The torchlight grew nearer behind him. When Tanin leaned forward, he saw that the tunnel opened up into a great, round cavern. Maev slid down the smooth, bowl-like slope until she toppled over in its center. She looked no larger than a bean dropped into a goblet. A single hole, roughly the size of a heart, pierced the ceiling, letting in rain and a blast of light when lightning blazed.

"Slay them!" rose a shriek behind him—Zerra's voice. "Slay the reptiles!"

Arrows whistled. One scratched along Tanin's shoulder. He grunted and leaped into the sloping chamber.

"Skin them!"

"Shatter their bones!"

Arrows flew.

Tanin slid down the clammy stone slope, summoned his magic, and shifted.

He beat his wings.

He spun around, rose back toward the tunnel, and stuck his head into the opening. The corridor was so narrow his horns banged against the ceiling; he felt like a man trapped in stocks. His wings flapped behind him, keeping him afloat.

The hunters were close now, crawling forward with their torches. Another bow fired, and the arrow slammed into Tanin's cheek, shattering against his scales. He sucked in air. He blew his fire.

The jet blazed through the tunnel, a shrieking inferno of heat and light, white-hot, spinning like a typhoon of sunfire.

The hunters screamed. A few tried to crawl back, withering, dying in the blaze. Others farther back rolled as they screamed, trying in vain to extinguish the fire, only for new waves of the inferno to crash over them.

Tanin pulled his head back long enough to look over his shoulder.

"Maev, see the opening in the ceiling?" he shouted down to her. "Claw a way out!"

She leaped, shifted into a green dragon, and flew up toward him. "Move! Let me into the tunnel. Let me kill them."

"You claw us an exit, I'll hold them back. Go! Widen that hole!"

She growled. "I'm not escaping. Let me through!"

She grabbed his tail, but he shoved her away. More hunters were racing down the tunnel, crawling over the remains of their burnt brethren. Tanin returned his head into the tunnel and blew more flames.

When his fire died, he heard Maev shout behind him. "All right, I carved your damn escape route. Come on!" She tugged his tail. "Hurry."

He pulled his head free, leaving the tunnel full of corpses, and saw that Maev had widened the hole in the ceiling—it was now just wide enough for his human form. He beat his wings, scattering smoke, and flew toward the hole. He grabbed the rim with his left claw, released his magic, and dangled as a human.

"Maev!" he shouted.

The green dragon still flew by the wall below. She was now blowing her own fire into the tunnel. Smoke blasted out and heat and light bathed the chamber.