We ran past the temple, and the wyrm swooped down, exhaling a plume of green flames. Pan dodged to the right, while I went left, but I was close enough that I felt the intense electrical heat crackling near my skin.

I could see Pan getting swept away by the crowd in the opposite direction of me, but I didn’t want to push back against others running in panic, maybe pushing them into the mouth of the dragon. I ran toward the elk massacre in the stables, joining the others going for the entrance to the safety of the underground Älvolk city.

But the wyrm doubled back and swooped around us, cutting off the path. It landed on the ground and slithered quickly on its belly, going over to inspect the bloody animal corpses.

“Shit.” I stopped short, and I spied Eliana, standing near the wyrm’s long tail. She stood frozen, watching as it sniffed the corpses and burnt them with its breath.

I jogged over and grabbed Eliana. She let out a surprised mewling sound and I threw her over my shoulder.

“Over here!” Dagny shouted, and motioned for me to join her behind a tall stone wall.

It had once been a building of some kind, but three of the walls had collapsed into a pile, now long overgrown with grass and weeds. A lone wall remained, and we hid behind it with our backs pressed against the stone.

Along with Dagny, Elof and Jennet were crouched low. Dagny had a scrape across her arm and a bruise forming on her cheek, and all of them had wild-eyed shell shock, but they seemed otherwise okay.

“Ragnall crossed the bridge, and all the monsters are getting through,” I said as I sat Eliana down. She slumped against the wall and sat down beside Elof.

“Monsters?” Dagny asked. “You mean there’s more than a dragon?”

“Yeah.” I leaned against the wall, and I flinched when the wyrm let out another crackling roar. “They’re going to eat the world.”

“We have to contain them,” Elof said.

“I am happy to do that, but do you have any suggestions on how we go about it?” Dagny asked.

“The Älvolk are masters of the incantation,” he said, speaking more quickly as he went on. “And they’ve already proven they’re capable of channeling the Ögonen’s magick to create the most intense cloaking in the troll kingdom.” He looked around, his eyes resting grimly on the sheer mountainside across from us, his gaze traveling up toward the peak.

But I didn’t follow his gaze. Instead, I peered around the wall, checking to make sure the wyrm was still occupied by the elk massacre. I couldn’t see the whole beast—just its long tail twisting in mud made of ash and blood.