Chapter 24: Mathias

"Dragon!" a soldier shouted into the otherwise eerily calm night. The shout shook the crew out of its anxious idleness, turning the deck of the Fury of the Dawn into a cacophony of frantic activity.

"Portside! Eight degrees above the rails! Coming straight for us!" the same soldier added, and every eye aboard turned to where the soldier pointed.

A brilliant spark hung in the horizon, fixed in the sky like a star. After staring at it for a long, heart-wrenching moment, Mathias could almost believe he could see the waving of wings emanating from that distant speck of fire.

"I was wondering what that noise was," Tabitha mused, ahead of him, as she held the wheel lazily in her hands.

Mathias glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "My hearing is better than yours, and I haven't heard anything unusual."

"I can hear its fires," Tabitha said as if that were an explanation. The crafter frowned and stared out at the distant speck. "Well, feel it. Every Crafter in Central probably can, right now. Abyss below, that is intimidating."

"What?" Mathias asked.

"That Dragon wills the flame it uses to fly. Each flap of its wings is more than many Crafters could ever attempt. There's enough fire around its wings to melt stone on contact," Tabitha shook her head and clenched her fist. Mathias was startled to see flames flickering around it.

"Has the power behind the Gloam finally revealed itself?" Tabitha wondered, aloud. Mathias nodded to himself, considering his charge's surprising insight.

"So if we kill it, the Gloam might disappear?" Mathias asked, with a grin.

"It's possible," she replied.

"Then let's kill it and find out," Mathias said, as nonchalantly as he could manage. He hoped he sounded brave.

Tabitha laughed and flexed her fingers. "Let's."

"Dremora! Take the wheel!" Tabitha called out, stepping away from the controls and starting down the stairs. Mathias followed.

Tabitha marched away from Mathias and raised her voice to a shout. "Helm, hold position! Port side, load the Valkyries! Use incendiary shot! Aim to converge at a point level with the deck, three-hundred yards away!"

"Incendiary?" Lieutenant Keates asked, startled. "That's almost Salamander range."

"If we use round shot, every miss will kill someone down below," Tabitha insisted, firmly.

"Can we really afford such humanity?" Mathias asked.

"Fires below, I hope so," Tabitha admitted, and Mathias nodded solemnly, glancing back at the now discernible shape still flying straight towards them.

The beast was over a mile away, but Mathias could begin to make out the billowing flame that marked every beat of its wings. Each flash of flame was a feat of the Craft that many wielders of the flame could never manage, wielded simply to keep the beast aloft.

Against that, a suddenly frail looking metal boat, a dozen Valkyries, and a nearly spent Crafter.

"Burning blight of the underworld!" Adrian Keates whispered, stepping beside him.

"Quite possibly," Mathias replied, impressed with how calm he sounded. He was almost certain his voice would crack.

"How the burning hell are you so calm?" Adrian asked.

"I'm not. If anyone on this ship is calm right now, there's something wrong with them," Mathias said and forced himself to smile. "It's easier on me. I've had practice being in danger."

"Really?" Adrian asked. "When?"

"My whole career," Mathias said without humour.

"You're really comparing the Captain to that?" Adrian asked.

"Hope it's a fair comparison. Otherwise, we're dead." Mathias replied simply. "Keep her alive, Lieutenant. No matter the cost."

"Sir!" Adrian said, saluting smartly. He turned away and started towards the nearest Valkyrie. "Is that flame-bitten gun loaded yet?"

Mathias stepped away, leaving Tabitha at the centre of the deck, staring almost hungrily at the Dragon. She wouldn't notice it, but despite the fierce winds this far above the City, her heat haze held the air around the ship completely still. Around Tabitha's form, flecks of fire seemed to flash near her, and her hair was a haze of red.

Mathias was surprised to find the sight comforting.

Mathias stopped at the ammo chests and pocketed a pouch of Salamander rounds. As he returned to his Crafter, he held the pouch out and offered it to her. "You might need these."

She nodded in thanks and started dropping them into the various pockets of her rust-red coat. "Our opening move will be the broadside. If that fails, I'll do my best to defend the ship while we hammer it with the Valkyries. If we can't kill it with incendiary-shot, we may still ground it."

