“Whoa!” Donovan shouted, taking a step back. “Call off your horse! Tell him I’m one of the good guys!”

Alena clapped her hands loudly, but Phlegethon was in a frenzy and failed to respond to her command. He continued to lumber forward, quickly gathering speed, and Donovan had no choice but to turn his gun on the advancing dog. He fired a warning shot into the ground, but the dog didn’t even flinch—so he raised the gun and pointed it directly at the dog’s head.

“Don’t shoot him!” Alena screamed. “Please!”

Donovan looked incredulously at Alena, then down at the charging animal that was almost on top of him—and at the last moment he raised the gun and pointed it into the sky.

Alena kept clapping until the “Return” command finally penetrated the huge beast’s frantic mind. Phlegethon instantly pulled up—but not before his momentum carried him into Donovan’s legs and knocked him off his feet.

Riddick looked down at his own gun lying in the dust—but before he could reach for it, Nick made a headlong dive and landed almost on top of it, covering it with his crossed arms.

Riddick turned and bolted into the woods.

Donovan sat up in the dirt and stared at the woods while Phlegethon apologetically licked his face. “Now I have to run after him, and I hate running after people.”

“Don’t bother,” Alena said. She walked from kennel to kennel, lifting each latch and opening the gates until the clearing was filled with barking dogs. She snapped her fingers once and made a quick spreading motion.

Every dog fell silent.

She walked over to the spot where Riddick had just disappeared into the woods, with all of the dogs following eagerly behind her. She snapped her fingers again and this time made a great swirling motion, then lunged forward and slung both arms as if she were flinging batter from her fingers—or casting a powerful spell.

Every dog took off racing into the woods, with little Ruckus in the lead and the lumbering Phlegethon bringing up the rear.

Alena looked at Donovan. “There’s no hurry,” she said. “He’ll be there whenever you want him.”

Riddick ran wildly, crashing blindly through the thick underbrush with his arms out in front of him to try to separate the branches and clear a path ahead. He had to run—he had to make it deep enough into the woods so that Donovan couldn’t find him without help, and by the time help arrived it would be daylight. By then he would be far away and he could hole up somewhere and figure out what to do next.