The flash of fire disappeared, evaporating into the air. Behind the explosion, the Midnight Songbird re-emerged, untouched.

Tabitha smiled in approval, pleased with how her apprentice handled the danger. He met the attack with just enough power to stop it, holding back his strength, and saving himself for when it might matter.

"You taught him Battle Crafting," Tabitha heard Mathias say, from beside her. His voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper, but the rasp in his voice sounded disturbingly like a dagger being drawn.

The cannons were firing another volley at the Dragon below, attempting to keep its attention focused on them. Adrian had reported that the Midnight Songbird had only two Valkyries to their twelve, and without cooling lines, the ship was in danger every time it needed to descend.

"I taught him. He picked it up faster than Coraline," Tabitha replied.

"But not Brenda?" Mathias asked.

Tabitha snickered a little as she answered, "Brenda's terrible at it. It's just hard to tell an avalanche it lacks finesse."

"Who else knows?"

"No one. I didn't even ask him if he wanted to learn," Tabitha answered, with a rueful smirk as she reflected on the night she dragged him onto a train and took him to an abandoned field near the last wall. He did extremely well, once he realised doing poorly could kill him.

"I wish I had known," Mathias said, harshly. "He's fighting without proper supervision."

"He has a shadow," Tabitha remarked but knew that wasn't what her evaluator was referring to. Shadows regarded Mathias the way civilians regarded shadows.

"Not one trained for a Battle Crafter. I'm not your shadow simply because I'm taller than you."

"Are you?" Tabitha asked, sceptically.

"Your hair poofs. Otherwise, I would be."

"Until you take off your stupid hat."

There was a pause as the Dragon turned its head back to the other ship, and began to build another gout of flame.

"Odd," Mathias reflected, just before something crashed into its face and knocked its head aside. The fireball crashed into the stones at its feet, carving a deep rivulet into the road.

"What?" Tabitha asked.

"How would you attack Gerald's ship?" Mathias asked. "Wouldn't you just set off the Valkyries on his deck?"

"It wouldn't work on a Combat Crafter. Within a Crafter's heat haze, the dominion of their will is nearly absolute. Gerald has his extended to cover the entire deck. We'd have to be in grappling range for me to try that. What I would try is using the exhaust ports below his ship first, and force him to contract his defences. Then set off the Valkyries, cut the tethers, and let gravity do the work."

"Yet the Dragon doesn't try anything like that. Even when you say it can Craft. It only uses the fires inside itself."

"Oh," Tabitha reflected, and silently cursed herself for failing to notice it before. The distinction could hint not only at how the Dragon would attack, but even at what it was.

It didn't help that it was Mathias who noticed first. Having it pointed out by someone who doesn't wield the flame was a little galling.

"Be irritated on your own time. Think about the implications," Mathias added, and Tabitha nearly lit him on fire. Flame-bitten shadow was too willing to poke at the coals.

"It's a creature of fire. We need to kill it the way we kill any fire," Tabitha said. She frowned, as the Cannons fired another volley at the Dragon, which had turned to confront a squad of soldiers harassing it with a staccato of Salamander fire. Its response was brutal, as the fire that swept from its open mouth broke the stone street and poured through the building behind the soldiers.

"Fourteen. Plus whoever was inside that building," Mathias said, grimly. His hands rested on the hilt of his knives, and he looked poised to leap down there and try his luck against that creature below them.

Tabitha found it odd that the idea didn't seem as ridiculous as it should.

"Things that kill fire," Tabitha said. She looked Mathias in the eye, and added, "We need to let it fly again."

"We're not getting another chance like this one." Mathias disagreed, but glanced back at the smouldering ruins that marked the Dragon's ire. Tabitha hoped the dilapidated wreck of a building would help her point.

"We need to herd it towards the river. We can't hurt it, but we can knock it down."

"And if we fail to herd it?" Mathias asked.

"The Channel," Tabitha said, grimly.

