The moonlight enveloped her -- cooling, sheltering and bright. For a moment, Anise felt she was becoming [i]breath[/i] -- as if the draw of air into her lungs was the entirety of her being, her vision gone, replaced by the glow of the moon.

She did not feel herself moving, nor could she direct where she went -- but somehow, when she opened her eyes, the light faded. She stood still and firm at the edge of the new-dug hole, the breath deep in her lungs.

Peck stared up at her from the ground -- where he'd fallen, skittering, upon the appearance of a bright light at his side. With a huff of relief, he relaxed, dropped backward on the ground. "Ya don't got to be so dramatic," he reminded her with a small grin. "I was the one gonna save ya." He laid a hand over his pounding chest, quieted his nerves.

[h3][i]RRRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRR[/i][/h3]

Bright eyes flared out of the dark -- wings cast darker shadows on the night sky. Trees crashed, rumbled, ripped out of their roots while the batmonkeys scattered. Great tracks of turned soil carved into the ground by the Dragon's claws.

The Dragon breathed -- snarled. There was no fire.

Stolen.

A low roll of thunder rippled out of the Dragon's throat.

Peck began to breathe faster. His skin paled -- his eyes dimmed.

He wobbled while he climbed uncertainly to his feet -- slapped his legs as if trying to brush something away. He sucked air into his lungs, viciously tore his fingernails across his clothes, eyes wide in panic. "Get it off," he whispered, stumbled back, ripped at something invisible around his waist with growing desperation.

His face had quickly hollowed -- a darkness around his brimming eyes. As if his life were being sucked away.

Doreli lifted his beak, screeched into the night. With him, faint, an echo over the trees -- the island was screaming.

The Dragon's eyes brightened.

The Lord of Shadow drifted into the darkness, a smoke of crimson and black, white teeth, the sharp of an eye. [i]"It is you who shall be the wise,"[/i] he hissed around Artemis' head, while the screams swelled in the night.

The dead shimmered. Stepped close.

An army awaited her command.

The Dragon raised her serpent head. Teeth flashed. Eyes glowed.

Her jaws opened, breathed a rumble of words that shook the remains of the Mountain.

[h3][i]GIVE ME .... MY CHILDREN[/i][/h3]