so thoroughly that she felt flutters in her chest. She’d fight hard to see him survive, to get a better glimpse of this monster of a warrior.

The nearest goora barely registered Zyrxl’s charge before Zyryxa’s lance crushed its eye, exploding through its skull. She vaulted from Zyrxl, slamming into another goora, pinning it against the ice. Her fists hammered its grotesque face, but it threw her off. Rising, she drew her greataxe, bracing for the next strike. An arrow from Lexyn hit its shoulder, giving Zyryxa the opening to carve it with decisive cuts. Releasing piteous growls, the beast dropped to its knees and was permanently shortened with a final cut that sent its head rolling through the snow.

The man was locked in a desperate struggle with the final goora, hands clasped with the beast as they pushed each other across the ridge. Lexyn’s arrow found its mark in the goora’s side, giving the dragon warrior the edge he needed to throw the beast into the schism.

Zyryxa smiled as the goora’s body crashed onto the ice. It was a dance worth remembering. She sought her partner, reminding herself to maintain a dignified distance to avoid seeming overly taken with the man’s remarkable prowess. Then she glimpsed his face and realized that wasn’t going to be hard at all.

“You,” she spat.

“Me,” the man countered.

“Hello, Pelzyq,” Lexyn said.

Pelzyq beamed at Lexyn. “Lexyn remembers the great Pelzyq!” He winked at her. “He didn’t forget your pretty face either.” Pelzyq turned toward Zyryxa and opened his arms. “And you, ice princess, are as beautiful as Pelzyq remembered,” he drawled, flexing his massive muscles. “You don’t have to admit to Pelzyq, but at least admit to yourself that the little fire in your icy soul was set ablaze by Pelzyq’s battle prowess.”

Zyryxa wanted to vomit, despising the accuracy of his words.

Pelzyq reached for her face, but Zyryxa slapped his hand away. “You dream bigger than Divine Leverith and you’re just as soft,” she sneered.

Pelzyq grinned, undeterred. “Wrestle Pelzyq, and you’ll see nothing about him is soft, especially when you’re involved.”

Zyryxa leaned in, her voice icy. “The only way we’re wrestling again is if you’re paying me for lessons.”

Lexyn laughed, leaning forward on Dryxl, grinning as if watching a divinedamned bardic duel. Well, if Lexyn wanted a show, Zyryxa would give her one.

“Pelzyq will pay you,” he thrusted the air between them, “with pleasure.”

Zyryxa rolled her eyes. “The only way you’ll ever please me is by closing your divinedamned mouth.”

“Pelzyq will close his mighty mouth around your lips after he pins you down. Though, depending on the mood, we’ll see which of your lips he’ll suckle.” He puckered his full lips and made a sucking sound.

Zyryxa leaned in, the stench of his breath and his stupid grin further nauseating her. “Listen, you ugly pervert, I am so far above you that you might as well be buried in the bowels of Antryx Mir while I’m soaring over Monzqora. You will never put your lips anywhere near mine you arrogant, droopy-eyed, mouth-breathing jackass.”

She smiled with vindictive satisfaction at the hurt in his droopy eyes.

“You have me beat only at two things,” he spat, raising two fingers. “Beauty,” he lowered one finger, “and pride.” He lowered the other finger, forming a fist. “And Pelzyq could strike them both away with a few blows from his fleshhammers.”

Zyryxa pressed her face closer to his, her voice turning to ice. “What’s stopping you from trying? You scared, little boy?”

“You were both amazing against these gooras,” Lexyn nervously interjected. “Why don’t you show your might by smashing all our foes on the journey to Riverwatch? Together, as Vaztyma wanted us.”

“Look at that!” Pelzyq guffawed. “The mouse squeaks!”

Zyryxa could’ve traded threats and insults with Pelzyq until sundown, but when he insulted Lexyn, the dance was over. She tackled him, fists flying in a blind rage. She landed several blows before he bucked her off.

Zyryxa sprang to her feet, feeling Qoryxa guiding her judgment. Pelzyq charged with the grace of a yak. She sidestepped, using his reckless momentum to throw him toward the schism. Before he could rise, she was on him.

Zyryxa pressed her pelvis into his, hooked her legs around his, and spread them wide as she pinned his arms against the snow. Tremors of vindictive pleasure coursed through her as he cried out in pain, placed in the exact position he desired. She taunted him by gliding her groin against his, knowing how close yet how far he was from his dreams.

“You will respect Lexyn,” she said, her voice steady.

“Fuck you!”

Zyryxa stretched his legs further, his agonized screams a sweet symphony. “I own you, little boy,” she howled. “I allow you to open your mouth because your pathetic attempts to rival me amuse me. But if you insult her, I’ll put you right back down where you belong.”

She released him and dismounted. Pelzyq scrambled to his feet, his face already bruising from her punches. He wiped the tears from his eyes. “Another ambush. All you’ve proven, bitch, is that you have no honor.”

Zyryxa stomped toward him, causing him to flinch and backpedal. “All you’ve proven, little boy, is that you have nothing but excuses.”

“Zamael reap you!” Pelzyq spat. He retrieved his axe and dashed north along the ridge.

Zyryxa opened her arms and shouted after him. “Run, little boy! Run as fast as you can! I’ll always be ahead of you!”

She grinned at Lexyn. But Lexyn shook her head in disdain.

“Too much?” Zyryxa asked, her grin faltering.

Lexyn couldn’t meet Zyryxa’s gaze as she nodded.

Zyryxa felt a spike of annoyance rising in her chest. “That jackass deserves a few beatings.”

“I was afraid you were going to murder him,” Lexyn mumbled.

“I needed to teach him that he can’t intimidate us.”

“I was more afraid of you than him,” Lexyn said, trembling.

Zyryxa sighed, feeling agitated. All she wanted to do was protect Lexyn.

“There is a violent, vindictive beast inside of you,” Lexyn continued, “and—”

“I will never be violent towards you,” Zyryxa promised.

“I don’t want you to be violent toward our allies either,” Lexyn said, braving eye contact, her face resolute.

Zyryxa turned her back to Lexyn and sighed again, rolling her eyes. “He deserved it.”

“He was being an asshole,” Lexyn agreed. “And Vaztyma made him our brother.”

Zyryxa had enough of Lexyn’s softheartedness. Pelzyq deserved every ounce of his beating and then some. Without looking at Lexyn, she retrieved her lance, yanking it out of the goora’s shattered skull, and ran north, making sure to take a different route than Pelzyq. She didn’t look back to see whether Lexyn and the drakes followed her.

As she ran, Zyryxa’s mind churned. Lexyn’s words echoed in her thoughts, gnawing at her. She wanted to protect Lexyn, but not at the cost of terrifying her. She couldn’t let her anger rule her actions, especially when it endangered the bond they shared. Zyryxa slowed her pace, the realization hitting her with the weight of a thousand regrets. She needed to find a way to control the furious beast within, for Lexyn’s sake.

She stopped, ready to apologize and promise to only channel Qoryxa’s judgment toward those who were true dangers, and not just inbred jackasses. Zyryxa didn’t get far before one of those true dangers split the air with a draconic roar.