Rhys had spent a lot time running away from things. Running away from the war in Chenja. Running from life with Nyx to start something new in Tirhan. Running from Elahyiah and his children. He ran because he believed that if he ran far enough and fast enough that in some other place, he could be some other man—someone more confident, more powerful. But every place he ran, he found that he was still the same old person. He was the man who ran away—a boy, really. He was a frightened child waiting for someone else to save him. What he had realized during these months in the north was that he was not a man who deserved to be saved. It was when he gave up, that God sent Nyx here.

He knew the arthropod was one of the mature mauta kita. He had seen the smaller versions back in Shaesta. The Khairians murdered them on sight. But first, they would sing to them.

Rhys ran so close to the monstrous thing that he felt the ground shake as it thundered by. Then he drew his pistols, and sang the way Tarik had taught him. Lightning flashed.

The arthropod reared up from the sand a dozen paces from him. It was a massive thing, at least four stories high, gleaming in the thundering night.

Rhys’s voice quavered. He needed one good shot. Just one shot. But to get it, he had to stand his ground.

He heard Nyx yelling behind him. For once, he was glad for her age, and her slow steps. If she went in with weapons blazing now, the beast would devour them both.

Rhys sang. The arthropod undulated above him. It opened its gaping maw, showing row upon row of endless teeth that stretched back into its interior. Rhys took aim at the dark roof of the thing’s mouth, just behind the furthest row of teeth he could see.

The arthropod dipped its head, preparing to strike. He fired. Four shots.

The beast drove straight at him.

Rhys broke and rolled away, and the monstrous thing crashed into the sand where he had stood a moment before.

He heard Nyx’s scattergun go off. Two shots. Then six clicks. She was out.

Rhys struggled to his feet. He stared at the massive body of the arthropod, glittering in the sand a few paces away. As he watched, it spasmed one final time, and was still.

Nyx bent over, trying to catch her breath. “The fuck was that?” she said. “It sick or something?”

“They’re heavily armored outside,” he said. “But not inside. You have to get them to reveal themselves.”

Rhys went forward. Grabbed her hand. “Let’s go,” he said.

Nyx stared at his hand in hers, but didn’t pull it away.

She glanced over her shoulder, where Ahmed and Isabet stood on top of the far dune. She motioned them forward.

“Let’s go!” she said.