Outside in the forest, the sphinxes still shrieked. Some flew above, while others seemed to be moving between the aspens and elms, calling out.

"Come to us, dragons!" rose a cry. "Come now and we will kill you quickly. Hide from us, and when we find you, your death will be a lot slower."

Maev sneered and made to leap out again, to challenge the enemy. Laira grabbed the woman's shoulder and held her back.

"Don't listen to them," Laira whispered. "Please, Maev. Trust me. Hide with me."

Maev trembled with rage, and her fists pressed deep into the mud, but she obeyed.

Laira huddled deeper into the burrow. After a long night of fleeing through the forest, they had found this place to hide. The sun now shone overhead, and she dared not emerge, but once darkness fell again, Laira would wander the forest. She would seek the others. If they lived, she would find them.

She closed her eyes.

Did any other Vir Requis even live in this world? Had the sphinxes slain them all? She tried to think back to last night, to the pain and blood and fire. The sphinxes had torn into the group of fleeing dragons, had ripped so many from the sky. Laira had cried out to her husband, tried to reach him, but the sphinxes had swarmed. Claws had scratched her. The dragons had scattered, fled to forests and hills, and now . . .

Now only Maev and I are here, she thought. Maybe the last two in the world.

The sounds of sphinxes slowly faded, their cries moving farther away. Laira allowed herself a shaky breath of relief. At her side, Maev relaxed, her tense muscles deflating. Only a distant roar now sounded outside, moving south.

"Are they gone?" Laira whispered. "I don't hea—"

A boot stomped down right outside the burrow of roots and vines, only several inches away from Laira's face. She froze and bit down on her words. At her side, Maev bared her teeth, and her hand reached to the dagger at her belt. Laira had to clasp Maev's wrist, halting her from drawing the weapon and attacking.

"The two whores are here somewhere," rose a deep voice outside. The man hawked and spat. "The little one with the black hair and the tall yellow-haired beast. I saw them running this way, I did."

A second voice answered; this one was raspier and higher-pitched. "I see no damn tracks. No tracks for almost a mark. Ain't no women here for you, Ktar. We got women back in our camp. Bed them and forget about these reptile scum."