Rose gathered everything she needed in minutes: food for the journey, a compass, a sleeping bag that would make up for the lack of a tent and the climbing equipment very necessary for a trip through the mountains. If she were lucky, she would return to the valkyrie camp on the back of a wyvern or gryphon; but for the meanwhile she was travelling by foot.

Their camp was sequestered in a plain tucked behind the mountains. A small river ran through the rock and tiny caves where the soldiers slept. The training field took up much of the space, and Rose noted with pride as she scaled the rocky cliffs dominating the small space that the camp was almost impossible to notice.

Had it been anyone else, the climb would have stolen the breath from a climber in minutes. But Rose was a valkyrie warrior: she was born with superhuman endurance and her training only augmented it. Growing up in the mountains, the novices always had some of the longest, most treacherous paths between them and their dormitories, academies and anywhere else where they were expected to be. The way of the mountains was trained into them young. This was child's play to Rose.

Another reason for her to go. Having grown up that extra year in the Hawk Mountains, she could navigate this sort of terrain between than any of the others. She'd taken extra classes in it, too. The elders might have spent centuries longer than Rose in the army, but they were beginning to reach the age where the climbing took more and more out of them.

Old age. The thought was so foreign to Rose that she blinked. As a valkyrie, it would centuries, maybe even millennia, for her to reach old age. And as a valkyrie warrior, she had never expected to live those centuries.

And she certainly didn't expect to live them now. She banished the thought and tied her black hair back into a bun. The wind was picking up.

Over the course of that first day, Rose left the camp far behind her. Her wolf form rushed across any flat surface, whilst her valkyrie one scaled the numerous cliffs. Her enhanced valkyrie senses stay constantly tuned for the caw of gryphons or the roar of a wyvern, or even the slightest sign of life in the barren mountains. Of course, she also scanned the area for the valkyrie miners. They always had human guards with them, and she couldn't afford to be slowed down.

How old would the gryphons and wyverns be? Rose wondered. The youngest would have to be five or so, but the eldest would be somewhere around seven, or even eight. Dozens of them, at least. Maybe even hundreds. She shook her head. They would be truly invaluable.

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Fourteen years ago, Rose had lived in the firework city of Zerena. Her mother, Captain of the City Guard, had lived there with her. From the moment she could crawl, she had been waiting desperately for her ninth birthday.Not only to find out what her animal form was, but to live in the Hawk Mountains, amongst the legendary valkyrie warriors, to serve Viktoria and-oh Goddesses above-Myra, to earn pride for her family name and glory for her people-imagine it!

The test had been administered, and she couldn't have been prouder. Sarai had chosen her!

What followed had been a maze of training and rivalry. One test Mia might win by the tiniest of margins, only to have Rose win by the skin of her teeth in sparring. From the rivalry, however, had come a friendship.

Then Mia had been killed on the Isthmus, and Rose had been left with a great void in her heart.

In a way, this had all been for Mia. A way to make sense of the useless and terrible truth that Mia was dead, and she wasn't.

Her hand faltered on the rock, and Rose realised it was wet from rain. She moved back a few steps, almost slipping. She'd been distracted. Again. And on these treacherous mountain paths, distraction could get even the most  experienced of climbers killed.

Grip there, she told herself. Move your foot over to there. Rest on this ledge for a minute; no more. You need to find somewhere to sleep by nightfall.

Don't grip there, it's too slippery. If my pack gets too heavy, discard the sleeping roll first. Whatever you do, don't get rid of the elfin charms of protection. Who knows what wander the mountains at night?

So, it went on. By dusk, Rose was weary and hopeless. The ground here had been too hard and steep for her to make much progress at all. How would she ever find the hidden nests in time to aid her people?

To be clear, she wasn't amongst true mountains. The climb was steep, and uphill, but most of the time she scaled the occasional cliff and then walked across harsh rocky plains. Everything was quiet in the mountains, but it was far from peaceful or tranquil. Here, silence was a bad sign.

Once the mountains had been filled with birdsong and whatever creatures managed to scrap put a life here. Now, due to the excessive mining, quiet had fallen over the places where the miners hadn't reached.

On the second day, though, the trills of wild birds filled the air. Rose was getting further into the mountain range, where the humans feared to tread. It would be here, she knew, where the nests were hidden. Unfortunately, here was a very large area.

The long hours melted into longer days. Rose spent each night in an alcove or a cave if she was lucky, on the grass-filled open plains if she was not. She had multiple close calls with the mining gangs on the earlier days, but there was not sight or sign of them by the fourth. It was around that time when she began to wish she had taken somebody with her.

Rose was naturally an extroverted person. She had a burning need for companionship and was lonely deep within the wilderness. This sort of thing might have been Mia's dream: the warrior had always been a solitary creature, with few friends and even less wish for them. She had loved the openness and silence of nature, of being the only person for miles. Rose hated it.

Oh, to be fair, she was a valkyrie. She loved to stand high in the mountains, the wind rifling through her hand, watching the calm sea or listening to the waves crash on faraway beaches. But the solitude, the emptiness...

Rose was starved of the one thing essential to her soul: companionship. By the time she got back to the camp, she might have forgotten how to speak, might have forgotten her whole language.

I doubt you'll ever forget how to speak, Rose. Mia's voice rang through her mind, and for a moment hearing it was wonderful, rather than painful.

"Watch out, wyverns," Rose muttered to herself. "I'm going to find you, whether you like it or not."

Silence was her only reply.