"Not a terrible plan," Mathias said.

"But it feels inadequate," Tabitha said, voicing his unspoken concern.

The Dragon was closer now, close enough to see the shape of the immense creature as it ripped its way through the air.

Mathias drew his spyglass and took a closer look.

"Fires below," Mathias whispered, in awe. Swirling currents of flame, like a whirlpool of molten metal, burned where flesh and bone should have been. Its limbs, wings, and even the teeth in the massive creature's mouth were thick masses of fire, congealed in a terrifying imitation of a living creature. Only the eyes were different, bright white beacons with a gaze fixed on the ship it hurled itself towards.

"Six years, and I've never heard you swear," Tabitha said beside him, with a smirk in her voice.

"Yes, you have," Mathias replied, calmer than he felt. "Just a few hours ago, when I lost my coffee."

"I missed that," Tabitha said, wistfully. Both of them glanced around, and Mathias saw the fear in the dozens of faces that now looked to this spent Crafter for their courage.

He knew he would never forget what she did next, as nearly every eye on the ship watched her. She took in their regard, their fear and faith, turned to the Dragon and smirked dismissively. "Fine, enough small talk," she said to Mathias, but loudly enough for everyone aboard to hear. "We have a Dragon to kill."

The crew didn't cheer; the oncoming monstrosity did not allow such bravado, but as they turned back to the Dragon, and set themselves to their tasks, they looked ready to fight.

Mathias glanced back to Tabitha and noted the tremor in the fingers in her hand, the clenched jaw, and the deliberately slow breathing. He wondered, for a moment, where she found that courage.

The Dragon was closer now; each flame was mesmerizing as the billows swirled beneath its wings and the crushing howl of exploding fires hammered at Mathias' lungs.

"Valkyries loaded and set! Converging at zero degrees from bow, three-hundred feet starboard!" Lieutenant Keates shouted, as gunnery crews tested their igniters and stood at the ready. Mathias nodded, pleased, as the engineering crew scattered to the far side of the deck.

"Good!" Tabitha shouted in encouragement, as the Dragon drew close. "Hold until it closes, fire on my mark!"

As it drew close, the Dragon screamed, a deafening roar that Mathias could feel more than he heard, and a flash of pale-blue flame broke through the air.

Mathias blinked in confusion, and barely had time to shout "Hold!" as five other Valkyries howled in unison, and the dragon vanished behind the brilliant fires.

"Too early," Mathias muttered.

"Reload!" Lieutenant Keates shouted frantically, dashing towards the nearest gun.

Mathias stared out at the Dragon as the Valkyrie's fires faded into small puffs of smoke, and the beast finally flew into range. As it neared, it stopped, throwing its wings forward to stop barely a hundred yards from the ship.

Bright red flames dripped from its mouth as it reared its head back.

None of the Valkyries would be loaded in time.

Desperately, Mathias dashed to one of the guns and seized one of the glass canisters. "Tabitha!" he called out, relieved to see the Crafter had followed him.

"Clear the deck!" Lieutenant Keates shouted as understanding dawned on his face. "Get away from the rails!"

"Throw it!" Tabitha ordered, and he slid on the deck to the rails and swung the shell into the air with everything he had.

Mathias had just enough time to drop to the deck and cover his neck with his hands as Tabitha reached the railings. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her gesture with her hand, before something hit him like a train.

People tense up when something's about to hit them. It's a natural and normally sensible reaction. When something like a person strikes, tensing makes you heavier and can injure the attacker instead.

Shadows spend years training to overcome the instinct. A skilled Crafter hits like an oncoming train. Tensing up only makes the injuries worse.

So when Mathias was knocked more than halfway across the deck by the force of the explosion, he was on his feet again before he stopped skidding, in time to see the wall of bright-blue flames punching through a sea of red, that seemed to surround half of the ship. He took a gentle breath, and was relieved that the worst pain he felt was a rib that might be broken.

Mathias stepped closer to his charge, making a note of the brilliant orange glow in her hair. His hand lingered on his knife, and out of habit, he picked three places to bury it, should he need to.

