Some demanded to take flight now, to find the demons, to face them head-on. Others cried to flee, to hide in the forests in human forms, to dig holes and tunnels and wait until danger passed. Alina the druid, her eyes gleaming, kept speaking of a fabled settlement of Vir Requis in the west, Vir Requis who would help them. Hearing the commotion, several riders of the Goldtusk tribe joined their council; the fur-clad hunters normally camped farther east in the forest, serving Laira, their new chieftain, but now they too joined the argument, shouting that they could defeat any demonic army crawling across their land.

And Jeid stood, listening to them all.

What do we do? he thought, a chill inside him. Fight? Flee? Seek others to help us? He looked at his people: a couple dozen Vir Requis. With them fought only seventy rocs.

Not even a hundred flying beasts, Jeid thought, heart sinking. Against a thousand demons. It had taken four dragons to defeat the demonic octopus; how could they face a thousand of those creatures?

He closed his eyes, thinking of all those he had lost. His father. His wife. His daughter. He thought of the others who had died: the young man who had lost his leg, Prince Sena, Laira's mother, and many others across the world.

So many Vir Requis already fallen. Will the last of us die now?

He opened his eyes and looked at his people again. Dorvin was shouting louder, demanding they fly now to battle. Her staff raised, Alina was speaking of finding more Vir Requis in the west. Others were demanding they hide.

Jeid ignored the calls, ignored the hands that grasped at his cloak. He turned back toward Issari. The young woman was sitting down, propped up against the column, wrapped in a cloak.

Stars, she's so young, he thought. Barely more than a youth, yet she carries the fate of a kingdom on her shoulders.

"Issari." He knelt before her. "Tell me everything you know of these demons. How did your father summon them? How does he control them? Why do they obey him?"