The Channel was a man-made bend in the river. Nearly a mile long and a hundred yards deep, it was built to both surround the Bore, and if needed, flood it.

As far as Tabitha was concerned, it was a useless extravagance meant to lift the profile of the Bureau of Civic Development. If the Spire became a danger, extinguishing it wouldn't change the City's fate. Not with the Gloam.

It also wasn't clear if the river could extinguish the Bore.

"Aye, Captain," Mathias said. He didn't salute or even stand up straighter to acknowledge that a decision had been made. He didn't have to. To address her by that title was more obedience than a shadow was ever allowed to show their assignment.

Desperate times.

"Captain!" Adrian called out, as he approached. His teeth were still clenched, Tabitha could see the strain on his face as he saluted with his unbroken arm, but he was calm and precise as he spoke. Brave boy. She noted to herself that she owed Varnell a pint. "The other ship is signalling us. As follows: We need a new plan."

"I have one," Tabitha said, simply. "We're going to try to knock the Dragon into the river. We harass it until it flies over water, then hit the beast hard enough to drive it under. Tell them to keep themselves between the Dragon and the Spire at all costs."

Adrian saluted and dashed off, as she turned back to Mathias. "Help him command the guns. Two of the Valkyries on each side should be loaded with incendiary, in case the Dragon closes on us."

Mathias tilted his hat in response, before turning away and gliding down the stairway.

Tabitha strode to the wheel, and her chief engineer. "Dremora, I'll take the ship. You'll need to be here on standby, in case I need to step away."

"To duke it out with the Dragon?"

"Exactly," Tabitha said, with more bravado than she felt. Every exchange with that beast cost her a little more of herself, and the City should not be gambled on the reserves of a single scourged Crafter.

"Of course, ma'am," Caitlin replied quickly, as she stepped away from the controls. Poor girl looked like she was barely standing, and sighed in relief as she stepped away from the controls.

Tabitha clenched her teeth and hissed slowly to stifle the rage that wasn't entirely hers. When she spoke, she was surprised at how kind her voice sounded. "Go get some water. You did well."

She smiled as she saluted, and marched down the deck to the supplies. As she departed, Tabitha set the clutch for the main propellers, sending the ship surging forward.

Below, the guns stopped firing as Mathias and Adrian directed the crews to arm the guns appropriately. Each side would have four guns loaded with round-shot, to harass the Dragon at any range.

The others held incendiary, so she could use them to defend the ship from the Dragon's fire.

Below, the Dragon took advantage of the reprieve to scramble through the streets, and stretch its immense wings from behind cover. As it raised its wings up and began to hurl itself into the air, the ground beneath the creature was torn apart as the air beneath those immense wings exploded.

Two more thunderous claps and the Dragon was climbing through the air, reaching the tops of the surrounding buildings in moments.

Tabitha poured the propellers into flank speed; the fastest speed the propellers could handle and turned the swivel propellers to help propel the ship forward. She needed more space to react to whatever the Dragon tried next.

Would it simply run for the Bore? Or attack one of the ships?

Impossible to say, as Gerald shifted his ship to put it directly between the Dragon and the Spire. Even from her position, Tabitha had to squint to see the ship in the firelight that immense column of flame gave off.

And if she could barely see, the Dragon likely couldn't either.

Another streak of grey cut through the air, crashing hard into the Dragon on its shoulder, causing it to falter as it tried to fly, and slow its ascent.

Clever boy. Blinded by the Spire, the beast would have no time to react to a shot.

Spinning one of the side wheels, she turned the swivel propellers to rotate the ship, and bring the broadside to bear against the Dragon. Lieutenant Keates, first to notice the opportunity, cried out to the gunners. "Port side, round-shot at ready!"

"Fire!"

The Dragon turned sharply, veering away from the ship to escape the cannon fire. One still struck the creature's wing as it turned, but the other three sailed past and crashed into an apartment building below.

