The keep—the part of it that was inside of the dome—jutted forward from the wall, just as Bet had said. It was made of the same stone as the dome, its top covered with toothlike crenellations. Evin could barely make out shadowy figures peering between the crenellations atop the keep. One pair looked up at them from a large balcony in the middle of the keep that opened into a dark chamber.

“We are here,” the chimera’s dragon head roared above the sound of his flapping wings. “They appear to be prepared for us.”

“What are you going to do?” Jorick called.

The chimera didn’t respond. Instead, he stretched out his wings and dived to the top of the keep.

The wind tore at Evin, threatening to rip him from the chimera’s back. He grabbed the chimera’s flesh as tightly as he could. Though he desperately wanted to, somehow he couldn’t make himself close his eyes.

Atop the keep, a half dozen men and women in various colored robes pointed at one another and the sky, screaming out things Evin couldn’t hear. One wizard—a short man with a beard that curled down toward his feet—raised his wand at them. A fireball cracked out at them, but the chimera veered past it and the flames burst into empty air.

The chimera’s goat head bleated a laugh. His dragon head said, “They think to try and use fire against me?”

Opening his dragon jaws wide, the chimera spat out a column of fire. It burst against the top of the keep just as the chimera reached it. Stone erupted into a cloud of white smoke, sending the short wizard flying into the air.

The chimera barreled through the billowing smoke, flapping his wings and dispersing the gritty cloud. His front paws and back hooves clomped across the top of the keep as he landed, attempting to slow his speed. The bump loosened Evin’s grip and sent him bouncing.

“I command you to stoooAAAAAH!”

Evin saw the robed woman only for a moment before the chimera bounded into her, the goat head lowered. He butted her in the chest with his horns and sent her flying backward. She skidded on her back across the roof and lay still.

“Get off of me!” the chimera bellowed, shaking himself to loosen the grip of his passengers. “I will take care of these useless guardians. You three find the leader!”

Evin, Jorick, and Bet all slid from the chimera’s back, and collapsed atop the keep. As soon as he was free of their heavy bodies, the chimera leaped into the air, his wings bringing up another cloud of dust as he spun. His lion head roared as his dragon head spewed forth a blast of fire. There were more screams as the flames exploded against stone and sent several more wizards flying.