Burn.


    Something ploughed into Meleng from the side, knocking him over, and wrapping wings around him. He and Feviona tumbled on the floor, landing with her on top of him, shielding him. The heat of the fire around them was intense, and Feviona’s face contorted in pain. She must have done something to protect herself from the flames, but they were clearly still having an effect on her.


    Burn.


    Meleng scrambled from under her and to his feet. He ran aside just as another stream of flames landed where he had just been. Hot air blew over him, pushed along by the beat of Feviona’s wings as she flew into the air.


    Meleng looked around frantically for the best route to the exit. He had to cross nearly the entire warehouse, and get around the creature in the process. There was so much rubble in here, running was not an option. However, there was certainly lots of cover.


    But the creature merely bent over, picked up its still-burning head, and placed it back on its neck, where it...fused back on? Whatever it did, it stayed in place.


    Burn.


    Burn.


    Outside, people were already reacting to the sounds coming from the warehouse, running and yelling for the fire brigade. Meleng jumped to his feet and ran along the trail towards the quay. Behind him came a loud crash, but he didn’t look back right away.


    The harbourmaster waved a finger in Meleng’s face. “If this is you and that Isyar’s fault…” Then he started towards the fire creature, his hands held up. “Please don’t panic.”


    Burn.


    Meleng tried to grab the harbourmaster’s shoulder to pull him away, but couldn’t reach him. There was the now-familiar hiss and whoosh, but the flames didn’t hit the harbourmaster. Feviona had flown between the creature and the harbourmaster, the flames washing over her side and shoulder, knocking her sideways. Sweat dripped from her forehead, but she seemed otherwise unharmed.


    But no one paid any attention to him.


    Burn.


    Burn.


    “What the hell is that thing?” one of the men said.


    Burn.


    Meleng looked back. Feviona looped through the air, narrowly avoiding another fiery stream. She then circled back towards the warehouse.


    “Where’s she going?” somebody asked.


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    The man nodded, and motioned to some other people, who began dragging the water barrels over. Meleng hurried over and helped them. Within a minute or so, they had the buckets and barrels grouped together at the edge of the quay, between two ships that were themselves between two of the piers. Meleng then bent over and began tracing equations on the buckets and barrels.


    Meleng continued to wave for Feviona, though he couldn’t even be sure she’d be able to see him well enough from this distance. What he was doing was a risk. A huge risk. He doubted what he was trying to do would kill that thing, but hopefully, it would neutralise it. He just needed to get one equation right. Not the ones on the buckets and barrels. There was a lot of water in them, but he doubted it was enough. At best, that water would just slow it down a little. No, the buckets and barrels were just the decoy. It was the equation after them that mattered.


    Meleng stopped waving and jumping, and backed up so the backs of his legs were touching the closest buckets. He glanced quickly about. People were watching, but holding well back. Crew on the nearest ships were lowering the rigging, but that wouldn’t be enough. If this didn’t work, those ships would go up fast, and the fire would likely spread. The Lustrous Rose was only a few berths away.


    Feviona landed in front of him. She was sweating profusely, and her uniform was scorched. The entire left sleeve was gone and her arm was blistered and burnt. “You have something?”


    He nodded. “Lure it close. To the quay. I need it on the quay, not just near it.”


    “I will try.” She turned around and spread her wings.


    Good gods, her back was horribly burnt, especially between her wings. She must have suffered that when she’d shielded him from the creature’s attack. Luckily, her wings didn’t look too badly affected, but still, she had to be in such pain. And her wounds from last week still hadn’t fully healed.


    As she flew off, Meleng vowed to himself to get this right. He had to. Bending over, he began tracing connectors so he could get to a safe distance himself.


    The creature was near the doors of the burning warehouse, heading along the street towards the quay. There were no other people in sight in that direction, but when it got closer again… Meleng couldn’t be sure he’d told people to stay back far enough. At least so far, they seemed to be listening.


    Burn.


    She flipped over to the side, avoiding the flames, then flipped again, right over the top of the creature, landing behind it. Her sword cut clean through the creature’s shoulder, severing the arm. Then she leapt into the air again, and landed a short distance in front of it.


    Burn.


    Feviona spread her wings and leapt over the ensuing blast, landing again just a little farther down the street towards the quay. She repeated this a few times, drawing the creature ever closer.


    Meleng moved slowly to the side. He couldn’t move as far away as he’d told everyone else, as he had to get back in there quickly. While he had no idea what range that creature’s blasts had, he could be pretty certain he wouldn’t be far enough away once it was near the quay. And he definitely wouldn’t be far enough when he ran back in. He just needed to rely on his spells’ ability to slow it down, and Feviona’s ability to keep it distracted.


    Steam hissed around the creature as its flames diminished somewhat.


    The creature wasn’t on the quay. It was still just a little too far back. This wasn’t going to work.


    Burn.


    There was a huge crash and Meleng’s next step did not find a surface to press down on. He found himself briefly tumbling, and then cold water surrounded him.


    Gods, he couldn’t drown! He couldn’t die now! Not when there was so much good in his life now. He had a family now. He had Sinit?a. He had Feviona and Jorvan. People he loved and who loved him back.


    He kicked and flailed some more. He couldn’t see anything. It was all bright and cloudy around him. Damn it, why was it so hard to find up? Gods, it was so cold.


    His face broke the surface, the cold air feeling warm compared to the water, and he tried to breathe it in. It didn’t work so well. With a few coughs, he brought up the water in his lungs, and then breathed in the air.


    “There he is! Man overboard!”


    Meleng grabbed for it with one hand, but he couldn’t quite reach it. His grip with his other hand slipped, and he tried to lunge forward. He went under again, choked on the water, but his hand grabbed something. He pulled himself forward, got his arm all the way around it, through the centre of the ring. His head broke the surface of the water again.


    Feviona carried him the rest of the way up, and carefully laid him down on the deck. She kissed him on the forehead and stood up. “My champion. Beautifully done.”


    Meleng coughed up some more water, as crewmembers rushed over to him.