He cleared his throat. "Yes, my dear Angel, it seems she is a dragon. And yes, I have forbidden you to leave this city."

The Demon Queen screamed. Her fire blazed, a great pillar upon the roof. The palace shook. Demons who flew above, balls of slime, burst under the sound wave of her scream, falling down in tatters.

"Send me after her!"

Calmly, Raem turned to look toward the coast. The white dragon was now over the water, fleeing north. A second beast was flying in the opposite direction, heading from the sea toward the city. As Raem watched, a great oily vulture—larger even than a dragon—flew toward the palace, a rider upon its back.

With a shriek, the roc landed on the palace roof. A Goldtusk hunter spilled off its back, barely landing on his feet. He was a tall, hirsute man with beads threaded into his beard. Three fingers were missing from his hand, the wounds fresh, and a gash ran down his chest. His skin was ashen, his eyes sunken. Blood stained his tattered fur cloak.

"I seek King Raem!" the man said, wavering, looking so weak he barely acknowledged the smoky, fiery Angel.

"You have found him," said Raem.

The hunter gripped Raem's arms. "The rocs . . . many dead. Zerra . . . slain. Laira, that maggot of a harlot . . . took over the tribe. The dragons have a kingdom now. Requiem, they call it. All is lost. All . . . lost . . ."

With that, the man collapsed. He breathed no more.

Raem stared at the dead man, at Issari who was barely visible upon the horizon, at the ruin of his palace, and at the panting, sneering Angel.

And he laughed.

His laughter seized him. He could not stop. Angel shrieked again, beating her wings, and Raem laughed so much he had to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Do you see, Angel?" he said. "Do you see the pain of children? Never breed, Angel. Never bear a child."

She ripped out a chunk of roof and tossed it aside. She lifted the dead hunter in her claws, raised him to her lips, and hissed.

"It is time," she said. "Time to eat human flesh. Time to grow. Time to kill dragons."

Raem looked down upon the city. He saw no living souls. All his people—once proud and strong—hid in their homes.

The dragons destroyed my city, he thought. And so be it. Let blood fill these streets.

He nodded.

"A thousand men and women I give to you. A thousand meals. Fly through the city with your demons, Angel. Feast upon them. Grow large. Grow strong. And then . . . then we fly north. To Requiem."