Enfri felt panic coming to swallow her. Four against two, and Jalla's crew had never seen aerial combat. They'd barely seen flight at all. If that wasn't enough, their knight was a middle-aged philosophy enthusiast, and the first officer was a pregnant goblin.

Don't think. Act.

She didn't know if that was her own thought or someone else's. It didn't matter.

"Change course to intercept," she shouted. "Signal the Historian. Slipstream formation. We'll cover Jalla's retreat."

Kora passed along the orders. While Deebee banked starboard to angle a headlong dive towards the renegades, Kora spoke in Enfri's ear.

"Slipstream leaves us exposed, Majesty."

"Not as exposed as Jalla is," Enfri replied. "The renegades want me and Deebee. We'll make ourselves a more tempting target so they leave Ascania alone while she and Jalla withdraw from the fight."

"Leaving us to fight four dragons on our own."

"I won't endanger Ban's family. Not for anything. We only need to hold them off until the Arcane Knights send help."

"Aye, Majesty."

Jalla flew directly behind Deebee, coming into slipstream formation. While Deebee had to hammer her wings against the air to maintain speed, Jalla only needed to glide in her wake.

"We'll smash through their lines," Enfri said. "Jalla will come out of slipstream and have clear skies back to the legion." An idea hit her. "Kora, signal the crew to prep for an Immelmann."

Kora's eyes widened, then she gave a grim nod. She shut the visor of her helmet and called orders. Warbling whistles relayed Enfri's commands to the entire crew.

As the crew began strapping themselves in for a high-velocity maneuver, Enfri called up to Deebee. "How're your wings feeling, love?"

"Tiring. What have you in mind?"

"Can they take a hit?"

"I'll need to draw healing after."

"I'll brace for it. Time to intercept?"

"Ten seconds."

"Ward us. They'll meet us with dragon fire. Keep yours in check for after the turn."

"As you say." Deebee's claws worked through somatics, placing fire wards over herself and the crew. Strong as they were, guarding so many spread the protection out, and the fire breath from four dragons could prove more than the ward could handle.

Enfri retrieved a fire ward potion from her bandolier and drank it. She didn't like it, but it was most important that she come through the dragon fire unscathed. Deebee would need to draw from her immediately after, and Enfri would have to see the maneuver through to the end at all costs.

They were heading steadily downward at a sharp angle, their course taking them slightly above and over the renegades. Enfri needed to take the initiative away from them, make them react to her. Unbalance, confuse, and defeat.

"Furl and dive!" Enfri shouted.

Deebee's wings pulled flush against her body. Her altitude plummeted, sending them hurtling like a comet straight for the renegades. Enfri didn't spare a glance for if Jalla was keeping up. She had to trust in the Historian's ability.

Past Deebee's horns, Enfri saw the renegades. They were flying abreast of each other. From left to right, the two russets, the yellow, and the slate. Enfri was close enough now to identify them. Invader, Champion, Founder, and Dreamer, respectively. Deebee's dive would take them between the Champion and the Founder.

"Ballistae, mark targets and fire!" Enfri called.

The shoulder-mounted weapons clanked and whined as both siege engine crews fired massive projectiles bigger than spears. Both shots smashed against the armored hides of the renegades and failed to inflict any damage.

All four enemies unleashed their dragon fire at Deebee.

"Brace!" Kora shouted.

As the inferno crashed against Deebee's wards, Enfri bellowed as loud as she could. "Unfurl, love!"

Deebee's wings swept wide, the bladed edges of her wings glinting in the firelight. Enfri held on tight as the wings smashed against the sides of both the Champion and the Founder, the cutting edges slicing deep gashes down each of their flanks. The wounded dragons roared in pain, but Enfri could hardly hear them for the howl of fire and wind in her ears and the drain of healing Deebee took from her.

The impact had torn off lengths of the wing armor, and blood ran in rivers along the membranes. Deebee's wings had been broken almost in half, but the healing she took from Enfri set them right once again. Just in time.

"Immelmann!" Enfri cried.

Deebee was rattled by the dragon fire and having her wings battered, but she acted almost without thought. Her healed wings angled, sending them upwards in a sickening lurch. As they climbed, Deebee rolled and reversed direction. The inertia of the maneuver sent crewmen snapping against their tethers as they lost their grips. Enfri barely managed to hang on to her saddle.