She turned the bow towards the Dragon, to keep the creature in range as it attempted to turn back towards the Spire. It beat its wings fiercely, tearing through the air at a pace the Fury of the Dawn couldn't match.

Another cannon shot crashed into the Dragon's shoulder, but even that blow barely slowed the beast. Tabitha hissed in frustration, as even Gerald's extremely talented gunner could do little to drive the Dragon from its course.

As she drew near, the Dragon turned its gaze and met her eyes.

Even hundreds of yards away, Tabitha could feel the rage in its stare. A fury that drove the creature's immense and terrible will; every tendril of flame was a product of whatever hatred animated the creature.

Instinctively, her own power rose up in defiance, as her heat-haze encompassed the entire deck, and her will grasped at every source of heat on the ship. The ammo for the Salamanders, and the Valkyries, lay just at the tips of her fingers. The various Reservoirs around the ship were as accessible as her pockets. And even with the Cold-Stone surrounding it, the inferno inside the lift-bag would offer immense power, if she had the strength to seize it.

Mathias looked up at her, his expression difficult to decipher. But when he met her gaze, he grinned a little and tipped his hat, before turning back to the Dragon.

As the Dragon passed over one of the exhaust flames, she reached for it and willed a massive bloom of flame up into the air. She poured herself into the assault, expanding and exploding the mass of flame until it exploded in front of the Dragon.

The bright red blast shattered nearby windows and despite the hundreds of yards of open air that lay between them, buffeted the ship. Tabitha had to force herself to fight off the euphoric sense of omniscience that came with wielding that much fire.

To her relief, it was enough to drive the Dragon off its course. The beast wheeled away from the plume of flame, away from the Spire and towards the water. It allowed Tabitha to once again place the Fury of the Dawn in the Dragon's path.

As it continued its turn past the river and away from the ship, another plume of fire blossomed from one of the exhaust pipes, growing to an immense size in a matter of moments, swallowing the Dragon.

Another Crafter, Tabitha thought to herself. A combat Crafter, judging by the fierceness of the will. She took a sharp breath and reached out for the flames around the Dragon, adding to the inferno.

But the Dragon spread its wings, brushing aside their combined attack. It turned its head, spotted something below, and unleashed a mass of flame that struck the nearby warehouse, and blew it into pieces.

The Dragon didn't relent, even as its fires reduced the nearby buildings to molten rock and slag. Only when the building was stripped to bits of smouldering stone did the Dragon stop; wheeling away and perching on a nearby rooftop.

When it landed, the beast turned its head and stared at her. The fire of its eyes burned with a renewed, furious intensity, and a swirling mass of bright-red flames swirled around its wings.

"Was that a battle Crafter down there?" Mathias asked and Tabitha nearly jumped. Damn shadow was standing right beside her without her noticing. She could swear he did it for fun sometimes.

"It was. I don't know who," Tabitha admitted.

"Was the Crafter unprepared?"

"Whoever it was, they gambled. Likely didn't believe the Dragon's will was that strong. Abyss below, Mathias, that felt like trying to stop a train with my bare hands."

"Worse than Brenda?"

"Worse. I wouldn't have believed a will could be that strong if I hadn't felt it."

The Dragon turned away from her gaze and hurled another deluge of fire into a nearby building. The fires stripped the walls bare almost instantly, and the foundations of the building quickly began to crack under the strain.

In a dozen seconds, the building collapsed in a heap of dust and ash. Once the building fell, the Dragon took to the sky again, flying away from the ship and back into the most densely populated part of the City.

"Abyss below," Tabitha cursed, as she began to turn the propellers.

"It's trying to lure you towards it," Mathias said, in warning. "It knows it flies faster, and it wants you to chase it. Once you do, it will slip by us and make for the Bore."

"Then it slips by us, and we chase it. Gerald has a healthy lead, and he'll make it there first," Tabitha insisted.

"We just watched that beast bury a Battle Crafter," Mathias disagreed, with a nervous glance to the other ship. "Do you think we'll make it before the Dragon destroys the Songbird?"