disappeared.

Ignoring the pain, Kira snatched up her gun. “Oh, God, ” she

said, “Wyrdrune… ” She took off, running hard.

Wyrdrune was on his hands and knees on the path, his vision

blurred with pain. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and

suddenly saw a glowing ruby appear on the ground beneath him.

He stared at the runestone on the ground before him as it strobed,

then blazed with a blinding light. A thin red beam lanced out from

it and struck him in the chest. He cried out, clutching his chest

with pain… and in that moment, Kanno materialized behind him.

He raised his arms…

… and Akiro, running down the path, came to an abrupt halt,

raised his. 357 in both hands, crouched, and fired three times. The

bullets struck Kanno in the chest and hurled him backward, off his

feet.

Akiro hurried to Wyrdrune’s side and bent over him. ‘Are you all

right?“

Wyrdrune, still on his hands and knees, nodded weakly. Then

Akiro heard a rustling sound. He glanced up just in time to see

Kanno’s body, wriggling through the grass like a snake, disappear

into the bushes.

“Stay here, ” Akiro said.

He got up and followed Kanno through the bushes. Moving

cautiously, he pushed his way through the hedge. It was quickly

growing dark and he could not see well. He swore and listened.

There was a rustling sound over to his left. He turned, bringing up

his gun, and something reared up before him with a deafening roar.

Something out of a nightmare. Something that was long and

sinewy, reptilian, with iridescent scales and a long neck that ended

in a large, triangular head with gleaming eyes and rows of

razor-sharp, dripping fangs. Startled, Akiro jerked back with a cry

and stumbled, tripped over a root and fell. His gun discharged into

the ah“. And he saw something rising up into the darkening sky,

something like a serpent with leathery wings. It went streaking off

into the distance, moving with incredible speed, rising higher and

higher, faster and faster… and then it simply vanished.