"I am." Maev sighed and her lips curled bitterly. "I'm not eating anymore of their food. Sooner or later I'll die here—maybe in a day, maybe in two, maybe three. If I don't eat or drink, it'll come." She raised her chin. "Live free or die. I will not linger here, tied to the boulder. And I will not drink their poison. I'd rather starve to death than lose my magic." She smiled wryly. "Funny. I always imagined my death would be in battle—fighting against the enemies of Requiem. But I'm glad, Laira. I'm glad because this means I'll die beside you." Her eyes watered. "And I love you, Laira. I love you as family, as a sister in arms, as a dragon."

Laira looked over the misty hills, the grassy valley, and the distant druids who were tending to their herb gardens. "I never imagined I'd end up like this either." Laira's voice was soft. "I always thought it would be Zerra who'd kill me—the Chieftain of Goldtusk. Whenever he beat me, I thought that I would die. I think I did come close to dying some of those times. When Grizzly found me, I was almost dead. I was burnt, cut, bruised, battered . . . every inch of me was covered with wounds. I weighed less than a leaf on the wind, and my mind was a storm. But I survived. I do not believe our journey ends here, Maev. Grizzly taught me that there's always hope. Always. Even when things seem darkest, so long as you breathe, so long as you can take that next breath, you can hope. And you can fight. We've overcome hunters, rocs, demons. We'll survive a few druids."

"Laira?" Maev said. "I'm . . . not quite sure you're right." She winced. "Not with sphinxes around."

Laira frowned. "What . . ." She looked up and felt the blood drain from her face.

Oh stars . . .

She raised her voice to a shout. "Sphinxes!" Laira tugged at her bonds. "Auberon! Druids! Sphinxes attack!"

The beasts shrieked among the clouds; Laira counted seven of them. The circling vultures fled. The sphinxes' stench wafted down—a stench of acid and stale urine and sulfur. The wind ruffled the fur on their lion bodies, and their human faces—bloated to an obscene size as if waterlogged—opened to reveal their teeth.

"Druids!" Laira shouted, tugging madly at her bonds. At her side, Maev was trying to shift, but whenever green scales flowed across her they vanished as the tillvine strands squeezed her.

Druids emerged from their huts, raced to the center of the valley, and pointed at the flying sphinxes. A few knelt and began to pray.

"Auberon, release us!" Laira shouted. "Release us or they'll kill us all!"

The bearded old druid emerged from his hut, gazed at the sphinxes that circled above, and raised his staff. His voice echoed across the valley.