Arianna Nikola stood at the edge of the northern glacier and stared at the white field ahead. Somewhere beyond it lived the great white wolf she had come to tame. She had crossed three ranges to reach this place. But the ice in front of her hid dozens of crevasses, and she could not tell solid ground from a thin crust waiting to break. One wrong step would drop her into the dark. She tested the surface with her boot. It held. She took a step, then another. The wind pushed her braid against her cheek. Below the snow, a hollow sound answered her weight. She froze. She did not know which way was safe, and guessing meant dying. A small shape moved on a rock to her left. It was a dragon no bigger than a dog, with white scales and black horns. Its black eyes fixed on her. It had watched her the whole time. "You know the way, don't you?" Arianna said. The little dragon dipped its head. It hopped onto the ice, took three steps, and stopped. It looked back at her, waiting. Arianna followed. She placed her boots exactly where the dragon had stepped. When it turned, she turned. When it paused before a smooth patch, she paused too. Twice it swerved hard around ground that looked no different from the rest. Both times, she heard the ice groan behind her where she would have walked. Halfway across, the dragon stopped short. It scraped the snow with one claw, then backed away. Arianna knelt and brushed the powder aside. A crack ran under the crust, wide enough to swallow her. She had been one stride from it. "Thank you," she whispered. The dragon led her on. The sun dropped, and the wind grew teeth. Arianna's fingers ached inside her gloves. She could not cross the whole glacier before dark. The little dragon seemed to know this. It veered toward a wall of blue ice and slipped through a narrow gap. Arianna squeezed after it. Inside, the wind died. She stood in a winding cavern of glittering ice. The walls glowed soft and blue, smooth as glass. A frozen path curled deeper into the rock. It was shelter, dry and still. She sank down against the wall and caught her breath. The dragon curled up a few feet away and closed its eyes. For the first time since the crossing began, Arianna felt safe. Then she saw the tracks. Large paw prints pressed into the frost of the cavern floor, leading deeper in. They were fresh. Each one was wider than her spread hand. The wolf she hunted had passed through here, and it was close. Arianna rose slowly. The safe route was behind her now. Whatever waited ahead, she would have to face it inside the ice.