The swirling mass of flame lasted a few seconds longer, then began to fade as the Dragon fell below, opening its immense wings and flying away from them.

Mathias grinned, sighing in relief. Tabitha retained enough of herself to keep them alive, at least for the moment. It wasn't only the Dragon's fire that could put them in danger.

Often, during a confrontation like this, the air is too hot to breathe for anyone who wasn't a Crafter.

"Chief, all ahead full!" Mathias shouted up to Dremora, who waved in response before moving the controls. In moments, the ship began to surge forward, leaving everyone aboard a moment to catch their breath.

He glanced at Tabitha, who was carefully slowing her breathing as the glow faded from her hair. Mathias glance around, to see if anyone else had noticed. As impressed as Mathias was with her self-control, it was a struggle the crew should not witness.

"Gunnery crews, load every Valkyrie! Engineering crew, make sure we didn't break the ship! Check propellers, railings, and the hull!" Mathias shouted, already annoyed by how much shouting he was likely to do before the night was over.

The old soldier would be pleased, Mathias mused to himself.

He stepped over to Tabitha, once the crew was engaged in their duties. Asides from the Chief, at the wheel, no one should be observing their conversation. "Were you pulling your punches?"

"You think I'm holding back?"

"A little. Even with the Valkyrie, that was a close thing. Could you feel yourself slipping?"

"No. It's odd, but it's easier to Craft with the lift-bag over my head. The hate in the fires drowns out the lure of the Bore," she explained, but leaned into him and lowered her voice to a whisper. "But I don't have a lot left to give, Mathias. I can't keep doing that."

Mathias nodded, understanding.

"Where is the Dragon?" she asked, and Mathias turned away to stare down and look for the beast.

"Dremora! Hard to starboard! Take us towards the Spire!" Tabitha called out, just as Mathias caught sight of the Dragon, turning in a swift glide.

Mathias watched for a moment longer, to get a sense of where it was going. He wasn't at all surprised when the beast finished its turn and began to fly towards the spire.

"It's heading for the Bore! About two-hundred yards below!" Mathias called out.

"How long until it passes beneath us?" Tabitha asked.

"Thirty seconds!"

"Abyss below," Tabitha muttered. She turned to the helm and addressed the chief engineer. "Dremora! Flank speed! Use the swivel propellers! And load those flame-bitten guns!"

"Starboard guns loaded," Adrian called out, surprising Mathias. He wasn't sure if the young Lieutenant was still in any condition to fight. He and a few other gunners were only feet away from Mathias when Tabitha had detonated the Valkyrie. "Port guns need twenty seconds!"

Mathias shook his head. The Lieutenant is not in fighting shape, he noted to himself. Keates' left arm was broken, in two places, and blood dripped down the side of his head.

"Then we use the starboard guns! Mathias, get to the helm, help Dremora turn us to point our guns at the Dragon! Never mind the cold-stone clamps, I'll drop us. Keates, have the gunnery crews ready to fire!"

"Aye, ma'am!" Lieutenant Keates called back. He turned away and started shouting orders to the gunnery crew.

"Test the lighters!" Adrian shouted. "And if any of you flame-baked half-wits fire before I tell you to, I'll chuck you off the side before the Dragon gets a chance!"

Mathias, meanwhile, moved to the helm, where the Chief engineer was fumbling with the controls, muttering to herself.

"Are you ready?" Mathias asked.

"Abyss below, no," Caitlin Dremora said and saw Mathias raise an eyebrow. "Sir."

"Why not?"

"What the hell does she mean, she's going to drop us?" Dremora asked, her eyes wide and her gaze unable to meet his.

Trembling hands, wide eyes, rapid speech. Mathias clenched his teeth in irritation and spent a moment considering simply relieving her and sending her to help the crew.

But he couldn't take the helm and do his job.

"She'll kill the fires in the bag, so we descend faster. We should make a two-hundred yard descent in nine seconds. How fast can you turn us?"

"Four seconds, if I pre-engage the propellers. But that's insane! If she reignites the bag too quickly, she'll snap the tethers and drop the whole ship to the ground!" Caitlin exclaimed, pointing frantically at the immense chains that the ship hung from.