She opened her eyes to find they were right on the renegade's tails. The Immelmann turn had swiftly reversed their course while maintaining their velocity.

"Archers!" Kora roared.

Enfri could feel the recoil from twenty crossbows firing at once shudder through Deebee's scales. The steel-tipped quarrels struck against both the Champion and the Founder, ripping through wings and driving deep into the hides of their relatively unprotected bellies.

Deebee extended her claws and roared as she fell upon the Founder. Her talons tore into the yellow dragon's back, savaging her hide and sending fountains of hot blood spraying into the air. The Storyteller's entire body quaked as she opened her fanged maw wide and unleashed her own fire at point-blank range directly into the Founder's head. The renegade's wards buckled and shattered, and the dragon fire scoured her scales and flesh into ash. Deebee maintained her breath for three full seconds before kicking off from the Founder and soaring away.

Enfri listened as the tail lookout's whistle shrilled a ululating call.

Hostile down.

A moment later, apotheosis struck against Enfri's skull as a flash of lightning shot across the sky. Enfri blinked spots out of her vision, then the starboard wing lookout echoed the ululating signal.

"What happened?" Enfri asked.

Kora was panting from exertion. "Historian," she said. "His Opal got a spell off as they passed the renegade formation. Blasted Champion right out of the sky."

Enfri had almost let herself forget that while Ascania wasn't a warrior, she was still very much a hierarch. "Where are they now?"

"South course," Kora said. "Came out of our slipstream at high speed and took the wind straight for home. No one's going to catch them."

"Casualties?"

"Crew's singed and dizzy, but whole. Historian didn't so much as get his scales warm."

Enfri listened with one ear while her eyes swiveled all around her. The lookouts were calling out positions of the remaining renegades, and she was struggling to keep a picture of the battle in her head.

It was down to a two on one skirmish. The same odds as before, but now Deebee was below the renegades, and they'd sacrificed the initiative to give Ascania her opening to escape.

"Invader above," Deebee called. "Dreamer angling to get behind us."

Enfri had hoped seeing two of them downed in the opening clash would make them reconsider fighting. No such luck. It occurred to her that dragon loyalty to who they considered their empress was a two-edged sword. Once a dragon chose a side, they fought for it. Adamantly and to the end.

"Archer groups one and three, head below," Enfri called. "We need cover on all sides."

The harness wobbled as crewmen started climbing down Deebee's flanks to the belly nets. Deebee focused on maintaining course and speed to give them an easier time of it.

"Ballistae, reload. Take any shot you can get. Fire at will."

The siege engines whirred as their crews readied another pair of massive bolts. Enfri noted the ballistae crews chose to load shrapnel bolts that would shatter on impact into a cloud of razor-sharp debris. It was a good plan if they meant to aim for the wings when they couldn't plan for a clean shot with an armor-piercing bolt.

Her crew was skilled and well-trained. They knew the skies and how to fight within it.

And they have the Dragon Empress, Inwé said. They have an Opal Knight.

Winds, Sunny, Yora gasped. You are scary.

"Not good!" Kora shouted.

Enfri looked up to see the Invader settling overhead and matching their speed. Then, she vanished. Enfri blinked and realized that she hadn't gone invisible but had changed form. The Invader assumed a human body and dropped onto Deebee's back, seven paces aft from where Enfri sat.

The Invader was nude with mottled brown and purple skin. Her short hair was golden, and her violet eyes glowed with a baleful light. She set her gaze on Enfri and ran at her.

Kora drew her sword and lit the sigils on her plate armor. Her etherlight flared as she swung her half blade for the Invader's neck. The russet dragon ducked the blow and struck Kora with a backhand across the face. The blow launched Kora from her feet, and her harness tether snapped in half. Kora shouted as she was thrown over the side.

Enfri didn't have time to worry for Kora. She snatched up her spear and spun to meet the Invader's charge. Enfri thrust at her face, the blade deflecting off her all but impenetrable hide. The Invader closed in and slammed her fist into Enfri's sternum.

Pain exploded across her torso, stealing her breath in a shock of agony. She couldn't draw in air, her chest cavity crushed in a single strike. Healing through the bond reset the bones and repaired her lungs, but Enfri had been bowled off her feet and lay on her back on the saddle. The Invader closed in to finish her off.

