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The creature turned its dark eyes to them and Iryana tensed, but she wanted to see. She wanted the truth.

Half prancing, half slithering, the creature approached, close enough she could reach out and touch it, the fox-serpent reared up to balance on its tail and lower half and then tapped them both in the forehead with its paws.

The world before her went dark.

Slender hands reached out in front of her, fingers digging into bloodied stone. Slowly she dragged herself forward. In the distance, all she could hear were screams and battle.

Light poured over her from the open door ahead, reflecting off the pools of blood. A figure stood against the blazing sky, back to her.

“Noshtiz!” the voice, her voice, growled. “Stop this!”

“What happened to your commitment?” a man’s voice answered, deep and cutting.

“You didn’t tell me this would be the cost!” she screamed, desperately trying to reach him.

The man tsked. “You’re too attached to the humans, Mhakiza.”

“We are gods!” she shrieked. “We are supposed to protect them!”

“Exactly!” he turned with a roar, stomping through the doorway, his face in shadow. “We are gods and they are nothing.”

“They are everything,” she whimpered.

The man shook his head at her, looking down with pity. “This power was meant to be ours. We will need it. You can create a new world with your share of the power.”

She just shook her head, fingers gripping the man’s legs.

“You abandon our cause then? Abandon me?” Noshtiz accused.

“I won’t let you destroy Istri. I won’t let you destroy this world.”

“Then we are enemies.”

She saw a flash of deep purple before everything around them erupted into flames, hot and brilliant.

And then it all faded away.

Iryana blinked, finding herself sprawled in the snow, tangled with Pyetar.

“What the fuck,” Pyetar groaned at her side, eyes blown wide and head hanging.

“How do we stop him?” Iryana looked up at Thelbiz desperately, eyes burning.

“We don’t. You are human and this war is between gods. But see? You may not understand my methods, but I am the best chance Istri has.” There was a surprising note of defensiveness in his eyes as they flickered toward Mhakiza’s spy.

The god started to turn away from them.

“Wait!” Pyetar shouted, shaking his head as if to clear away the panic. “We’ve been tracking more god-made creatures.”

“In the rivers to the west of here.” Iryana swallowed.

Pyetar fumbled around in his pack. “We were making a map to track them, but take it. Maybe it will help you find the others.” Then he offered the map Iryana had notated, the path she’d traced.

Thelbiz eyed them with interest and then plucked the map from Pyetar’s hands.

“What a great day this has turned out to be.” Thelbiz smiled wildly, aiming a grin at the fox-serpent in the trees. “Take me to your master.”

With a gust of wind that had Iryana stumbling, the god raced after the fox-serpent, moving so fast her eyes couldn’t keep up.