"Then let's hope we hit the Dragon on the way down," Mathias replied simply, as he pulled one of the levers. "Swivel propellers off. Point the starboard ones to the bow. Engage them as soon as she starts her descent."

"Aye, sir. I still think this is a bad idea."

"Trust her. No one knows this ship like she does."

"There's Gerald. I watched him fly."

"Remember how you felt watching him ride the Bore? That's how half of Central will see you in a few seconds," Mathias said, with as much confidence as he could put in his voice. "Give them something to watch."

"Aye, sir," Caitlin replied.

He caught Tabitha's gaze and nodded once, to tell her they were ready. She smiled and stepped to the very centre of the deck.

"All hands! Prepare for rapid descent! Grab on to something welded to the deck, and hold on like your life depends on it," Tabitha shouted, as she raised her right arm towards the bag above her head, and closed her hand into a fist.

"Because it does," Mathias muttered, and Dremora looked at him quizzically for a moment, until the ship suddenly attempted to fall to the ground without them.

Frantically, he lunged for the railing, and barely grabbed it before his entire body felt as if it weighed as much as his coat. The wind rushed passed him, and his hand reflexively set itself on top of his head, to keep his hat in place.

Beside him, Dremora struggled to keep her feet, as were most of the crew, who clung to the railings and stared wide-eyed at the approaching ground. Only Tabitha was unfazed, grinning from ear-to-ear as she clung to one of the support beams in the centre of the ship.

"Two seconds!" Mathias called out, even though the Chief engineer stood right beside him. "Start the turn!"

Dremora didn't respond, except to pull two levers with a free hand and sending the swivel propellers into motion. The ship swung sideways with surprising nimbleness, and in only a couple of seconds, the broadside of the ship was pointed at the Dragon.

Tabitha raised her arms to the bag and swirled them in a wide circle. Above them, the canvas bulged out, straining hard against the metal frame, and the faint glow of firelight gleamed through. All at once, their descent slowed, and the crew buckled as they caught up with the deck.

Tabitha, her hands busy at her Craft, was thrown off her feet andtumbled across the deck as the ship lurched and dropped in front of the Dragon.

The beast beat its wings to halt its advance, and the plume of flame that spread around it was wider than the length of the ship.

This close, Mathias could feel the heat in the air around him, and he nearly coughed as he slowly took a breath. It felt like he was standing too close to a bonfire, even at this distance.

"Fire!" Mathias heard Adrian shout, and saw the Lieutenant at the gun closest to the Creature, shielding his face with his unbroken arm.

All six guns fired in unison, and the howl of the guns was strong enough to push the ship hard, rocking the crew and keeping Tabitha from regaining her feet for another moment.

The furious blue flash vanished as quickly as it appeared, and in its wake, there was only night.

Mathias dashed to the rails as the crew cheered, and was able to watch the Dragon fall, spiralling wildly, before it crashed into the City below.

The building it hit collapsed, it's immense stone bricks shattering like a child's toy. The Dragon's flailing limbs, tail, and wings scattered chunks across the streets, and into nearby windows.

The cheers resumed as the Dragon lay on the broken stone, as still as any of them had ever seen it. Its wings lay still, its head rested on the newly smouldering rock, and its fiery eyes seemed to be shut.

"It still burns," Tabitha said, grimly. Mathias hadn't noticed her approach. She stared down at it clinically, calm and focused. Apart from the flickers of firelight that still danced through her hair, and the heat, she seemed more herself than she had in years.

"It doesn't even look injured." Mathias agreed.

"Dremora, take us four-hundred yards straight ahead! I want to point my guns at that thing before it gets back up!" Tabitha shouted.

"It has to be dead," Adrian said, as he stared down at it from the railings. Mathias drew his knife and gestured wordlessly to have the Lieutenant take off his coat from the other shoulder.

"It still burns. Which means its will endures," Tabitha explained.

"Abyss below! Six Valkyries, from less than a hundred feet off the bow! That could..." Adrian began, floundering for words, as Mathias cut the Lieutenant's coat apart to make a sling.