Enfri kicked out. She wasn't strong enough to push a dragon away, but Ban and Jin's lessons had clued her in where weight and leverage could become her strongest assets. Her heel connected with the side of the Invader's knee, popping the joint out of place. The Invader staggered but didn't cry out. It gave Enfri the moment she needed to roll back onto her heels.

Even though in a human form, dragon hide was still tougher than any mortal's. Enfri's spear wasn't enough to pierce through.

Sharp, she thought while channeling ether into her weapon.

A second apotheosis arrived, and Enfri's spearhead crackled with lightning. She sprang forward to engage the Invader head on. The dragon swung her fist at Enfri's skull in a right hook. The blow would take her head clean off, something even a dragon bond wouldn't bring her back from. Enfri ducked, feeling the breeze from the Invader's strike pass through her hair. The butt end of Enfri's spear lashed out, striking the Invader's elbow. It unbalanced her, forced her to reset her stance, and gave Enfri her opening.

The white blade of Enfri's spear drove up and pierced through dragon hide as if it were air. The Invader gasped as the haft shoved through her chest and out the other side. Impaled.

Deebee's claw tossed something into the air in front of them. Kora flew out of Deebee's hand and arced over Deebee's head towards the saddle. Her etherlight flared, and Kora shouted as she dropped down on the invader. Her half blade ripped into mottled flesh, slicing down until it was driven from shoulder to abdomen.

The Invader was nearly cloven in two. Enfri yanked her spear free and kicked out, sending the corpse overboard.

It had happened so fast. She hadn't thought as the spear forms drilled into her took over. What she'd done came at Enfri all at once and threatened to destroy her. She'd killed someone.

Enfri killed a dragon.

Sunny...

She tore her thoughts from her father, sending him away.

oOo

Ban rode for all he was worth. He urged Arnln to go even faster as they sped through the columns of armsmen. His sigils burned red, and he used the magic eye runes on his helmet to scan the skies. He could feel the apotheosis approaching and felt a wave of relief as the Historian came in to land in front of the legion.

He dismounted Arnln and ran the last dozen paces towards Jalla. The Opal crew dropped from his harness, out of breath as they unlatched. Before seeing to them, Ban found his mother.

The apotheosis coming off of her made Ascania easy to locate. Her auburn hair was damp with sweat, and she was shaking like a leaf as she climbed down Jalla's front leg.

"Ma!"

His mother looked at him, and her eyes hardened. Deliberately, she stood straight as Ban approached and saluted, a fist to the center of her chest. "Marshal," she said to greet him. It was meant as a reminder of where they were.

Waves. In the field, family comes second.

Ban fought down his worry for her. "Opal Knight, report."

"Four dragons," Ascania said. "Enemy dragons. My Historian calls them renegades. The empress is still back there. Marshal, she stayed behind to give us the chance to fall back."

"They busted out of confinement somehow," Ban said. "I'm trying to find Jin."

"Wind-scented blue rides north." Moon jumped down from Jalla's back to land lightly beside Ascania. "Scented this from air. Rides on blooded horse. Horse Jin calls Scorpion."

Ban frowned. "Jin's already charged off, then. Don't know what she thinks she's going to do on the ground, but..." He snapped his eyes to Moon. "What in the name of tides are you doing here?"

"Ban will drop his words or I will drop him," Moon warned. "Keep eyes on path."

She might've been right, but Moon had another thing coming if she thought this was over. He could barely think for how upset with her he was at the moment, but Moon was right that other things needed to come first.

"Kimpo grabbed Grimdar and Darva and flew to help. There wasn't time to wait for crews or knights."

"We saw them," Ascania confirmed. "Kimpo was with the biggest red dragon I can imagine and a brown one with blue sails down his back."

Ban nodded. "Darva the Corsair, an indigo. The Lady of Pearls' dragon. He's a strong fighter and fast." Ban itched to be moving, but without a dragon to carry him, he was useless to Enfri. "Waves take me. There's nothing more we can do for Enfri. My Huntress will have to be enough. Ascania, Moon, come with me. We're going to find out just what in the name of tides happened."

They nodded.

"And you," he said pointing at Moon, "If I tell you to take cover and stay out of danger, no arguments."

"Ban is..."

"You're floundering right I'm a rocker," Ban exclaimed, "and you're five times the rocker if you risk the rybka again. Keep her safe no matter what. At all costs, Moon, even if it means leaving us all to die."

