With a grumble, Jeid released his magic and tugged Dorvin to his feet. "Stand up." Disgust filled his voice. "Now kneel before me. Do it now before I clobber you again."

Head spinning and blood trickling, Dorvin looked around him. Everyone was staring at him—his sister, Jeid's people, his own people. They were all silent, waiting for his move. Dorvin cursed inwardly. If he surrendered like a coward, he'd look weak. If he tried to fight again and lost, he'd look even weaker. He had only one thing to do.

Stars damn it.

He burst out laughing, blood in his mouth.

"You bastard!" He grabbed Jeid and squeezed his shoulder. "You're tougher than rocks in a dragon's gullet." He nodded. "I was only testing you, you lump of tarred mammoth shite. Aye. You proved your strength to me. I'll fight for you, old man." He knelt. "There, I'm kneeling all proper like, you grizzled chunk of meat." He rose again, stared at Jeid solemnly, and nodded. "I'll fly for you. For Requiem." He turned toward his people and raised his voice. "We fight for Requiem, for King Aeternum! Ours are the stars!"

They repeated the chant. "Ours are the stars!"

As the others stepped closer, Dorvin thrust out his bottom lip, looking around and nodding. "Well, it's a shite-hole, this place is. But not a bad column you've got here, Grizzly King. This column is a backbone. We'll build a body around it."

His sister smiled and began leading the people in prayer. Dorvin was about to join them, to sing the song of starlight and dragon wings, when the cry rose behind him.

He spun around, narrowed his eyes, and tilted his head.

A young woman came running from the forest, her green eyes wide with fear. A dark braid hung across her shoulder, and she wore an uncured pelt of bear fur. The garment stank of blood and old meat, and flies bustled around it, as if the girl had simply torn it off the animal. Beneath, she wore a bloodstained cotton tunic. Strangest of all was her hand; when she reached forward, she revealed a silver amulet embedded into the flesh of her palm.

"Requiem!" she cried. "Demons attack—an army of demons." She ran a few more steps, then collapsed.

"Issari!" Tanin shouted and ran toward her. He knelt above the girl. "Issari, by the stars, what are you doing here?"

The others all crowded around, gasping and whispering. Dorvin stared down at the strange young woman, confusion welling inside him.

Lying in Tanin's arms, pale and shivering and coated in blood, Issari stared up and whispered through pale lips, "He is coming. Raem. My father. He flies here leading a thousand demons. He flies to destroy Requiem."

With that, her eyes closed, and she said no more.

RAEM

 
RAEM

They streamed across the world, festering, screeching, howling for blood, an unholy host, a darkness to crush reptiles. The demon army swarmed.