“It’s the curse of Charon. I have summoned him to ferry you across the river to Hades—soon.”

He let out a snort. “You expect me to buy this ‘witch’ stuff ?”

“Wait and see.”

“Sorry, I don’t have time to ‘wait and see.’ Now—which one is the cadaver dog?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I’m going to kill it, that’s why. I can’t have it finding any more bodies.” He turned to the kennels again and aimed the gun at the next dog in line. “Is it that one?” He began to squeeze the trigger.

“No!” Alena shouted. “Not that one.” Her eyes passed down the row of dogs and rested momentarily on Trygg. The dog stared intently back at her, and Alena thought she could read the meaning in her eyes. “Open the kennel door,” Trygg seemed to say. “Don’t let us die this way. He can’t shoot all of us. One of us will get to him first. Open the door, Alena—give us a chance.”

Alena looked at the kennel doors—there were six of them. Phlegethon and Styx were both in the last kennel. They were by far the strongest dogs, but they were large and slow moving and there were only two of them—the man would shoot them both before they ever cleared the kennel door. She was a fool to allow them to be locked up in the first place, but she didn’t know any better. If she had known then what she knew now, she would have given the “attack” command and one of them might have reached him; at least they would have had a fighting chance.

The fiercest dogs were all in the third kennel; if she could only open that door—if she could give them the first shot at the man, maybe they would occupy him long enough for her to open the remaining doors. All the dogs together might overwhelm him—but how many of them would he kill first? How many could she bear to lose? She glanced at the first kennel and saw the lifeless form lying on the concrete; her eyes began to fill with tears. Then she glanced at Trygg again, and this time the dog seemed to say, “Do it, Alena. Have courage—we do.”

“Well?” Riddick said. “Which one?”

“They’re all cadaver dogs,” Alena said. “All of them—every last one.”

Riddick looked at her. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

Alena suddenly charged toward the third kennel. She prayed she might somehow make it to the door and fling it open before the man realized what she was doing—but before she was even halfway there the man shouted, “Stop right now or I’ll kill you where you stand!”