Moon dropped her eyes and placed her hands over her belly. "Am ashen."

Ban calmed himself. "I don't need you to be sorry. You did floundering good work up there, Knight-Lieutenant."

"Uncloud," Moon said, wrinkling her nose.

"If you're an officer, you need an officer's rank, and I can promote whoever I need to. Welcome to the Imperial Legion, Lieutenant Moon." He beckoned for her and Ascania to follow him in the direction of the prisoner wagons. "Now let's get to the bottom of what went wrong. I got a bad feeling this is going to be worse than just one little jailbreak."

There was still a good deal of smoke rising from the center of the legion's formation. The renegades destroyed a few wagons and killed several drovers before shooting off after Enfri and Deebee. It had all happened so fast and there was so much confusion that no one even knew what was going on until apotheoses started going off to the north.

"Ban!"

He froze. What in the embrace of hellfire?

Jin sprinted towards him. She had her sword drawn and a look of angry frustration about her.

"I thought you took Scorpion," he said as she came upon them.

"I aimed to," she said, breathing heavily. "Ban, who in Hell stole my horse?"

oOo

Enfri crushed another blaze-lance in her hand and aimed it at their pursuer. She stood at the tail lookout post and fired off another line of spellfire. As with the last few shots, it broke harmlessly against the Dreamer's wards. Nothing she did put a dent in his arcane protections.

"Archers, fire!" she cried.

Ehlmon the Dreamer conjured a wind spell with an incantation. It swept most of the crossbow fire aside, and what made it through bounced off his armored hide.

Slate dragons had scales like full plate armor. Thick slab-like scales covered the Dreamer's body from his arrowhead shaped face to his thick tail. Slates were large, not quite as large as russets or reds, but much bigger than silvers. Unlike his three companions, Ehlmon was old. The others had been between two and three centuries. The Dreamer was near to Deebee's age, and that made him a frighteningly huge opponent.

"That hide must be two-feet thick," one of the archer's shouted. "We can't penetrate with crossbows, Majesty."

"Aim for his wings," Enfri said. "Put some holes in them so he can't keep pace with us."

Even as she said it, she knew it would do little good. The membranes of dragon wings weren't like simple canvas. They were thick and had a consistency like rubber. Even if a crossbow quarrel penetrated through, the tissue would close around the wound almost immediately. It took something larger than a crossbow to make a hole big enough to slow a dragon down.

"We need to get him ahead of us," Enfri said more to herself than anyone. "Hit him with the ballistae. The shrapnel bolts are just what we need to disable his wings."

Even that wouldn't be a decisive win. Just evening up the odds. Enfri hated to even think it, but they were at a disadvantage.

Deebee was making sharp and random turns in an attempt to keep the Dreamer from overtaking them. Her wind spells gave her a slight edge, but she was using them so frequently that Enfri had already needed to send her some ether. At this rate, Deebee would be ethershocked before the Dreamer caught them, and the entire crew would be as good as helpless.

Thus far, maneuvering was the deciding factor. However, the crew was close to exhaustion from shifting positions and leaning into the banks. Enfri could see that if Deebee tried to hold near to the legion's position to await reinforcements, the Dreamer would kill them all before Kimpo, Grimdar, and Darva arrived.

If we're going to beat him, we have to do it on our own.

A signal blew from below. Enfri had to think to identify that one. It came up rarely enough that she doubted she'd ever heard it outside of training.

Arcanist inbound.

Spellfire shot up into the sky from far below. The distance was too much, and what reached them was too weak to even make the wards shimmer. It was, however, all aimed at the Dreamer.

Enfri unlatched her snap-lock and tossed it to a crewman. "Hold on to this for me."

The crewman and two others braced against the harness to keep Enfri from falling as she leaned out over Deebee's side. She aimed her spyglass down below towards the source of the spellfire.

Too high up to see the rider clearly, but the black steed with a white mane was unmistakable. Enfri only needed to see the rider's black hair blowing behind her to conclude it was Jin. Scorpion was swift to get all the way out here so fast.

Jin's been practicing her fire spells if she can hit something this high up.

Enfri took up her whistle again and signaled a course change, dropping altitude to catch up with Scorpion. Deebee furled her wings and dove, and the Dreamer was right behind her. Enfri discouraged pursuit by shooting off another two blaze-lances. She even risked taking some of Deebee's ether to swell the spell's imprint and make the blasts truly impressive.

