“She hated everything about you,” I say, then bring the sword up point-first for Setrákus Ra’s groin.

Setrákus Ra tries to pivot away. The blade grazes across the armored cup he’s wearing, but then I get lucky. The sword’s point grinds to the side, finds a gap in the armor plates and digs deep into the inside of his upper thigh. Setrákus Ra barks in pain as I gash him, viscous black blood spraying down his leg.

“You little bitch!” he bellows. In response, I grab a handful of dirt and sling it into his eyes.

I’m already on my feet, running again, looking for more gaps in his armor. The spots are mostly around his joints to allow for flexibility—his elbows, his knees and of course, his head and scarred neck. That’s where I have to aim for.

“This has gone on long enough!” Setrákus Ra yells, and I don’t think he just means this fight right now. Hunting us for years has frustrated the old man, and now we’re trying to thwart his carefully laid invasion plans. He’s losing his temper. I can use that. It makes him fight stupid.

Setrákus Ra grows. In the space of a few seconds, he goes from an eight-foot-tall behemoth to a twenty-foot-tall giant who completely towers over me. The thing is, his armor grows with him, and that just makes those gaps at his joints look like bigger targets.

Now, I only have to avoid getting crushed to death. No big deal.

I can’t run from him anymore. He can cover way too much ground. I turn to face him as he comes barreling in, trying to stay light on the balls of my feet. My plan is to dodge his strike, maybe run under his legs and slice out the back of his knees.

Setrákus Ra’s fist is the size of a cinder block. It sails down at me. I’m not sure I can make this dodge.

I don’t have to. At the last second, Setrákus Ra recoils and grabs at his face, howling in pain. A lion with the head of an eagle, razor-sharp claws and beautiful feathered wings just flew by and slashed the hell out of him. A griffin. A griffin just came to my rescue.

Bernie Kosar. God bless BK.

Setrákus Ra wheels around to face the Chimæra, who’s a much closer match to him in size. Bernie Kosar roars and slashes at Setrákus Ra with his talons. Strong as he is, Setrákus Ra is stronger. He clenches BK’s talon in one hand, then pulls him forward, wrestling him into a headlock. Bernie Kosar yelps, obviously in pain. With a feral yell, as much animal as Bernie Kosar if not more so, Setrákus Ra tries to snap the Chimæra’s neck.