When Du Wei woke the next morning, the bonfire was dead, with only a wisp of smoke curling from the ashes. He shifted against the chill—and discovered something nestled in his arms.

Vivian had somehow burrowed against him. The young mage slept soundly, curled into a ball against the cold, both hands tucked inside his clothes in search of warmth.

She must have sought him out by instinct without ever waking.

Du Wei sighed. He did not wake her. Instead, he eased off his coat, tucked it around her, and gently laid her down before rising.

The instant he looked up, his face changed.

...

"No! Damn it! No!" Du Wei's furious, frustrated shout rang across the deserted island at dawn.

Dense fog smothered the sea, hanging over the world like a heavy white veil. Moisture clung to the air, and the water vanished a few paces from shore.

Visibility could not have reached thirty feet.

Du Wei's panic was immediate.

They were trapped on a barren island without food and with precious little fresh water. Rescue by a passing ship was their sole hope.

He had planned to keep a signal fire burning day and night, its flames and smoke visible to any ship that passed—assuming ships ever came this way.

At the sight of the fog, his heart went cold.

A vessel could sail straight past the island in this weather without ever seeing his fire.

Worse, sea fog could linger.

On land, it might burn off within a day. At sea, three or five days was nothing unusual.

Three or five days...

Did they even have that long? They had yet to find a morsel of food.

His shout woke Vivian. One look at his grim face left her anxious.

Without explanation, Du Wei piled up branches and coaxed them into the fiercest fire he could manage. Then he gathered an armload of spare wood and dumped it before Vivian.

"Stay here and watch the fire. The moment it weakens, add wood. Don't let it die down, and whatever happens, don't let it go out. Understand? Watch the sea too. If you spot a ship, do anything you can to draw its attention. Build up the fire or shoot fireballs into the sky. Got it?"

"I-I understand." Vivian nodded, then looked doubtful. "With the f-fog this thick, can we see a ship? C-can a ship see us?"

Du Wei did not answer the question. "Just do as I say. It's the only thing we can do."

He chose a long pole, tested its weight, and set off along the beach.

"Wh-where are you going?"

"To find food," Du Wei said. "A forest this large may have mushrooms or wild fruit. God willing, I'll find something. That should be easier than catching fish. If I come back empty-handed, I'll have to try the sea."

He paused. "You had better pray I succeed. Otherwise, no matter how much you cry tonight, we will have to eat Chirpy. Human lives matter more than an animal's."

The cold look he gave her before leaving made Vivian shiver.

Du Wei was gone all morning.

Alone on the beach, Vivian was terrified. The emptiness around her was bad enough; worse was the knowledge that she could no longer protect herself.

Her teacher had often left her alone during their years in seclusion. But in those days, Vivian had possessed magic.

Now she had nothing.

All morning, she fed the fire. Sharp branches scored her hands, and smoke smeared her small face with soot, but she obeyed Du Wei to the letter and kept the flames roaring.

At noon, he finally returned.

She spotted him in the distance, limping toward her with an almost pleased expression.

A vine looped around his neck, strung with peculiar roots still caked in black soil. One hand clutched his staff; the other carried a shrub branch dotted with bright orange fruit.

Each fruit was vivid, plump, and about the size of a grape. Surely anything so pretty had to taste delicious.

Vivian's mouth immediately began to water.

The young mage had never known hunger before, let alone endured it for this long.

"F-food! Y-you found food!" Vivian cheered and ran barefoot toward him.

A smile touched Du Wei's mouth and vanished. "Don't celebrate yet. This is all I found in an entire morning."

Only then did Vivian notice the cuts across his bare feet, souvenirs of the forest floor.

"All right. Let us eat."

Du Wei set down his spoils and pointed to the roots strung on the vine. "I recognize these. I know a little potioncraft, and every one of these wild plants has an edible root. They're a decent size too."

He rinsed them carefully in the sea and handed them to Vivian. "These are yours. Eat them raw or roast them."

Vivian stared at the armful of roots, then pouted at the branch of brilliant fruit. "I-I want the f-fruit..."

"No. You eat those. I will eat the fruit." Du Wei's voice was calm but allowed no refusal.

Vivian nearly burst into tears.

He was doing this deliberately! He was tormenting poor little Vivian because she had refused to let him eat Chirpy. This was revenge!

Burning with grievance, she crouched by the fire, gave the roots a cursory roasting, and stuffed one into her mouth.

The roots were thick and did not taste bad so much as taste of nothing. They were also tough enough that poor Vivian's cheeks ached after only two. Bland, stringy, and altogether miserable.

Across the fire, Du Wei silently plucked the fruit one by one, chewing and swallowing each in turn.

Vivian's eyes kept drifting toward him.

She swallowed. They had to be delicious. What a miser!

"Why are you staring?" Du Wei sneered. "Are you angry because I kept the fruit and gave you the awful roots?"

Vivian said nothing, but her pout deepened.

When Du Wei looked away, she slipped a fruit beneath the broad sleeve of her mage's robe.

Then she tossed it into her mouth and bit down, braced for sweetness.

Pfft!

Vivian's face contorted. She spat the mouthful straight out.

What was that? The sourness made her teeth ache; the astringency shriveled her tongue. One bite nearly made her vomit.

Could anyone really eat such fruit?

Du Wei only smiled. He ate the last fruit slowly, bite by bite, then rose. "All right. Now that we've eaten, there's work to do."

Vivian looked at the bare shrub, then at the two handfuls of roots still in her possession. Compared with that nauseating fruit, these bland roots were a delicacy.

She remembered Du Wei saying, You eat those. The fruit is mine.

She remembered him eating every horrible fruit in silence without so much as a grimace.

Suddenly Vivian could not speak at all. She clutched the roots and stared at him.

"What are you looking at? Hurry and eat. We still have things to do." Du Wei frowned.

"Y-yes!" Vivian tucked the remaining roots into her robe and hurried to his side. Her eyes and voice had softened, touched now by apology. "Wh-what are we doing? I-I'll listen to you!"

"Catching fish. We won't last long on roots alone." Du Wei smiled. "Tie this vine around me and hold the other end. I'll wade out and try spearing fish with a branch. But..."

Before he could finish, a tremendous roar split heaven and earth.

The ground bucked beneath them, hurling them both down.

The roar seemed to climb from the depths of hell, low and heavy enough to hammer the heart. Du Wei had heard a dragon roar and believed no sound in the world could be more terrible.

He had been wrong. This was louder, deeper, infinitely more frightening.

The earth kept heaving as though in the grip of a violent earthquake. Even the sea bellowed, wave after wave rearing up from its surface.

"What the hell was that?" Du Wei clutched Vivian where she had fallen into his arms.

She had gone white with fear.

The roar had awakened Vivian's dragon in the forest. But then...

Both of them heard the dragon release a mournful cry.

There was fear in the dragon's voice.