It didn't stop Ehlmon, but it slowed him down for a few moments.

Enfri blew the whistle again. The signal she used was meant for when crewmen transferred from one dragon to another. She hoped Deebee would understand the meaning.

Deebee pulled up to skim close to the ground. It was a reckless maneuver, but if Enfri could add Jin to the crew, they'd gain a significant boost to their arcane defenses. Jin was as adept at placing wards as anyone in the legion.

We won't be able to slow down, Enfri thought with a wince. Winds take me, I hope Deebee doesn't take Jin's head off. Or Scorpion's for that matter.

A tiny lurch shook the harness as Deebee snatched someone up in her talons. A cheer from down below told Enfri that everything went well without anyone getting ripped in half. Enfri breathed out a sigh of relief. She looked behind her with the spyglass and found Scorpion, now riderless, and tossing his head in a decidedly irate manner. Enfri silently promised him an apple to repay the inconvenience.

Then poor Scorpion was irritated further as the Dreamer swept overhead and battered him with a gale of wind at his passing. Enfri winced and amended her promise to include an entire bushel of apples and a pail of oats besides.

Deebee began climbing for altitude again. She had a slightly wider wingspan than Ehlmon and was finally getting a bit of distance between the two of them. Not enough to shake off his pursuit, but they had some breathing room.

Lord Dahvid climbed from below and poked his head up to look over the side. "Majesty."

"Is Jin alright?"

"Err..."

A second head poked over Deebee's side. "I think your dragon cracked my rib. Good thing I'm getting good at fixing that sort of thing."

"Josy?"

"Need a hand or not?"

Enfri cocked her head for Josy to join her. "You're a pyromancer, right?"

Josy pulled herself up effortlessly and came over to Enfri's side. The daft woman hadn't put on a harness yet. "That I am."

Enfri waved for a crewman to toss over a spare harness and pushed it into Josy's hands. "Get secure, then help me pyromancy."

"It's a noun, not a verb," Josy said as she buckled in. "Really believe you and I can unison link?"

It took connection between the arcanists, imprints joined by shared experience and emotion. Once linked, magic in unison, it allowed power greater than the sum of its parts. Enfri hadn't managed it often. With Jin, whom she loved. With Krayson, Reyn, and Ban, also, when they were all invested in bringing Pacifica back from the Beyond. It wouldn't be so simple with Josy. Enfri still harbored some resentment, and she was sure it was mutual.

"If you mean what you say," Enfri murmured, "about why you're here, I know we can."

Josy got a cocky half-grin. "Alright, then. Let's pyromancy."

They stood at the base of Deebee's tail. Enfri pulled her last blaze-lance from her bandolier and crushed it. She held out her hand. Josy stood alongside her, holding her arm parallel to Enfri's.

"Just don't forget I'm not Jin while we're standing this close," Josy said.

"I beg your pardon."

Josy winked at her.

Enfri pursed her lips as she pulled a little more ether from Deebee and fed it into the blaze-lance. The imprint swelled, and she fed as much of her own ether into the engorged investiture as she dared. At the same time, she felt power from an entirely different source pour in alongside hers. Faint spell echoes began to pulse from Enfri and Josy, sharp and vibrant as they thrummed to the tune of fire essence.

The blaze-lance in Enfri's hand began to shine with light like the sun. The sky seemed dark in comparison. Neither she or Josy needed to speak to know when it was ready to unleash.

Spellfire erupted from the pair of them. Hot and bright with pure radiance. The crew gasped and shouted as the blast sent a shockwave of heated wind over them, and Enfri was nearly bowled over backwards by the force of it leaving her palm. Apotheosis crashed against Enfri's skull, echoed by an identical pressure from Josy.

Enfri panted as she felt the start of ethershock settling in. She barely had enough magic left in her to keep standing. Looking behind them, she saw the roiling flames of their spell where Ehlmon the Dreamer had been.

Josy let out a sigh of relief.

Slate gray wings swept the firestorm aside. The Dreamer continued the pursuit.

"Well, that's disheartening," Josy muttered.

"How?" Enfri demanded of the universe.

Josy shook her head. "No idea. I know fire, and that was about the strongest spellfire I've ever seen. He should be in bits."

