They walked along the boardwalk, moving between the towering gray buildings of craggy stone. The pyramids soared ahead, their tips shrouded in clouds. Statues lined their way, each taller than dragons, shaped as stoic priests in flowing robes. Trees rose along the roadside and between the buildings, their pale trunks coiling, their roots rising between the cobblestones like sea serpents breaching from a stony sea. The place was deathly silent. It was a city large enough to house thousands, but Maev saw barely a hundred people, all hurrying about as if the air itself hurt them. One woman, her long pale hair gathered into a bun, ran across the street, tears in her eyes, swatting at invisible insects.

"They're all bloody mad," Dorvin said, turning toward Maev and Alina. "Look at that one." He pointed at an old man who sat in the corner, hugging his knees and rocking, begging in a strange tongue.

Maev knelt by the old man. She tried to soothe him with soft words, but he kept rocking and shaking, not acknowledging her. Sweat beaded on his brow, and his eyes stared into the distance. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Dragons!" Dorvin said, forming a little dragon with his hands, the fingers flapping as wings. "Have you seen dragons?"

The man's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and he covered his eyes. Even Alina, singing softly, could not soothe him. They tried approaching a few other people, and Dorvin again performed his little dragon show, but everyone here had the same reaction. They stared at the empty air, whimpered, and fled.

As Maev walked through the city, seeking anyone who could help, she frowned. Something felt wrong in her mouth. When she tapped her tongue against her front tooth, she winced. The tooth was loose. Maev grumbled. Too many damn fights. Too many punches to the face. It was a wonder she had any teeth at all. As she kept walking, her tongue kept seeking that tooth, wiggling it. It felt ready to fall out, and the more she played with it, the looser it became, yet she couldn't stop. Trying to ignore it, she pointed at a great pyramid that rose ahead, taller than the others.

"If there's a king in this place, he lives there." Gilt covered an archway high upon the pyramid, gleaming as a beacon. "If anyone here would know about Vir Requis, he will."

They kept walking, heading toward the pyramid. The massive structure seemed close, but as Maev kept walking, it seemed to keep getting farther away. She turned around a bend in the road, walked between buildings, and found herself heading in the wrong direction, leaving the pyramid behind her.

"Stars damn you, Mammoth Arse." Dorvin grabbed her arm and tugged her. "This way."