"Level a building," Tabitha finished. "At that range, with incendiary shot, we hit like a Golem."

Tabitha paused, and Mathias waited for her to finish. But the Crafter only stared down, eyes narrowed and an angry sneer crossing her face.

Mathias followed her gaze and saw the Dragon roll onto its feet.

"And this Dragon can take it," Mathias finished. He turned away, and shouted "Load the Valkyries! Use round shot!"

"Round shot? But the people below-" One of the gunners began, but Tabitha cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Are better off if we can kill it. Load those guns," Tabitha finished for him, in a voice of authority so fierce Benden might have snapped to attention. Adrian gulped hard and saluted before directing his soldiers.

"And pray it's enough," she added, so quietly that Mathias barely heard her.

Below, a sudden flurry of flickering lights started flashing in the area around the Dragon; a dozen lines of bright blue flame from nearly as many different directions. Mathias stared down, pleased, as he made out at least two squads of soldiers peppering the Dragon with Salamander fire.

"They must have spread soldiers all over the City," Adrian said, beside Mathias. "That's at least a platoon."

As the staccato of flashing firelight persisted, a bright plume of flame erupted from one of the nearby buildings, a swirling mass of fire in the shape of a tornado that tore apart the street as it advanced on the Dragon.

"Crafter?" Adrian asked.

Mathias squinted and stared at the roof of one of the nearby buildings. "Two," Tabitha said, as Mathias caught sight of the distinctive red coats.

"Lieutenant!" Tabitha shouted from further down the deck. "How is our firing angle?" Mathias was disturbed to hear a note of panic in her voice, that wasn't there even when the Dragon attacked the ship.

"Twenty more seconds!" Adrian shouted back, and Mathias could tell the Lieutenant shared Mathias' observation.

"Too long," Mathias saw Tabitha mutter, and she reached into her pockets.

The Dragon turned its head towards the advancing whirlwind of flame and opened its mouth. The torrent of fire that poured out of that immense jaw was so thick it was nearly a liquid, and moved faster than a train. It swept through the street, brushed aside the Crafter's fires, and crashed into the building behind, pouring through walls and blasting apart the entire building in moments.

That, Mathias reflected to himself, is what Tabitha saved them from.

Mathias glanced over at his charge, to see her gaze fixed on him with a silent, urgent question in her wide eyes. A pair of Salamander rounds jutted between her fingers, and her hair glowed orange.

He nodded and saluted in the Military fashion, hand to heart. Tabitha turned away and pointed her arms, as Mathias raised his voice. "All hands!" he cried out. "Brace yourselves!"

And as he shouted, he ducked down and held his hat as Tabitha detonated the Salamanders in her hands. The blast rocked the ship, swaying back hard enough that at least one steel ball rolled off the side.

Mathias stood as the ship swayed, and followed the lance of bright white fire as it crashed like a thunderbolt into the Dragon, a blast that blew apart the nearby structures and pounded the Dragon back into the stone.

He glanced at Tabitha and noticed the nearly feral snarl on her face as she brought another handful of Salamander rounds from her pockets. To his surprise, though, she turned to him and said, "Start firing the guns. I'll ward off its reprisals."

"Aye," Mathias replied, and turned to Adrian. "How long does it take to reload a Valkyrie?"

"Forty seconds, until we fire three shots in succession," Adrian responded, hesitating as he finished. Having to deliver bad news to superiors was not a relished chore in the Military, especially when the recipient didn't understand the reasons.

Mathias recalled an old lesson from when he was a teenager. Valkyries fired at incredible temperatures and lacked the directing will of a Crafter. Which means they needed to cool between shots. Unchecked, half a dozen shots would leave Tabitha as the only weapon the ship had. "Cooling the barrels?" he asked.

"Exactly, sir. Especially with long-barrelled Valkyries, the heat could warp the guns."

Mathias nodded and said, "Then we'll use the guns on both sides of the ship. Dremora will put the ship in a fixed spin, and I'll signal between us. We fire the guns, spin the ship around, and fire the guns on the other side."