"He could teach Jin a thing or two about wards," Enfri growled through gritted teeth. "Alright, new plan."

"Lay it on me."

Enfri crouched down and motioned for Josy to join her. She secured her snap-lock. "We run. Really, really fast."

"That, too, is disheartening," Josy said.

Enfri blew her whistle to signal for top speed. She could feel Deebee tiring beneath her, but there was little else they could do with most of the ether between them depleted.

Behind them, the Dreamer looked fresh. Unlike Deebee, he wasn't carrying a crew and armor. He hadn't needed to use wind spells to stay with them. He was playing a long game, letting Deebee exhaust herself before moving in for the kill. Enfri had played right into his hands by trying to swat him out of the sky with spellcraft.

Every time Deebee attempted a turn to keep them close to the legion, Ehlmon was there to cut her off. Again and again, he thwarted her from turning back. He began to use aeromancy incantations to increase his speed and maneuverability. This close to victory, he wasn't giving Deebee an opportunity to stall for time. Inexorably, he forced Deebee to head north and away from Kimpo's formation.

"We're already leagues from where we started," Enfri murmured. "He's isolated us, and there's no chance to get back without him ripping us apart like a falcon with a dove."

Dahvid returned from below. "Majesty, he's driving us away from the legion. Huntress' formation can't keep up."

"We need to give him an obstacle," Josy suggested.

Enfri pointed at her. She'd given her an idea. "You're right. Josy, take the saddle. Tell Deebee to fly low and head north by northwest as fast as she can. Use every ounce of ether she has left to speed us along."

Josy's eyes went wide as saucers before she nodded. "Aye, Majesty. As you say."

Enfri approached the edge near Dahvid. "Take me below. Let's see if there's terrain we can use to shake him off us." She shouted loud enough to be heard by Kora, still at her post by the ballistae. "Kora, you have above!"

Kora raised her half blade in acknowledgment, then ushered Josy into the knight's position.

Enfri unwrapped a second tether from around her waist and held a snap-lock in either hand. Using the two together, she lowered herself down Deebee's flank. Enfri needed to fight down the vertigo of hanging underneath Deebee while there was nothing but open air and a sudden stop below her.

In the belly nets, the harness wasn't pulled tight against Deebee's scales. There was about three feet of space separating it from her hide. The silk cords of the harness were wide enough for Enfri and the crew to balance on in a crouch as she climbed forward towards Deebee's chest.

She avoided stepping close to damaged sections of the harness. After the first pass against the renegades, some of the dragon fire had made it through the ward and set it alight. The belly crew cut away the smoldering sections to save the rest, but it made things all the more treacherous down below.

The land beneath sped by at a terrifying rate. She'd never gone this fast before. She wagered Deebee had never gone this fast before either. Even so, the Dreamer was keeping up. He wasn't letting them get away so easily now that he saw victory just out of reach.

Enfri squeezed past the archers she sent down here and made it to the forward-most part of the harness. "Dahvid, what would it take to cast off the cargo nets?"

"Four men with knives and five seconds, Majesty, but we went up without a payload."

"Get ready for it anyway. Wait for the 'release payload' signal to do it."

"Right away, Majesty." Dahvid went back towards the aft and ordered three crewmen to come with him.

Enfri felt her stomach rising into her chest as Deebee lost altitude again. Below, she saw the ground getting closer. Nestled between Deebee's powerful pectoral muscles, she could feel them flexing with every beat of her wings. Enfri pulled out her whistle and held it in a fist.

"Can you hear me, love?"

"Barely." Deebee's voice was almost lost entirely in the wind.

"Do you see those foothills ahead?"

"Aye."

"You remember them, don't you?"

"Winds. I see I didn't realize how far we've gone. We're practically home."

Enfri smirked. "If I learned Ban's map right, we're less than twenty leagues from Sandharbor. Aim for Saimyn's Gorge."

"The box canyon before the tar pits?"

"That's the one. Fly straight in from the south-east, all the way through and then climb for everything you got left."

"I won't be able to maintain speed through the climb. The Dreamer will be on top of us before we reach a thousand paces up."

"Let me worry about that. Just take us there."

"As you say, love."

