Kyra closed her eyes and let herself drift off into her thoughts. She thought first of her father, wondering where he was now. Had he made it south? Did he reach Esephus? Was he in combat right now? Was he thinking of her? Did he care about her? And most of all: would he be proud of her?

And what of Aidan? Was he all alone in Volis?

Kyra, eyes heavy, so tired, let them close for just a moment. She was drifting in and out of sleep, when a sudden noise awakened her. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see that dawn had broken. She could not believe she had slept that long.

She realized the source of the sound: Leo. He stood beside her, snarling, hair rising on his back, protective of her, staring at the entrance to the cave.

Immediately, Kyra sat up, heart pounding, on guard.

“Leo, what is it, boy?” she asked.

But he ignored her, instead creeping toward the entrance, his hair stiffening as his snarling became more vicious. Kyra sat bolt upright, gripping her staff, listening. But she could not hear a thing.

Kyra wondered what could be lurking outside, how long she had slept. She stood and poked Dierdre with her staff, until Dierdre woke and sat up, too. They both watched Leo as he crept toward the entrance.

“LEO!” Kyra cried.

There suddenly came a horrific snarling noise, followed by a stampede of hooves and a great cloud of dust racing past the cave. Kyra and Dierdre raced for the entrance as another stampede came, Kyra wondering what on earth that was.

Kyra reached the entrance, Andor snarling, too, and looked out and saw several deer running past the cave. She realized, with dread, that they were fleeing something. Something bigger.

Kyra turned to her right and spotted, about a hundred yards away, a pack of beasts running her way. At first she thought she was seeing things, yet the coming cloud of dust and thunderous noise told her it was no illusion. The creatures were each the size of a small rhino, with a black hide adorned with yellow stripes and two slim horns at the tip of their nose that ran straight up, a good ten feet. There were six of them, and they all charged right for them, their eyes glowing red, filled with fury.

“Hornhogs!” Dierdre cried out. “They must have smelled our food!”

Dierdre quickly mounted her horse while Kyra mounted Andor—and they all took off, Leo beside them, heading into the wood, hoping to outrun them.