Adrian smirked, despite the obvious pain he was in. "Aye, sir," he saluted, before turning away to direct the guns.

Mathias dashed to the helm, and vaulted up the rise in the deck, instead of taking the stairs. His sudden appearance startled the young Chief Engineer, who nearly let go of the wheel as he stopped beside her.

"Sir?" she asked, timidly. It was a quiet question, utterly at odds with everything happening around her.

"Here's the plan," Mathias began, without preamble. "We're going to spin the ship, so we can use every gun we have on the Dragon. I'll signal to start and stop your spin."

"Aye, sir!" she replied and hesitated a moment.

"Chief?" Mathias asked.

"Sorry sir, but I want to take you out for drinks when this is over."

The oddity of her announcement derailed Mathias' thinking for a moment, and he managed little more than an unintelligible stutter as she saluted and he turned away.

"Cradle robbing, shadow?" Tabitha asked, smirking, as he stepped down to return to the centre of the deck. "Does she make you feel young again?"

"Don't you have a Dragon to fight?" Mathias asked, rolling his eyes.

"I'm keeping an eye on it," Tabitha replied. "And trying to keep my Shadow from deflowering a minor."

"Minor?" Mathias sputtered, indignantly. Dremora was an engineering graduate before she joined on the Airship project four years ago. "She's at least twenty. I think."

"And crushing on you hard," Tabitha added. "It is adorable. You make the cutest odd couple."

"Stow it, crafter."

"Just bring a chaperone, and be back by eight."

Despite himself, Mathias laughed.

He stopped laughing as the Valkyries roared into the night, and a half-dozen cannonballs launched towards the Dragon below.

The ring of steel colliding with stone rang loudly, as at least one of the shots missed. But the ones that hit knocked the Dragon off its feet and threw it back into the building it now leaned against.

But as the smoke from the guns faded into the wind, the Dragon rose to its feet again and raised its head towards them. Fire poured from between the jagged teeth in its mouth, and the stones even a dozen feet from it were seared black.

The ship lurched as it began to turn, spinning in place with surprising nimbleness. Mathias and Tabitha dashed to the other side of the deck, with Adrian following close behind.

As Tabitha reached the rails, she wound her arm back and threw something into the air. Mathias followed its flight and caught the glimmer of firelight beneath a glass chamber.

As the Dragon unleashed another torrent of flame, Tabitha clapped her arms together, and the Salamander shot blew apart, blooming into a ball of fire.

Tabitha's craft seemed to contract on itself, somehow growing smaller without diminishing. It was barely larger than a cannonball, and burned at the eyes as if Mathias were looking at the sun.

As the Dragon's fires passed around it, Tabitha cracked her hand back with a violent swish of her arm, and the ball of fire exploded, scattering the onslaught of the Dragon's fiery breath.

The explosion rocked the ship, though the buffeting barely made Mathias flinch, as the ship only swayed a little before Chief Dremora rightened it.

"All guns, fire!" Adrian shouted, from a few feet away. The half dozen cannons around them roared to life, and another volley fell towards the Dragon below.

"I didn't know you could do that," Mathias said to Tabitha. He meant it as both compliment and accusation. Despite knowing her for as long as he had, he was coming to realise he didn't really know the extent of her abilities.

"Neither did I," Tabitha admitted. She smiled at him, and added, "Lucky for you I'm that good."

"Or we'd be dead. I know," Mathias said, eyeing the Dragon as it raised itself to its feet. "I'll make sure the inscription on your statue reads 'You're Welcome'."

"Ooh. I like it!" Tabitha replied with a laugh. She only stopped when the fires around the Dragon began to swirl, brighten, and push away the air around it. She fished another Salamander from her pocket and stood at the ready.

"Dremora, start the turn!" Mathias called out.

The Dragon opened its mouth, and fire began to pour out of it, rising in a frenzied mass from inside its mouth. But whatever fires it might have fired were smothered as its head was violently swung sideways, and crashed into a nearby building.

Tabitha and Mathias both glanced to their right, and their eyes were drawn to the faint glow of a distant object, floating high above the City.

"Gerald," Tabitha said, smiling. "About damn time."