Enfri bit down on the whistle to hold it in her mouth. She held on to the harness as Deebee dropped lower towards the ground. Ahead, she saw scattered trees and rocky foothills, grass that grew sparse as it approached the desert's edge, and far beyond were the endless sands of the Espalla Dunes.

It must have only been her imagination. It couldn't be real. But, Enfri thought she glimpsed a collection of buildings far away just over the horizon. Brick and mortar walls, roofs of slate more often than thatched ones, tidy lanes, and oil lanterns on the street corners. Her hometown, Sandharbor.

Deebee bellowed. "Hold on, love. We're going in!"

The wind's howl dropped an octave as Deebee plunged into the canyon. Enfri couldn't see anything beyond the belly nets but rock passing her by so fast as to become a blur. Deebee rolled starboard by ninety degrees, her wingspan perpendicular to the ground. A quick glance behind them showed the Dreamer following into the box canyon.

Enfri smelled a familiar scent, sulfurous and choking. She'd never much cared for the smell of the tarpits near Sandharbor. When the wind blew from the southeast, she'd need to burn incense to keep from gagging on the air.

She counted down in her head, picturing the maps of Sandharbor she'd poured over as a child. She could see Saimyn's Gorge clearly in her mind's eye— knew precisely when Deebee was nearing the box canyon's dead end.

Her whistle shrieked the release payload signal. Five seconds.

Deebee spread her wings to slow their mad flight. Four seconds.

The dead end appeared at the end of a long straightaway. Three seconds.

As did the bubbling tar pits, black as pitch, settled into the bottom of Saimyn's Gorge. Two seconds.

The Dreamer closed in, talons extended to deliver a killing blow. One second.

Dahvid and the crewmen finished cutting loose the cargo nets. They tore away from Deebee's harness and fell over the Dreamer's head. The slate dragon roared as his front claws and one of his wings were entangled within its length.

Deebee hammered her wings and climbed upwards, out of the canyon and back into the sky. A crash like distant thunder echoed. Enfri waited for the lookouts to signal hostile down, but it didn't come.

Unable to believe one dragon could be this troublesome, Enfri scrambled aft. Sure enough, the Dreamer climbed after them.

"Winds and storms, what does it take to stop him?"

She and Deebee were both out of ether. Enfri wanted to throw up, and it wasn't just because of the ethershock. She'd lost.

"Blustering girl," Deebee roared. "What are you doing?"

It wasn't until Enfri saw Josy plummeting downward that she realized Deebee wasn't yelling at her.

As she fell, Josy's body warped in the grips of osteomancy. Her spine stretched, and bone plates burst from the exposed skin of her arms and abdomen to cover her body in armor. Her gauntleted fists burst aflame, and Enfri could hear Josy howling as she dove straight at the Dreamer. One more apotheosis crashed against the Weave.

Josy pulled back a fist and struck the dragon with a single tremendous blow.

The plate-like scales around the Dreamer's skull cracked and shattered, blood spraying out from the wound. Josy was showered in it. Her osteomancy seized on Ehlmon's bones, froze him rigid, and sent him plummeting back to earth.

Too stunned to move, Enfri could only gape in amazement before she remembered she needed to blow the whistle for 'crew overboard'.

She needn't have bothered. Deebee was already twisting in the air to go after Josy. Well before Ehlmon plunged into the tarpits in Saimyn's Gorge, her claws plucked Josy out of the sky and deposited her into the belly nets. Enfri went to her at once, and a good number of the crew were starting to surround her.

"Winds," Josy groaned. Her body began to revert back to normal, and she lay on her back with her hands covering her face. "That lizard had a really hard head."

"You got something in common," Enfri shouted. "Are you still alive?"

"A little. Think I busted my arm when I hit him. Out of ether. Can't fix it just now."

Enfri knelt next to her in the harness and checked her over. Yes, that arm was definitely broken. Shattered, more like. If she thought Deebee could stay in the air any longer before keeling over from exhaustion, she'd say it was time to get Josy to her cousin.

They needed to set down and catch some wind. Until then, Josy would have to endure the pain, because Enfri recalled what happened when a royal assassin was given an anesthetic. The state she was in, losing control of her bones would probably kill her.

"Winds," Enfri breathed. "You punched a dragon out of the sky."

Josy groaned.

"You punched a blustering dragon out of the sky!"

She groaned again. "Tell me about it when I wake up. I'm gonna pass out now."

True to her word, Josy did.