Jeid roasted one sphinx. Another landed on his back and bit, and Jeid bellowed and shook himself, knocking it off. Another charged toward him; he torched it. Three more advanced, and dragons crashed into them, blowing fire and snapping their teeth.

"Burn them all!" Jeid cried. "Dragons of Requiem, defend your home. Fight them. Burn them—"

He grimaced to see three sphinxes land on a young, white dragon and bite into her neck. Blood sprayed in a fountain. The dragon lost her magic and crashed down to the forest in human form—a thin woman, barely older than a youth. Behind Jeid a cry of pain pierced the air. He turned to see several sphinxes grab a black dragon's limbs and tug, ripping off both hind legs. The dragon yowled and lost his magic, becoming an old man. He fell, crashed against the capital of a column, then tumbled toward the forest floor. With a chill, Jeid saw that dozens of Vir Requis had already died; they covered the marble tiles of his hall, lay upon treetops, and one man even slumped across a column's capital, his head severed.

"Grizzly!" Maev cried. The green dragon flew toward him, bleeding from a dozen gashes. "They're tearing down the eastern huts! More keep swarming in." She blew fire, roasting two sphinxes who flew near. "Dead Vir Requis everywhere. Dead children. Stars . . ."

Jeid lashed his claws, cutting open a sphinx. Another sphinx bit into his flank, and Jeid howled and torched the beast. "Maev, soar with me! Higher!"

The green dragon narrowed her eyes and flew higher. Jeid flew with her. Father and daughter raised two pillars of flame that wove together, clearing a path through the sphinxes. Their claws and tails lashed, cutting into dank fur, knocking the enemy aside. A cloud of poison descended toward them, and the two dragons broke apart, skirted the miasma, and kept ascending. Soon they rose so high the air thinned and frost coated their scales.

Finally Jeid leveled off and stared down at his kingdom.

His heart seemed to freeze like his scales.

Requiem was crumbling.

A thousand sphinxes swarmed over the forest, uprooting trees, toppling homes, and slaying dragons. Corpses of Vir Requis covered the hills, and blood painted the hall.

"They're killing us all," Maev whispered at Jeid's side. "Stars, Grizzly. They're . . . they're killing us all."

Requiem falls. Jeid's throat constricted. But we won. We won our war. We defeated our demons. How . . .

"Grizzly!" Laira cried, flying up from below. "They're dragging the children out from the huts! They're slaying everyone!"

Jeid shook his head madly. He swooped.

"Laira, Maev, with me!" he shouted. "Gather whoever you can. We fly north!"

Maev swooped at his side. The wind roared around them. "We can't just flee!"