The shadows around us split apart and morphed into more bodies. My difficulty breathing had impaired my senses, or maybe I’d just been so distracted with the Hexens that I didn’t realize the burning oil stench that began to saturate the air. Low, fiendish growls punctured the night, and before I could get myself to a safer position, I was already surrounded. Five dragons slithered around us, their wings flaring in the night, blotting out the sky.

“You said you’d come alone,” I shot ...