The first glimmering rays of dawn were just beginning to streak the eastern horizon by the time Evelina's punishing flight finally faltered. Her chest heaved in ragged gasps, every ounce of her slight frame screaming in protest from the merciless exertions of the night.

Clutching Luna's tiny, whimpering form to her breast, she stumbled onward through the curtain of low-hanging mists until her abused legs simply could carry them no farther. Her knees buckled, driving her in an ungainly sprawl atop the loamy earth as the first birdsong of morning issued its clarion call to greet the newborn day.

For a long, tremulous span, she could do nothing but lay...