"The cliffs."Birds darted to low branches, chattering a warning. "Giants," Diana said.They tossed on clothes and ran toward the noise. When they reached the fork in the path, they met Freya, Inga, and Jorunda. Freya’s short sword swung from its shoulder belt. No one talked. They ran as fast and as hard as they could.When they burst from the trees into the farm fields, a strip of scorched earth greeted them. The charred grasses crunched under their feet and the smell of blackened crops filled the air. Diana looked toward the longhouse. Peta, the dragon, spewed fire at two giants while hellhounds tried to get past him. The giants lifted body-sized shields to ward off his flames, but Diana could smell the singed flesh on their arms where the hot metal cooked their skin."He flew ahead of us," Freya said, "or everything would already be gone."Diana stretched to goddess size and drew arrows from her quiver—always available in her huntress form—and let them go. The hellhounds fell before they knew they were under attack.
