had just enough time to grab her rope of fish and jump clear of the hole before the massive head of a black-and-white orca whale burst through.
The orca paused for a moment, showing a gaping mouth so wide it could have easily bitten her in half. Then it slipped back into the water, leaving a hole much bigger than the one she’d carved out.
As she lurched to her feet, she felt the ice vibrate again. The whale was moving, circling beneath her, no doubt getting ready for another pass. She had to get off the ice before it struck again. But she didn’t have time to change back to her snowshoes and she cursed in frustration as her legs pushed against the snow with agonizing slowness.
The whale smashed through the opening again, this time widening it enough that it could fit its entire body through. It landed so heavily on the ice that it sent Sonya sprawling into a drift. Its black-and-white hide was scarred in half a dozen places, and it was over thirty feet long, far bigger than any orca had a right to be.
Sonya had heard of such a beast. People called it Lord Massa. Larger, smarter, and more aggressive than any other orca, some said it had lived so long that it had grown wise to men’s tricks and perhaps had even come up with a few tricks of its own. Others said that no whale like this could exist in nature and that it must have been enhanced by some sort of magic. Still others whispered that it was a Ranger of Marzanna who had given up so much of his humanity that he was now indistinguishable from the beasts.
If it was indeed a Ranger, he no longer recognized the garb of his fellows. Sonya’s stomach gave a sharp lurch when he fixed his hungry black eyes on her. His cavernous, toothy mouth snapped open and closed as his tail slammed into the ice over and over and he inched his massive bulk toward her.
The ice quaked with each blow, making it difficult for Sonya to regain her footing. She lurched forward, forcing her way through the drifts as fast as she could. She silently prayed that she would reach solid ground before the ice broke apart.
But the Lady Marzanna did not hear her prayer, or chose not to grant it. With a thunderous crack, the ice beneath Sonya split open. Snowdrifts slid into the dark water, dragging her down with them.
The moment she entered the water, her body seized up from the shock of the cold. Her clothes took on water, growing increasingly heavy. She fought against the weight and the numbness of her limbs as she swam toward the surface. But the current had swept her under a portion of unbroken ice. She hacked at it with her knife, but it was so thick that she barely made a dent, and every blow against the ice made her want to take a breath.
She saw a cloud of bubbles and pushed away from the ice in time to avoid the snap of Lord Massa’s jaws. The orca began to swim languidly around her in a circle, biding his time, toying with her, knowing he now held a supreme advantage over his prey.
Then Sonya spotted an area a short distance away where the ice appeared to be broken enough for her to exit. She wanted to swim toward it as fast as she could, but knew the orca would be more quickly drawn to such prey-like behavior. So even though her lungs were burning for air and she had to clench her teeth to stop from involuntarily taking a gulp of water, she swam slowly, almost peacefully toward the break in the ice.
It wasn’t until she was almost in reach of the opening that the orca understood that his prey was not merely drifting in the current but making her escape. He launched himself toward her, but she grasped the edge of the ice and hauled herself up before he could reach her.
She gasped for air but was unable to take a deep breath, and her body shivered uncontrollably, both potential signs of hypothermia. Her head was growing foggy, as though she were drunk. She wanted nothing more than to merely lie there in the warm snow, but she forced herself to stand up.
Lord Massa burst from the water once again, his mouth open wide. He was so close, she could smell his foul, fishy