Yellow eyes gleamed in the brush.

The growl rose again in the darkness.

Behind her, the sun vanished behind the trees.

A shadow slunk forward, and in the dying light, Laira saw the creature, and she felt the blood drain from her face.

The saber-toothed cat bristled, muscular and hulking, several times Laira's size. Its fangs shone, large and sharp as swords. The beast took another step toward her and growled again.

Laira gasped and took a step back.

In the distance, the rocs cried; they were moving closer.

Shift into a dragon! Laira told herself. Become a dragon and burn it!

Yet how could she? If she flew or blew fire, the rocs would see her. Even just shifting would rattle the trees like a mammoth stampede, raise a ruckus of clattering scales, and reveal her location.

The saber-toothed cat growled louder and crouched, ready to pounce.

Never removing her eyes from its gaze, Laira knelt and grabbed a stone.

With a roar, the great cat leaped.

Laira tossed her stone, hurtling it forward with all her might. The projectile crashed into the cat's forehead, and Laira leaped aside.

The cat stumbled backward into a tree trunk, shook its head wildly, and faced her again. It padded forward, a bleeding gash on its forehead.

Couched in the dry leaves, Laira grabbed a fallen branch. She snapped it across her knee, then waved the sharp end at the cat.

"Be gone!" She bared her own teeth—pathetically small compared to its fangs. "Go! Go!"

If she ran, it would chase. If she showed weakness, it would pounce again. She waved the stick and hopped around, trying to seem as menacing as possible. Naked, scrawny, and wounded, she doubted she appeared like much of a threat.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the cat leaped again.

Laira thrust her stick.

The cat brushed it aside with its paw and slammed into her, knocking her down.

Laira grimaced. The saber teeth shone and drove down.

I have no choice.

With a hiss, Laira summoned her magic.

Scales rose across her. The cat's fangs slammed against them and bounced back.

As her body began to grow, Laira shoved the beast off. She swiped her own paw, lashing her sprouting claws against the animal. The saber-toothed cat whimpered and fell.

The rocs shrieked above, and her body was still growing. A tail sprouted behind her, her neck kept lengthening, and the trees shook as she banged against them. Laira growled, baring her fangs, still only half-dragon.

The saber-toothed cat growled back, then whimpered, turned tail, and fled into the shadows.

An instant before cracking the trunks around her in a ruckus, Laira released her magic.

She shrank back into human form and lay shivering.

The cries of rocs moved farther away, and the last light faded.