she took her first step, she fell into waist-deep snow. Instantly, she felt the cold smack her hard. Wind whipped around her and bits of snow and ice stung her skin.
She remembered that Mike had seemingly put some more altitude on even as the plane sank toward the earth. Annja looked around and reasoned that if Dhaulagiri was eight thousand meters high, then they were at least halfway up the mountain.
The air was thin and Annja’s lungs struggled to fill themselves with oxygen. Each gasping breath brought more pain in Annja’s side.
Then her ears caught a sound.
It was coming from the plane.
She frowned and started back toward it. Maybe Mike had regained consciousness.
But as she neared the cockpit, she could see that Mike was still out. She’d need to get a fire going soon if they had any hope of lasting the night.
She heard another sound. It was a moan. But it didn’t come from Mike.
Annja steeled herself. Was the person who had shot them out of the sky coming back to finish the job he’d started?
If so, they were going to meet with a very unpleasant Annja Creed. She summoned the mystical sword she’d inherited from Joan of Arc. The sword gleamed in her hands.
“Who’s there?” she demanded. “Show yourself!”
The wind whipped up around her. Annja fought off the icy sting and glared toward the plane.
She heard another moan. She struggled to get closer to the plane. As she did, the plane seemed to rock. Again, Annja glanced at Mike to make sure it wasn’t him causing the motion.
It wasn’t.
Someone else was inside the plane.
Annja’s vision swam as she drew closer to the plane. How in the world had someone else gotten on it? How was that possible? Did Tsing hide someone in there?
She swung her sword and cleaved an opening in the back of the wreckage. Like a piñata splitting open under the assault, the metal sheared under the power of the sword and spilled its contents into the snow.
Annja saw bags tumble out.
And then she saw a tiny man come falling out, as well. He was bloody and he looked terrified.
But he was alive.
Annja took a step toward him, felt another wave of pain wash through her and toppled over.
Back into darkness.
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