Xander leapt into the air and flew over the smoking city to the Blå Engel. The crew were hard at work manning the cannons on the deck and the row beneath it. Several of the seamen leapt at us with sabers drawn and surrounded our little group.
“Belay that, men, and get back to yer cannons!” yelled Captain Magnus as he walked down the stairs from the wheel. His ever-present companion Alice was still attached to his wrist, and she to his. Behind them came Nimeni who kept his distance from his angry captain.
“Where in the devil have ya been?” Magnus snapped at us.
“Trying to avoid death by being eaten, explosions and cannonballs,” I quipped.
“Why are you attacking the city?” Xander asked his captain.
“And us,” I added.
“We couldn’t wait any longer for ya to appear, so we decided to try to get those blasted red-sashed fiends to come out and maybe get a chance at us getting in,” Magnus explained.
“Did you ever think maybe you might have buried us underneath one of your cannonballs?” Tillit spoke up.
“Not my gunners,” Alice argued.
Magnus glared at her. “Nor mine. They could shoot a bird out of the skies.”
“Mine can singe their tail feathers without hurting a bone,” Alice boasted.
“Mine can swipe a shot across their beak while they’re diving for bugs,” Magnus returned.
Tillit stepped between them and held up his hands. “Ladies, you’re both beautiful, but can we focus on what’s more important right now, and that’s staying alive.”
“Hold yer tongue!” Magnus growled at him.
Alice turned her nose up and sneered at Magnus. “I’m not afraid to die, and we won’t be doing that with my cannons firing.”
Xander strode over to the railing and set his hands on the top as he looked out over the city. “Unfortunately, your plan to draw out the Red Dragons may change your advantage.”
I joined him at the railing and felt the color drain from my face as I gazed at the city. A cloud of Red Dragons flew up from the smoking ruins of the barracks and descended over the city in our direction. One of them flew high above the others, and the red glow around his body showed him to be Drake. His soldiers lined up in a long row of a hundred and five rows deep. Six of them hovered around Drake with three on each side of him.
I glanced over my shoulder at the captains. “How many seamen do you guys have?”
Alice’s eyes were wide as she shook her head. “Not that many.”
Tillit stroked his chin. “If that fool Drake gives us enough time I might have something to give to your sailors-”
“Seamen,” Magnus and Alice corrected him.
“Seamen then,” Tillit corrected himself as his eyes flickered to the line of Red Dragons. “They’ll be corpses if we wait too long, and I need a few things.”
“What do you need?” Alice asked him.
Tillit furrowed his brow and his piggish nose wrinkled. “A few spices from Ui Breasail, and some silphium.”
She frowned. “Silphium isn’t cheap.”
“It will be worth less than nothing if we are dead,” Xander pointed out.
“What’s yer plan?” Magnus questioned him.
Tillit puffed out his chest and grinned. “I’m going to make some Dragon’s Bane.”
“You know the secret ingredients?” Xander asked him.
Tillit tapped the side of his nose. “Of course.”
My eyes widened. “That’s how you knew what it smelled like!”
He swept low into a bow. “No sus has a nose as great as mine.”
“Let us hope no sus has faster fingers because our foes will not wait,” Xander spoke up.
We all returned our attention to the Red Dragons. The first long row flew down toward us. The others followed in tight formation. Two hundred feet from our position the rows split into two columns, and each column took one of the ships.
Magnus whipped his head to the cannons. “Forget the cannons! Pull out yer swords and prepare for a fight, men!”
The seamen abandoned their posts at the cannons and drew out their sabers just as the Red Dragons reached the deck. The dozens of seamen from below deck raced up the steps and unsheathed their weapons. The dragons slammed into our first row of defenders and thus began an epic clashing of claws and steel. More foes crashed onto the deck and surrounded us.
Xander swung his fist out and punched one overboard before he looked at Tillit. “How quickly can you create the Dragon’s Bane?”
Tillit ducked a blow from a dragon and kicked him in the groin. The Red Dragon’s eyes bulged out of his head and he clutched his broken family jewels. The sus grabbed him, spun him in a staggering circle and swung him over the side of the ship. “Give me a cabin and the ingredients, and I can have a batch ready in no time at all.”
“I don’t know if my men can hold them off for that long!” Magnus shouted as he parried a blow and sliced another foe.
“Man up, ya soil brat!” Alice snapped. She took a step back and her foot fell through one of the deck boards. Alice fell to one knee before her foe and jabbed him in the gut. The Red Dragon dropped dead onto the deck. She yanked her foot out of the hole and spun around to glare at Magnus. “I’m not going any farther on this floating driftwood!” She grabbed the chain and gave a yank. “We’re going to my ship!”
“Not on yer life!” Magnus growled as he skewered a foe.
“That might be what it is, and besides, the silphium is on my ship!” she reminded him.
Magnus frowned and sliced the head off a foe. “Fine, ya wench, but not a moment longer on that tub!”
The pair shoved a half dozen Red Dragons out of their way and made a clearing on the deck. Magnus slipped his arms under those of Tillit, and together Alice and he took to the air.
Unfortunately, they had company. The Red Dragons didn’t appreciate the rough play of the captains and took to the skies after them.
Xander dispatched another foe and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Miriam, you must protect them!”
My eyes widened. “Me?”
He fended off another dragon and turned to me with a smile. “I have faith in you.”
I pursed my lips, but spun around and rushed to the bow of the ship. The Rache floated two hundred feet off the bow. My three friends were halfway to their destination, but with their inconvenient attachment and Tillit’s weight the Red Dragons were closing in. I climbed onto the top of the wooden figurehead, a half-naked mermaid with ample assets and a sly smile, and raised my hands toward the water.
“Please work. . .” I whispered.
My palms glowed with the familiar blue light. A wide circle of bubbling water gurgled between the two ships. Two of my favorite dragons burst through the surface and stretched into the sky. They opened their wide, narrow jaws and snatched a half dozen Red Dragons from the air. My pets shook their heads and throttled the dragons before they dropped their chew toys into the water to snatch at more of the foes.
I gasped as something violently rocked the ship from side-to-side. I locked my legs and kept my hands in front of me as I glanced over my shoulder. My eyes widened as I glimpsed Drake standing five feet behind me.
The Red Dragon lord’s narrowed, glowing eyes glared at my hands. “So that is how you defeated Ferus Draco. The Sæ granted you the strength of your fae lineage, but I will grant you only a swift death.” He strode toward me with his hands at his sides. They stretched into long claws that ended in dagger-sharp points.
I looked back at the Rache. My friends had landed and the captains were now in a full fight with the crew against our foes. Tillit was gone, making the Dragon’s Bane behind the closed cabin doors. I dropped my hands and faced our greatest enemy as his shadow fell across me. Drake raised his hand to strike me.
Xander flew across the deck and slammed into Drake’s side. The Red Dragon stumbled halfway across the wide deck before he caught himself and faced us. A sly smile slipped onto his lips. “You wish to challenge the might of the ancients? I will have you bow to me before I take your life, Ferus Draco.”
Xander grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and moved one foot forward in a battle position. “My name is Xander Alexandros the Sixth, and I bow to no one.”
Drake spread open his arms as his clothes burst apart with his scaly transformation. “Then you will fall at my feet.”